Harald Harding
Harald Harding is an adventure book and motion picture series published in the absolute royal federation and has reached rather high popularity amongst young men and boys alike. Depicting the adventures of the long family line of the fictional Harding household, a long line of adventurers and gunslingers that over the years have been involved in high adventure all over what is today the Absolute royal federation no matter how little sense such adventures make from a historical standpoint. The most outrageous example of this is "Hard deaths" that takes place in Sydvinland at the height of the footland wars where the various mountain kingdoms tried to ensure dominance over the mountain foothills from the coastal city states despite Scanderan contact with the Sydvinlanders being unrecorded at the time.
The average book is very formulaic in it's structure and most of the Harald Hardings are very interchangeable with no noticeable personality changes between them nor any defining features. Something that is specially odd as most of the main characters have married foreign women over the cause of the series. Something that makes the trademark blue eyes and blond braided hair always described in the protagonists odd. In the movies have this fact been made rather more obvious as the actor Birke Belvaldssen have to date played ever single Harald Harding.
Often compared to the Tales of Rikard Guardsman due to both being adventure stories aimed at younger audiences and filled with morals and other useful tips have some people noticed that while Rikard Guardsman tends to be more about preparing boys for soldiering are Harald Harding more individualistic and tends to teach it's reader more generally useful things. Good examples of this is that while very historically inaccurate is the book and movie series very good for wilderness survival lessons. Often does these take the form of being very descriptive of how the Haralds find drinkable water, skin animals, or catch fish and the end of the books often include shorter comic sections where these lessons are repeated with pictures where Harald explain to the reader how to best go around such tasks.
Stories
| Name | Published | Takes place | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hard as oak. | 1995 | 1995 | This adventures follow the modern harald Harding as he is forced to fight of an evil cult intent on bringing about their evil necromantic leader in Sfartmård north of the Vedian mountains. |
| Harder still | 1997 | 1997 | The adventures of Harald continues in Vinland as he and his trusty elf must hurry to find an ancient temple lost far in the Vinlander forests before an evil business baron can discover it and use the treasures there for evil. |
| Hard on Heresy. | 1998 | 1243 | The earliest story as an distant ancestor of the Haralds must defend an important forest road against a band of EinIld heretics wanting to scout a road through the interior to attack the heartland of the Orthodox gudaföljare during the religious wars. This is a very odd scenario as it seems to forget that the woodlands were held by the björkists, a third heretical faith that were hostal to both sides. |
| Hard and Blue. | 1999 | 1830 | Harald and his trusty sidekick Kirke are invited by the blåland nobleman Björn auf Ishwalaka that has gotten hands on some rahter lucrative gold mines however they are attacked by local tribals for unknown reasons and Harald and Kirke must find out why the natives are attacking and ensure that their friend does not end up dead due to the situation. |
| Hard oaths. | 2000 | 1835 | As queen Erika's war is raging in the home continent is Harald spending his time in blåland and is contacted with a small landowner that is trying to gather up royalists to fend off an officer and his regiment loyal to queen Erika back in the home continent and his dastardly sister Frida auf Ushawabra. Can Harald and kirke survive the rebelious soldiers and the machinations of Frida and her marriage offers. |
| Hard Charge. | 2001 | 1836 | Harald and Kirke is recruited by a loyalist officer to create a scouting light cavalry regiment to aid the forces loyal to the legitimate monarch in the home continent as queen Erikas war rages on. Despite the continued plots by Frida auf Ushawabra and Erika aligned blålanders does it seem more and more likely that a large scale battle will take place. Can harald not only survive the ploys of Erika but also the threat of large scale battle as his cavalry regiment seems more and more posed to carry out a glorious charge that might change the future of the federation. |
| Hard deaths. | 2003 | 1139 | Harald and his trusty sidekick Kirke is exploring the coastline of Vinland with a small crew of compatriots, however their skills and the vile religious practises and dark gods of the lowland people forces harald to sign up with the mountain kingdoms as conflicts grow on the new continent. However can his new allies truly be trusted? And are their gods as good as they claim? |
| Rock Hard and shimmering. | 2004 | 2004 | Harald and his trusty sidekick Kirke is exploring the outland of Austland when they are dragged into a conflict between local tribals and a native nobleman over mineral rights, especially over the large diamond finds that have been found in the river that split the noble estate and the tribal common land. |
| A Hard Revolution. | 2006 | 1919 | As the home continent is gripped by revolution against it's rightful king is Harald and his trusty sidekick caught behind enemy lines. Amongst syndcalists, socialists, democrats, and fascists are there dangers on every corner, that is not saying anything about the revolutionary political police that seems to always be on the look out for the slightest hint of loyalty to what is right. However amongst all this darkness does a chance to do good present itself. Can Harald survive the dangers and aid the rightful monarch even if His loyal servants are far away? |
| Rightfully hard. | 2007 | 1967 | Amongst the elections of a new arch cleric is Harald caught between various pulling factions and radical secret cabals that tries to install their candidate to the seat of the arch cleric. Can even our brave hero survive the theological minefield? |
| Hard phantoms, hard blood. | 2007 | 1865 | Harald has a deep trouble as his father has taken ill, and amongst his vows does a vile lawyer move in next door. The plot deepens as a vampire with a strange mask stalk the countryside and it is up to Harald and his trusty sidekick Kirke to lay this vile beast low. |
| Hard in moonlight. | 2008 | 1546-1547 | Harald and his trusty servant Kirke are stuck on the northern iceplains awaiting a road to open through the mountains when the full moon rises. Can our daring duo figure out which of the people around them are a wolf in human skins. |
| Hard and the dragon. | 2010 | 2010 | Harald and Kirke are travelling through the sun realms when a poor village that has been terrorised by a large dragon request their help. Can Harald survive not only the heat but also the large dragon that rules the sky. |
| Hard at sea. | 2011 | 1603 | Harald and Kirke are travelling over the sea in the search of an old treasure, however as they close up are there rumours and whispers of mutiny and piracy. Can our brave heroes survive this horrid plot while isolated from all help and support. |
| Hard on graves. | 2014 | 1942 | Harald and Kirke are travelling the distant jungles of Sydvinland and find themselves in the grasp of an evil cult of worshippers of the old vile gods of these lands, caught between the jungle and even worse things hiding in the ground itself can our beloved duo survive their predicament? |
| Lost and Hard. | 2015 | 2015 | Having survived a naval battle against slavers on the sea but having taken heavy damage are Harald and his trusty friend Kirke lost on sea, having lost their ship are they forced to seek shelter on a lonely island. However is the island as abandoned as our heroes believes? |
| Hard but small. | 2016 | 2016 | Harald and Kirke is visiting Malgrave as part of a mission from a Malling benefactor but are quickly dragged into a dastardly plot organised by a rogue element of the ISS and must overcome a threat against the very existence of the Malgreavean monarchy. Can our heroes survive not only such dastardly plots, the strange foreign lands they find themselves in, and even worse; the lack of meat. |
| Hard ladies, Hard spirits. | 2017 | 2017 | Visiting Kouralia after a getting a tip about the ancestral sword of the Haraldling bloodline being found there must Harald, Kirke, and Sawa find not only the blade, however an evil plot by a greedy merchant means that the land where the blade was laid to rest might be turned into a fast food shack. Joining forces with a local woman are they forced to get their hand on the mythic blade and stop Harald and Sawas greatest danger yet; their new ally's advances. |
| Raiding Hard. | 2019 | 555 | Taking place in the old years of the Imerians raids into Kouralia must Harald, Kirke, and their trusty accountant and philosopher Sawa join Jarl Egal bloodeye on his great invasion of the kouralian mainland. While the siege of the Kouralian capital is making great progress must Haradl, Kirke and Sawa see off a relief force with nothing but their wits, mental fortitude, and a small shieldwall of soldiers. |
| Riding hard. | 2021 | 2021 | Harald, Kirke, Sawa and *Kour* take part in the dangerous but also quite famous Ausland race and has to travel through the desert on horseback facing not only the heat but also the dangerous wildlife. Of course the greatest danger still might be their fellow racers. |
| Hard in the woods. | 2021 | 2021 | Not a book in the traditional sense, hard in the woods is a collection of all the end of the book survival comics and guides that has been retouched to include Sawa more as it was released for an Malgravean audience in mind. Similarly were a lot of new survival guides and general self helping tips included. While the parts about hunting and preparing animals for food were still retained were a greater emphasise put on fishing and finding plants. Similarly were some guides relevant to Scandera only moved to the back alongside some adds for Scanderan tourist agencies. |
Characters
Harald Hardings
Every Harald Harding is essentially the same character all over the book series and is played by the same actor, Björn auf Hardakra, no matter which Harald it is about. However in theory does the series cover events ranging from the religious conflicts in the 12th century right up to the modern day and age. No matter the era is he generally depicted as a rugged individual that tends to be as home in the ballrooms of high society as he is with the commonry and the wilderness. They are all said to be blond with long hair that is tied up in the back in a military ponytail. Their eyes are always described as deep blue with a duelling scar running over their right chin.
