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Harold Shea

 Harold Shea
type
TVTItem
 Harold Shea
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Harold Shea
 Harold Shea
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HaroldShea
 Harold Shea
comment
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })The Harold Shea series is a set of fantasy short stories and novellas. The series is sometimes referred to as the Enchanter series or The Incomplete Enchanter series, from the names of the collected volumes. The first three stories were written in 1940-1941, and the subsequent two in 1953-1954, all of which were co-authored by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. A further nine stories were written from 1990-1995, two of which were written by L. Sprague de Camp and the rest by other authors. One more story (by Lawrence Watt-Evans) was published in 2005 in a tribute anthology dedicated to L. Sprague de Camp after his death.In the stories, Harold Shea and other characters visit various universes from mythology and fiction. Each story has one primary setting that is visited, although some visit other settings briefly. The primary setting for each story is: Norse Mythology, The Faerie Queene, Ludovico Ariosto's epic poem Orlando Furioso, The Kalevala, Irish mythology, Orlando Furioso (again), Oz, Journey to the West, Don Quixote, The Aeneid, The Tale of Igor's Campaign, Baital Pachisi, John Carter of Mars, The Tempest, and finally Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem Kubla Khan.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })The original five stories from the forties and fifties were collected in three volumes: The Incomplete Enchanter ("The Roaring Trumpet" and "The Mathematics of Magic") Castle of Iron (expanded version of the third story) Wall of Serpents ("The Wall of Serpents" and "The Green Magician")Some of the later stories were collected in: The Enchanter Reborn (five stories) The Exotic Enchanter (four stories)An omnibus edition containing the first two stories plus the expanded version of the third was released as The Compleat Enchanter—somewhat ironically, as it was released long after the fourth and fifth stories had been published. A later omnibus containing all five original stories was released as The Complete Compleat Enchanter. Another omnibus containing all the original stories, plus all of de Camp's stories from the nineties, was released as The Mathematics of Magic.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_3'); })
 Harold Shea
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2020-03-27T21:13:02Z
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2020-06-24T06:55:48Z
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DBTropes
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BoisterousBruiser
 Harold Shea / int_153299b4
comment
Boisterous Bruiser: Many heroes and warriors met by Shea, including Thor in his very first adventure.
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Misplaced a Decimal Point
 Harold Shea / int_159e16f1
comment
Misplaced a Decimal Point: Doc Chalmers has to prove his magical skills by invoking a dragon, but accidentally shifts the decimal point two places to the right and summons 100 dragons. Luckily the dragons are vegetarian. A later attempt to perfect the spell produces a dragon approximately 0.01 times the size of a normal dragon. It's ten inches long, breathes fire, has a sting in its tail...and was summoned into a cage made for the normal-sized dragon the characters were hoping to get. It promptly escapes by flying between the bars...and it's not happy.
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type
Not-So-Harmless Villain
 Harold Shea / int_171ef47c
comment
Not-So-Harmless Villain: Grantorto in The Mathematics of Magic seems like an Affably Evil Small Name, Big Ego and doesn't even do anything particularly villainous. Then at the end, after the rest of his Chapter is killed, he traps Shea and Belphebe and would have tortured them to death, had they not been sucked into another dimension by Harold's spell.
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 Harold Shea / int_1777688d
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Genre Savvy
 Harold Shea / int_1777688d
comment
Genre Savvy: Harold visits worlds that inspired our works of fiction, and uses his knowledge of the stories to avoid trouble. At times, this has even been used for prophecy — he remembers how the story came out.
 Harold Shea / int_1777688d
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Massive Multiplayer Crossover
 Harold Shea / int_2c385759
comment
Massive Multiplayer Crossover
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 Harold Shea / int_3126c34a
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Insufferable Genius
 Harold Shea / int_3126c34a
comment
Insufferable Genius: Ras Thavas from the John Carter of Mars setting
 Harold Shea / int_3126c34a
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 Harold Shea / int_3fe6a857
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Public Domain Character
 Harold Shea / int_3fe6a857
comment
Public Domain Character: ...and public domain settings, too.
 Harold Shea / int_3fe6a857
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 Harold Shea / int_4160410d
type
Damsel in Distress
 Harold Shea / int_4160410d
comment
Damsel in Distress: Subverted in the third story, when Harold breaks into the tent of Belphebe's captor to rescue Belphebe, finds a Bound and Gagged person there... who is Belphebe's would-be captor, who had been tied up by her.
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Evil Sorcerer
 Harold Shea / int_434a6d40
comment
Evil Sorcerer: A whole Chapter of them work to bring down the kingdom of Faerie in The Mathematics of Magic.
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 Harold Shea / int_4dbd3706
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Clap Your Hands If You Believe
 Harold Shea / int_4dbd3706
comment
Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Bayard who is immune to magic since he doesn't believe in it.
