History Literature / HonorHarrington

* EmbarassingNickname: Lieutenant Travis Uriah Long. One of his teachers decided his name sounded like "Travis Oolong" ([[DontExplainTheJoke "U. Long"]]), which became "[[PunnyName Travis Tea]]", until he was finally known as "[[IronicNickname Travesty]]" or "[[NeverHeardThatOneBefore Such a Travesty]]".

[[folder:''Stephanie Harrington'']]

** In ''Shadow of Freedom'', Captain Zavala and Lieutenant Hearns mercilessly dig into the Saltash governor and the leaders of the Solarian gendarmes respectively. Zavala even changes communication lines in mid-conversation with the governor to speak with the CO of one of the naval forces they're facing.

** Captain Zavala in ''Shadow of Freedom''. He has no problem with attacking the Solarian force when it refuses to surrender. The moment they do -- after Zavala's first salvo utterly destroys its target -- Zavala realizes the ''next'' three salvos are already committed, preventing several thousand Solarians from abandoning ship in time, including the Vice Admiral.

* DamageSpongeBoss: The Solarian League's navy is obsolete in every meaningful way. Its hardware is 20 years or more out of date, its got no sense of modern doctrine, its officers have never had real war experience, and it is so convinced of its own superiority that it is barely even paying attention to the huge war between Haven and Manticore. Ship to ship, any Havenite or Manticoran ship would beat a Solarian ship without the Solarians even getting in range to fire a shot. But, the League's navy is so incredibly large that, when discussing the possibility of all out war, the Manticorans' most pressing tactical concern is that they'll run out of ammo before running out of targets. Later [[spoiler:after Manticore allies with Haven]], however, that completely ceases to be a consideration, resulting in this beautiful and badass quote by Aivars Terekhov:

* CustomUniform: All Manticoran starship skippers wear a white beret, something that nobody else in the RMN is authorized to wear.
** Members of [[PraetorianGuard The Protector's Own Squadron]] wear distinctive red and gold uniforms, in contrast to the blue-and-light-blue of the rest of the Grayson Space Navy. This usually doesn't fit the trope, except that officers from the Protector's Own occassionally get detatched to serve with regular GSN units in order to cross-pollinate their expertise.

** The federal structure of the new Star Empire of Manticore is described [[{{Infodump}} at some length]] in ''Storm from the Shadows'', as well as in the new companion volume ''House of Steel''. Namely, it consist of the "Old Star Kingdom" -- the five planets[[note]]Manticore, Sphinx, Gryphon, Basilisk and San Martin[[/note]] that were there before the expansion and are still governed directly, in addition to sending their representatives to the original Parliament in Landing; and two associated Quadrants: Talbott, the subject of a "Wages of Sin" subseries, and the yet-unadressed Silesian one, which are given significant authonomy, elect their own governing Assemblies, and are allowed their own standing armed forces. This structure generally makes them very similar to the British Dominions.

** The federal structure of the new Star Empire of Manticore is described [[{{Infodump}} at some length]] in ''Storm from the Shadows'', as well as in the new companion volume ''House of Steel''.

** The federal structure of the new Star Empire of Manticore is described [[Infodump at some length]] in ''Storm from the Shadows'', as well as in the new companion volume ''House of Steel''.

* PlasmaCannon: Comes in full size and carbine models, used by Manticorian infantry as anti-armor weapons. The Royal Manticorian Army mounts a ''[=120mm=]'' version on tanks.

* RevengeMyopia: Solarian Fleet Admiral Rajampet Rajani states, in no uncertain terms that he does not care how justified the Manticorans believed they were in killing Admiral Josef Byng, and goes on to say he doesn't care how justified they actually ''were.'' His biggest concern is the blow to the Solarian League Navy's prestige their actions have caused and the precedents it could set.

* RevengeMyopia: Solarian Fleet Admiral Rajani Rajampet states, in no uncertain terms that he does not care how justified the Manticorans believed they were in killing Admiral Josef Byng, and goes on to say he doesn't care how justified they actually ''were.'' His biggest concern is the blow to the Solarian League Navy's prestige their actions have caused and the precedents it could set.

* BadLiar: Honor, Sir Webster, a few other Manticoran officers-cum-diplomats. In fact, that's part of the reason they're ''chosen'' as diplomats; their inability to lie well makes their honesty equally obvious. Apparently, Webster is such a terrible liar that people actually mistake his attempts to do so for ''sarcasm''.

** In ''The Honor Of The Queen'', the religiously conservative Graysons initially can't handle Honor's mere presence, due to their prejudice against women. They simply can't believe that a woman can in any way be capable of a military command. This changes after the planetary newsnet gets their hands on a security-camera recording of [[spoiler:Honor decimating a small army of armed assassins who were trying to kill the planet's leader -- with her bare hands.]] Afterwards, nobody dares question her worthiness of command, which may look like they're following the logic of this trope. An alternative interpretation may suggest a mild case of StayInTheKitchen attitude — being accustomed to protecting women at all costs, male Graysons balk at the thought of women in uniform, but having witnessed Honor's aptitude at violence, most become convinced that at least her command was truly earned.

* BadLiar: Honor, Sir Webster, a few other Manticoran officers-cum-diplomats. In fact, that's part of the reason they're ''chosen'' as diplomats; their inability to lie well makes their honesty equally obvious.
** Apparently, Webster is such a terrible liar that people actually mistake his attempts to do so for ''sarcasm''.

--->[[spoiler:'''Albrecht Detweiler''']]: What? We didn't have ''anything'' to do with that!!

* LoopholeAbuse: How the Solarian League's bureaucrats gained their power.
** Under Burdette Steading law, the eldest male member of the household is considered the legal head of the household, and is held responsible for the family finances. Claire's seventeen year old cousin uses this as justification to regularly drain her bank account of the money she earned in the Navy. Meanwhile, Burdette Steading law ''also'' stipulates that an officer in the Grayson armed forces is considered a Gentleman, and thus not dependent to anyone else in their family (the law being written when only men could serve in the Grayson armed forces). Micheal Mayhew thus considers having Claire legally declared a gentleman in order to free her of her cousin's control. [[spoiler: Claire rejects the idea, preferring to contact Steadholder Burdette directly to resolve the issue rather than end running him]].

* RevengeMyopia: Solarian Fleet Admiral Rajampet Rajani states, in no uncertain terms that he does not care how justified the Manticorans believed they were in killing Admiral Josef Byng, and goes on to say he doesn't care how justified they actually ''were.'' His biggest concern is the blow to the Solarian League Navy's prestige their actions have caused and the precedents it could set.

* [[VictorianBritain The Victorian Era]]: Traditional Grayson social attitudes toward women, the first time Honor encounters them in ''The Honor of the Queen'', very strongly resemble those of the Victorian period. Honor's actions and influence have had a powerful effect, but it's only recently that Grayson women have, for instance, begun entering their world's armed forces.