History Literature / HonorHarrington

* MovingTheGoalposts: An admiral who did not care for the development of LAC-based tactics and technology managed to get himself put on charge of the evaluation board and started putting more and more restrictions on how the weapons could be used in an effort to get a test battle in which the new [=LACs=] would be decisively defeated. Captain Truman recognized the plan and sent notification letters to even ''higher'' ranking officers; not asking them to change anything or intervene on her behalf, but simply appraising them of the situation so that they would look at ''all'' the data when it came time to review the exercise. [[spoiler: When the Peeps launch an actual attack on the system the entire plan becomes moot, as the [=LACs=] are put into real combat and perform superbly]].

* NervesOfSteel: Half of the characters, but ''especially'' Honor, if only because she is routinely thrown into the worst situations. (Hundreds or thousands of other people are along with her in the same situations, but she is in command, and their lives are ''her'' responsibility.)

* NoTranshumanismAllowed: The Beowulf Life Code outlaws anything that adjusts the human body beyond its natural limits, even [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld prolong]] is described as just modifying and extending natural biological processes as opposed to drastically altering the human genome. Honor has faced occasional issues with her own status as a "Genie," a person whose ancestry includes genetic modifcation (In her case, the Meyerdahl First Wave modification which adjusted her ancestors for life on the high-gravity world of Sphinx). The role of the Mesa is designed to explore this. [[spoiler: David Weber has commented that Mesa has perfectly valid concerns and is right about Beowulf holding back humanity by outlawing transhumanism, but that they have been corrupted by hundreds of years of insular planning and hiding and now believe they must show that Beowulf is wrong by force]].

* ObfuscatingStupidity: A number of Havenite military and political officers, most spectacularly Admiral Lester "Cowboy" Tourvile. It was something of a survival trait in the old [=PRH=], thanks to StateSec.
** Kevin Usher practiced obfuscating ''[[PlayingDrunk drunkenness]]'', for a similar reason. ([[spoiler: Well, that practice was also helped by his being owed a favor by Saint-Just, for Usher's role in the conspiracy to overthrow the Legislaturalists]]).
--->"Lesson number - what is it, now? - eight, I think. A ''reputation'' for being a drunk can keep you out of as much trouble as being one gets you into." [Usher] padded to his couch and sunk into it. "I've got a high capacity for alcohol, but I don't drink anywhere near as much as people think."

'''Warning: Spoilers ahead. As a LongRunner, [[LateArrivalSpoiler Late Arrival Spoilers]] of the early books are unavoidable. Caution advised.'''

* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: Several examples, many of them, of course, from Haven, where seemingly the leading cause of death is being in politics. Or aircar accidents, [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch depending on who you ask.]]
** This proves especially nasty when a prominent politician ACTUALLY has an aircar accident at a very bad time.

'''Warning: Tropes may have spoilers. Caution advised.'''

* AbsentAliens: Not really absent, just... not important. Humanity has made contact with at least twelve sapient species during its exploration of the galaxy, and at least one multi-stellar species has gone extinct (The Alphanes), but they are not involved in the story at all. The Medusans of Basilisk are important in the first novel, but fade into the background once Honor leaves their system since they only possess a Bronze Age level of technology. The only sapient aliens that have a presence throughout the series are the treecats of Sphinx, primarily represented by Nimitz, the 'cat who has adopted Honor.

* NWordPrivileges: Honor makes her guest feel uncomfortable when she explains that she is a "Genie". She then goes on to venture that most people on her homeworld are genetically modified by now they just do not think about it.

** Kevin Usher practiced obfuscating ''drunkenness'', for a similar reason. ([[spoiler: Well, that practice was also helped by his being owed a favor by Saint-Just, for Usher's role in the conspiracy to overthrow the Legislaturalists]]).

* LesYay:
** Emily Alexander says she would be attracted to Honor, if she wasn't paralyzed, in a conversation with Allison. (This is also a case of EvenTheGirlsWantHer.)

** Emily Alexander says she would be attracted to Honor, if she wasn't paralyzed, in a conversation with Allison.

*** Combined with the fact that the SLN would have to act ''without'' an official declaration of war (which it's clear Beowulf would veto) this would doubtless cause a political storm. This is ExactlyAsPlanned for the Mesan Alignment.

** The ''first'' thing Berry says to Thandi when they meet is "if you were a guy, I'd tear my clothes off right now!" Various lines throughout ''Crown of Slaves'' indicate that if Thandi were not already taken or completely straight herself, Berry might have done so anyway.

* IThoughtItMeant: Despite what it sounds like, Manticore is not at war with [[http://marshmallowpeeps.com trays of marshmallow chickens and bunnies]].

* AntiHero: Mostly as secondary characters. Chief Harkness, Jeremy X, Klaus Hauptmann, etc. The Spook Duo are more than willing to ignore some pesky little rules in their pursuits, too...

''Honor Harrington'' is a MilitaryScienceFiction series by DavidWeber. The book series is mainly set around the adventures of the titular heroine, although we see a fair amount of the wider universe. The primary conflict of the storyline is the Kingdom of Manticore (The Good Guys) vs. The (People's) Republic of Haven (The Bad Guys Who Get Something Of A HeelFaceTurn).

* WineIsClassy: William Alexander is a real connoisseur of the fine vintages and explicitly calls other drinks uncultured and low-class. Played with in that it is his older brother, Hamish, who holds the family title, and he doesn't drink anything except beer. Ham even [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] over his brother's love of wine in one of their frequent after-dinner banters.

** Anyone who fails Albrecht Detweiler is terrified he'll adopt this policy, though there have been no examples of it (yet).

* SecretWeapon: The Grav Lance in ''On Basilisk Station.'' It's devastatingly effective, but only if you can trick your enemy into closing to point-blank range.

* FixedForwardFacingWeapon: Spine-mounted grasers on [=LACs=].

** In ''Ashes of Victory'', there were three: Project Ghostrider, the Pod Superdreadnoughts, and the ''Shrike''-class LACs.

** Literally when a hardcore fundamentalist Grayson [[spoiler:kills the head of his own church in an attempt to assassinate Honor. He suffers a BSOD upon realising and his grief stricken testimony is the main plank in the case that convicts the Steadholder Burdette of treason and murder.]]

* LeaveNoSurvivors: Narrowed averted in ''Echoes''. When the combined Grayson-Manticore fleet with the new [[MacrossMissileMassacre podnaughts]] rides to [[spoiler: the defence of Basilisk]], Earl White Haven nearly has a heart attack when he thinks Admiral Yanakov ordered no quarter. Fortunately, the latter only called for no mercy.

* OperationBlank: Manticoran op names are randomly assigned, which gives us gems like Operations Buttercup, Cutworm, and Lunch Basket. Haven tends to favor grandiose names like Operations Icarus, Pegasus, and Thunderbolt. So far Solarian naval ops favor the poetic, like Operations East Wind and Winter Forage, while Mesan covert ops favor very direct names like Operation Rat Poison and Operation [[TrojanHorse Wooden Horse]].