Their skills are always depicted as being rather good knife fighters and gunslingers, earlier depictions have this changed for just skills with shortswords. He is a good horseman with good grasp of languages but other generally masculine skills such as painting.
Kirke Kniveara
Kirke is the line of loyal elven manservants and followers of the Haralds and there have so far always been an Kirke supporting every Harald in each book. In the latest books however were the latest man of the bloodline freed and with the sudden realignment on slavery in the federation did the bookseries take a more abolitionist turn even if having supported slavery wholeheartedly prior to the liberation. They are generally depicted as woodsmen and despite having been in the Harding household's service for several generations are they all born and raised in the mountainous Scanderan wilderness. While not as good a shot as the Haralds are they often the better knife fighters.
Homare Sawa
Homare Sawa is a character from Malgrave and compared to both the Kirkes and Haralds just one character that first showed up in "Hard but small". She is noted for actually being a good representation of Malgraveans, and stand at the oddly correct height of 159 cm which is surprisingly correct. She is generally seen as a very smart character and provides Harald with technological expertise as well as research. She is officially the cook and accountant of the Harding household.
One mistake in Hard but small is that she was revealed to be an impoverished member of Malgravean nobility which would not be possible due to the lack of a Malgravean nobility. This was however clarified in later books where it was explained that she descended from a Paragon and she mentioned she just used Imerian terms to make it easier for Harald to understand her position in society. This is vastly different to the movie version of Hard but small where she is depicted by a hafling, has an obvious crush on Harald, and tends to replace parts of words with "mal", referring to her pistol as a "malstol" at several occassions. This was changed in the following movies where she took a role closer to the books due to several complaints by fans.
The director of the movies admitted that this was mostly due to the several threats of duels by several Harald Harding fans. He said especially what made him change his mind was a group of Jungkarls that showed out to his house of residence and slashed his door with their swords while screaming "face us or stay truth to the books ye blackgard!".
Adalya Myanyr
A kouralian soldier, rather strong and a good marskman often depicted with a long rifle of some sort and short cut red hair. Often depicted as rather romantically aggressive and trying often to very poor results to court both Harald and Sawa which is generally rejected by both as a source of comedy. Despite that is she generally one of the more city knowing character and tends to have a lot of foreign contacts that are useful to Harald in his adventures.
Books and movies
The books and movies are widely different in tone, while the books takes a more realistic and down to earth perspective that is very educational in how to survive wilderness and the fight scenes are often tense affairs between very few fighters are the movies on the other hand more epic. They have vastly unrealistic scenes as are common in Scanderan movies where the heroes perform feats that would be impossible in reality. Examples include Harald jumping off a horse in full sprint and make a sudden halt, then preceding to shoot both Magazines at a crowd of enemies before grabbing onto an oncoming car and being dragged along with no injuries to which he precedes to simply beat up the trio of men driving.
Compare this to the scene in the book it was inspired from when Harald simply rode past the car, narrowly avoiding a collision as he unleashed his magazine into the drivers seat severely wounding him causing the car to spin.
Reception
Harald Harding was previously unheard of within the United Kingdom of Malgrave until the Imerian abolition of slavery and the cooling of relations between Imeriata and Malgrave that led to the formation of the Crown Alliance. It therefore took until the 2014 release of Hard on Graves for the series to gain any traction within the Malgravean populace, however, the rather eccentric nature of the publication and the introduction of an accurate Malgravean character quickly led the series gaining more popularity within the country. It is often rumoured that Aurelia Wyrzykowski, the current Minister of State Security is a fan of the series and keeps several copies of the series in her office.
In 2018 following guidance from Nadzieja Brzezicki, the Gabriel Narutowicz Pioneers and Free Democratic Youth contacted the Imerian government about the possibility of creating a more focused series of instructional pamphlets for wilderness and survival training. This was approved and a pamphlet titled "Hard in the woods" were released in the summer of 2021 directed to a Malgravean audience.
The Harald Harding books has attracted a cult following in Breheim particularly in Fjordland and Taranger, despite only Hard as Oak, Hard Oaths, Rightfully Hard and Riding Hard receiving official translations. The official translations are decried by most fans due to low quality and inclusion of pro-republican themes, and unofficial fan-made translations exist of almost the entire book-series. The Harald Harding books attained a larger following after a controversy in 2016, when A Hard Revolution was banned due to its monarchist themes, attracting media-attention and making more Breheimians aware of the series' existence.
