Line #16 Fanfic/UncleAdam


1	''"Weren't they yours too?" Charlie tries to stop the exterminations a century too early, still just a child, and comes face to face with their Leader: Adam, the First Man. And she tries again, every year. What starts as a yearly snag in Adam's joy ride of extermination turns into something unexpected Charlie wares down Adam's defenses and learns that there is more to the story.''
2
3	''Besides, it's been a long time since Adam tried something new, and he's never got the chance to be an Uncle before.''
4
5	''Uncle Adam'' is a ''WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel'' fanfic by Creator/AkumaKami64.
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7	Adam and The Exorcists enact the extermination of the Sinners in Hell every year. One day, a little devil girl begs Adam to not kill the Sinners. Due to her being the daughter of Lucifer, Adam cannot harm her, but he can carry her back to her house as other Exorcists do the killing. And they talk throughout the trip.
8
9	This ended up happening every year, and Adam learned three things about Charlie; she truly believes in redeeming Sinners, she's way more sheltered than he expected, and Lucifer & Lillith are quite the neglectful parents.
10
11	It can be read [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/54140866 here]] or [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14332366/1/Uncle-Adam here]].
12	----
13	!!''Uncle Adam'' has the following examples:
14	* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: Since the setting of the fic starts in the year, 1920, plenty of characters would make their appearance earlier than in canon.
15	* AdaptationalNiceGuy:
16	** '''Adam''', which is a fundamental premise of the fic. He's ''still'' a misogynistic asshole who greatly enjoys slaughtering Sinners, just like in canon. However, his interactions with Charlie (and his first one with Emily) bring out his softer side, and even outside of that, he demonstrates positive aspects and characteristics that are absent from his canon incarnation.
17	*** He's a BenevolentBoss to the other Exorcists. He allows Earthborn Exorcists to leave without anything more than effectively signing a secrecy oath after they claim revenge against a particular Sinner who's wronged them in some way.
18	*** He is willing to offer deals to Sinners to spare them from the Extermination in exchange for selling out Overlords AND honor those deals (instead of just killing them anyway, which he could easily do without consequences given how powerful he is).
19	*** When the rare Sinner appears before him and asks for a MercyKill, Adam treats him with dignity. He even takes the time to answer a few sincere questions that the Sinner has about why he was sent to Hell before giving him a quick, relatively painless kill.
20	** '''Lute''' also gets this treatment in the fic. While Lute is still a zealous KnightTemplar who greatly enjoys slaughtering Sinners, just like in canon, she also has a softer side that depends on how Adam feels, especially regarding Adam's bond with Charlie and Emily.
21	* AdaptationalProtagonist: While Adam wasn't a minor character in canon, he was the ArcVillain of the first season before [[spoiler:eventually dying in the SeasonFinale by Nifty]]. Here, he's one of the main viewpoint characters.
22	* AdaptationSpeciesChange: Downplayed with Lute. While she's still an angel like in the canon series, it's not clear if she's a natural-born angel or a really, ''really'', '''''really''''' old human soul who managed to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence (i.e. a "[[AngelicTransformation Winner]]"). In the fic, Lute is of the former interpretation and [[spoiler:heavily implied (if not implicitly) to be a Houri as well]].
23	* AdaptedOut: The fic begins in 1920, so Rock music hasn't been invented yet, therefore Adam uses a spear like everybody else instead of an electric guitar.
24	* AfterlifeAvenger: Plenty of the Exorcists are ascended humans seeking their killer or molester, and Adam allows them to leave if they manage to kill their target and are only joining him for that.
25	* AgeLift: Inverted and justified. Since the fic starts in 1920, Charlie is only 10 (by Hellborn years) compared to her older canon counterpart.
26	* AllMythsAreTrue: PlayedWith. According to Adam, many human religions are misinterpretations of angels and demons (since humans [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm can't really comprehend them]]), with himself being the inspiration for Odin for instance. On the other hand, some religions are just outright wrong or made up.
27	* AlternateUniverseFic: The fic starts off with a 10-year-old Charlie Morningstar deciding to confront Adam and his Exorcists on the 1920 Extermination Day, a hundred years before they would meet in canon.
28	* AssholeVictim: While there are plenty of Sinners who didn't deserve to be killed by Adam and the Exorcists in the Extermination, the canon series and its sister series show that Hell is still '''{{Hell}}'''. There ''are'' Sinners who were [[BeyondRedemption fully unrepentant of their malicious actions]] in life (whether they're an [[AtLeastIAdmitIt admitted]] CardCarryingVillain, a KnightTemplar with narcissistic delusions of their "righteousness", etc.) and continue to do so after they've died and become demons. Ultimately, you'll be cheering for Adam, the Exorcists, or any other "nice" character (i.e. Lucifer and Alastor) giving those Sinners their eventual "just desserts".
