History Literature / TheLastOfTheMohicans

[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cole-mohicans_9812.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:[-Thomas Cole, [[ClimbingClimax Clifftop Scene]] from ''The Last of the Mohicans: Cora [[KneelBeforeZod Kneeling at the Feet]] of Tamenund'', [[http://www.shafe.co.uk/crystal/images/lshafe/Cole_Course_of_Empire_Arcadia_1838.jpg 1827]], an early example of PopCulturalOsmosis-] ]]

An 1826 historical novel by Creator/JamesFenimoreCooper which has experienced PopCulturalOsmosis and adapted for film numerous times, most recently 1992 by MichaelMann (see below). A story about the [[SettlingTheFrontier American Frontier]], ''The Last of the Mohicans'' takes place in the British colony of New York in 1757, against the backdrop of the French and Indian War, the 9-year American version of the SevenYearsWar which heavily involved Native Americans on both sides. The book mainly concerns the adventures of Hawkeye, a white man accompanied by the last two surviving members of the Mohican tribe, Chingachgook and his son Uncas, as the [[ScarilyCompetentTracker three trackers]] try to protect [[ThePresidentsDaughter the two daughters]] of a Scottish colonel.

Cooper's novel was one of the first great American novels, and was widely read during his time. It remains a commonly-taught book in America Literature courses and a staple of early American frontier mythology.

The novel has been adapted into a number of movies, first in 1911, then again in 1920, 1932, 1936 and finally one starring [[Film/ThereWillBeBlood Daniel]] [[GangsOfNewYork Day-Lewis]] in 1992. '''The 1992 film''' has been said by its director to be more of an update of the 1936 film than a straight adaptation of the book, so the resulting [[TheFilmOfTheBook Adaptation]] has led to a significant level of [[BrokenBase controversy]] among the book's fans, although it is generally regarded as an exceptional film in terms of modern [[EpicMovie action-adventure epics]].

For more on the novel ''The Last of the Mohicans'' and other books in TheSeries, see '''''Literature/TheLeatherstockingTales.'''''

For more on the 1992 film starring Creator/DanielDayLewis, see below.
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!!The 1992 film contains examples of:

