History Series / VanHelsing2016

* {{Adorkable}}: [[spoiler:Julius]] gets a moment of this in Season 2 after becoming human again and getting a chance to eat all the snack foods that weren't available back when he was first turned. He spends several minutes going on about the joys of all the different flavors of potato chip.

* ExplainExplainOhCrap: In season 4, Hansen is ready to clear his troops out of the vamp run city and orders the deployment of bombs.

* ImportantHaircut: Sam gets one in the episode where he [[reveals himself as the serial killer]]

''Van Helsing'' is an American-Canadian television series created by Neil [=LaBute=] and starring Creator/KellyOverton. The show is inspired by the Zenescope Entertainment graphic novel series, ''Helsing'', itself loosely based on the character of Abraham Van Helsing from Creator/BramStoker's ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''. It first premiered on September 23, 2016 and can be seen on Creator/{{Syfy}} in the U.S and Creator/{{Netflix}} in Canada and the United States.

* GameFace: Normally averted, as vampires tend to be permanently in their monstrous appearances, which vary from unnaturally pale to [[LooksLikeOrlock looking like Orlock]]. But played straight with the Elders and Brides, who are able to use a glamor to make themselves look like normal humans, only dropping it when preparing to fight.

** Season 4: [[spoiler: Axel and Julius are exposed to something which nullifies their HealingFactor and sends them into shock. Dracula kills and impersonates the President, then frees Bathory and leaves for the safe zone, with Violet and Ivory being attacked by soldiers when trying to stop them. Jack is shown to be trapped in a coffin. in the Dark Realm.]]

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: The First Elder shapeshifts into Susan so that Vanessa is more comfortable talking to him.

* MindOverMatter: The Oracle has the ability to move people telekinetically.

* TheParalyzer: The Oracle is capable of telekinetically freezing people in place.

* GovernmentConspiracy: It's implied that the government knew about the vampires prior to the Rising, due to how rapidly Axel's squad was sent to retrieve Vanessa. This is confirmed in Season 2, as it's revealed that Vanessa's mother was involved with a secret project to study and experiment on vampires, which is still ongoing even though the government is now gone. Season 3 reveals that this group is also running the Denver safe zone.

* LoveIsAWeakness: After falling under the Seer's sway in Season 3, [[spoiler:Sam]] starts expressing this belief, seeing love as merely something that causes pain and holds people back.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: [[spoiler: Axel blames Vanessa for Scarlet's death in the Season 3 finale, and swears to kill her if they meet again. When this happens, though, just managing to non-fatally take out his frustrations on her vents the grief enough that he's able to forgive her].]

* MeaningfulName: The Oracle's name is revealed in Season 4 to be [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Báthory Bathory]].

* NonIndicativeName: The Dark Ones three closest servants are known as Brides, but one of them is a man.
* OffWithHisHead: The only guaranteed way to kill a Daywalker. [[spoiler: In particular, this is how Scab is killed.]]

* {{Adorkable}}: [[spoiler: Julius]] gets a moment of this in Season 2 after becoming human again and getting a chance to eat all the snack foods that weren't available back when he was first turned. He spends several minutes going on about the joys of all the different flavors of potato chip.
* AffirmativeActionLegacy: [[spoiler:Season 4 introduces two new members of the Van Helsing family - black Violet and Latina Jack.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Julius]] becomes a remarkably loyal and kind follower once Vanessa bites him in the second season.

* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:Poor Susan gets killed off by Sam in "Last Time".]]

* TheDragon: Dimitri has his sister Anastasia, while Julius has his minion Scab. [[spoiler: After Anastasia's death and Julius being turned human, Dimitri recruits his forces, with Scab now reporting to him.]]

** However, [[spoiler: an unlikely-seeming number of those 'dead' and missing turn out to have survived into season 2 after all.]] But the party remains shattered and scattered into the four winds.

** [[spoiler: Sam loves Mohammed, in his own twisted way. Which is why he's required to kill him in order to extinguish the light in him and become an Elder.]]

** The Brides all love the Dark One [[spoiler: though Hansen also loves his adopted daughters, and ultimately chooses them over Dracula]].

