History WMG / Flashman

The Papers contain numerous inconsistencies and inaccuracies, as admitted in Fraser's footnotes, but a lot of these are hard to explain in-universe. A particularly glaring example is in ''Flashman's Lady'', when Flashman, following a battle against pirates in Borneo, recounts how he witnessed the execution of a certain pirate, only for a footnote to explain that not only did no executions take place after this particular battle, but the pirate in question is known to have still been alive at a later date. In the same book Flashman "discovers" that the White Raja of Sarawak was castrated by a bullet wound, but a footnote acknowledges that this is bullshit. Also in the same book the whole thing happens because Flashman encounters and remembers Tom Brown but the chronologically later ''Flashman in the Great Game'' establishes that Flashman [[ButForMeItWasTuesday has no idea who he is]], and the dates place him in Madagascar at the same time as ''Flashman and the Mountain of Light'' puts him in India. All of these are easy explainable from a RealLife perspective as Fraser making mistakes or wanting to make the story more interesting, but in-universe it's difficult to explain some of them, particularly the first one, if the papers are in fact genuine. You could say that this only proves ''Flashman's Lady'', which was canonically "discovered" after some of the other papers were published, was forged, but several other books reference ''Flashman's Lady'', so if that's a forgery then they presumably are too.

[[WMG: Flashman is the less moral past life of [[Literature/{{A Symphony of Eternity}} Metternich per Pelasgiamus]].]]

* And McAuslan is the pre-incarnation of Jurgen.

[[WMG: Flashman is the ''pre''-incarnation of CiaphasCain.]]

As a handsome {{Casanova}} he naturally has a great deal of luck with the ladies but at times his ability seems to go beyond this and even women who have every reason to hate him fall under his spell. In ''Flashman and the Redskins'' he claim's that he would have been able to talk a vengeful ex-lover into forgiving him for selling her to the American Indians if she hadn't gagged him - and that she only gagged him because she realised he could get to her. In the same book he admits he can't fully explain his power over women.

** [[DidNotDoTheResearch You're right.]]
*** [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Who says reincarnation is linear?]]

Unfortunately, being A) Victorian and B) British, he's surrounded by people who never, ever, talk about their feelings.

Note that, while brave, Flashman ''does'' have a strong sense of self-preservation and is extremely GenreSavvy. As such, he's not going to take stupid risks. Again, his biased recollection colours this good sense as cowardice.

[[WMG: Flashman is the ''pre''-incarnation of {{Ciaphas Cain}}.]]

*** [[{{Discworld}} Who says reincarnation is linear?]]

<<|WildMassGuessing|>>

We'll never know the details of Flashman's involvement in the American Civil War. We know he fought on both sides and was praised by both Robert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln, and claimed that, but for his incompetence, the South would have won at Gettysburg. But there are many mysteries of the war that he might have taken part in, and one is Order 191, the Confederate order found wrapped around cigars by a Union soldier, which led to the Battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg. No one knows how it was lost, but I wouldn't be surprised if Flashman had something to do with it...