History Literature / TheSaint

* CombatPragmatist: The Saint was one of the earliest heroes to make this the rule rather than the exception. To be fair to Simon, he is outnumbered, cornered, unarmed against an armed opponent, or (rarely) physically outmatched whenever he gets down-and-dirty. ''The Million Pound Day'' has excellent examples of all four situations and the Saint's [[GroinAttack appropriate]] [[HeyYouHaymaker addressing]] thereof.

* WhipOfDominance: TheDragon of ''The Million Pound Day'' is a vicious sadist who uses a whip as his favorite instrument of torture. At the orders of TheBigBad, he tries to use it on a (for once) tightly and efficiently bound Saint. Unfortunately for both underling and mastermind, the first stroke of the whip sets off [[PowerBornOfMadness a rage rising to temporary insanity]] that allows Simon to break his bonds. Simon then gives the TortureTechnician ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine.

* NobodySeesTheBoss: Siegfried Maris, head of the Nazi saboteurs in "The Sizzling Saboteur," always acts through patsies and has a reputation for never being seen. [[spoiler:As it turns out, [[TheDogWasTheMastermind the harmless bartender who was nothing but a background character turns out to be Maris hiding in plain sight]].]]

* BondVillainStupidity: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] (and two decades before the [[Literature/CasinoRoyale literary debut]] of the TropeNamer, at that. In ''Knight Templar'', the diabolical arch-villain Rayt Marius has Simon and his allies in his clutches, and has a short monologue that if [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall this were a pulpy, cliché crime story]], now would be the time to dispose of the Saint with a contrived DeathTrap. Unfortunately for Simon, Rayt is a shrewd NoNonsenseNemesis who isn't interested in anything except cutting to the point:

* ComicBookTime: As Charteris himself notes in ''The First Saint Omnibus,'' Templar was aging at a practically normal rate in the first decade or so. His aging process began to slow as The Saint dealt with ThoseWackyNazis. Then, from the post-war period, through Charteris' retirement from primary authorship in 1963, and on to the end of the series 20 years later, Simon showed his age almost exclusively by a much more world-weary attitude than his exuberant pre-war years.

* WhatTheHellHero: The only time Patricia calls Simon out on anything in real anger occurs in ''The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal.'' The good Chief Inspector has almost nailed the Saint, when Simon informs him that [[spoiler:without Teal's knowledge, Simon has been depositing money into Teal's account, making it appear that the detective is a DirtyCop]]. The world, and Teal's superiors at UsefulNotes/ScotlandYard in particular, will all too readily accept this as the ''real'' reason Teal's never caught the Saint. [[HonorBeforeReason Teal proceeds with the case anyway,]] knowing the consequences to himself. This in turn causes Simon one of his ''extremely'' few [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone attacks of conscience]]. The Saint reverses himself and not only does not proceed with the plot, he makes amends by giving Teal the GreatBigBookOfEverything of London crime that Simon has taken years to compile. Of course, [[spoiler:Simon arranges for him, Patricia, and the boodle to escape anyway.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: The only time Patricia calls Simon out on anything in real anger occurs in ''The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal.'' The good Chief Inspector has almost nailed the Saint, when Simon informs him that [[spoiler:without Teal's knowledge, Simon has been depositing money into Teal's account, making it appear that the detective is a DirtyCop]]. The world, and Teal's superiors at UsefulNotes/ScotlandYard in particular, will all too readily accept this as the ''real'' reason Teal's never caught the Saint. [[HonorBeforeReason Teal proceeds with the case anyway,]] knowing the consequences to himself. This in turn causes Simon one of his ''extremely'' few [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone attacks of conscience]]. The Saint reverses himself and not only does not proceed with the plot, he makes amends by giving Teal the GreatBigBookOfEverything of London crime that Simon has taken years to compile. Of course, [[spoiler:Simon arranges for he, Patricia, and the boodle to escape anyway.]]

