Rafael Sabatini
Rafael Sabatini (1875 - 1950) was an Italian-born English writer of historical adventure stories. The two best-known are Scaramouche and Captain Blood: His Odyssey, both of which have been filmed multiple times. The 1935 film version of Captain Blood launched Errol Flynn to stardom.
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Works written by Rafael Sabatini include:
- The Lovers of Yvonne (AKA The Suitors of Yvonne) (1902)
- The Tavern Knight (1904)
- Bardelys the Magnificent (1906)
- The Trampling of the Lilies (1906)
- Love-At-Arms (1907)
- The Shame of Motley (1908)
- St. Martin's Summer (1909)
- Mistress Wilding (AKA Anthony Wilding) (1910)
- The Lion's Skin (1911)
- The Strolling Saint (1913; revised 1925)
- The Gates of Doom (1914)
- The Sea Hawk (1915) -- Provided the title, but little else, for Errol Flynn's 1940 The Sea Hawk
- The Snare (1917)
- Scaramouche (1921)
- Captain Blood: His Odyssey (1922)
- Fortune's Fool (1923)
- The Carolinian (1924)
- Bellarion the Fortunate (1926)
- The Hounds of God (1928)
- The Romantic Prince (1929)
- The King's Minion (AKA The Minion) (1930)
- Scaramouche the Kingmaker (1931)
- The Black Swan (1932) -- Adapted into a 1942 Tyrone Power film of the same name; not to be confused with Darren Aronofsky's similarly titled 2010 film.
- The Stalking Horse (1933)
- Venetian Masque (1934)
- Chivalry (1935)
- The Lost King (1937)
- The Sword of Islam (1939)
- The Marquis of Carabas (AKA Master-At-Arms) (1940)
- Columbus (1941)
- King In Prussia (AKA The Birth of Mischief (1944)
- The Gamester (1949)
Rafael Sabatini provides examples of the following tropes:
- Hanging Judge: Judge Jeffreys in Captain Blood: His Odyssey.
- The Highwayman: Sabatini wrote many stories about highwaymen, including several concerning the fortunes of a charming rogue who called himself "Captain Evans".
- Historical Domain Character: Too numerous to list.
- Historical Fiction: Most of what he wrote.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: King James II in Captain Blood: His Odyssey.
- Not in This For Your Revolution: This is a recurring theme in Sabatini's novels: a non-idealistic character is pointedly not supporting a less competent idealistic character on his/her quest. Then the forces the idealist opposes hurts the non-idealist or those he cares for. This is a Bad Move.
- Scooby-Doo Hoax: "The Plague of Ghosts"
- Swashbuckler: Most of what he wrote.
- This Is My Name on Foreign: In Captain Blood: His Odyssey, the title character Peter Blood is known as Don Pedro Sangre and Le Sang when dealing with the Spanish and French respectively.
- Wooden Ships and Iron Men: Captain Blood: His Odyssey, The Sea Hawk