Honor Harrington: Difference between revisions

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Weber has explicitly described the series as "[[Horatio Hornblower]]" <small>[[Recycled in Space|IN SPACE!]]</small> with the series being a great deal more focused on (Space) Naval operations than other science fiction series. Honor Harrington occasionally performs ground-based and political adventures, but the vast majority of the series is focused on her ship-to-ship conflicts, where she serves as commanding officer.

* ''Mission of Honor'': Honor leads a diplomatic mission to the heart of Haven in order to finally create true peace, but the Solarian League threatens the negotiations by drawing Manticore into a second conflict and tipping the balance of power. Meanwhile, the mysterious planet of Mesa has dangerous plans of its own.

* ''A Rising Thunder'' The Solarian League Conflict continues to grow while the Grand Alliance is formed, and the cracks in the Solarian League start to show.

 

 

All the novels up to ''A Beautiful Friendship'' are legally available for free, along with many other [[Baen Books]] titles, via the [http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/ Baen Free CD site]. The best collection of Honorverse titles is on [http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/22-MissionofHonorCD/MissionofHonorCD/ the ''Mission of Honor'' promotional CD].

 

 

Also, please help to make and expand the [[Honor Harrington/Characters|character page]].

'''Warning: Spoilers ahead. As a [[Long Runner]], [[Late Arrival Spoiler]]s of the early books are unavoidable. Caution advised.'''

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==A-D==

* [[Absent Aliens]]: Used in spirit. They're not actually absent, just... Not important. Humanity has made contact with at least twelve sapient species during its exploration of the galaxy, and at least one multi-stellar species has gone extinct (The Alphanes), but they are not involved in the story at all. The Medusans of Basilisk are important in the first novel, but fade into the background once Honor leaves their system since they only possess a Bronze Age level of technology. The only sapient aliens that have a presence throughout the series are the treecats of Sphinx, primarily represented by Nimitz, the 'cat who has adopted Honor-- and tropewise they're more Manticoran [[Bond Creatures]] than an alien faction.

* [[Achievements in Ignorance]]: The Graysons make some revolutionary discoveries due to having to rebuild their tech base from scratch—most notably, acceleration compensators that are more efficient than Manticore's version, and fission reactors that are smaller and more efficient and powerful than the rest of the galaxy thought feasible. At the time Manticore comes along they are very thankful they have some modern tech examples to work with to help relieve the backwards nature of their industry, but Manticore is also happy to have new ideas to try for themselves.

* [[Action Girl]]: ''Tons'' of.

* [[Action Girlfriend]]: Honor to {{spoiler|Hamish Alexander.}} He declines her offer to teach him martial arts, saying that in the (highly unlikely) event that some poor mugger makes it through her bodyguards, he will be content to hold her coat while she beats the hell out of him.

* [[Action Mom]]: Take a wild guess. Hint: She's the main character.

* [[Apocalypse How]]: Discussed in detail. It would be much easier for a warfleet to [[Colony Drop|bombard and destroy a planet]] (apocalypse Class 4) than to fight another warfleet. The "Eridani Edict," a declaration by the Solarian League, forbids them from doing so, unless they first take control of the orbitals and offer a surrender chance. Controlling the orbitals is the equivalent of holding a sword to the planet's throat, and no sane opponent would keep fighting under that threat.

** A brief (by Weber's standards) [[Info Dump|discussion]] in one book also points out that even civilian spacecraft could become a relativity kill vehicle. Later, ''Mission of Honor'' demonstrates how much devastation can be caused as collateral damage or even ''accidentally''. {{spoiler|Debris from an orbital strike ([http://infodump.thefifthimperium.com/site/entry/Harrington/284/0 not a treaty violation], and not even aimed at the planet) kills 5 million people on the surface, including most of Honor's large extended clan. Many more people would have died had not an intervening ship been quick on the draw.}}

* [[Arc Welding]]: Mesa and Manpower, Incorporated are first mentioned in ''War of Honor'', ten books into the series and two books before their rise to the position of primary antagonists; but the later books give them credit for not just a lot of the earlier events of the series, but even historical events stretching back ''centuries'' that had been mentioned and discussed by characters for years.