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 Harold Shea / int_50b05d30
type
Disproportionate Retribution
 Harold Shea / int_50b05d30
comment
Disproportionate Retribution: In The Castle of Iron, our heroes come upon Roland massacring a peasant village. The reason? The peasants boiled his venison instead of roasting it.
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Affably Evil
 Harold Shea / int_537dd8fe
comment
Affably Evil: Busyrane in The Mathematics of Magic. He even looks saintly.
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BlackMagicianGirl
 Harold Shea / int_635d561f
comment
Black Magician Girl: Duessa, in "The Mathematics of Magic."
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NamesTheSame
 Harold Shea / int_6bedf674
comment
Name's the Same: Bayard the psychologist and Bayard the Cool Horse. It is shortly mentioned in-universe but never becomes a plot point.
 Harold Shea / int_6bedf674
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Harold Shea / int_6bedf674
 Harold Shea / int_6c3d1777
type
Magic A Is Magic A
 Harold Shea / int_6c3d1777
comment
Magic A Is Magic A: Magic is stated to act this way, although how consistently the rules are applied may be debatable.
 Harold Shea / int_6c3d1777
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Harold Shea / int_6c3d1777
 Harold Shea / int_6cdc784f
type
You No Take Candle
 Harold Shea / int_6cdc784f
comment
You No Take Candle: The trolls in The Roaring Trumpet, Odoro the Imp in The Castle of Iron.
 Harold Shea / int_6cdc784f
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 Harold Shea / int_6e9bc71b
type
Extreme Omni-Goat
 Harold Shea / int_6e9bc71b
comment
Extreme Omni-Goat: In the first story, one of Thor's goats takes a big bite out of Shea's coat and swallows it. According to Thjalfi, the goats once ate a pile of human corpses as well.
 Harold Shea / int_6e9bc71b
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The Tourney
 Harold Shea / int_75111e3e
comment
The Tourney: In the Faerie Queen world.
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 Harold Shea / int_776a06eb
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All Myths Are True
 Harold Shea / int_776a06eb
comment
All Myths Are True
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 Harold Shea / int_7fd142ef
type
Shared Universe
 Harold Shea / int_7fd142ef
comment
Shared Universe: Orginally the character belonged only to Pratt and de Camp (with one unauthorized use (See Take That!, below)); many years later, de Camp, the surviving partner, allowed other authors (so far, Roland J. Green, Holly Lisle, Frieda A. Murray, John Maddox Roberts, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Tom Wham, and particularly Christopher Stasheff) to play with the Enchanter universe.
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 Harold Shea / int_863fa679
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What Happened to the Mouse?
 Harold Shea / int_863fa679
comment
What Happened to the Mouse?: The story from 2005, "Return to Xanadu", is about what happened to a minor character from "The Wall of Serpents".
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 Harold Shea / int_a18d407b
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Samus Is a Girl
 Harold Shea / int_a18d407b
comment
Samus Is a Girl: Britomart (as in The Faerie Queene)
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And I Must Scream
 Harold Shea / int_a8a04f6f
comment
And I Must Scream: In The Mathematics of Magic the wizard Dolon keeps his former apprentice Roger naked and immobilized as a living torch-holder, having discovered that Roger was actually a spy for Queen Gloriana.
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Warrior Poet
 Harold Shea / int_a9eb984b
comment
Warrior Poet: Lemminkainen from The Wall of Serpents.
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 Harold Shea / int_aabe2fb
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Deliberate Values Dissonance
 Harold Shea / int_aabe2fb
comment
Deliberate Values Dissonance: between the characters from the modern world and the inhabitants of the alternate universes they visit.
 Harold Shea / int_aabe2fb
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Harold Shea / int_aabe2fb
 Harold Shea / int_b53077b3
type
Take That!
 Harold Shea / int_b53077b3
comment
Take That!: "Sir Harold and the Gnome King" has one directed at a certain other author who wrote Harold Shea into one of his stories without permission—and killed him off. (He got better.)
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 Harold Shea / int_b58642b1
type
Trapped in Another World
 Harold Shea / int_b58642b1
comment
Trapped in Another World: The characters sometimes are prevented from returning to the "real" world until they've accomplished something.
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People Jars
 Harold Shea / int_b905e88c
comment
People Jars: Dolon in The Mathematics of Magic has a collection of small faery folk imprisoned in bottles.
 Harold Shea / int_b905e88c
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 Harold Shea / int_d500b978
type
Adaptational Wimp
 Harold Shea / int_d500b978
comment
Adaptational Wimp: Most knights, who are easily defeated with Shea's fencing arts. The cake definitely goes to Sir Roger. Good that Shea never ran into his sister...
 Harold Shea / int_d500b978
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 Harold Shea / int_d88e125e
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Our Dragons Are Different
 Harold Shea / int_d88e125e
comment
Our Dragons Are Different: The wivern that Busyrane rides in ''The Mathematics of Magic," described by Harold as "some kind of a long-tailed pterodactyl."
