Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 22 (or: Yuletide 2020 edition)

[cahn]

ETA: Whoops, I missed my cue -- this might as well be the next discussion post, I guess! :)

This is about the fic I didn't author (I have another reveals post for the fics I did author).

So my goal this Yuletide was NOT to write any historical fandom (because hard!) and just enjoy the excellent stuff that other people wrote. And... that sort of happened? I didn't end up authoring anything history-intensive? Buuuuut I ended up spending a lot more time than I did on any of my own fics working with mildred_of_midgard on her fic, which she was worried about being able to pull off because she had had this completely insane idea to write a long casefic about Frederick the Great that every time I turned around had another twist put in :P :) She supplied me with what we called a "rough opal in matrix" bus pass casefic, and I cut away the matrix that remained and in some cases carved the opal -- that is to say, writing additional text for some of the scenes, what we liked to call "putting in feels," and in at least two cases entirely rewriting and/or restructuring the scene she'd written. She didn't always keep what I wrote (which we'd agreed upon in the beginning), but when she did (which was most of the time :) ) she then went in and rewrote/restructured what I put in to wordsmith (some of the words I gave her were really rough) and match her style, adding even more scenes -- that is, polishing it up and adding some gold and diamonds -- and voila, a beautiful pendant, I mean, story :)

I'm really proud of it and also it was really fun and also what I could handle this year, especially because mildred did all the parts I thought were hard and also wrote all the parts involving actual history or subtle AU before I was brought in so I didn't actually have to know historical stuff (though I guess I will never forget the battle of Leuthen now), and took full responsibility for how the whole thing turned out, so all I had to do was be like "Here, I'll write some rough feels for you for this scene!" The funny part was that I would often then write a paragraph justifying why I *had* to write the scene the way I did, and more likely than not mildred would be like, "yeah, I was sure you would do that, of course it should be written like that." (The most glaring example of this was where I inserted the Letter of Doom at the climax. I was worried there was some reason she didn't want it there, but she said, no, she just didn't have time to put it in herself and was just trusting me to do that :) ) She started jokingly calling me her "other self," to which I replied that it was with 1000% less angst and frustration -- as Frederick the Great's brother was his "other self" (which actually comes up in the fic) that he could trust to do all kinds of competent things, but they had a relationship that was, um, fraught? radioactive? Whereas this was just fun :)

Mildred did so much more than I did (we estimated a 90%/10% word ratio, not even counting the part where she wordsmithed a lot of my text) that I felt very uncomfortable being listed as a co-author, but hey, ~3000 words is a respectable Yuletide fic length :)

Yet They Grind Exceedingly Small (30384 words) by mildred_of_midgard
Chapters: 5/5
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF, Historical RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Anna Amalie von Preußen & Wilhelmine von Preußen, Anna Amalie von Preußen & Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen, Wilhelmine von Preußen & Elisabeth Friederike Sophie von Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great & Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia
Characters: Anna Amalie von Preußen (1723-1787), Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758), Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802), Elisabeth Friederike Sophie von Brandenburg-Bayreuth (1732-1780), Wilhelmine von Hesse-Kassel (1726-1808), August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758), Alcmene 1 | Frederick the Great's Italian Greyhound, Voltaire (Writer), Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dysfunctional Family, Suicide, Alternate Universe - Dark, Siblings, Canon-Typical Violence, Mystery, Tide of History Challenge
Summary:

January 1758. Prince William is dead, some say of a broken heart. Frederick wants to absolve himself of blame for William's death. Henry schemes to end the Third Silesian War on his terms. Amalie and Wilhelmine team up to find out what really happened to their brother. Alcmene just wants to be told she's a good dog.

Comments

Re: Sachsens Glanz und Preußens Gloria: A Miniseries in six parts (B)

[mildred_of_midgard]

This write-up, complete with your commentary, was comedy gold and informative as always! I loved August the Strong bending an iron bar around Charles XII (he was supposed to have been strong enough to bend horseshoes with his bare hands) and the royal bro code, lol.

Fredersdorf: Will see to it, but why are we still in Sanssouci when it's now autumn of 1756 and we've taken most of Saxony except Pirna and Königstein?

Fritz: Because the producers got permission to film here, and by God, they're going to film here.

I'm still laughing about this, weeks later. At least Ekaterina, fearsome and furry beasts notwithstanding, has him hypothetically in Dresden during the war! Where it was actually filmed, of course, I can't say, not being someone who can tell Dresden vs. St. Petersburg apart.