29	* BlueAndOrangeMorality:
30	** [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] with Adam. While Adam does have a traditional sense of right and wrong and what's objectively moral and amoral, his overall (albeit nuanced) views and judgment of the newly deceased souls after spending over many millennials as an angel mostly focuses on how they live on Earth and what they've done by the time of their death rather than NatureVersusNurture or FreudianExcuse.
31	** Lute is [[spoiler:a Heavenborn angel, making her views and beliefs ''very'' different from that of a "Winner" and a Sinner. Also, she's implicitly a Houri for Adam, meaning her morality and beliefs center around what Adam wants her to be.]]
32	* BrutalHonesty:
33	** Adam admits to Charlie that if she was any normal Sinner, he would've killed her already.
34	** The Sinner who asks for a MercyKill initially tries to delude himself that he didn't belong in Hell because he sided with the Catholic Church in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristero_War Cristero War]]. Adam spells it out to him that that's not how it works.
35	--->'''Cristero War Sinner:''' I just want to know...were we wrong? The war I was in, was against those we felt were acting against the church and God. Am I here, because we were wrong about the war, entirely? Or--\
36	'''Adam:''' If you're asking if you were damned for choosing the wrong cause, the answer is no. You get into Hell for what you did on Earth, not what you believed came next.
37	* CerebusRetcon: InUniverse with the fic's version of the Hellaverse's Heaven.
38	** In the canon, Adam's current appearance as an Exorcist Angel has him wearing TwentyFourHourArmor for what's heavily implied to be CompensatingForSomething [[spoiler:given his first relationship with Lilith being a complete failure and the implication that Lucifer may have seduced his second wife]]. [[spoiler:In the fic, his heavily covered armor is the result of him still reeling from the leftover "shame" of feeling exposed after gaining free will, and he describes it as a "tear in his soul".]]
39	** In canon, Lute's convicted response to Charlie's question of her really thinking that Angels don't make mistakes makes her a bigoted [[TautologicalTemplar tautological]] KnightTemplar. [[spoiler:In the fic, her beliefs are much more sympathetic and justified given that the InternalReveal of Lucifer and Lilith caused plenty of problems for Heaven that would've led to it becoming a ''second'' Hell.]]
40	** As shown in ''[[Recap/HazbinHotelS1E6WelcomeToHeaven Welcome to Heaven]]'', Heaven is eventually revealed to be [[spoiler:something of CrapsaccharineWorld where ''no one'' knows what gets a deceased soul into being ascended and [[OrderIsNotGood the order they uphold is broken and unfair]]. Still, they refused to try and "fix" the system as they feared it would lead them into becoming {{Fallen Angel}}s like Lucifer.]] [[spoiler:In the fic, for all its perceived flaws, Heaven ''do'' want to create a better afterlife for the ascended human souls after all of Creation and Eden being broken from Lucifer and Lilith's extremely short-sighted attempts to do good. Also, while they still don't exactly know what gets a soul into Heaven, they do know what actions can lead a soul to damnation (e.g. [[ThouShallNotKill murder]]).]]
41	** The yearly Exterminations also get this treatment in the fic. As seen at the beginning of the first episode with Adam and Lute, the Exterminations of Sinners are merely Heaven's [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist attempt to cull the overpopulation situation of Hell, while also preventing any demon from rising against them and serving as]] "[[ItAmusedMe entertainment]]". [[spoiler:That's also not getting into the general population of Heaven being unaware of the yearly exterminations and the GovernmentConspiracy with Heaven's elite and the Exorcists]] In the fic, the yearly Exterminations of Sinners [[spoiler:are revealed to have been a ''last'' resort of dealing with the numerous problems that arise from Hell's overpopulation of Sinners using contracts to empower themselves into Overlords and eventually '''Archfiends''', with the latter having enough power to kill angelic beings and eventually invade Heaven to turn it into a ''second'' Hell.]]
42	* ComingOfAgeStory: While Adam gets most of the focus in the fic, Charlie and Emily's personal growth as they reconcile their WideEyedIdealist views with the [[GreyAndGrayMorality nuances of the world]] and think more heavily about what it means to be TheRedeemer is also important.
43	* ConstantlyCurious: Due to how sheltered she is, Charlie constantly asks Adam what it's like in Eden and how different it is compared to Hell.
