History YMMV / MemoriesOfTheEagleAndTheJaguar

** In the second book, it comes to absolutely no surprise that [[spoiler:Judith Kinski works for the bad guys; if not because she looks and acts like a classical Bond Girl, at least because her discoveries about the Gold Dragon are always reported by the Specialist to the Collector right after she makes them.]] The only real shock might be that [[spoiler:she is the Specialist herself instead of another secondary agent like Armadillo]].
** In the third, [[spoiler:Kosongo, Mbembelé and Sombe being the same person]] is incredibly obvious from the start. [[spoiler:Not only the three are described very early to have the same bodybuilder body type, but Kosongo is mentioned to have the same arm scars and bands as Mbembelé, and is nowhere to be seen in his own palace whereas Mbembelé is always there. Sombe might be a slightly harder guess due to how little he appears, but once Kosongo was unmasked it was clear that Sombe would be probably yet another alias of Mbembelé.]]

* DesignatedHero: The Kingdom of the Golden Dragon is presented all-positively as a stronghold of Asian virtue against the decadence of the West, overlooking the little detail that it is effectively an absolute monarchy, complete with isolationistic, totalitarian and theocratic overtones, whose king is openly xenophobic and secretly hypocritical about it (two typical traits of real life third-world dictators). The only reason the country is in the side of the heroes is because a megalomaniac intends to steal its national treasure to rule the world from the shadows, which would be much worse than a little dictatorship lost in the Tibet. Some passages even make the kingdom sound just like North Korea, including TV being restricted, foreign culture being literally forbidden, and "happiness polls" being published to show how happy citizens are. The only justification for all this nonsense seems to be that the country's official religion is Buddhism, as Buddhists here are apparently supposed to be omnibenevolent (though this seemingly doesn't apply to China, which is portrayed as unambiguously tyrannical despite having a huge Buddhist population in real life).

** Also, for Angie. [[spoiler:Apparently, Ma Bangesé's prophecies are quite real, as Alexander and Nadia encountered a demonic three-headed monster as she said. Now, when one recalls she also prophesied that Angie would die eaten by crocodiles...]]

* ValuesDissonance: The books have a strong anti-racist message, but it's hard not to think the portrayal of Africa and its inhabitants in the third book could be considered quite racist itself after the culture wars of TheNewTens, even if it is quite TruthInTelevision. The usage of "pygmy" in the title to begin with is seen as offensive today.

* AcceptableReligiousTargets: The second book roasts all that is not UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}}, but UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}} gets the shortest end by being portrayed as not only classist as usual, but also bloody and cruel, with the Brotherhood of the Scorpion being worshippers of Kali. The Brotherhood might be actually two targets in one, given that their customs, clothes, weapons and traits all sound incredibly Muslim, specifically like real life Afghans and classical portrayals of TheHashshashin.

* AcceptableReligiousTargets: The second book roasts all that is not UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}}, but UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}} gets the shortest end by being portrayed as not only classist, but also bloody and cruel, with the Brotherhood of the Scorpion being worshippers of Kali. The Brotherhood might be actually two targets in one, given that their customs, clothes, weapons and traits all sound incredibly Muslim, specifically like real life Afghans and classical portrayals of TheHashshashin, yet they are not.

** Western cultures have more to learn philosophically from non-white cultures than vice versa, sometimes at the cost of becoming a BrokenAesop.

** In the second book, it comes to absolutely no surprise that [[spoiler:Judith Kinski works for the bad guys; if not because she looks and acts like a classical Bond Girl, at least because her discoveries about the Gold Dragon are always reported by the Specialist to the Collector right after she makes them.]] The only real surprise might be that [[spoiler:she is the Specialist herself instead of another agent like Armadillo]].

* DesignatedHero: The Kingdom of the Golden Dragon is presented all-positively as a stronghold of Asian virtue against the decadence of the West, overlooking the little detail that it is effectively an absolute monarchy, complete with isolationistic, totalitarian and theocratic overtones, whose king is openly xenophobic and secretly hypocritical about it (two typical traits of real life dictators). The only reason the country is in the side of the heroes is because a megalomaniac intends to steal its national treasure to rule the world from the shadows, which would be much worse than a little dictatorship lost in the Tibet. Some passages even make the kingdom sound just like North Korea, including TV being restricted, foreign culture being literally forbidden, and "happiness polls" being published to show how happy citizens are. The only justification for all this nonsense seems to be that the country's official religion is Buddhism, as Buddhists are apparently supposed to be omnibenevolent (though this seemingly doesn't apply to China, which is portrayed as unambiguously tyrannical despite having a huge Buddhist population in real life).