* AbandonedByTheCavalry: General Webb's reinforcements.
* ActorAllusion: The '''actual''' sovereign chief of the Five Nations played Ongewasgone, the Iroquois leader.
* AdaptationalVillainy: While not evil, Duncan Heyward comes across as a more unpleasant character than he does in Cooper's novel (or for that matter the 1936 version, in which he was more of a RomanticFalseLead).
* AdaptationDistillation: Omitted portions include redundant portions where the women are captured and quickly freed, a deranged white man at the Huron camp, a shooting contest, and [[BearsAreBadNews Natty Bumpo disguised as a bear]]. The changes generally streamlined and improved on some lengthy and confusing segments in the novel.
* TheAlliance: In a SliceOfLife montage, we see settlers and Iroquois assembling peaceably at Cameron's frontier cabin for a Harvest dinner and a traditionally violent ''Indian-style'' Lacrosse game with basketball hoops (settlers vs. Indians).[[note]]Ironically, the reason for the gathering is a militia levy to go fight the French and ''other Indians'', but the [[StuffyBrit British herald is disdainful of both groups.]][[/note]]
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: For most of the film, Magua is made out to be the biggest {{Badass}} on the frontier. And then he [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLnma_bJl8A makes the mistake of pissing off Chingachgook]].
* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:Verges on KillEmAll in the ''{{Hamlet}}''-style ending.]]
* AssInAmbassador / AcceptableTargets / AristocratsAreEvil: General Marquis de Montcalm is a French general, [[DiplomaticImpunity diplomat]], [[WickedCultured scholar]] and [[AristocratsAreEvil aristocrat]]. ''How'' do we know he's a bad guy, aside from that? He ''wins every battle'' against [[DesignatedHero the British]].
* BadassBoast: Magua, and how.
-->'''Magua:''' The Grey Hair's children were under Magua's knife. They escaped. They will be under it again... When the Grey Hair is dead, Magua will eat his heart. Before he dies, Magua will put his children under the knife, so the Grey Hair will know his seed is wiped out forever.
* BadassGrandpa: Chingachgook, while not old by modern standards, is treated as such by the other characters. [[spoiler:When Magua, who up until then had been an unstoppable killing machine, finally fought Chingachgook he didn't stand a chance.]]
* BeatStillMyHeart: Magua does this to [[spoiler:Col. Munro]].
* BestServedCold: Magua's motivation.
* BetaCouple: Alice and Uncas aren't as overt as Cora and Nathaniel, but there's at least some feeling there.
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler: Alice throws herself off a cliff at the end, rather than go with Magua (who'd just got done killing Uncas and making Chingachgook the last Mohican.)]]
** Also, when [[spoiler:Heyward]] is being burned alive at the stake, Hawkeye shoots him from afar to keep him from suffering.
* BigNo: Silent.
* BilingualDialogue: Native characters slide in and out of [[ShownTheirWork multiple languages]], including the dead languages of Huron and Mohican, which are subtitled. [[BigBad Magua]], being a Huron enslaved by the Mohawk who became a French war captain turned [[TheMole British scout]], seems to speak more languages than any other character; in the final parlay, he alone understands the whole conversation, and ([[TheDogBitesBack he is not pleased]]). [[note]]It's both subtitled and translated on-screen by Heyward, who speaks French -- except for the Huron part, which only Magua understands.[[/note]] Then there's this:
-->'''Heyward:''' You there! Scout. Must. Stop. Soon. Women. Are. Tired.
-->'''Magua:''' Three leagues. Better water. We stop [[AreWeThereYet there]].
-->'''Heyward:''' No, we stop in the glade ahead. Understand?
-->'''Magua:''' ''(subtitle)'' Magua understands [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain the white man is a dog]] to his women. When they grow tired, he [[BloodKnight puts down his hatchet]] to feed their laziness.
-->'''Heyward:''' ''What'' did you say?
-->'''Magua:''' Magua ''said,'' [[TactfulTranslation "I understand English... very well."]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Alice and Duncan are dead, along with Uncas, so Chingachgook is the last of his tribe, and will probably have no more children. However, Cora and Hawkeye are alive and together.]]
** The 1936 version added a level of ambiguity, as Duncan has also survived and it is not made clear whether the remaining Munro daughter prefers Hawkeye or him.
* BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins: Surprisingly realistic; the Native tribesmen wear homespun like their colonist neighbors, and both they and the colonist wear leather breeches and authentic hairstyles for the most part.
* BritishStuffiness: Heyward! With that "priggy nose of his" as one reviewer delicately put it.
* BroadStrokes / AdaptationDisplacement: The film is more an adaptation of the 1936 film than the original novel. Who lives, who dies, and who hooks up with who at the end are all adapted from the older film rather than the book.
** The screenplay for the 1936 film is actually credited as an alternate version. Also Hawkeye's real name, which was Anglicized from [[EmbarrassingFirstName Natty Bumppo]] to Nathaniel Poe.
* BrokenBird: Alice; Cora is clearly concerned about the effect the constant danger surrounding them is having on her mind.
* [[CaliforniaDoubling Carolina Doubling]]: See "Ghibli Hills" below.
