Fanfic / Uncle Adam

"Weren't they yours too?" Charlie tries to stop the exterminations a century too early, still just a child, and comes face to face with their Leader: Adam, the First Man. And she tries again, every year. What starts as a yearly snag in Adam's joy ride of extermination turns into something unexpected Charlie wares down Adam's defenses and learns that there is more to the story.

Besides, it's been a long time since Adam tried something new, and he's never got the chance to be an Uncle before.

Uncle Adam is a Hazbin Hotel fanfic by AkumaKami64.

Adam and The Exorcists enact the extermination of the Sinners in Hell every year. One day, a little devil girl begs Adam to not kill the Sinners. Due to her being the daughter of Lucifer, Adam cannot harm her, but he can carry her back to her house as other Exorcists do the killing. And they talk throughout the trip.

This ended up happening every year, and Adam learned three things about Charlie; she truly believes in redeeming Sinners, she's way more sheltered than he expected, and Lucifer & Lillith are quite the neglectful parents.

It can be read here or here.

The story has the following examples:

• Adaptational Early Appearance: Since the setting of the fic starts in the year, 1920, plenty of characters would make their appearance earlier than in canon.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Adam, which is a fundamental premise of the story. He's still a misogynistic asshole who greatly enjoys slaughtering Sinners, just like in canon. However, his interactions with Charlie (and his first one with Emily) bring out his softer side, and even outside of that, he demonstrates positive aspects and characteristics that are absent from his canon incarnation.
  • He's a Benevolent Boss to the other Exorcists. He allows Earthborn Exorcists to leave without anything more than effectively signing a secrecy oath after they claim revenge against a particular Sinner who's wronged them in some way.
  • He is willing to offer deals to Sinners to spare them from the Extermination in exchange for selling out Overlords AND honor those deals (instead of just killing them anyway, which he could easily do without consequences given how powerful he is).
  • When the rare Sinner appears before him and asks for a Mercy Kill, Adam treats him with dignity. He even takes the time to answer a few sincere questions that the Sinner has about why he was sent to Hell before giving him a quick, relatively painless kill.
• Adaptational Protagonist: While Adam wasn't a minor character in canon, he was the Arc Villain of the first season before eventually dying in the Season Finale by Nifty. Here, he's one of the main viewpoint characters.
• Adaptation Species Change: Downplayed with Lute. While she's still an angel like in the canon series, it's not clear if she's a natural-born angel or a really, really, really old human soul who managed to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence (i.e. a "Winner"). In the fic, Lute is of the former interpretation and heavily implied (if not implicitly) to be a Houri as well.
• Adapted Out: The story begins in 1920, so Rock music hasn't been invented yet, therefore Adam uses a spear like everybody else instead of an electric guitar.
• Afterlife Avenger: Plenty of the Exorcists are ascended humans seeking their killer or molester, and Adam allows them to leave if they manage to kill their target and are only joining him for that.
• Age Lift: Inverted and justified. Since the fic starts in 1920, Charlie is only 10 (by Hellborn years) compared to her older canon counterpart.
• All Myths Are True: Played With. According to Adam, many human religions are misinterpretations of angels and demons (since humans can't really comprehend them), with himself being the inspiration for Odin for instance. On the other hand, some religions are just outright wrong or made up.
• Asshole Victim: While there are plenty of Sinners who didn't deserve to be killed by Adam and the Exorcists in the Extermination, the canon series and its sister series show that Hell is still Hell. There are Sinners who were fully unrepentant of their malicious actions in life (whether for if they are an admitted Card-Carrying Villain or a Knight Templar with narcissistic delusions of their "righteousness") and continue to do so after they've died and become demons. Ultimately, you'll be cheering for Adam, the Exorcists, or any other "nice" character (i.e. Lucifer and Alastor) giving those Sinners their eventual "just desserts".