44	* DeaderThanDead: Just like in the canon show, angelic steel is the only way to permanently kill Sinners, the Goetia Hellborn, and the Seven Deadly Sins as it gimps their ability to resurrect themselves.
45	* DecapitationPresentation: Alastor debuted during 1933's Extermination Day by creating a pile of Overlord heads for the Exorcists to find, and hook up to a radio to broadcast their screams across Hell.
46	* DelayedReaction: Adam has this reaction when Lute reports that the Exorcists found an Overlord, but it's UsefulNotes/GrigoriRasputin.
47	-->'''Adam:''' ...Didn't we kill him already?\
48	'''Lute:''' That is what I thought, Sir.
49	* DoWithHimAsYouWill: Adam didn't deal the finishing blow against Jack the Ripper -- because that right belongs to one of the Exorcists who was one of Jack's former victims.
50	* TheDreaded: Elizabeth Bathory is so dangerous as an Overlord that she's at the top of the list of people that Lucifer has told Charlie to avoid.
51	* EnemyCivilWar: According to Charlie's inner narration, there have been several internal conflicts in Hell over the centuries, including a revolt against Lucifer and Lilith by Crusader Sinners, an attempt by Dracula to unite Pentagram City, and efforts by Roman Sinners to establish an Overlord Republic. In the period actually covered by the fic, we see a war break out between Lucifer and Elizabeth Bathory when the latter tries to abduct Charlie.
52	* EvenEvilHasStandards:
53	** It's more like Even ''Jerk'' Has Standards; Adam is still an asshole who enjoys killing Sinners and a misogynistic pervert to anyone with a vagina under their skirt, but he's got a couple of these that are absent from his canon incarnation.
54	*** When Charlie responds to him with a DoubleEntendre response, he mentally refuses to respond with a flirt, as he knows that Charlie is at least 100 years old, but for a hellborn that's 10 years for her, and therefore she is a minor.
55	*** If a Sinner is willing to sell out their Overlord, Adam and the Exorcists will spare them from the year (although admittedly part of this could fall under PragmaticVillainy as well).
56	*** Adam will also treat regretful Sinners who ask for a MercyKill with respect and dignity, giving them quick and painless kills and even taking time to answer sincere questions before giving the MercyKill.
57	*** He's also genuinely furious with Lucifer's less-than-impressive parenting skills.
58	*** As much as he hates Lucifer and Lilith, Adam isn't petty enough to [[BrokenPedestal destroy Charlie's view of her parents]] out of spite.
59	** Both Adam and Alastor are thoroughly disgusted by [[spoiler:what the Axis Powers are doing to their victims, to the point that Adam is willing to make a bargain with Alastor to keep him off the extermination list ''permanently'' if he assists him in slaughtering some of the particularly evil souls that will inevitably come down.]]
60	* EvilCounterpart: Like in the canon show, Alastor serves as an evil counterpart to Charlie in the fic and moreso given Charlie's younger age, life experiences, AnimalMotifs, and their relationship with Adam.
61	* EvilEvolves: Just like the canon series, Sinners can grow strong enough to become Overlords if they have enough soul contracts. [[spoiler:Also, they could eventually evolve into Archfiends, with enough power to overcome the Angels' Immanence.]]
62	* EvilVersusEvil:
63	** Sinners usually wage war against each other for various reasons when Adam and his Exorcists aren't around.
64	** Alastor specifically goes after Sinners who either became or are Overlords to demonstrate his own power.
65	* ExtremeMeleeRevenge: Adam pins Jack the Ripper down with his spear as The Overlord's victim-turned-Exorcist stabs him with hers repeatedly.
66	* GlamourFailure: Adam can tell that the "Charlie" he meets in 1933 is actually Lucifer from his smell.
67	* GoneHorriblyRight: Lucifer tries to show Charlie that Adam is not a good person by secretly tailing him with her as he goes exterminating and sees him in action. Not only did Charlie already know that Adam is that brutal from his repeated BrutalHonesty, but it ended up traumatizing her.
68	* GoodFeelsGood: Discussed between Charlie and Lute in chapter 6.
69	-->'''Lute:''' ''Say you convinced us to stop, saved those sinners outside. Are you doing it because you care about those miserable souls, or does it just make you feel good to think you helped others?''
70	-->'''Charlie:''' ''I'm...What? I don't understand. Is it wrong to feel good about helping others...?''
71	-->'''Lute:''' ''Do you want their happiness or their gratitude?''
72	-->'''Charlie:''' (looked down) ''I...I don't know. I've never really...been able to help someone, besides my parents. And Adam. I don't know if it's different with strangers.''
