History Recap / AsterixAndTheGriffin

* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: The real "griffin" looks far more like a Styracosaurus, a North American dinosaur, than the Protoceratops fossils that purportedly inspired ancient depictions of griffins, not to mention it would have been ''way too old'' to be found in such a state of preservation.

* TheBackwardsR: Subverted, only the letter "E" is reversed by the Sarmatians.

* TheMasquerade: Ever since the Greek's discovery of their lands, the Sarmatians invented the legend of the griffin to scare off greedy invaders to prevent them coming to take their gold. [[DidntThinkThisThrough However, they didn't count on people actually coming for the "griffin" itself, or being numerous enough to have the necessary forces to invade.]]

* ArtisticLicenceGeology: There is no way [[spoiler:a dinosaur's corpse]] could have survived intact in a frozen lake for [[spoiler:75 million years (the time Styracosaurs were alive)]].
* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: [[spoiler:The real "griffin" looks far more like a Styracosaurus, a North American dinosaur, than the Protoceratops fossils that purportedly inspired ancient depictions of griffins, not to mention it would have been ''way too old'' to be found in such a state of preservation.]]

* DoingInTheWizard: The "griffin" is [[spoiler:a ''Styracosaurus'' trapped in a frozen lake]].

* HiddenDepths: [[spoiler:Obelix is sensitive to shamanic powers, which means he has these too.]]

* TheMasquerade: [[spoiler:Ever since the Greek's discovery of their lands, the Sarmatians invented the legend of the griffin to scare off greedy invaders to prevent them coming to take their gold. [[DidntThinkThisThrough However, they didn't count on people actually coming for the "griffin" itself, or being numerous enough to have the necessary forces to invade.]]]]

* MisplacedWildlife: [[spoiler:''Styracosaurus'' was a North American dinosaur and wouldn't have lived in what is now Ukraine]].
* MonsterInTheIce: The griffin turns out to be [[spoiler:a ''Styracosaurus'']] frozen deep beneath a lake, so deep that only its silhouette is visible.

** The shaman says the day will be saved by the smallest of the Gauls, so his wife begrudgingly allows Asterix to tag along. [[spoiler:It turns out this meant Dogmatix]].

* TranslationWithAnAgenda: Cartographus, the cartographer, very freely interprets the Sarmatian accent, constantly putting words in his prisoner's mouth. [[spoiler:The reason for this is that he is after the very real ''gold'' that can be found there to compensate for his meager payments for the previous expeditions, over a presumably mythological griffin]].

* ExposedToTheElements: The Sarmatians are clearly very used to the harsh winter conditions of their homeland. Many of the men and children have bared torsos; the shaman isn't even wearing protective footwear in the snow. The women too, most of them having bared arms, shoulders and backs, some having bare legs, and in one case even a [[BareYourMidriff bared midriff]].

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: [[spoiler:When it is revealed that the "griffin" is a frozen ''Styracosaurus'' corpse, the Romans are ''not impressed'', stating that they came here for a griffin and they cannot bring that beast back to Rome. Never mind that such a discovery would've impressed Julius Caeser even more so than the supposed "griffin". In their defense, it is frozen at the bottom of a lake, they lost most of their legionaries and equipment and it is just too big to carry back to Rome]].

* GreenAroundTheGills: One Roman soldier, Fakenius, always has a sickly green skin for some reason.

* MisplacedWildlife: [[''Styracosaurus'' was a North American dinosaur and wouldn't have lived in what is now Ukraine]].

* RapunzelHair: The Sarmatian ladies all have quite long heads of hair. For the one captured by the Romans, Kalachnikovna, it reaches all the way down to her ''ankles''.

!! Tropes present in this work:

* BattleDiscretionShot: The battle between the Sarmatians and the Romans takes place during a thick fog, so the reader doesnt'get to see anything.

* DangerThinIce: The ice of the lake the griffin is frozen in, is quite thin, and breaks the moment the centurion angrily begins to stomp with his feet once he discovers what the Griffin truly is.

* HollywoodHistory: Subverted in one instance: Vainglorius is anachronistically concerned that the expedition is taking them too close to falling off the edge of the world. Cartographus irritably points out that the Romans already know the Earth isn't flat, as the Greeks proved it was a sphere hundreds of years prior - apparently Vainglorius just has extremely backwards personal beliefs about geography.

* HurricaneOfPuns: The Romans' Scythian guides are used for web-related puns, as they're homophones with "site" (as in, website) in French.

* OrnamentalWeapon: Averted; due to not having his magic potionn, Asterix actually uses his sword as a weapon when facing Vainglorius.

* SayingTooMuch: As Asterix and Obelix negotiate with the Romans to free Kalashnikova, Obelix blurts out that Kalashnikova can't help the Romans anyway since only the Shaman knows where the Griffin is. Naturally, the Romans immediately demand the Gauls exchange the Shaman for Kalashnikova.

* StayInTheKitchen: with a genderbent twist; since among the Sarmatians it is common for the women to be warriors and the men to stay in the village, the leader of the women gently turns down Asterix offer to let him and Obelix deal with the Romans, telling him war is a womens' job.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The gourd and barrel of magic potion are revealed to have been frozen solid in the trip to the Sarmatian village, rendering them useless, which was to be expected in the cold climated. And thawing the potion won't solve it, since the freezing has robbed the potion of it's magic properties.

‘’These Sarmatians are crazy!’’

The 39th ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' book, where Caesar sends an expedition to the lands of the Sarmatians (modern-day Ukraine) to find a griffin based on historical Greek texts. Getafix, warned by a dream that his shaman friend is in danger, goes with Asterix and Obelix to help.