History Literature / HaroldShea

* GenreSavvy: Arguably the whole point of the series. When Harold visits a world that inspired our work of fiction -- oddly enough, he manages to do quite well by running with the tropes that he (or the people he's with) remembers. At times, this has even been used for prophecy -- he remembers how the story came out.

** However, is there really any such character as "Belphegor" in ''Orlando Furioso'' that is an expy of Belphoebe? I [[http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/615 looked]] and didn't find any character name resembling that. And the names don't seem to be related, either; "Belphoebe" is from the the name of a Titan from Greek mythology plus a prefix meaning "beautiful", whereas "Belphegor" is from the name of a Moabitish deity "Ba'al Pe'or" mentioned in the Torah (or so says ThatOtherWiki).

In the stories, Harold Shea and other characters visit various [[TheVerse settings]] from mythology and fiction. Each story has one primary setting that is visited, although some visit other settings briefly. The primary setting for each story is: Myth/NorseMythology, ''TheFaerieQueene'', Ludovico Ariosto's epic poem ''Orlando Furioso'', ''Literature/TheKalevala'', [[Myth/CelticMythology Irish mythology]], ''Orlando Furioso'' (again), ''[[Literature/LandOfOz Oz]]'', ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', ''Literature/DonQuixote'', ''Literature/TheAeneid'', ''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'', ''Baital Pachisi'', ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'', ''Theatre/TheTempest'', and finally Creator/SamuelTaylorColeridge's poem ''Kubla Khan''.

* {{Expy}}: In-story example: ''TheFaerieQueene'' has expies of characters from ''Orlando Furioso''.

* SamusIsAGirl: Britomart (as in ''TheFaerieQueene'')

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: between the characters from the modern world and the inhabitants of the alternate universes they visit

In the stories, Harold Shea and other characters visit various [[TheVerse settings]] from mythology and fiction. Each story has one primary setting that is visited, although some visit other settings briefly. The primary setting for each story is: NorseMythology, ''TheFaerieQueene'', Ludovico Ariosto's epic poem ''Orlando Furioso'', ''Literature/TheKalevala'', [[Myth/CelticMythology Irish mythology]], ''Orlando Furioso'' (again), ''[[Literature/LandOfOz Oz]]'', ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', ''Literature/DonQuixote'', ''Literature/TheAeneid'', ''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'', ''Baital Pachisi'', ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'', ''Theatre/TheTempest'', and finally Creator/SamuelTaylorColeridge's poem ''Kubla Khan''.

* DamselInDistress: Subverted in the third story, when Harold breaks into the tent of Belphebe's captor to rescue Belphebe, finds a BoundAndGagged person there... [[spoiler:who is Belphebe's would-be captor, who had been tied up by her]].

In the stories, Harold Shea and other characters visit various [[TheVerse settings]] from mythology and fiction. Each story has one primary setting that is visited, although some visit other settings briefly. The primary setting for each story is: NorseMythology, ''TheFaerieQueene'', Ludovico Ariosto's epic poem ''Orlando Furioso'', ''Literature/TheKalevala'', [[Myth/CelticMythology Irish mythology]], ''Orlando Furioso'' (again), ''[[Literature/LandOfOz Oz]]'', ''JourneyToTheWest'', ''Literature/DonQuixote'', ''Literature/TheAeneid'', ''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'', ''Baital Pachisi'', ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'', ''Theatre/TheTempest'', and finally Creator/SamuelTaylorColeridge's poem ''Kubla Khan''.

* InsufferableGenius: Ras Thavas from the JohnCarterOfMars setting

* DistressedDamsel: Subverted in the third story, when Harold breaks into the tent of Belphebe's captor to rescue Belphebe, finds a BoundAndGagged person there... [[spoiler:who is Belphebe's would-be captor, who had been tied up by her]].

In the stories, Harold Shea and other characters visit various [[TheVerse settings]] from mythology and fiction. Each story has one primary setting that is visited, although some visit other settings briefly. The primary setting for each story is: NorseMythology, ''TheFaerieQueene'', Ludovico Ariosto's epic poem ''Orlando Furioso'', ''Literature/TheKalevala'', [[CelticMythology Irish mythology]], ''Orlando Furioso'' (again), ''[[Literature/LandOfOz Oz]]'', ''JourneyToTheWest'', ''Literature/DonQuixote'', ''Literature/TheAeneid'', ''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'', ''Baital Pachisi'', ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'', ''Theatre/TheTempest'', and finally Creator/SamuelTaylorColeridge's poem ''Kubla Khan''.