73	* TheGrandHunt:
74	** The Extermination is this to the Exorcists, where they treat it like a game with scores counting.
75	** Fittingly, Alastor likens his kills of Overlords to a hunt.
76	* GreyAndGrayMorality: [[spoiler:Ultimately, there's little innocence of both sides of the fic and the characters.]]
77	* GutFeeling: Adam tells Lucifer to look after Charlie more seriously because he has a feeling that something horrible is about to happen in the human world. [[labelnote:explanation]] This bit happens in 1933, when Ukraine faced the worst part of the Holodomor famine and the Nazi party just got into power in Germany. [[/labelnote]]
78	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: The author creates OriginalCharacter Overlords that are based on real criminals, including UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper, UsefulNotes/GrigoriRasputin, and UsefulNotes/ElizabethBathory.
79	* HistoricalInJoke: The fact that Rasputin [[RasputinianDeath needs to be killed more than once]].
80	* HopeSpot: Adam teaches Emily that the main duty of Heaven's gatekeeper is to greet souls coming in and assure them that they really are in Heaven, {{Avert\|edTrope}}ing this trope.
81	--> "When people get to Heaven, they know it has to be real in their hearts, but some last bit of their lives on Earth cling to them, warning them that it can't be true. It's too perfect, too unreal. That it must be a trick, a dream. They don't WANT to believe it because if they do and it isn't real? The disappointment could destroy them."
82	* ItsALongStory: The whole reason for Lucifer (Plus Lillith) and Adam's hate for each other is a sore topic for all parties involved, so Charlie hasn't gotten any answer about it, no matter how often she asks and who she asks it to.
83	* JerkassHasAPoint: As abrasive as Adam is, Lucifer acknowledges that he and Lilith do coddle Charlie and have been too hands-off in raising her, including letting her roam Hell during Extermination Day.
84	* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Make no mistake, Alastor is still a sadistic and cannibalistic SerialKiller like in canon. But thanks to his [[BlueAndOrangeMorality weird moral compass]] and growing up as a Crecole man in the early 20th century of New Orleans, Louisiana, he has plenty of [[EvenEvilHasStandards standards]] that would make him a '''saint''' compared to the more depraved and impulsive Sinners and Hellborn and the [[spoiler:Axis Powers]].
85	* LikeFatherUnlikeSon: After Charlie admits that she's young compared to her parents and Adam, but swears to not give up in either changing the latter's mind about culling Sinners or finding an alternative to reduce Hell's population without killing them, Adam can't help but states that she's nothing like Lucifer or Lilith.
86	* LoveBeforeFirstSight: More like ''Friendship Before First Sight''. When Charlie first hears about Emily from Adam in chapter 4, she immediately thinks of Emily as a very nice person and implicitly thinks of her as a good friend. Considering how their first meeting went in the canon series episode, "Welcome to Heaven", it's a major CallForward.
87	* MercyKill: A newly-arrived Sinner asks for this from the Exorcist, for he feels ashamed that he ended up in Hell despite being on the side of the Church during a war, and Adam grants it to him.
88	* MirrorCharacter: Like in canon, Emily is this for Charlie. Both are PrincessClassic in their respective worlds with friendly, optimistic, and idealistic personalities. Most importantly, it's to a plot point that they both bring out Adam's better qualities, slowly reconcile their WideEyedIdealism with the [[GrayAndGreyMorality nuances of their respective worlds]], and think more heavily about their goals to be TheRedeemer. Adam, and many other characters who knew Charlie and Emily by extension, lampshade the similarities between the two girls and assure Charlie that [[CallForward one day they'll meet in maybe a century]].
89	* MoralityPet: Charlie gradually becomes one to Adam throughout the fic. On the Heaven side, Emily helps bring out Adam's kinder qualities.
90	* TheNicknamer: Adam. From "Hellflake" for Charlie to "Flufflecake" for Emily.
91	* NoSuchThingAsSpaceJesus: Downplayed. According to Adam, there's no such thing as the Abrahamic {{God}} or the various polytheistic gods, only angels and demons that humanity has collectively mistaken for them due to being [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm incapable of comprehending their true form]] at a certain point.
92	* OddFriendship: "Friendship" probably isn't the right word to describe the relationship between Adam and Alastor, but there's certainly a (rather unusual) camaraderie between Adam and Alastor. They get along well enough that Adam is willing to accept help from Alastor in finding Elizabeth Bathory and keep him safe from the extermination list for 5 years. [[spoiler:And it's heavily implied that both Adam and Alastor are so disgusted by the atrocities committed by the Axis Powers that Adam is willing to keep Alastor off the extermination list ''permanently'' in exchange for assistance in dealing with high-ranking Sinners from the Axis Powers once they inevitably end up in Hell.]]
