Historical Heroine (@HistoryHeroine) is a Twitter account parodying the tropes of historical romances, especially the lack of research from their authors.The tweets are from the point of view of Evangeline, who is most of the time a British Regency belle, due to the parodied author being a Jane Austen wannabe, but has several short-lived alter egos from different places and time periods. The A-plot of the elusive book series is her romance with John Drake, a wealthy English lord/Far West outlaw/pirate/secret prince.Nearly all of the tropes listed below are parodied.
Historical Heroine provides examples of:
- Abduction Is Love: In one universe, Drake abducts Evangeline by killing her bodyguards.
- Added Alliterative Appeal: The made-up book series the characters are from is called "Chases, Charms and Changing Hearts".
- Africa Is a Country: Evangeline speaks fluent African.
- Anachronism Stew: A keystone of the premise. Notably, Evangeline's gowns come with paniers and zippers, her Ancient Egyptian alter ego is called Tyffaneigh, and her castle has running water in pre-modern times.
- All Girls Like Ponies: Evangeline loves her horse Beelzebub.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Evangeline is in love with Lord Drake, who is a repeatedly informed Bad Boy.
- All Women Love Shoes: In the AU in which Evangeline is a female Robin Hood, which she describes as exactly the same as the original but with more misogyny and more shoes.
- Alpha Bitch: Lady Myrabelle Chapton. She's, like, blonde and stuff.
- Alternate History: In one version, Evangeline is the daughter of the Emperor of the United States, mostly so she can be American and still be a princess.
- Ambiguously Brown: Drake, on occasion.Drake: If I'm a PoC, it's never clearly acknowledged. Also, exotism isn't a thing.
- Ambiguous Time Period: While mostly inspired by regency Pride and Prejudice knockoffs, the story could be set in any time period from the 15th to the 20th century.Evangeline: I live in that vague and nebulous era when King Horace and Queen Susan ruled over England.
- Arranged Marriage: Between Evangeline and Sir Basil Hecklesworth, who she loathes because "he's a mouth breather and his hair is weird".
- Attempted Rape: On Evangeline, by an unnamed and convenient highwayman.
- Batman Gambit:Drake: My art of war is based upon my opponents always doing what I need them to do in order for my highly complex plan to work.
- Beard of Evil: Sir Basil, Evangeline's loathed betrothed, has a particularly unattractive mustache.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Drake and Hecklesworth act the exact same way towards Evangeline (one can even argue that Hecklesworth is more respectful), but the first is charming because he has piercing green eyes and the latter is a creep because he has a weird period-appropriate mustache.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished:Evangeline: Even when I’m poor, my poverty will never stop me from owning a single pretty dress, smelling like roses and having perfect hair.
- Best Friends-in-Law: Evangeline and Drake's sister Clarinda.
- Big Damn Kiss:Evangeline: Then we kissed and nothing else mattered and an angel choir sang in the background and the sun rose and the universe trembled.
- Big Fancy House: Lord Drake's manor in the middle of London has 2,000 rooms, a 50-acre park, and is decorated with nauseating luxury. It's described as taking up "half the planet".
- Birds of a Feather: Drake and Evangeline are both ridiculously spiteful of the society they live in, and both like reading books.Evangeline: We’re both silk and velvet on the outside, and disdain and smugness on the inside.
- Blasphemous Praise: Evangeline is not as devoted a Christian as she claims to be, especially when she uses prayer time to mentally comment on her rival's gown, or when she makes our with Drake in the confession booth.Evangeline: Because I worship him so much, I like to call that “The Church of John Drake”. (I'm still the purest, least blasphemous Christian, though.)
- Blood from the Mouth: Clarinda is always coughing a little blood in her handkerchief. It's considered normal for a young lady her age.
- Camp Gay: Jeremiah.Evangeline: He giggles a lot, wears lipstick and aspires to be a singer. No one but me knows he's gay.
- The Cape: A lovely lady by day – a deadly assassin by night!
