Line #17 Literature/RoburTheConqueror


1	[[quoteright:260:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robur.jpg]]
2	''Robur the Conqueror'' (''Robur-le-Conquérant'' in the original French), also known as ''The Clipper of the Clouds'' or ''A Trip Round the World in a Flying Machine'', is a pioneering early science fiction novel by Creator/JulesVerne.
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4	InAWorld where repeating sightings of an unidentified flying object are confusing the heck out of everybody, the balloon enthusiasts at the Weldon Institute are more concerned about finishing their CoolAirship. Just as their plans are reaching fever pitch, two of their top bigwigs are kidnapped by the mysterious Robur, who takes them around the world on his [[CoolPlane outrageously sophisticated flying machine]] ''Albatross'',[[note]]Yep, you guessed it, the ''Albatross'' was the UFO that had caused all the commotion.[[/note]] just to prove that [[AnAesop heavier-than-air travel is the way of the future]] and that lighter-than-air, balloon-style airships [[ItWillNeverCatchOn will never catch on]]. Adventure, intrigue, and (in classic Verne style) [[ShownTheirWork gobs and gobs of lovingly detailed scientific and geographic exposition]] all ensue.
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6	Like most of Verne's work, ''Robur the Conqueror'' is now in the public domain. Copies of the book are hosted by Project Gutenberg, including the [[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5126 original French text]] and an [[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3808 English translation]]. (Warning: like many public-domain Verne translations, the old English translations of ''Robur'' take [[DubInducedPlotlineChange considerable liberties with the story]], and make [[BlindIdiotTranslation numerous errors]]. A university press finally published [[https://www.amazon.com/Robur-Conqueror-Classics-Science-Fiction/dp/081957726X an accurate translation]] in 2017.)
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8	Followed by a sequel, ''Literature/MasterOfTheWorld'', and made into a [[Film/MasterOfTheWorld movie]], although in the movie, the ''Albatross'' [[AdaptationDistillation is turned into]] a CoolAirship, not a CoolPlane.
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11	!!''Robur the Conqueror'' displays these tropes:
12	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The novel is very clearly set ''around'' the time it was written, but it also casually mentions the existence of the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and several other innovations that were still in the planning stages at the time.
13	* AntiHero[=/=]AntiVillain: Robur. (That's right, he could be described as either one. It's surprisingly hard to tell which trope describes him better.)
14	* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The ''Albatross'' is carried by storm between Mount Erebus and Mount Terror and narrowly misses by a lucky helm handling the flames spewing from Mount Erebus' crater. The tone of the story makes people think of it as some [[Franchise/StarWars dashing flight through a canyon of fire]]. In RealLife the mountains are separated by more than 15 miles, Mount Terror has been extinct for at least 800,000 years and Mount Erebus' flames never jump for thousands of yards into the atmosphere.
15	* AuthorTract: Verne belonged to a "Heavier-Than-Air" innovation society when he was young, so it's no surprise that one running theme of this book is a continual deconstruction of the CoolAirship trope. At the end, when the kidnapped bigwigs escape, return home and finish their airship, the ''Albatross'' suddenly shows up at its launch and circles the dirigible menacingly. The latter tries to escape upwards, but its balloon ruptures from low pressure at high altitude. Robur saves the airship's entire crew, safely carries them back to the audience, makes a little speech about the awesomeness of heavier-than-air machines and flies away, leaving the group of airship fanboys completely embarrassed. (See also "Fantastic Aesop" below.)
16	* BornInTheWrongCentury: Robur evokes this trope in his final speech.
17	* CanonWelding: The first chapter mentions the cannon from ''Literature/TheBegumsMillions''. (Insert inevitable joke about "[[IncrediblyLamePun Cannon Welding]]" here.)
18	* CaptainNemoCopy: Like Verne's earlier character, Robur possess a unique (at the time) heavier-than-air craft called the ''Albatross'' constructed on a secret island with which he travels the skies, flaunting his superior technology, and eventually uses it to exact revenge on the people who tried to destroy his work. He's more or less an airborne Captain Nemo.
19	* CelebrityParadox: The book name-drops a whole bunch of French scientists and celebrities who had, in RealLife, supported aviation research by joining a Heavier-Than-Air Society in the 1860s. However, Verne carefully avoids mentioning one particularly enthusiastic member of that Society: himself!
20	* ChekhovMIA: See "Shoo Out the Clowns" below.
