This page is for tropes that have appeared in The Terror (the series, not the novel).
For the rest:
- I Am a Humanitarian: As supplies run out and desperation (fueled by the madness of lead poisoning) sets in, the party resorts to cannibalism to survive...with Hickey leading the charge.
- Implied Love Interest: Goodsir and Lady Silence form a close bond over the course of the series, the exact nature of which is never specified. While it's hinted a few times that Goodsir may have romantic feelings for her, nothing explicit is said or shown. Ultimately, it's a case of "what might have been," since he is Driven to Suicide and she is forced into exile after Tuunbaq's death.
- In the Back: Hickey uses his trusted knife on Gibson's back when he is not useful to him anymore.
- Insistent Terminology: Goodsir is the first to point out that he's only a surgeon, not a doctor. Indeed, British surgeons to this day are still referred to as Mr/Miss etc, not 'Dr'.
- Irony:
- In episode 3, Sir John tells Crozier that he is not fit for command in a fit of anger. Sir John is killed by the monster by the end of the episode, forcing Crozier to assume command.
- Blanky in episode 9: Dying of gangrene, he walks away from the camp to draw the Tuunbaq off. Eventually he can go no further, sits down on a hillside — and suddenly realizes that the stretch of frozen ocean he's looking out over is the Northwest Passage the whole expedition came out here to find. His only reaction is to burst out laughing and note it down on his map while he waits to die.
- After they’re caught fooling around, Hickey discovers Gibson has sold him out to Lieutenant Irving, though Gibson insists this betrayal was necessary to spare them both from a more severe punishment. In the penultimate episode of the season, Hickey repays this figurative backstab by literally stabbing Gibson in the back, though this too (in theory) is done to spare the other further suffering.
- It Can Think: The crew of the expedition debate whether or not the monster is deliberately picking off the leaders of the group: first Gore, then Franklin...
- It Gets Easier: Invoked by Hickey while trying to convince Goodsir to cut a body for lunch, and defied by the latter. Hickey says that as an anatomist, Goodsir might not even remember how many bodies he has dissected... and Goodsir cuts him by stating that they were twenty (and implicitly, remembers them all).
- Jerkass Has a Point: Hickey and the superstitious sailors believe Lady Silence is a witch controlling the Tuunbaq. While it's not clear to them at the time whether she's actually commanding the beast to kill (in fact, she’s obviously terrified of the creature), there is clearly some connection between the two.
- Karmic Death: In episode 3, Franklin has the Inuit shaman unceremoniously dumped into an ice hole without even a service; the Tuunbaq later throws him into the same hole.
- Kick the Dog:
- Sir John seems like a good guy, until we find out that he forbids his niece from marrying the accomplished and perfectly honorable Crozier on account of his Irish heritage.
- When Hickey disobeys orders and then argues against his punishment, Crozier orders him to be lashed thirty times as a boy, meaning he has his trousers pulled down and viciously whipped across his bare ass until it's scarred and bloody. By the standards of the time, this was actually a light punishment.
- Killed Offscreen: Des Voeux. While he escaped the Tuunbaq's final slaughter of the mutineers, he's very obviously on his last legs the final time we see him.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Crozier is grumpy and cynical, with no faith in God. As time goes by, though, he becomes a loving and protective leader.
- Last Disrespects:
- Lady Silence's father is denied a funeral according to either Inuit or Christian religion, and is just dumped through an icehole as if he was trash.
- Every character that ends cannibalized or left to die. Crozier tries to delay it as much as he can, only denying Fitzjames a proper service and headstone because he doesn't want his body torn apart by the hungry survivors. He later sees Hickey wearing Fitzjames's boots and realizes the mutineers desecrated the grave anyway.
- Last Kiss: After Peglar dies, a heartbroken Bridgens kisses his hand.
- Lethal Chef: The Erebus cook's solution to rotting tinned food contaminated with lead? Add salt.
- List of Transgressions: Before Hickey's flogging, Crozier recites the charges to the assembled crew.Crozier: For the crimes of insubordination, dereliction of duty, desertion, kidnapping, brutality, and dirtiness, Petty Officer Cornelius Hickey will be flogged 30 lashes. As a boy.
