We ’re proper in the midriff of a craze for inserting real - life historical figures into skill fiction and fantasy . Sometimes they are major characters , and sometimes they weave around in the background , now and then founder famous speeches . But a little historical referencing goes a farsighted mode . Here are ten historic figures we ’d be happy to leave alone dead and bury .
1 . Nikola Tesla
count , we love this unhinged dying ray - making hombre as much as you do , but can we please lie in off the steampunk remixes of the guy ? We swooned over David Bowie as Tesla in The Prestige , but at the same time we would n’t have missed him . specially afterall his other get - middling - ready-made appearance , the one in Jeff Smith ’s otherwise awesome comic RASL . His name is now synonymous with unripened luxury cars , and it ’s all too much . There were other scientists who were doing awesome shit with cathartic and electricity at the turning of the 100 — Marie Curie , anyone ? — and we could use a little more variety in our balanced frantic scientist breakfast .
https://gizmodo.com/why-im-tired-of-seeing-nikola-tesla-in-science-fiction-1422935938
2 . Leonardo Da Vinci
He ’s got his own television serial where he ’s fighting demons of the Renaissance Hell ; he patently left some kind of code behind that Dan Brown has been mining for execrable bestsellers ; and he ’s already done the rounds of historical figure scifi tv set , appearing on Doctor Who , the original Star Trek serial publication , and Futurama . Medical science thanks Da Vinci for those nude pictures he draw , but he was n’t the only scientist who live during the Renaissance . Next sentence you ’re looking for an origin story for your weird - ass contraption , why not say it came from the observe journals of Samuel Pepys or else of Da Vinci ’s banker’s bill ?
3 . Joan of Arc
Like Tesla , Joan of Arc is a bewitching material body and we fully understand why so many scifi and fancy Creator want to put her in their workplace . She had visions ; she dressed as a military man and led French troop to warfare ; and she was just generally a entire mediaeval badass . But ! After appearing in Bill and Ted ’s Excellent Adventure as a “ baby , ” and as one recession of a love triangle in the awe-inspiring Clone High , revisionist variation of Joan began to fall apart out her welcome . She was a warrior , not a freakin ’ historical hottie .
At least she gets to show her fighter side in the many , many games where she ’s appeared as a major and minor case , including Age of Empires II : The long time of Kings , Civilization III , Jeanne D’Arc , Bladestorm : The Hundred Years War , and Assassin ’s Creed II . If her theatrical role in all those games did n’t make you maturate aweary , I ’m not certain what to say . Hey multitude , Joan of Arc is n’t the only great adult female in chronicle — nor is she the only female warrior . Either manufacture your own fictional medieval badass , or tell the story of someone else .
4 . Charles Dickens
Here ’s my theory : most people have say only one writer published during the 19th century , and it was probably Charles Dickens . risky , the one affair they take by Dickens was probably “ A Christmas Carol , ” which is why Dickens always shows up in Christmas special or tale about England in wintertime . His history ( and grapheme ) have been in Doctor Who more than once of course of action , but he ’s also shown up in short story by Ray Bradbury and Larry Niven — as well as being referenced a deal on Star Trek . If you ’re attend for a literary physique to cite in your scifi , maybe pass a little further than the one dude whose work you read in high school ?
5 . Queen Victoria
So it was fun when Queen Victoria was a giant triton in Paul Di Filipo ’s novella“Victoria . ”But then she showed up to fight werewolves in Doctor Who ( yes , the inevitable Doctor Who appearance that jolly much every notable historic figure makes ) . And that was kind of the last straw . Before that , this ultimate steampunk world-beater graced too many movies and telly serial to cite , and even make a crucial appearing in Alan Moore ’s comedian From Hell . I know it ’s a lot to ask , but maybe we can find some other pansy to obsess about ?
6 . William Shakespeare
Like Dickens , Shakespeare is one of those writer who represent his era — the Renaissance — because most mass have never register any other writers from that time . Plus , there ’s the ruffly arrest ! And all the conspiracy theories about who he might really have been ! He ’s a fictitious character in The Sandman comics , a friendly father soma to a time - trip small fry in a Susan Cooper novel , the dupe of a physicist ’s experiments in an Isaac Asimov story , and funny reference in a Harry Turtledove chronicle ( a pretty ingenious one , where the time - travel bard goes to see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are deadened ) . But the main problem with the overuse of Shakespeare is the way his plays show up as “ example of great culture ” in everything from Star Trek to The Twilight Zone . It ’s not that Shakespearecan’t be nerveless . He ’s just way overused .
https://gizmodo.com/coolest-shakespeare-riffs-in-science-fiction-and-fantas-5706810
7 . Mark Twain
It was bad enough when he depict up on Star Trek : TNG , flow out with Guinan . The guy had already been around the scifi block . Sam Clemens ( Twain ’s real name ) is a major character in Philip José Farmer ’s Riverworld series , as well as in the work of Robert Heinlein . And of course he teams up with Nikola Tesla in The Five Fists of Science ! He ’s sort of like the American version of Charles Dickens — in all probability , he ’s the only nineteenth century generator many people have study , and therefore he shew up way too often . The nineteenth one C was the peak of the novel , though , so certainly we can find out some other American author to peck on ! I am seriously ready for Harriet Beecher Stowe to show up in an installment of Sleepy Hollow , just so Ichabod Crane can cultivate her about what bump to the slaves while she was gone . Or maybe we can get a cheery romanticism clip travelling story about Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville ?
8 . Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln : Vampire Hunter . Enough said .
9 . Richard Nixon
He ’s done Doctor Who and he ’s a major talking head on Futurama . We get that he ’s a mysterious , disturbing figure from late history , but severely people . If you want to pick on a scary American president , how about Andrew Jackson for a variety ?
10 . Napoleon Bonaparte
He ’s in Bill and Ted and Time Bandits . He ’s a major figure in all of Naomi Novik ’s Temeraire novel — in fact , if you want to signal that you ’re writing an alternating history novel , just throw Napoleon in there . Like Joan of Arc , he ’s a weird Gallic historic figure , an unbelievable warrior leading an amazing ground forces . ( He even stars in a TV serial with Joan — Clone High . ) He ’s been on Robot Chicken and Blackadder . Enough already . get hold another creepy dictator who is n’t Hitler to strut around in your stories , OK ?
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