Of Madness and Mammals
is an Alex Rider fanfiction by Briarwitched where Alex, after his mental health takes a turn for the worse, is sent to the same secret prison as Yassen Gregorovich. The series follows their friendship (and eventually parent-child relationship) while exploring the mental health consequences of Alex’s work for MI6.
The story is well-known for its complex characterizations of the two main characters, Found Family, and well-researched plot.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Alex slowly begins to recognize that Ian was this. He was emotionally neglectful and physically absent, as his work frequently took him out of town, and he prioritized his work. He manipulated Alex to strengthen Alex’s abilities as an operative. All his interest in Alex was in training Alex to be a spy, causing Alex to associate love and attention with those skills. This resulted in Alex’s self worth being entirely dependent on his spy skills, which left Alex with no self-worth when he lost those abilities.
- Anti-Hero: Yassen might be a remorseless killer, but he’s the only person who is both willing and able to save Alex from the MI6’s abuse. Yassen is also a very positive influence on Alex.
- Batman Gambit: The escape at the end of Malaise. Yassen seems pretty good at this overall, though he’s also great at adapting. Amusingly, Alex references the Trope Namer later on, saying Yassen is basically “Assassin Batman,” although his point has more to do with Yassen’s skills and vibe than his strategy.
- Being Evil Sucks: With Yassen’s character, it really explores how much being an assassin really sucks. When Yassen’s drunk, he mentions how he has no idea what to do with his life because he has no hobbies or interests, and wasn’t even able to have favorite foods. Despite assassins taking the job to make a lot of money, they can’t really use it while they work. But they can’t use the money later either, as most can’t handle the transition to retirement, as they have no sense of identity or attachment. Dr. Steiner tells Yassen that 80% commit suicide within the first eighteen months.
- Being Watched: There are a few points in Dysthymia where the characters feel this is the case. This continues in Comorbidity, though it’s not just a feeling.
- Big Damn Heroes: Yassen has several moments of this throughout the series, rescuing Alex and later Dima from all sorts of dangerous situations.
- Black Site: The prison in Gibraltar is of the Secret Prison variety.
- Break the Cutie: Poor Alex. Alex wasn’t a happy kid by any means by Scorpia Rising, but he’s much more broken by the start of this series.
- Broken Pedestal: Alex begins to recognize Ian’s treatment of him was not healthy.
- Carnival of Killers: MI6, CIA, and SCORPIA all send their best to either apprehend or kill Alex and Yassen. Luckily for Alex, he’s with Yassen, who can handle them.
- Character Development: Central to this fic:
- Alex starts the fic as an addict in denial with delusions and terrible hallucinations. He eventually loses some of the guilt, but also his self esteem hits rock bottom as he both recognizes his addiction and how (relatively) helpless he is. He has pretty severe attachment issues, feeling like a burden. While not totally okay, as time passes, he’s not so actively distressed about his self image and no longer sees himself as a burden, mostly due to Yassen’s support. He gets better at managing his addiction and disabilities, as well.
- Yassen also has a huge amount of character development as well. He starts as pretty emotionally flat, in particular, towards other people. He does care about Alex to a degree at the beginning, but as the story develops, he slowly comes to care for Alex like a parent would. He learns to act as a parent, learning how to comfort Alex, communicate, take care of Alex, etc. He starts to appreciate people more. He goes from being an Anti-Villain to an Anti-Hero.
- Dream Sequence: Alex dreams of his loved ones at the beach the night before his sixteenth birthday. Alex has his toes in the water and Yassen is waist deep in the water. Ian is sitting on the beach. Jack is sitting on an inflatable flamingo in the water. Alex’s parents are swimming but he can’t see them. It’s notable because Dima says that it’s Russian superstition that dreams on the eve of your birthday are prophetic. However, it’s tricky to interpret what the dream might mean. It’s likely that it’s just meant to evoke a feeling. If it did represent anything, it could mean:
- Ocean as death: Earlier, when Alex was shot in Dysthymia, he sees Jack in what he calls “the ocean” and again refers to death as the ocean when he’s high in Malaise. Considering the ‘death as the ocean’ motif earlier in the work, it seems possible that the ocean represents death here as well, as the people who are completely out in the water are dead. Alex wants to go deeper in the water, but Yassen and Jack won’t let him. However, Ian’s on the beach, so if the water represented being dead, that doesn’t fit. It’s later revealed that Ian is not dead. This was foreshadowing his return.
- If it does represent something, maybe it has more to do with who loves and cares for Alex. His parents loved and cared for him, but they passed away long ago, so they’re out of sight. Jack was his primary caretaker, but she’s passed way recently, so she’s in sight but out on the water. Ian is technically one of Alex’s loved ones, so he’s in the dream, but it’s questionable how much he really loved Alex given the way he treated him, so that’s why he’s not in the water at all. Yassen is closest to Alex as he’s Alex’s most recent caretaker. Both Yassen and Jack are the ones who worked the hardest to keep him alive, so that’s why they’re calling to him to not follow his parents.
