Hägar the Horrible is a classic comic strip about a red-bearded Viking. He is married to Helga, who is a formidable woman with bigger horns on her helmet than he has on his. The rest of Hägar's family consists of his young son Hamlet, and a daughter called Honi who is just old enough to be
The Ingénue. His best friend is a short guy called Lucky Eddie. This is a gag-a-day Strip set in
Dark Age Europe covering both Viking invasions and sieges (he regularly harasses castles) and Hägar's home life.
Tropes in Hägar the Horrible:
- Aerith and Bob
- Action Girl: Honi has difficulty deciding whether she wants to be a housewife or a warrior.
- Anachronism Stew: Hägar has encountered King Arthur, Robin Hood, Attila the Hun and Richard III in various strips.
- Animated Adaptation: Hanna-Barbera did a very good one, which aired as a half-hour TV special back in the 1980s. Sadly, it never got turned into a series.
- Apron Matron: Helga
- Bankruptcy Barrel: Happens often when someone gets looted.
- Britain Versus The UK: In one strip, after being blown off course and shipwrecked, Hägar thinks he has landed in England and goes ashore proclaiming he loves the English. Turns out he has actually landed in Scotland, and Violence Ensues.
- Butt Monkey: Lucky Eddie.
- Clingy Jealous Girl
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Hägar normally doesn't seem too impressive, but his job is raiding castles and sacking towns, and he shows off some pretty badass stunts while doing so. One three-panel strip has the catapult break down on a raid. So he successfully fills in for it by shotputting boulders at the enemy castle.
- Cunning Linguist: Lucky Eddie.
- Cut a Slice, Take the Rest
- Delivery Stork: Hamlet asks his mother The Question. She answers that the stork brought him. He wants to know about his big sister, and Helga gives the same answer. Then he asks about his dad, and Helga says: "Four big storks."
- Dub Name Change:
- In the Norwegian translation, all the main characters are named after people from Snorri Sturluson's Norse Kings' sagas. Hägar is named Hårek after Viking Age chieftain Hårek of Tjøtta (965-1036).
- The Swedish translation names Hägar Hagbard, his wife is Helga, his son Loke, his daughter Brynhilde and his best friend Tur-Ture.
- Ear Trumpet: Hägar once was trying to communicate with an old Viking. The problem: The Ear Trumpet was full of letters.
- Everything Sounds Sexier in French
- Far Side Island: Hägar and Lucky Eddie often get stranded on that kind of island.
- Gender Blender Name: "Hagar" is actually a feminine name, according to The Bible.
- In Scandinavia it has a fairly masculine sound, though...
- And ä is not a.
- The Finnish name of the strip is Harald Hirmuinen (Harald the Horrible) - Harald is a genuine Viking name. His best pal is Orm Onnekas (Orm the Lucky) in Finnish.
- Hair of Gold: Honi.
- Hates Baths: Hägar hates his yearly bath.
- Henpecked Husband
- Horny Vikings
- The Ingénue: Honi.
- Ironic Nickname: Lucky Eddie - one longer story does explain he used to be extremely lucky until he was cursed.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Helga apparently used to be beautiful, according to some snarky comments by her husband- it also explains where Honi came from.
- Long Runner
- The Magnificent: Well, more like "The Horrible"
- Mattress Tag Gag
- Negative Continuity
- Norse By Norsewest
- Outlived Its Creator: Dik Browne died years ago, and the strip has been worked on by his son since then.
- Print Long Runners: Since 1974, which is practically still baby years for a comic strip.
- Shout Out: "Hooray, Hooray! It's the third of May! Outdoor gardening starts today!!"
- Symbol Swearing
- The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Honi is thin and gorgeous compared to the lumpy, hairy Hägar. Apparently this is due to Helga's looks in her youth.
- The Unpronounceable: In an early strip, Lucky Eddie gave as his real name a string of letters loaded with random diacritical marks.
- Unwilling Suspension: Tax evaders get this, for instance
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