Ship Manifesto: Nikola Tesla (Sanctuary)
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het_reccersFandom: Sanctuary
Character: Nikola Tesla
Pairings Included in Manifesto: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
I should note here that I did not recommend any slash, threesomes, or any of my own fics (which are not slash), in keeping with The Rules. There is quite a bit of that sort of thing out there, since Tesla is kind of the Little Black Dress of the Sanctuary fandom, and you should totally go and read them all (I have a tag and everything!). Because in a hundred and fifty years, even Victorians get creative about stuff like this.
Blurb: Oh, Nikola. He is truly a bizarre character. Most of his fans started out hating him (or at least they found him annoying), and then all of a sudden he was everybody's (second) favourite character. But we still struggle to say what, exactly, it is about Nikola Tesla that makes him so awesome. Personally, I blame the cravat, but that only explains part of it.
He's a vampire, which I should hate, he's in love with the female lead, which I should hate, and in later seasons he gets himself de-fanged, which I should REALLY hate. But I totally don't. And neither does everyone else, except for one person on the internet who finds him creepy (and we proved it with Science! :p ).
One of the best things about Nikola is that we learn really everything we need to know about him in his very first line: Helen Magnus. Kiss me and I'll save your life. And then of course when she does kiss him, he makes her kiss him on the mouth, because he's like that.
Of course, later in that same episode Nikola both tells Helen he loves her and then tries to kill her. You'd think this would be to set him up as some kind of long term villain, but that is simply not the case. I believe that he really does love her, and that he would have only tried to kill her, forcing her to wound him in such a way that she could escape mostly intact (uh, he's pretty much unkillable, as a wooden stake, an L-RAD and some hilariously inappropriate organ music reveal). I believe he loves her because, when the army dudes attack and they are fending them off, Nikola picks one of them up by the neck, vamps out and says Leave her alone. And I'm a sucker for stupid romance, okay?
Where was I...
Oh yes!
Nikola has problems. He wasn't British and he was terribly smart. Then he was a vampire and Watson was smarter than he was. Then he could control electricity and blew stuff up a lot. Then he ran away because the fiancé of the woman he loved turned out to be Jack the Ripper. Then his entire country was destroyed in the World Wars. Then his bid for world peace started the Cold War and he had to fake his death. Then he tried to recreate the vampire race on Earth. And then he stopped being a vampire because of a mishap with a gizmo of his own invention.
I like to think that Nikola did not start sleeping with Helen until 1908. There are a bunch of reasons for this that I won't get into, but the rest of fandom seems to agree with me. Nikola does not see Helen from 1943 until the episode "The Five", but he's an opportunist and I think he would have made very good use of the time he had. And he'd hate himself a little bit for doing it, because that's how he rolls.
When it comes right down to it, Nikola is an outsider. He wasn't British, and even though he was a member of the Five, he constantly set himself apart from them. It is easy to guess that he was the first of them to leave Oxford (we don't even know for sure that he was around during The Ripper). As a Vampire, his megalomania got free reign. This added to his persecution complex (since all the vampires were killed), and increased his feelings of loneliness and isolation. After his failed attempt at world peace, he completely retreated into the vampire mythos, set on ruling the world (or at least restoring the ruling class). Now that he's part of Team Sanctuary (or whatever), he still goes out of his way to isolate himself, even though he's started to open up (to Henry), and admit the occasional shortcoming.
But basically, Helen and Nikola know each other far, far better than just about anyone else (living), and they are kind of a perfect storm. This is helped significantly by the chemistry of the actors, Amanda Tapping (of whom some of you may have heard...) and Jonathon Young, a Canadian stage actor who is probably best known for playing Dr. Parrish in two episodes of Stargate Atlantis. Young's stage training really, really shows in Nikola's carriage and movement (not to mention his delivery), and somehow manages to be that perfect "Dude, I'm a freaking Victorian" without going too far into "Bouncy and Fey" territory (though Tesla is both bouncy, kind of, and fey, but not in the usual way).
Also, Nikola is really pretty. And he somehow manages to look like a vampire even when he's not a vampire.
