History YMMV / DonQuixote

* GeniusBonus: Manchego cheese, originally from the La Mancha region of Spain, is commonly served with a thin rectangle, or 'mambrino', of golden-colored quince jelly paste on top. in Miguel de Cervantes' ''Literature/DonQuixote'', the titular character puts a shaving basin on his head and calls it "the Golden Helmet of Mambrino", making him, of course, the "cheese from La Mancha" in this analogy. the musical ''Theatre/ManOfLaMancha'' includes an entire song about this Genius Bonus.

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: While the novel’s satire and lampooning of then have lost a lot of their humor due to the book’s satire being more or less standard storytelling now, the infamous windmill scene still gets laughs out of readers to this very day.

** Speaking of Sancho, who's crazier, the madman or the sane man that follows him? It's lampshaded several times in the first part that Sancho is unintelligent but very sane (although in the second part [[CharacterDevelopment we get to see he's actually far from being dumb]]), yet he is impeccably loyal to a man who gives constant proofs of being a danger to himself and others. Is Sancho following Don Quixote out of avarice for the rewards he has promised to him? Is he following him out of friendship or loyalty towards a man he has probably known for a long time? Is it a case of InfectiousInsanity? Or as the 2002 film suggests, is Sancho following him simply because Don Quixote's hijinks make his plebeian life much more interesting and trascendent?

** It's often thought that a big part of the joke is the "fact" that Don Quixote, for all his attempts at gallantry, is [[BoisterousWeakling completely useless in combat]]. Except Don Quixote [[BewareTheSillyOnes actually wins most of his fights]], and his comparatively few defeats are usually the result of being badly outnumbered or his opponent doing something he has no reasonable way of defending himself against. Because of this, some scholars consider it more likely that the joke is that it doesn't actually take that much to be a good knight; the difficult part is getting the surrounding world to accept it.

** Alonso Quijano: What other way can you describe a man that belittles [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cid Cid Ruy Diaz]] (a real badass warrior), and prefers a silly character of fiction? Part I Chapter I:

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: ''Don Quixote'' contained a lot of references not only to now disappeared chivalry books, but to Spain's popular culture during the 17th century: (respectful) caricatures of then famous celebrities, ''unrespectful'' caricatures of contemporary writers, quotes from Cervantes' favorite poets, popular proverbs, then-contemporary UrbanLegends, phrases that can be taken in at least two different ways... all of them completely unknown for the modern reader, even a Spanish one, if not for the notes provided in most reprints. Cervantes' book was incredibly funny when he published it, but it's very difficult to see it like this now.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: Although Don Quixote is published as a one volume today, it is generally agreed, that the mostly philosophical second part is better than the mostly farcical first one. Perhaps related to the fact that the first part was written while Cervantes was in jail (Sancho Panza's wife has 2 different names on the same page, Juana and Mari, neither of which would be the definitive Teresa).
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Possibly intentional. A lot of the side characters are far more interesting than Quixote himself. The intentional part comes in when you consider that, in Don Quixote's world, everything is about him, and only him, so while there certainly are interesting characters around him, none of them are deserving of the attention he's supposed to get.

* ValuesResonance: On the flipside, in the process of [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructing]] the ChivalricRomance genre, the trope of "pining from afar" and the idea of a LoveMartyr were torn to pieces in this book. The subject of the affections of a veritable flock of shepherds, Marcela, rejects the idea that she "owes" them any affection [[EntitledToHaveYou just because they're infatuated with her]]. With grace and style, Cervantes satirized a certain mindset of toxic relationships that is still addressed today.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** The main character is a nobleman who spends most of his time staying at home reading chivalry books, obsesses over a woman and refers to her as "my lady," even though she doesn't even know him, and the story is all about his {{LARP}}ing adventures. ''Don Quixote'' could easily be satirizing modern nerd culture, and just goes to show how little things have changed in 400 years.
** Don Quixote is a man of notorious self-importance who has it in for windmills. This takes on a level of irony when Donald Trump made a bizarre speech about [[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/23/trump-bizarre-tirade-windmills how windmills are bad]] (though it's clear the latter meant wind turbines, he has been known to call them windmills). For that matter, wind turbines have been a popular target for anti-environmentalist scaremongering for some time, with former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott making similar claims. Pictures of them leaking oil and videos of their limiters breaking and them breaking apart aside, they aren't as inefficient as people claim.

** Don Quixote is a man of notorious self-importance who has it in for windmills. This takes on a level of irony when Donald Trump made a bizarre speech about [[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/23/trump-bizarre-tirade-windmills how windmills are bad]] (though it's clear the latter meant wind turbines, he has been known to call them windmills). For that matter, wind turbines have been a popular target for anti-environmentalist scaremongering for some time, with former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott making similar claims.

* ValuesResonance: On the flipside, in the process of [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructing]] the ChivalricRomance genre, the trope of "pining from afar" and the idea of a LoveMartyr were torn to pieces in this book. The subject of the affections of a veritable flock of shepherds, Marcela, rejects the idea that she "owes" them any affection [[EntitledToHaveYou just because they're infatuated with her]], while in turn, Don Quixote's obsessive adoration of Dulcinea/Aldonza, another love interest that clearly doesn't reciprocate his feelings, only leads him to humiliation and misfortune. With grace and style, Cervantes satirized two different mindsets of toxic relationships that are still addressed today.

** Don Quixote is a man of notorious self-importance who has it in for windmills. This takes on a level of irony when Donald Trump made a bizarre speech about [[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/23/trump-bizarre-tirade-windmills how windmills are bad]] (though it's clear the latter meant wind turbines, he has been known to call them windmills).

** Don Quixote is also frequently portrayed as a very old man, when the book has him being just middle-aged. Again, this probably originated as stylistic way to highlight his madness by throwing a bit of implied senility to the mix.

** Sadly, most of the quotes and scenes that have become memes owe that status only to being misunderstood or simply misused by people wanting to look smarter (see above).

*** '''"Ladran, Sancho, luego cabalgamos"''' ("they are barking, Sancho, that means we are riding") is possibly the most quoted line of the book and is used when someone wants to show they are above the people that criticize them. It turns out that the line is not even in the book, but most people don't care enough to check.

* ValuesResonance: On the flipside, in the process of [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructing]] the ChivalricRomance genre, the trope of "pining from afar" and the idea of a LoveMartyr were torn to pieces in this book. The subject of the affections of a veritable flock of shepherds, Marcela, rejects the idea that she "owes" them any affection [[EntitledToHaveYou just because they're infatuated with her]], while in turn, Don Quixote's obsessive adoration of Dulcinea, another supposed love interest who actually doesn't reciprocate his feelings, only leads him to self-humiliation and misfortune. With grace and style, Cervantes satirized two different mindsets of toxic relationships that are still addressed today.

* WeirdAlEffect: Barring a few exceptions such as ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirant_lo_Blanc Tirant lo Blanc]]'' (which is remembered for being one of the first literary texts written in Catalan / Valencian, and had a FilmOfTheBook made of it) few people today remember the novels that Don Quixote read and Cervantes lists, before throwing them in the bonfire in Chapter 3, and most of them are philologers and historians. One of those novels is remembered today in the USA, sort of: a land conquered for Spain got named for a character in one of those novels - the nymph California.

** Speaking of Sancho, who's crazier, the madman or the sane man that follows him? It's lampshaded several times in the first part that Sancho is unintelligent but very sane (although in the second part [[CharacterDevelopment we get to see he's actually far from being dumb]]), yet he is impeccably loyal to a man who gives constant proofs of being a danger to himself and others. Is Sancho following Don Quixote out of avarice for the rewards he has promised to him? Is he following him out of friendship or loyalty towards a man he has probably known for a long time? Is it a case of InfectiousInsanity? Or as the 2002 film suggests, is Sancho following him simply because Don Quixote's hijinks make his plebeian life much more interesting and enjoyable?

** Sadly, most of the quotes and scenes that have become memes owe that status only to being misunderstood or simply misused by people that wants to look smarter (see above).
*** The windmills scene, is only used when someone wishes to be seen as a gallant figure fighting heroically against a powerful and evil ''real'' opponent, not as a [[WindmillCrusader delusional person crashing against an imaginary one.]]
*** '''"Con la iglesia hemos topado"''' ("we have run into the church.") is used in the book by Don Quixote when they find the wall of a church after being lost in the fog, but nowadays is always misused as a slogan against the Catholic Church.
*** '''"Ladran, Sancho, luego cabalgamos"''' ("they are barking, Sancho, that means we are riding") is possibly the most quoted line of the book and is used when someone wants to show they are above the people that criticize them. It turs out that the line is not even in the book, but most people don't care enough to check.

** Many people have misunderstood the point of the parody. Romantic writers lionized ''Don Quixote'' as a praise of hopeless noble ideals in an increasingly cynical and materialistic world. Then, followers of literary Naturalism praised the novel... precisely for [[{{deconstruction}} showing the inherent hilarity of groundless Romantic enthusiasm]]. This despite the introduction making it quite clear that this book aims to destroy the reputation of books of chivalry in general.

** Everyone "knows" that Sancho is a short and chubby guy to contrast with the tall and lean Quixote. But in reality, Sancho is repeatedly described as a fairly tall man himself.
** It's often thought that a big part of the joke is the "fact" that Don Quixote, for all his attempts at gallantry, is [[BoisterousWeakling completely useless in combat]]. Except Don Quixote [[BewareTheSillyOnes actually wins most of his fights]], and his comparatively few defeats are usually the result of being badly outnumbered or his opponent doing something he has no reasonable way of defending himself against. Because of this, some scholars consider it more likely that the joke is that it doesn't actually take that much to be a good knight.

*** '''"¿Leoncitos a mi?"''' Literally, "Little lions to me?". More figuratively, "Do they want to scare me with those little lions?". The quote is basically modified each time, changing the "leoncitos" part for whatever you want to show you're not scared of, serving as a BadassBoast. A popular recent example that English speakers can relate to is in the European Spanish dub of ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', where they translated Hulk's "''[[MemeticMutation Puny god]]''" as ''"¿Dioses a mí?"'' ("Gods to me?")[[note]] Whether this is genuine {{Woolseyism}} or [[BlindIdiotTranslation the dubbing team overstepping their boundaries]] is kind of a point of debate in Spain [[/note]].

*** '''Rocinante''': A [[TheAllegedSteed thin and weak horse]], almost always full of sores. This one was even documented by Cervantes in Part II, Chapter III, when Carrasco declares that the first part of the novel was read...

** Most native Spanish speakers who have completed high school can quote the first few lines by heart, at least before the 1990 education reform.
** As a matter of fact, quoting this book in general is often considered a sign of being a well read person, just like quoting Shakespeare is in English-speaking countries.
** Sadly, most of the quotes and scenes that have become memes owe that status only to being misunderstood or simply misused by a public figure that wants to look smarter or to portray themselves as "Quixotes". (See above)

*** '''"Con la iglesia hemos topado"''' -"We have collided with the church."- is used in the book by Don Quixote when they find the wall of a church after being lost in the fog, but nowadays is always misused by any politician who has been criticized by the Catholic Church.
*** '''"Ladran, Sancho, luego cabalgamos"''' -"They are barking, Sancho, that means we are riding"- is possibly the most quoted line of the book and is used when someone wants to show they are above the people that criticize them... It turs out that the line is not even in the book but it does nor matter as most people dont care enough to check.

* MisBlamed: Even many fans of Music/TheyMightBeGiants assume that the band took their name directly from this novel. It actually comes from the 1971 movie ''Film/TheyMightBeGiants'', whose main character (who believes himself to be Sherlock Holmes, and has been compared to Don Quixote by another character) muses on the value of being open to the ''possibility'' of windmills being giants. Don Quixote himself had no such doubts; he was positively certain that he was charging against giants.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: ''Don Quixote'' contained a lot of references not only to now disappeared chivalry books, but to Spain's popular culture during the 17th century: (respectful) caricatures of then famous celebrities, ''unrespectful'' caricatures of contemporary writers, quotes from Cervantes' favorite poets, popular proverbs, then-contemporary UrbanLegends, phrases that can be taken in at least two different ways; all of them completely unknown for the modern reader, even a Spanish one, if not for the notes provided in most reprints. Cervantes' book was incredibly funny when he published it, but it's very difficult to see it like this now.
* SequelDisplacement: Variation. A lot of people don't know that this was originally ''two'' separate books, with the sequel being written ''a full decade'' after its predecessor. It just so happens that now they are almost always printed together, but even then both parts are clearly marked inside of them.

* ValuesResonance: On the flipside, in the process of [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructing]] the ChivalricRomance genre, the trope of "pining from afar" and the idea of a LoveMartyr was torn to pieces when the subject of the affections of a veritable flock of shepherds - Marcela - rejects the idea that she "owes" them any affection [[EntitledToHaveYou just because they're infatuated with her]].

** Let's be fair, though: a lot of people like to point and giggle at Quixote's insanity, but a lot of them would also love to hallucinate with a fantasy world that cool and elaborate, assuming it would not be fatal for them. Why else would we have games like ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' or ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''?

* CommonKnowledge: Everyone "knows" that Sancho is a short and chubby guy to contrast with the tall and lean Quixote. But in reality, Sancho is repeatedly described as a fairly tall man himself.

*** The windmills scene, is only used when someone wishes to be seen as a gallant figure fighting heroically against a powerful and evil ''real'' opponent, not as a delusional person crashing against an imaginary one.
*** '''"Con la iglesia hemos topado"''' -"We have collided with the church."- is used in the book by Don Quixote when they find the wall of a church after being lost in the fog, but nowadays is always misused by a politician who has been criticized by the Catholic Church.
*** '''"Ladran, Sancho, luego cabalgamos"''' -"They are barking, Sancho, that means we are riding"- is possibly the most quoted line of the book and is used when someone wants to show they are above the people that criticize them... but it does not really matter, given that it´s not even in the book.

*** '''"Ladran, Sancho, luego cabalgamos"''' -"They are barking, Sancho, that means we are riding"- is possibly the most quoted line of the book and is used when someone wants to show they are above the people that cricize them... but it does not really matter, given that it´s not even in the book.

** Sadly, most of the quotes and scenes that have become memes owe that status only to being misunderstood or simply misused by a public figure that wants to look smarter or to portray themselves as "Quixotes". (See above).
*** The windmills scene, usually is only used when someone wishes to be seen as a gallant figure fighting heroically against a powerful and evil ''real'' opponent, not as a delusional person crashing against an imaginary one.

* FridgeBrilliance: In the first part, Don Quixote uses AntiquatedLinguistics and the Spanish equivalent of YeOldeButcheredEnglish, but in the Second Part, he almost never uses it. This is because in the first Part he is a DiscoDan in a world where ChivalricRomance is CondemnedByHistory, so he uses this trope to [[IRejectYourReality reject everyone's reality and substitute his own.]] In the Second Part, everyone has read the first Part, knows about ChivalricRomance and stage {{Massive Multiplayer scam}}s, to convince Don Quixote he really is a KnightErrant, so this trope is unnecessary for him.

** Don Quixote is a man of notorious self-importance who has it in for windmills. This takes on a level of irony when Donald Trump made a speech about [[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/23/trump-bizarre-tirade-windmills how windmills are bad]] (though it's clear the latter meant wind turbines, he has been known to call them windmills).

*** '''Rocinante''': A thin and weak horse, almost always full of sores. This one was even documented by Cervantes in Part II, Chapter III, when Carrasco declares that the first part of the novel was read...

** Many people have misunderstood the point of the parody. Romantic writers lionized ''Don Quixote'' as a praise of hopeless noble ideals in an increasingly cynical and materialistic world. Then, followers of literary Naturalism praised the novel... precisely for [[{{deconstruction}} showing the inherent hilarity of groundless Romantic enthusiasm.]] This despite the introduction making it quite clear that this book aims to destroy the reputation of books of chivalry in general.

* FridgeBrilliance: In the first part, Don Quixote uses AntiquatedLinguistics and the Spanish equivalent of YeOldeButcheredEnglish, but in the Second Part, he almost never uses it. This is because in the first Part he is a DiscoDan in a world where ChivalricRomance is DeaderThanDisco, so he uses this trope to [[IRejectYourReality reject everyone's reality and substitute his own.]] In the Second Part, everyone has read the first Part, knows about ChivalricRomance and stage {{Massive Multiplayer scam}}s, to convince Don Quixote he really is a KnightErrant, so this trope is unnecessary for him.

* ValuesResonance: On the flipside, in the process of [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructing]] the ChivalricRomance genre, the trope of "pining from afar" and the idea of a LoveMartyr was torn to pieces when the subject of their affections - Marcela - rejects the idea that she "owes" them any affection [[EntitledToHaveYou just because they're infatuated with her]].

* ValuesResonance: On the flipside, in the process of [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructing]] the ChivalricRomance genre, the trope of "pining from afar" and the idea of a LoveMartyr was torn to pieces with the subject of their affections - Marcela - rejects the idea that she "owes" them any affection [[EntitledToHaveYou just because they're infatuated with her]].

** Is Don Quixote enforcing his fantastic chivalric ideals because he's unaware of their incompatibility with the lowly real world he lives in, like a delusional madman, or is he actually enforcing them with all awareness because he believes the lowly real world ''needs'' precisely such ideals to improve itself, like a massive Romantic idealist? And in the latter case, can such idealism be really separated from madness?
** In Part II, Chapter XI, Don Quixote claims: ''"from a child I was fond of the play, and in my youth a keen lover of the actor's art"''. Several critics, notably writer Harold Bloom, have toyed with the idea that Don Quixote is in fact sane and rational and is just putting on an elaborate act to show the absurdity of society. This is borne more in Part 2, where Quixote discovers that he has become a cliche in his own lifetime and a LivingLegend much like the great heroes of the past he hoped to emulate.

