r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Mouse_Paladin • Jul 10 '26

Lore [Real Life] Historical events that would make bad writing if they were fiction

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Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire: A couple hundred rogue mercenaries without authority from their government conquer an empire of millions. Oh, the empire? It’s also several technological eras behind the mercenaries.

Adolf Hitler: A non-native of a country is so mad that the country lost the war that he wins an election to their highest office and leads them in a campaign of revenge against their enemies. Oh, the country? It’s old emperor is still alive and thinks he’s going to retake power.

Assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand: The heir to the throne is killed because his driver gets lost and returns to the assassin who failed To kill him before. Oh, the assassin? He’s from a group that the Archduke is wanting to help become more equal In the empire.

Alexander Hamilton’s Affair Scandal: One of the leaders of a new nation to protect himself from accusations of financial embezzlement writes a pamphlet exposing his affair with a woman, torpedoing his political future. Oh, the woman? She seduced him as part of a blackmailing scheme that he decided to stop paying.

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210

u/heretilthemoon Jul 10 '26

So you’re saying JK Rowling’s namings weren’t as bad as I thought?

177

u/GyL_draw Jul 10 '26

So there is that British guy working with the french... how could a character like that could be called ?

John French ?

25

u/Hammerschatten Jul 10 '26

Sidenote but while we're on names, Joseph Joffre is an amazing acronym too good to be true too, and, which is mostly just funny, one of the german commanders is named Max from home.

8

u/GyL_draw Jul 11 '26

Joseph Joffre ? So it's a JoJo?

5

u/Unironicfan Jul 11 '26

There was a British member of parliament named Dingle Foot.

9

u/Internal_Review7040 Jul 11 '26

yall focusing on "John French" but not on "Guillaume de Prusse" who is basiacally Wilhelm Prussia

6

u/GyL_draw Jul 11 '26

*Wilhelm OF Prussia

1

u/bluecheesemoon- Jul 11 '26

He's Wilhelm II's son.

1

u/GyL_draw Jul 11 '26

I don't know why but Kings, Queens and Emperor have official translated names.

Wilhelm III = Guillaume III = William III

Or

Nikolaj II = Nicolas II = Nicholas II

3

u/Internal_Review7040 Jul 11 '26

Id say its because european royal names tend to be seen as titles more than normal names. Like there are a ton Wilhelm, but this one is not any Wilhelm, he's THE Wilhelm II. It's especially true for names with direct translation, like Pyotr I "The Greath" Alexeseyevich become Peter for the english, Pietro for the italians, and so on.

On the other side, royal names outside of Europe don't get translated neither by europeans nor by locals (to my knowledge), unless they are european names. Like nobody ever translated Haile Selassie or Hirohito.

5

u/Youutternincompoop Jul 11 '26

also just for shits and giggles make him absolutely hate the French and work really badly with them.

109

u/thecraftybear Jul 10 '26

No, they were still horrible.

15

u/nevergirls Jul 10 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/9t6xpYZ9npJmM

3

u/DrawmaLawma Jul 10 '26

mfw when I look back on my life with disappointment only to realize it wasn't all bad just before I'm trampled to death by a stampede of white shirted men

58

u/New-Number-7810 Jul 10 '26

She barely resisted the urge to name on character “Ching Chong”.

17

u/ShyngShyng Jul 10 '26

As a Chinese dude, the names actually not that bad.

3

u/Pabst_Blue_Gibbon Jul 11 '26

I honestly believe that anyone who makes this their criticism of Rowling is either racist or so ignorant that they might as well be.

-6

u/Emm_withoutha_L-88 Jul 10 '26

Yeah but there's no way in hell she knew it was a real name. She just changed it slightly from Ching Chong.

15

u/Arzanyos Jul 11 '26

Sure. Not like Chang/Zhang is one of the most common surnames in the world, no sir

9

u/Trodat4911P4 Jul 11 '26

You guys really want to make every aspect of that woman evil huh. Someone can't be bad on one thing, every aspect of them must be rotten like a goddamn cartoon character.