Fic Rec #1 Understanding
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
penknife
Link: http://penknife.livejournal.com/545332.html
Rating/Warning(s): M
Why This Must Be Read: As far as I am concerned, this is the Nikola/Helen fic. This explains why they started sleeping together. And even though I read it after I wrote my own Venatus Debitum, it's still exactly true to my own personal canon. Plus it's heartbreaking and really, really hot. And then he plays with her hair and I may have cried.
Fic Rec #2: Biting Personality
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:jjtaylor
Link: http://jjtaylor.livejournal.com/355351.html
Rating/Warning(s): M, biting (but no blood).
Why This Must Be Read: Sanctuary has quickly become my fandom of "Huh, I never would have read that before", and this fic is good example. Because biting is kind of, um...private? But Tesla's a vampire (or former vampire, as is the case here), so I suppose it's inevitable. And kind of hot. And by "kind of", I mean excruciatingly. And since I can't rec "Ice Into Water" (same author, check the tags), I'm reccing this instead.
Fic Rec #3: Tango
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:penknife
Link: http://penknife.livejournal.com/539481.html
Rating/Warning(s): R
Why This Must Be Read: The best thing about having sex with Nikola Tesla is that you get to do it in all the interesting decades. Also, he can dance. And he talks a lot, which you'd think would get annoying, but for some reason it never does.
Fic Rec #4: Electricity
Author:artaxastra
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Link: http://artaxastra.livejournal.com/370768.html
Rating/Warning(s): PG
Why This Must Be Read: The cool thing about Helen and Nikola is that when they met they were both outsiders (he on account of being Serbian and she on account of being a woman). Fandom has embraced this whole-heartedly, and, I think, not incorrectly, by making the assumption that Nikola was also the first of the Five to really take Helen seriously. Which I like. And this fic totally explains why. Plus, Helen compliments his English, and that's just terrifically polite of her.
Fic Rec #5: Golden Apples
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:artaxastra
Link: http://artaxastra.livejournal.com/364851.html
Rating/Warning(s): PG-13, but somehow it feels worse. ;)
Why This Must Be Read: This one might kind of break the rules? But Helen does kiss him, so I'm reccing it. My review of this fic goes thusly: HOLY GOATS, WOMAN! I'll be in my bunk. Just...the Victorian-ness of this fic nearly killed me, and it really captures all of what makes them so ludicrously awesome. Also, there's a dragon.
ETA: And now there's a podfic, which you can find here.
Fic Rec #6: Current of Time
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author: Isagel
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/58477
Rating/Warning(s): M
Why This Must Be Read: This would be my choice for the "lightning" category. Because in addition to being really, really hot, it's also got really good character moments. And excellent dialogue. And really, really hot.
Fic Rec #7: First Edition
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:anxiousgeek
Link: http://community.livejournal.com/popupbooks/116213.html
Rating/Warning(s): M
Why This Must Be Read: Um, it's funny? No seriously, it is. Because it's about books and these two are always really polite, even when they are trying to kill one another (which they are not doing in this story, well, not in the traditional sense, but it bears repeating). Plus, Nikola is so unapologetically Nikola in this fic. And I adore him.
Fic Rec #8: Better Living Through Technology
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:penknife
Link: http://penknife.livejournal.com/555860.html
Rating/Warning(s): M
Why This Must Be Read: Nikola Tesla invented the vibrator. Seriously, what else could I possibly add?
Fic Rec #9: Mortality
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:penknife
Link: http://penknife.livejournal.com/539989.html
Rating/Warning(s): PG
Why This Must Be Read: Nikola Tesla used to touch the lightning. Now he just gets drunk with a woman who has always been in love with someone else. Oh, Nikola.
Fic Rec #10: its own appointed limits keep
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:penknife
Link: http://penknife.livejournal.com/561485.html
Rating/Warning(s): M, also there's biting and for real this time.
Why This Must Be Read: And this would be the fic that broke me. Because Helen was on the Titanic, and Nikola was waiting for her in New York, and there's so much they cannot say to one another but it's okay, because they don't actually have to talk anymore to have complete understanding. Plus there are about a million little details in this fic that just push it over the edge into awesome.
I really did try not to make them all bypenknife, but it was hard. And I haven't been in this fandom a terrifically long time, so I'm kind of a three-author circus at this point. But it's the BEST circus. And I'm sure it will only get better.
Character: Nikola Tesla
Pairings Included in Manifesto: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
I should note here that I did not recommend any slash, threesomes, or any of my own fics (which are not slash), in keeping with The Rules. There is quite a bit of that sort of thing out there, since Tesla is kind of the Little Black Dress of the Sanctuary fandom, and you should totally go and read them all (I have a tag and everything!). Because in a hundred and fifty years, even Victorians get creative about stuff like this.
Blurb: Oh, Nikola. He is truly a bizarre character. Most of his fans started out hating him (or at least they found him annoying), and then all of a sudden he was everybody's (second) favourite character. But we still struggle to say what, exactly, it is about Nikola Tesla that makes him so awesome. Personally, I blame the cravat, but that only explains part of it.
He's a vampire, which I should hate, he's in love with the female lead, which I should hate, and in later seasons he gets himself de-fanged, which I should REALLY hate. But I totally don't. And neither does everyone else, except for one person on the internet who finds him creepy (and we proved it with Science! :p ).
One of the best things about Nikola is that we learn really everything we need to know about him in his very first line: Helen Magnus. Kiss me and I'll save your life. And then of course when she does kiss him, he makes her kiss him on the mouth, because he's like that.
Of course, later in that same episode Nikola both tells Helen he loves her and then tries to kill her. You'd think this would be to set him up as some kind of long term villain, but that is simply not the case. I believe that he really does love her, and that he would have only tried to kill her, forcing her to wound him in such a way that she could escape mostly intact (uh, he's pretty much unkillable, as a wooden stake, an L-RAD and some hilariously inappropriate organ music reveal). I believe he loves her because, when the army dudes attack and they are fending them off, Nikola picks one of them up by the neck, vamps out and says Leave her alone. And I'm a sucker for stupid romance, okay?
Where was I...
Oh yes!
Nikola has problems. He wasn't British and he was terribly smart. Then he was a vampire and Watson was smarter than he was. Then he could control electricity and blew stuff up a lot. Then he ran away because the fiancé of the woman he loved turned out to be Jack the Ripper. Then his entire country was destroyed in the World Wars. Then his bid for world peace started the Cold War and he had to fake his death. Then he tried to recreate the vampire race on Earth. And then he stopped being a vampire because of a mishap with a gizmo of his own invention.
I like to think that Nikola did not start sleeping with Helen until 1908. There are a bunch of reasons for this that I won't get into, but the rest of fandom seems to agree with me. Nikola does not see Helen from 1943 until the episode "The Five", but he's an opportunist and I think he would have made very good use of the time he had. And he'd hate himself a little bit for doing it, because that's how he rolls.
When it comes right down to it, Nikola is an outsider. He wasn't British, and even though he was a member of the Five, he constantly set himself apart from them. It is easy to guess that he was the first of them to leave Oxford (we don't even know for sure that he was around during The Ripper). As a Vampire, his megalomania got free reign. This added to his persecution complex (since all the vampires were killed), and increased his feelings of loneliness and isolation. After his failed attempt at world peace, he completely retreated into the vampire mythos, set on ruling the world (or at least restoring the ruling class). Now that he's part of Team Sanctuary (or whatever), he still goes out of his way to isolate himself, even though he's started to open up (to Henry), and admit the occasional shortcoming.
But basically, Helen and Nikola know each other far, far better than just about anyone else (living), and they are kind of a perfect storm. This is helped significantly by the chemistry of the actors, Amanda Tapping (of whom some of you may have heard...) and Jonathon Young, a Canadian stage actor who is probably best known for playing Dr. Parrish in two episodes of Stargate Atlantis. Young's stage training really, really shows in Nikola's carriage and movement (not to mention his delivery), and somehow manages to be that perfect "Dude, I'm a freaking Victorian" without going too far into "Bouncy and Fey" territory (though Tesla is both bouncy, kind of, and fey, but not in the usual way).
Also, Nikola is really pretty. And he somehow manages to look like a vampire even when he's not a vampire.
