Honor Harrington/Characters: Difference between revisions

 

== Manticorans ==

 

The title character of the series and the one of the most prodigious military and political figures of her time. Born to an upper middle class family (and coming from the literally centuries long lineage of biologists and physicians), she went for a rather [[Lady of War|nontraditional]] (for her clan, at least) occupation and managed to obtain ''a lot'' of fancy and important-sounding additions to her name through the [[The Determinator|effort]], [[The Ace|skill]] and some rather evident [[Author Appeal]]. The price she had to pay for this was, ahem, considerable. Has accumulated so much seniority since the [[Long Runner|beginning of the series]] that she got somewhat sidelined in the recent series of spinoffs, having became the most senior active military officer on Manticore.

* [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask]]: Much [[Purple Prose]] on the way she keeps her emotions behind a cool, professional demeanor.

 

 

 

* {{spoiler|[[Balancing Death's Books]]: [[Word of God]] says that originally Honor Harrington was supposed to die in the Battle of Manticore, not him. The Grim Reaper in this case being the author, not anything in universe.}}

* [[The Resenter]]: In ''On Basilisk station'', he has trouble working with Honor because he resents her being given command of Fearless instead of him. He gets over it by the end of the book.

 

 

Hamish Alexander is a renowned officer of the Royal Manticoran Navy and a member of the aristocracy. He is an [[The Chessmaster|excellent tactician and strategist,]] and also was the leading voice of the traditionalist school of military tactics in the RMN, which advocated the continuing value of conventional naval tactics in spite of the technological breakthroughs the Manties' R&D had made. During his career he has commanded Home Fleet, Sixth Fleet, and Eighth Fleet and is currently the First Lord of the Admiralty. He is married to Emily Alexander, a triplegic ex-actress and probably one of the shrewdest minds in the Kingdom. Later, {{spoiler|he marries Honor.}}

** Having one's brother as the Prime Minister and the Queen as a good personal friend helps deal with some of the legal snarls, as well.

 

 

Queen Elizabeth III is the current ruling monarch of the Star Kingdom of Manticore. She ascended to the throne in 1883 PD (3986 AD), seventeen years prior to the events of ''On Basilisk Station.'' Unlike many modern monarchs, the Manticoran Constitution gives her [[Royals Who Actually Do Something|some limited actual executive power]]. She is often described as being both straightforward and honourable. Unfortunately, she holds grudges for so long that they die of old age; then she has them stuffed and mounted. She also has a hatred of the (People's) Republic of Haven that borders on fanaticism. Which isn't too surprising when you consider that the People's Republic was responsible for the assassination of her father{{spoiler|, her Prime Minister and best friend, her uncle, and her cousin}}.

* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: As noted above, the Manticoran Constitution gives the Crown rather broad powers -- although not as broad as on Grayson.

* [[Royally Screwed-Up]]: She has her ''issues''.

* [[Troubled Sympathetic Bigot]]: She hates Haven with some reason but long after the regimes that provoked it are gone, and can't quite believe that Pritchart's government really wants peace. It doesn't help that the new government itself renewed hostilities when negotiations were not going anywhere, though they were not without some justification. Even there Elizabeth could have told that there was some change as the new regime at least followed [[The Laws and Customs of War]] unlike the Revolutionaries.

** In her defense, Queen Elizabeth is normally self-aware of her strong emotional bias against 'Peeps' and does her best to not let it affect her professional judgement. The most famous exception to that rule involved Haven's being framed for the assassination of her ambassador and attempted assassination of several people she cared for very much (including her niece), and given that Haven has historically made two ''genuine'' assassination runs at her family in Elizabeth's lifetime even a person far less angry than Elizabeth would have found that particular disinformation very easy to believe.

* [[Try to Fit That on A Business Card]]: With all those titles? [[Gonna Need More Trope|You're going to need a bigger card.]]

 

 

Michelle Henke is an officer in the Royal Manticoran Navy, a titled peer of the Manticoran aristocracy and Queen Elizabeth III's first cousin through their mutual grandmother. Mike was Honor Harrington's roommate at the Saganami Naval Academy and helped her pass higher-dimensional mathematics. She was first introduced as Honor's executive officer on the battlecruiser ''Nike''. Later, She became Countess Gold Peak when her father, Earl Gold Peak, and her older brother, Calvin, are killed during the Peep/Masadan assassination attempt on Protector Benjamin and Queen Elizabeth. Recently she was a Rear Admiral assigned to Eighth Fleet as the commander of the 81st Battlecruiser Squadron when her flagship was damaged and captured at the Battle of Solon. She was later released as President Pritchart's messenger to Queen Elizabeth. Since then she was assigned to the Talbott Quadrant where her actions have {{spoiler|initiated a state of war between Manticore and the Solarian League.}}

* [[They Call Me Mister Tibbs]]: Prefers to be called "Admiral Henke" or "ma'am" rather than her noble title or "milady".