* FridgeBrilliance: In the first part, Don Quixote uses AntiquatedLinguistics and the Spanish equivalent of YeOldeButcheredEnglish, but in the Second Part, he almost never uses it. This is because in the first Part he is a DiscoDan in a world where ChivalricRomance is DeaderThanDisco, so he uses this trope to [[IRejectYourReality reject everyone's reality and substitute his own.]] In the Second Part, everyone has read the first Part, knows about ChivalricRomance and stage {{Massive Multiplayer scam}}s to convince Don Quixote he really is a KnightErrant, so this trope is unnecessary for him.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Literally a BigInJapan example, ''Don Quixote'' is very popular and loved in Japan, having their own anime adaptation (''Zukkoke Knight - Don De La Mancha'' in 1980), being considered the UrExample for Japanese syndrome {{Chuunibyou}} and even having a [[https://www.donki.com/en/ discount chain store]] (the biggest of Japan with some stores in Asia and Hawaii) named after him.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** The main character is a nobleman who spends most of his time staying at home reading chivalry books, obsesses over a woman and refers to her as "my lady" even though she doesn't even know him, and the story is all about his {{LARP}}ing adventures. ''Don Quixote'' could easily be satirizing modern nerd culture, and just goes to show how little things have changed in 400 years.
** Don Quixote is a man of notorious self-importance who has it in for windmills. This takes on a level of irony when Donald Trump made a speech about [[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/23/trump-bizarre-tirade-windmills how windmills are bad]] (though it's clear the latter meant wind turbines, he has been known to call them windmills).

** Alonso Quijano: What other way can you describe a man that belittles [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cid Cid Ruy Diaz]] (a real badass warrior), and prefers a silly character of fiction? Part I Chapter I:

--->''"… because I perceived that the fools are more numerous than the wise; and, though it is better to be praised by the wise few than applauded by the foolish many, I have no mind to submit myself to the stupid judgment of the silly public, to whom the reading of such books falls for the most part."''

*** '''"¿Leoncitos a mi?"''' Literally, "Little lions to me?". More figuratively, "Do they want to scare me with those little lions?". The quote is basically modified each time, changing the "leoncitos" part for whatever you want to show you're not scared of, serving as a BadassBoast. A popular recent example that English speakers can relate to is in the European Spanish dub of ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', where they translated Hulk's "''[[MemeticMutation Puny god]]''" as ''"¿Dioses a mí?"'' ("Gods to me?")[[note]]Whether this is genuine {{Woolseyism}} or [[BlindIdiotTranslation the dubbing team overstepping their boundaries]] is kind of a point of debate in Spain[[/note]].

*** '''Rocinante''': A thin and weak horse, almost always full of sores. This one was even documented by Cervantes in Part II, Chapter III, when Carrasco declares that the first part of the novel was read…

** Some people TakeAThirdOption and argue that Don Quixote himself is more complex than either division, that he's essentially a tragic figure who willingly chooses to go insane rather than live his banal life, and that by willingly embodying virtues that are outdated (if not ever existing in the first place) he's paradoxically just as heroic as the legends he hopes to emulate, if not more. This makes him, more or less, [[ValuesResonance a modern day existentialist hero]].

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: Although Don Quixote is published as a one volume today, it is generally agreed that the mostly philosophical second part is better than the mostly farcical first one. Perhaps related to the fact that the first part was written while Cervantes was in jail (Sancho Panza's wife has 2 different names on the same page, Juana and Mari, neither of which would be the definitive Teresa).

* WeirdAlEffect: Barring a few exceptions such as ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirant_lo_Blanc Tirant lo Blanc]]'' (which is remembered for being one of the first literary texts written in Catalan/Valencian, and had a FilmOfTheBook made of it) few people today remember the novels that Don Quixote read and Cervantes lists before throwing them in the bonfire in Chapter 3, and most of them are philologers and historians. One of those novels is remembered today in the USA, sort of: a land conquered for Spain got named for a character in one of those novels - the nymph California.

* ValuesDissonance: Several of the attitudes expressed by the characters are enough to make modern sensibilities cringe. Sancho, a man usually associated with being a loyal and amiable sort, actually considers taking up selling people as slaves and "turning black into gold".