- Captain Ersatz: Clarinda Drake is Georgiana Darcy, with little attempt made to hide it. Drake himself is extremely similar to Darcy, and Evangeline is a Lizzie Bennet wannabe.Drake: This is my accomplished younger sister, who is a talented piano player. Her name is Geor... er, Clarinda.
- Compelling Voice: Of course Evangeline is a great singer.
- Contrived Coincidence: After the Attempted Rape.Drake: Lucky I was coincidentally riding through this area.Evangeline: My father's park?Drake: Don't question it.
- Culture Clash: In the Alternate Universe where Evangeline is a country mouse visiting her cousins in London.Evangeline: Being from the countryside means never having gotten in touch with the civilised world.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Evangeline is just (alledgedly) so bad at being ladylike.
- Death Glare: Drake's gaze "makes milk go sour".
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Evangeline is always mourning for her incredibly dead mother.
- Defrosting Ice King: Lord Drake.Drake: I frown a lot. Coldly. A haughtiness surrounds me, which is also cold. I hide my feelings well, which adds to the cold.
- Description in the Mirror: Of course.
- Deuteragonist: Lord Drake has a Twitter account of his own (@TheLordDrake), though it is less furnished than Evangeline's.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Jeeves, because Lord Drake is nobler and richer.
- Everything's Better with Sparkles: Mixed with Flyover Country.Evangeline: I end up in this small farming community, Sparkle Hollow. Or was it Sparkle Falls? Or Sparkle Springs? Or maybe Sparkle Creek?!?!
- Evil Overlord: When Evangeline is a princess, she stands up against him because he is cruel to the peasants and doesn't let her wear pants.
- Fainting:Evangeline: You can tell who is a vain, girly woman by who faints at every opportunity. They just do that.
-
Fair for Its Day: Evangeline invokes this all the time, but for a character written in the 2010s, she actually at least a few decades behind in terms of tolerance. - Fashion Dissonance: Drake would not look out of place in 2016; mostly because the author thinks that historical male fashion is ridiculous.Drake: I never wear a powdered wig. Such vanities are beneath me. I will not bow to fashion if it will seem ridiculous in the future.
- Frame-Up: Sir Basil at one point accuses Evangeline's "sexually ambiguous peasant childhood friend" of poaching, but Lord Drake proves his innocence.Drake: Because let's face it, gay men can't hunt.
- Fiction 500: Drake makes approximately "a thousand million gold coins a year or something".
- Fiery Redhead: Evangeline.Evangeline: I've got red hair, you know? Everyone thinks I'm super pretty. Except when everyone thinks I'm super ugly.
- Gay Best Friend: Lord Jeremiah, with the trope name used as such.
- Generation Xerox:Drake: The author will make me the next Mean Father in the sequel, won't she? Well, better than [@HistoryHeroine's] fate. I get to live to old age...
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Drake has a "handsome X-shaped scar" on his face.
- The Great Offscreen War:Evangeline: My first husband died in the war. You know, the war. That one.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Pretty much everyone, but Lady Myrabelle in particular from Evangeline's point of view.
- Hand Wave: Often, for things that aren't about balls and dress-up sequences.Evangeline: Yeah, I can totally wield a katana. How I learned that? Oh, it would be so boring, I'm not gonna bother you with it, dear reader!
- Hollywood Homely: Evangeline describes herself as ugly by 1X00s standards, and divinely pretty by 201X standards.
- Hollywood Voodoo: Which Evangeline knows because she had an African-American nursemaid.
- The Ingenue:Evangeline: I'm highly (self-)educated in matters such as politics or medicine. But when it comes to sex, I'm a naïve, virginal and childlike ingénue.
- Interchangeable Asian Cultures:
- Evangeline's Asian friend Jade Sakura Mai-Lin Patel, who is a Chinese ninja geisha.
- Evengeline's one-post Asian alter ego, who gets a wedding kimono from her sensei Qiang.
- Interclass Friendship: Between Evangeline and Jane, her lady's maid.Evangeline: Being friends with someone who cleans your chamberpot is totally not awkward.
- Interclass Romance: Between Evangeline and Jeeves, her personal butler (which is a totally a thing).
- In-Universe Nickname: In a painfully forced way, "Angel" is short for Evangeline.
