YMMV / Temeraire

• Alas, Poor Scrappy: Riley tends not to be most modern readers' favorite character, largely because he's sympathetic to slavery, doesn't react well to finding out that there's women in the Corps, and rather pettily gives Laurence the silent treatment throughout the first half of Empire of Ivory when Laurence gives a freedman preacher and his family passage to South Africa on the Allegiance. He redeems himself a bit at the end of that book by relenting on his attitude somewhat, only to die a couple books later in a Heroic Sacrifice trying to prevent his enormous and expensive dragon transport ship from sinking, widowing his new wife Harcourt and leaving their child without a father.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Tharkay is by far the most popular character in the fandom outside of Laurence and Temeraire. His status as The Snark Knight and The Gadfly make him fun to watch, he has very good onscreen chemistry with Laurence, and his Dark and Troubled Past as a mixed-race wanderer who Had to Be Sharp to survive gives him a romantic pulp hero vibe.
• Foe Yay Shipping: After Laurence and Temeraire deliver the dragon-plague cure to France, Napoleon consistently exerts extreme courtesy to the pair whenever available or whenever the two are captured. Laurence refers to him several times as a seducer (to the French cause, of course) and Napoleon makes no secret that he would love having Laurence on his side. After one capture, Napoleon writes to Laurence's "host" to ensure that Laurence and his companions are being treated well, stating in French that Laurence is "worth more than pearls":
  Tell me you have shown him every courtesy! Nothing is too good for such a man, adding the phrase, il a bien plus de valeur que les perles, a phrase which Laurence, half-amused despite every will to be otherwise, recognized as the description of the virtuous woman.
• Genius Bonus: In His Majesty's Dragon, Temeraire particularly likes hearing the story of Raiden, the dragon (possibly a Sui-Riu, though implied later to have been a Celestial) who saved Japan from invading Mongol hordes by using the Divine Wind to sink their ships. In the real world, ancient Japan was threatened by Mongol invasion twice, in 1274 and 1281; the second was the largest attempted naval invasion in history until D-Day. Both times, the Mongol ships were sank by freak monsoons. These storms were dubbed kamikazes, commonly translated as "divine wind", because the Japanese attributed the storms to their god of storms, Raiden. As well as an interesting reference to real-world events, this doubles as foreshadowing for Lien sinking England's fleet in Victory of Eagles with the Divine Wind.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • In Throne of Jade, there's an amusing little subplot where Laurence hears about a nasty cold going around the English dragons, and many jokes are made about how dragons are such big babies when they're sick. Temeraire comes down with the cold, and it's played largely for laughs. In Empire of Ivory, it turns out that the "cold" is actually a form of dragon tuberculosis that's slowly and painfully killing every dragon in England, and if they hadn't stopped at exactly the right port in Africa and prepared exactly the right mushroom for Temeraire on a whim, he and every other English dragon would have died. And for that matter, since Temeraire was on his way to China, all of the Chinese dragons would probably have died, too. What a fun, wacky subplot!
  • Also in Throne of Jade Temeraire goes swimming, but due to an injury suffered earlier can't simply fly back onto the Allegiance; for him to climb back up takes some ingenuity, and Riley complains to Laurence that "What the Admiralty would say to me if I managed to get a dragon transport sunk in harbor on a cloudless day, I should not like to think." Then Crucible of Gold happens, and after a five-day storm, the Allegiance sinks due to rowdy convict sailors, and the dragons and a small number of people barely escape. Laurence mournfully realizes that Riley, who went down trying to save the Allegiance, will be remembered as the captain who got a ship sunk on a cloudless day.
  • An in-universe example. The sub-plot with Choiseul in His Majesty's Dragon leads Laurence to make a number of very harsh statements about treason: he also has to explain to Temeraire why treason^note Technically Choiseul is not a traitor (a citizen of England working against its best interests) but a double-agent. must be punished with execution. Laurence himself is forced to choose between genuine treason and becoming an accessory to genocide at the end of the fourth book.
  • Lien's extensive declaration of Revenge against Temeraire in Black Powder War becomes much grimmer by the end of League of Dragons, when every retribution she intended for Temeraire happens to her instead. She loses the empire she helped to build; her own allies betray her; and she's sent into exile on a remote, barren island alongside Napoleon, left with nothing but the memory of her defeat.

• Ho Yay: Even with Laurence having a woman for a lover—or, more accurately, a woman having Laurence for a lover (especially as the series progresses and she becomes admiral)—it's mostly dudes aboard Temeraire. This results in some behavior that keen-eyed Yaoi Fangirls haven't left unnoticed, popular pairings being Laurence and Granby (his first officer and later Iskierka's captain) and Laurence and the guide Tharkay. Given that Novik was a very popular slash fanfic writer before she went pro, this is almost certainly deliberate. And this is to say nothing of how "mannish" Laurence's canon lover behaves—smoking, drinking, playing cards, fighting, commanding, walking "like a man," showing no shyness with regards to sexuality...
