Line #49 Literature/DresdensHauntedForest


1	->''"My name is Reinhardt Hitzlsperger, and I came from Dresden, Germany. Eleven years ago during my teenage years, I had a rather interesting experience that I will never forget in my entire life."''
2	-->--'''Reinhardt''', [[{{Understatement}} whose experience was indeed unique]]...
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4	''[[https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3341252/1/Dresden-Haunted-Forest Dresden's Haunted Forest]]'' is a story written by [[Tropers/{{ElfenLiedFan90}} DeltaHorizon020]] on Fictionpress. The story is based on the tale of Literature/HanselAndGretel.
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6	The story is set in the city of Dresden, and focuses more precisely on the forest in the Eastern Part of the town, in which several people went missing. One of Dresden's inhabitants, Reinhardt Hitzlsperger, during his teenage years, has to save his best friend Heine from harm's way in the forest and defeat his dark past.
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8	'''Warning: due to the relatively short length of the story, spoilers are unmarked.'''
9	----
10	!! You should find examples of the following tropes in the forest. [[TemptingFate Just don't die!]]:
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12	* AdaptationalAttractiveness: The Witch in the original is usually portrayed as an old lady, but Maggie is described by Reinhardt as sexually attractive.
13	* AdaptationalBadass: The Wicked Witch in the original tale wasn't the BloodKnight and extremely versatile witch Maggie is.
14	* AdaptationalIntelligence: Here, Maggie successfully outsmarts Hansel & Gretel and eats them. In the original tale, it went the other way around, with Gretel killing the Witch.
15	* AdaptationalVillainy: The Wicked Witch surpasses her original counterpart in sheer depravity; she is still a ChildEater, but she has a HistoricalRapSheet, having slaughtered thousands throughout the times, while also creating a mural from the million bodies of her victims.
16	* AristocratsAreEvil: Magdalena, originally a small-time aristocrat, is the BigBad. That being said, Charles [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] this trope, only committing — [[KillThePoor admittedly horrendous]] — crimes due to Magdalena's manipulations and influence.
17	* AtLeastIAdmitIt: DJ Maggie/Magdalena/The WickedWitch claims that HumansAreBastards, herself included, and that this excuses her actions.
18	* BigBad: DJ Maggie, aka Magdalena, is the WickedWitch of the tale who, in the backstory, murdered almost a million people and added their corpses to her mural, and plans to make Reinhardt and his parents her final addition so she can [[GodhoodSeeker become a goddess]].
19	* BitchInSheepsClothing: DJ Maggie befriends Reinhardt and pretends to care about him. Reinhardt is understandably saddened and angered when he finds out that she's merely ''pretending'' to, and intends to [[ChildEater eat him]].
20	* BittersweetEnding: While Reinhardt successfully rescues his parents and killed Maggie, he still lives with the fact that his best friend was killed by the witch, and he feels guilty for allowing the death to happen in the first place. That being said, Reinhardt learns to become a wiser and stronger person after the experience.
21	* BloodKnight: Magdalena, while acting as a healer during a peasant revolt, used that profession as an excuse to personally get involved in the fighting, killing peasants with her spells while she heals soldiers.
22	* BodyHorror: The Wicked Witch/DJ Maggie, planning to TakeOverTheWorld, plans to summon seven demons Lords of Hell and make them do her bidding and becoming a goddess. For that, she needs to create a mural from a million corpses.
23	* CharacterDevelopment: It goes both ways. For TheHero, Reinhardt's character change is about going from mentally weak and easily scared to [[TookALevelInBadass brave and bold]], strong enough to rescue his parents and kill the BigBad by tricking her into falling to her own stove. Speaking of the BigBad, she started off as petty and selfish, but when her [[SocialDarwinist darwinistic beliefs]] take an even uglier turn, this is where she twists this trope to [[FromBadToWorse horrific levels]].
24	* ConspiracyTheorist: Heine has a mountain of conspiracy theories running through his brain and likes to tell his best friend Reinhardt about it, much to the latter's dismay. The trope is first {{Deconstructed}} as Heine's curiosity ends up leading him to the forest, and to his grave. [[{{Reconstruction}} On a more positive note]], Magdalena reveals that due to such beliefs, Heine never trusted her start to finish and threatened her.
