The Ghosts of the Old Castle
(Призраки старого замка) is a Russian The Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors Alternate Universe fanfic by Ископаемая рыба and Ничья (mostly based on the film adaptation).
The two ministers, Nushrok and Abazh, and Nushrok's daughter Anidag, scheme to seize the throne from the weak-willed Puppet King. Abazh is aided by his mysterious agent, who tells him about two odd girls appearing in the palace with a laughably idiotic plan of a heroic mission, and also about the dark family drama involving Abazh's main enemies: Nushrok has grown to love his daughter in a rather non-fatherly way, and Anidag is absolutely repulsed by it but uses his affection to manipulate him.
Tropes featured in the fanfic:
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
- In the book, there is Incest Subtext surrounding Nushrok and Anidag, but their relationship, whether perverted or not, is mutually loving and respectful. In the movie, Anidag plots to kill her father, but there are no implications of incest. Here, Nushrok has one-sided incestuous feelings for his daughter while she plots to kill him.
- Aunt Aksal is an ardent revolutionary in the book and the film who hates the nobility. Here, she works for Abazh and later conspires with Yagupop's brother.
- Adaptational Villainy: The manipulative spymaster serving Abazh turns out to be Aunt Aksal, the kindly and helpful cook in the book and the movie.
- All for Nothing: All the manipulations and plotting of Nushrok, Anidag and Abazh achieve nothing in the long term, as all of them are killed in rapid succession and forgotten by almost everyone.
- Courtly Love: Incredibly, a creepy version thereof is present here. Nushrok keeps his interactions with Anidag strictly platonic and respectful, not that it fools anyone as to the nature of his feelings.
- Culture Clash: In the cutthroat world of the Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors, Wide-Eyed Idealist girls Olya and Yalo, raised (at least in Olya's case) on stories of bravery and self-sacrifice, look so out of place that Aunt Aksal considers it possible they might just be crazy.
- Darker and Edgier: The film was much more whimsical than the book, but this fic outdoes even the latter. In both book and movie canon, Nushrok was the only non-backstory casualty and got killed by the heroes, while here, Anidag, Nushrok, Yagupop, Bar, Abazh, and Aksal are all murdered by each other or each other's agents by the end.
- Downer Ending: The main characters all die as a result of backstabbing each other. Olya and Yalo survive and get their canonical happy ending, but it feels hollow against all the bleakness, not to mention that their heroics turn out to be orchestrated for the sake of advancing Aunt Aksal's plans. The only details that keep the ending from being utterly hopeless are the loving relationship between the narrator and her niece in the Framing Device story, and the fact that the ghosts leave the castle in the end.
- Evil Gloating: Abazh can be convincingly polite and friendly but won't hesitate to let his true feelings off his chest if the enemies are dying or weak.
- While Anidag is dying, Abazh taunts her about how foolish she is to expect any help from him, since someone who is ready to kill their own father is clearly not someone you'd want to trust. Abazh adds that he deeply hates both her and her father and that he is the one who poisoned her.
- Later, after Nushrok arrives on the scene, Abazh gleefully reveals that Anidag tried to poison him. This time, though, it causes Nushrok to muster enough strength to try to attack Abazh, and had it not been for Bar, things could have ended differently.
- Evil vs. Evil: Played with. The three main sides in the conflict are all vicious, deceitful, and power-hungry. However, the narrator (revealed to be Asyrk, Anidag's former maidservant) feels they are not completely monstrous and should be judged by someone impartial, like her niece to whom she's telling the story, and judging by how the ghosts leave the castle in the end, it looks like they were waiting precisely for that.
- False Friend:
- Abazh gains Anidag's trust but never intends to put her on the throne. He spits that into her face while she is dying, poisoned by him; however, he is convinced (and not without reason) that she would have executed him right after gaining the throne.
- Aunt Aksal pretends to be a friend of Olya and Yalo while really just using them for her own ends. They never find it out.
- Fatal Flaw: The fierce lust for power that Nushrok, Abazh and Anidag all have is the main reason this fic is headed towards a tragic ending pretty much from the start.
- In Vino Veritas:
- Nushrok keeps his interactions with Anidag platonic, so she thinks his Longing Looks could be simply her imagination. Then, after drinking a bit too much after a successful political gambit, he blurts out he loves her.
- After Aksal's agents get Bar drunk, he tells them about Nushrok's feelings for Anidag, her disgust about them, and his own hatred for Nushrok.
- Incest-ant Admirer: Nushrok is absolutely besotted with Anidag, who finds the fact revolting but later exploits it. And then she tries to poison him.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Amazingly enough, Nushrok, the Big Bad of the film and the book, becomes this. He is the least treacherous one of the lot and the only one who is able to love (even though in an extremely perverted way). His death is also depicted as a tragic moment, since he is completely brokenhearted after Anidag's death, correctly realizes that she tried to poison him in good part thanks to Abazh's machinations, and tries to kill Abazh in revenge, only to be killed by Bar who blames everything on him.
- Old Retainer: Bar is an old servant of Anidag's and is very fond of her, despite her spoiled and selfish nature.
- Parental Neglect: For years, Nushrok paid no attention to his daughter, and she deeply resented him for that.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Aunt Aksal never harms Olya and Yalo and lets them leave, since either they come from a very distant land or they are Too Dumb to Live — in both cases, they won't be of any danger to her or Abazh's plans.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Abazh gains the throne but soon undergoes Sanity Slippage, turning the Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors into a worse tyranny than before. Several months later, he is assassinated.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: The main theme of the story and the main reason for Characters Dropping Like Flies.
- Anidag is fatally poisoned by Abazh after helping with his schemes. As Abazh points out, how could she expect him to trust her after she tried to poison her own father?
- Bar, whose murder of Nushrok eliminated Abazh's last rival, is executed on Abazh's orders after the latter gains the throne, because, again, traitors are untrustworthy.
- Aksal, who poisons King Yagupop to clear the way for Abazh, is later killed on Abazh's orders after conspiring with Yagupop's brother, when it becomes clear Abazh is completely unhinged.
- She's All Grown Up: A highly creepy version thereof. Nushrok has been completely uninvolved with raising Anidag, leaving her in the care of nurses and governesses, and one day he is fascinated with a gorgeous and brilliant woman at a royal ball... and only afterwards realizes it's his own daughter.
- Stringing the Hopeless Suitor Along: Like multiple romance tropes in this fic, this one comes in a messed-up variation. Anidag hates her father and he doesn't intend to act out on his feelings, but she acts just tenderly enough with him to keep him wrapped around her little finger.
- Written by the Winners: After Yagupop the Seventy-Eighth becomes king, he takes care to blacken Abazh's name as much as possible (not that it's a lot of work) and whitewash the circumstances of his own ascension to the throne. As a result, barely anyone knows the real story behind Abazh's reign.
