History YMMV / Sharpe

* GeniusBonus: When [=McCandless=] quotes part of Matthew 8:9 as an IronicEcho to Hakeswill, the full line fits the situation even better(and, ironically, may be a misquote)[[labelnote:The line...]]While the exact line is different depending on which version of Literature/TheBible you read, the closest is probably the King James Bible, which says "For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth." He misquotes it by saying "I say to ''a'' man", rather than "I say to ''this'' man", though it could be that the version he was quoting from isn't online[[/labelnote]]

** Emily Mortimer as "Lass" in ''Sharpe's Sword.''

** Alice Krige (best known as the Borg Queen from ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'') as La Marquesa.

** Creator/PaulBettany is the Prince of Orange in ''Sharpe's Waterloo.''*** The novels set in India, especially the scenes of the [[BurnRapeAndPillage sacking]] of various cities, generally show that the British aren't much better.

** Creator/PaulBettany is the Prince of Orange in ''Sharpe's Waterloo.''
* RonTheDeathEater: While the French were infamous for their brutal treatment of civilians in RealLife, Cornwell often exaggerates their atrocities to the point of resembling. UsefulNotes/WorldWarI-era anti-German atrocity propaganda.
** However, it also has to be said that the books make it fairly clear that the British army isn't much, if any, better, with British soldiers being mentioned as perpetrating some pretty horrific war-crimes after capturing a town/city, and Wellington instituting - as he did in real life - extremely harsh punishments for soldiers caught mistreating the Spanish civilian population, if only because he was acutely aware that the numerically inferior British forces were heavily dependent on the goodwill of the Spanish populace, during an era where Britain and Spain really, ''really'' didn't get on. The main difference is that for the vast majority of the books, we see the action from Sharpe's point of view, and while Sharpe is a ruthless rough and ready soldier, he is also a decent and, in his own way, honourable man who won't let men under his command misbehave - he'll turn a blind eye to a dubiously acquired abandoned pork chop, but nothing more. The main message seems to be that WarIsHell.
*** The novels set in India, especially the scenes of the [[BurnRapeAndPillage sacking]] of various cities, generally show that the British aren't much better.
** Then we get things like Tippoo Sultan practicing HumanSacrifice— Tippoo Sultan ''[[CriticalResearchFailure the devout Muslim]]''. Um...
*** To be fair, it was an over-complicated execution rather than a HumanSacrifice.
*** Actually, while it probably wasn't HumanSacrifice, the British [[TruthInTelevision really did]] find 13 British prisoners who had been murdered in the exact ways described in the book.
** To a degree, William Dodd from ''Sharpe's Triumph''. While he did exist, and the whole part about him fleeing after Wellesley demanded he be discharged and tried for murder in a civilian court after he received an extremely lenient sentence for murder is entirely true, he did not take his entire unit of sepoys with him, and there never was massacre of Chasalgaon. Though it may not count, as Cornwell does mention that he made those parts up in his historical note at the end of the book.

* CantUnhearIt: It isn't possible to read any of the novels and not hear all Sharpe's dialogue in Creator/SeanBean's accent. Especially since Cornwell {{Ret Canon}}ed in that Sharpe grew up in Yorkshire.

** Lord. Pumphrey. He's practically a one-man GovernmentConspiracy, and would probably rub along well with Varys of ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' fame. There is ''nothing'' he won't do to protect British interests, but he cements his status in ''Sharpe's Fury'': Not only does he fight alongside Sharpe and Harper (and quite well too), when Sharpe discovers Lord Pumphrey's killing of [[spoiler: Astrid]], Pumphrey mocks him to his face and saunters away scot-free.

** Then we get things like Tippoo Sultan practicing HumanSacrifice— Tippoo Sultan ''[[CriticalResearchFailure the devout Muslim]]''. Um... *** To be fair, it was an over-complicated execution rather than a HumanSacrifice.