  • The homoeroticism between Laurence and Temeraire, if you'd like to see it that way. Case in point: Laurence calls Temeraire "my dear" and cuddles him a lot, as well as mentioning how he can't see how any dragon captain could marry and divide their affections between dragon and spouse. Also Temeraire going through puberty and Laurence touching the wrong part of Temeraire:
    "Come now, you are like to make everyone think you are a vain creature," Laurence said, reaching up to pet the waving tendrils. "Truly, they look very well; pray give them no thought."
    Temeraire made a small, startled noise, and leaned in towards the stroking. "That feels strange," he said.
    "Am I hurting you? Are they so tender?" ...
    Temeraire nudged him a little and said, "No, they do not hurt at all. Pray do it again?" When Laurence very carefully resumed the stroking, Temeraire made an odd purring sort of sound, and abruptly shivered all over. "I think I quite like it," he added, his eyes growing unfocused and heavy-lidded.
    • Laurence's reaction to this statement, however, is to immediately recoil away and attempt to explain to Temeraire why he stopped.
    • On the other hand, in Throne of Jade, when Laurence discovers that Temeraire has established a relationship with Mei, an Imperial dragon, his first instinct is jealousy that now has real competition for Temeraire's "affections." Keep in mind that Mei is a concubine.
  • In Crucible of Gold, Granby is revealed to be gay during his protests over Iskierka's and Hammond's plans to marry him to the Inca Empress. Look back on his and Laurence's interactions in this light...
    • Granby also is one of the few people to refer to Laurence by his first name. Not even Temeraire or Jane do that.
  • Blood of Tyrants amps up the Ho Yay between Laurence and Tharkay. There's a lot to read into Laurence's desperation to find a kidnapped Tharkay during the climax of the second part, and his memory hasn't even returned by then. And when it does return, it's Laurence's rescue of Tharkay that triggers it (the event itself mirroring Tharkay's rescue of Laurence in Victory of Eagles). After that, they throw a lot of First-Name Basis at each other, and Laurence hardly leaves Tharkay's side during his recovery.
  • And while League of Dragons has Laurence and Jane Roland seeming to rekindle their relationship after several years, complete with the most explicit sex scene in the series, the book concludes with Tharkay, having finally won his inheritance through the courts, inviting Laurence and Temeraire to come live on his estate.
  • In one drabble from Golden Age and Other Stories told from Tharkay's point of view, he gives a description of gazing upon Laurence which very, very heavily seems to imply some kind of feelings on his side:
    "A stern quality had come into his face, this last year: in the fading light he was a statue gilded by sunset. It was a pang not unmixed with pleasure to look on him, as ever. Tharkay was glad the despair, at least, had gone."
• Jerkass Woobie: Hammond will steamroll anyone and anything that gets between him and what he sees as England's best interests, frequently stepping on the toes of those around him. He is prevented from being completely unlikeable by a few moments of heroism, and by the fact that if there's some kind of embarrassment or discomfort to be had, and Granby isn't handy, Hammond will likely be the recipient.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: The Big Bad, Napoléon Bonaparte, is portrayed as a Worthy Opponent verging occasionally on Friendly Enemy of the protagonist Laurence, and is genuinely interested in improving the lives of his citizens. In contrast, Laurence's fellow captain Rankin is a classist, racist, sexist, speciesist ass whose defining moment is abandoning his dragon companion to die alone, begging to see him, while he goes for drinks.
• Memetic Badass
  • The red porcelain vase Laurence buys for his father in Throne of Jade survives a book and a half of being dragged 5,000 miles across creation. When Laurence checks on it after having their quarters ransacked in the Last Stand in Peking and finds it unscathed, he actually starts to cry. From there, it survives a fire aboard the Allegiance (which ruined most of their clothing), a sandstorm, a bandit attack, an avalanche, an escape and aerial pursuit from Istanbul, months of campaigning with the Prussians and Temeraire's most violent actions yet against the French, fleeing a besieged city with hundreds of Prussian soldiers in tow, one of said Prussian soldiers attempting to kill Laurence in midair, and finally a horseback deliveryman in England.
  • Finally, there's Will Laurence himself. He manages some absolute insanity over the course of the series, to the point that one Tumblr post was able to make some Chuck Norris jokes about him. He reaches a point in Blood of Tyrants where he's come to be considered almost more dangerous and radical than Napoleon himself.
    Will Laurence was convicted for treason and they made him an Admiral.
    Will Laurence harnessed a Celestial and the Chinese made him a prince.
    Will Laurence isn't afraid of Napoleon, Napoleon is afraid of Will Laurence.
• Moral Event Horizon
  • Yongxing oversteps his boundaries in reclaiming Temeraire for the Chinese by plotting Laurence's murder several times, while using his own nephew as a Replacement Goldfish human and Unwitting Pawn to eventually take over the Chinese throne.