- It Was a Gift: Drake gifts Evangeline his mother's wedding necklace. Before they actually start expressing interest in each other.
- Karma Houdini: Evangeline's reputation is never put in question despite her promiscuousness with Drake, because the author does not acknowledge their actions as such.
- Line-of-Sight Name: Jeeves Butler, probably.
- Makeover Montage: Evangeline points out that about a tenth of the book is dedicated to her getting dressed in over-detailed, over-researched, somehow still inaccurate historical fashion.
- Makeup Is Evil: A point of comparison between Myrabelle and Evangeline. Well, Evangeline is wearing tons of period-accurate makeup too, but she's natural about it and that's the difference.
- Mail-Order Bride: Evangeline becomes this in the Alternate Universe set in the American Far West.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Evangeline seems to be this from Drake's POV.
- Drake describes his main character trait as "doing everything flawlessly".
- Mighty Whitey: Evangeline's Native American alter ego dreams of one.
- Moment Killer: Drake always turns into a Shell-Shocked Veteran at the worst moments. Also:Drake: Chance events always happen so that my protagonist love me and I get closer. No wonder we believe we're fated to be together.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Evangeline and Drake are allegedly bookworms because their author is a bookworm.
- Moral Myopia:Evangeline: When I enjoy myself with Jeeves, it’s because I’m insecure. When Lady Myrabelle enjoys herself with her butler, it’s because she’s a slut.
- My Nayme Is: One of Evangeline's middle names is Vyolette.
- Nice to the Waiter: Evangeline is a better person than everybody else in her time period, after all.
- Not Like Other Girls: Evangeline is convinced that she's the only woman ever to dislike traditionally feminine activities. Lucky for her, so is Drake.
- No Periods, Period:Evangeline: Menstruations were only invented during, like, the 1960s. Therefore, it's historically accurate for me not to menstruate.
- Of Corset Hurts: Evangeline loathes everything about her era's fashion, whichever it is, and can't be comfortable in it despite the fact that she has been wearing it her entire life - unfortunately for her, her author thinks that Of Corsets Sexy.
- One Head Taller: Bordering on Huge Guy, Tiny Girl.Evangeline: I'm super petite and he is a big, strong hunk, but I still don't need a ladder to kiss him.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. Both Evangeline's dad's butler and her own, personal butler (of course it's a thing) are called Jeeves, or maybe James, or maybe some other name often associated with butlers.
- Pet the Dog: For Evangeline's pre-Civil War American alter ego.Evangeline: I treat the slaves kindly. As a master would treat his pet dog. Am I not so generous?
- Pimped-Out Dress: Always described in great detail.Evangeline: My dress is gem-encrusted and has more personality than myself.
- Pretty Boy: Ambrose. See Sweet Polly Oliver.
- Race Lift: Invoked by Evangeline's Cherokee alter ego.Evangeline: In the movie version of this book, I will be played by Jennifer Lawrence.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: How Lord Drake is described.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Evangeline considers herself this when she tells the staff to call her by her nickname instead of "Lady Evangeline".
- Remember the New Guy?:Evangeline: I have a dark secret. I once bore a child out of wedlock in shame, left her with strangers, and then never foreshadowed her for 600 pages.
- Rescue Romance: Lord Drake saves Evangeline from her Attempted Rape.
- Rejection Projection: Evangeline is so ugly that she's always getting complimented by random strangers.
- Retcon: Lord Drake's first name was Xavier in his introductory tweet, but quickly became John.
- Royal Inbreeding: The reason why Drake looks like the king: all nobles are inbred anyway.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!:Evangeline: I'm noble and rich, therefore, I can do whatever and dress however I like!
- Secret Identity: Drake is a former pirate and a spy of the crown. His resemblance to the king, which is addressed in one tweet, is however later clarified as a coincidence.
- Secretly Dying: Clarinda. Evangeline notices that she looks obviously sick and has Blood from the Mouth, but doesn't say anything because it would ruin the surprise.