- Magical Native American: Lady Silence is the Inuk equivalent.
- Magic Versus Technology: The supernatural Tuunbaq against a well-equipped Royal Navy expedition.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": In Terror Camp Clear, this is the reaction of the expedition when the Tuunbaq attacks the camp. Made even worse by the fog and fact that it caught them out in the open, allowing it to easily slaughter men left and right.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It isn't made entirely clear whether the Tuunbaq died almost immediately after tearing Hickey in half because Hickey's soul had become so foul that trying to eat it (and the rest of him) poisoned the monster, or if it simply choked on him.
- Meat Grinder Surgery: MacDonald is forced to amputate Blanky's leg after an attack by the Tuunbaq.
- Medieval Prehistory: The Tuunbaq resembles the extinct short-faced bear in size and proportions, though with a more human-like face.
- Morality Pet:
- Despite being a classist, racist, and British imperialist (though toned down in all three from the original source), Sir John doesn't come across as entirely bad, because he cares for the pet monkey gifted to him by his wife.
- Crozier comes across as better than all other officers because he cares for the Inuit and defends Lady Silence when he can. He's also kind to the ship's dog Neptune, and his steward Mr. Jopson.
- Dr. Stanley has a scene drawing a picture, and talking lovingly of his (fictional) daughter right before he commits mass murder-suicide after losing his mind.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Hickey killed a man in order to take his place on the Franklin expedition. As Crozier points out, Hickey could just as easily have signed up himself.
- The Mutiny:
- Hickey stages one, leading a revolt and taking away a large chunk of what remains of the ship's company.
- The remnants of Crozier's loyalists make a more subdued one. When Lt. Little, senior of the two officers they have left, says they must go back and rescue Crozier, the men simply refuse to do it. They also refuse to obey Crozier's command to take the sick with them, instead leaving those men to die in their tents.
- Earlier in the series Crozier nearly mutinies himself. After Franklin refuses to admit how much trouble they're in, and refuses to permit Crozier to take a party of men and voyage down the Back River so they can find civilization and rescue, Crozier elects to go anyway. The only thing that stops him is the monster killing Sir John, which leaves Crozier in command of the expedition.
- Mysterious Antarctica: The Arctic is presented as such to the viewer, and definitely this for the characters.
- Naïve Newcomer: Most of the crews, but out of the main characters it’s most emphasized with Goodsir, the Nice Guy doctor, and Fitzjames, who has never commanded anything of this scale before.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The expedition sails on the Terror and the Erebus (Greek god of darkness). Both vessels were warships before being converted for explorationnote .
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Hickey was already a sociopathic Bastard Bastard, but the flogging ordered by Crozier pushed him into a full Face–Heel Turn and Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal.
- Crozier lashes out at Blanky in a fit of drunken anger, ordering him to go out and get a "full report" of conditions on the ice. This puts Blanky in the Tuunbaq's sights when it storms Terror moments later, costing him his leg, and is ultimately part of the reason for his death.
- Nice Guy:
- Lt. Graham Gore is shown to be a friendly officer who treats the men of his scouting party very fairly, taking one of the haul lines to pull their boat and equipment when he could easily pawn the hard work off on the enlisted men, until he becomes the Tuunbaq’s first victim.
- Surgeon Harry Goodsir is probably the nicest and most compassionate member of the expedition.
- Crozier's steward (later Lt.) Thomas Jopson deserves a mention as well for being, along with Goodsir, one of the most unambiguously good men on the expedition.
- No Matter How Much I Beg: Crozier does this before Going Cold Turkey. Acutely aware that he must quit drinking so he can lead the men, he tells Jopson and his officers to shut him up in his cabin and leave him there until he's through withdrawal, even though "I may beg." They do, and he makes it.
- No Name Given: Although we don't find this out until near the end. The man we know as "Cornelius Hickey" actually murdered the real Cornelius Hickey and took his place on the ship. We never do find out what Fake Hickey's name is; the most we're given are the initials E.C. that Fake Hickey carved into the chest where he stowed his belongings.