  • Trying to use a dragon plague as biological warfare against France. This creates a whole interlocking series of them, in and out of universe. First off, it's not just France; it's spelled out by Laurence and Roland that the plague would eventually strike all of Eurasia, leaving Britain the only nation in the entire northern hemisphere with an Aerial Corps (and it's strongly implied that the Admiralty has figured this into their planning). Second, Laurence and Temeraire go all "Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!" to deliver the cure to France, which is treason and which everyone considers their MEH moment. Lastly, Wellesley trades on this reputation to force Laurence to perform guerilla warfare on French foraging parties, slaughtering them wholesale in defiance of all The Laws and Customs of War, which enforces Laurence's Despair Event Horizon.
  • Another instance arises in Blood of Tyrants, when the main characters discover that Russian 'breeding grounds' involve shackling any dragon that won't agree to obey orders in a pit and letting them starve. Laurence and Temeraire immediately present an ultimatum; things change instantly, or they take their dragons and go home - Napoleon or no Napoleon.
  • League of Dragons almost sees another one happen: the Russian Tsar and German allies seriously consider a suggestion to poison any food to be found by ferals across the region, in the hopes of cutting off the bulk of Napoleon's forces. This after learning that he had managed to convince ferals to attack the Chinese supply lines, delaying their arrival. Laurence is beside himself in rage, and wouldn't have been shock to attack the men in the room. Later that night he conspires to actually join Napoleon, where he had twice refused before, should the alliance actually go through with it. Temeraire is so mortified by the possibility that his words are almost taken as admittance to committing mutiny and treason should it happen. Thankfully the Tsar actually learns from the debacle with the Russian ferals.
  • No matter the culture, no matter whether they're harnessed or feral or what side of any war a dragon fights on, it seems to be a universal truth that the theft of a dragon's egg is nearly the grossest crime anyone could commit, second only to deliberately breaking an egg. (Note that this seems to largely be confined to dragons stealing other dragons' eggs; they by no means are happy to allow humans to do it, but they do not seem to view it with quite the same hatred. This may be because dragon husbandry is itself something of a consensual theft of eggs, with dragons understanding as a result that no human who takes a dragon egg intends to harm it.)
• The Scrappy: For how briefly he appears, Lieutenant Dayes earned himself absolutely no fans. His one and only action in His Majesty's Dragon is that he tries to convince Temeraire that Laurence didn't really like him and only remained with him out of duty, and so the dragon should take an actual aviator for his captain instead, and then he mopes when it doesn't work and tries to poison Granby against Laurence from the get-go. Even Rankin has his fans, but you'd be hard-pressed to find even a single fanfic or headcanon out there that assigns any sort of positive or redeeming qualities to Dayes.
• Star Trek Movie Curse: Inverted. The odd-numbered books tend to be more directly related to the war, and some find them to be better books than the even-numbered books, which usually involve travels to distant lands in order to explore how that region is different from how it was in our world, and whose ramifications often take a few more books to manifest.
• Stoic Woobie: Tharkay has little to say about the matter beyond an occasional sardonic grin, but his father's family deliberately ruined him out of prejudice against his mother's race, which he can do nothing about until the war lets him win enough funds to take them to court. In League of Dragons, he unemotionally admits his suspicion that his half-brother deliberately sold him out to the French in hopes that he would be executed as a spy, rather than let Tharkay claim his rightful inheritance.
• Ugly Cute: Kulingile, as a hatchling before he grows up and later gets some golden scales.
• The Woobie:
  • Levitas, who suffered long under an indifferent if not outright abusive captain before dying in his service.
  • Granby, in both comedical instances and not, never seems to catch a break.
  • Perscitia, who was abandoned by her handler because she didn't like fighting. It doesn't help that when she mentioned it she tried to sound indifferent, but was still clearly hurt over it.
  • Kulingile in Tongues of Serpents. He's born so deformed that most of the aviators decided to put him out of his misery, and, avoiding that fate, seems to wheeze and struggle for every breath.
  • Tharkay. He's only as snarky and independent as he is because he grew up as a half-Asian boy in unaccepting white society. Truth in Television, because mixed couples and children really are discriminated against, even now, in some places.
  • Laurence himself doesn't exactly have it easy either, especially during "Victory of Eagles," where he is: a traitor, responsible for the death of his former fiancee's husband, and implied to be the cause of his aging father's recent illness. Add to that a nice dash of guilt issues, and it's easy to see why he spends half the book having a Heroic BSoD.
    • The book after, Blood of Tyrants cements this; Laurence gets hit with Laser-Guided Amnesia in the beginning of the novel and the other characters intentionally keep the bigger revelations of his past from him so as not to upset him. Temeraire lets slip about their treachery to England and subsequent transport to Australia, and it nearly sends Laurence jumping off a cliff.

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