History Literature / Flashman

* BedroomAdulteryScene: In one of the novels, Flashman catches Lord Cardigan with his wife.

* UnreliableNarrator: Fraser occasionally ascribes historical memories to the poor memory of an aged, hard-drinking Flashman.

* CaptainErsatz: Much of the cast of ''Royal Flash'' (the non-historical ones) are this towards the characters of ''ThePrisonerOfZenda'', although in-universe, ''ThePrisonerOfZenda'' is based on Flashman's experiences, making ''those'' characters esatzes in this universe.

* {{Dirty Coward}}: Flashman himself, to the maximum possible and then some. However, [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even Cowardice Has Standards]] -- in the original book, Flashman has nothing but scorn for some reinforcements that fled as opposed to pretending to attack. He says this whilst himself fleeing from attacking Afghans, but he at least turns around and yells various disparaging remarks about the Afghan's leader. Also, he looks down upon anyone who displays CowerPower, at least if they can still run.

* EmbarrassingNickName: In ''Flashman and the Redskins'', Flashman is adopted by an Apache tribe and, due to his horseback skills, is named White-Rider-Goes-So-Fast-He-Destroys-The-Wind-With-His-Speed. Unfortunately for convenience it's shorted to He-Who-Breaks-The-Wind or Wind Breaker. Given how Flashman farted his way down the Valley of Death at Balaclava you could say it's appropriate.

* TheDitz: Flashman's wife, Elspeth. As far as he knows. She does show reserves of amazing fortitude, though: tn Madagascar, fleeing from mad Queen Ravonalova, a searching guard steps on her finger and breaks it--and she doesn't even cry out.

** He also gets this from AbrahamLincoln in ''Flash For Freedom!''

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Fraser's recent passing likely means it will never be known if he actually planned to write a novel of Flashman's American Civil War adventures, or if it was only a NoodleIncident along the same lines as SherlockHolmes' "missing cases". It would be interesting to know what the plot was of the novel GMF announced he was researching about six months before his death, but his estate/publishers/relatives aren't telling.

* SherlockScan: Flashman gets one from [[TropeNamer the man]] [[SherlockHolmes himself]] in ''Flashman and the Tiger'', but between his deliberate disguise and the Prussian-style [[DuelingScar dueling scars]] he got in ''Royal Flash'', Holmes misidentifies him as a German sailor.

* ShotgunWedding: Flashman's marriage to Elspeth was forced by old man Morrison after Flashy had knocked up Elspeth.

This is Creator/GeorgeMacDonaldFraser[='=]s politically incorrect series of novels, presented as the memoirs of a Victorian war hero who is actually a bully, rapist, lecher, backstabber, and [[DirtyCoward coward]]. The character Flashman is taken from the Victorian novel, ''Literature/TomBrownsSchooldays'', where he is presented without any redeeming qualities. He has no redeeming qualities in Frasier's books, either, despite occasional feelings of love for his wife and always coming out of a situation alright, so he might be considered a MagnificentBastard. There is the ''very'' occasional indication that Flashy doth protest too much, and, to be honest, in the situations he finds himself in, "being a coward" also counts as "being the OnlySaneMan".

** He also accidentaly gives Lord Raglan the idea to send in the Light Brigade.

-->''With the mighty Sikh Khalsa, the finest army ever seen in Asia, poised to invade the Punjab and sweep Brittania's ill-guarded Empire into the sea, every able-bodied man was needed to defend the frontier, and one, at least, had his answer ready when the call of duty came: "I'll swim in blood first!" Alas, for poor Flashy, there was no avoiding the terrors of secret service in the debauched and intrigue-ridden court of the Punjab, the attentions of its beautiful nymphomaniac Maharani (not that he minded that really), the horrors of its torture chambers and the baleful influence of the Mountain of Light.''

* ChasteHero: The series' presentation of the historical figure James Brooke satirizes this trope, as his characterization as a [[TheCape plucky and honorable hero]] who has no lustful reaction to the topless native women around him is given an unorthodox spin by the implication that he was castrated by a bullet wound received in battle. [[hottip:*: Historical records (and Fraser) indicate that he was shot in the lung, however, and carried out an affair shortly after recovering.]] Oddly, the article on Brooke in TheOtherWiki suggests he was actually a DepravedBisexual.

* ShownTheirWork: For all their tongue-in-cheek humour, the Flashman novels are based on a lot of serious historical research by the author. Fraser never indulges in info-dumps however, and relegates a lot of the background to Author's Notes at the end of the books. [[hottip:*: Taken to an extreme in ''Flashman and the Dragon'' where one of the appendices discusses the diary of a scholar living in Beijing during the events of the novel: it has almost nothing to do with the plot, but Fraser evidently came across the book in his research and thought it might be interesting to show the other side's point of view.]]

[[NamesTheSame Not to be confused with]] ChoushinseiFlashman. Or the robot master from MegaMan2.

* MismatchedEyes: Count Ignatieff has one blue eye and one which is half-blue, half-brown. Although Flashman remarks that women find it an appealing trait, it serves to [[RedRightHand mark him]] as someone you shouldn't mess with.

* TheFilmOfTheBook: Richard Lester's 1975 adaptation of ''Royal Flash'', with Malcolm McDowell as Flashman, co-starring Alan Bates, Oliver Reed and Florinda Balkin. Fraser himself wrote the screenplay. The movie [[BaseBreaker isn't universally popular]] with ''Flashman'' fans, however.

This is GeorgeMacDonaldFraser[='=]s politically incorrect series of novels, presented as the memoirs of a Victorian war hero who is actually a bully, rapist, lecher, backstabber, and [[DirtyCoward coward]]. The character Flashman is taken from the Victorian novel, ''Literature/TomBrownsSchooldays'', where he is presented without any redeeming qualities. He has no redeeming qualities in Frasier's books, either, despite occasional feelings of love for his wife and always coming out of a situation alright, so he might be considered a MagnificentBastard. There is the ''very'' occasional indication that Flashy doth protest too much, and, to be honest, in the situations he finds himself in, "being a coward" also counts as "being the OnlySaneMan".

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Flashman becomes more conventionally heroic (or at least less craven and cowardly) in later entries of the series. Since the books were written in non-chronological order, however, trying to demarcate a straight line of CharacterDevelopment is very difficult.

* TheCameo: An antiquated Flashman appeared briefly in Fraser's ''Mr. American'', set in TheEdwardianEra. Though pushing 90 Flashy's as randy and cynical as ever.

* TheCameo: An antiquated Flashman appeared briefly in Fraser's ''Mr. American'', as randy and cynical as ever.

--->''With the mighty Sikh Khalsa, the finest army ever seen in Asia, poised to invade the Punjab and sweep Brittania's ill-guarded Empire into the sea, every able-bodied man was needed to defend the frontier, and one, at least, had his answer ready when the call of duty came: "I'll swim in blood first!" Alas, for poor Flashy, there was no avoiding the terrors of secret service in the debauched and intrigue-ridden court of the Punjab, the attentions of its beautiful nymphomaniac Maharani (not that he minded that really), the horrors of its torture chambers and the baleful influence of the Mountain of Light.''