* CaveBehindTheFalls: The scene was shot in a RealLife cave behind a waterfall. [[DoingItForTheArt The dialogue had to be overdubbed]] and the cameramen had to be really, really careful.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: The Mohicans, primarily [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway endurance running]] among [[ScarilyCompetentTracker other]] [[ImprobableAimingSkills things]].
* ChekhovsGun: Quite literally -- the pistol that Cora picks up from a dead officer near the beginning of the film most likely ''saves her life'' when she later uses it to shoot dead a Huron attacker.
* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: According to the incompetent [[GeneralFailure General Webb]]:
-->''"You have [[TemptingFate scant need]] for a colonial militia... because the French haven't the nature for war. Their [[SophisticatedAsHell Latinate voluptuousness combines with their Gallic laziness]], and the result? They'd rather eat, and make love with their faces than fight."''
::Webb is proven wrong by Montcalm and the French alliance [[CurbStompBattle winning every major battle in the time frame of the story.]]
* {{Chiaroscuro}}: Particularly the fort scenes. The outdoor scenes are shot to look like a Thomas Cole painting (see above).
* ClothingDamage: Uncas uses it to his advantage to make [[TimTaylorTechnology silk bullet casings]] and [[BoringButPractical bandaging wounds]].
-->'''Hawkeye:''' You 'bout done holdin' hands with Miss Monro?
* ClimbingClimax: Not quite the original [[LiteralCliffhanger clifftop]] [[DisneyVillainDeath ending]], but close.
* ColonelBadass: Col. Munro.
* ColorWash: Autumnal orange and green.
** Interestingly, Director Mann who is known for his neon urban color schemes, says this is the only film he ever did that had no artificial color wash. He wanted to capture the American woods without artificial lighting because he said they are rarely seen that way in media. Of course, this results in some [[{{Chiaroscuro}} pretty dark scenes]].
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Cora is the pragmatic brunette, Alice is the romantic/sentimental (strawberry) blonde.
** In 1936, with their names reversed, Cora is taken all the way up to HairOfGoldHeartOfGold.
* ComeWithMeIfYouWantToLive:
-->'''Heyward:''' Why's he loosing the horses?
-->'''Uncas:''' Too easy to track. They'd be heard for miles... ''(picks among dead bodies)'' [[IfYouDieCanIHaveYourStuff Find yourself a musket]]...
-->'''Hawkeye:''' We're movin' outta here, fast. Unless you all's'd rather wait for the next Huron war party to come along.
* CowerPower: Alice.
* CoupDeGrace: See Impaled With Extreme Prejudice.
* CoversAlwaysLie: You might get the impression that the titular "Last of the Mohicans" refers to the [[MightyWhitey white guy]] on the cover, but it really doesn't.
* CurbStompBattle: Chingachgook versus Magua.
** ''Every battle'' is a curb stomp. The British are on the receiving end of these, while Chingachgook, Hawkeye, and Uncas are on the giving end. [[spoiler: Uncas ultimately is on the receiving end of these from Magua]].
* [[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Daniel Day-Lewis Is About To Dismember You]]: [[http://www.glogster.com/media/1/3/53/87/3538707.jpg The film's cover]].
* DarkReprise: The cheerful dance music they play during the night at the fort is somberly reprised for the tragic climax of the film.
* DawnOfTheWildWest: Set in the wilderness of western Colonial New York.
* DaylightHorror: the massacre.
* DeadpanSnarker: When Cora and Heyward ask the Mohicans how they plan to get to Kan-tuck-ee Territory, Hawkeye's reaction is priceless.
--> '''Heyward''': There's a ''war'' on! How is it ''you'' are going west?
--> '''Hawkeye''': Well, first we face north, then, ''real'' subtle-like, turn left.
** Hawkeye's response to someone joshing him:
---> '''Hawkeye:''' [[HonorBeforeReason I got a reason]] [[TheMutiny to stay here]].
---> '''Jack:''' That reason wear a striped skirt and work in the surgery?
---> '''Hawkeye:''' It does. And no offense, but it's a better lookin' reason than you, Jack Winthrop!
* DeathByAdaptation / SparedByAdaptation: [[spoiler:Alice and Heyward live (and get together) and Cora dies in the book]]. [[spoiler: This is only "spared by" because the sisters' roles have been switched. Heyward - and Colonel Munro - are clear DeathByAdaptation.]]
* DecoyProtagonist: Hawkeye, to a certain extent, since he is not in fact the title character.
* {{Defictionalization}}: Several locations in the Eastern US, such as Chimney Rock where it was filmed,[[note]](somewhat inaccurate to the legend which is set in the Adirondacks, but hey, [[PopCulturalOsmosis you know]])[[/note]] are popularly known as "Uncas Leap". This goes back to the 1800s when the story was first written, since the character of Uncas was based on a [[HistoricalFiction legendary Indian chief]].
* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler: Magua.]]
* DirtyBusiness /[[IDidWhatIHadToDo Did What I Had To Do]]: [-'''Heyward:''' ''Things were done. Nobody was spared.''-]
-->'''Munro:''' ''(sighs)'' Those considerations are subordinate to the interests of the Crown.
* TheDogBitesBack: Sachem's (non-) response to Magua's parting words. He nods to the heroes and says [[BilingualBonus something untranslated]].
* DoomedByCanon: Uncas, Magua and Cora. Natty and Chingachgook were originally introduced in ''The Pioneers'', in which they were lonely old men who had no one but each other.
** Well, actually just Uncas, since Cora is SparedByAdaptation. Poor Alice, however...
* DoomedHometown: [[spoiler:Cameron's frontier settlement]].
* DragonInChief: Magua plays this to the French General Montcalm