** The Brides (the Oracle, Mikaela, and Willem) are the most powerful and devoted of the Dark One's servants.

* MookCarryover: Scab starts out as Julius' MookLieutenant in Season 1. In Season 2, he's recruited alongside Ivory to serve as Dimitri's CoDragons. In Season 3, they [[DragonAscendant become their own masters]] and serve as part of the BigBadEnsemble, but in Season 4 are brought into the service of the Brides.

* MonsterProgenitor: The Dark One/First One, the original vampire.

** [[spoiler: Flesh is blown up alongside Lucky in the penultimate episode of Season 2, only to be resurrected in the Season 3 premiere thanks to the HealingFactor gained from Scarhead's bite.]]
** [[spoiler: Lily Van Helsing, Vanessa's turn of the century ancestor, is revived in the Season 3 finale after some of Vanessa's blood is spilled on her corpse during Vanessa's fight with Sam.]]

** [[spoiler: Nicole decides to eat a bullet when she becomes trapped in a room with one of Dmitri's vampire assassins.]]
** After being bit, [[spoiler: Lucky]] blows herself up with a grenade rather than be turned or finished off.
* BigBadEnsemble: For the first two seasons, Dmitri is the primary antagonist, but even there's still the matter of Rebecca and Julius [[TheStarscream plotting against him]]. There's also the matter of the SerialKiller [[spoiler: (Sam)]] running around, who becomes even more dangerous after [[spoiler: becoming a vampire]]. Season 2 adds in Doctor Harrison, the head of the GovernmentConspiracy to experiment on and weaponize the vampires.
** Season 3 changes things up, since by that point [[spoiler: Dmitri, Rebecca, and Harrison are dead and Julius is [[HeelFaceTurn rendered human]]]]. Dmitri's former lieutenants Scab and Ivory emerge as a new major threat, especially after they [[spoiler: take over the Daywalker horde]]. Meanwhile, while [[spoiler: Sam]] is still running around, he soon becomes a pawn of the Oracle, who is manipulating him and Vanessa in order to bring about [[spoiler: the creation of a new Elder]].

* MysteriousWatcher: Season 3 reveals that a mysterious woman in a black shroud has been viewing Vanessa and [[spoiler: Sam]] from a distance for their whole lives. She turns out to be the vampiric Oracle, who states that she's keeping an eye on people with "potential", meaning those who [[spoiler: are capable of becoming the Fourth Elder]].

* SealedEvilInADuel: When Abraham Van Helsing sealed away the Dark One, he had to imprison himself as well to make it happen. [[spoiler: When the Dark One briefly escapes in the Season 4 episode "Metamorphosis", Vanessa tackles her back through the portal, repeating Abraham's sacrifice.]]

* TheStarscream: Julius and Rebecca are both plotting to supplant Dimitri.

* UnholyMatrimony: Ivory and Scab settle into a bizarre, but somewhat loving, relationship in Season 3.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: [[spoiler: Axel blames Vanessa for Scarlet's death in the Season 3 finale, and swears to kill her if they meet again.]]

** Julius' mother is the only person he cares about.

* LesCollaborateurs: In exchange for being left alone, Micah and his followers at Eden signed a treaty with Magdalene promising her a regular supply of blood. [[spoiler:Unbeknownst to the others, Magdalene was Micah's wife, and he was also slipping her the occasional newborn, who she gave to Julius as a delicacy.]]

* MamaBear: Vanessa is driven by her desire to find her missing daughter Dylan.

* PrecisionFStrike: From the season 2 premiere:

** The Dark One, the original vampire, was sealed in a shadow realm by Abraham Van Helsing, which can only be accessed by all of the Elders' tokens.

* MegaCorp: Blak-Tech, the company behind Harrison's experiments and the Denver safe zone.

** Season 3 changes things up, since by that point [[spoiler: Dmitri, Rebecca, and Harrison are dead and Julius is [[HeelFaceTurn rendered human]]]]. Dmitri's former lieutenants Scab and Ivory emerge as a new major threat, especially after they [[spoiler: take over the Daywalker horde]]. Meanwhile, while [[spoiler: Sam]] is still running around, he soon becomes a pawn of the Seer, who is manipulating him and Vanessa in order to bring about [[spoiler: the creation of a new Elder]].