25	* DarkActionGirl: Magdalena. Aside from the elements stated in her BloodKnight entry, she also personally engages Reinhardt in combat herself after showing him her true nature.
26	* DeathByAdaptation: Hansel and Gretel. See DoomedByCanon for further information.
27	* DefiantToTheEnd: Give her that : DJ Maggie doesn't begs for her life when Reinhardt finally kills her. She instead pulls out a DyingDeclarationOfHate towards Reinhardt.
28	* DirtyCop: Joachim is a former member of UsefulNotes/TheStasi during the East Germany regime and is rather notorious for his cruelty. After the Germany's reunification, he then began to hide himself in an abandoned building along with his underlings while planning to perform a coup d'etat against Germany's current regime.
29	* DoomedByCanon: Hansel and Gretel are mentioned, but knowing that the Wicked Witch survived in the present day, [[DeathByAdaptation their fate is drastically different from the original tale]].
30	* DyingDeclarationOfHate: When Reinhardt pushed her in the oven, Magdalena curses him, promising to try and find a way to make him regret killing her.
31	->"NOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOO! THE FIRE! THE FIRE! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS REINHARDT! YOU WILL REGRET THIS! I MIGHT DIE BUT MY SPIRIT WILL HAUNT YOU SOMEDAY! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
32	* EtTuBrute: Reinhardt, who truly loved DJ Maggie, is understandably saddened to discover that she only pretended to care about him so that she could kill and eat him.
33	* EvilIsPetty: Joachim plans to start a coup in Germany all so that he can get his old job back.
34	* FauxAffablyEvil: DJ Maggie keeps her friendly demeanor even when she's about to kill Reinhardt and his parents.
35	* FatBestFriend: Heine is Reinhardt's best friend who is described as a rather cheerful chubby kid wearing glasses.
36	* FalseFriend: Maggie only befriends Reinhardt to lure him in and eventually kill and eat him.
37	* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: While Joachim lost his job as a result of Germany's reunification, that doesn't gives him the right to wipe out chunks of Berlin, nor kidnapping and attempting to kill kids.
38	* GodhoodSeeker: This is ultimately Maggie's goal: becoming a goddess through her million-corpse mural.
39	* GreyAndGrayMorality: Name-dropped by Maggie, but {{Averted}} (or rather {{Exploited}}) within the story itself, as Maggie uses this line of thinking [[WhatIsEvil to justify her atrocities]].
40	* HotWitch: Magdalena/DJ Maggie/The Wicked Witch herself is depicted as a rather attractive woman in her late 20s with her design is based on Cornelia from VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses, Lust from Manga/FullmetalAlchemist and Akeno Himejima from Literature/HighschoolDxD combined. In addition, her voice is described as alluring and motherly.
41	* InSpiteOfANail: Despite having [[HeroKiller killed Hansel and Gretel]], the latter whom killed her in the original novel, the Wicked Witch/Magdalena/DJ Maggie still meets her demise when she's thrown in the oven, courtesy of Reinhardt.
42	* IntergenerationalFriendship: Reinhardt, a teenager, befriends Maggie, who's several hundreds years old. Sadly, Maggie is of the FalseFriend variety.
43	* JerkJock: Ralf is your typical high-school bully who is the son of a member of the City Council of Dresden. And he is pretty much unpleasant towards Reinhardt much to the latter's dismay.
44	* KickTheDog: Magdalena/DJ Maggie reveals to Reinhardt that she never truly cared for him and planned to eat him from the start. She also shows to Reinhardt Heine's corpse in her corpse mural.
45	* KillThePoor: Magdalena's original goal. She planned, upon becoming Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, to kill the peasants. [[FromBadToWorse And then, she went even further]].
46	* LaserGuidedKarma: Magdalena, who tricked and manipulated countless people in order to kill them, is killed when Reinhardt tricks her into getting inside an oven. As if it isn't enough, while she did manage to kill Hansel and Gretel, she still ends up suffering the punishment they had in store for her.