• Blue-and-Orange Morality:
  • Played with with Adam. While Adam does have a traditional sense of right and wrong and what's objectively moral and amoral, his overall (albeit nuanced) views and judgment of the newly deceased souls after spending over many millennials as an angel mostly focuses on how they live on Earth and what they've done by the time of their death rather than Nature Versus Nurture.
  • Lute is a Heavenborn angel, making her views and beliefs very different from that of a Winner and a Sinner. Also, she's implicitly a Houri for Adam, meaning her morality and beliefs center around what Adam wants her to be.
• Brutal Honesty:
  • Adam admits to Charlie that if she was any normal Sinner, he would've killed her already.
  • The Sinner who asks for a Mercy Kill initially tries to delude himself that he didn't belong in Hell because he sided with the Catholic Church in the Cristero War. Adam spells it out to him that that's not how it works.
    Cristero War Sinner: I just want to know...were we wrong? The war I was in, was against those we felt were acting against the church and God. Am I here, because we were wrong about the war, entirely? Or—
    Adam: If you're asking if you were damned for choosing the wrong cause, the answer is no. You get into Hell for what you did on Earth, not what you believed came next.
• Cerebus Retcon: In-Universe. In the canon, Adam's current appearance as an Exorcist Angel has him wearing 24-Hour Armor for what's heavily implied to be Compensating for Something given his first relationship with Lilith being a complete failure and the implication that Lucifer may have seduced his second wife. In the fic, his heavily covered armor is the result of him dealing with the "shame" of feeling exposed after gaining free will, and he describes it as a "tear in his soul".
• Coming of Age Story: While Adam gets most of the focus in the fic, Charlie and Emily's personal growth as they reconcile their Wide-Eyed Idealist views with the nuances of the world and think more heavily about what it means to be The Redeemer is also important.
• Constantly Curious: Due to how sheltered she is, Charlie constantly asks Adam what it's like in Eden and how different it is compared to Hell.
• Decapitation Presentation: Alastor makes his debut during 1933's Extermination Day by creating a pile of Overlord heads for the Exorcists to find, and hook up to a radio to broadcast their screams across Hell.
• Delayed Reaction: Adam has this reaction when Lute reports that the Exorcists found an Overlord, but it's Grigori Rasputin.
  Adam: ...Didn't we kill him already?
  Lute: That is what I thought, Sir.
• Do with Him as You Will: Adam didn't deal the finishing blow against Jack the Ripper — because that right belongs to one of the Exorcists who was one of Jack's former victims.
• The Dreaded: Elizabeth Bathory is so dangerous as an Overlord that she's at the top of the list of people that Lucifer has told Charlie to avoid.
• Enemy Civil War: According to Charlie's inner narration, there have been several internal conflicts in Hell over the centuries, including a revolt against Lucifer and Lilith by Crusader Sinners, an attempt by Dracula to unite Pentagram City, and efforts by Roman Sinners to establish an Overlord Republic. And in the period actually covered by the story, we see a war break out between Lucifer and Elizabeth Bathory when the latter tries to abduct Charlie.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • It's more like Even Jerk Has Standards; Adam is still an asshole who enjoys killing Sinners and a misogynistic pervert to anyone with a vagina under their skirt, but he's got a couple of these that are absent from his canon incarnation.
    • When Charlie responds to him with a Double Entendre response, he mentally refuses to respond with a flirt, as he knows that Charlie is at least 100 years old, but for a hellborn that's 10 years for her, and therefore she is a minor.
    • If a Sinner is willing to sell out their Overlord, Adam and the Exorcists will spare them from the year (although admittedly part of this could fall under Pragmatic Villainy as well).
    • Adam will also treat regretful Sinners who ask for a Mercy Kill with respect and dignity, giving them quick and painless kills and even taking time to answer sincere questions before giving the Mercy Kill.
    • He's also genuinely furious with Lucifer's less-than-impressive parenting skills.