* DualWielding: Somewhat ridiculously, Hawkeye picks up another musket and kills two enemies, one with his own musket and one with the borrowed musket. How he managed to aim both heavy rifles at different targets at the same time, even though he was shooting them at close range, is a mystery.
** More realistically, several characters are shown wielding a tomahawk in one hand and a knife in the other.
* TheEmpire: The British and French Empires, of course. Back when France was still a monarchy, no less.
-->'''{{Herald}}:''' Are you not a patriot!? A loyal subject to the Crown!?
-->'''Heyward:''' ''(later)'' British policy is "Make the world England," sir.
* EnemyMine: [[TheAlliance the settlers]] and [[NobleSavage Iroquois]]' reason for signing up to fight together against the French.
* EpicMovie: The music alone is freakin' huge.
* EqualOpportunityEvil: Subverted; see Wicked Cultured below. While [[UnfortunateImplications the colonists]] came to see the French and their Native allies this way, the British had just as many (sovereign) native allies, not least the Confederacy of the Five Nations, and they, despite being {{designated hero}}es, were notorious {{jerkass}}es towards the tribes in general. Meanwhile, the settlers and Iroquois coexist peaceably, [[HollywoodHistory or so we'd like to think]].
* MrFanservice: Hawkeye, played by Daniel Day-Lewis. Uncas too.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Magua isn't happy with the Sachem's order to marry Alice rather than kill her, but he abides by it anyway.
* EvilBrit: The film's sympathies are with the colonists and natives, in contrast to the book where the "good" Indians are allied to the crown.
* EvilGloating / JustBetweenYouAndMe
-->'''Magua:''' Grey-hair! [[JustBetweenYouAndMe Before you die, know that]] I will put under the knife your children, so your seed is wiped from the earth forever.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Fox made Mann reduce the film's length from 3 to 2 hours.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Magua, the only one in the entire film. He simply exchanges long glances with Chingachgook. In fact, he's ''learning forward'', ready for the final blow.
* FakeNationality: Wes Studi, a Cherokee, plays a Huron masquerading as a Mohawk; white extras in facepaint were cast alongside Native extras for crowd scenes. Russell Means is Sioux, Daniel Day-Lewis is English and Madeleine Stowe (Cora) is American.
* FoeTossingCharge: Chingachgook at the end of the film.
** Hawkeye also does this during the Huron ambush, running toward the unnamed Indian who is assaulting Cora. He pushes aside at least one guy.
* ForegoneConclusion: The title, ''Last of the Mohicans'', says it all.
** Not to mention one of the more (in)famous book covers shows [[TenLittleIndians a line of Indian warriors walking into oblivion]].
* FragileFlower: Alice.
* FriendlyTarget: [[spoiler: Cameron and his whole family]].
* FromACertainPointOfView: Col. Munro. [-"British promises ''are'' honored... and I will ''not'' release the militia unless I have more than this man's word that the settlements are being attacked."-]
* GeneralFailure: The obese General Webb.
* [[TheGeneralsDaughter The ]][[strike:[[TheGeneralsDaughter General's]]]] [[TheGeneralsDaughter Colonel's Daughter]]: ''Two,'' Cora and Alice.
* GhibliHills: '''America.''' An undeveloped, unbroken forest teeming with wildlife and adventure. Specifically, Upstate New York / The Great Smoky Mountains.
** Most of the film was shot in North Carolina. For example, the last fight scenes were filmed at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney_Rock_Park Chimney Rock State Park]]. However, this was a [[CaliforniaDoubling stand-in]] for the Adirondacks near the Canadian border.
* GorgeousPeriodDress: not just the women; see Braids Beads and Buckskins.
* GunsAkimbo: Hawkeye manages to shoot two Pennsylvania rifles from the hip with [[ImprobableAimingSkills deadly accuracy.]]
** Justified as he was an expert marksman and the targets were half a meter away.
* TheGunslinger: Hawkeye is an [[UnbuiltTrope unbuilt version]] of the {{Western}} AntiHero.
* {{Herald}}: Messages are delivered by courier, which leads to a [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome sharpshooting sequence]] as the courier attempts to break through the lines.
* HeroicSacrifice: When Magua demands revenge on Munro by burning his daughter Cora alive, Hawkeye offers himself instead. But [[spoiler:Heyward deliberately mistranslates, offering ''himself'']]. The others are released, and [[spoiler: Heyward]] is burned alive.
** Well, initially, but Hawkeye [[MercyKill doesn't leave him to suffer]].
** This is a radical switcheroo from the 1936 film, where Hawkeye (Randolph Scott) actually ''does'' get tortured by fire, and Heyward (Henry Wilcoxon) rescues him before it goes too far.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: In Hawkeye's Kirk Summation, he asks Magua if he would use the ways of the ''Yengees'' and the ''Francais'' against other Indians. Magua says yes. The Sachem notes that he has never followed the Huron path.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Gen. Webb, Col. Monro and Gen. De Montcalm.
* HollywoodHistory: The 'Company' of the 60th regiment (Really an understrength platoon) that accompany Major Heyward and the Monroe daughters who are massacred in order to show that Standard 18th century military tactics will not work in North America. Fair enough this early in the war for a standard British unit who are ambushed. But the 60th (The Royal Americans) were a unit raised in America and trained to specifically fight under these conditions and use them to their advantage.
