History Literature / OrlandoFurioso

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Fiordespina. After her illicit romance with Richardet is discovered, he gets rescued from execution... and no-one mentions what happens to her. Even worse if you take [[Literature/TheSongOfRoland The song of Roland]] as canon, where her father Marsilius says he doesn't have any living children...

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Fiordespina. After her IllicitRomance with Richardet is discovered, he gets rescued from execution... and no-one mentions what happens to her. Even worse if you take "[[Literature/TheSongOfRoland]]" as canon, where her father Marsilius says he doesn't have any living children...

* ActionGirl - Bradamante, Marfisa
* AllAmazonsWantHercules - In the LadyLand visited by Astolpho and Marfisa, the only way a man can avoid slavery is to prove his worthiness by defeating ten champions in a day and then bed ten women that night. According to Guido's extensive explanation, this was set up precisely because of this trope, when the queen's daughter desired a particularly worthy fighter who was, in fact, descended from Hercules.
* AntiMagic - This is what Angelica's Ring does when worn on a finger (it doubles as a Ring of Gyges if you put it on your ''tongue'').
* AuthorFilibuster - Ariosto did ''not'' like cannons, recently introduced to European warfare.
* {{Badass}} - Bradamante, Ruggiero, Orlando, and most Saracens, especially Rodomonte
* BattleCouple - Bradamante and Ruggiero
* SiblingIncest - Flirted with: Marfisa is quite attracted to Ruggiero (and his fighting ability) until it's revealed he's her brother.
* CelibateHero - Orlando used to be one before Boiardo got his hands on him in the prequel
* {{Cliffhanger}} - Frequently happens when Ariosto jumps between threads of his KudzuPlot.
* CoolHorse - Several
* ConvertingForLove - Ruggiero and his sister Marfisa

* ChainedToARock - Happens twice in ''Orlando Furioso''. First, Angelica of Cathay is captured by the pirates of Ebuda, only to be stripped naked and exposed on a rock to a sea monster. After she's rescued, the pirates replace her with Olympia of Holland. Neither woman can conceal their modesty when their rescuer approaches.

* DefiledForever - Discussed and deconstructed with both Angelica and Guinevere.
* DefrostingIceQueen - The description of Angelica finally falling in love is ''filled'' with imagery of melting.
* DidNotGetTheGirl - Pretty much everybody who fell in love with Angelica. After being romantically pursued by the world's greatest knights, the princess ends up [[spoiler: falling in love with and marrying Medoro, a wounded mere foot-soldier.]]
* TheDulcineaEffect - Ruthlessly attacked with Angelica, especially her using the devoted Sacripante (picked because he was the knight she could most easily control) entirely for her own ends.
* EasyEvangelism - Lots of Muslim and Pagan warriors, kings and cities convert to Christianity after getting defeated by one of the protagonists. It's not even forced either: they impute the enemy's victory to their superior religion and willingly abandon theirs.
* EpiphanicPrison - Atlantes creates one of these to protect Ruggiero by trapping him and every knight capable of killing him in a labyrinth where they endlessly chase after phantom visions of Angelica. They escape when [[spoiler: the real Angelica accidentally disspells it with her AntiMagic ring]]. The results are not pretty.

* HalfIdenticalTwins - Bradamante and Ricardetto. The latter takes advantage of this to woo a princess who [[LezYay fell in love]] with his sister.

* LadyLand - Alessandretta, visited by Astolpho and Marfisa
* LadyOfWar - Bradamante and Marfisa
* LoveMakesYouCrazy
* OneOfTheBoys - Marfisa, in marked contrast to Bradamante, who is much more frequently described in feminine terms.
* NoSocialSkills - Marfisa
* SamusIsAGirl - Bradamante does this to Fiordispina.

* SoBeautifulItsACurse - With a side order of CursedWithAwesome in the prequel: [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Angelica]], a pagan, comes to Charlemagne's court specifically to cause havoc with her beauty, and succeeds quite entertainingly -- and all too well. By the time Ariosto takes up the story, she's lost her brother and been kidnapped for her beauty more times than you really want to think about -- all she wants to do is get home and be done with it all.
* SuperToughness - Orlando and Ferrau have invulnerable skin as hard as diamond, except in [[AchillesHeel one location]]. Orlando in particular seems to wear armor only as a uniform, to make it clear to others that yes, he is a knight.
* TakeThat - To cannons, complete with an AuthorFilibuster on the matter.
* TakeTheThirdOption - Angelica picks neither Orlando nor Scarpescant (to name only her two most prominent knightly suitors), but an obscure foot-soldier.
* {{Tomboy}} - Marfisa
* UnrequitedLove - Orlando
* UrExample - Of the [[OurMonstersAreDifferent hippogriff]]
* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman - Angelica
* WorldsStrongestMan - Orlando

* HalfIdenticalTwins - Brademante and Ricardetto. The latter takes advantage of this to woo a princess who [[LezYay fell in love]] with his sister.

* OneOfTheBoys - Marfisa, in marked contrast to Brademante, who is much more frequently described in feminine terms.

* LadyLand - Astolpho and Marfisa visit one of these

* AllAmazonsWantHercules - In the LadyLand visited by Astolpho and Marfisa, the only way a man can avoid slavery is to prove his worthiness by defeating ten champions in a day and then bed ten women that night. According to Guido's extensive explanation, this was set up precisely because of this trope, when the queen's daughter desired a particularly, ah, worthy fighter.

* {{Cliffhanger}} - Frequently happens when Ariosto jumps between threads of hi KudzuPlot.

* LadyOfWar - Bradamante and Marfisa are only the most prominent female knights among the cast.

A massive [[ChivalricRomance chivalric]] [[NarrativePoem epic poem]] in 46 cantos by Ludovico Ariosto, written 1516-1532. ''Orlando Furioso'' ("Mad Orlando") continues and completes the story begun in the unfinished but equally epic poem, ''Orlando Innamorato'' ("Orlando in Love") by Matteo Maria Boiardo, Conte di Scandiano (1441-1494). Charlemagne (Carlo) is at war with the Saracens, and his paladin Orlando (Roland), the world's greatest knight (and hero of the French ''[[Literature/TheSongOfRoland Chanson de Roland]]''), goes mad from UnrequitedLove for a pagan princess named [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Angelica]] of Cathay. Has a BetaCouple, which also consists of a pagan and a Christian: [[{{Badass}} Ruggiero]] (Roger) of Risa and [[ActionGirl Bradamante]], the mythical ancestors of Boiardo's and Ariosto's employers, the Este family, ducal house of Ferrara.

The poem is not so much a ChivalricRomance as a {{Deconstruction}} of same, casting an ironic eye on all the tropes and conventions of the genre, with Orlando's devotional love turning to madness being only the most obvious deconstructive treatment. But Ariosto is more interested in entertaining than anything else, and succeeds at his task at great length. It was enormously influential in the centuries after it was written, influencing Tasso, [[TheFaerieQueene Spencer]], and [[ParadiseLost Milton]].

A massive [[ChivalricRomance chivalric]] epic poem in 46 cantos by Ludovico Ariosto, written 1516-1532. ''Orlando Furioso'' ("Mad Orlando") continues and completes the story begun in the unfinished but equally epic poem, ''Orlando Innamorato'' ("Orlando in Love") by Matteo Maria Boiardo, Conte di Scandiano (1441-1494). Charlemagne (Carlo) is at war with the Saracens, and his paladin Orlando (Roland), the world's greatest knight (and hero of the French ''[[Literature/TheSongOfRoland Chanson de Roland]]''), goes mad from UnrequitedLove for a pagan princess named [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Angelica]] of Cathay. Has a BetaCouple, which also consists of a pagan and a Christian: [[{{Badass}} Ruggiero]] (Roger) of Risa and [[ActionGirl Bradamante]], the mythical ancestors of Boiardo's and Ariosto's employers, the Este family, ducal house of Ferrara.

* SuperToughness - Orlando has skin as hard as diamond -- he seems to wear armor only as a uniform, to make it clear to others that yes, he is a knight.

* AntiMagic - This is what the Ring of Angelica does when worn on a finger (it doubles as a Ring of Gyges if you put it on your ''tongue'').

