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Wolf Hall

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  • Alternate Character Interpretation: Did Cromwell facilitate Anne's downfall simply because he remembered what happened the last time someone failed Henry in getting him out of a marriage and thought "it's her or me"; or was he also taking the opportunity to get revenge for her role in Wolsey's disgrace and death? (Anne certainly seems to think the latter.)
  • Aluminum Christmas Trees: Cromwell recalls his father's advice to cross his wrists to "confuse the pain" when he burns his hand. This actually works to reduce pain, according to a 2011 study, though only by about 3%.
  • Americans Hate Tingle: This series did poorly in Catholic-majority countries due to the negative portrayal of the Catholic characters, especially Thomas More and John Fisher, both of whom are venerated as saints and martyrs in the Catholic Church. This is not at all helped by Mantel being anti-Catholic.
  • Fandom Rivalry: In no small part due to its very negative portrayal of Thomas More, fans of Wolf Hall tend to clash with those of A Man for All Seasons, which portrays More in a much more favorable light. It doesn't help that many fans of Wolf Hall have missed that, unflattering portrait of Thomas More or not, the story is ultimately about Cromwell making the Protagonist Journey to Villain.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: Deliberately invoked several times by Mantel for readers aware of the history (even though the characters are not). Gems include:
    • There are numerous references to Anne giving a son.
    • Cromwell and Jane Seymour have a constant near-romance that Cromwell resists the moment that Henry VIII takes an interest in her, though he discusses with Jane the possibility of marrying her after Henry's likely dalliance with her ends.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Towards the Woobie end of the scale, Anne; she's scheming, bitchy and arrogant; and, as Richard Cromwell points out, she would have brought Cromwell down and to death herself if she'd had the chance — but she (probably) isn't guilty of most of the things she's charged with, she has to endure a fairly unsatisfying marriage, she's forbidden by custom from taking care of her own daughter whom she dearly loves, and she genuinely wanted to be a good queen and to provide Henry with a male heir but is turned upon and sold out by her husband, supporters and family the moment she no longer benefits them. On the Jerkass end, Anne's sister-in-law Lady Rochford: a charmless, humourless, snobbish, malicious gossip who's repeatedly publicly humiliated by her sister-in-law and trapped in a barren, loveless Awful Wedded Life with a man she loathes.
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • As Cromwell himself seems to acknowledge, he crosses this line and "loses his soul" by arranging Anne's death (and, to a lesser extent, those of her accused lovers) on what are probably completely false charges. In particular, he's hit with the realization that he did all of these underhanded actions in the service of a king who is a dissolute monster.
    • Henry crosses this in a chilling way in the last episode of the series as he shows absolutely no sadness or feelings towards Anne Boleyn's death. Instead, he embraces Cromwell with a huge smile on his face.
  • Nightmare Fuel:
    • The Sweating Sickness. Cromwell goes out in the morning with his wife feeling poorly and returns that afternoon to find her dead and (in the series) his daughters dying. Even in the era of modern medicine, the swift fatality is frightening. The disease killed thousands across Europe, but thankfully it vanished after 1551. (Its pathogen is still unknown, but is thought by some to have been a form of hantavirus.)
    • Once her downfall has begun, Henry's paranoia about and hatred for Anne is terrifyingly ferocious, fully believing the 'truths' that Cromwell's forces have drummed up against her and her 'lovers', and even spitting insults about baby Elizabeth. Anne's treatment by her own family is also harrowing; Thomas Boleyn is quick to sell his daughter out and is mostly concerned about whether he can keep the wealth and titles that have come to him while the Boleyns were in favour, while the Duke of Norfolk is fair champing at the bit to see her imprisoned, tried and executed, as punishment for having disrespected him.
  • One-Scene Wonder: Lady Elizabeth Stafford, Duchess of Norfolk. In her single scene she is one of Anne's attendants as she is about to be executed. Lady Stafford is a magnificent Deadpan Snarker with a thinly veiled contempt for Anne and heavily implies she's getting what she deserves.
  • Retroactive Recognition:
  • Sequelitis: The Mirror And The Light is seen as a bit weaker than the first two books. Relatively speaking of course, as no one would consider it bad, it’s just not quite as excellent as what came before it. The most common criticism is that while it starts and ends very strong, the middle third meanders and could use some trimming. This part of the book is mostly made up of subplots that ultimately do little else but delay what everyone knows is coming.
  • Squick: The sight of Henry's leg in Episode 4 of The Mirror and the Light. His old injury has inflamed all over the leg and become ulcerated, and it will only get worse for the remainder of Henry's life.
  • Stoic Woobie: Mary Tudor is depicted as this in her first appearance, standing beside her mother's chair although clearly in considerable pain, at least until Cromwell pulls up a chair for her and urges her to sit. Truth in Television, as Mary was chronically ill for most of her life and died aged 42.
  • The Woobie
    • Cromwell, of all people; he's routinely abused as a child, runs away from home and his family because even his sister doesn't want to risk keeping him in her house, and becomes successful only to have basically everyone he deals with insult him due to his having come up from nothing. Then his Parental Substitute, wife and young daughters all die on him in fairly rapid succession.
    • Mary Tudor is separated from her mother, neglected by her father, threatened by her father's courtiers, labelled as a bastard, forced into her half-sister's household to be a lady in waiting, and Anne Boleyn conspires to ruin her reputation. When Katherine is dying, Mary isn't even allowed to go and say farewell.
    • Mary Boleyn is constantly pimped out by her family long past the point of endurance, while they insult and hold her in contempt for what they're forcing her to do. Henry won't even let her get married to escape being used and exploited, since he wants to keep her around as a convenient bed-warmer when Anne's pregnant and it would go against his morals to sleep with a married woman.
    • Jane Seymour is forced into environments she isn't comfortable in and treated like a commodity by her father, brothers and even Cromwell (whom she likes and hoped would marry her) as they push her into being courted by Henry first for his mistress and then his wife, even though she's very nervous and even frightened of the king. While she does gain some authority and ability to push back when she becomes queen, she doesn't get any enjoyment from the physical side of her marriage and even asks Cromwell if it's true that a woman can't conceive if she takes no pleasure in the sexual act. And while she gives birth to the son Henry so desperately wanted, she dies horribly from the aftermath of the birth.

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