* HonorBeforeReason: Ongewasgone, the Iroquois leader, commits to stay behind and fight on instead of [[TheMutiny break out]] of the beleaguered fort with the colonists.
-->'''Hawkeye:''' There are too many French.
-->'''Ongewasgone:''' And so few of us to fight. '''[[LastStand But we have given our word]] [[HarsherInHindsight to the English fathers]].'''
* HunterTrapper: The Mohicans.
* HurlItIntoTheSun: [-''A warrior goes to you now, swift and straight as an arrow shot into the Sun.''-]
* ICallItVera: Hawkeye's beloved Long Rifle, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Killdeer]]. Not only that, an inversion: he's nicknamed after his rifle.
* IHaveManyNames: As in the book: [-"I am [[strike:Natty Bumppo]] Nathaniel, Hawkeye adopted son of Chingachgook... I am La Longue Carabine!"-]
* IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy
* IWillFindYou: [-"You submit, do you hear? You be strong, you survive! If they ''don't'' kill you they'll take you north... up to Huron land. You stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you."-]
** Clannad's song [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8cOkz3uNHg "I Will Find You"]] accompanies this scene from the theatrical cut.
* ImAHumanitarian: [-"When the Grey Hair is dead, Magua will eat his heart."-] Hey, he had his reasons...
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler: The final swing by Chingachgook goes right through Magua's belly and out of his back.]]
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Straight from the book, in which Hawkeye is a frontier William Tell. Notably, Hawkeye and the Mohicans use 18th century rifles to snipe moving targets 200 yards away - which, though possible, is ''bloody'' difficult.
-->'''Uncas:''' ''(rips up Cora's skirt)'' Silk (bullet casing)... [[TimTaylorTechnology another 40 yards!]]
** In the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tiKM4fxY1U&feature=related climax]], check out some of the outrageously improbably shots taken. Hawkeye even manages to ''[[DualWielding fire two LONG RIFLES and kill two Natives at once]]''. At least they acknowledged that they could only take one shot - No BottomlessMagazines - and simply picked up their foes' unfired weapons.
** Famed Method Actor Daniel Day-Lewis apparently learned how to reload an 18th-century musket ''on the run'', although this troper can't picture how such a thing is possible. He also spent the entire film living in a tent and wearing leather skins which he made himself, which led him into a [[{{Cincinnatus}} career as a cobbler in Italy]] for the remainder of the decade.
* InevitableWaterfall - two of them.
* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Hawkeye says he and Uncas attended Reverend Wheelock's school. This is presumably Dartmouth College, originally founded as a school to train Native Americans as missionaries.
* InjunCountry: Totally averted.
* JudgmentOfSolomon: The Great Sachem Tamenund's ruling at the end of the film is a bit of ValuesDissonance. [[FromACertainPointOfView From his point of view]], it was a just ruling; the Native Americans did not mistreat captive women, but people might be punished for the crimes of their fathers. Women who ran the gauntlet, however, would be respected unharmed; they would be ransomed or allowed to marry into the tribe.
** Hawkeye tells Cora "You submit, do you hear? You're strong!" for this reason. Takes on a whole new meaning when the deleted lines are added back in: "One of the Hurons may take you as a wife."
** Ironically, the Sachem is an anachronism because at this time, the Hurons du Lacs were Jesuits, assimilated and pacifist, and they nearly got wiped out by the British as a result. (He was well aware of this and mentioned it in his speech.) [-'''Tamanund:''' Magua's ways are not those of the Huron.-]
** Wait, Magua says he's going to the Huron of the Lakes to get a second opinion, so this can't be the same group.
* JustAStupidAccent: The film has a very complex TranslationConvention. In the case of General Montcalm, however, since he is a diplomat and speaks [[BilingualDialogue English anyhow]], this boils down to him keeping a [[AcceptableTargets villainous French accent]] throughout.
* KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand: Magua's reaction to Alice at the end of the film. [[spoiler:He puts down his knife and reaches out with his other hand. Too bad it had her lover's blood on it.]]
* KirkSummation: "Magua's heart is twisted. He would make himself [[HeWhoFightsMonsters into what twisted him]]."
* LastOfHisKind: The title didn't clue you in that this trope would get invoked somehow?
* LateToTheTragedy: The quest to assure the two women safe passage to Fort William Henry.
* LedgeGravity: Experienced by several Huron warriors in the climax.
* LiteralCliffhanger: [[spoiler:Uncas and Magua]]'s fight on the edge of a precipice.
* TheLostWoods: The Appalachians, with all that blue smoke swirling about (that's why they call it the Great Smoky Mountains). Deadly for British troops.
* LoveTriangle: Hawkeye - Cora - Heyward. (Also Uncas - Alice - Magua, but more understated.)
* MalignedMixedMarriage: Partially averted vis-a-vis the book, wherein Cora was [[FairForItsDay mixed-race]], but Uncas and Alice turn out to be StarCrossedLovers. This is a role reversal from the book where Uncas was in love with Cora.
* {{Melodrama}}: HeroicSacrifice! [[{{Fanservice}} Heaving bosoms]]! [[BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins Long, flowing hair]]!
* MissingEpisode / KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The original Theatrical Cut, which includes an entirely different sound mix, additional scenes between Uncas and Alice, different takes in action scenes and different dialogue, and a song by ({{Enya}}'s ''alma mater'') Clanaad during the [[IWillFindYou lead-up]] to the climax, is [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes not available on DVD]] in the US, due to CreatorBacklash. A Widescreen/THX VHS deluxe edition from 1997, and a Region 2 British DVD are the only editions available to the public. The director's cut in turn adds an action scene at the fort and different last lines to Chingachgook which is more cynical about the death of the frontier, and now there is a third, [[LimitedSpecialDirectorsUltimateEdition Ultimate Cut]] on Blu-ray, causing much confusion between different versions.
* MightyWhitey: Definitely present, but mostly subverted. The story does focus mostly on Hawkeye, but he isn't particularly better or worse at anything than his Mohican family.
* MercyKill: Hawkeye shoots [[spoiler: Heyward]] when the latter is [[spoiler: being burned alive and screaming in agony]]. See: HeroicSacrifice above.
* MobileMenace - Magua.
* TheMole - [[spoiler: Magua again]].
* MotiveRant - Magua delivers one in the final debate.
* TheMutiny - Semi-justified, if only because these are the forefathers of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, [[DesignatedHero so...]]
** In RealLife tensions between the British crown and the American colonists were building for decades before the Revolution, and this war was the precursor to it.
* TheNativeRival - Completely [[InvertedTrope inverted]] in the case of [[StuffyBrit Heyward]] and [[TheChiefsDaughter Cora]].
* {{Neologism}} - [[NewerThanTheyThink The name "Cora."]] While not as popular as [[PeterPan Wendy]] or [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Jessica,]] it still went on to become a viable name after the novel.
** ''[[{{Mondegreen}} Yengees]]''. The Algonquin word for [[{{Malaproper}} "English"]], aka [[GeniusBonus "Yankees"]].
* NobleSavage - Averted. Native characters are portrayed as ranging from noble to brutal and bent on revenge.
* OldMaster: Chingachgook.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Hawkeye.
* PetTheDog: When [[spoiler:Alice stands at the cliff edge, ready to kill herself]], Magua lowers his knife and beckons for her. For a brief moment, it appears like he might genuinely care.
* PlayingTheHeartStrings: The ten-minute finale plays this trope for all it is worth, as seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9SEFMIBwAs here]]. [[TearJerker Bring a box of tissues.]]
* PlotArmor: And how. In the film, Alice, Cora and Duncan are the only survivors of ''two'' massacres. [[spoiler:Until the end anyway.]]
* ThePresidentsDaughter: Magua's and the heroes' motivations are all about this.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy
* PunchClockVillain: Magua's Huron warriors.
* PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery / AlasPoorVillain
-->'''Magua:''' Magua's village and lodges were burnt. Magua's children were killed by the English. I was taken a slave by the Mohawk who fought for the Grey Hair. Magua's wife... believed he was dead, and became the wife of another. The Grey Hair was the father of all that. In time, Magua became blood brother to the Mohawk... to become free. But always in his heart, he is ''Huron''. And his heart will be whole again on the day the Grey Hair and all his seed are dead.
* RaceLift: Cora, surprisingly enough. Results in the UnfortunateImplications of pairing Cora with the [[DecoyProtagonist white guy]] instead of Uncas. Narrowly avoided in that Uncas and Chingachgook's portrayal and the other Indians are sufficiently {{Badass}} to overshadow Daniel Day-Lewis's acting, which is a neat trick.
** The film also offers Alice and Uncas as a [[StarCrossedLovers secondary couple]], although it's ''really'' subtle unless you're watching the Theatrical Cut and even then it's somewhat subdued. But it definitely comes to the fore in the last scene.
* RagTagBunchOfMisfits: The colonists and frontiersmen.
-->'''Heyward:''' And who ''empowered'' [[YouRebelScum these colonists]] to come and go without so much as a "by your leave"?
-->'''Cora:''' They do ''not'' live their lives by your leave! They scratch it out of the wilderness with their own two hands, burying their children along the way!
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Colonel Munro, [[OnlySaneMan compared to]] the [[EvilBrit other Brits]]. He refuses to honor the colonists' agreement, but he does so for [[FromACertainPointOfView legitimate military worries]] of losing his fort. Had his superior officers honored their commitment, he wouldn't have needed the militia. Needless to say, the colonists blame Munro for British duplicity.
** The Great Huron Sachem, too, FromACertainPointOfView. He agrees to burn ''one'' [[spoiler:[[ValuesDissonance of the girls alive]]]] as a [[JudgmentOfSolomon form of justice]] for the killing of Magua's children by Cora's father, but is willing to accept [[spoiler:[[HeroicSacrifice Heyward in her place]]]]. When Magua protests his ruling not to kill ''both'' of them, he lets the others leave in peace.
* RedHerring: At one point, Heyward pisses off Nathanial to the point the latter darkly promises, "Someday, I think you and I are going to have a serious disagreement," hinting one of them will come to blows in anger. Instead, FireForgedFriends (or, at least, TeethClenchedTeamwork) result, with Nathanial giving Heyward a MercyKill.
* RedShirtArmy: The British Redcoats, by ''definition''. Possibly an UnbuiltTrope.
