History YMMV / ArabianNights

** More commonly, why would anyone agree to marry a man so vengeful and cruel that he enacted a plan to marry a new woman every day, sleep with her at night, and then kill her in the morning -- in some versions, for three whole years? A man that vicious should be put down, never mind the fact that he ''rules a country.'' Being a king, [[FridgeHorror there's little chance he'd allow the women he wanted to marry to refuse him.]]

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: According to Wiki/TheOtherWiki, the ''Nights'' to this day aren't particularly well-regarded in the Arabic world to anyone beyond certain writers and scholars, and it was even ''less'' popular back whenever it first was written [[note]]Fictional prose was considered "low art" by most Arab thinkers and writers of the day, compared to works of non-fiction or poetry[[/note]]. It's entirely possible that the ''Nights'' have had more influence on European literature than they did on Arabian.

* ShockingSwerve: "Adi Bin Zayd and the Princess Hind" seems like a typical romance with the HappyEnding where Adi marries the princess. Then out of nowhere, at the very end Shahrazad says "after which time the King was wroth with Adi and slew him".

** The framing device of the three years before Shahrazad marries the king. At no point is Shahryar called out on the fact that he's killed a thousand innocent women, just because he was deceived by one, nor does he ever admit he was wrong or try to atone. And we're supposed to be happy that Scheherezade ends up with him!

* ArchivePanic: Hey, I've always wanted to read Arabian Nights! Wait, there's ''1001 of these stories?!'' (Or, to be fair, enough stories to be stretched out over 1001 nights, but we're still talking well over three hundred.)

** And more than 30 versions of the book. To elaborate, the frame story made it very easy to slot new stories without appearing out of place and it's believed more stories kept being added until the total number of nights would match the original title of 1001. However, this means most of the stories can be ''removed'' without issue, and ''have'' to be if you're publishing the book in a single volume. The first comprehensive English translation took up ''ten'' volumes.

** And more than 30 versions of the book.

* ShockingSwerve: "Adi Bin Zayd and the Princess Hind" seems like a typical romance with the HappyEnding where Adi marries the princess. Then out of nowhere at the very end Scherezade says "after which time the King was wroth with Adi and slew him".
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Shahryar. We're supposed to see him as a [[BeastAndBeauty Beast]]-like AntiVillain whom Scheherazade redeems and helps find new happiness. However, his DisproportionateRetribution RevengeByProxy against countless innocent women, combined with the below-mentioned ValuesDissonance, makes him come across as TheCaligula and a KarmaHoudini to many readers instead.

** Many/most of the stories portray women as devious, immoral, unfaithful, foolish, and untrustworthy, and there's something of an obsession with women cheating on their husbands with ''[[WhereDaWhiteWomenAt black]]'' men, as if that's particularly JustForFun/{{egregious}}. Though in-universe, the obsession with cheating could be [[FridgeBrilliance a deliberate ploy by Scheherazade to appeal to the sultan]].

** The framing device of the three years before Scheherezade marries the king. At no point is Shahryar called out on the fact that he's killed a thousand innocent women, just because he was deceived by one, nor does he ever admit he was wrong or try to atone. And we're supposed to be happy that Scheherezade ends up with him!

** More commonly, why would anyone agree to marry a man so vengeful and cruel that he enacted a plan to marry a new woman every day, sleep with her at night, and then kill her in the morning -- in some versions, for three whole years? A man that vicious should be put down, never mind the fact that he ''rules a country.''