 

 

A generally sad and pathetic excuse for a human being. The eldest son of Lord Dimitri Young, Tenth Earl of North Hollow, he is extremely arrogant due to his exalted birth, family fortune and political power, not to mention a cruel individual and a pathological womanizer who can not take "no" for an answer. He has been known to resort to violence when his sexual advances are rejected; he raped the pilot of his father's personal yacht when he was only sixteen and his actions were covered by his father. At Saganami Naval Academy he tried to do the same to Honor Harrington after she rebuffed his public advances, and she beat the holy living hell out of him. This lead to a bitter feud with Honor in which he tried to sabotage her career on numerous occasions, culminating in his attempts in ''On Basilisk Station'' to abandon her on Basilisk Station, only to have it backfire on him. Though it was public knowledge that he attempted to undermine her command at Basilisk, his father's influence was able to keep him on active service and he was later assigned to the same station as Honor. Though technically senior to her in rank, Honor's status as the Flag Captain for the squadron commanding officer put her in a position of tactical authority. When he withdrew his ship over the protests and outrage of his own crew in the face of a large Havenite task force, and against Honor's direct orders, court-martial charges which would sentence him to death were initiated. His extremely influential father managed to save him from the death penalty, but he was stripped of all rank and titles and dishonorably discharged from the Navy. Afterward, he inherited the title of Earl of North Hollow and {{spoiler|planned once again to exact revenge on Honor. He hired an assassin to kill Honor's first love, Paul Tankersley. In revenge, Honor challenges him to a duel and kills him. Oh, and Young, too.}}

* [[Upper Class Twit]]: Much of his evilness stemmed from his truly monumental stupidity. There was a lot of deeds to which his much more intelligent Magnificent Bastards of a father and wife, or somewhat less magnificent, but still quite talented bastard of a brother would've never resorted to, if only for their potential to backfire.

 

 

*[[A Father to His Men]]: Not in an affectionate way to say the least but he does feel an obligation to his employees.

*[[Uriah Gambit]]: Subverted. He wasn't trying to get Honor killed. He just had a nasty job he wanted done and it might as well be done by a naval officer he disliked especially as she was superbly qualified.

 

 

Part of the famous [[Odd Couple|Spook Duo]], Zilwicki is also a one more proof that appearances can be deceiving. A short, but ''extremely'' stocky and broad man, he's so extravagantly muscled that it's visible even when he's in uniform, with comparisons to dwarven kings routinely made ''in-universe''. He is, nevertheless, [[Genius Bruiser|one of the finest intelligence agents]] in [[The Empire]] -- and hotly contests the position of the best hacker in the series with Chief Harkness. While very serious and negative, even dour man, he somehow struck the odd friendship with Victor Cachat (even if they're technically [[Enemy Mine|still enemies]]), and is hardly seen apart from him, making [[A Day in the Limelight|their books]] a sort of [[Buddy Cop Show|buddy cop subseries]].

* [[Violent Glaswegian]]: Gryphon is [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|very similar to Scotland]] in this universe, and while his temper isn't very short, it's better not to test it.

 

 

James "Mac" MacGuiness is Honor's Steward (and Major Domo while on Grayson). Retired following Honor's "execution" but retook the post when Honor turned up alive (apparently without re-enlisting). Something of an honorary father figure to Honor, who regularly refers to him (like her Armsmen) as one of her "Keepers".

* [[Battle Butler]] - More butler than battler, but he ''is'' a lifetime naval man.

 

 

Allison Harrington is a genetic surgeon and the mother of Honor Harrington, Alfred Harrington's wife. She emigrated to the Star Kingdom from the libertine planet of Beowulf, which, she felt, has started becoming too conformist and set in its liberal-nonconformist ways. Ironically, she comes from [[The Ojou|the very top of that society]], as she is a scion of not one, but THREE of the most illustrious and distinguished families of Beowulf, one of the first and, arguably, most developed of original Earth colonies. Among her ancestors were numerous illustrious biomedical researchers, some of whom were even the signatories of the Cherwell convention, a famous anti-slavery treaty, which was one of the most plot-important things as of late.

* [[You Fail Your Medical Boards Forever]]: Allison Harrington is the size of an elementary schoolgirl and her second generation prolong lengthens her pregnancies to nearly a year. Her children have genetic modifications that significantly increase their required food intake. Despite twin pregnancies being inherently high-risk for ''normal size women'', she nevertheless decides to gestate her ''unadapted'' children on the [[Death World]] of Grayson when the Honorverse has working artificial wombs. Somewhat justified by the fact that having children naturally is something of a [[Honor Before Reason|honor point]] for the First Families on Beowulf, so, as a scion of not one but ''three'' of such families, Allison, being Beowulfan through and through, just couldn't go for the easy way, but it still feels rather irresponsible. Possibly not an issue due to further medical technology making it far safer, but that's not discussed

 

 

Honor's father, one more in the almost endless line of biologist and physician Harringtons, Alfred is a no less famous in medicine than his wife, but doesn't have the same impact on the story. A top-notch neurosurgeon, his main occupation in the series seems to be patching Honor up after her more demanding adventures and providing some domestic air for the family with his [[Supreme Chef|cooking]].

* [[Supreme Chef]]: Has a friendly rivalry with a Harrington House chief cook, alternating in oner-upping each other.

 

 

Petty Officer Harkness was first introduced when Honor asked for any members of the crew who might be familiar with smuggling tricks, no questions asked. One of her older crew members, his career had stalled due to the fact that, while he is one of the best at what he does, what he does also includes smuggling goods on board ship and picking fights with marines. The latter consider his hostility to be a show of respect, not without reason. He later sorta "reforms" <ref>His marriage to [[Hot Amazon|Iris Babcock]], a Marine of all people, seems to have a lot to do with it.</ref> and gets his career back on track, becoming in essence a Scotty's staff engineer, despite [[Bavarian Fire Drill|still being a warrant officer]] -- he just happens to be a [[Genius Bruiser|genius grav tech and one of the]] ''two'' [[Playful Hacker|best hackers]] in the whole franchise.

* [[Sergeant Rock]]: Would've be a textbook example if not for his troubles with authorities early on.

 

 

A longtime Honor's student and protege, Scotty, as he is universally known, is a recurring secondary character and in many ways, a ''reader's'' stand-in. Introduced in the very first novel of the series, ''On Basilisk Station'', as an extremely green [[Ensign Newbie]] fresh out of [[Military Academy|Saganami Island]], he then followed Honor wherever she went.

* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Delivered the one to Honor in ''Honor of the Queen'' when she was ready to shoot the Masadan commander on the spot, thus saving her career.

 

 

First introduced as Honor's sparring partner, Babcock is a veteran marine. Having received first-generation prolong, she appears to be in late middle age. Her unarmed combat skills put Honor to shame at first but the latter learns quickly.

* [[The Squadette]]: Often fulfills this role, as the only named woman in a team of marines if not the only actual woman.

 

 

First appearing as a Major and the commander of the HMS ''Fearless''' marine detachment in ''The Honor of the Queen''. He led the assault on Blackbird Base and saved Honor from destroying her career by killing the base commander once she learned of the atrocity he'd presided over. Later, he becomes a colonel and serves again as the CO of Honor's marines on the HMS ''Nike'' and was too late to prevent {{spoiler|Paul Tankersley from getting in the duel that led to his death. He led the illegal side-mission to wring-out Denver Summerville's confession}}. He later becomes Brigadier General of the San Martin occupation forces.

* [[You Killed My Father]]: One of many reasons to hate Haven, since his father was lost, fighting heroically to stop Haven from conquering their homeworld. {{spoiler|His father isn't dead, though. He's a prisoner on Hades, and they are eventually reunited 30 years later.}}

 

 

Mike's new flag lieutenant after {{spoiler|being made a Havenite POW and then being set free}}. One of the recent wave of the ''non-[[Upper Class Twit|twit]]'' sympathetic aristocratic characters like Oversteegen and Terekhov.

* [[Redheaded Hero]]

 

 

* [[Everything's Better with Princesses]]

* [[Running Gag]]: Her total disinterest in history and impressive knowledge of contemporary politics ''always'' leads to [[Take That|amusing bloopers]] when she confuses historical characters (or even ''concepts'', like [[Yiddish as a Second Language|chutzpah]]) with minor modern politicians.

 

 

9th Baron of High Ridge and leader of Manticore's Conservative Association, a coalition of Members of the House of Lords who exist as a party solely to preserve and expand the privilege of Manticore's nobility. {{spoiler|After the Centrists lose control of the House of Lords in the wake of the Duke of Cromarty's assassination, he becomes the Prime Minster of Manticore in ''Ashes of Victory''.}}

** He gets a little better in ''War of Honor'', only because Descroix's utter cynicism makes even High Ridge blanch at times.

 

 

Descroix is the leader of Manticore's Progressive Party. She conceals a ruthless and cynical streak behind a sweet and pleasant facade. {{spoiler|Under the High Ridge government, she was the Foreign Secretary, in charge of diplomacy with Haven. When the second war erupted, she fled to the Solarian League where she was killed as a now useless pawn of the Mesan Alignment.}}

* [[We Have Reserves]]: The least troubled member of the Conservative, Liberal, Progressive alliance by potential troop losses in war due to her own personal hatred of the military.

 

 

Countess New Kiev is the leader of Manticore's Liberal Party, and is infamous for a "holier-than-thou" moral certainty behind her beliefs. {{spoiler|Under the High Ridge government, she was of Chancellor the Exchequer, until her resignation from politics when the war restarted.}}

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: Unlike her political allies, Marisa's conscience is regularly troubled by their actions.

 

 

Admiral Janacek was a member of the Conservative Association and who was put in charge of the Navy by the Cromarty government when the Conservatives were still allied with them in the first two books. {{spoiler|Later, he regains the position under the High Ridge government.}} His time as First Lord is largely characterized by political nepotism and horrific mismanagement. He has a legendary, mutual hatred for Earl White Haven.

* [[The Resenter]]: Towards White Haven.

 

 

Another [[Officer and a Gentleman|aristocratic officer]], and, as mentioned above, one of the ''very'' few non-stupid and generally competent [[Strawman Political|conservatives]] in the series. He's the distant nephew of the [[Sleazy Politician|Baron High Ridge]], whom he resembles greatly, but, being an accomplished man by himself, utterly despises that branch of the family as useless self-important toads who do nothing except protecting that self-importance.

* [[Upper Class Twit]]: Subverted-- and no, that's ''not'' supposed to be Averted. He has every established marker of a Manticoran [[Upper Class Twit]] except actually ''being'' a twit.

 

 

An officer in the Royal Manticoran Navy, served a stint in the Foreign Office before returning to service in the First Havenite-Manticoran War. Terekhov spent some time as a POW before being released following a prisoner exchange with the Republic of Haven. Once cleared for duty he was assigned the HMS ''Hexapuma'' and sent to the Talbott Cluster as it was being annexed into the Star Kingdom. In the course of his duties, he came across a plan to take over the Lynx Junction terminus. Using what ships he could scrounge up in a hurry, Terekhov headed right for the source and stopped the plan in its tracks.

* [[Survivor Guilt]]

 

 

Station commander of the Talbott Cluster, later Talbott Quadrant. Initially put there primarily for political reasons during the High Ridge Government days, Khumalo spent much of his time once the Grantville government came in wondering when he'd be removed from his position. Instead, he distinguished himself by going to the aid of Aivars Terekhov without hesitation, to the surprise of many (and possibly himself).

* [[Reasonable Authority Figure]]: Khumalo might lack true brilliance, but he well enough compensated for that by his quiet competence, sound judgement and inborn integrity, which in the end makes him quite a successful commander.

