YMMV / Sienkiewicz Trilogy

• Adaptation Displacement: Outside Poland, people are more likely to be familiar with the Mount & Blade adaptation of With Fire and Sword or the film adaptations than the books.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Discussion goes for years in university books and secondary school classes. Deliberate Values Dissonance aside, some characters seem more ambiguous that it's used to say.
  • Is Kmicic really a case of redemption or just the same old brutal and murder, only this time serving the right master? His whole redemption quest had nothing to do with Rape, Pillage, and Burn at the beginning of the book (Oleńka calls him out on it, and he feels fairly guilty, but that's essentially forgotten just about as soon as Radziwiłł announces his pact with Sweden) and the main issue in the redemption arc is his later actions, caused by loyalty conflict. He had never felt or said sorry for what he had done in Wołmontowicze, yet he is going to live among them as the husband of the richest local beauty. One might wonder how he survived to the next book. It is mentioned (in all of five sentences) that he was eventually forgiven by the nobles of Lauda after they saw how much he changed but it's really easy to miss that bit and even if you don't it's still kinda unstatisfying.
  • Jarema Wiśniowiecki also has his share - beloved ruler, or a cruel man even worse than his opponents?
    • Yeah, can of worms. Some arguments for prince Jarema: this is borderland, constantly ravaged by Tatars and Cossacks who understand nothing but raw strength (and guts, granted). The prince is protecting the peaceful colonists against being robbed, raped and gutted (maybe ...In That Order). That's Klaus Wulfenbach school of ruling, and with similar cause.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Bohun. The fact that numerous female readers wondered why would Helena choose Skrzetuski over him was even lampshaded in several books and articles discussing Trilogy. It got amped up to eleven when film version of With Fire and Sword finally came out.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Wołodyjowski goes from supporting character to star of his own eponymous novel. And of course, there's Zagłoba... You could make a decent argument that Wołodyjowski is more of a protagonist in Ogniem i mieczem than Skrzetuski, as the latter's efforts to save Helena mostly take place off-page whereas the reader gets a first-hand account of all the heavy lifting Wołodyjowski (and Zagłoba) do.
• Esoteric Happy Ending:
  • The Deluge; it's impossible to overstate what a disaster the 1655-1660 war was for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (almost half of the population dead, the country brought to economic ruin, many priceless work of art and science stolen and not returned until this day). But our heroes survive for the most part and come out on top personally so... yay?
  • This continues to Pan Wołodyjowski. The book concludes with the disastrous military campaign against the Ottomans, which leads to The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth being made into a vassal state of the Ottomans and Wołodyjowski dying while defending Kamieniec Podolski. But in the end, it's a moral victory, so... yay?
• Memetic Mutation: Several quotes remain popular and entered colloquial Polish over a century ago and are still alive to this day. Surprisingly, despite the popularity of the books, mamy of said phrases end up being frequently misquoted or used in a wrong context:
  • Kończ, waść, wstydu oszczędź! ^Translation Finish it, sir! Spare (me) the shame! - perhaps the most (mis)quoted line from The Deluge, which Kmicic utters when completely owned in a duel against Wołodyjowski. In the book, Kmicic, clearly outmatched by Wołodyjowski's fencing skills, begs Sir Michał to finish him off and thus spare him further humiliation. Nowadays, this quote is used mostly when you ask someone to stop embarassing themselves. Note that "me" part is absent in the original Polish text as personal pronouns can be omitted in Polish, hence the confusion.
  • When someone tries to bewield something that doesn't belong to them, such an act is often referred as selling Livland (sprzedać Inflanty in Polish), supposedly after a sarcastic piece of advice Zagłoba gave to Jan Zamoyski. In the book, when Swedish king Charles X Gustav promised to give Jan Zamoyski Lublin Voivodeship (i.e. a territory the Swedish king had no rights to) in hereditary possession for opening the gates of Zamość, Zagłoba asked Jan to promise in return that he would offer Swedish king the province of Netherlands in exchange.