* [[Arc Words]]: Oyster Bay, and before that "The Onion", before [[The Reveal]] of {{spoiler|The Mesan Alignment}}.

* [[Aristocrats Are Evil]]: The series provides an in-depth examination of the pros and cons of an established aristocracy, and the impacts it can have on the development of those born into the system. Pavel Young, Michael Janvier (Baron of High Ridge), Steadholders Mueller and Burdette, and the Countess of New Kiev might as well be the poster boys of this trope, but the series also features the honorable House of Winton, the Mayhew family of Grayson (excepting such black sheep as Maccabeus), the Alexanders of White Haven, and eventually Honor Harrington herself. At several points in the series the characters themselves will debate the merits of various political systems, with the eventual conclusion that they all have positive and negative aspects, but the Manticoran model at least does its best to curb the excesses of any power elite.

* [[Armor Is Useless]]: Averted - When [[Point Defenseless]] and [[Deflector Shields|sidewall]] have failed, armor is the last line, and often does make a difference. Against the thick hides of dreadnoughts and superdreadnoughts, the armaments of smaller ships usually prove too weak.

* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]: Ginny Usher's reasons for Jessica Stein being "off" in ''Crown of Slaves''.

** Shannon Foraker, who simply remarks "Oops!" when {{spoiler|two full squadrons of super-dreadnoughts (with crews numbering in the tens of thousands) get annihilated by a few keystrokes.}}

* [[Beware the Superman]]: Earth's devastating Final War was fought by [[Super Soldiers]] with drastic adjustments to their physiology for increased combat capability. They were also supposed to be modified for super-intelligence, which all too frequently had the side effect of increased aggression and sociopathy, and that has led to lasting prejudice against all genetic engineering. Honor herself, who inherited a set of adjustments for life on high-gravity worlds, fears that her modifications may be responsible for her temper and her lethal combat abilities.

* [[Big Bad]]: Albrecht Detweiler and the Mesan Alignment, the mastermind behind events stretching back ''centuries''.

* [[Bigger Bad]]: {{spoiler|The Solarian League is shaping up to be this, especially given its own involvement with the Mesan Alignment]].

* [[Blown Across the Room]]: Pulsers tend to ''shred'' their victims, but occasionally the tattered remnants of their bodies will be propelled down a hallway.

* [[Bodyguard Crush]]: Hugh Arai for Queen Berry in ''Torch of Freedom,'' initially against his will and fully expected by Jeremy X.

* [[Bond Creatures]]: Treecats which "adopt" humans form an instant and indissoluble psychic bond with them.

** Early on, this was terribly [[Tear Jerker|tragic]]. Treecats tend to [[Driven to Suicide|suicide from despair]] when their human partner dies. Treecats are also one of those species that are long-lived for their size, clocking 2 to 3 centuries on average. This meant that to bond with a human was to be [[Blessed with Suck]]. The first bonded treecat did so with a child, and still only lived half his allotted lifespan. The advent of prolong helped this a bit.

** A number of other planets seen throughout the series also have wildlife or plants named for Terran wildlife or plants, attaching prefixes like "near-" or "neo-" or "pseudo-" to the earth fauna or flora's name.

** [[Lampshaded]] in ''Storm From the Shadows'' when Mike Henke describes the local seafood on Flax in a message to her mother: "They've got what they call 'lobsters,' even if they don't look anything like ours —or like Old Earth's, for that matter—..."

* [[The Captain]]: Honor and many others, this being a navy focused series.

* [[Cassandra Truth]]: The few Sollies that recognise how far behind the times the League Navy is are often brushed off as alarmists and defeatists. Once the rest of the Sollies [[Oh Crap|figure it out]], they accuse the aforementioned Sollies of [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished|not being alarmist enough]].

** Grayson state church is a new religion evolved from Christianity much as Christianity did from Judaism. They have an additional scriptural book alongside the Bible, ''The Book of the New Way'', collecting the sayings of their founder, Saint Austin Grayson. Their faith, the Church of Humanity Unchained, was founded on an anti-technology platform, believing that society on Earth had become corrupted due to the influence of technology. Their descendants have mellowed, and current doctrine is that technology is okay, provided it does not change how you live or behave.