93	* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Downplayed; Adam is busy consoling the scared Charlie from her nightmare while Lucifer fighting off Elizabeth Bathory in the background, but both can see the explosions and hear Lucifer's roar.
94	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Alastor is a sadistic and cannibalistic SerialKiller who always keep a clear mind and a permanent smile on his face (it's implied that he can't make other facial gestures), [[spoiler:but the moment he hears from Adam of the war crimes and atrocities committed by the ''Axis Powers'', you know that things are serious for him as his smile falters a bit and to call the Coalition '''demonic'''.]]
95	* PapaWolf: When Lucifer realizes that Bathory is after Charlie, he hunts her down and obliterates her followers while trying to kill her.
96	* PragmaticVillainy: Adam lets other Sinners sell out an Overlord's location in exchange for sparing them for a year. It lets them get a bigger target and helps sow chaos in Hell by stating that not even Overlords are safe from The Exorcists.
97	-->'''Adam:''' We let her sell out an Overlord to save her skin for a year. If word gets around about that...\
98	'''Lute:''' ''Grins'' Oh how fast the filth will turn on each other.
99	* ReasonYouSuckSpeech: After dropping Charlie to her room and flying away, Adam delivers one to Lucifer how hands-off he is at raising Charlie.
100	--> "I am your enemy. The man that hates you, ''both'' of you, most in all of time and space! No exception. [[ArmorPiercingQuestion So why am I had to save YOUR daughter while she was attacked in YOUR kingdom by one of YOUR sinners]]?"
101	* RedBaron: Alastor goes by many names, but to Adam and his associates, he's given the nickname of "The Stag of Crescent".
102	* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: A female Sinner makes a deal with the Exorcists to spare her in return for leading them to an Overlord. However, the Exorcists also subtlety spread the word of what she has done, ensuring her death at the hands of other Overlords out of fear of becoming her next meat shield.
103	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: {{Reconstructed\|Trope}}. As Adam tells Charlie most bluntly and truthfully he would, if she wasn't a Hellborn (and even then, he probably wouldn't care if he can get away with it), never mind the Princess of Hell, he wouldn't hesitate to kill her upon first sight. Gradually, this allows Charlie to become something of a MoralityPet to Adam during the yearly timeskips.
104	* SinsOfOurFathers: Adam assures Charlie and Lucifer that he'll [[DefiedTrope defy]] this trope, for Charlie has nothing to do with the bad blood between him and Lucifer.
105	* ThisCannotBe: PlayedForLaughs. Lucifer is in shock that not only his daughter is almost friendly with his ArchNemesis, but she also gets to ride on his back flying home every year.
106	--> "This is a nightmare. I'm just having a bad dream. I'll wake up in a moment and still be wondering what to say at the Extermination. And maybe I won't bring Charlie along after all."
107	* TranquilFury: Charlie is surprised at how calm Adam is when he proclaims that he hates her parents. He explains that he's been hating them for so long that he has gotten used to feeling it at all times.
108	* UnreliableExpositor: This applies to characters from Heaven and Hell.
109	** The more Charlie spends time and bonds with Adam during the yearly timeskips, the more she gradually realizes that the stories she read and heard from her parents about him, the history of hell, and themselves as "rebellious dreamers being unfairly persecuted", are becoming ''very'' inaccurate. [[spoiler:In chapter 9, Lilith eventually tells Charlie (off-screen) that while the stories aren't fully true, it did feel that way to her.]]
110	** On the flip side, [[spoiler:Emily learns of Heaven's version of Lucifer (as brutally explained through Lute) as a selfish being who's utterly unable to empathize with anyone that didn't think similarly to himself, and when everyone else told him an idea was dangerous, he was arrogant enough to ignore every opinion that didn't match his own.]]
111	* VitriolicBestBuds: Adam and Lute can be described as this.
112	--> '''Lute:''' Was there any trouble? With taking the...Princess home?\
113	'''Adam:''' Lute, it's me. I'm the opposite of polite company, you uptight bitch.\
114	'''Lute:''' Very well, Sir. Was there any trouble with the whorespawn?\
115	'''Adam:''' ''Sighs'' You crazy...
116	* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: Emily notes that Adam only uses her name instead of calling her "Fluffcake" when he has something serious to talk to her about.

Context Fanfic / UncleAdam