* ValuesDissonance: Like crazy. Many/most of the stories portray women as devious, immoral, unfaithful, foolish, and untrustworthy, and there's something of an obsession with women cheating on their husbands with ''[[WhereDaWhiteWomenAt black]]'' men, as if that's particularly JustForFun/{{egregious}}. Beating one's wife is treated as acceptable and even laudable. It's not uncommon for male characters to have sex with women who aren't their wives, and this isn't treated as morally objectionable, whereas a woman cheating is treated as a justly capital offense.
** One notable instance is in the fourth voyage of Sinbad, in which he murders and robs innocent people for their food and jewelry to survive a little while longer in a pit. He apparently didn't even bother to look for an escape, seeing as he easily finds one later, just by following a wild animal that was snacking on all the corpses.
** Another one being the story of a King discovering his wife was cheating on him with what later translations claim to be the ugliest man on earth. [[TranslationWithAnAgenda Apparently more accurate translations were simply that she was cheating on him with a black slave.]]
** In one story, a man murders his wife after concluding, after a comment from a random person on the street (who has an apple that her husband travelled a great distance to give to her), that she's unfaithful to him. Immediately after this, he learns that he was wrong. When the sultan learns of the murder and the man tells him this story, the sultan orders the death of the man who falsely claimed the wife was cheating, but appoints the murderer to a high position.
** On the other hand, in the first section of the King 'Umar ibn al-Nu'man stories we meet a [[FeministFantasy group of warrior women]] whose leader can fight a warrior prince to a stalemate... She is then drugged and raped by the King, so she flees in 'dishonour'. So close to being ahead of its time.
** For that matter, the framing device of the three years before Scheherezade marries the king. At no point is Shahryar called out on the fact that he's killed a thousand innocent women, just because he was deceived by one, nor does he ever admit he was wrong or try to atone. And we're supposed to be ''' ''happy'' ''' that Scheherezade ends up with him!
** Though in-universe, the obsession with cheating could be [[FridgeBrilliance a deliberate ploy by Scheherazade to appeal to the sultan]].

* HolyShitQuotient: One story has an android pop up out of nowhere. Really unexpected for a story this old.

** Though in universe, the obsession with cheating could be [[FridgeBrilliance a deliberate ploy by Scheherazade to appeal to the sultan]].

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: According to Wiki/TheOtherWiki, the ''Nights'' to this day aren't particularly well-regarded in the Arabic world to anyone beyond certain writers and scholars, and it was even ''less'' popular back whenever it first was written [[note]]Fictional prose was considered "low art" by most Arab thinkers and writers of the day, compared to works of non-fiction or poetry [[/note]]. It's entirely possible that the ''Nights'' have had more influence on European literature than they did on Arabian.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: According to Wiki/TheOtherWiki, the ''Nights'' to this day aren't particularly well-regarded in the Arabic world to anyone beyond certain writers and scholars, and it was even ''less'' popular back whenever it first was written [[note]]Fiction was considered "low art" by most Arab thinkers and writers of the day, compared to works of non-fiction or poetry [[/note]]. It's entirely possible that the ''Nights'' have had more influence on European literature than they did on Arabian.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: According to Wiki/TheOtherWiki, the ''Nights'' to this day aren't particularly well-regarded in the Arabic world to anyone beyond certain writers and scholars, and it was even ''less'' popular back whenever it first was written (as Medieval Arabs thought that TrueArtIsPoetry). It's entirely possible that the ''Nights'' have had more influence on European literature than they did on Arabian.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Shahryar. We're supposed to see him as a [[Main/BeautyAndTheBeast Beast]]-like AntiVillain whom Scheherazade redeems and helps find new happiness. However, his DisproportionateRetribution RevengeByProxy against countless innocent women, combined with the below-mentioned ValuesDissonance, makes him come across as TheCaligula and a KarmaHoudini to many readers instead.

* HolyShitQuotient: One story has on android pop up out of nowhere. Really unexpected for a story this old.

* ArchivePanic: Hey, I've always wanted to read Arabian Nights! Wait, there's ''1001 of these stories?!'' (Or, to be fair, enough stories to be stretched out over 1001 nights, but we're still talking well over a hundred.)

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: According to Wiki/TheOtherWiki, the ''Nights'' to this day aren't particularly well-regarded in the Arabic world to anyone beyond certain writers and scholars, and it was even ''less'' popular back whenever it first was written (as Medieval Arabs thought that True Art Is Poetry). It's entirely possible that the ''Nights'' have had more influence on European literature than they did on Arabian.

* ArchivePanic: Hey, I've always wanted to read Arabian Nights! Wait, there's ''1001 of these stories?!''

** For that matter, the framing device. At no point is Shahryar called out on the fact that he's killed a thousand innocent women, just because he was deceived by one. And we're supposed to be ''' ''happy'' ''' that Scheherezade ends up with him!

** More commonly, why would anyone want to marry a man so vengeful and cruel that he enacted a plan to marry a new woman every day, sleep with her at night, and then kill her in the morning -- in some versions, for three whole years? A man that vicious should be put down, nevermind the fact that he ''rules a country.''

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: According to TheOtherWiki, the ''Nights'' to this day aren't particularly well-regarded in the Arabic world to anyone beyond certain writers and scholars, and it was even ''less'' popular back whenever it first was written (as Medieval Arabs thought that True Art Is Poetry). It's entirely possible that the ''Nights'' have had more influence on European literature than they did on Arabian.