* TheResenter: Heyward after leaving the fort.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Chingachgook goes on one of these after [[spoiler: Uncas is killed.]] Subverted because he does it silently; even his howl of grief is inaudible, with only the music playing.
** Magua's motivation is Revenge as well.
* ScarilyCompetentTracker - Surprised this hasn't been mentioned before, because it's the Mohicans' ''[[PlanetOfHats hat]]!'' Well, that and [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway Super Running Skills]]...
** At one point they track a band of Huron down the middle of a streambed. They know it's a band of Huron because there's only one set of prints (underwater) and Huron [[OlderThanTheyThink always walk single file to hide their numbers]].
** During the "I Will Find You" segment, the Mohicans track Cora and Alice's trail (while running) up a granite rock face.
*** They know where the war party is headed to, and Cora leaves tracks at the edge of the rock face...
* SceneryPorn: The Blue Ridge Mountains.
* SettlingTheFrontier: The background setting for the story is the American Frontier and its settlers, and their interactions with the native population.
* SheCleansUpNicely: inverted as the heroes become fashionably dirtied-up through the course of the story.
-->'''Heyward:''' The men of the regiment will fetch water from the lake, build fires and provide every comfort that you desire.
-->'''Alice:''' I cannot wait to see the bath.
** Actually, Alice's line is: "[[http://movie.subtitlr.com/subtitle/show/449818#line261 I cannot wait to see Papa]]."
* ShirtlessScene: The 1992 film. Hawkeye's shirt magically disappears while hunting.
* ShownTheirWork: One of the first installments in the trend towards super-detailed historical reenactment. The director built a full-scale model of Fort William Henry and blasted it to smithereens, authentic reproduction muskets were made, leather items were all tanned on-set; a linguist was hired to reconstruct a dead Huron dialect for subtitled scenes.
* TheSiege: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjZ6oV48Aqw Battle of Fort William Henry, complete with cannons and operatic music]].
* SoMuchForStealth - These guys will pick up on any sound, even the birds not singing.
* SpiritedYoungLady: Cora (almost too much so for the conventions of her time, in the book).
* StarCrossedLovers - Uncas and Alice in the film, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming practically with no dialogue]]. Poignantly so. He loved General Munro's daughter Cora, who suffered from HalfBreedDiscrimination, in the book -- one of the first interracial romances in American fiction.
* SternChase
* SuddenlyShouting: Whenever there is ''any'' disagreement, presumably on the theory that True Drama Requires Shouting.
* SupportingLeader: Hawkeye.
* TitleDrop:
-->'''Chingachgook:''' Great Spirit, Maker of All Life. A warrior goes to you swift and straight as an arrow shot into the sun. Welcome him and let him take his place at the council fire of my people. He is Uncas, my son. Tell them to be patient and ask death for speed; for they are all there but one - I, Chingachgook - Last of the Mohicans.
* ThirdPersonPerson - Magua speaks of himself in the third person. Just like that, in fact.
* TranquilFury: Chingachgook shows little emotion when dispatching [[spoiler: Magua for killing his son]], and doesn't crack a tear til after his final speech.
* TranslationConvention: Used and subverted. When characters who speak French are alone, it's spoken in English (oddly, General Montcalm speaks English anyhow with [[JustAStupidAccent Just An Accent]]); but Native characters slide in and out of four different languages, which are subtitled for the viewer as BilingualDialogue, so all three tropes are used.
* TroubleEntendre - Magua's and Montcalm's UnspokenPlanGuarantee.
-->'''Magua:''' Does [[ThirdPersonPerson the chief of the Canadas]] expect the English to honor the terms?
-->'''Montcalm:''' [[WorthyOpponent Col. Munro would]]. But [[GeneralFailure General Webb]] will '''''not''''' honor the agreement and send the troops away. I fear that having let them go -- [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial which I must]] -- I shall only fight ''the same men again'' when I drive towards Albany. ''(the two exchange a knowing glance)''
* TrueCompanions - the Mohicans, plus Cora, Alice and Heyward (sort of).
* UnrequitedLove: [[StuffyBrit Heyward's]] motivation.
* WarWasBeginning: ''America 1757''
:::''It is the third year of war between France and England for [[EvilEmpire possession of the continent]].''
:::''Three men, [[LastOfHisKind the last of a vanishing people,]] are on the frontier west of the Hudson river.''
* WeaponOfChoice: Chingachgook's [[http://www.mohicanpress.com/images/warclub2.jpg gunstock club]] gets a lot of use.
** Hawkeye usually uses the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_rifle long rifle]], and he's [[ImprobableAimingSkills so good with it]] that it becomes one of his nicknames.
* WickedCultured: Subverted in an interesting way. Montcalm is shown receiving Indian chiefs as equals and recieving gifts of fealty from them, including a Jesuit choir of Huron Indian women. This is treated as a PetTheDog moment showing the different French attitudes toward coexisting with natives, instead of implying that he is backstabbing his Indian underlings.
* WildWilderness
* WorldGoneMad: "The whole world's on fire, isn't it?" ''(cue [[AwesomeMusic/{{Film}} sweeping music]] and [[StuffBlowingUp mortar explosions]])''
* WorthyOpponent: Montcalm specifically describes Munro as such.
* YouRebelScum: Heyward's attitude towards the deserters.