  • Thanks to Andrzej Seweryn's role as Jeremi Wiśniowiecki in With Fire and Sword movie adaptation, some lines gained wind 15 years after the movie's premiere:
    • Buntownik, nie hetman!^{Translation and explanation} "Rebel, not a hetman!" - Wiśniowiecki's reply to Cossacks (who delivered the message) saying that they were envoys from hetman Chmielnicki.
    • Mordować ich tak, aby czuli że umierają.^{Translation and explanation} "Murder them so they feel they're dying." - followup to the one mentioned above.
    • Baby z dziećmi wygnać, chaty spalić, a chłopom podziękować.^{Translation and explanation} "Exile women and children, burn down the houses, and thank the peasants." - Wiśniowiecki's order after his expedition finds shocked Skrzetuski at burned Rozłogi.
  • Semester finals in Zaporizhzhia^Explanation Some Polish student took fragments of With Fire and Sword adaptation (with Czech dubbing) depicting Cossacks after battle of Khorsun and delivery of Chmielnicki's note to Wiśniowiecki and subjected them to the same treatment as Untergang parodies; Cossacks were turned into students that wanted to party despite coming finals, Wiśniowiecki became a dean, and the note was asking the dean to stretch the finals. It was titled Sesja na Zaporożu and in 10 years gained over 2 million views.
• Moral Event Horizon: While Azja Tuhaj-Bejowicz's treachery is evil, one can understand why he's done it, and even feel a smidgen of sympathy. Then he gives his Polish childhood sweetheart to the Tartar Horde, just so he can get back at her father for beating him, so many years ago. While she's declaring her eternal love for him. When he gets his comeuppance, it's hard not to feel he deserves it.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Kuklinowski might be seen as that by some modern readers. Although he is treated as a traitor and Asshole Victim who did betray Poland and insulted Kmicic and later tortured him (since latter humaliated him in return for insult). Kmicic responds by torturing Kuklinowski in return and it is very much treated as moment of awesome for Kmicic (and some readers (even more in older days) cite it as one of their favorite moments and further reinforces Kmicic as one of their favorite characters. Though, Kuklinowski later being revealed to have been left and freezed to death. That might be seen by some modern readers as little excessive. From certain point of view, it can be seen as Kuklinowski's only real crimes are betraying Poland (which isn't really elaborated how much deaths of innocents it caused, if any at all) and maybe torturing Kmicic who now often comes off as Designated Hero. Kmicic has actually far bigger bodycount in contrast to Kuklinowski especially at Rape, Pillage, and Burn he does in the beginning. Yet, Kuklinowski is meant to be seen as a Asshole Victim while Kmicic who as already mentioned, has bigger innocent bodycount, is seen as a hero despite them possibly being now seen as no different; simply Kmicis is loyal to Poland and Kuklinowski is not.
• Values Dissonance: The Catholics in the novel often say things about Protestants that, while historically accurate, might strike modern Catholics as offensive. Plus, in The Deluge Sienkiewicz has to explain to his 19th-century audience why Andrzej Kmicic, who has already undergone a spiritual transformation, nevertheless lets his Tartar auxiliaries rape, loot and pillage when they enter East Prussia.
• Values Resonance: Unlike just about every other main character Zagłoba does NOT unequivocally believe in Honor Before Reason and that War Is Glorious, and he's not shy about voicing his condemnation of either mindset; sometimes it's Played for Laughs, sometimes it's his self-preservation instinct talking, but surprisingly often it makes him come across as the Only Sane Man in a cast of battle-crazy maniacs.
• The Woobie: Young Mr Nowowiejski when his father is killed and both his little sister and his beloved fiancee are kidnapped and sold to the Turks. By the man whom he trusted and treated as a friend. No wonder that after accomplishing his revenge all he wants is to find peace in death.