** The splinter church of Masada rejects the New Testament and portions of Old Testament, creating a new faith with portions of the Old Testament combined with ''The Book of the New Way''.

* [[Cliff Hanger]]: Several of the books end abruptly with a galaxy-changing action or revelation, and no denoument to clear up the loose ends. For example, the last thing we see in ''Ashes of Victory'' is {{spoiler|Citizen-Admiral Theisman shooting Oscan Saint-Just}}, and the last thing we see in ''Mission of Honor'' is {{spoiler|President Pritchard proposing an alliance with Manticore against the Solarian League and Mesa}}.

* [[Colony Drop]]: Operation Oyster Bay, though mostly accidentally, {{spoiler|results in chunks of the Manticore system's orbital industry falling and killing millions, including 1% of all treecats and most of Honor's extended family. Because the biggest chunk fell on Yawata Crossing, Manticorans refer to the attack as "The Yawata Strike"}}.

** The "Let's Dance" story, written as backfill for the "Crown of Slaves" stories, in which Honor Harrington ends up causing a diplomatic incident {{spoiler|by working with a gang of known terrorists to capture a slave-trading space station}}. Said incident is not mentioned in ''On Basilisk Station'' (written considerably earlier) which happens immediately afterward—nor does anyone throughout the book show the sort of reaction that might be expected to someone who caused an incident of that nature.

*** Justified in that "Let's Dance" not only explains how Honor set the thing up so that all public credit would go to someone else without the RMN being known to be involved, but wraps up with an explanation of just how deeply the entire incident is going to be thrown into the political memory hole by the Manticorean authorities. While several characters in ''On Basilisk Station'' are high-ranking enough to have still known about these events, they are also the characters sympathetic to Honor's position and would have no reason to bring the information up (as it could only be used against her, and not to her benefit).

** Regarding Jane Lindskold's "Promised Land", you would think the fact that {{spoiler|a member of Manticore's royal family ''is married to'' a Grayson-born former Masadan captive wife}} would merit some mention in (the earlier-written) ''The Honor of the Queen'', concerning as it did {{spoiler|a possible alliance between Manticore and Grayson}}.

*** Un-snarled in ''[[Pun-Based Title|Ruthless]]'', by the same author, which indicates that at the time the alliance was formed, {{spoiler|Prince Michael and Judith had not yet fully realized their feelings for each other. [[Everyone Can See It|Even though seemingly everybody else in the Manticoran aristocracy had figured it out.]]}}

* [[Culture Chop Suey]]: Just frakking ''everywhere'' -- humanity's push for the stars mashed the cultures into a chunky salsa even better than globalism does it now. You still can make the basic ingredients, usually, but the overall results do not really look like anything in particular.

** The most evident example would be the Andermani Empire, which is by and large culturally German but ethnically Chinese.

* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]:

** The Manties have even been on the receiving end of one of these when the Havenites restart the war in ''War of Honor'' and take back most of the gains Manticore had made before the cessation of hostilities.

** Weber has indicated that the 13th Honorverse book, ''A Rising Thunder'', was divided for publication due to being too long for economical hardcover printing and binding. This would not be the first Weber book to which this had happened.

* [[Doctor. Doctor. Doctor.]]: Most often Admiral Admiral Admiral, but also sometimes Steadholder Steadholder Steadholder or Duke Earl Countess.

* [[Don't Make Me Destroy You]]: The beginning of ''Mission of Honor'', where for the first time Honor can personally express her desire for the war to ''end''.