* PercussivePickpocket: Simon uses this to save a young man from a prison stretch in ''The Man Who Was Clever''. His pickpocket skills also come in handy in ''The Gold Standard'' and ''The Man from St. Louis.''
* PhonyVeteran: The ConMan title character of ''The Ingenious Colonel'':

* WhipOfDominance: TheDragon of ''The Million Pound Day'' is a vicious sadist who uses a whip as his favorite instrument of torture. At the orders of TheBigBad, he tries to use it on a (for once) tightly and efficiently bound Saint. Unfortunately for both underling and mastermind, the first stroke of the whip sets off [[PowerBornOfMadness a rage rising to temporary insanity]] that allows Simon to break his bonds. Simon then [[PayEvilUntoEvil gives the torturer a generous dose of his own medicine]].

* WhipOfDominance: TheDragon of ''The Million Pound Day'' is a sadistic man who uses a whip as his favorite instrument of torture. At the orders of TheBigBad, he tries to use it on a (for once) tightly and efficiently bound Saint. Unfortunately for both underling and mastermind, the first stroke of the whip sets off [[PowerBornOfMadness a rage rising to temporary insanity]] that allows Simon to break his bonds. Simon then goes on to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard beat him with the whip]].

* WitlessProtectionProgram: In the short story ''The High Fence'', a captured criminal agrees to turn King's[[note]]George V specifically, as the story is set sometime in the early 1930s and at any rate no later than its publication date of 1934[[/note]] Evidence and tell the police who the High Fence (an underworld buyer of stolen goods) really is. He's murdered in his cell by being fed poisoned food. When another criminal is taken into custody and agrees to tell Inspector Teal the High Fence's address, he's [[NotQuiteDead shot (apparently) dead]] before he can do so.... but Teal and his (temporary) partner chase after the shooter just long enough for [[NeverFoundTheBody the "corpse" to vanish]] and be replaced by the Saint.

* ATasteOfTheLash: TheDragon of ''The Million Pound Day'' uses a whip as his favorite instrument of torture. At the orders of TheBigBad, he tries to use it on a (for once) tightly and efficiently bound Saint. Unfortunately for both underling and mastermind, the first stroke of the whip sets off [[PowerBornOfMadness a rage rising to temporary insanity]] that allows Simon to break his bonds. Simon then goes on to prove that he himself can WhipItGood.

* HeroicSacrifice: In ''The Last Hero,'' made by [[spoiler:Norman Kent]]

By the mid-1930s, Conway, Tremayne, Sheridan, and Kent had left the field. Templar carried on with Patricia and two new associates whom he acquired in the course of adventures. Peter Quentin was, at first, a law abiding citizen whom Simon saves from a vicious confidence scheme, and who as a result became a reliable first mate to the Saint's buccaneering. At almost the same time, Simon's most unusual associate, good old Hoppy Uniatz, joined the merry crew. Mr. Uniatz was a not-overly-bright but unswervingly loyal and courageous, not to mention [[QuickDraw handy with a Colt 1911 semi-auto]], veteran of the [[TheRoaringTwenties Prohibition-era]] [[BigRottenApple NYC underworld]]. He was also (according to Charteris) the first BreakoutCharacter in the series, to the point that as the series went on, Simon would often appear with only Hoppy as support. The Saint also left the UK more often during this time, especially as his wartime exploits demanded.

* PsychoSidekick: Hoppy Uniatz to the nth degree. Templar is no shrinking violet himself, yet several times the Saint gets the Ungodly to talk simply by threatening to leave them alone with good old Hoppy. Hoppy will do ''anything'' Simon asks, and further interprets everything through his [[WrongSideOfTheTracks unorthodox upbringing]] and [[NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters previous profession]]. In ''The Case of the Frightened Innkeeper'', Templar forgets this. Meaning only for Hoppy to escort some of the Ungodly from the Saint's presence, Simon carelessly says "Get rid of them;" Hoppy [[DeadlyEuphemism does]].

Initially, Templar was usually depicted as working with a number of other adventurous young men: [[NumberTwo right-hand-man]] [[TheReliableOne Roger Conway,]] [[RecklessSidekick hot-blooded lady-killer]] Richard "Dicky" Tremayne, technical wizard Archie Sheridan, and [[spoiler:doomed hero]] Norman Kent. Occasionally, the team included his OldRetainer Orace, though mainly in a background/support role. And, very often, Templar heavily relied on his true love, Patricia Holm, who was far more competent than the average heroine of her day. During this period, although the Saint could and did operate internationally, the series was strongly centered around UsefulNotes/GreatBritain, and especially UsefulNotes/{{London}} -- the closest thing the Saint has to a home town.