Historical Hero Upgrade: Difference between revisions

 

When [[Fanfic]] writers do this to a canon character, it's [[Draco in Leather Pants]].

* Recently some people have attempted to give this to Countess Elizabeth Báthory, one of the worst serial killers in history. Nicknamed the 'Blood Countess,' she is believed to be responsible for torturing hundreds of young women to death, but they only had the evidence to convict her for 80 of them. First with her husband and, after he died, as a solo killer with a three friends acting as accomplices, she would order them into her dungeon and sadistically beat them. Despite having hundreds of witnesses testify that young women would regularly enter the castle and only their corpses would come out, some people still claim she was innocent and the victim of a conspiracy by the catholic church and the Habsburg empire that ruled Hungary at the time, claiming that they wanted her money and land, and did not like seeing a woman in power. There are a few problems with these theories: first, her crimes were reported by the Lutheran church (which she was a member of), secondly, the Habsburgs waited about a decade between the crimes being first reported and launching an investigation, and finally, she did not have any land, money, or direct power after her husband died: their son inherited his father’s land, and their eldest daughter acted as regent while he was a minor. While it is true that, as the wife, and later, mother of the Count, she had a lot of pull, she was technically powerless. About the only detail about her life that actually ''is'' certainly a myth are the rumours that she would [[Blood Bath|bathe in the blood of her many victims]]. On a related note, Báthory has the strange distinction of also receiving [[Historical Villain Upgrade|Historical Villain Upgrades]] at the same time, as other works change her from the particularly depraved human being she was in real life to a vampire. Two sympathetic portrayals from recent movies are:

** ''Bathory'' took the position that she was completely innocent of any of the murders, and was really a kind a loving mother and ruler who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and was the victim of the malicious slanders of greedy noblemen. That's not even getting into the ridiculousness of the monks spying on her.

* Matthias Corvinus ruled Hungary with an iron fist. He was known for imprisoning the nobles who crowned him king, and instituting high taxes to maintain his army of [[Elite Mooks]]. Despite this, he is known as Hungary's greatest and most iconic folk hero, for his sense of justice and his rumoured habit of mingling with the common folk. The fact that the kingdom of Hungary was living it's golden age during his rule, and practically died with him, also helps his case.

 

* Date Masamune is played like this in many works. In real life, he may as well be categorized with ''Oushuu's [[Oda Nobunaga]]'', he killed his brother to rise to power (his nagging mother constantly opposed him and promoted his brother for clan leader) and betrayed the alliance with the other clans without much discussion (and conquering them). He also showed little respect to Hideyoshi when he was called to join the attack on Odawara (and late to come to boot!). But in ''[[Samurai Deeper Kyo]],'' he ends up becoming Kyo's ally, though he may be rude and brash (aka Bontenmaru). And in ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'', he becomes the [[Badass]] [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] hero with a somewhat charming personality and several [[Pet the Dog]] moments (seen with [[Battle Butler|Kojuurou]] and [[Morality Pet|Itsuki]], or [[All There in the Manual|in the Drama CD]], [[The Woobie|Oichi]])

** This one is averted in Koei's Warriors series. In ''[[Samurai Warriors]] 2'', he comes off as a jerk, but hides a lot of ambitions that are beneficial for Japan. But in ''[[Warriors Orochi]]'', he becomes Orochi's henchman and is pretty much loyal to him and has no qualms on bringing chaos into the world. Maybe that's his true nature.

 

 

** Arguably, the film does actually emphasize their extreme devotion to religion, but also has Leonidas himself rejecting the practices as illogical and detrimental to them during a time of war.

 

 

* John Smith in Disney's ''[[Pocahontas]]'' movie.

** Though this is more a reflection of this trope being applied far more heavily to Pocahontas herself... John Smith is portrayed as being quite shallow and bland until he gets a lecture from the [[Purity Sue|morally pure and spiritually superior]] [[Positive Discrimination|Native American woman]] that [[Epiphany Therapy|causes him to become a well-rounded individual]].

* The imperial Romanov family in ''[[Anastasia]]''. [[Don Bluth]] really just grabbed the opportunity to portray another idyllic [[Follow the Leader|Disney-like]] princess, while neglecting to mention all the reasons the revolutionists thought themselves justified in their actions. On the other hand, Grigori Rasputin gets quite the [[Historical Villain Upgrade]].

 

* ''[[Braveheart]]'' upgraded William Wallace into the architect of Scottish Independence and downgraded Robert Bruce to little more than a background character. William Wallace raped women and burnt down schools with children and monks still inside. Robert Bruce is one of the great heroes of Scottish history and his guerrilla campaign against the forces of King Edward I and II was much larger, went on for much longer and was far more successful than Wallace's. Plus, it shows Bruce betraying Wallace. He never once betrayed Wallace (Everyone else, sure - but never Wallace).

* ''[[Kingdom of Heaven]]'':

 

 

* [[Older Than Print]]: The ''[[Arabian Nights]]'' gave Haroun al Rashid a [[Historical Hero Upgrade]]. The most memorable event in his real reign was his execution of a powerful aristocratic family, therefore making his empire weaker. Is it ever mentioned in the stories? Sometimes, but they don't go too far in [[Historical Villain Upgrade|the opposite direction]] to Harun himself. In most stories, he's a lovable eccentric going on fantastic adventures -- except in stories featuring Ja'far (The Three Apples especially), in which he comes off as a bit unstable.

* ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' has a few:

 

 

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' gives this treatment to [[Vincent van Gogh]] in "Vincent and the Doctor". Ol' Vinny goes from a tortured painter to [[Badass]] {{spoiler|hunter of invisible monsters who eventually kills the [[Monster of the Week]] by impaling it on the anchor spikes of his easel.}} Other historical figures that the Doctor encounters in his travels get this trope in smaller doses as well: Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth, Agatha Christie, Churchill...

** Of course, this is often a pretty good example of [[Tropes Are Not Bad]], as meeting historical characters in a show like Doctor Who would be pretty boring if they weren't involved somehow in timey-wimey shenanigans. (Also, "Vincent and the Doctor" being widely regarded as one of the best and most touching episodes of the entire series.)