* ChainedToARock - This happened twice in ''Orlando Furioso''. First, Angelica of Cathay is captured by the pirates of Ebuda, only to be stripped naked and exposed on a rock to a sea monster. Second, Olympia of Holland is stripped naked by the same pirates and tied to a tree instead to a rock. Neither woman can conceal their modesty when their rescuer approaches.

* SuperToughness - Orlando has skin as hard as diamond -- he seems to wear armor as a uniform, only to make it clear to others that yes he is a knight.

* TakeThat - Ariosto did ''not'' like cannons, recently introduced to European warfare.

--->'''Orlando Furioso''' (first canto, first stanza, trans. by William Stewart Rose)

A massive chivalric epic poem in 46 cantos by Ludovico Ariosto, written 1516-1532. ''Orlando Furioso'' ("Mad Orlando") continues the story begun in the unfinished but equally epic poem, ''Orlando Innamorato'' ("Orlando in Love") by Matteo Maria Boiardo, Conte di Scandiano (1441-1494). Charlemagne (Carlo) is at war with the Saracens, and his paladin Orlando (Roland), the world's greatest knight (and hero of the French ''[[Literature/TheSongOfRoland Chanson de Roland]]''), goes mad from UnrequitedLove for a pagan princess named [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Angelica]] of Cathay. Has a BetaCouple, which also consists of a pagan and a Christian: [[{{Badass}} Ruggiero]] (Roger) of Risa and [[ActionGirl Bradamante]], the mythical ancestors of Boiardo's and Ariosto's employers, the Este family, ducal house of Ferrara.

A massive epic poem in 46 cantos by Ludovico Ariosto, written 1516-1532. ''Orlando Furioso'' ("Mad Orlando") continues the story begun in the unfinished epic poem, ''Orlando Innamorato'' ("Orlando in Love") by Matteo Maria Boiardo, Conte di Scandiano (1441-1494). Charlemagne (Carlo) is at war with the Saracens, and his paladin Orlando (Roland), the world's greatest knight (and hero of the French ''[[Literature/TheSongOfRoland Chanson de Roland]]''), goes mad from UnrequitedLove for a pagan princess named [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Angelica]] of Cathay. Has a BetaCouple, which also consists of a pagan and a Christian: [[{{Badass}} Ruggiero]] (Roger) of Risa and [[ActionGirl Bradamante]], the mythical ancestors of Boiardo's and Ariosto's employers, the Este family, ducal house of Ferrara.

* {{Badass}} - Bradamante, Ruggiero, Orlando, most Saracens, especially Rodomonte
* CelibateHero - Orlando used to be one before Boiardo got his hands on him

* ChainedToARock - This happened twice in ''Orlando Furioso''. First, Princess Angelica is captured by Pirates Ebuda, only to strip her naked and exposed her to Sea Monster. Second, princess of Holland, Olympia, is stripped naked by the same suspect, and tied to a tree instead to a rock. Both girls cannot concealed their modesty when their rescuer approach them

* DefiledForever - Discussed and deconstructed with Angelica and Guinevere.

* TheRedSonja - Bradamante

* LesYay: The scene where Bradamante sleeps in the bed of a princess who mistakes her a man and falls in love with her. Also, maybe Bradamante/Marfisa.

* UrExample - Of the [[OurMonstersAreDifferent hippogriff]] and TheRedSonja

A massive epic poem in 46 cantos by Ludovico Ariosto, written 1516-1532. ''OrlandoFurioso'' ("Mad Orlando") continues the story begun in the unfinished epic poem, ''Orlando Innamorato'' ("Orlando in Love") by Matteo Maria Boiardo, Conte di Scandiano (1441-1494). Charlemagne (Carlo) is at war with the Saracens, and his paladin Orlando (Roland), the world's greatest knight (and hero of the French ''[[Literature/TheSongOfRoland Chanson de Roland]]''), goes mad from UnrequitedLove for a pagan princess named [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Angelica]] of Cathay. Has a BetaCouple, which also consists of a pagan and a Christian: [[{{Badass}} Ruggiero]] (Roger) of Risa and [[ActionGirl Bradamante]], the mythical ancestors of Boiardo's and Ariosto's employers, the Este family, ducal house of Ferrara.

!!Tropes found in OrlandoFurioso

* EvenBetterSequel - To ''Orlando Innamorato''