History YMMV / HansChristianAndersen

** ''Little Claus and Big Claus'' is the story of two men with very little morals, with Big Claus being a SmallNameBigEgo AxCrazy StupidEvil miser with GoldFever, while LittleClaus is a ManipulativeBastard ConMan who is extremely ruthless in trying to make money and brings about the death of 3 people in the story.

** ''Little Claus and Big Claus'' is the story of two men with very little morals, with Big Claus being a SmallNameBigEgo AxCrazy StupidEvil miser with GoldFever, while LittleClaus is a ManipulativeBastard ConMan who is extremely ruthless in trying to make money and brings abput the death of 3 people in the story.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Most of his famous fairy tales are more popular overseas than his own country, Denmark.

* CreatorBreakdown: Rumors abound that several of Andersen's works are a result of dealing with his own romantic and sexual issues. The Nightingale was allegedly a tribute to a singer known as "The Swedish Nightingale", Jenny Lind, who did not reciprocate Andersen's romantic feelings. "The Little Mermaid" was a similar case, of Andersen dealing with 'losing' a close friend (one he had feelings for) to marriage.
* DesignatedHero: The protagonist of ''Literature/TheTinderBox'' seems a bit too murder-happy, as demonstrated with the witch and the royal family. Not to mention that he uses the titular tinder box's power to basically kidnap a princess.

* EsotericHappyEnding: In ''The Cripple'', a paralyzed boy manages to drag himself out of bed and attempts to walk so that he can save a caged songbird from a cat creeping up on it. Everyone celebrates the child's improved state, but in true Andersen fashion [[spoiler: "the bird, of course, had died of fright."]]

* HilariousInHindsight[=/=]FunnyAneurysmMoment:
** One of Andersen's lesser known fairy tales ''The Little Green Ones'' is about a large constantly multiplying army of small soldiers in green uniforms who invade a rose bush and are puzzled, offended, and rather hurt that humans hate them so much and give them such revolting names (wood lice). [[ThoseWackyNazis A Norwegian editor, who printed the story in a magazine, was sentenced to prison during the German occupation]].
** For a modern viewer, depending on taste, it can be very easy to read ''Literature/TheEmperorsNewClothes'' as a condemnation of certain types of modern minimalist art.

* NightmareFuel: There's a story about a fir tree that dreams of being a Christmas Tree because of the honour and the glory. Getting cut down hurts like getting your legs cut off. It has one evening of Christmas glory... then it is stuck in the attic to slowly die, like Christmas Trees do.

** Pretty much the entirety of ''The Rose Elf''. Between the heroine's evil brother stabbing her lover to death and cutting his head off, to her exhuming his head and burying it in a flower pot with the titular rose planted on top, to the brother being killed in his sleep by the flower's spirit, it's understandably not a very common bedtime story.

** One of Andersen's lesser known fairy tales ''TheLittleGreenOnes'' is about a large constantly multiplying army of small soldiers in green uniforms who invade a rose bush and are puzzled, offended, and rather hurt that humans hate them so much and give them such revolting names (wood lice). [[ThoseWackyNazis A Norwegian editor, who printed the story in a magazine, was sentenced to prison during the German occupation]].

** A number of Andersen's stories end with the protagonists dead, but this is considered a good thing because they are going to a better afterlife, leaving the miseries of this world behind.

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* TearJerker: Andersen was a master at tugging the old heartstrings.
* TrueArtIsAngsty

* {{Anvilicious}}

** Americans like Andersen's fairy tales too… but often are only familiar with the [[{{Bowdlerize}} Disney]][[{{Disneyfication fied]] versions.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Most of his famous fairy tales are unironically more popular overseas than his own country, Denmark.
** ''Literature/TheLittleMermaid'' got unironically more popular in Japan than his own country, Denmark, Since Japanese storytellers actually love telling stories about Mermaids.
* HarsherInHindsight: Pretty much his entire canon really, particularly "The Little Match Girl". Also "The Red Shoes"; in this age of consumerism and 24-hour advertising, a girl condemned to a painful death for wanting a nice pair of shoes can be outright NightmareFuel.

** One of Andersen's lesser known fairy tales ''TheLittleGreenOnes'' is about a large, constantly multiplying army of small soldiers in green uniforms who invades a rose bush and are puzzled, offended and rather hurt that humans hate them so much and give them such revolting names (wood lice). [[ThoseWackyNazis A Norwegian editor, who printed the story in a magazine, was sentenced to prison during the German occupation]].

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Most of his fairy tales are unironically more popular overseas than his own country, Denmark.

** Literature/TheLittleMermaid'' got unironically more popular in Japan than his own country, Denmark, Since Japanese storytellers actually love telling stories about Mermaids.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselholf: Most of his fairy tales are unironically more popular overseas than his own country, Denmark.
** {{The Little Mermaid}} got unironically more popular in Japan than his own country, Denmark, Since Japanese storytellers actually love telling stories about Mermaids.

** "Literature/The Little Mermaid'' got unironically more popular in Japan than his own country, Denmark, Since Japanese storytellers actually love telling stories about Mermaids.

** "LiteratureThe Little Mermaid'' got unironically more popular in Japan than his own country, Denmark, Since Japanese storytellers actually love telling stories about Mermaids.

** EsotericHappyEnding: Some of Andersen's stories end with the protagonists dead, but this is considered a good thing because they are going to a better afterlife, leaving the miseries of this world behind.

* HilariousInHindsight / FunnyAneurysmMoment:

* NightmareFuel: There's a story about a fir tree that dreams of being a Christmas Tree because of the honour and the glory. Getting cut down hurts like getting your legs cut off. Then it slowly dies, like Christmas Trees do.

* HilariousInHindsight / FunnyAneurysmMoment: One of Andersen's lesser known fairy tales ''TheLittleGreenOnes'' is about a large, constantly multiplying army of small soldiers in green uniforms who invades a rose bush and are puzzled, offended and rather hurt that humans hate them so much and give them such revolting names (wood lice). [[ThoseWackyNazis A Norwegian editor, who printed the story in a magazine, was sentenced to prison during the German occupation]].

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: There's a story about a fir tree that dreams of being a Christmas Tree because of the honour and the glory. Getting cut down hurts like getting your legs cut off. Then it slowly dies, like Christmas Trees do.
** The hellish punishment in ''The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf''. ''The Red Shoes'', where the heroine is only saved from damnation by having ''[[spoiler: her feet chopped off]]''. And the literal nightmare in ''Aunt Toothache'', featuring the AnthropomorphicPersonification of aforementioned ailment, [[spoiler: who has drills and tongs and similar implements for fingers]]. It is possible to go on...

* HilariousInHindsight / FunnyAneurysmMoment: One of Andersen's lesser known fairy tales ''TheLittleGreenOnes'' is about a large army of small soldiers in green uniforms who invades a rose bush and are offended and rather hurt that humans give them such revolting names (wood lice). [[ThoseWackyNazis A Norwegian editor, who printed the story in a magazine, was sentenced to prison during the German occupation]].