 

 

Another career diplomat in Manticoran service, Baroness Medusa (then just Dame Estelle Matsuko) served as a Special Commissioner for the natives' rights in the very first book of the series, ''On Basilisk Station'', for which she was apparently made a peer, and, supposedly, in other diplomatic roles during the 14-years stretch between OBS and the ''Shadow Of Saganami''. There she was a special envoy of the Crown representing the Manticore's interests during the Talbott Cluster Constitutional Convention that developed the terms and conditions of Talbott's annexation into the Star Kingdom. Later on, when that long-winged and complicated process finally ended, she was made the first Governor of the newly formed Talbott Quadrant of the Star Empire of Manticore.

* [[Reasonable Authority Figure]]

 

 

Anton Zilwicki's daughter. She was assigned to ''Hexapuma'' for her midshipwoman cruise, getting caught up in the Talbott Quadrant's events. Now Sir Aivars's flag lieutenant.

== Havenites ==

 

 

A character introduced when Eric Flint became co-author of the series with [[David Weber]] and not too incidentally is said to be Flint's author avatar. Frequently accused of being a [[God Mode Sue]] by the fandom, he still does manage to be a fairly balanced character. In the books he is described as being [[Bishonen|very young and very cute]] on more then one occasion. He is widely known as being the Republic's best operative and is something of an idealist despite his capacity for unrestrained ruthlessness.

* [[Bishonen]]: Which only helps, as enemies often tend to underestimate him.

** Other novels describe him as "plain" or even "square-faced", though. But then again, maybe he just started to mature: he's about 35 and (with prolong) should look 16 as per our experience.

* [[Cultured Warrior]]: the result of an [[The Obi-Wan|apprenticeship]] under [[Genius Bruiser|Kevin Usher]]. Kevin taught him not only the trade, but gave a Nuveau Paris' slumboy a good taste -- after all, Usher's one of the few people that still remember ''[[Casablanca]]'' two thousand years from now.

* [[Determinator]]: The sheer amount of guts Cachat happened to have shouldn't be able to fit into his frame.

* [[Guile Hero]]

* [[Indy Ploy]]: Quick thinking saved his operations (and his hide) more than once...

* [[Manipulative Bastard]]

* [[Odd Couple]]: One part of the Spook Duo.

* [[The Unfettered]]: There's simply nothing to stop him if you happened to provoke his anger. Ever.

* [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]]: ''Somehow'' able to remain one despite everything said above.

* [[What Could Have Been]]: [[Word of God]] is that the original plan when Honor was to die in At All Costs was her son and daughter would of taken up the fight, with Raoul fulfilling most of Victor's functions.

 

 

Currently the head of the Republican Navy and the Republic's Secretary of War. When first introduced ''The Honor of the Queen'' he was a Peep destroyer skipper but even then he scared Honor because of his tactical and strategic abilities, willingness to make sacrifices, loyalty to the Republic and the fact that missiles from his warship {{spoiler|killed Honor's mentor.}} Due to his competence and seemingly apolitical stance he quickly rose through the ranks of the People's Navy, only to eventually {{spoiler|overthrow the current regime and restore the original democratic form of government, not the pseudo-democratic one at the start of the novels, an actual federal republic that hasn't existed in over 200 years. It sticks}}.

* [[Worthy Opponent]]: See his treecat name, Dreams of Peace

 

 

Robert Stanton Pierre used to be a Dolist manager -- a politician capable of delivering the votes of millions of franchised Dolists to whatever candidate he chooses -- in the People's Republic. Eventually he came to view the Republic as heading on the road to destruction unless massive reforms were made. Seeking to change the system he allied himself with the terrorist group called the Citizens' Rights Union and a senior Internal Security bureaucrat by the name of Oscar Saint-Just. Together they staged a coup and Pierre appointed himself Chairman of a Committee of Public Safety, thereby making him the ''de facto'' ruler of Haven. Faced with a costly war with Manticore, the resentment of a military that he had purged during said coup and a violent and unruly populace spurred by Cordelia Ransom's propaganda, he ended up doing nothing but implementing some long-term fiscal reforms. {{spoiler|1=He was eventually killed during Admiral Esther McQueen's attempted coup.}}

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: He actually fixed the Haven economy with his reforms and playing to the patriotism of the people during the war. Later Haven leaders acknowledge this for all the blood and death he caused.

 

 

Cordelia Ransom was originally a leading member of the terrorist group called the Citizens' Rights Union. Later she joined forces with Rob S. Pierre and Oscar Saint-Just and proceeded to overthrow Haven's Legislaturalist government. Afterwards, Pierre made her the Secretary for Public Information. This gave Ransom control of the People's Republic media and censorship apparatus. Though a skilled propagandist and an expert on managing the people's emotions, both Pierre and Saint-Just distrusted her because of her ''extremely'' radical opinions about politics and economics. Her rhetoric had a definite resemblance to hard-core Communist propaganda, and, as Admiral Thomas Theisman noted, she believed her own propaganda. {{spoiler|She was killed onboard her personal battlecruiser during Honor Harrington's escape from Havenite custody.}}

* [[The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized]]: Unlike Pritchart's Aprilists, Ransom's faction of the CRU eagerly hit civilian targets, and she became ''the'' major force behind inciting the bloodlust of the Mob after the CPS took power. (And was responsible for purging most of the other Aprilists for insufficient revolutionary ardor.)

 

 

A senior bureaucrat in the pre-Revolution Legislaturalists' Government Internal Security department, Saint-Just sided with Pierre and Ransom in their coup that overthrew it, and later seen to the amalgamation of all Haven's security services into one unified organization, State Security, which gave us the name for the [[State Sec]] trope. Competent and responsible, but ruthless to the point of viciousness, and, as the events progressed, increasingly paranoid, Saint-Just was arguably the most dangerous among the trio of the Committee of Public Safety's senior members. When Ransom and Pierre's deaths left him in charge of Haven, he instituted increasingly broad and brutal purges, {{spoiler|until overthrown and personally shot by Thomas Theisman, whom he personally deemed harmless and non-ambitious before}}. This again proved him to be a lousy judge of character, as one of his genuinely (if unwittingly) good deeds was the promotion of Victor Cachat (Saint-Just was personally fond of young Cachat, whom he had seen as his perfect tool), who, ironically, was one of the major players in the plot that overthrew the Committee.

