History YMMV / TheDraka

* DepravedBisexual: [[spoiler:The death of Yolande Ingolffsson's girlfriend Myfwany Venders sets her on a lifelong path of destruction, up to and including starting World War III, and most but not all of her sexual partners are female. However, she does have later FriendsWithBenefits situation going on with a male officer named Teller, whom she tells that she 60-40 prefers women to men.]]

* DepravedBisexual: [[Spoiler:The death of Yolande Ingolffsson's girlfriend Myfwany Venders sets her on a lifelong path of destruction, up to and including starting World War III, and most but not all of her sexual partners are female. However, she does have later FriendsWithBenefits situation going on with a male officer named Teller, whom she tells that she 60-40 prefers women to men.]]

* DepravedBisexual: [[Spoiler: The death of Yolande Ingolffsson's girlfriend Myfwany Venders sets her on a lifelong path of destruction, up to and including starting World War III, and most but not all of her sexual partners are female. However, she does have later FriendsWithBenefits situation going on with a male officer named Teller, whom she tells that she 60-40 prefers women to men.]]

* UnfortunateImplications: The Draka's longest-enslaved and most-brainwashed serfs are sub-Saharan Africans, who make up much of the Janissary legions. They're allowed such privileges over newly-conquered peoples like rape and pillage. In the opening of ''Under The Yoke,'' a couple African Janissaries eye female prisoners with undisguised sexual interest. Their Citizen officer gives them a break to go to a military brothel because it's safer -- for them.

* DecadentCourt: Although the Draka are too disciplined to be truly decadent (Alliance infiltrator Frederick Kustaa even remarks on this in ''Under The Yoke''), dueling is "the ultimate argument" in Draka politics. In ''The Stone Dogs'' it's stated that Eric's rival Louise Gayner has killed several other politicians in duels.

* TragicVillain: As a teen Eric risked the wrath of the Security Directorate to send his daughter with his serf concubine to freedom in America and enters Draka politics with reformist goals, but in order to get high enough to actually accomplish anything he has to make more and more compromises with truly evil people, [[spoiler:such as signing off on human experimentation to create the Stone Dogs and the Militants' aggressive off-Earth actions toward the Alliance.]] Ultimately it's he [[spoiler:who initiates the Final War that leads to Draka conquest of the entire Solar System.]]

* DecadentCourt: Although the Draka are too disciplined to be truly decadent (Alliance infiltrator Frederick Kustaa even remarks on this in ''Under The Yoke''), dueling is "the ultimate argument" in Draka politics. In ''The Stone Dogs'' it's stated that Eric's rival Louise Gayner has killed several rivals in duels.

* AccidentalAesop: Considering the common consensus that the Draka TakeOverTheWorld because the rest of the world passes up every possible opportunity to stop them, the adage that "evil prevails when good men fail to act" can be applied in full force here.

* AccidentalAesop: Considering that the Draka TakeOverTheWorld because no one is willing to fight against it, the adage that "evil prevails when good men fail to act" can be applied in full force here.

* MisaimedFandom: Disturbingly enough, there are some far-right extremists who consider the Draka to be an example of a ''utopian'' society.

** The Draka are so vile, in fact, that many have said that the series may be one of the few works of fiction that makes people unironically root for [[ThoseWackyNazis the Nazis.]] .

* IdiotPlot: [[https://web.archive.org/web/20010826224030/http://www.alternatehistory.com/gateway/analyses/Drakaproblems.html As some critical readers have pointed out]], the only reason that Draka gets as far as they do is that the rest of the world passes up every opportunity to stop them.
** Britain gives Draka a level of freedom it never gave its OTL colonies and dominions. They never try to reign in Drakan expansionism. Also, when Britain outlaws chattel slavery, the Drakans simply rebrand their slaves as "serfs" and London accepts it without question.
** No country with a chance of stopping them ever tries to go on the offensive against Draka, basically allowing them to always go to war on their own terms.

* RootingForTheEmpire: One reason why S.M. Stirling wrote this series in the first place was because he wanted a story in which the EvilEmpire [[TheBadGuysWin completely dominates the good guys.]] However, (and perhaps ironically enough) This trope is generally averted due to how utterly depraved The Draka themselves are.
** The Draka are so vile in fact. Many have said that The series may be one of the few works of fiction that makes people unironically root for [[ThoseWackyNazis The Nazis.]] .

* RootingForTheEmpire: One reason why S.M. Stirling wrote this series in the first place was because He wanted A story in which the EvilEmpire [[TheBadGuysWin completely dominates the good guys.]] However, (and perhaps ironically enough) This trope is generally averted due to how utterly depraved The Draka themselves are.

* AccidentalAesop: Considering that the Draka TakeOverTheWorld because no one fights against it, the adage that "evil prevails when good men fail to act" can be applied in full force here.

* AccidentalAesop: The adage that "'Evil prevails when good men fail to act" applies in full force here.

* FanficFuel: