History Literature / HoratioHornblower

** The ''Literature/{{Sharpe}}'' series of novels and TV movies, starring a soldier in the Napoleonic wars, is very much a land-based equivalent of Hornblower; Creator/BernardCornwell has more or less [[WordOfGod confirmed this]] more than once. In one of the books there's a [[ShoutOut subtle reference]] to the hero of another Forester story, ''Literature/DeathToTheFrench'', which implies that the protagonist served under Richard Sharpe prior to the events of that novel.

* AccidentalTruth: Hornblower lies about Napoleon's death to a group of former Imperial Guard to dissuade them from their attempt to free Napoleon. Hornblower is about to resign his commission, having betrayed his honour, when he learns of Napoleon's death. Appropriately enough, the chapter is titled "St. Elizabeth of Hungary", whose [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_of_Hungary#Miracle_of_the_Roses Miracle of the Roses]] is told at the end of the chapter.

** There is one short story that takes place during the War of 1812, where Hornblower has a brush with an American ship. [[spoiler:Since he's commanding a barely-armed yatch to take the King on a day trip, he evades battle.]]
** In ''Commodore Hornblower'' it is implied that his actions were essential to foiling the French attempt to take Riga. In the (unfinished) ''Hornblower and the Crisis'', he helps lure the enemy into the Battle of Trafalgar with a false message.

** In the short story "The Last Encounter", taking place in 1847, Hornblower assists a man claiming to be Napoleon -- who Hornblower knows is long dead -- in his passage back to France to run in the election for president. Hornblower views him as a harmless madman and helps him out of amusement. The man is revealed to be Napoleon III, Bonaparte's nephew, who wins the election (and several years later stages a presidential coup and crowns himself emperor).

* BigDamnHeroes: Near the end of ''Lieutenant''. After the Spanish prisoners escape confinement and capture the ''Renown''--capturing Buckland and nearly killing Bush--Hornblower gathers his crew from the three prize vessels and crashes one of them into the ''Renown'', sweeping across the deck and retaking the ship.

** In ''The Commodore'', as the Napoleon's Prussian forces retreat from the aborted siege of Riga, they leave behind plague victims. Hornblower is told by (actual historical figure) Essen that the Russian army has plague in its ranks too. (There is also typhus, which Hornblower comes down with at the end of the book.)

Several novels set in the [[WoodenShipsAndIronMen same time period]]:

** Dudley Pope's ''Ramage'' series. It's actually mentioned that Ramage and Hornblower were junior officers on the same ship for a time (Pope and Forester were friends).
** Alexander Kent's Richard Bolitho series.

* A ''lot'' of science-fiction, to the point where Creator/DavidLangford has [[http://ansible.co.uk/sfx/sfx104.html written an article]] about the "Hornblower in Space" genre.

* A little-known series called ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has been described as "Horatio Hornblower RecycledInSpace". The rumour has it that both captains best known in the mainstream culture, [[Characters/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Captain Kirk]] and [[Characters/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Captain Picard]], are based on the two different sides of Hornblower's character--fans of both can easily pick out the influences in certain scenes, and Patrick Stewart was handed a stack of the novels as character prep.
* The Hugo and Nebula nominated science fiction work, ''Literature/TheMoteInGodsEye''.
* [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold Lois McMaster Bujold]] credits Hornblower as one of the inspiratios for her [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/VorkosiganSaga Vorkosigan Saga]].
* Science fiction writer Creator/ABertramChandler based his John Grimes character on Hornblower, even making Hornblower a distant relative.
* Literature/HonorHarrington - A SpaceOpera novel series by Creator/DavidWeber with a female version of Horatio Hornblower. The [=HH=] initials are not a coincidence. Author David Weber actually [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on this in the sixth book when he shows the title character reading one of the Hornblower books.
* Patrick O'Brian's ''Literature/AubreyMaturin'' series. Takes place during the same time frame as Horatio Hornblower. Not sci-fi.
* In a way, Creator/DavidDrake's ''Literature/{{RCN}}'' series, which are Aubrey/female-Maturin InSpace Sci-fi.
* Dudley Pope's ''Ramage'' series. It's mentioned that Ramage and Hornblower were junior officers on the same ship for a time (Pope and Forester were friends). Not sci-fi.
* Alexander Kent's Richard Bolitho series. Not sci-fi.
* The ''Literature/{{Sharpe}}'' series of novels and TV movies, starring a soldier in the Napoleonic wars, sort of a land-based equivalent of Hornblower.
* The ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' series of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' {{Tie In Novel}}s, being based on ''Sharpe'', are thus in turn based on Hornblower.
* ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' is "Hornblower with dragons" twice removed, as it was influenced by Aubrey-Maturin and its human protagonist still shares similarities with Hornblower.
* Creator/DavidLangford has [[http://ansible.co.uk/sfx/sfx104.html written an article]] about the "Hornblower in Space" genre.

* FoodPorn: Usually, Hornblower dines on brine meat, weevily biscuits, and burnt-bread coffee. Whenever he gets to eat something more palatable, it's described in great detail. Particularly notable is Pellew's dinner in ''Hotspur,'' which goes on for pages and describes the steak-and-kidney pie, wines, fresh veg, and cheeses in increasingly overwrought language.

** Basically any well-known historical event can be seen that way. Such as when Hornblower is involved in a naval action off Cape Trafalgar in 1805 in "Crisis".

** One particular scene in ''Ship of the Line'' switches to the POV of the hot and weary Italian conscripts marching on a coastal road, going out of its way to tell the reader that these are just ordinary men who have been taken far from home by the war. When they see a pretty ship offshore, they're quite happy to benignly watch it and even ''wave'' to it. Then, the ship--Hornblower's ''Sutherland''--opens fire. (After he's slaughtered or dispersed most of the soldiers he has the cannons turned on the pack animals, and he reflects disdainfully on the fact that his men are less willing to shoot animals than people.)

** The books are exceptionally well-researched in terms of understanding naval matters and the period. It's relatively easy to miss that this was written as historical fiction.

* SignificantBirthDate: Hornblower was born on July 4, 1776. Occasionally remarked on by individuals who find his views to be dangerously republican (for instance, [[DeliberateValuesDissonance the idea that a republic could be a legitimate form of government]].) Otherwise, it's not significant at all--he never even meets any Americans.

** There are a number of occasions where British sailors and officers gamely attempt to communicate with Spanish, French, or Italian people (either their prisoners, or their erstwhile allies, depending on what is going on) by speaking slowly and adding vowels to the ends of their words. It generally doesn't work.

* SpiritedYoungLady: Although she's out of the 16 - 25 age bracket, Lady Barbara Wellesley fits all the other qualifications. She's traveling without a male companion, doesn't mind the tiny accommodations, and is basically described as being so capable that it ''aggravates'' Hornblower, who thinks that a properly feminine woman should at least be a little incompetent. [[spoiler:His opinion changes ''significantly'' by book's end.]]

* StealthInsult [=/=] SnarkToSnarkCombat: Hornblower's conversation with his brother-in-law Richard Wellesley in ''The Commodore''. Hornblower will have a translator, but it will be his problem how the translator is rated on the books, to which Richard adds, "I believe that's what it's called". Hornblower calls him by his Christian name, which he is entitled to use as brother-in-law, and calls Richard a "master of all trades" [[ForTheFunnyz just to annoy him]] by insinuating the Marquess was in a trade. Wellesley makes an equally snarky comment, and Hornblower gives up, deciding it was just too difficult because Richard was so good at it.

* RiddleForTheAges: In ''Lieutenant'', how did Captain Sawyer fall down the hatchway? Did he slip, or was he pushed? If it was the latter, who pushed him? This is the only Hornblower novel not to be told from Hornblower's perspective, and in the story itself, he -- a witness of the incient -- begins an investigation of the incident with the only other witness being his assistant. By the end of the book, the other man is dead, and Hornblower himself never reveals the answer. [[Spoiler: A non-canonical 'biography' of Hornblower, ''The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower'' by C. Northcote Parkinson, resolves this with a letter opened a century after Hornblower's death in which he admits that he killed Sawyer.]]

* RealAwardFictionalCharacter: In ''Flying Colours'', while disguising Hornblower as a Dutch customs officer, the Comte de Graçay gives him his late son's Legion of Honour, saying that no one achieves the rank of colonel in Bonapartist France without receiving the Legion of Honour. The Comte de Graçay mentions that he does not care about a trinket of the tyrant, but he would like to have a memento of his son returned when most convenient.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Admiral Lord Collingwood, Hornblower's superior in ''Hornblower and the Atropos''. Gentlemanly and courteous, he quickly recognizes Hornblower's value. When he has to tell Hornblower to hand over his ship, he's clearly reluctant and does as much as he can to soften the blow, promising to recommend him to command of a ship-of-the-line. In RealLife, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuthbert_Collingwood,_1st_Baron_Collingwood#Evaluation Cuthbert Collingwood]] was beloved as AFatherToHisMen.

There is an ongoing debate about whether the character of Horatio Hornblower was inspired by the career of any real-life officers with suggestions including [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cochrane,_10th_Earl_of_Dundonald Thomas Cochrane]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gordon_(Royal_Navy_officer) James A Gordon]].

A series of stories about a British naval officer set during UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars and probably C.S. Forester's most well-known work. The eponymous character, Horatio Hornblower, starts as an overaged midshipman at the start of the French Revolution. Though unprepared, shy, and awkward, his knack for innovation and a sense of determination propel him to attempt many daring and improbable feats. While most who meet him recognize him as a daring and intelligent officer, Hornblower can only view himself with "a sort of amused contempt" at best, and vicious self-loathing at worst, thanks to constantly overanalyzing and criticising his motives.

* InfantImmortality:
** Averted. Hornblower has to sit and watch his first two children die of smallpox.
** Averted. Longley, a PluckyMiddie in ''Ship of the Line,'' is shot dead in the ''Sutherland's'' desperate LastStand.

* YourCheatingHeart: Hornblower is not faithful to either of his wives, under different circumstances. He doesn't love his first wife, Maria, marrying her from a sense of obligation and pretending to love her so as to keep her happy, but finds a genuine match with Lady Barbara in ''Happy Return''. Later he consummates an affair with Marie Ladon in ''Flying Colours'' due to cabin fever while hiding on her father-in-law's French estate ([[spoiler:Maria had died of childbirth by that point, but he -- and the reader -- doesn't find out until the end of the book]]). However, he's not faithful to Lady Barbara when he does marry her: in ''Commodore'' he has an (implied) one-night-stand with a Russian countess after a stressful evening of averting an assassination attempt, and in ''Lord'' he starts thinking of Marie well before actually visiting the Ladons (and restarting the old affair).

* Lois McMaster Bujold credits Hornblower as one of the inspiratios for her [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/VorkosiganSaga Vorkosigan Saga]].

The character of Horatio Hornblower was inspired by the career of real-life [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cochrane,_10th_Earl_of_Dundonald Thomas Cochrane.]]

** Remember the bit in ''Hotspur'' where Hornblower arranges for Doughty's escape to the ''U.S.S. Constitution'' at Cadiz? [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornblower_and_the_Hotspur Not only was the ship actually there in that October]], she took on new crew just a few days after the October 5th action that Hornblower was there to participate in.

** While Hornblower is Commander-in-Chief of the West Indies squadron, a wool merchant of Venezuelan descent forges Hornblower's signature, poses as a Royal Navy officer and seizes a Dutch transport carrying Spanish field guns, which he gives to Simon Bolivar's army. Hornblower realises that those guns secured the victory for Bolivar in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Carabobo the Battle of Carabobo]], which determined the fate of Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador and Peru. Hornblower himself captures the merchant's abandoned private yatch (a former Navy brig-sloop), then, through verbal trickery, avoids surrendering it or starting a war with the Spanish and Dutch naval officials.
** The interception of a Spanish treasure flotilla in ''Hotspur'' was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_5_October_1804 a real battle]], which Hornblower ends up not joining in because he has to stop a fictional French ship from warning the real Spaniards.

* In a way, Creator/DavidDrake's ''Literature/{{RCN}}'' series, which are Aubrey/female-Maturin InSpace. Sci-fi.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance:
** England in the 1800s was chock-full of racism, sexism, classism, and general disdain for anyone not white and British. Take a shot every time you see the word Dago or Frog! Then get a new liver.
** One of the faults Hornblower finds with himself is his distaste for ATasteOfTheLash.

* AbnormalAmmo: In ''Commodore Hornblower'', Hornblower ends up rallying a group of Russian defenders in a brief gun battle. So panicked are the defenders that one of them forgets to remove the ramrod from his musket after reloading, firing it at the enemy.

* DrinkOrder: Contrary to the [[SpotOfTea common English stereotype]], Hornblower prefers to drink coffee rather than tea, or at least whatever passes for coffee depending on supplies (in one book, the coffee is described as being made with crushed burnt bread, with enough sugar to mask the taste.) Coffee was enormously fashionable in England for many years, and London in particular was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffeehouse#Coffee_in_Europe lousy]] with coffee-houses in the 1700s. Tea was also more expensive than coffee, and Hornblower--who is always having to pawn things to complete his ship and rarely gets prizes--can barely afford jam most of the time.

* AbandonShip:
** ''Ship of the Line'' ends with [[spoiler:Horatio and his crew forced to surrender the sinking ''Sutherland'' to the French, who run it aground on a nearby beach to stop the sinking.]]
** Hornblower's first independent command, a midshipman sailing a small prize ship back to England, ends when it sinks due to a shothole and a cargo of rice.

** Hornblower himself gets to be one in ''Mr. Midshipman Hornblower''. ([[CaptainObvious He's one of the ones who survives]].)

* CelebrityParadox: No one ever comments on the fact that Nelson and Hornblower have the same first name, even when Hornblower is leading Nelson's funeral procession. Or even when someone is directly comparing him to Nelson. (Forester named the character after the real admiral.)

* NeverLiveItDown:
** Hornblower can never let himself live down the fact that he was seasick in a ship anchored in Spithead on his first day as a midshipman, even though that is probably the least likely thing anyone who knew him as a midshipman would remember next to taking a Spanish galley with one boat, boarding a fire ship to steer it away from the fleet, the cutting-out of the ''Papillon''....
** Buckland's fate in-universe. Despite the ''Renown's'' success on Samana, all that will be remembered is that he was taken prisoner in his bed when the captured Spaniards attempted to take the ship. Bush reflects on the illogicality of this, knowing that Buckland (for all his wavering) would have fought just as Bush if he'd been able.

The character of Horatio Hornblower was inspired by the career of real-life Thomas Cochrane.

* ObnoxiousInLaws: Mrs. Mason; Hornblower compares living with her after his first child's birth to serving under Captain Sawyer. "His Nibs," the Marquess Wellesley, also outdoes Horatio in the realms of sarcasm.