** [[Knight Templar]]: A [[Totalitarian Utilitarian]] with flawed means.

 

 

An expert tactical officer and considered by some to be one of the scariest characters in the whole universe. When introduced, she was serving under Warner Caslet and was gaining a reputation as a "tac witch" for her technological and tactical prowess. She also refused to regard the technological disparity between the People's Republic and Manticore with the same 'depressed' attitude that many of the People's Navy did. Foraker looked at it as more of a challenge of her and her navy's skills, and appeared to love the 'thrill' of it. She saved Honor's treecat Nimitz from being killed by State Security and noticed scanner evidence of small craft {{spoiler|leaving the vicinity of Ransom's exploded battlecruiser}}. With the connivance of Tourville, the scan evidence was erased. During Thomas Theisman's coup, {{spoiler|she caused the destruction of two State Security naval battle groups ordered to arrest Admirals Tourville and Giscard and their senior officers}}; her reaction at the time was merely "Oops". After the fall of the People's Republic, she was rapidly promoted to Vice Admiral, and was assigned to direct research and development at the 'black' development yard (codenamed Project Bolthole) of the Republic of Haven.

* [[Wrench Wench]]: On a large scale!

 

 

A Havenite commander who rises to prominence using a 'whiff of grapeshot' to put down a revolt even more destructive than the Committee of Public Safety. Nicknamed Citizen Admiral Cluster Bomb.

* [[The Starscream]]: McQueen is well-known for her ambition. Ironically, she gets put in a position to do something with it because she ''didn't'' take an earlier opportunity during the Leveller revolt to finish what the rebels started.

 

 

Perhaps even more of a Harrington counterpart than Theisman. While Honor and Theisman only went directly up against each other relatively early in their careers, and both times Theisman was subordinate to someone else, Tourville and Harrington have gone toe to toe several times, and they alternate who's the winner.

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: For years he deliberately cultivated a reputation of being just competent enough to keep his rank of Captain, and later Rear Admiral, without being competent enough to be seen as a threat by his superiors, or being promoted to a rank where he wouldn't be able to avoid being shot by [[State Sec]].

 

 

First elected president of the Republic of Haven following the Committee of Public Safety's regime. She was originally an Aprilist, one of the many rebel groups opposing the Legislaturists, after losing her sister to street violence. When the Committee of Public Safety came into power, she became one of [[State Sec]]'s People's Commissioners, playing watchdog to Javier Giscard. The two appeared highly antagonistic to each other in public, but were in fact in a romantic relationship. When {{spoiler|Thomas Theisman overthrew the last remnants of the Committee}}, Pritchart became acting head of state and later elected President. Has worked tirelessly to find a way to end the conflict between her nation and Manticore. She prefers to do so peacefully, but if peace isn't an option she won't hesitate use force. Very much a counterpart to Queen Elizabeth.

* [[White-Haired Pretty Girl]]: Her hair is described as "platinum," and she's regularly described as being beautiful.

 

 

A recurring Havenite officer. In ''Honor Among Enemies'' he comes to the assistance of a beleaguered merchantman only to find that {{spoiler|it's Honor's Q-ship and gets taken prisoner, though he eventually gets set free after they cooperate to defeat a dangerous pirate band.}} Eventually he gets caught up in {{spoiler|Honor's escape from Hades and defects to Grayson.}}

* [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished]]

 

 

* A [[Father to His Men]]: Inspired great loyalty amongst his troops and does his best to get them out alive when their ship is taken over, which engenders respect {{spoiler|even after he defects to Grayson.}}

 

== Solarians ==

 

A Maya Sector governor under the Office of Frontier Security (at least on paper), Oravil Barregos is a major player in the ''Wages of Sin'' spinoff series, now in its second novel, ''Torch of Freedom''. An extremely shrewd and ambitious politician, he is totally dissatisfied with the way OFS runs its pocket fiefdoms, and, seeing ahead the [[Enemy Civil War|inevitable outcome for the League]], does his best to prepare himself and his sector to it. He's not above personal gain, though: the best way, as he sees it, was to carve the Maya Sector as his personal little kingdom.

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: His ultimate goal is to spare Maya Sector from the shockwave of crumbling League, but he's not above some, ahem, ''questionable'' means. Including outright assassinations.

 

 

The main associate of governor Barregos and a military man in the duo that rules Maya Sector, he is the iron hand in the Barregos' velvet glove. A commander of the Frontier Fleet detachment tasked with the local protection, he provides the means to turns the governor's schemes into reality, as well as devising those of his own. He's just as ambitious as Barregos, and no less willing to [[I Did What I Had to Do|do what he has to do]]. As it is, he comes out as a rather ambivalent character: he's both extremely ambitious and ruthless, not above some dirty tricks, but in the same time responsible and noble, having his standards and being ready to protect his convictions.

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: And we ''really'' mean "well intentioned" here, because he even got to prove his intentions.

 

 

A Battle Fleet officer assigned to the Office of Operational Analysis. One of the few who has taken Manticore's technological advances seriously.

* [[Zero-Approval Gambit]]: al-Fanudahi ''knows'' that his constant pointing out of Manticore's greater capabilities is going to inevitably cost him his career. Especially as the Solarian Navy suffers more defeats and he's in prime "I told you so" position. But by the time that happens, all the information will be out there and his successor will be better placed to help strategize based on it.