- Noodle Incident: Morfin mentions in First Shot a Winner, Lads, to Goodsir that he had been flogged once before, and does not go into further detail as to why, though the latter asks.
- Not Himself: Lead poisoning, scurvy, and plain desperation have these effects on the crew. Exemplified by Jacko the monkey, which goes from calm and friendly to erratic and violent after Goodsir changes its porcelain feeding plate for a lead can.
- Nothing Is Scarier:
- Even before the Tuunbaaq is revealed, there are plenty of suspenseful moments where it seems obvious that something nasty is out there, but nothing shows itself.
- When Diver Collins is clearing ice from Erebus's prop. Already nervous in the unfamiliar Arctic waters, and well-aware that any malfunction in his diving suit will most likely be fatal, Collins sees — or perhaps imagines — a dark figure floating towards him in the water, and immediately panics.
- Even as British sailors and marines are dropping like flies, the Tuunbaq remains out of sight, leaving only tracks and mutilated bodies.
- Oh, Crap!: By the boatload.
- Franklin at the end of Go For Broke when he sees that the ships have become trapped in the ice, the exact situation they were trying to avoid.
- Goodsir has one when he goes to fetch Lt. Gore and arrives just in time to see the Tuunbaq maul him to death, complete with The Scream.
- Franklin has two consecutive ones in The Ladder. First, when Tuunbaq caves in the hunting blind and rips Sgt. Bryant's head off, second, when he sees that it tore off his own leg right before throwing him down the ice hole.
- Goodsir has a massive one when he deduces that the crew is suffering from years of collective lead poisoning thanks to the improper soldering on the cans, and the water pipes. Dr. Stanley also has one when he is informed of this, leading to...
- Crozier, when he sees Dr. Stanley covering himself in oil.
- An understated one from Crozier, Fitzjames, Morfin and Tozer after they happen upon the remains of the rescue team they sent out a year ago just 18 miles from the ships, meaning there is no one coming to save them.
- The crew has a collective one when the Tuunbaq returns.
- Hickey has a well deserved one when the Tuunbaq bites down on his arm instead of accepting him as a shaman.
- Old Soldier:
- Blanky is the naval equivalent, having spend most of his life at sea and seen many strange things.
- Franklin himself is 60, and Crozier seven years younger.
- Only Sane Man:
- In the first episode Crozier tries to warn Franklin of the danger of his chosen route, since he isn't caught up in the mad dash for glory. He begs Sir John to take the longer but safer route down the east coast of King William Island, away from the ice. Sir John refuses.
- Later on, as Crozier himself becomes more habitually drunk, surly and irresponsible, Fitzjames picks up this role from him for a brief period, after which they become friends.
- Officer and a Gentleman: Franklin and Fitzjames are upper class Englishmen or at least passing off as such in Fitzjames' case, in contrast to Crozier, the lower middle class career officer from Oireland.
- Parental Substitute:
- While Fitzjames initially comes off as a vain sycophant trotting at Franklin's heels, it gradually becomes apparent that it's less yes-manning and more that he sees Franklin as one of these, especially after Franklin's gruesome death. Unsurprising, as Fitzjames' real father not only dumped him to be raised by friends as an infant, he gave him a name that bordered on a joke about his illegitimacy, and his loving foster father died the last time he was away at sea. Fitzjames could use all the loving older mentors he could get.
- Franklin and his wife Lady Jane also served as this for his niece, Sophia.
- Pirate Parrot: Sir John sometimes carries Jacko the monkey on his shoulder.
- Polar Madness: The series currently provides the page quote. Fitting, since the expedition has to deal with brutal cold, long periods of unending darkness, constant snowstorms, near-total isolation, dwindling and tainted provisions, ice that is slowly squeezing their trapped ships to pieces, and the giant, angry bear-demon-thing that keeps showing up to kill them in increasingly horrible ways. It's no wonder that more than a few of them snap under the pressure.
- Precision F-Strike: There aren't many instances of swearing in the series, but we get this gem courtesy of Blanky toward the end when he's facing down the Tuunbaq:What in the name of God took you so fucking long?
