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Literature / Hop-Frog

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"Hop-Frog" is a horror Short Story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1849.

A jester of the same name, who happens to have dwarfism, has served the king by providing practical jokes to play for the amusement of the court alongside fellow dwarf Trippetta. When the king pressures Hop-Frog into consuming alcohol and Trippetta tries to stop him, the king responds by pushing her and throwing wine in her face.

Unbeknownst to him, his actions would draw out Hop-Frog's ire and he would plot his revenge against the king and his council.


"Hop-Frog" provides examples of the following tropes:

  • Beware the Nice Ones: Long-suffering dwarf Hop-Frog finally snaps when the king dares to strike his beloved. His subsequent revenge is not pretty.
  • Break the Cutie: Trippetta
  • Court Jester: Hop-Frog is a court jester who was abducted and forced into his position. He ultimately gets his revenge on the king and his court.
  • Decadent Court: The king and his courtiers have nothing better to do than make fun of the jester, who was kidnapped and taken from his homeland, for his appearance and disabilty. They later harm Tripetta, which doesn’t end well for them. At all.
  • Depraved Dwarf: Subverted Trope. The king and his courtiers who torment Hop-Frog and his beloved Trippetta are the depraved ones, while the latter two are pretty nice and decent people.
  • The Dog Bites Back: The eponymous jester repays the abuse heaped upon himself and Trippetta by tricking the king and his advisors into letting him turn them into a chandelier. And then lighting it.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: After ages of being tormented by the court, Hop-Frog takes brutal revenge on the king and his courtiers. As they hang, burning alive, he and Trippetta depart to return to their homeland.
  • Fat Bastard: The obese king and his ministers.
  • Flaw Exploitation: Hop-Frog plays the king like a fiddle by taking advantage of his sadism. He presents "the Eight Chained Ourang-Outangs" as a particularly cruel prank to play on the men and women of the court, emphasizing how much it will scare the ladies, which the king finds utterly delightful.
  • Handicapped Badass: Hop-Frog may be a dwarf with deformed legs, but that doesn't stop him from getting his revenge. In particular, even though he walks with a limp, the narrator mentions that he is great at climbing because of the stength in his arms.
  • Killer Gorilla: Hop-Frog convinces the king and his men to disguise themselves as orangutans and rampage through a court ball as a practical joke. Just one small problem: to apply the horsehair for the costumes, Hop-Frog uses tar. Flammable tar.
  • Monster Clown: Hop-Frog was the king's court jester until he had it with the poor treatment that he and his friend Trippetta had been receiving and dresses eight people as orangutans for an upcoming Masquerade Ball and lit them on fire as an "act", all for Revenge.
  • Tranquil Fury: When the king abuses Trippetta, at first there is no sign Hop-Frog objects to it... until they realize the hideous grinding sound in the room is Hop-Frog's teeth. He then, with almost exaggerated calm, describes the prank he's come up with, making several references to the king's odious conduct in the process (which the king naturally misses).
  • Who's Laughing Now?: Hop-Frog’s revenge effectively makes a mockery of the king and his courtiers after being the subject of their mockeries for so long. This is especially highlighted by his last words to them:
    “I now see distinctly,” he said, “what manner of people these maskers are. They are a great king and his seven privy-councillors—a king who does not scruple to strike a defenceless girl, and his seven councillors who abet him in the outrage. As for myself, I am simply Hop-Frog, the jester—and this is my last jest.”
  • Would Hit a Girl: The king throws a glass of wine at the dancer Trippetta because she asked him to stop tormenting Hop-Frog. He and the courtiers who laughed pay for their cruelty when Hop-Frog turns them into a human chandelier.

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