Rafael Sabatini

Rafael Sabatini (1875 - 1950) was an Italian-born English writer of historical adventure stories. The two best-known are Scaramouche and Captain Blood: His Odyssey, both of which have been filmed multiple times. The 1935 film version of Captain Blood launched Errol Flynn to stardom.

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Works written by Rafael Sabatini include:

• The Lovers of Yvonne (AKA The Suitors of Yvonne) (1902)
• The Tavern Knight (1904)
• Bardelys the Magnificent (1906)
• The Trampling of the Lilies (1906)
• Love-At-Arms (1907)
• The Shame of Motley (1908)
• St. Martin's Summer (1909)
• Mistress Wilding (AKA Anthony Wilding) (1910)
• The Lion's Skin (1911)
• The Strolling Saint (1913; revised 1925)
• The Gates of Doom (1914)
• The Sea Hawk (1915) -- Provided the title, but little else, for Errol Flynn's 1940 The Sea Hawk
• The Snare (1917)
• Scaramouche (1921)
• Captain Blood: His Odyssey (1922)
• Fortune's Fool (1923)
• The Carolinian (1924)
• Bellarion the Fortunate (1926)
• The Hounds of God (1928)
• The Romantic Prince (1929)
• The King's Minion (AKA The Minion) (1930)
• Scaramouche the Kingmaker (1931)
• The Black Swan (1932) -- Adapted into a 1942 Tyrone Power film of the same name; not to be confused with Darren Aronofsky's similarly titled 2010 film.
• The Stalking Horse (1933)
• Venetian Masque (1934)
• Chivalry (1935)
• The Lost King (1937)
• The Sword of Islam (1939)
• The Marquis of Carabas (AKA Master-At-Arms) (1940)
• Columbus (1941)
• King In Prussia (AKA The Birth of Mischief (1944)
• The Gamester (1949)

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Rafael Sabatini provides examples of the following tropes:

• Hanging Judge: Judge Jeffreys in Captain Blood: His Odyssey.
• The Highwayman: Sabatini wrote many stories about highwaymen, including several concerning the fortunes of a charming rogue who called himself "Captain Evans".
• Historical Domain Character: Too numerous to list.
• Historical Fiction: Most of what he wrote.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: King James II in Captain Blood: His Odyssey.
• Not in This For Your Revolution: This is a recurring theme in Sabatini's novels: a non-idealistic character is pointedly not supporting a less competent idealistic character on his/her quest. Then the forces the idealist opposes hurts the non-idealist or those he cares for. This is a Bad Move.
• Scooby-Doo Hoax: "The Plague of Ghosts"
• Swashbuckler: Most of what he wrote.
• This Is My Name on Foreign: In Captain Blood: His Odyssey, the title character Peter Blood is known as Don Pedro Sangre and Le Sang when dealing with the Spanish and French respectively.
• Wooden Ships and Iron Men: Captain Blood: His Odyssey, The Sea Hawk