 Harold Shea / int_d88e125e
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Action Girl
 Harold Shea / int_dae5c997
comment
Action Girl: Belphebe/Belphegor, Britomart/Bradamant
 Harold Shea / int_dae5c997
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Harold Shea / int_dae5c997
 Harold Shea / int_dc57d1e6
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HilariousInHindsight
 Harold Shea / int_dc57d1e6
comment
This becomes doubly funny when one learns that in Spenser's political allegory, the Blatant Beast represents the Puritans.
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Harold Shea / int_dc57d1e6
 Harold Shea / int_e5421161
type
Expy
 Harold Shea / int_e5421161
comment
Expy: In-story example: The Faerie Queene has expies of characters from Orlando Furioso. However, is there really any such character as "Belphegor" in Orlando Furioso that is an expy of Belphoebe? I looked and didn't find any character name resembling that. And the names don't seem to be related, either; "Belphoebe" is from the the name of a Titan from Greek mythology plus a prefix meaning "beautiful", whereas "Belphegor" is from the name of a Moabitish deity "Ba'al Pe'or" mentioned in the Torah (or so says That Other Wiki). In this case the "Phoebe" in "Belphoebe" is probably not the Titaness, but another name for the Moon-Goddess Artemis, who, as a virgin goddess, represents for Spenser the chastity of "Elizabeth I" (as Gloriana represents her "glory" and Mercilla her "mercy").
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 Harold Shea / int_e68b72
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TheLoad
 Harold Shea / int_e68b72
comment
The Load: Shea himself is a slight example in the first novella. He is less physically capable than his more battle-hardened or supernatural companions, and his 20th century science turns out not to work at all in the world of Norse Mythology. This changes once he starts figuring out how to use magic.
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 Harold Shea / int_eb5b71fe
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Clingy Jealous Girl
 Harold Shea / int_eb5b71fe
comment
Clingy Jealous Girl: Gertrude Mugler
 Harold Shea / int_eb5b71fe
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 Harold Shea / int_eb81c601
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Big Damn Heroes
 Harold Shea / int_eb81c601
comment
Big Damn Heroes: Belphebe makes her first appearance rescuing Shea and Chalmers from the ape-like Losels who are attacking them.
 Harold Shea / int_eb81c601
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 Harold Shea / int_edb7569a
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Our Gryphons Are Different
 Harold Shea / int_edb7569a
comment
Our Gryphons Are Different: The Hippogriff, Buttercup, in The Castle of Iron.
 Harold Shea / int_edb7569a
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 Harold Shea / int_f654419c
type
Baleful Polymorph
 Harold Shea / int_f654419c
comment
Baleful Polymorph: Shea's colleague Vaclav turns into a wolf whenever he tries to use magic to change his shape. It's because of his East European ancestry.
 Harold Shea / int_f654419c
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 Harold Shea / int_fd53ff9f
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Heroes Want Redheads
 Harold Shea / int_fd53ff9f
comment
Heroes Want Redheads: Belphebe
 Harold Shea / int_fd53ff9f
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 Harold Shea / int_feb72f62
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Literal Genie
 Harold Shea / int_feb72f62
comment
Literal Genie: Magical spells sometimes give results different than what Shea or Chalmers intended, because they fit the literal meaning of the words rather than the implied.
 Harold Shea / int_feb72f62
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 Harold Shea / int_ff24ad1d
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Bawdy Song
 Harold Shea / int_ff24ad1d
comment
Bawdy Song: When Shea and Chalmers are forced by the Blatant Beast to recite an epic poem or else be killed, the only poem Harold can remember is The Ballad of Eskimo Nell. The Beast is so shocked by the poem's subject that he walks off in confusion. This becomes doubly funny when one learns that in Spenser's political allegory, the Blatant Beast represents the Puritans.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Harold Shea
hasFeature
All Myths Are True / int_b96ef98c
 Harold Shea
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Bawdy Song / int_b96ef98c
 Harold Shea
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Clap Your Hands If You Believe / int_b96ef98c
 Harold Shea
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Closest Thing We Got / int_b96ef98c
 Harold Shea
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Cold Iron / int_b96ef98c
 Harold Shea
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Extreme Omni-Goat / int_b96ef98c
 Harold Shea
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Flying Broomstick / int_b96ef98c
 Harold Shea
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Formulaic Magic / int_b96ef98c
 Harold Shea
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Interdimensional Travel Device / int_b96ef98c
 Harold Shea
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Intrepid Fictioneer / int_b96ef98c
 Harold Shea
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Magic Versus Science / int_b96ef98c
 Harold Shea
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Misplaced a Decimal Point / int_b96ef98c
 Harold Shea
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Officer O'Hara / int_b96ef98c
 Harold Shea
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Sympathetic Magic / int_b96ef98c
 Harold Shea
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Taken for Granite / int_b96ef98c