----

* RedHerring: At one point, Heyward pisses off Nathanial to the point the latter darkly promises, "Someday, I think you and I are going to have a serious disagreement," hinting one of them will come to blows in anger. Instead, FireForgedFriends result, with Nathanial giving Heyward a MercyKill.

* RedHerring: At one point, Heyward pisses off Nathanial to the point the latter darkly promises, "One of these days you and I or going to have a ''real'' disagreement," hinting one of them will come to blows in anger. Instead, FireForgedFriends result, with Nathanial giving Heyward a MercyKill.

-->'''Heyward:''' ''(later)'' British policies make the world England, sir.

-->'''Magua:''' The Grey Hair's children were under Magua's knife. They escaped... When the Grey Hair is dead, Magua will eat his heart. Before he dies, Magua will put his children under the knife, so the Grey Hair will know his seed is wiped out forever.

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:verges on KillEmAll in the ''{{Hamlet}}''-style ending.]]

* HollywoodHistory: The 'Company' of the 60th regiment (Really an understrength platoon) that accompany Major Heyward and the Monroe daugthers who are massacred in order to show that Standard 18th century military tactics will not work in North America. Fair enough this early in the war for a standard British unit who are ambushed. But the 60th (The Royal Americans) were a unit raised in America and trained to specifically fight under these conditions and use them to their advantage.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Gen. Webb, Col. Monro and Gen. Due Montcalm.

* TheMutiny - Semi-justified, if only because these are the forefathers of TheAmericanRevolution, [[DesignatedHero so...]]

* DeathWithDignity: Magua, the only one in the entire film. He simply exchanges long glances with Chingachgook. In fact, he's ''learning forward'', ready for the final blow.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: For most of the film, Magua is made out to be the biggest {{Badass}} on the frontier. And then he makes the mistake of pissing off Chingachgook.

* KirkSummation: "Magua's heart is twisted. He would make himself [[TheAbyssGazesAlso into what twisted him]]."

* PlotArmor: And how. In the film, Alice, Cora and Duncan are the only survivors of ''two'' massacres. [[spoiler:Until the end anyway.]]

For more on the 1992 film starring [[DanielDayLewis Daniel Day-Lewis]], see below.

* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: According to the incompetent [[GeneralFailure General Webb]].
-->"You have [[TemptingFate scant need]] for a colonial militia... because the French haven't the nature for war. Their [[SophisticatedAsHell Latinate voluptuousness combines with their Gallic laziness]], and the result? They'd rather eat, and make love with their faces than fight."
** In actuality, this turns out to be one of the most comprehensive aversions. Montcalm and the French alliance [[CurbStompBattle win every major battle in the time frame of the story.]]

* {{Defictionalization}}: Several locations in the Eastern US, such as Chimney Rock where it was filmed,[[hottip:* :(somewhat inaccurate to the legend which is set in the Adirondacks, but hey, [[PopCulturalOsmosis you know]])]] are popularly known as "Uncas Leap". This goes back to the 1800s when the story was first written, since the character of Uncas was based on a [[HistoricalFiction legendary Indian chief]].

** Also, when Heyward is being burned alive at the stake, Hawkeye shoots him from afar to keep him from suffering.

* PlotArmor: And how. In the film, Alice, Cora and Duncan are the only survivors of ''two'' massacres.

An 1826 historical novel by Creator/JamesFenimoreCooper which has experienced PopCulturalOsmosis and adapted for film numerous times, most recently 1992 by MichaelMann (see below). A story about the [[SettlingTheFrontier American Frontier]], ''The Last of the Mohicans'' takes place in the British colony of New York in 1757, against the backdrop of the French and Indian War, the 9-year American version of the SevenYearsWar which heavily involved Native Americans on both sides. The book mainly concerns the adventures of Hawkeye, a white man accompanied by the last two surviving members of the Mohican tribe, Chingachgook and his son Uncas, as the [[ScarilyCompetentTracker three trackers]] try to protect [[TheGovernorsDaughter the two daughters]] of a Scottish colonel.

* DoomedByCanon: Uncas and Cora. Natty and Chingachgook were originally introduced in ''The Pioneers'', in which they were lonely old men who had no one but each other.

* DualWielding: Absurd in the context of the film's setting.

* [[TheGeneralsDaughter The ]][[strike:[[TheGeneralsDaughter General's]]]][[TheGeneralsDaughter Colonel's Daughter]]: ''Two,'' Cora and Alice.

* TheAlliance: In a SliceOfLife montage, we see settlers and Iroquois assembling peaceably at Cameron's frontier cabin for a Harvest dinner and a traditionally violent ''Indian-style'' Lacrosse game with basketball hoops (settlers vs. Indians).[[hottip:*:Ironically, the reason for the gathering is a militia levy to go fight the French and ''other Indians'', but the [[StuffyBrit British herald is disdainful of both groups.]]

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Cora (Alice in the 1936 film) is the pragmatic brunette, Alice (Cora in the 1936 film) is the romantic/sentimental (strawberry) blonde (taken all the way up to HairOfGoldHeartOfGold in 1936).