* RonTheDeathEater: While the French were infamous for their brutal treatment of civilians in RealLife, Cornwell often exaggerates their atrocities to the point of nigh-identicality to UsefulNotes/WorldWarI-era anti-German atrocity propaganda.\\
\\
Then we get things like Tippoo Sultan practicing HumanSacrifice— Tippoo Sultan ''[[CriticalResearchFailure the devout Muslim]]''. Um...
** Fairs fair it was an over-complicated execution not a HumanSacrifice. Still fits the trope though.

** In the books, it's Major Hogan, Wellington's spymaster, who provided most of the Magnificent Bastardry. He appears in the first two episodes of the series, played near-perfectly by Brian Cox, before having to be replaced by a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute or two and leaving Wellington to pick up the MagnificentBastard role. Numerous exchanges in the books have Wellington as more the uptight one and Hogan as a sly, cunning SOB, only for the TV adaptations to swap the roles and have the spymaster-of-the-week be the stuffy one while Wellington acts like... well, like a MagnificentBastard.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: Major Blas Vivar carries a strange object which looks like a pistol without a barrel, and at one point uses it to set a piece of paper on fire. The object is in fact a flintlock lighter, of a type that was the height of fashion among tobacco smokers during UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Captain Leroy, one of the only two competent officers on [[GeneralFailure Sir Henry Simmerson's]] staff, and Sharpe's advocate in ''Sharpe's Eagle'', is also a man whose money is derived from the slave trade.

* RonTheDeathEater: While the French were infamous for their brutal treatment of civilians in RealLife, Cornwell often exaggerates their atrocities in such a lurid and exploitative manner that they end up sounding nigh-identical to anti-German propaganda from UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.\\

* RonTheDeathEater: While the French were infamous for their brutal treatment of civilians in RealLife, Cornwell often exaggerates their atrocities and describes them so luridly and exploitatively that they end up sounding nigh-identical to UsefulNotes/WorldWarI-era anti-German atrocity propaganda.\\

* RonTheDeathEater: While the French were infamous for their brutal treatment of civilians in RealLife, Cornwell often exaggerates their atrocities and describes them so luridly and exploitatively that they end up being nigh-identical to UsefulNotes/WorldWarI-era anti-German atrocity propaganda.\\

* RonTheDeathEater: While the French were infamous for their brutal treatment of civilians in RealLife, Cornwell often exaggerates their atrocities to the point of nigh-identicality to UsefulNotes/WorldWarI-era anti-German atrocity propaganda.\\

* [[TheMole Colonel Brand]], from "Sharpe's Mission", is a double agent who starts his career by [[KickTheDog personally killing an injured British officer]], then carrying him back to the British lines and being [[VillainWithGoodPublicity hailed as a hero]] for trying to save him. This is the first of several acts of so-called heroism arranged by his handler French Colonel Cressan, who wants Brand to lure Sharpe and Ross into a trap. Brand murders a Gypsy couple who [[HeKnowsTooMuch saw him meeting Cressan]], then slaughters a Gypsy camp in a failed attempt to kill the couple's daughter, who also witnessed the meeting. He leads his men in massacring a group of French ex-deserters [[SuicideMission set up by Cressan]] and given faulty gunpowder so they were effectively unarmed, making a point of [[SoftSpokenSadist sadistically]] garroting the one who ran furthest. Despite giving them the self-aggrandizing name Brand's Boys, he has no loyalty to his men, calmly telling Sharpe that [[TheSocialDarwinist he abandons anyone who is injured]]. Even after being exposed and arrested, he tries to convince Sharpe to let him and his men massacre a fort garrison who have also been set up Cressan. {{Smug|Snake}}, arrogant and [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections believing himself invulnerable]] right up to the end, he can't resist BullyingADragon:

* RonTheDeathEater: While the French were infamous for their brutal treatment of civilians in RealLife, Cornwell often exaggerates their atrocities to the point of identicality to UsefulNotes/WorldWarI-era anti-German atrocity propaganda.\\

* RonTheDeathEater: While the French were infamous for their brutal treatment of civilians in RealLife, Cornwell often exaggerates their atrocities to the point of identicality to WorldWarI-era anti-German atrocity propaganda.\\

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Did Lord Pumphrey really think [[spoiler: Astrid and Skovgaard]] were a threat to British interests, or did he want to murder a potential romantic rival for Sharpe?