** The third book ends with the heroes overthrowing king Kosongo and reinstating the previous queen, Nana-Asante. That's it, they have not brought democracy nor re-connected Ngoubé to the Kenyan government, they have merely changed a SorcerousOverlord by another. And although it can be argued that Nana-Asante at least isn't backed by military insurgents nor interested in slavery like Kosongo was, in the last pages of the book she has already decided to restrict the missionaries' influences over the tribe and instate a sexist social order with flimsy justifications at the best. At the end of the day, the natives are again forced to trust the goodness of a chieftain(ess) they have no power to resist against.
** Also, for Angie. [[spoiler:Apparently, Ma Bangesé's prophecies are quite real, as Alexander and Nadia encountered a demonic three-headed monster as she said. Now, when one recalls she prophesied Angie that she would die eaten by crocodiles...]]
* InformedWrongness: The trilogy seems to treat poverty in an ambivalent way. When criticized by western characters, some non-western character will inevitably reply with a defense of sobriety and non-materialism, underlining that their purported poverty is just a confusion with fact that they don't need as many things to live as foreigners need. However, when pointed out by non-westerners, it is always to lament how globalization empoverished and exploited third world countries until leaving them in ruins. The only exception is made when Alexander tries to do mass charity in ''Golden Dragon'' and almost ends up dying under a mass of people, and even then, the Aesop stated is that you cannot change the whole world with good intentions.
* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: One of the most typical complaints about the trilogy is how the plot structure tends to be rather similar in all the three books.

* SpiritualAdaptation: So much that it is not even subtle. A story about a nerdy, bespectacled western boy and his exotic, dark-skinned female friend who is in tune with nature, SpeaksFluentAnimal and carries along an intelligent animal companion, all of them traveling to faraway regions of the world and discovering ancient civilizations with lost supernatural powers? And the girl is named [[Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater Nadia]] of all names?

** Greed is bad, environmentalism is good. SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped for some.

* AccidentalInnuendo: In the second book, Kates recalls how she was being wooed by Isaac, until Joseph Cold came and charmed her with his magical flute.

** Western cultures have more to learn philosophically from non-white cultures than vice versa, sometimes becoming a BrokenAesop.

* DesignatedHero: The Kingdom of the Golden Dragon is presented all-positively as a stronghold of Asian virtue against the decadence of the West, overlooking the little detail that it is effectively an absolute monarchy, complete with isolationistic, totalitarian and theocratic overtones, whose king is openly xenophobic and secretly hypocritical about it, two typical traits of western dictators. The only reason the country is in the side of the heroes is because a megalomaniac intends to steal its national treasure to rule the world from the shadows, which would be much worse than a little dictatorship lost in the Tibet. Some passages even make the kingdom sound just like North Korea, including TV being restricted, foreign culture being literally forbidden, and "happiness polls" being published to show how happy citizens are. The only justification for all this nonsense seems to be that the country's official religion is Buddhism, as Buddhists are apparently supposed to be omnibenevolent (though this seemingly doesn't apply to China, which is portrayed as unambiguously tyrannical despite having a huge Buddhist population).

** The third book ends up with the heroes overthrowing king Kosongo and reinstating the previous queen, Nana-Asante. That's it, they have not brought democracy nor re-connected Ngoubé to the Kenyan government, they have merely changed a SorcerousOverlord by another. And although it can be argued that Nana-Asante at least isn't backed by military insurgents nor interested in slavery like Kosongo was, in the last pages of the book she has already decided to restrict the missionaries' influences over the tribe and instate a sexist social order with flimsy justifications at the best. At the end of the day, the natives are again forced to trust the goodness of a chieftain(ess) they have no power to resist against.

* InformedWrongness: The trilogy seems to treat poverty in an ambivalent way. When criticized by western characters, some non-western character will inevitably reply with a defense of sobriety and non-materialism, underlining that their purported poverty is just the fact that they don't need as many things to live as foreigners need. However, when pointed out by non-westerners, it is always to lament how globalization empoverished and exploited third world countries until leaving them in ruins. The only exception is made when Alexander tries to do mass charity in ''Golden Dragon'' and almost ends up dying under a mass of people, and even then, the Aesop stated is that you cannot change the whole world with good intentions.

* {{Narm}}: Armadillo being such an American stereotype might make him hard to take seriously, even if [[spoiler:most of it is a ''deliberately'' stereotypical disguise.]]