{{quote|"Speaking for myself, as an individual, and not for my Star Empire or my Queen, I implore you to accept Her Majesty's proposal. I've killed too many of your people over the last twenty T-years, and your people have killed too many of mine. Don't make me kill any more, Madame President. Please."}}

* [[Everything's Better with Princesses]]: Not in-your-face, but a lot. Given that Grayson Steadholder title basically equals royalty, we have Lt. Abigail Hearns, Miss Owens, and Honor as well, at least formally. There is also Queen Berry's intelligence advisor, Princess Ruth Winton, then Vice Admiral Michelle Henke, Countess of Gold Peak and Elizabeth's first cousin, and many, many others. Captain Terekhov once notes that between Lt. Hearns, and Midshipwoman Zilwicki (Crown Princess Helen of Torch) his ship, ''Hexapuma'', has a super-abundance of princesses.

* [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]]: Pavel Young is a complete ''dick'', and assumes that everyone else thinks like he does. He really does not understand the actions of his opponents.

* [[Evilutionary Biologist]]: The people of Beowulf, the premier genetic research and development planet in the galaxy, have strict guidelines in place to make sure they do not cross any moral or ethical lines when it comes to their work on the human genetic code. Because Mesans are, in a nutshell, the rogue Beowulfans who did not like the Beowulf Code, they are composed almost solely of [[Evilutionary Biologist|Evilutionary Biologists]] who hate Beowulf with a passion.

** [[Word of God]] now has it that the Mesans [[Straw Man Has a Point|have a point]] about undue [[No Transhumanism Allowed|demonisation of transhumanism]] that is in the Beowulf Code, but they are wrong in their attempts to [[They Called Me Mad|prove that to everyone by force]].

** The Solarian League has been explicitly said to be too vast for any historical comparison<ref>one [[Word of God]] had it that, by comparison, if the Solarian League was the U.S., then Haven and Manticore might be individual counties in California</ref>, but the ruling group of bureaucrats has been nicknamed in universe "Mandarins", a clear allusion to the corruption and stagnation China has suffered in the past.

** The Masadans meanwhile can be described as Space Mormons meets Space ISIS. Somewhat justified in that they originally broke off from Grayson.

* [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]]: In keeping with the nautical theme, starships accomplish FTL travel by reconfiguring their impeller drive fields into "Warshawski sails".

* [[The Federation]]: Deconstructed with the Solarian League. [[The Empire]] of Manticore is shaping up to be a real one.

* [[Four Lines, All Waiting]]: Not much of a problem for the first few books, but by the Second Manticore-Haven War, the cast has expanded to the point that some characters and vital subplots only get a chapter or two per book. Not helped by chapters dedicated to one-shot characters to flesh out how events affect the average citizen or lower-level officer.

* [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]: Lasers are used for [[Point Defenseless|missile defense]], grasers (gamma-ray lasers) for ship-to-ship combat -- lasers can also technically be used in that role, but their range and power are generally too small to be useful against a target with sidewalls. Missiles usually carry nuclear weapon-pumped X-ray laser warheads that shoot multiple beams at a target from a few thousand kilometers away when the missile detonates.

* [[Fun with Acronyms]]: In ''Echoes of Honor'', it is said that '''C'''ommanding '''O'''fficer, '''L'''ight '''A'''ttack '''C'''raft sounds too much like "colic", but no one wanted '''C'''ommanding '''O'''fficer, '''W'''ing either.

* [[Funetik Aksent]]: Michael Oversteegen's aristocratic Manticoran accent verges slightly into this territory, suggesting that for all the Star Kingdom's similarity to 18th Century Britain, an upper-class Manticoran accent sounds rather like a [[Sweet Home Alabama|Southern drawl.]]

** The Citizens Rights Union (And their official political branch, the Citizens Rights Party) of the People's Republic of Haven. Though they fight for the continued improvement of the standard of living of the PRH's citizens, the (enemy) Legislaturalists recognize them as an integral part of the system they theoretically oppose.

