History Literature / WolfHall

* FreudianExcuse: Implied for Cromwell, though not belabored. When Harry Norris says that he'd rather just die than endure trial and execution at the word of a king he's spent his life in service to, Cromwell privately thinks that it's not that easy and that after all his losses--his sisters, his daughters, his wife, Wolsey--your heart doesn't stop beating as you wish it would, it just turns to stone.
* GeniusBruiser: Cromwell was a brawler in his youth and spent some years as a mercenary in Italy, and while he no longer likes to solve problems using violence, he easily still could (and other people who interact with him know it). When people poke him in the chest it bounces off, and he's capable of dragging a large, half-armored man out of a room.

* PlanetOfSteves: There's numerous Thomases in the story, including but not limited to Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Wolsey, Thomas Boleyn, Thomas More, and Thomas Cranmer. This gets a LampshadeHanging in one scene where Wolsey has his first meeting with Boleyn and Boleyn takes note of Cromwell. Cromwell thinks to himself that Boleyn will not remember him, because "half the world is named Thomas". There's also several Henries, including the current monarch, and the fact that Cromwell's sister-in-law Johane is married to a Jonathan and has a daughter called Jo. There's also a scene where Cromwell is lusting after Elizabeth Seymour and is relieved to learn that she goes by Bess, which allows him to separate her from his late wife, also named Elizabeth, but who went by the nickname Liz.

* ObliviousToLove: When Helen Barre asks Cromwell just how sure he is that her disappeared husband is dead so that she's free to marry again, he just answers that he's very sure and goes on with his other business. It's not until months later, after she's married Rafe, that Cromwell realizes she wanted to be free to marry ''him''. One of the few times he misses a trick.

** Cromwell often addresses Wolsey in his thoughts, wondering what his former master would make of some event or asking his advice.

* OffWithHisHead: Bishop Fisher and Thomas More are beheaded in the first book. Anne and George Boleyn, Henry Norris, Mark Smeaton, Will Brereton, and Francis Weston are all beheaded in the second. And presumably the third will end with the beheading of Cromwell himself.

* TheHeroDies: Not yet, but guaranteed to happen in the last book in the trilogy, seeing as Thomas Cromwell was executed in 1540.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: During one of Cromwell's meeting with the abandoned Katherine of Aragon when she rails against the executions of Thomas More and John Fisher, he points out that if she had peacefully agreed to the annulment and withdrawn to a convent, they and many other people would still be alive, and Henry wouldn't have broken away from Rome. Chapuys (who visits Katherine at her deathbed) reports that Katherine talks about having caused More and Fisher's deaths, showing Cromwell's point weighed heavily on her. At the same time, Katherine is never portrayed by the narrative as being in the wrong, and Cromwell acknowledges she's been treated badly and had every right to fight back for the sake of her daughter.

* LettingYourHairDown: At one point Mary Tudor's migraine is so bad that she throws propriety to the wind, pulls off her hair net and yanks out the pins holding her hair up. Cromwell, as a witness to this, is utterly dumbstruck; the only time he's ''ever'' seen a grown woman let her hair down is as a precursor to sex -- even then, he notes that most of them tie it up again to keep it out of the way during proceedings.

''Wolf Hall'' is a novel by Hilary Mantel told from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell, one of Henry VIII's favourite advisors in the 1530s. It portrays him much more positively than most fictional depictions of Cromwell tend to, as a generally nice guy with extraordinary talents and a good sense of humour who just happens to occasionally do some morally ambiguous things to keep favour with his king. It won the 2009 Man Booker Prize, as did its sequel, ''Bring Up The Bodies'', in 2012. A third book, ''The Mirror and the Light'', is scheduled for March 2020.

''Wolf Hall'' is a novel by Hilary Mantel told from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell, one of Henry VIII's favourite advisors in the 1530s. It portrays him much more positively than most fictional depictions of Cromwell tend to, as a generally nice guy with extraordinary talents and a good sense of humour who just happens to occasionally do some morally ambiguous things to keep favour with his king. It won the 2009 Man Booker Prize, as did its sequel, ''Bring Up The Bodies'', in 2012. A third book, ''The Mirror and the Light'', is expected in the next couple of years."

* TheScrooge: Henry is willing to pour fortunes into his military campaigns, but when it comes to the women in his life he can be much more stingy. He tries to get hold of Katherine's fine furs and plate after she dies, even though Richard Riche points out that if he was never truly married to her -- as he's been claiming nonstop for close on a decade -- he's only her brother-in-law, and therefore not legally entitled to her property. When Henry sends Jane Seymour a courting gift of a prayer book, her face falls as she sees that it still has the initials H and A on the cover. As Cromwell makes excuses, saying the A can be replaced, he mentally notes that you can still see where the ''' ''K'' ''' used to be, meaning Henry's used the same gift for three different women.

* TheScrooge: Henry is willing to pour fortunes into his military campaigns, but when it comes to the women in his life he can be much more stingy. He tries to get hold of Katherine's fine furs and plate after she dies, even though Richard Riche points out that if he was never truly married to her -- as he's been claiming nonstop for close on a decade -- he's only her brother-in-law, and therefore not entitled to her property. When Henry sends Jane Seymour a courting gift of a prayer book, her face falls as she sees that it still has the initials H and A on the cover. As Cromwell makes excuses, saying the A can be replaced, he mentally notes that you can still see where the ''' ''K'' ''' used to be, meaning Henry's used the same gift for three different women.

* NoPreggerSex: Henry doesn't sleep with Anne when she's pregnant, because he's afraid that it might cause a miscarriage.

* TheScrooge: Henry is willing to pour fortunes into his military campaigns, but when it comes to the women in his life he can be much more stingy. He tries to get hold of Katherine's fine furs and plate after she dies, even though Richard Riche points out that if he was never legally married to her -- as he's been claiming nonstop for close on a decade -- he's not entitled to her property. When Henry sends Jane Seymour a courting gift of a prayer book, her face falls as she sees that it still has the initials H and A on the cover. As Cromwell makes excuses, saying the A can be replaced, he mentally notes that you can still see where the ''' ''K'' ''' used to be, meaning Henry's used the same gift for three different women.

''Wolf Hall'' is a novel by Hilary Mantel told from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell, one of Henry VIII's favourite advisors in the 1530s. It portrays him much more positively than most fictional depictions of Cromwell tend to, as a generally nice guy with extraordinary talents and a good sense of humour who just happens to occasionally do some morally ambiguous things to keep favour with his king. It won the 2009 Man Booker Prize, as did its sequel, ''Bring Up The Bodies'', in 2012. A third book, ''The Mirror and the Light'', is expected in the next couple of years.

* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment: Cromwell, with his extensive travels, practical experience as a banker and merchant (among many other occupations), appreciation for new trends in theology, politics, and economics, and generally pragmatic outlook, is a thoroughly enlightened Renaissance man. Henry and his court, meanwhile, are still stuck in the Romantic Middle Ages. A major theme of the series is the inevitability of Enlightenment overtaking a world still clinging to Romanticism. Since this is presented largely as a good things, the books could be said to fall squarely on the Enlightenment side of the scale.

* BestServedCold: He manages to hide it well, but Cromwell never forgives Anne for her part in Wolsey's downfall. He allies himself with her and aids her in becoming queen while benefiting from her rise himself, but when she proves to no longer be useful he takes his chance to get her back for it. Similarly, he makes sure to note all the people involved in the "Sending the Cardinal to Hell" masque and conveniently chooses them to be executed for committing adultery and treason with her.

It was made into [[Series/WolfHall a television miniseries]] in 2015.

It was made into a television miniseries in 2015.