 

 

Officially, he is a high-level bureaucrat who works for the Secretary for Foreign Affairs. In reality, the arrangement is actually [[The Man Behind the Man|the other way around,]] and his "boss" does well to keep that in mind. While he considers himself something of a [[The Chessmaster|chessmaster]], he freely admits that he lacks any expertise in military or economic matters. As a result of this, he only begins to grasp the depth of the situation involving the Solarian League and the Manticoran Empire after things have begun to spin badly out of control. He harbors a theory that the so-called "Mesan Alignment" is just a conspiracy theory cooked up by the Republic of Haven to get the Manties to shoot at someone else for a change.

* [[Xanatos Sucker]]: Has thus far failed to realize that he is just another pawn in the Mesan Alignment's chess game.

 

 

One of the few honest investigative reporters in the Solarian League, O'Hanrahan also happens to be one of the only one of those who has a very large audience in the League, and as such, she has become quite the thorn in the side of the Mandarins during the political and military crisis between the Solarian League and the Star Empire of Manticore. {{spoiler|Also, she is a high-placed deep-cover agent in the Mesan Alignment.}}

== Mesans ==

 

 

Albrecht Detweiler is the current [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|CEO of Manpower Incorporated,]] which just happens to be the galaxy largest supplier of genetically engineered slaves. He was [[Designer Babies|genetically engineered]] and trained from birth to lead the corporation ''and'' the entire planet of Mesa. He is also the de facto leader of the Solarian League (or at least a fairly large chunk of it); not to mention he probably has his hands in the domestic and foreign affairs of several other star nations. Unbeknownst to most people, Manpower and slavetrade are only a cover for Detweiler's real plans {{spoiler|of galactic domination.}}

** If you look more closely, you will note that all of those incidents are the ''first'' time a particular subordinate has had to report a glaring failure to Detwiler in person. [[You Have Failed Me...]] is distressingly common in the lower tiers of Mesa's command structure, and the unlucky subordinates are judging Detwiler's probable reaction by what they're used to. Every single person in Detwiler's personal staff who's actually been there a while is entirely matter-of-fact about bringing failure to him, because they've gotten to know him well enough to understand that he'll only kill you if you try to lie to him.

 

 

A member of the Manpower Incorporated Board of Directors and one of Detweiler's operatives. She has been behind the multiple attempts by Mesa to destabilize Manticore's annexation of the Talbott Cluster. This has included supplying arms to militant groups opposing the annexation, trying to get the star nation of Monica to start a war with Manticore over the annexation, and generally trying to create a situation where the Office of Frontier Security could move in and seize control of Talbott.

* [[Pet the Dog]]: To a minor extent. She's a huge fan of Manticoran classical music.

 

 

Another scion of Mesan star genetic lines, Bardasano was up-and-rising member of the {{spoiler|Alignment}} and one of its senior security specialists. In fact, she was responsible for much of the Mesan espionage and behind-the-scene operations, where she was usually partnered with Aldona Anisimovna, another senior Mesan executive. But where Anisimovna was a [[The Chessmaster|planner]] and [[The Man Behind the Man|manipulator]], Bardasano was an enforcer, and she rather [[Psycho for Hire|loved her job]]. In the end, however, she tasted [[The Killer Becomes the Killed|enough of her own medicine]] when {{spoiler|one of her senior subordinates decided that he's got enough and did a [[Heel Face Turn]]}}.

* [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill]]: {{spoiler|There is no way in hell she is ever coming back from that elevator ride.}}

 

 

A mid-level Mesan security operative, who was coming from a less-tweaked genetic lines (but still an Alpha). He was, however, high enough on the ladder and effective enough to be {{spoiler|fully brought into [[Ancient Conspiracy|the Alignment]]'s plans, and}} one of Bardasano's henchmen. He was a chief of security in the scientific center {{spoiler|where Dr. Simões worked, and, after hearing the man's story and becoming his friend, did a [[Heel Face Turn]], ensuring his escape to Manticore.}}

* [[Worthy Opponent]]: A rare Mesan example. At least {{spoiler|until his [[Heel Face Turn]]}}.

 

 

Mesan hyperphysicist introduced in the ''Torch Of Freedom''. A supremely talented scientist, he was perfectly content with his research and his family, until this nice little world was shattered by the outside force. Namely, a decision of Long Range Planning Board, the supreme Mesan policymaking authority, to cull his daughter as a failed experiment.<ref>Star-line Mesans don't have the kids the normal way, but are essentially surrogate parents to the custom-made [[Designer Babies]]. And the baby-makers like to experiment. Sometimes unsuccessfully.</ref> This started a downward spiral leading to him having a nervous breakdown, [[Heel Realization]] and finally deciding to defect.

 

== Graysons ==

 

Benjamin Mayhew IX is the hereditary head of state of the Protectorate of Grayson and the liege lord of the planet's feudal system of government. Educated in the Solarian League (at Harvard University no less) he is often portrayed as an extremely intelligent and shrewd politician. During his reign he advocated for and later successfully reformed and liberalized Grayson society and oversaw the modernization of its industrial base. He also entered into a military alliance with the Star Kingdom of Manticore against the People's Republic of Haven. He is based very heavily on Japan's Meiji Emperor and Grayson in turn is based largely on [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|Meiji-era Japan.]]

** Not ''quite'' this trope because the rules actually ''do'' say that he has that authority. Borders on it because while the law says he does, tradition says he doesn't, and Grayson is currently undergoing a political reformation wherein the letter of the law is being enforced again after generations of it not being.