** Robert Stanton Pierre and Oscar Saint-Just. Yes, those two. The thought of them ''ever'' not being "monsters" is pretty hard to swallow, but at least they originally staged their coup with legitimate goals. They were always planning to push their plans through with blood, but at least they were going to make ''changes'', and some of their changes actually pay off, especially for the economy. However, as the series progresses they progressively become more and more like the Legislaturalists, falling into the same pitfalls and traps that spelt doom for their predecessors. As Saint-Just himself said, what mattered to him was not who held power or why, as long as it was used ''effectively''. However, by the time of ''Echoes of Honor'' he himself is promoting incompetent officers to positions of authority, whitewashing military reports that do not agree with the Committee line, and absolving those same officers of blame based on their political connections. {{spoiler|Those specific acts were some of [[Wafer-Thin Mint|the final straws]] that pushed him and Pierre into revolt.}} There seem to be moments when Pierre realizes this to some extent, but he feels trapped and unable to stop it.

* [[Hilarious in Hindsight]]: The beginning of ''Mission of Honor'' has Honor sailing into the middle of the capital of Haven (which is at war with Manticore at this time) without any pre-existing truce, in a desperate attempt to negotiate a peace treaty. President Pritchart of Haven muses to herself that she'd like to ''believe'' she'd have the courage to step into the middle of an entire enemy star nation unarmed to try and do the right thing, but that she'll never know for sure. {{spoiler|This is, of course, exactly what Pritchart herself does at the end of the novel.}}

* [[Historical Domain Character]]: [[wikipedia:Maximilien Robespierre|Rob S. Pierre]] and [[wikipedia:Louis de Saint-Just|Saint-Just]] are re-imaginings political figures of the French Revolution, part and parcel of the [[Days of Future Past]].

** The ex-StateSec renegades who hired on as Mesan mercenaries to attack Torch find out the hard way that freed Mesan slaves are not gentlemanly with people who try to orbitally bombard their civilian populations:

{{quote|'''Narrator''': Their immediate fear had been that Torch would hand them over to the Republic of Haven. Then Jeremy X and Saburo started interrogating, and within two days it was the profound hope of every StateSec officer that they ''would'' be turned over to the Haven navy.}}

* [[Kangaroo Court]]:

** The title character herself is subjected to a sham trial ''in absentia'' at the end of her first book, where the People's Republic of Haven convicted her in absentia of war crimes for the murder of the "civilian" crew of the "unarmed merchant freighter" ''Sirius'' to cover up the fact that ''Sirius'' was Q-ship and part of a failed Havenite plot. No one in the know viewed the trial and verdict as anything other than a joke, until {{spoiler|1=Honor was later captured as a prisoner of war and the new bloodthirsty regime of Haven used the verdict as a rationale for her execution and exemption from treaties covering the care of POWs.}}

* [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better]]: While generally [[Averted]], there have been instances where "antique" chemically-based hand weapons were a better bet than the hypervelocity flechette rounds used by pulsers. Because they have no detectable power source they can be smuggled into areas a pulser would never be allowed, and since their projectiles carry far less force they are considerably less lethal and prone to irrevocably damage the surrounding environment.

* [[The Kingdom]]: Subverted; far from being the political [[Butt Monkey]], anyone who attacks the Star Kingdom of Manticore is in for a world of hurt. It is now the Star ''[[The Empire|Empire]]'' of Manticore, upon the formal incorporation of San Martin, the Talbott Quadrant, and half of Silesia.

* [[Knight Templar]]: The entire Committee of Public Safety. The old government was indeed corrupt and needed to go, and they did make a ''ton'' of positive reforms to the economy. But they drowned Haven in a sea of blood doing so. Specifically referencing Napoleon and his "Whiff of Grapeshot" when a riot is put down using orbital bombardment.

* [[Lady of War]]: Honor first and foremost, although most female military types count. Of course, considering the fact that it is a military science fiction series, it makes sense that the [[Lady of War]] archetype comes up regularly.

** ''Honor Among Enemies'' spent a great deal of time with new ratings on their first deployment.

** ''Shadow of Saganami'' focused largely on four midshipmen fresh out of the academy.

* [[Lowered Recruiting Standards]]: Done quietly as the Manticoran navy needs the manpower, which is how folks like Steilman from ''Honor Among Enemies'' are still in service.

* [[Make It Look Like an Accident]]: The Legislaturalists favored method of removing troublesome political opponents were aircar "accidents." This returns to make problems for the new Republic of Haven government when {{spoiler|Arnold Giancola}} is killed in a legitimate crash caused by a [[Drunk Driver]]; they honestly had nothing to do with it, but nobody is going to believe that they did not have him killed.

