No Historical Figures Were Harmed / Literature

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• Chaos Warmaster Varan the Undefeatable in Ciaphas Cain: Cain's Last Stand is based on Adolf Hitler, being a short man with a silly mustache prone to grandiloquent speeches that incite people to hatred. Though Hitler, as far as we know, didn't have Compelling Voice or Voluntary Shapeshifting powers.
• Codex Alera:
  • invoked According to Word of God, Tavi's characterization was heavily inspired by both Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus.
  • Warmaster Nasaug's invasion of the Rome-inspired Alera, status as a strategic genius, being the son of a prominent Canim warrior who has previously matched wits with the Alerans and openly regards their then-current peace as the pause before the next war, and matching wits with Tavi (who is acting under the guise of "Rufus Scipio") paints him as being the Canim equivalent of Hannibal Barca.
• Delicate Condition: In 1833 Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell places Betty Anderson on his famous rest cure after she gives birth. By the time her friend Frances visits, Betty has been in isolation for six weeks and her mental health has eroded.
• Discworld has a handful of characters that are counterparts of real historical figures: Hwel is William Shakespeare, Casanunda is Giacomo Casanova and Leonard of Quirm is Leonardo da Vinci, for example.
• Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed: Odo the Posthumous Character who inspires the Ambiguous Utopia of Annares is modeled on the anarchist writer Emma Goldman, namely that she wrote about an anarchist society despite being exiled and on the margins of every real-life society she lived in.
• The fantasy novel The Grace of Kings is to some degree a serial-numbers filed off take on Chinese history following the death of the First Emperor, particularly in terms of the Chu-Han Contention. Among many examples:
  • Emperor Mapidere, a Visionary Villain who united warring states is a stand-in for China's First Emperor Qin Shi Huang (with building a Chunnel-like structure substituting for building the Great Wall)
  • Mapidere's sheltered Royal Brat son and successor Erishi is a stand-in for Qin Shi Huang's Royal Brat son and successor Er Shi.
  • Kuni Garu, a Brilliant, but Lazy student and layabout in youth who was a minor functionary before leading a rebellion and becoming Emperor (the good kind is Liu Bang/Emperor Gaozu, the founder of the Han Dynasty, whose backstory is identical to this in the (semi-legendary) historical accounts.
  • Mata Zyndu, the scion of a noble house victimized by the First Emperor who takes part in the rebellion and becomes Kuni's Evil Former Friend/ Rival Turned Evil is likewise based on Liu Bang's ally turned enemy Xiang Yu. Like his historical counterpart, Mata is ambiguously both an honorable warrior (and surprisingly good poet) and brutal war criminal. Mata is also eight-feet tall and has double-pupiled eyes, features inspired by legends regarding Xiang Yu.
  • Gin Mazoti, a Satisfied Street Rat turned military strategist and beloved general is a Distaff Counterpart of Han Xin, who likewise came from an impoverished/abusive upbringing before establishing himself aided by a study of military strategy. The novel ends with an implication that Gin could be destined for trouble due to being "too popular", which suggests she might experience a similar downfall as the historical Han Xin.
• Meyer Wolfsheim in The Great Gatsby is usually agreed to be a nod to Arnold Rothstein, who was believed to be behind fixing the World Series (as Wolfsheim purports to have done) in real life.
• J. K. Rowling modelled the Black Family in Harry Potter on the famous Mitford sisters.
  • Bellatrix Lestrange's fanatical devotion to Voldemort is based on Unity Valkyrie Mitford who was obsessed with Adolf Hitler and socialized in his circle in the 30s and was believed to have tried to attract the generally asexual Hitler, and was in Berlin when Hitler declared war on Britain, and was so broken that she tried to commit suicide, failed and sent back to England where she was committed to an asylum.
  • Narcissa Malfoy is based on Diana Mitford who married Oswald Moseley of the British Union of Fascists (a marriage with Hitler and Goebbels as witnesses).
  • Andromeda Tonks and Sirius Black are based on Jessica Mitford (one of Rowling's heroes), the family White Sheep who ran away from them to fight in the Spanish Civil War and became a lifelong leftist.
• David Weber's Honor Harrington features the Committee of Public Safety of New Haven, led by Rob S. Pierre and Oscar St. Just (after Louis Antoine de Saint-Just) who institute a Reign of Terror much like their historical inspirations.