 

 

Andrew LaFollet is the head of Harrington Steadholder's Guard and Honor Harrington's personal armsmen. He is a close friend of Honor and for the longest time he was her personal bodyguard. Now, though, he has {{spoiler|become her son's bodyguard.}} Do not harm Honor when you are in his presence if you wish to remain intact. It is a [[Berserk Button|Very Bad Idea]]. As of Mission Of Honor {{spoiler|sacrificed himself to save his charge.}}

* [[Old Retainer]]

 

 

Another of Honor's ever-present Grayson bodyguards, Jamie is characterised for being quiet yet persistent when things get difficult.

* [[The Stoic]]: Often observed to be in pain, never complains, never lets it slow him down.

 

 

 

* [[Badass Princess]]: Her father's rank would be more like a high noble on Manticore. He is however a courtesy head-of-state in his domain.

* [[Battle Butler]]: Like all Graysons of her rank she has to have a bodyguard tagging along with her by law. This [[Culture Clash|looks like an affectation]] to Manticorans. And of course he has something of a...

** [[Bodyguard Crush]]: All female clients get this from Grayson bodyguards though they know how to keep their place.

* [[Daddy's Girl]]: Her daddy goes out of his way to support her eccentric career choice including making some odd political wrestlings back home.

* [[Foreign Exchange Student]]: Though a Grayson officer she spends her career among Manties.

 

 

Howard Clinkscales was a Grayson soldier and security official. During his lifetime he served three Protectors, Benjamin IX being the last of these three. Prior to the Mayhew Restoration he was in command of Palace Security at the Protector's Palace. Later, after Protector Benjamin Mayhew IX ascended to the Protectorship, he served as the minister of security. Despite being initially opposed to having any role other than mother and wife or maid in Grayson society he eventually changed his mind and became a close friend and confidant of Honor Harrington. He served as her first regent, and came to regard her as a daughter.

* [[Retired Badass]]

 

 

The inventor of the sky domes which become commonplace across Grayson after the alliance with Manticore results in new materials becoming available.

 

== Treecats ==

 

Nimitz, named after American Admiral Chester Nimitz, or, to use his Treecat name, Laughs Brightly, is Honor's treecat (or she's his human), has an empathic link with her and appears in every book that she does.

* [[Trademark Favorite Food]]: Celery, but that's a species trait. It's mostly because they just find it so damn ''tasty'', though the presence of a "telepathy vitamin" doesn't hurt.

 

 

Samantha is the only treecat known who is both a Memory Singer (a 'cat who can receive and transmit complete experiences to other treecats, like a living first-person-view encyclopedia) and is capable of forming an Adoption Bond with humans. She gave up her prestigious status as a Memory Singer among her own kind for the sake of finding a human to adopt. She's also "married to" (mated with) Nimitz.

She originally adopted Harold Tschu, but Tschu was killed in ''Honor Among Enemies'' while defending a merchant fleet from Havenite batlecruisers. The loss would have driven her to suicide, in not for her prior mating to Nimitz. Since then, she's adopted {{spoiler|Hamish "Earl White Haven" Alexander}}.

 

 

A Memory Singer of the Black Rock Clan, and the {{spoiler|only survivor of that clan following the Yawata strike (Oyster Bay). Comes to Honor to propose a formal alliance between treecats and Manticore.}}

== Talbotters ==

 

 

A prominent businessman and politician from the planet Rembrandt, one of the more affluent and developed Talbott worlds, and the creator of the Rembrandt Trade Union -- a main intergovernmental association in the Talbott Cluster before its annexation. He first conceived it in an attempt to creating an entity too large and valuable for the Office of Frontier Security to simply gobble up, thus protecting the Cluster from the exploitation it usually involves. To this end, [[I Did What I Had to Do|he did his best]] to extort the best financial advantages he could out of the non-RTU planets to secure the Union's positions. With the discovery of the Lynx Terminus, however, van Dort saw the once in a lifetime opportunity to protect the entire cluster, and spearheaded the annexation of the Talbott Cluster into the Star Kingdom of Manticore, after which he in effect became Dame Estelle's plenipotentiary and chief negotiator.

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: Was willing to gobble up other star systems' economies in order to save as many other systems as he could from the machinations of the OFS. Dropped it the moment annexation into Manticore became an option to save the very systems he had been extorting.

 

 

Former politician from Kornati in the Split System. Turned terrorist upon the vote for annexiation by the Star Kingdom, founded the Freedom Alliance of Kornati ([[Just For The Pun|FAK]]), and starts blowing up stuff and people. LOTS of stuff and people.

* [[Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters]]: Her point of view at least.

 

 

Rich rancher from Montana. Like Nordbrandt he objects to the annexation, but that's where all the similarity ends. Unlike Nordbrandt and her FAK, his Montana Independence Movement (MIM) go to great lengths to not take lives.

* [[Double Standard]]: Like most Montanans has those. This means the Manticoran women (see below) get to keep their clothes. He even apologizes to them!

* [[Fighting Your Friend]]: Trevor Bannister, the Chief Marshal of Montana, is his best friend.

* [[Gentleman Adventurer|Gentleman Freedom Fighter]]: An image he consciously tries to build up.

* {{spoiler|[["Get Out of Jail Free" Card]]: At the end, as added incentive to turn in his weapons.}}

* [[Karma Houdini]]: Granted that he went ''well'' out of his way to avoid hurting anybody, the man still formed and organized a domestic terrorist group, dealt with illegal arms traffickers, caused over a billion credits' worth of property damage, and crashed his planet's financial networks by blowing up the local Federal Reserve bank. Not only does he not serve so much as a single day in jail, he doesn't even seem to have suffered ''socially'' from this; his business is still prosperous, he still gets customers, and his old friends (including the planetary chief of police who arrested him in the first place) still remain his friends.