* RonTheDeathEater: While the French were infamous for their brutal treatment of civilians in RealLife, their atrocities tend to be exaggerated to the point of identicality to anti-German atrocity propaganda from WorldWarI.\\

** [[AristocratsAreEvil Colonel Count Vladimir Dragomirov]], from ''Sharpe's Peril'', is a [[SociopathicSoldier cavalry commander]] in India, who also has a foothold in the opium trade. To cover his tracks, Dragomirov slaughters the village that had been growing the plants needed to make opium, as well as a garrison of British soldiers, leaving their commander tied up naked and ExposedToTheElements. Dragomirov and his men "save" a baggage train led by Colonel Richard Sharpe, but only to make scapegoats of a group of bandits opposing them. When Sharpe is separated from the baggage train along with Marie-Angelique, the fiancé of Dragomirov's [[TheDragon dragon]] Major Philippe Joubert, Dragomirov threatens to have her gang-raped by his men unless Sharpe gives up the train, then has Sharpe tied up in a pit of snakes. When Sharpe and Marie-Angelique escape, Dragomirov pursues them to a village where the train has stopped, murders a priest that tries to dissuade him while telling the man "{{God}} does no work on a Sunday", and attacks the village with the intent of murdering everyone there. {{Greed}}y and treacherous, Dragomirov didn't care who he murdered as long as he gained something from it.

* CompleteMonster: [[SerialRapist Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill]], from "Sharpe's Company" and "Sharpe's Enemy", lacks any of his book counterpart's redeeming qualities, however minor, while still maintaining his heinousness. Sharpe's ArchEnemy, Hakeswill was a SociopathicSoldier who was responsible for sentencing Sharpe to a [[WhipItGood flogging]] he knew would be a death sentence, before Sharpe was saved after receiving 200 lashes. An [[BadBoss abusive bully to his men]], Hakeswill regularly subjects soldiers to floggings to extort sexual favors from their wives and tries to rape Sharpe's wife Teresa. When Sharpe's best friend Harper stops him, Hakeswill [[FrameUp frames him for a theft]], resulting in his brutal flogging. Murdering one of his own soldiers to use his body as cover in the heat of battle, Hakeswill kills another soldier and tries to rape Teresa again. Hakeswill deserts the army before raping and murdering Sally Clayton, an innocent woman he's lusted after. Becoming the leader of a group of vicious bandits, Hakeswill waylays a group of noble women and is only stopped from raping them by warnings that it will damage the ransom value. When he learns Sharpe is bringing the ransom, Hakeswill doubles it at the last minute and allows his men to rape the non-noble women and tries to rape the nobles anyways. When Teresa stops him, Hakeswill fatally shoots her before being captured and facing the firing squad for his crimes. A beast of a man who lives only for rape and murder, Hakeswill is perfectly summed up by Sharpe when his luck comes to an end:

* RonTheDeathEater: While the French were infamous for their brutal treatment of civilians in RealLife, their atrocities tend to be exaggerated to the point of identicality to anti-German atrocity propaganda from WorldWarI at times.\\

** In "Sharpe's Battle", Sharpe's adversary, General Loup, has an {{Animal Motif}} of a wolf. Then Sean Bean plays a nobleman, [[Series/GameOfThrones Eddard Stark]], whose family has a wolf as their {{Animal Motif}}.

-->Richard Sharpe: The man so badass being played by Sean Bean couldn't kill him.