47	* LovableCoward: Reinhardt starts out as such due to having dealt with Joachim in the past. As such, he's afraid to even enter the forest, and it takes Heine's disappearance for him to [[TookALevelInBadass finally grow a spine]].
48	* MadArtist: Magdalena has a huge passion when it comes to painting. Except it was revealed that she painted several otherworldly and horrific creatures in order to brutally murdered several innocent people so that she could use their corpse for her Magnum Opus: Mural of million bodies to summon the seven demon lords of hell in order to become a goddess that could rule the world. After her defeat, it influences Reinhardt's macabre art, though he doesn't commit murder on his side of things.
49	* MeaninglessVillainVictory: Maggie is one of the few, if not the only version of the Wicked Witch that actually ''defeated'' and killed Hansel and Gretel. That being said, it ultimately mattered little in the very long run : Reinhardt finished their job, killing Maggie the exact same way Gretel did in canon to boot.
50	* NamesToRunFromReallyFast: Joachim [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_Dirlewanger Dirlewanger]] is obviously someone who you want to run from ''really fast''.
51	* ObviouslyEvil: DJ Maggie's house is made of chocolate and candies. Despite her friendly demeanor, it's quite clear to the viewer that she's the Wicked Witch.
52	* ProperlyParanoid: Heine is a conspiracy theorist, and this proves helpful to an extent, because as a result he never trusted Maggie upon meeting her. Sadly, it wasn't helpful enough to help him survive.
53	* TheSocialDarwinist: Magdalena/DJ Maggie starts out as a KnightTemplar noble who believes that the [[KillThePoor peasants must be killed]] because they don't contribute to society and fails her personal standards. CharacterDevelopment kicks in and as she becomes more depraved, she ends up believing that the strong should destroy the weak. Once she becomes a goddess and summons the seven lords of hell to do her bidding, she plans as such to wipe out Africa and then Asia out of disgust towards the sheer poverty in these continents. Then, she plans to kill until only a billion people are left alive, people "worthy of her guidance".
54	* TheSociopath: Magdalena/DJ Maggie ticks all of several traits that shows her as a high functioning sociopath: superficial charm, constant lying and manipulation in which she uses to trick innocent people such as children before betraying them in the last second, reckless behavior and irresponsibility towards her actions despite being a CardCarryingVillain.
55	* SoftSpokenSadist : Magdalena "DJ Maggie" the Wicked Witch's voice is described as alluring and motherly. Her intentions are anything but.
56	* TakingYouWithMe: Upon being defeated by Reinhardt's father, Joachim blows his own hideout in a mad attempt to kill [[WouldHurtAChild Reinhardt, his friends]] and his father, uncaring that [[BadBoss his underlings are still around]].
57	* TreacherousAdvisor: Maggie befriends Reinhardt and teaches him several skills as well (such as macabre art and broadcasting). That being said, [[BigBad Maggie]] never cared for Reinhardt and planned to eat and kill him.
58	* VillainsOutShopping: Despite the fact that Magdalena is an evil witch who eats children and tried to become a goddess, she is shown to have interests and a job like other normal people had as she had a passion on painting, broadcasting or several talented bands from Germany like Kraftwerk, Snap! and so on. Even at one point, she claims herself to be a vegetarian until it was revealed to be a ruse on her part. In addition, she used to work as a teacher and a radio personality. This is TruthInTelevision for sociopaths like her, as sociopaths try to function "normally" in society, which can include having other interests.
59	* WickedWitch: Much like her ''Literature/HanselAndGretel'' counterpart, Magdalena is a hundred years old evil witch living in the forest and eats children for her immortality ritual. In addition, she also has an additional crimes on her belt as she slaughtered several innocent people who entered the forest for her own twisted mural in order to become the goddess that could rule the world.
60	* WouldHitAGirl: Magdalena found out to her dismay that Reinhardt was more than happy to harm her or outright kill her if it meant saving himself and his parents.
61	* WouldHurtAChild: Being a ChildEater, it goes without saying that the Wicked Witch has no qualms whatsoever attacking children.

Context Literature / DresdensHauntedForest