** In fairness to Westman, his first reaction on being offered a full amnesty in return for him disbanding his group was to volunteer to take the full penalty for his crimes and go to jail. He only changed his mind when it was pointed out that this would also leave all of his ''followers'' stuck in jail too, because the amnesty offer was a global take-it-or-leave-it.

** Also, the actual damage he did to the planetary financial system was minimal; he didn't touch the off-site backups.

* [[Naked People Trapped Outside]]: His first act is to surprise a survey team from Manticore in the wild, take their tent, their clothes (sans the women) and points them to the nearest City.

* [[Precocious Crush]]: Implied hat he had one for Suzanne Bannister, Trevor's elder sister and wife of Bernardus van Dort. He did not take the prolong thing well.

* [[The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized]]: Averted. He accepts he will have to take lives at some point, but he is disgusted at what Nordbrandt is doing.

* [[The Wild West]]: Less of the Cowboy and Indians version, more of the Rancher and Cattle western. Montana's [[Planet of Hats|Stetson]], really.

* [[Never Hurt an Innocent]]: He's prepared to fight with the marshals and the military. But he would turn himself and his men in if he hurt an innocent in the process.

 

 

President of Kornati. Sent herself as a representative to the Constitutional Convention to "preserve the local traditions and freedoms" of the systems seeking admission in the Star Kingdom of Manticore.

* [[Permanent Elected Official]]: Not personally, but her prime goal is to preserve the oligarchic structures on Kornati.

* [[God Save Us From the Queen]]: Gets impeached for her actions. From inside her own party.

 

== Torches ==

 

Berry was [[Street Urchin|born on the streets]] (or, more correctly, tunnels) of [[Wretched Hive|Old Chicago]], but was saved (together with her younger brother Lars) by Helen Zilwicki during the course of the "Manpower Incident" and then adopted by her father Anton. Later becomes {{spoiler|Queen of Torch}} after the events of the ''Crown of Slaves''.

* [[Street Urchin]]

 

 

Jeremy X is an escaped Manpower genetic slave and leader of the Audubon Ballroom, the most notorious band of anti-slavery terrorists/freedom fighters around. Later becomes {{spoiler|Secretary of War of Torch}}.

* [[Large Ham]]: Manpower Inc. bred and trained him to be an entertainer - specifically, a court jester. [[Gone Horribly Right|It shows]] in his [[Guns Akimbo|hand-eye]] [[The Gunslinger|coordination]] and his tendency to chew scenery whenever he gets the chance. His first appearance begins with him somersaulting out of a hidden bookcase (in front of an audience of only two, both friendly) and just gets hammier from there.

* [[Monster Clown]]: He basically looks just like a bastard lovechild of the Joker and the Punisher.

 

 

Well, the one simple fact that she's [[Memetic Badass|Victor Cachat's]] girlfriend should say volumes about the girl. A [[Space Marine|Marine]] officer in Roszak's squadron, ''she'' was the one who usually was on the business end of Barregos and Roszak's schemes. That is, until she finally got too disgusted by their latest gambit, and decided to retire. Fortunately, in the process of that gambit, she got hooked with Cachat and joined the bandwagon as Torch's most senior uniformed officer.

* [[Action Girl]]

* [[Aggressive-Submissive]]: As Victor muses, "Dominating her had been like a mortal dominating a goddess, a feat possible only because the goddess herself willed it."

* [[The Brigadier]]

* [[Conveniently-Common Kink]]: [[Memetic Mutation|SUDDENLY]] happened to be into S&M, just like Cachat...

* [[Space Marine]]: Quite literally -- she was a Solarian Marine before.

* [[Super Soldier]]: See above. People of Ndebele were both genetically engineered, ''and'' environmentally conditioned to be tough as nails. Too bad that they came under the OFS umbrella.

 

== Historical ==

 

Considered the founder of the Modern Manticorian Military. He was in command of the RMN forces that were sent to the Silesian Confederacy to battle pirates who harassed Manticoran shipping in the area. After a battle causing extreme damage to both his fleets and the pirate fleets he split the ships up to escort the captured and stranded merchants he came for back home. His own Battlecruiser was alone when a fleet of 6 pirate vessels sprang a trap. He rammed his battlecruiser at the ships from smallest to largest as each ship destroyed meant another merchant ship would escape. The Saganami Tradition is named after his efforts.

* [[You Shall Not Pass]]: Took on a pirate fleet at something approaching six to one odds to cover the escape of a Manticoran convoy.

 

 

Founder of the Harrington Clan, came to Sphinx at the age of 11 with her parents. Managed to discover Treecats by catching one stealing Celery. Managed to then become the first human to be adopted and spent the rest of her life working on Treecat issues. Her story is told in the Young Adult sub-series starting with ''A Beautiful Friendship''.

 

* [[Determinator]]

* [[Heavyworlder]]:

* [[Knife Nut]]: Takes on a Hexapuma with a high-tech knife that nearly turns it into a Pentapuma by almost amputating a leg. This is the origin of her Treecat name, which she never learned, as the cats had no way of telling her about it at the time (Death Fang is the Treecat term for Hexapumas).

* [[Little Miss Badass]]

 

 

Renegade Beowulfan who decided that it was easier to modify people to fit planets than try to terraform the planet and founded the Mesan Alignment. Ancestor of Albrecht (and his clone-sons).

 

 

Mercenary and founder of the Andermani Empire, author of the military treatise Sternenkrieg.

* [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]: Believed himself to be the reincarnation of Frederick the Great and changed the court language of the planet from Chinese to German. It was specifically lampshaded in text that between his military genius and his being an instrumental figure in saving the planet from an ecological disaster, 'his subjects would have been willing to put up with even more insane behavior than even this'.