    • As much as he hates Lucifer and Lilith, Adam isn't petty enough to destroy Charlie's view of her parents out of spite.
  • Both Adam and Alastor are thoroughly disgusted by what the Axis Powers are doing to their victims, to the point that Adam is willing to make a bargain with Alastor to keep him off the extermination list permanently if he assists him in slaughtering some of the particularly evil souls that will inevitably come down.
• Extreme Mêlée Revenge: Adam pins Jack the Ripper down with his spear as The Overlord's victim-turned-Exorcist stabs him with hers repeatedly.
• Glamour Failure: Adam can tell that the "Charlie" he meets in 1933 is actually Lucifer from his smell.
• Gone Horribly Right: Lucifer tries to show Charlie that Adam is not a good person by secretly tailing him with her as he goes exterminating and sees him in action. Not only did Charlie already know that Adam is that brutal from his repeated Brutal Honesty, but it ended up traumatizing her.
• The Grand Hunt: The Extermination is this to the Exorcists, where they treat it like a game with scores counting.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: Ultimately, there's little innocence of both sides of the story and the characters.
• Gut Feeling: Adam tells Lucifer to look after Charlie more seriously because he has a feeling that something horrible is about to happen in the human world. ^explanation This bit happens in 1933, when Ukraine faced the worst part of the Holodomor famine and the Nazi party just got into power in Germany.
• Historical Domain Character: The author creates Original Character Overlords that are based on real criminals, including Jack the Ripper, Grigori Rasputin, and Elizabeth Báthory.
• Historical In-Joke: The fact that Rasputin needs to be killed more than once.
• Hope Spot: Adam teaches Emily that the main duty of Heaven's gatekeeper is to greet souls coming in and assure them that they really are in Heaven, Averting this trope.
  "When people get to Heaven, they know it has to be real in their hearts, but some last bit of their lives on Earth cling to them, warning them that it can't be true. It's too perfect, too unreal. That it must be a trick, a dream. They don't WANT to believe it because if they do and it isn't real? The disappointment could destroy them."
• It's a Long Story: The whole reason for Lucifer (Plus Lillith) and Adam's hate for each other is a sore topic for all parties involved, so Charlie hasn't gotten any answer about it, no matter how often she asks and who she asks it to.
• Jerkass Has a Point: As abrasive as Adam is, Lucifer acknowledges that he and Lilith do coddle Charlie and have been too hands-off in raising her, including letting her roam Hell during Extermination Day.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: After Charlie admits that she's young compared to her parents and Adam, but swears to not give up in either changing the latter's mind about culling Sinners or finding an alternative to reduce Hell's population without killing them, Adam can't help but states that she's nothing like Lucifer or Lilith.
• Love Before First Sight: More like Friendship Before First Sight. When Charlie first hears about Emily from Adam in chapter 4, she immediately thinks of Emily as a very nice person and implicitly thinks of her as a good friend. Considering how their first meeting went in the canon series episode, "Welcome to Heaven", it's a major Call-Forward.
• Mercy Kill: A newly-arrived Sinner asks for this from the Exorcist, for he feels ashamed that he ended up in Hell despite being on the side of the Church during a war, and Adam grants it to him.
• Mirror Character: Like in canon, Emily is this for Charlie. Both are Princess Classic in their respective worlds with friendly, optimistic, and idealistic personalities. Most importantly, it's to a plot point that they both bring out Adam's better qualities, slowly reconcile their Wide-Eyed Idealism with the nuances of their respective worlds, and think more heavily about their goals to be The Redeemer. Adam, and many other characters who knew Charlie and Emily by extension, lampshade the similarities between the two girls.
• Morality Pet: Charlie gradually becomes one to Adam throughout the story.
• The Nicknamer: Adam. From "Hellflake" for Charlie to "Flufflecake" for Emily.
• No Such Thing as Space Jesus: Downplayed. According to Adam, there's no such thing as the Abrahamic God or the various polytheistic gods, only angels and demons that humanity has collectively mistaken for them due to justifiably being incapable of comprehending their true form.
• Odd Friendship: "Friendship" probably isn't the right word to describe the relationship between Adam and Alastor, but there's certainly a (rather unusual) camaraderie between Adam and Alastor. They get along well enough that Adam is willing to accept help from Alastor in finding Elizabeth Bathory and keep him safe from the extermination list for 5 years. And it's heavily implied that both Adam and Alastor are so disgusted by the atrocities committed by the Axis Powers that Adam is willing to keep Alastor off the extermination list permanently in exchange for assistance in dealing with high-ranking Sinners from the Axis Powers once they inevitably end up in Hell.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Downplayed; Adam is busy consoling the scared Charlie from her nightmare while Lucifer fighting off Elizabeth Bathory in the background, but both can see the explosions and hear Lucifer's roar.
• Papa Wolf: When Lucifer realizes that Bathory is after Charlie, he hunts her down and obliterates her followers while trying to kill her.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Adam lets other Sinners sell out an Overlord's location in exchange for sparing them for a year. It lets them get a bigger target and helps sow chaos in Hell by stating that not even Overlords are safe from The Exorcists.
  Adam: We let her sell out an Overlord to save her skin for a year. If word gets around about that...
  Lute: *Grins* Oh how fast the filth will turn on each other.
• "Reason You Suck" Speech: After dropping Charlie to her room and flying away, Adam delivers one to Lucifer how hands-off he is at raising Charlie.
  "I am your enemy. The man that hates you, both of you, most in all of time and space! No exception. So why am I had to save YOUR daughter while she was attacked in YOUR kingdom by one of YOUR sinners?"
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: A female Sinner makes a deal with the Exorcists to spare her in return for leading them to an Overlord. However, the Exorcists also subtlety spread the word of what she has done, ensuring her death at the hands of other Overlords out of fear of becoming her next meat shield.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Reconstructed. As Adam tells Charlie most bluntly and truthfully he would, if she wasn't a Hellborn (and even then, he probably wouldn't care if he can get away with it), nevermind the Princess of Hell, he wouldn't hesitate to kill her upon first sight. Gradually, this allows Charlie to become something of a Morality Pet to Adam during the yearly timeskips.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Adam assures Charlie and Lucifer that he'll defy this trope, for Charlie has nothing to do with the bad blood between him and Lucifer.
• This Cannot Be!: Played for Laughs. Lucifer is in shock that not only his daughter is almost friendly with his Arch-Nemesis, but she also gets to ride on his back flying home every year.
  "This is a nightmare. I'm just having a bad dream. I'll wake up in a moment and still be wondering what to say at the Extermination. And maybe I won't bring Charlie along after all."
• Tranquil Fury: Charlie is surprised at how calm Adam is when he proclaims that he hates her parents. He explains that he's been hating them for so long that he has gotten used to feeling it at all times.
• Unreliable Expositor: This applies to characters from Heaven and Hell.
  • The more Charlie spends time and bonds with Adam during the yearly timeskips, the more she gradually realizes that the stories she read and heard from her parents about him, the history of hell, and themselves as "rebellious dreamers being unfairly persecuted", are becoming very inaccurate. In chapter 8, Lilith goes as far as to tell Charlie (off-screen) that while the stories aren't fully true, it did feel that way to her.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Adam and Lute can be described as this.
  Lute: Was there any trouble? With taking the...Princess home?
  Adam: Lute, it's me. I'm the opposite of polite company, you uptight bitch.
  Lute: Very well, Sir. Was there any trouble with the whorespawn?
  Adam: *Sighs* You crazy...
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Emily notes that Adam only uses her name instead of calling her "Fluffcake" when he has something serious to talk to her about.
• You Remind Me of X: Adam states to Charlie that she reminds him of Emily.