- Dying Dream: Alex has a near death one after he’s shot at the end of Dysthymia. Or was it a dream at all?
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Alex and Yassen have huge enemies with massive amounts of resouces, namely MI6, CIA, and SCORPIA But Yassen found a way for them to have a mostly stable life. Alex had a lifetime of previous abuse and exploitation by the adults around him. But he gets adopted by an adult who loves and supports him. Alex has several severe health conditions, but he’s learning to manage them with Yassen’s support and professional help.
- From Bad to Worse: Alex’s health condition is much worse than Yassen thinks initially.
- Good Parents: A couple of examples:
- Yassen definitely becomes this as the series progresses, though he would deny he fits this role. Probably the best Alex has had, given Ian’s frequent absences, negligence, and manipulation.
- Dima to Lada. However judging by the backstory of the two, this is more recent. It appears though, that Dima, unlike Katya or Sergey, does love Lada for who she is and not for what anyone thinks she should be.
- Important Haircut: More like lack thereof. Alex’s hair was forcibly cut by a villain in Crocodile Tears. On top of being humiliating, it probably also represented how little control Alex had of his life. In the series, Alex is not able to cut his hair, continuously growing it, even though he knows it’s irrational to get so upset about cutting hair. It probably subconsciously represents his body autonomy to him. Given MI6 essentially poisoned him to prevent him from growing, making him look like a little kid, it’s not surprising the only thing he has control over is a sticking point for him.
- Like Father, Like Son: Smithers believes that’s why Yassen is helping Alex, as Yassen sees Alex as substitution for John. Amusingly, Yassen replies with this:Yassen: I do so miss arguing with his father about how stupid his hair looked long or what insipid reality show he wanted to watch for hours or why he couldn’t subsist solely on milkshakes for two straight months — Every time, I can’t help but think of my unpleasable assassination instructor with a decorated military history. They’re practically the same person.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Helping Alex sure brought a heap of trouble on Yassen’s head. Nonetheless, Yassen seems happier than he was in prison.
- Not So Stoic: Despite being known for being stoic, Yassen’s more expressive in his head. John Rider comments on this. Or does he?
- Obfuscating Incompetence: Briar’s much more competent than what other’s think of her. She clearly understands Alex the best, and is good at coming up with strategies for managing him. Her biggest problem at the prison was her initial apathy, and she uses this to her advantage when she betrays her employers to help Alex.
- One-Man Army: The CIA, the MI6, SCORPIA, and the SVR can throw as much resources as they’d like at Yassen. He’ll only be caught if he’s in the mood. But don’t expect him to stick around.
- Orphan's Plot Trinket: Alex’s iPod semi-qualifies, as it’s his only possession and reminds him that someone still cares about him. Justified in that it’s a useful gadget and just one in a series of gadgets Smithers has given him.
- Out-Gambitted: Yassen out-gambits many people in the series, including SCORPIA and MI-6 at the end of Malaise as well as SCORPIA, MI6, and CIA several times in Dysthymia.
- Papa Wolf: Threaten Alex and Yassen will end you. He’s practically unstoppable when it comes to threats to Alex.
- Properly Paranoid: Yassen is pretty paranoid when they’re on the road. However, it’s only because of this paranoia that they were able to stay out of their enemies’ grasp.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain: Inverted. Despite the fact that Alex teamed up with Yassen and he accidentally committed murder under the influence, Alex remains moral and caring. Addiction does cause him to steal from civilians at times, but he clearly feels very guilty about it, and makes sure to leave his victims enough pills. However, Yassen, the other protagonist, begins as largely amoral, but rescues and cares for Alex. He also reduces his collateral damage at Alex’s request. He slowly becomes able to build relationships with other people and starts to see value in others.
- Resignations Not Accepted: Yassen knows that SCORPIA will not just allow him to retire.
- Road Trip Plot: The second fic in the series, Dysthymia, centers on Yassen and Alex traveling together as they flee prison. While they begin in Spain, the vast majority of the plot centers on them traveling around the USA.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Central to the series, for Alex. Yassen, however, could be a subversion, as he’s while he’s clearly affected by his experiences, he doesn’t seem to even register some aspects of working for SCORPIA were traumatic.
- Sociopathic Hero: Yassen counts to some degree. He is able to kill with no remorse, but he’s definitely saving Alex. However, as Briar says, he’s not really a sociopath, but emotionally flat.
- Trauma Conga Line: This series explores the consequences of this for Alex.
- Un-person: MI-6 has done this to Alex. Yassen also is this, due to him coming from Estrov. This was actually an asset to him as an assassin.
- Unscrupulous Hero: Yassen starts as a Nominal Hero, but as he begins to care for Alex, he slides into this territory. As time progresses and he listens to Alex more, he slides more into Pragmatic Hero.