* [[Name's the Same]]: Despite what it sounds like, Manticore is not at war with [http://marshmallowpeeps.com trays of marshmallow chickens and bunnies].

* [[Narrative Profanity Filter]]{{context}}

* [[Nerves of Steel]]: Half of the characters, but ''especially'' Honor, if only because she is routinely thrown into the worst situations. Hundreds or thousands of other people are along with her in the same situations, but she is in command, and their lives are ''her'' responsibility.

* [[Nice to the Waiter]]:

**Klaus Hauptman is a curmudgeonly shipping magnate who is a temporary rival of Honor. While he is often angry he seldom takes it out on servants and apologizes to them when he does. It is only equals he is ever to proud to apologize to.

* [[Nicknaming the Enemy]]: "Manties" (Star Kingdom/Empire of Manticore), "Peeps" (People's Repubic of Haven),"Andies" (Andermani Empire), "Sillies" or "Confeds" (Silesian Confederacy), and "Sollies" (Solarian League).

* [[No Dead Body Poops]]: An undercover agent, realizing he has been made, judo flips over and snaps the neck of the man who has caught him, and notes in narration the smell of the voided bowels, presumably while his victim is still upside down.

* [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished]]: You have got to feel sorry for Commander Caslet and crew in ''Honor Among Enemies.''

* [[Strange Bedfellows]]: {{spoiler|A Haven and Manticoran alliance}} as of the end of ''Mission of Honor''.

* [[Strawman Political]]: Played straight, but not in the way that most readers seem to expect. Most of the "bad" politicians really are idiotic, self-centered bastards who should not be trusted to govern an after-school club, but they were never meant to be representative of real-world political ideologies in the first place, and both left and right have moral and heroic characters as well. The politicians are still primarily strawmen, but they are not strawmen for real-world politicians.

* [[Subspace Ansible]]: Gravitic detectors can be used to receive faster-than-light messages, but only at relatively short distances, through the generation of gravitic pulses in a precise sequence ([[Everyone Knows Morse|It was originally described as a return to Morse-code style transmissions]]). These pulses, though not instantaneous (Their "speed" is given at 64''c'', or sixty-four times the speed of light) cause "ripples" along the edge of hyperspace that can be detected and decoded by ships who are familiar with the precise patterns used by the transmiting ship. Weber initially described FTL communication as a direct detection of the gravitic impulses, but when a now famous experiment showed quite convincingly that speed of gravity equals speed of light, he [[Retcon|retconned]] it to the "ripple along hyperspace" idea.

* [[Super Prototype]]: Generally averted throughout the series. All witnessed prototypes fulfil the function of an actual prototype: To assess the viability and practicality of a new design or technology before introducing it into actual use.

{{quote|"Of course not, Major. This is a Queen's ship. What would we be doing with smugglers on board?"}}

* [[Take Our Word for It]]: Massimo Filareta is one of the first Solarian Admirals that we meet who seems to have a reputation as a solid commander with no blinding bigotries towards "Neo Barb" nations such as Manticore or Haven. That said, he is indicated to have a [[Dark Secret]] that leaves him in Mesa's pocket early on, and as time goes on, we get more and more details from the handful of characters in the know about him, culminating in the indication that he is into "sick games with little boys and girls".

* [[A Tankard of Moose Urine]]: Havenite beer, according to Honor, could be poured back into the horse and leave the universe a better place...

* [[Ten Paces and Turn]]: The only kind of legal duel in the Star Kingdom of Manticore. Two protocols exist: The Dreyfus Protocol, in which each dueller gets five rounds and has to pause between each shot to ask if satisfaction was attained; and the Ellington Protocol, in which each dueller gets ten rounds and can shoot as often as they like until their target falls or drops his weapon. In both protocols, however, the duellers are allowed to turn and face each other ''before'' the actual shooting starts.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Long Running Book Series]]

[[Category:Young Adult Literature]]

[[Category:Military Science Fiction]]

[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]