History YMMV / LouisLAmour

* ''The Rustlers of West Fork'': [[SaloonOwner Teilhet]] is an elderly, dishonest settler who went from selling moonshine out of a tent and letting his lone assistant rob passing wagons to building a town that avoided succumbing to economic downturns and Apache attacks. His [[PlayingBothSides businesses cater to both honest citizens and the people who he knows are robbing and killing those citizens]]. During the main story, Teilhet lets his trusted bartender Mark work for outlaw kingpin Avery Sparr but [[RetiredMonster stays on the sidelines himself]] unless he is trying to stop outlaws from BullyingADragon. As Hopalong Cassidy brings down the Sparr empire and shuts down another saloon that caters to outlaws, Teilhet sees the writing on the wall and recognizes that he is too old to lose his livelihood. He reluctantly fires Mark, gives him enough money to start over and, with some difficulty, convinces him that his side has lost and he needs to leave town ahead of the approaching heroes. His pragmatism pays off, as despite his unsavory past and association with Sparr, Teilhet gets to stay in town and keep running his saloon after a tense but cordial encounter with Cassidy.

* AngstWhatAngst: Both played straight and [[AvertedTrope averted]] in ''The Daybreakers''. Orrin Sackett's fiance is killed on their wedding day, but he never is described as showing emotion over it. Averted later when [[spoiler: his wife Laura is revealed to be an accessory to murder and a big part of a criminal empire]], he's considerably distressed over that fact.

** ''Catlow'': [[FriendlyEnemy Abijah "Bijah" Catlow]] is a brave, rambunctious, and surprisingly crafty cow hand who earns the wrath of arrogant CattleBarons with a StartMyOwn scheme that threatens their profits. A CrimeOfSelfDefense against a DirtyCop makes Bijah a wanted man. Catlow seeks revenge by stealing their cattle, and luring a hired assassin into a fatal trap. He graduates to less justifiable crimes like trying to steal $2 million in silver from the Mexican government to finance a new life with his girlfriend Cordelia even though he already has a modest nest egg. Catlow is characterized by his ability to make friends, his bravery in a fight, his loyalty and consideration to his allies, his ability to be a GracefulLoser, his close friendship with his pursuer, U.S. Marshal Cowan, and his ability to adapt his plans in the face of adversity. Even when the robbery fails, Catlow keeps his surviving men from being arrested, turns himself in out of respect for Cowan, and then promptly breaks out of jail. Catlow then goes straight, takes Cordelia to Oregon for an honest and prosperous life, and names his first child after Cowan.
* ''Son Of a Wanted Man''
** [[TheDon Ben Curry]] runs an outlaw empire that contains almost 1,000 men (outlaws, spies, keepers of safehouses, etc.) and controls more territory than New York State. Ben he's a fearless gunfighter and brilliant strategic strategist who plans large scale robberies and rustling operations across the country, while leaving honest citizens in his own neighborhood alone and knowing how to avoid particularly tough and honest lawmen. Despite his capacity for violence, Ben strives to keep his operations as bloodless as possible, and none of his men dare to defy him on this issue. His mountain hideout is [[CrazyPrepared carefully constructed to provide Ben protection against threats from both outside and within]]. Ben has a secret family he plans to join full-time in peaceful retirement as soon as his adopted son Mike Bastion learns the necessary skills and values to succeed Ben as boss. Ben ultimately respects Mike’s decision not to take the outlaw path and joins Mike in protecting Ben’s family from treacherous gang members, prioritizing their safety over his own.
** [[SpannerInTheWorks Rigger Molina]] is an outlaw lieutenant with a reputation for being the most AxCrazy members of Ben Curry’'s empire. However, acquaintances outside of the gang describe a different side of Molina, recounting his easygoing attitude, gentle nature towards prostitutes, and how he once carried the SoleSurvivor of a {{Posse}} several miles to a doctor after singlehandedly wounding the man and killing his four companions. Rigger’s rivals send him to attack a heavily guarded gold train while they launch a coup against Ben and lie about how well-defended it is. Rigger sees through this UriahGambit and returns to protect Ben and seek revenge. Molina faces one of Ben's key betrayers in a duel and kills the man [[MadeOfIron despite being outdrawn and shot five times, walking over to spit on the traitor's corpse and curse him before collapsing from his own wounds.]]

* FairForItsDay: Some of his comments on women can seem misogynistic, with them frequently being a NeutralFemale, but he always said women should be strong minded and speak their mind, someone "To walk beside, not having them walk behind their husband." His treatment of Mexican, African-American and Native-American characters is also generally sympathetic and nuanced, with him even having some interracial romances, like the Egyptian Zara Hammedan and "Ponga Jim" Mayo in ''South of Suez'' from 1942 and Mexican-American Drusilla Alvarado and Tyrel Sackett in ''The Daybreakers'' in 1960, when such things were pretty frowned upon. However, it wasn't always and it can be pretty cringeworthy that a minor character in "Catlow"(not even an African-American, but a Native-American) known to his friends as "Nigger Jim" even if his brief portrayal did establish him as an honest, hard-working cowhand, with his friends making sure to send a share of the cattle drive money to his girlfriend.

* ''The Burning Hills'': [[ScarilyCompetentTracker Jacob Lantz]] tracks down any enemies of autocratic CattleBaron Bob Sutton (and later Sutton's son-in-law Ben Hideman) who flee rather than fight and has never lost a quarry’s trail before being sent after Trace Jordan. Lantz’s gut instincts, keen eyes, knowledge of the vast terrain, and patient, calculating nature let him figure out many of Jordan’s escape routes and hiding places even while Jordan is being sheltered by a local family. Lantz helps his companions corner Jordan but [[OptOut stays out of the ensuring gunfight]] once it becomes clear that Jordan has both the moral high ground and the skill to defeat all five of his remaining pursuers. Lantz then helps treat the injuries of the wounded Hindeman and goes to deliver a message to the rest of the [=SB=] men that the feud is over. He puts up an impressive (albeit off-screen) fight and chase after his mission is interrupted by an Apache war party.
* ''Bowdrie's Law'': Charlie Venk is a charismatic outlaw who is willing to commit murder but once kept an associate froom killing an innocent bank teller and then easily outdrew the resentful associate in a duel. When another of his partners wakes up early in a failed attempt to steal a robbery’s proceeds, he finds Charlie already gone, [[HonorAmongThieves and his own share still there.]] Charlie escapes being lynched by swapping places with a brutal sheriff in the dark right before the hanging, slugging the lawman, and mimicking his voice. Even while he's on the run for murder, he takes the time to fall in love, tricks three rival suitors into picking a fight with him, and beats all of them at once. Even after Charlie narrowly loses a duel to a lawman he led on a chase through InjunCountry, the man is charmed enough by Charlie to only wound him and let him see his girlfriend on their way to prison.

* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: In ''The Well of the Unholy Light'', he introduces Japanese 2 man midget submarines, armed with 2 torpedoes. Thing is, nobody knew about those being a real thing until a few months after his story was published, during the Attack on Pearl Harbor.