Historical Hero Upgrade: Difference between revisions

 

 

* ''[[Henry V]]'' ignores several inconvenient aspects of the historical king, probably because he was a [[Badass]] warrior King of England at a time when English nationalism was on the rise after hundreds of years of domination by French overlords. Still, he could easily have been seen as a villain, even by the Elizabethans. He executed captured enemy knights, presided over some horrible bloodbaths, doomed both sides to keep fighting a pointless war, burned "Protestant" heretics<ref>strictly speaking, Lollards, but these were seen as Protestant forerunners by many Elizabethans</ref> alive -- including Sir John Oldcastle, the original of Shakespeare's Falstaff -- [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|and]] [[Good Scars, Evil Scars|had a nasty scar across his face]].

* ''[[Henry VIII (theatre)|Henry VIII]]'' ends with Henry and Anne eagerly expecting his heir, the future Queen Elizabeth - ignoring the fact that the entire point of the exercise had been for Henry to get a ''male'' heir, and indeed that Catherine had ''already'' borne a female heir ([[Unperson|who would grow up to be Bloody Mary]])... not to mention the infamous mess that would come a few years later, with Catherine dead and Anne convicted of capital crimes, both under very suspicious circumstances.

* [[Oda Nobunaga]] is typically portrayed as villainous, but from [[Samurai Warriors]] 2 onwards he gets treated as a pragmatic [[Anti-Hero]]. Historically, he was much closer to the game's portrayal of Hashiba Hideyoshi as an eccentric yet highly general and administrator. He was not only a ruthless commander, but embraced Western culture and technology before most other Daimyos and implemented several important policies that are still used or directly influence current policy today. Embracing the use of guns allowed him to rout his opponents in battle.

 

* Pretty much ''everyone'' in the ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' series that wasn't instead [[Historical Villain Upgrade|made into an outright villain]] gets some degree or another of this, but [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] is the biggest -- by ''Sengoku Basara 3'' he's basically [[The Messiah]], compassionate and honest, and his [[Power Fist]] combat style is symbolic of his desire to keep war from ever again severing the Bonds between people, rather than power-hungry and manipulative. Not to mention, he's a young [[Bishonen]] rather his usual portrayal of being a fat old man.

* Taking a leaf from ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'', ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' promotes Liu Bei to a man concerned primarily with virtue and honourable behaviour.

** Not to mention that with their advantage in information control, the Templars would obviously try to slander any historical figure who allied themselves with the Assassins.

 

* Played with ''hilariously'' in ''[[Time Squad]]''. When the team is given a mission, Otto always would get really excited and start rattling off the wonderful achievements of whoever it was they were going to meet, pretty much ignoring any of the flaws (arguably justified through childish idealism). When they actually meet the historic figures however, they are all stupid, insane, stubborn, cruel, or plain incompetent.

 

 

* [[wikipedia:Lei Feng|Lei Feng]] was an ordinary but not particularly notable soldier in the People's Liberation Army. Then he died, and, amazingly, it turned out he ''just happened'' to have written a big diary in which he had recorded his dutiful life devoted to Chairman Mao. Most historians are pretty sure that the entire thing was a result of the Communist Party's [[Propaganda Machine]].

* Similar upgrades were done for the USSR's [[wikipedia:Pavlik Morozov|Pavlik Morozov]] and Nazi Germany's [[wikipedia:Horst Wessel|Horst Wessel]].

 

 

* ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei]]'' has an instance wherein during a lecture on the importance of holding one's tongue, Nozomu speaks positively about Kira, the man traditionally viewed as the villain in ''[[The 47 Ronin]]'' incident. Nozomu refers to him as a cultured man taken advantage of by a bunch of bumpkins.

* At the end of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', the heroes have to whitewash Führer Bradley's life and not tell anyone that {{spoiler|he was a Homunculus and willing to sacrifice his people to give Father godhood}}.

 

 

* ''[[Star Trek: First Contact]]'' explores this trope with the fictional historical figure of Zefram Cochrane. Federation history paints Cochrane as a shining paragon of idealism while he was really a selfish, cynical drunk (but still kind of a [[Loveable Rogue]]). Much of his widely known idealism only came long after he'd made [[First Contact]], while the time-traveling crew only met the earlier, broken man who'd barely lived through [[World War 3]]. The Cochrane they meet even sneers at the very same aphorisms [[Timey-Wimey Ball|he'll later famously deliver]]. The novelization hints that he may have had untreated bipolar disorder, alternating between manic creative highs that led to his [[Faster-Than-Light Travel|inventing the warp drive]] and crushing lows.

** This was later lampshaded in a ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' episode where Captain Archer wants to take [[Star Trek: First Contact|an obscure speech by Cochrane in which he claimed cyborgs tried to sabotage first contact]] as the complete truth (which, of course, it is). T'Pol points out that Cochrane was "frequently intoxicated" (which is also true, and probably the only reason Cochrane ever revealed that information).

 

 

* [[Ciaphas Cain]], '''HERO OF THE IMPERIUM'''! Pretty much the poster boy for this trope: a cowardly, manipulative political officer who gets thrown into death and destruction at every turn, and comes out as a hero for the [[The Empire|Imperium]], even revered as an aspect of the [[God-Emperor|god-emperor of mankind]] in some circles. He doesn't believe all the hype, though.

** A recurring theme in the books is Cain using his memoirs (compiled into the books we read) to give himself a [[Historical Villain Upgrade]] instead. By his actions, Cain is a hero. By his own claims he's a self-serving coward. Those tropes get played with a lot, and Sandy Mitchell says [[Shrug of God|he's not sure.]]

 

 

* An episode of ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'' showed Bobby idolizing Old West gunman Jesse James. His worried parents take him to meet one of James's victims, after which he has a nightmare in which James murders his entire family. That cures him.

** Earlier in the same episode, they watch a movie based on Jessie James, but it had been [[Bowlderized]] due to TV censorship, leading Bobby to believe that James was not violent.

* In the ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' episode "Living Witness", the ancestors of an alien civilization are treated this way after they tried to raid Voyager and took hostages while doing so. Voyager was trading with one of their enemies while not knowing there was even a conflict between the two sides, and both are given a corresponding [[Historical Villain Upgrade]] to the point that they launched a horrific war against their "peace-loving" culture and staged full-on genocide against them. They themselves, on the other hand, are depicted as martyrs and freedom-fighters.

 

* In ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'', the official history records Delita as a hero, even though {{spoiler|he left quite a body count on the way to the throne.}}

* The protagonist of ''[[MediEvil (1998 video game)|Medievil]]'', Sir Daniel Fortesque, became a friend of the king through various exaggerated tales of his exploits. When an actual battle occurred, Daniel ended up getting killed by arrows minutes into it. However, due to being the King's friend, he went down in history as a hero. When the evil sorceror he fought against tries to take over the world again, Sir Dan gets a chance to finally prove himself as the hero history remembers him as.

 

 

* Parodied on a ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' sketch that shows [[Benjamin Franklin]] practicing with a bo staff and declares "For America!" at the very end.

** A different, but similar, sketch had [[The American Revolution]] done in the style of the film ''[[300]]''.