* LooksLikeOrlok: The First Elder, and some of the more feral vampires.

* MentalTimeTravel: In "I Awake", the First Elder sends Vanessa's mind back to relive some memories of her ancestor Lily. Though it's unclear if it's illusion of if she's actually been sent back in time.

* MysteriousWatcher: Season 3 reveals that a mysterious woman in a black shroud has been viewing Vanessa and [[spoiler: Sam]] from a distance for their whole lives. She turns out to the vampiric Seer, who states that she's keeping an eye on people with "potential", meaning those who [[spoiler: are capable of becoming the Fourth Elder]].

* TheParalyzer: The Seer is capable of telekinetically freezing people in place.

** Long ago, the Van Helsings locked the First Elder away in a crypt hidden within a mountain.
** The Dark One, the original vampire, is apparently sealed in a coffin that only all the Elders together can unlock.

* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler:In the season 3, finale, Scarlett gives her life to try and fuel Vanessa's light so that she can become the Fourth Elder and thus prevent Sam from taking the role. It doesn't work; the Seer tells Vanessa that she already gave up any hope of becoming the light when she killed Dylan, and thus Sam becomes the Fourth Elder anyway.]]
* ShowerScene: In "Help Me", Vanessa takes a shower to wash off the blood. It turns into a ShowerOfAwkward when Axel joins her, saying they have to take double showers to conserve water.

* SubmissiveBadass: [[spoiler:The First Elder turns out to have been bound to obey the Van Helsings in exchange for its life.]]

** Season 3 changes things up, since by that point [[spoiler: Dmitri, Rebecca, and Harrison are dead and Julius is [[HeelFaceTurn rendered human]]]]. Dmitri's former lieutenants Scab and Ivory emerge as a new major threat, especially after they [[spoiler: take over the Daywalker horde]]. Meanwhile, while [[spoiler: Sam]] is still running, he soon becomes a pawn of the Oracle, who is manipulating him and Vanessa in order to bring about [[spoiler: the creation of a new Elder]].

** Season 3: While the human forces in Denver face off with the Daywalkers, [[spoiler: Vanessa and a resurrected Lily Van Helsing have showdown with the newly-made Elder Sam]].

* GovernmentConspiracy: It's implied that the government knew about the vampires prior to the Rising, due to how rapidly Axel's squad was sent to retrieve Vanessa. This is confirmed in Season 2, as it's revealed that Vanessa's mother was involved with a secret project to study and experiment on vampires, which is still ongoing even though the government is now gone.

* LoveIsAWeakness: After falling under the Oracle's sway in Season 3, [[spoiler:Sam]] starts expressing this belief, seeing love as merely something that causes pain and holds people back.

* MysteriousWatcher: Season 3 reveals that a mysterious woman in a black shroud has been viewing Vanessa and [[spoiler: Sam]] from a distance for their whole lives. She turns out to the vampiric Oracle, who states that she's keeping an eye on people with "potential", meaning those who [[spoiler: are capable of becoming the Fourth Elder]].

* TheParalyzer: The Oracle is capable of telekinetically freezing people in place.

* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler:In the season 3, finale, Scarlett gives her life to try and fuel Vanessa's light so that she can become the Fourth Elder and thus prevent Sam from taking the role. It doesn't work; the Oracle tells Vanessa that she already gave up any hope of becoming the light when she killed Dylan, and thus Sam becomes the Fourth Elder anyway.]]

* ThrowingTheFight: In a flashback, Julius was a boxer who reluctantly took a dive for some gangsters who bet on his opponent, all to raise money for his ailing mother. Unfortunately, when he demanded his payment, the gangsters stabbed him in the stomach and left him to die instead. The vampire Dimitri, who found the endurance he displayed in the match impressive, then showed up and saved him by turning him into a vampire.

* EvilCripple: [[spoiler:Sam, a deaf person, is revealled to be the SerialKiller.]]