21	* ChekhovsGun: A minor aversion; early on, the ''Albatross'' is described as carrying all sorts of equipment, including an actual 6 cm deck gun and a printing press. The gun comes briefly in handy for a scene about rescuing political prisoners, but does nothing to further the main plot. And the press is never mentioned again!
22	* CoolAirship: Subverted. The ''Go Ahead'' is an impressive airship in itself, but it looks absolutely pathetic next to the heavier-than-air flying machine ''Albatross''.
23	* CoolPlane: The ''Albatross'', of course.
24	* TheDividual: Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans are pretty clearly a Syndividual.
25	* TheDragon: Robur's first mate, Tom Turner (whose first name is inexplicably changed to ''John'' in ''Literature/MasterOfTheWorld'').
26	* {{Eagleland}}: A mixed-flavor example. The Americans are boorish, but the landscape itself is awesome, not to mention that the Americans are not any more boorish than the Europeans.
27	* FantasticAesop: The main point of the whole novel is that, ''if'' somebody finds a way of making heavier-than-air travel practical, then all the people who are trying to make balloon travel more practical will look pretty silly. (Of course, that was a highly researched hypothesis on Verne's part, and it's been largely supported by history. That doesn't make it any less of a Fantastic Aesop in historical context, though.)
28	* FutureCopter: ''Albatross''. Strictly speaking, lift and thrust are produced by separate rotors, making it a gyrodyne.
29	* GeniusBruiser: Robur.
30	* IgnoredEpiphany: Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans spend most of the book getting a FantasticAesop about flying machines proven to them in every possible way…but, as the narration points out near the end, both of them are just too stubborn and narrow-minded to let it alter their actions much.
31	* LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard: Robur intends to imprison Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans on his secret hideaway island for the rest of their lives…but first, he takes them on a long trip in a flying machine stocked with ropes, tools, and explosives. The inevitable escape ensues.
32	* MadScientist: Robur.
33	* MeaningfulName: ''Robur'' is [[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/robur Latin for "strength,"]] and the albatross is a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatross very big, extremely efficient bird of flight.]]
34	* MultipleChoicePast: Robur's cook, François Tapage, has a different explanation of Robur's backstory every time you ask him. None of which are compatible with any of the others.
35	* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: The ''Albatross'', [[http://aerostories.free.fr/dossiers/ADAV/robur.JPG as this miniature model shows,]] is a sort of giant helicopter with a ship-like hull, built from a SteamPunk analogue of modern laminate/composite materials and powered by batteries far better than what we use today.
36	* SeriousBusiness: The airship enthusiasts at the Weldon Institute.
37	* ShooOutTheClowns: Frycollin, who's given the burden of supplying most of the comic relief, is [[PresentAbsence notably absent]] during the two most dramatic moments in the book. The first time, his absence is itself PlayedForDrama and turns out to be a minor case of ChekhovMIA; the second time, it's just explained that he's [[OptOut tired of all the hullaballoo and decided to stay home]].
38	* ShownTheirWork: This is one of the hallmarks of Verne's style, and he doesn't disappoint here.
39	* TheSkyIsAnOcean: This book may well be the TropeCodifier. Not only is the ''Albatross'' essentially a ship with propellers instead of sails, but the narration keeps using nautical terminology and phrases like "aerial sea," and the balloon ''Go Ahead'' is actually compared with an [[SpaceWhale airborne whale]].
40	* SkyPirate: This novel is among the earliest {{Trope Maker}}s, if not the UrExample.
41	* StealthSequel: ''Robur'' has a surprise sequel in the form of a [[spoiler:later Verne novel, ''Literature/MasterOfTheWorld'']].
42	* ThoseMagnificentFlyingMachines: What the novel is all about.
43	* UncleTomfoolery: The black servant Frycollin, portrayed as an abject coward who's not particularly bright, is the victim of some of the most uncomfortably racist humor in Verne's entire oeuvre.
44	** Interestingly, this is far from typical behavior for Verne. While he did use some non-white characters as PluckyComicRelief, and they often served as a TokenMinority, he almost always portrayed them in a positive light and as resourceful, intelligent and equal to white characters. Frycollin is just a very unfortunate exception.
45	* WackyAmericansHaveWackyNames: Played straight with some of the American characters (Jem Cip? ''Bat T. Fynn?''), but averted with others (William Forbes, Phil Evans).
46	* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: Majorly subverted by the heavier-than-air design of the ''Albatross'', and by the whole premise that lighter-than-air travel is hopelessly outmoded.

Context Literature / RoburTheConqueror