Glasow: *is a middle aged overweight man*

What.

Fritz: *dictates instructions - in Sanssouci - that if he's shot, the invasion should proceed anyway, and if he's kidnapped, any instructions from him thereafter are to be ignored*

Do we know if he gave these orders during the Seven Years' War? I recognize them from 1741, definitely, but am not sure if that was an order he repeated. (Relevant to the fic where he gets captured and Voltaire has to rescue him!)

Italian Greyhound not named out loud*: *dies*

Fritz: REVENGE!

It's a testament to your writing, or the series, or Fritz's personality, or my status as a dog-lover, or something, that my first, second, and third reactions were to think "Revenge for my dead dog!" and only belatedly remember that this was an attempt on Fritz's life, too.

Epilogue scenes in quick montage: *Fritz wins at Prague, loses at Kolin, but doesn't have a melt down because he's too manly and tough for that but says he'll win again in the next one, wins Roßbach and Leuthen after dramatic speech, cut to end of 7 Year War which the narrator tells was was a few years later*

Well, that's...one way to tell the Seven Years' War. A few uneventful years later, in which Kunersdorf and its aftermath definitely didn't happen.

Enjoyed this and the screencaps very much!

Re: Sachsens Glanz und Preußens Gloria: A Miniseries in six parts (B)

[selenak]

I'm never quite sure how much the series recognizes August going from protesting at the mere idea of capturing an enemy leader who's currently occupying his country because of the royal bro code to okaying his mistress being imprisoned for life just because she didn't hand over his pledge to marry her when he demanded it, i.e. on the one hand, sure, it's the plot, but then again August after his death keeps getting praised as a great man, when what you see on screen isn't morally different from Brühl, whom the narrator chides for his "selfish" politics that brought the wrath of Fritz on Saxony. So who knows.

Middle-aged, overweight Glasow: I see several possibilities:

a) It's in the original novel this thing is based on. And a Polish 19th century novelist wouldn't necessarily know what Glasow looked like. Lehndorff's diaries - where such details are mentioned, thank you, Lehndorff! - haven't been published yet. I have no idea whether Preuß or Carlyle, either of whom could have been the author's source material, would have mentioned this. If all the author knew was "Fritz' valet accused of trying to poison him", he might have made an honest mistake.

b) It wasn't in the original novel, but the casting of the tv series saw no reason this guy should be young and good looking. They already had two young and good looking guys playing the OCs of the last two eps, and Glasow could be played by a much cheaper older character actor. One had to save budget money somewhere!

c) It was a deliberate decision because no one wanted the viewers to wonder why Fritz had hired him in the first place. Yes, the script has Countess Brühl make an insinuation as to why Fritz wants Simoni around him, but that can be dismissed as idle enemy gossip.

Do we know if he gave these orders during the Seven Years' War? I recognize them from 1741, definitely, but am not sure if that was an order he repeated.

I don't know for sure, honestly. We do have the letter to Heinrich he wrote before the battle of Zorndorf which is basically "if I'm killed, you're regent - make sure everyone takes the oath to our nephew, and battle on in my name, and definetely do not go for a cheap peace!", but I don't recall instructions about what to do when he gets captured in it. Then again, during the 7 Years War he told everybody and their Catt that he wouldn't get captured because he'd kill himself first, so....

Well, that's...one way to tell the Seven Years' War.

I know, right? I mean, on the one hand, I get it. The emphasis in this overall story is on Saxony, and once it's obvious the Prussian occupation is there to last for the war, that's that. Saxony will never be seen as a rival power again. But it still feels like a weird, hasty wrap up compared to what came before, and like I said - the handling of several characters, including Brühl who is a main character, is just odd, with the off screen end of their story and not even a proper exit.

Re: Sachsens Glanz und Preußens Gloria: A Miniseries in six parts (B)

[mildred_of_midgard]

I have no idea whether Preuß or Carlyle, either of whom could have been the author's source material, would have mentioned this.

Preuss mentions the age, though! He's the source of the petition! Where we discover he was 22, contra Blanning's 20.

Glasow could be played by a much cheaper older character actor. One had to save budget money somewhere!

Heehee! Could be.

Then again, during the 7 Years War he told everybody and their Catt that he wouldn't get captured because he'd kill himself first, so....

True, true. Also, lol at "everybody and their Catt." You are the funniest, Selena!