*** In this case the "Phoebe" in "Belphoebe" is probably not the Titaness, but another name for the Moon-Goddess Artemis, who, as a virgin goddess, represents for Spenser the chastity of "TheVirginQueen" (as Gloriana represents her "glory" and Mercilla her "mercy").

* MemeticMutation: "Yngvi is a louse!" became a meme among science fiction fandom long before the Internet.

[[http://www.brothershildebrandt.com/ http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/HaroldShea.jpg]]
[[caption-width:296:Actually, that's probably Astolph...]]

The ''Harold Shea'' series is a set of fantasy short stories and novellas. (The series is sometimes referred to as the ''Enchanter'' series, from the names of the collected volumes.) The first three stories were written in 1940-1941, and the subsequent two in 1953-1954, all of which were co-authored by Creator/LSpragueDeCamp and Fletcher Pratt. A further nine stories were written from 1990-1995, two of which were written by L. Sprague de Camp and the rest by other authors. One more story (by Creator/LawrenceWattEvans) was published in 2005 in a tribute anthology dedicated to L. Sprague de Camp after his death.

In the stories, Harold Shea and other characters visit various [[TheVerse settings]] from mythology and fiction. Each story has one primary setting that is visited, although some visit other settings briefly. The primary setting for each story is: NorseMythology, ''TheFaerieQueene'', Ludovico Ariosto's epic poem ''Orlando Furioso'', ''Literature/TheKalevala'', [[CelticMythology Irish mythology]], ''Orlando Furioso'' (again), ''[[Literature/LandOfOz Oz]]'', ''JourneyToTheWest'', ''Literature/DonQuixote'', ''Literature/TheAeneid'', ''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'', ''Baital Pachisi'', ''JohnCarterOfMars'', ''Theatre/TheTempest'', and finally Creator/SamuelTaylorColeridge's poem ''Kubla Khan''.

The ''Harold Shea'' series is a set of fantasy short stories and novellas. (The series is sometimes referred to as ''Enchanter'', from the names of the collected volumes.) The first three stories were written in 1940-1941, and the subsequent two in 1953-1954, all of which were co-authored by Creator/LSpragueDeCamp and Fletcher Pratt. A further nine stories were written from 1990-1995, two of which were written by L. Sprague de Camp and the rest by other authors. One more story (by Creator/LawrenceWattEvans) was published in 2005 in a tribute anthology dedicated to L. Sprague de Camp after his death.

'''Harold Shea''' is the main character from a series of fantasy short stories and novellas. (The series is sometimes referred to as ''Enchanter'', from the names of the collected volumes.) The first three stories were written in 1940-1941, and the subsequent two in 1953-1954, all of which were co-authored by Creator/LSpragueDeCamp and Fletcher Pratt. A further nine stories were written from 1990-1995, two of which were written by L. Sprague de Camp and the rest by other authors. One more story (by Creator/LawrenceWattEvans) was published in 2005 in a tribute anthology dedicated to L. Sprague de Camp after his death.

'''Harold Shea''' is the main character from a series of fantasy short stories and novellas. (The series is sometimes referred to as ''Enchanter'', from the names of the collected volumes.) The first three stories were written in 1940-1941, and the subsequent two in 1953-1954, all of which were co-authored by Creator/LSpragueDeCamp and Fletcher Pratt. A further nine stories were written from 1990-1995, two of which were written by L. Sprague de Camp and the rest by other authors. One more story (by LawrenceWattEvans) was published in 2005 in a tribute anthology dedicated to L. Sprague de Camp after his death.

* TheArcher: Belphebe

In the stories, Harold Shea and other characters visit various [[TheVerse settings]] from mythology and fiction. Each story has one primary setting that is visited, although some visit other settings briefly. The primary setting for each story is: NorseMythology, ''TheFaerieQueene'', Ludovico Ariosto's epic poem ''Orlando Furioso'', ''Literature/TheKalevala'', [[CelticMythology Irish mythology]], ''Orlando Furioso'' (again), ''[[Literature/LandOfOz Oz]]'', ''JourneyToTheWest'', ''Literature/DonQuixote'', ''Literature/TheAeneid'', ''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'', ''Baital Pachisi'', ''JohnCarterOfMars'', ''Theatre/TheTempest'', and finally SamuelTaylorColeridge's poem ''Kubla Khan''.

* TakeThat: "Sir Harold and the Gnome King" has one directed at [[LRonHubbard a certain other author]] who wrote Harold Shea into one of his stories without permission--and ''[[DroppedABridgeOnHim killed him off]]''. ([[NoOneCouldSurviveThat He got better]].)