History Funny / HonorHarrington

** Second, when she returns to Steadholders' Hall to find a [[EmbarrassingStatue four-meter-tall bronze statue of herself atop an eight-meter polished column] right in front of the main entrance — a statue which they don't merely refuse to take down upon her return to life, but whose recasting is fully covered by the insurance should any desperately-mortified Steadholder order her armsmen to demolish it one dark night.

** Second, when she returns to Steadholders' Hall to find a four-meter-tall bronze statue of herself atop an eight-meter polished column right in front of the main entrance — a statue which they don't merely refuse to take down upon her return to life, but whose recasting is fully covered by the insurance should any desperately-mortified Steadholder order her armsmen to demolish it one dark night.

** Even funnier when you consider that, in this case, Citizen General Chernock is ''[[ProperlyParanoid entirely correct]]'' to be so concerned about the missing mesage, given that the only reason Dennis didn't send the expected message was because Honor had seized control of the planet without the Havenite authorities off-world catching wind of it — and didn't learn about Warden Tresca and General Chernock's correspondence chess matches [[spoiler: because Dennis Tresca was brutally killed by the prisoners he abused long before the Manties reached his quarters]].

* Michelle Henke's succinct evaluation of Honor's [[spoiler:plan to escape from Hades]], which required ''everything'' to go right and only worked via a massive stroke of luck, in ''Ashes of Victory'':

* Queen Elizabeth's reaction to Emily Alexander's tranquil admission that [[spoiler:she and Hamish had secretly married Honor]].

-->'''Tourville:''' I'm well aware of the sorts of rumors which have been circulating around the fleet. Some of them have been so wild as to be outright ridiculous. For example, the one that says we're going to [[spoiler:launch a direct attack on the Manticoran home system]] in response to Lovat. [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial The very idea is preposterous.]]

** Doubly ironic [[spoiler: because Harringtons themselves are ''just that'' — a Mesan Alpha line that eventually lost their connection to the Alignment.]]

* Albrecht Detweiler, during his epic OhCrap while Benjamin runs down just how badly recent developments have screwed them over, stops to point out that they actually ''weren't'' responsible for [[spoiler:Arnold Giancola]].
-->'''Benjamin:''' In fact, they're busy telling the Manty Parliament — and, I'm sure, the Havenite Congress and all the ''rest'' of the fucking galaxy! — all about the [[spoiler:Mesan]] plan to conquer the known universe. In fact, you'll be astonished to know that [[spoiler:Secretary of State Arnold Giancola]] was in the nefarious [[spoiler:Alignment's]] pay when he deliberately maneuvered [[spoiler:Haven back into shooting at the Manties!]]\\

* At the end of the book, two main characters of this book only finally [[RelationshipUpgrade upgrade their relationship]]. [[spoiler:Since they are both barely out of puberty, this involves her letting him put his arm around her, which is a world-changing experience for them both.]]

* When Midshipman Aikawa Kagiyama is standing watch after their return to Montana from Kornati and, figuring that the rating in [[AwesomenessByAnalysis CIC]] is probably as bored as ''he'' is, orders an analysis performed on a freighter that had just entered orbit ... which, [[SpannerInTheWorks by sheer coincidence]], is the same one that [[spoiler:delivered an enormous load of Solarian military arms and equipment to Kornati's terrorists]].

* Anton needs to [[spoiler:leave Victor on Mesa so he can get to Manticore to summon reinforcements]], he and Victor have a long meaningful moment between two men too stoic to express such emotions as they're feeling... and Yana goes ahead and hangs a lampshade on the HoYay between them and kisses Victor on Anton's behalf so it doesn't get weird.

* Everything that has to do with Charlie O'Daley, Aivars Terekhov's [[InsufferableGenius insufferable]] layabout brother-in-law [[spoiler:and Special Intelligence Service's finest field agent]]. It's as if [[Literature/VorkosiganSaga Byerly Vorrutyer]] decided to visit a sister series. The fact that the list of the favors he did to the Crown is no shorter than his brother-in-law's doesn't change tha fact that he's a pompous, overbred and silly UpperClassTwit, and ThePrankster of the higherst order to boot… [[spoiler:except that he's not actually a '''twit''', just like his associate and friend Michael Oversteegen (with whom he shares the same annoying aristocratic accent, a first person to do so in the series)]].

** Thomas Theisman describes the combined forces of Shannon Foraker and Sonja Hemphill as a "Congress of Geeks." Empress Elizabeth is ''pretty sure'' he means it as a compliment.

-->You're still holding a grudge about the tits aren't you?[[note]]In reference to the GagBoobs Yana had to adopt as per disguise on Mesa.[[/note]]

* Everything that has to do with Charlie O'Daley, Aivars Terekhov's [[InsufferableGenius insufferable]] [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob layabout]] brother-in-law [[spoiler:and Special Intelligence Service's finest field agent]]. It's as if [[Literature/VorkosiganSaga Byerly Vorrutyer]] decided to visit a sister series. The fact that the list of the favors he did to the Crown is no shorter than his brother-in-law's doesn't change tha fact that he's a pompous, overbred and silly UpperClassTwit, and ThePrankster of the higherst order to boot… [[spoiler:except that he's not actually a '''twit''', just like his associate and friend Michael Oversteegen (with whom he shares the same annoying aristocratic accent, a first person to do so in the series)]].