- Separated by a Common Language:Evangeline: I just travelled 500 years back in time. “Lol! Like, srsly?! OMG!”, I yell, before loudly deciding: “Yolo!” Why is everyone staring at me?
- Servile Snarker: The butler is snarky. The maidservant is saucy.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Drake, whenever he and Evangeline are being lovey-dovey.
- Shout-Out: All the in-universe shout-outs to Pride and Prejudice are painfully unsubtle.Drake: My name used to be William d'Arcy.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Drake never had any affairs (though he was married in the past). As Evangeline points out, it has to be this trope and not that he's gay or ace.
- Single Tear:Evangeline: A single perfect diamond tear runs down my face.
- Spirited Young Lady:Evangeline: I despise dresses, knitting, and embroidery! I prefer reading books and riding horses. It's a sign of my independence.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: The Drakes and the de Luciens are occasionally Feuding Families.
- Straw Feminist: Evangeline is always a defender of the female cause.Evangeline: Nobody understands that sheltered able-bodied white cishet women can be both beautiful AND intelligent!
- Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Drake barges in to interrupt Evangeline and Sir Basil's wedding and offers to marry her on the spot to get her out of this situation.
- Subordinate Excuse:Evangeline: Jeeves and Jane totally LOVE serving me! They're not doing it because they get money for it, but because they worship me so much!
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Evangeline's cousin Ambrosia, who goes by Ambrose. Solely because she wants to perform male activities, not because she's trans, of course.
- Switching P.O.V.: Only ever happens so Drake can comment on Evangeline's beauty.
- Take That!: Tweeted in early November 2016.Drake: I have no opinion on such radical follies as elections. Still, a man with such an utter lack of etiquette I'd rather duel than see as king.
- Throwing Off the Disability: Probably as a Take That! against Downton Abbey.Evangeline: I might have a terrible accident and go through a period of being a wheelchair user, but Lord Drake's love will heal me.
- Truth in Television: Averted and desecrated at any possible occasion.Evangeline: Decorate the [Christmas] tree with PRETZELS and SAUSAGES?! What kind of barbarian ARE you?!
- Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Evangeline's full name is Lady Evangeline Georgiana Elizabeth Vyolette Fitzwilhelmina "Angel" de Lucien. She doesn't have a title though, only Lady.
- Her Native American alter ego is called Sparkling Creek Lakota Vixen Who Plays The Flute.
- Tsundere: She doesn't even LIKE Lord Drake! And makes sure to point it out in many, many tweets.
- Under the Mistletoe: Though Drake avoids it as much as he can, he always ends up underneath it.
- Unusual Euphemism:Evangeline: Lord Drake gives me a sardonic smirk that makes my kneecaps vibrate. Wait, what?
- Values Resonance: Invoked to an unbelievable point. Evangeline was written in the 2010s and will never let you forget it, no matter what time period she lives in.
- Wangst:Evangeline: I alternatingly screech and loudly sob into my velvet pillow like a mature young woman. I hope Father hears my anguish!
- What Beautiful Eyes!: Evangeline's Chinese alter ego has blue eyes. It's because she's special.
- What Measure Is a Mook?: Jane, Jeeves, and Jeeves #2 are often forgotten.Evangeline: It’s almost like my author doesn’t care about anyone who isn’t rich and doesn’t have a title.
- Wicked Stepmother: Evangeline's stepmother, who is evil because is giving Evangeline opportunities to be successful in the society she lives in instead of letting her be a 201X teen rebel.
- Wife Husbandry: Lampshaded.Evangeline: I will surely not fall in love with him while he teaches me to be a lady. There is no wife husbandry involved here, after all. None.
- Women Are Delicate: Evangeline is a hardened kung-fu master, except when she could put her skills to use. Otherwise, she's so delicate that one touch is enough to form an infected wound on her skin.Evangeline: Instead of getting up after my fall, I just sit there and look helpless and childlike and virginal. I'm not in shock, just female.
- Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe:Evangeline: If I say “verily” and “thou” and “dost” and “'tis” and “sayeth” often enough, all the readers will accept I live in a past era.
- You're Cute When You're Angry: Evangeline is always told this, even though she can get dangerously destructive.