Fic Rec #1 Understanding
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:
penknifeLink: http://penknife.livejournal.com/545332.html
Rating/Warning(s): M
Why This Must Be Read: As far as I am concerned, this is the Nikola/Helen fic. This explains why they started sleeping together. And even though I read it after I wrote my own Venatus Debitum, it's still exactly true to my own personal canon. Plus it's heartbreaking and really, really hot. And then he plays with her hair and I may have cried.
Fic Rec #2: Biting Personality
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:
jjtaylorLink: http://jjtaylor.livejournal.com/355351.html
Rating/Warning(s): M, biting (but no blood).
Why This Must Be Read: Sanctuary has quickly become my fandom of "Huh, I never would have read that before", and this fic is good example. Because biting is kind of, um...private? But Tesla's a vampire (or former vampire, as is the case here), so I suppose it's inevitable. And kind of hot. And by "kind of", I mean excruciatingly. And since I can't rec "Ice Into Water" (same author, check the tags), I'm reccing this instead.
Fic Rec #3: Tango
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:
penknifeLink: http://penknife.livejournal.com/539481.html
Rating/Warning(s): R
Why This Must Be Read: The best thing about having sex with Nikola Tesla is that you get to do it in all the interesting decades. Also, he can dance. And he talks a lot, which you'd think would get annoying, but for some reason it never does.
Fic Rec #4: Electricity
Author:
artaxastraPairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Link: http://artaxastra.livejournal.com/370768.html
Rating/Warning(s): PG
Why This Must Be Read: The cool thing about Helen and Nikola is that when they met they were both outsiders (he on account of being Serbian and she on account of being a woman). Fandom has embraced this whole-heartedly, and, I think, not incorrectly, by making the assumption that Nikola was also the first of the Five to really take Helen seriously. Which I like. And this fic totally explains why. Plus, Helen compliments his English, and that's just terrifically polite of her.
Fic Rec #5: Golden Apples
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:
artaxastraLink: http://artaxastra.livejournal.com/364851.html
Rating/Warning(s): PG-13, but somehow it feels worse. ;)
Why This Must Be Read: This one might kind of break the rules? But Helen does kiss him, so I'm reccing it. My review of this fic goes thusly: HOLY GOATS, WOMAN! I'll be in my bunk. Just...the Victorian-ness of this fic nearly killed me, and it really captures all of what makes them so ludicrously awesome. Also, there's a dragon.
ETA: And now there's a podfic, which you can find here.
Fic Rec #6: Current of Time
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author: Isagel
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/58477
Rating/Warning(s): M
Why This Must Be Read: This would be my choice for the "lightning" category. Because in addition to being really, really hot, it's also got really good character moments. And excellent dialogue. And really, really hot.
Fic Rec #7: First Edition
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:
anxiousgeekLink: http://community.livejournal.com/popupbooks/116213.html
Rating/Warning(s): M
Why This Must Be Read: Um, it's funny? No seriously, it is. Because it's about books and these two are always really polite, even when they are trying to kill one another (which they are not doing in this story, well, not in the traditional sense, but it bears repeating). Plus, Nikola is so unapologetically Nikola in this fic. And I adore him.
Fic Rec #8: Better Living Through Technology
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:
penknifeLink: http://penknife.livejournal.com/555860.html
Rating/Warning(s): M
Why This Must Be Read: Nikola Tesla invented the vibrator. Seriously, what else could I possibly add?
Fic Rec #9: Mortality
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:
penknifeLink: http://penknife.livejournal.com/539989.html
Rating/Warning(s): PG
Why This Must Be Read: Nikola Tesla used to touch the lightning. Now he just gets drunk with a woman who has always been in love with someone else. Oh, Nikola.
Fic Rec #10: its own appointed limits keep
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Author:
penknifeLink: http://penknife.livejournal.com/561485.html
Rating/Warning(s): M, also there's biting and for real this time.
Why This Must Be Read: And this would be the fic that broke me. Because Helen was on the Titanic, and Nikola was waiting for her in New York, and there's so much they cannot say to one another but it's okay, because they don't actually have to talk anymore to have complete understanding. Plus there are about a million little details in this fic that just push it over the edge into awesome.
I really did try not to make them all by
penknife, but it was hard. And I haven't been in this fandom a terrifically long time, so I'm kind of a three-author circus at this point. But it's the BEST circus. And I'm sure it will only get better.
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