-->"That's not a fetish," Victor Cachat shook his head. "[[NotSoDifferent That's just common sense.]]"

* The Queen describes Theisman as being entirely too smart to get into electoral politics, the main thing keeping him from becoming the next President of Haven.

** The answer, incidentally, is to recruit a bunch of imprisoned StateSec spacers to pretend to be SpacePirates. Victor is pretty confident that he can sell the Peeps on the upsides of the plan.

-->That's not a fetish," Victor Cachat shook his head. "That's just common sense."

* Pritchart's memorable {{lampshading}} of the Mesan Alignment's UpToEleven DeepCoverAgent strategy:

* Daud al-Fanudahi is quite upset with how the events of "Uncompromising Honor" have left him in the worst possible position: A rising star in the Solarian Navy, which means, as far as he's concerned, a target on his back given both the extensive corruption in the Navy and the actual identity of the conspirators he was working to hunt down still unknown. He's not relieved to learn that instead of getting a promotion and a big office in Old Chicago, he is getting deployed to Mesa to pursue his investigation further. [[Film/TheHuntForRedOctober He's not a field agent, he's an analyst!]]

* An officer with the [[StateSec People's Navy In Exile]] is having a discussion with Princess Ruth Winton, and struggles to find a way to address her, given [[=StateSec's]] taboo against classist titles. He briefly considers "Citizen-Princess" before discarding it as absurd.

* An officer with the [[StateSec People's Navy In Exile]] is having a discussion with Princess Ruth Winton, and struggles to find a way to address her, given [=StateSec's]] taboo against classist titles. He briefly considers "Citizen-Princess" before discarding it as absurd.

-->'''Givens''' [[OhCrap Oh shit!]] [[{{Beat}} ...]] ''[[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe Oh shit!]]''

** Doubly ironic [[spoiler: because Harringtons themselves are ''just that'' — a Mesan Alpha line that eventualy lost their connection to the Alignment.]]

--->'''Henke:''' Somehow, the discovery that the founder of your religion was also a baseball fanatic doesn't really surprise me.\\
''':''' I wouldn't say Saint Austin was a fanatic about baseball, My Lady. "Fanatic" would probably be much too mild a term, from everything I've ever read.

* The narration's description of Dame Estelle Matsuko's... irritated reaction to being told, essentially, to stop regulating trade with the natives of the planet Medusa and performing customs inspections on incoming and outgoing cargo, as doing so upset the {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s in charge of the trading cartels. Dame Estelle's response to these directives is awesome, yes, but the way that reaction is described is simply hilarious.

** Thomas Theisman describes the combined forces of Shannon Foraker and Sonia Hemphill as a "Congress of Geeks." Empress Elizabeth is ''pretty sure'' he means it as a complement.

** The Treecats decide to dub Damian "Plays With Fire," and [[TheComicallySerious Clean Killer]] can't seem to figure out why the two-legs find this hilarious. Then Clean Killer takes a new name... Firewatch. He can't figure out why the two-legs find ''this'' hilarious either.

* While the Manticorans have come to rely on the empath Treecats to smoke out Alignment moles in their government, the Solarians stumble on a much cruder but just as effective method: Confront suspected moles with the evidence, [[BlackComedy and see if they keel over on the spot.]]
** Once Admiral Kingford is briefed on what is going on, he simply has each of his senior officers brought to his office to be confronted one at a time to be accused and either cleared of suspicion or discretely disposed of by the Gendarmerie. He absolutely does not want to think about ''why'' the Gendarmerie is so good at hiding bodies.

* Firestarter, a Solarian agent provocateur and more recently a relatively low-ranking agent of the Mesan Alignment, unexpectedly bonds with a Treecat which had, until they met, wanted nothing more than to kill him for his tangential role in the Yawata Strike. Patricia Givens first reacts with dismay when she thinks the treecat is about to kill the prisoner, then in exasperation when she realizes what actually happened.
-->'''Givens''' [[OhCrap Oh shit!]] [[{{Beat}}...]] ''[[YouveGotToBeKiddingMe Oh shit!]]''

* Nimitz (he shows up a lot here, doesn't he?) keeping in hunting practice via counting coup. Poor chipmunk...
** Of course he shows up a lot here. His name in the treecat language is Laughs Brightly.
*** And his human ''nickname'' is Stinker, as in [[WesternAnimation/BugsBunny "Ain't I a stinker?"]] - pretty much a direct cultural translation.
** The incredibly helpful description of the Sphinxian Chipmunk given by the narration is worth a mention: It has six legs (like most fauna from Sphinx), [[DisSimile and looks nothing like a Terran chipmunk]]. This sort of disconnect between something's name and its Terran analogue would eventually turn into one of the franchise's {{Running Gag}}s.