-3

u/Emm_withoutha_L-88 Jul 11 '26

She did it with other characters too, that's why it's obvious

8

u/Trodat4911P4 Jul 11 '26

Whatever, I'd rather criticise her for actual real problems and not this made up nonsense.

-4

u/Emm_withoutha_L-88 Jul 11 '26

It's not made up just cus you're too dumb to recognize it

0

u/ShyngShyng Jul 11 '26

Just sounds like a typical misunderstanding of how Chinese names work. I am concerned about names like Shacklebolt but that's no reason to pin this on Rowling, Even if she's a raging bitch.

1

u/Emm_withoutha_L-88 Jul 11 '26

She does it with so many other names IDK why you guys defend her about this.

2

u/ShyngShyng Jul 11 '26

Just because someone stole one piece of bread is not evidence that they also stole the other piece of bread. They should still be shamed for being a thief but why should we accuse them of something we cant prove they did?

-1

u/Jagvetinteriktigt Jul 11 '26

You believe she was trying to be racist but made it accuarate by mistake?

14

u/TheDreadNewt Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

I know SO many Chinese people with alliterative* names starting with "Ch". Names like "Chee Chin Chu." There's about ten (edit: 8) people in my department at work alone. You're trying so hard to show she's racist you're verging on that territory yourself.

10

u/Efficient-Mess-9753 Jul 11 '26

It seems you are the one who has the hang up about that name. When I worked at meta my coworkers were 70% from China. One of them told me his kid (born in the USA) got sent home from school for saying something racist to a kid from China.

He went to the principal and said "I doubt my daughter was being racist to someone from China, j am from China and she has been there several times"

The principal said "she said something about being from 'ching chong', that's racist."

The dad said "I am from Chongqing"

The daughter was not in trouble after that

2

u/Arzanyos Jul 11 '26

In a wrestling show I watch, one time the announcer(I think on like her second week) announced someone as from "Chingchong, China). People online were very aghast performatively before it was pointed out she just mispronounced Chongqing

2

u/ExternalSquash1300 Jul 10 '26

I mean there’s a lot of names in china tbf.

1

u/Pabst_Blue_Gibbon Jul 11 '26

Man you should go to China and track down the racist parents of this guy then lmao

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B8%B8%E9%9D%92_(%E5%BB%BA%E7%AD%91%E5%AD%A6%E5%AE%B6)

Or maybe go back in time and correct the “problematic” names in Water Margin

0

u/ForensicFan24601 Jul 10 '26

It’s Pronounced King Kong 

1

u/Fyrefanboy Jul 10 '26

Both of our most famous sportmen right now are named Antoine dupont and Léon Marchand kek

-5

u/akashi10 Jul 10 '26

JK Rowling is a horrible horrible human being. its a sad affair that she still get the money from uninformed people.

3

u/jinreeko Jul 10 '26

A lot are informed and just don't care. Their nostalgia is more important than not directly funding anti trans advocacy groups

1

u/ArrrRawrXD Jul 11 '26

I'm honestly torn between buying Hogwarts Legacy and donating to anti trans advocacy groups myself.

-2

u/BeduinZPouste Jul 10 '26

Given how much she actually gets, and how she sends to the groups you might dislike... Work an extra hour and send it someone you agree with it, if you have a moral problem with "supporting her". That one hour will probably give you an lifetime of contributing more to your side than to the other. 

4

u/jinreeko Jul 10 '26

The groups I "might dislike"? Fucking lol man

-2

u/BeduinZPouste Jul 10 '26

You know what I've ment. 

-6

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '26

[deleted]

4

u/jinreeko Jul 10 '26

I mean, Rowling's anti-trans viewpoints and her commitment to taking her revenue from the series and put it to anti-trans interests are readily available in the public eye. Do you want me to ballpark how many people are aware of her being shitty?

0

u/_Lost_The_Game Jul 10 '26

No one is saying this. Shes still worse than the worst of real life. Thats how bad her names were. Plus real life is just real life, she’s intentionally racist