* ValuesDissonance: Even if the books have a strong anti-racist message, it's hard not to think the portrayal of Africa and its inhabitants in the third book could be considered quite racist itself after the culture wars of TheNewTens, even if they are TruthInTelevision. The usage of "pygmy" in the title to begin with is seen as offensive today.

* {{Anvilicious}}:

** Western cultures have more to learn philosophically from non-white cultures than vice versa.
** WomenAreWiser, often hammered down in all the three books.

** In the third, [[spoiler:Kosongo, Mbembelé and Sombe being the same person]] is incredibly obvious from the start. [[spoiler:Not only the three are described very early to have the same bodybuilder body type, but Kosongo is mentioned to have the same arm scars and bands as Mbembelé, and is nowhere to be seen in his own palace whereas Mbembelé is always there. Sombe might be a slightly harder guess due to how little he appears, but once Kosongo was unmasked it was clear that he would be yet another alias of Mbembelé.]]

* DesignatedHero: The Kingdom of the Golden Dragon is presented all-positively as a stronghold of Asian virtue against the decadence of the west, overlooking the little detail that it is effectively an absolute monarchy, complete with isolationistic, totalitarian and theocratic overtones, whose king is openly xenophobic and slightly hypocritical. The only reason the country is in the side of the heroes is because a megalomaniac intends to steal its national treasure to rule the world from the shadows, which would be much worse than a little dictatorship lost in the Tibet. Some passages even make the kingdom sound just like North Korea, with the only justification being that its official religion is Buddhism and Buddhists are apparently supposed to be omnibenevolent (though this seemingly doesn't apply to China, which is portrayed as unambiguously tyrannical).

** The third book ends up with the heroes overthrowing king Kosongo and reinstating the previous queen, Nana-Asante. That's it, they have not brought democracy nor re-connected Ngoubé to the Kenyan government, they have merely changed a SorcerousOverlord by another. And although it can be argued that Nana-Asante at least isn't backed by military insurgents nor interested in slavery like Kosongo was, at the last pages of the book she has already decided to limit the missionaries' influences over the tribe and instate a sexist social order with flimsy justifications at the best. At the end of the day, the natives are again forced to trust the goodness of a chieftain(ess) they have no power to resist against.

* SpiritualAdaptation: So much that it is not even subtle. A story about a nerdy, bespectacled western boy and his exotic, dark-skinned female friend who is in tune with nature, SpeaksFluentAnimal and carries along an intelligent animal companion, all of them traveling to faraway regions of the world and discovering ancient civilizations with lost supernatural powers? And the girl is named [[Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater Nadia]] of all things?

** WomenAreWiser, which is sometimes hammered down in the books.

* EsotericHappyEnding: For Angie. [[spoiler:Apparently, Ma Bangesé's prophecies are quite real, as Alexander and Nadia encountered a demonic three-headed monster as she said. Now, when one recalls she prophesied Angie that she would die eaten by crocodiles...]]

* ContestedSequel: The third book is ''very'' divisive. Some consider it a great trilogy finale due to its fascinating premise and spirituality, while others consider it a ClicheStorm of classical "adventures in Africa" stories that also feels underdeveloped and rushed.
* {{Narm}}: Armadillo being such an American stereotype might make him hard to take seriously, even if [[spoiler:most of it is a deliberately stereotypical disguise.]]

* ValuesDissonance: Even if the books have a strong anti-racist message, it's hard not to think some of the portrayals of Africa and its inhabitants in the third book would be considered quite racist themselves after the culture wars of TheNewTens, even if they are TruthInTelevision. Only the usage of "pygmy" in the title could be considered offensive today.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Greed is bad, environmentalism is good. SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped for some.
* CaptainObviousReveal: In the second book, it comes to absolutely no surprise that [[spoiler:Judith Kinski works for the bad guys, if not because she looks and acts like a classical Bond Girl, at least because her discoveries about the Gold Dragon are always reported by the Specialist to the Collector right after she makes them.]] The only real surprise might be that [[spoiler:she is the Specialist herself, instead of one of his agents]].
* SpiritualAdaptation: So much that it is not even subtle. A story about a nerdy, bespectacled western boy and his exotic, dark-skinned female friend who is in tune with nature, SpeaksFluentAnimal and carries along an intelligent animal companion, all of them traveling to faraway regions of the world and discovering ancient civilizations with lost supernatural powers? And the girl is named [[Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater Nadia]] of all things?