• Guy Gavriel Kay:
  • The Last Light of the Sun takes place in an era modeled on Dark Ages Europe and tells the story of the last great Erling (Viking) raid on Angelcyn (England). Parallel characters include King Aeldred of Angelcyn, a clear stand-in for Alfred the Great who unified the English against the historical Viking raids, while Big Bad Ivarr Ragnarson is a fairly transparent knockoff of the semi-historical Ivar the Boneless.
  • The Lions of Al-Rassan has Rodrigo Belmont, a soldier of fortune who goes down in history as his world's version of El Cid.
  • Children of Earth and Sky: Grand Khalif Gurcu the Destroyer is Mehmed the Conqueror, while Emperor Rodolfo is Rudolf II of the Holy Roman Empire.
• Victor Hugo's Les Misérables features two famous examples:
  • Enjolras, a youthful charismatic revolutionary with angelic features, stoic determination and a wealthy background, based on the real-life Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, known for his cold nature and amazing beauty who was nicknamed the Angel of Death in his lifetime.
  • Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert, are Decomposite Character of François Vidocq, a crook turned policeman.
• Greg Egan's science fiction short story "Oracle" stars thinly veiled alternate universe versions of Alan Turing and C.S. Lewis.
• The Shadow Campaigns: Johan Maurisk, as an idealistic revolutionary turned dictatorial mass murderer is a more overtly villainous Maximilien Robespierre, particularly once he starts having perceived traitors executed via "the Spike", the setting's answer to the guillotine.
• Sherlock Holmes:
  • Professor Moriarty somewhat resembles his contemporary, Dr. Simon Newcomb. Like Moriarty, Newcomb was a brilliant mathematician and astronomer. Although not a crime lord so far as we know, he had a reputation for spitefulness and possibly tried to destroy the careers of his critics and rivals.
  • The great detective himself is believed to be a stand-in for Joseph Bell, a forensic surgeon that Conan Doyle once worked for. Bell was known for stressing the importance of close observation in his work, and was apparently capable of a bit of Sherlock Scan himself.
• Later volumes of How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom introduce Fuuga Haan, who is clearly based on Genghis Khan, a point the main character brings up pretty often, with additional comparisons made to Oda Nobunaga and Napoleon.
• Harry Turtledove has a thing for this in both his alternate history and fantasy series:
  • The Darkness Series is a retelling of WWII in a fantasy setting, featuring fantasy counterparts of everyone from Adolf Hitler (Big Bad King Mezentio) and Josef Stalin (the insane King Swemmel of Unkerlant) on down to the Manhattan Project scientists.
  • War Between the Provinces is a fantasy world version of the American Civil War. King Avram is Abraham Lincoln, King Geoffrey is Jefferson Davis, etc, etc.
  • Timeline-191 takes place in an alternate universe wherein the Confederacy won the American Civil War and slowly transitioned into a fascist state, complete with historical knockoffs of much of the Nazi leadership, with Jake "The Snake" Featherston as Adolf Hitler, Saul Goldman (a Jew!) as Goebbels, Clarence Potter as Wilhelm Canaris, and Jefferson Pinkard as a cross between Adolf Eichmann and Rudolf Hoess. You've also got ex-slave Cassius as Vladimir Lenin, Flora Hamburger as a combination Rosa Luxemburg and Eleanor Roosevelt, Irving Morrell as Erwin Rommel (but living in the USA and doing Eisenhower's job), and an unnamed Haitian runner who takes on the role of Jesse Owens in the Richmond Olympics, humiliating Jake.
• World of the Five Gods: As The Curse of Chalion is inspired by the wedding of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, many of the major characters have direct historical equivalents:
  • Iselle is Isabella of Castile; her half-brother Orico is Henry IV of Castile, and her brother Teidez is Alfonso, Prince of Asturias.
  • Martou dy Jironal is Juan Pacheco, and his brother Dondo is Pedro Girón Acuña Pacheco, complete with sudden unexpected death after being betrothed to Iselle.
  • Bergon is Ferdinand II of Aragon; his father "The Fox of Ibra" is John II of Aragon, and Bergon's unnamed half-brother is Charles, Prince of Viana.
• The Young Visiters features an unnamed Prince of Wales in a supporting role. From the time the book was written and set, he's likely meant to be the prince who will one day become King Edward VII, and The Film of the Book portrays him as such.

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