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Dark Universe: Of Monsters and Men

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Unmarked Wolfman (2010) spoilers below! You have been warned!

Dark Universe: Of Monsters and Men is a combined universe continuation that aims to combine the classic Universal Studio monsters, namely from The Wolfman (2010), The Mummy (1999), The Mummy (2017), and Dracula Untold.

The original on Fanfiction.net is titled The Wolfman of Scotland Yard. The original author, Dawn's Edge, hasn't updated the work since 2015, solidifying the original fic's status as a dead fic. The AO3 version openly admits to repurposing the original fanfic as a jumping off point for the continuation of the story.

Following the events of The Wolfman, Inspector Francis Aberline has been bitten and cursed by Lawrence Talbot. The story begins with Aberline experiencing his first full moon, but thanks to precautionary steps taken by Gwen Conliffe, he is safely locked away in the cellar of her antique shop before he has the chance to harm anyone. However, a growing number of murders indicate Aberline is not the only monster stalking the streets of London.


This fanfic provides examples of:

    open/close all folders 
     A 
  • Accidental Pun: There are several occasions where Godley uses euphemisms and phrasing around Aberline that's pretty innocent, assuming he doesn't secretly know his boss is a savage, canine-esque monster.
  • Adaptation Expansion: Aberline's personal history and interpersonal relationships within the Yard is greatly expanded, often drawing on real life relationships of the real-life Abberline.
  • Adaptational Name Change: Sort of. Frank Andrews was a character in the original 1941 Wolfman, but in the story he's also loosely based on a real life Inspector Walter Simon Andrews. His name and character was also altered from Dawn's Edge's original fanfic where he was named George Hopkins.

     B 
  • Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Aberline being a werewolf.
  • Blind Musician: A key witness to one of the murders happens to be a blind soldier who plays music for money.
  • Blood from the Mouth: Whenever he transforms, Aberline's teeth are forcefully pushed out by a new set of fangs forcing him to spit them out along with a massive amount of blood.
  • Body Horror: Just a few parts of the werewolf transformation include having ones teeth fall out, claws skewer through their nailbeds, feeling coarse hair covering the skin, and actually hearing the changing bones grinding against each other from within.
  • Britain Is Only London: As the main character is the Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard, it's a bit hard for the story to move outside the bounds of London. That being said, brief trips are made to Blackmoor and Oxford University.

     D 
  • Da Chief: Aberline often butts heads with his superior, Commissioner Bradford. He ends up going behind his back to get any progress on his investigations.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: A good number of the main characters have this to some degree, it's almost easier to pick out the ones who had good pasts.
  • Driven to Suicide: Subverted. After Aberline realizes he's going to have to deal with the werewolf's curse for the rest of his life, he almost slits his wrists with a silver razor. It probably didn't help that he got himself hopelessly drunk just an hour prior.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: Aberline inadvertently ends up doing this while on a stakeout in a pub. It doesn't help that he can't hold his liquor very well leading to him becoming even more depressed and almost committing suicide.

     F 

     I 
  • If Only You Knew: In his rush to lock himself up during his first transformation, Aberline bumps into a young flower girl and knocks her wares to the ground. When she calls him out for his rude behavior, her insult is a little too on point.
    Flower Girl: Why you...! You...! You beast!
  • It's All My Fault: Aberline considers the deaths Lawrence Talbot caused in London his fault since he didn't listen to Talbot's warnings or bother to take precautionary measures that might've saved them.
  • Innocent Flower Girl: The first murder victim which kicks off the mystery of the story.

     J 
  • Just in Time: Despite Aberline being in the middle of transforming by the time he reaches the Antique Shop, Gwen just barely manages to get him locked into the cellar before he fully turns. Talk about a close shave.

     L 
  • Love Hurts: Gwen is still grieving of the loss of both Ben and Lawrence Talbot, after all it hasn't even been a year since she lost both. Aberline is also shown to still grieve over the lost of his wife Martha.

     M 
  • Monster Mash: Only werewolves have made an appearance thus far, but the AO3 tags hint at mummies and vampires in due course.
  • My Greatest Failure: At least both Lawrence and John Talbot are confirmed dead. Aberline continues to be haunted by his failure to catch the Ripper.
  • Mysterious Stranger: Rather on the nose as a character is straight up called "The Stranger".
  • Mythology Gag: Little easter eggs and references to other monster movies pop up in the story.
    • While in a bar, three laborers ask in passing about an acquaintance named Twiddle, Twiddle being a minor character from the 1941 Wolfman.

     N 
  • Nightmare Sequence: During one of Aberline's nightmares, a group of creepy, shadowy kids play the game "What's the Time Mr Wolf" with Aberline (literally) being the wolf.

     O 
  • Obviously Not Fine: Between his depression and the overall lack of taking care of his health, the only surprise is why Aberline thinks anyone would believe his claims of being "Just fine."

     P 
  • Painful Transformation: Par for the coarse in any werewolf transformation. Not to mention the minutes leading up to the change, the body is already pumping cortisol into the body to prepare for the agony.
  • Past Experience Nightmare: Victims of the werewolf's curse are forced to experience severe nightmares. Phantoms of Aberline's past and present torment him, sometimes just replaying memories of the horror he experienced during the Talbot case.
  • Pseudo-Canonical Fic: Despite being something of a Fix Fic and taking liberties with character direction, there is a clear attempt to work within the pre-existing canon established by the Universal Monster movies.

     R 
  • Rage Against the Reflection: Aberline smashes the mirror after refusing to go through with his suicide attempt. Although it was somewhat justified seeing as his reflection was taunting him, literally.
  • Right for the Wrong Reasons: Andrews deduces that his superior must be in some kind of trouble due to his unusually dower temperament and bizarrely secretive behavior as of late. Although correct on the former deduction, Andrews mistakenly theorizes that Aberline's trouble stems from Gwen blackmailing/brainwashing him as opposed to him suffering from a werewolf's curse.

     S 
  • Ship Sinking: The author makes it very clear that Gwen and Aberline have no romantic feelings for each other whatsoever nor will they develop them.
  • Shout-Out: "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" is mentioned as a play within the story's universe.
  • Silver Has Mystic Powers: Knowing that silver can kill a werewolf, Aberline nearly commits suicide via slitting his wrists with a silver straight razor.
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: Whenever Aberline is close to transforming, his eyes turn a glowing amber.

     W 
  • Working-Class Werewolves: Being turned into a werewolf doesn't mean you get an exemption from tedious paperwork or mundane police reports.

     Y 
  • You Did Everything You Could: Even though Aberline is wracked with guilt over his failure to protect London or help Lawrence, who he acknowledges was just a victim of the curse, Gwen reassures that he was only performing his duty as an officer and none of the bad things that happened was his fault.
  • You Wouldn't Believe Me If I Told You: Despite several background characters being eye-witnesses to a werewolf transformation, they all collectively refuse to speak of or admit it out of fear they will be perceived as crazy (or maybe to preserve their own sanity). Aberline in particular keeps his condition secret in fear that, should he admit it to anyone, he will be detained as a lunatic and wind up hurting people the way Talbot did at Lambeth.

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