Real people not often written about in historical fiction?

Are there any tropers who read historical fiction and have a person that they think should have a book written about them? Mine is Fulgencio Batista. There's no historical fiction on him, and he's pretty fascinating— not just "the tinpot dictator." Maybe I should do it.

Uh, there're seven billion people in the world now, and that's not even talking about historical fiction. So, plenty to choose from. Let's just start by pointing outr every nation has its heroes. Just how notable should they be to warrant a story?

Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden. No one outside of military historians and military history geeks like me, in this country, Britain, has ever heard of the guy. And thanks to a poor decision that he made in the heat of battle near Lützen in Germany in 1632, one that he had every reason to make as he saw it, not many people outside of Europe as a whole do.

Yet no man I have ever read about exemplified what a king may be than him.

Look up the Battle of Breitenfeld. Part of that fucking religion inspired insanity called the Thirty Years War. Which again, few people outside of Europe know about.

Gustavus II Adolphus won that battle. And in so doing stopped the Papal Inquisition skull fucking the whole of Europe. His death was a greater tragedy than that of almost any king in history. Its consequences took hundreds of years to fully manifest. When they did, the slogan was Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer, and we all know how that worked out, don't we?

Thanks to the 1632 books by Eric Flint and others, however, that man strides across Europe like a colossus.

P.S, in 1831, in Germany, near the town of Breitenfeld, they erected a monument to a Swedish king. Gustavus. It's motto?

"Glaubensfreiheit für die Welt, rettete bei Breitenfeld – Gustav Adolf, Christ und Held. Am 7. September 1631."

Freedom of Belief for the World, salvaged at Breitenfeld, Gustav Adolf, Christian and Hero. 7 September 1631.

It is a pity that the population of Germany forgot that just over a hundred years later. Glaubensfreiheit für die Welt makes a far better slogan than Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer, don't ya think?

Easy.

Go to Badass Of The Week.

Get rid of all the fictional characters.

Get rid of all the people who got their story.

There.

Oh, Gustavus was quite a fellow, just please don't make him into some sort of larger-than-life demigod. But then again — this thread does not specify it can't be an apology.

Who would you choose then? And no, I did not say that Gustavus II Adolphus was a demigod. He never got to live long enough for that in our time line. But everything wrong that happened in the Germanies after his death could have been avoided if not for Lutzen.

Roy said it, too many to choose from. It's either I have a single hero I fawn over all the time, or I can pretty much pick one at random.

Quentin Crisp.

I love it when authors portray the life of a supposedly real, obscure person in small asides - Georges Perec is the master of this. I say "supposedly real" because I enjoy it most when I'm unable to tell if the person actually existed or not (usually not). There's a thin line that must be walked between verisimilitude and a certain kind of outlandishness.

@lord Gasek - I am not quite sure what you are referring to.

Roy — you didn't point out a single character, but furthered us to BotW. That's what I speak of. There're lots of such people in general. That's why when one doesn't have a single favourite character, he may as well make a list and pick at random.

General Wenck, commander of the German 12th Army in the last months of the Second World War. He'd definitely have at least one film about him if he was on the right side by now.

If he was on the right side he wouldn't have been in the position that warranted a movie.

@Tam: Gustavus Adolphus also figures prominently into this first part of Sabaton's most recent album, "Carolus Rex", with "The Lion From the North" being about him in general and "Got mit Uns" being about the Battle of Breitenfield (as you might gather from the title, most of the rest focuses on Charles XII of Sweden, aka. Carolus Rex incidentally, another person who isn't written about terribly often in historical fiction).

Just though I'd throw that out there.

Also, most people from Ancient Greek city-states not called Athens or Sparta don't get much credit for anything.

Given the hero-worship Charles XII has received up to the start of the 20th century, you'd think there would be more historical fiction about him.

Personally, I think it would be neat if Cromwell figured in more stories.

Oliver Cromwell features quite prominently in the 1632 verse. Seems Charles the Shit (really, why didn't he get that name in Scotland's, Ireland's and Britain's history when that is exactly what we of Irish descent called his son's heir, James the (idiot me) Second, not Third - Séamus an Chaca or James the Shit after he did a runner and abandoned his Irish troops post the Battle of the Boyne? What Charles the Shit did was WORSE!) didn't like reading in one of our timeline's history books that in our timeline, Cromwell and Parliament cut his head off and decided, in his typically stupid way to ensure that in the 1632 verse timeline exactly the same would happen.

How? By killing Cromwell's wife and one of his sons, and ignoring the advice of Thomas Wentworth to have Cromwell killed instead of just locking him in the Tower of London. Oops. Hasn't happened yet, but I await with anticipation one of the worst kings in British history end up exactly the same way because he tried too hard to avoid it.

edited 3rd Nov '12 11:50:11 PM by TamH70

Osamu Tezuka is a mythic level human being who is elusive in historical fiction and the minds of modern otaku alike.

If the pending publishing deal I'm involved in right now is successful, this may change rather soon.

GURPS did a two book set entitled Who's Who Volumes 1 and 2 about some of the most interesting people in history, many of them quite obscure. My favorite is Joshua Norton I Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.

So anyway, in the category of little-known emperors I'd pick the emperor of Mexico. In general a great guy, who had the bad luck to be appointed for the post of hated puppet ruler of foreign interventionists.

Joshua Norton was a sound bloke. I absolutely love the tribute Neil Gaiman paid to him in the "Sandman" book, "Fables and Reflections" as seen here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sandman:_Fables_and_Reflections#.22Three_Septembers_and_a_January.22

Any historical figure not from Europe or America, really. I've never heard about a historical fiction book about Shaka Zulu. Also The Royal Diaries series has quite a few female princesses who aren't usually heard about.

Even some people from Europe, depending on the time period. When was the last time you read a work set during the War Of The Spanish Succession, for example.

edited 4th Nov '12 11:11:26 PM by CrimsonZephyr

About a year ago, actually.

Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Saitō no Musashibō Benkei. There was a fairly decent, if heavily fictionalized depiction of the two and their role in the Minamoto/Taira Wars in Japan, called Shike, but you don't get much straight depictions of them in fiction outside of Japan, and boy are they worth it.

Indeed, there are some legends that Yoshitsune ended up taking a trip across the ocean to Central Asia. Took up a new identity. Temujin.

And hell followed with him.

Roman von Ungern-Sternberg. The "Mad-Baron", White Russian Warlord and 20th Century Khan Of Mongolia!

A facinating and rather tragic figure. His presence in fiction has been little more than obscure references and as a basis for other characters.

edited 7th Jan '13 10:00:35 PM by Ficus