DBWI: What if Adolf Schicklgruber didn't write fantasy?

So, I know that many of us grew up on genre fantasy and sci-fi like Howard, Jordan, Card, Heinlein, and, yeah, Schicklgruber, but while we all know that Adolf Schicklgruber, one of the few truly great artists to come out of the German Republic, had...well...charitably, his personal beliefs were controversial. He may have been a dog lover and devoted husband, but he always had...some outdated beliefs, and anyone who's read his little-known manifesto from his political years, "My Struggle", should know that he believed some truly reprehensible things.

Thankfully, very little of that made it into his many epics, the most famous being the Valkyries Trilogy, Destiny's Lance, Horsemen Aflame, and Ambitions of an Empire. This was likely due to having some editors more sane than Mr. Schicklgruber. For all we can credit him for his literary achievements, Mr. Schicklgruber had some issues. Like the later Frank Miller, we should simply read his good works and put the man himself aside, in my honest opinion.

However, there's something many people don't know. I didn't know this, and Destiny's Lance was my jam growing up. He actually was strongly involved in radical right-wing politics during the era of the German Republic, before...that whole fiasco with Rosa Luxemburg. In fact, he was associated with a little known party, the National Socialist...something. I didn't bother to Wikipedia it.

Of course, he long since recanted most of "My Struggle" afterward, but I think that from interviews we all know that that was a dirty lie. So, here's my question. As sacrilegious as it feels as a fantasy fan, and as much as I'd hate to erase the gloriously badass heroes, adventures, and dirty double-dealings that we all love...what if Schicklgruber went into politics? He got pretty close.
 
He'd become the worst mass-murdering dictator in recent history.
I don't know why would you say that; he'd have little chances to get into power after the fiasco that was the Beer Hall Putsch that helped turned him off from politics after a long prison sentence. I mean sure Germany had it rough in the 1930's but slowly but surely after Von Papen became chancellor, Germany began to get back on its feet, especially in regards to dealing with Soviet aggression throughout the 20th century.
 
what if Schicklgruber went into politics? He got pretty close.
When Adolf(easier that writting his surname, got when he say he hated his father, he take back his surname as way to start a clean slate but what surname, hitler was easier to write and pronounce) did have pretty fringe to outright strange beliefs, he was not different some of his peers(lovecraft come to mind in similar right wing ideas), his talent was pretty nice, as he always say he was a mediocre painter, see he got the idea of a paint into words and worked for him(and translator did make a good job bringing his works into several languages)

As other say, he did have a big start with is party, the Deutches worker party(DAP) before the infamous Beer Hall Coup derailed, maybe a shorter sentence or no coup at all and wanting to get the power via democratic means? i doubt he would apply his more radical ideas, he would not be more that a poor's man mussolini.
 
I don't know why would you say that; he'd have little chances to get into power after the fiasco that was the Beer Hall Putsch that helped turned him off from politics after a long prison sentence. I mean sure Germany had it rough in the 1930's but slowly but surely after Von Papen became chancellor, Germany began to get back on its feet, especially in regards to dealing with Soviet aggression throughout the 20th century.

Yeah. Honestly, the guy seemed like his calling was in writing. By all accounts he was pretty law-abiding in his later years, you know, the whole dog lover thing, supposedly he never liked to let animals get hurt in his writing. Although, here's just my thinking, tell me if this is ASB or whatever. I think he could have become a very devoted National Socialist Whatever, but the problem is that the KPD had the NS-whatevers number. The right was just too divided at the time.

However, for fun, I am willing to stipulate, you know, getting more ASB - Let's say that the Marxists lost and that the...Okay, Wikipedia says it's NSDAP...won. Let's say they established a dictatorship, and let's say that Hitler was leading it, because why not. Let's get crazy with it. Honestly, I think we'd just have a smaller scale right-wing repeat of Lenin, at the very worst. Maybe with a leader who's not quite as sane, and that's saying a lot talking about Lenin, but..."Worst mass-murdering dictator in recent history"? Are you sure you're not thinking of Trotsky?

Comparing Schicklgruber to Trotsky is just absurd and possibly offensive. Schicklgruber shaped our understanding of the entire genre of fantasy. You could even say that he was second to Tolkein, if you wanted to talk him up. The man's done a lot for his genre.
 
Comparing Schicklgruber to Trotsky is just absurd and possibly offensive. Schicklgruber shaped our understanding of the entire genre of fantasy. You could even say that he was second to Tolkein, if you wanted to talk him up. The man's done a lot for his genre.
Much to Tolkein's dismay. Old Dolphie

I don't deny that he has had an influence on the genre but it has been overwhelmingly for the worst. All the worst aspects of the fantasy genre were combined into that man without any of the positives. He had Lovecraft's racism but no sense of horror, he had Howard's childish power fantasies but without the nuance and social critique, his writing style is self-indulgent and impenetrable but without any substance behind it.

His works are formulaic and quite frankly toxic. They depict manichean worlds where the noble forces of good are constantly besieged by the forces of evil, and yet despite this disadvantage the forces of good are able to win every battle simply because of their goodness which automatically causes the degenerate and corrupt denizens of evil to fall over. Yet despite all these victories the forces of good always under threat, whether it be from external racist African stereotypes or internal anti-Semitic Jewish stereotypes, who are simultaneously the greatest threat to the world but can be scattered the moment the good guys (and it is always guys by the way) unite and decisively crush them. To make matters worse he makes it pretty clear that the good guys are good simply by being born good whilst the bad guys are always inherently evil by virtue of their blood. Most fantasy writers either ignore the implications of this trope or subvert it by having people from the evil races be good and the good races be evil, but Adolph just runs with it to its inevitable democidal conclusions. When Alfric betrays the Sworn Brotherhood its not because the noble Alfvolk are morally complex beings but because he's secretly a mixed breed whose corrupted blood compels him to. When the Obsidian Knight defects it is of course revealed that he was a pure-born Magarin who was captured by the black legions as a child.

You think it's offensive to compare Schicklgruber to Trotsky and I would agree. For all his faults Trotsky was at least a decent writer and had a far better grasp of reality than that hack. I'd hate to think what would happen if you put someone with those sorts of paranoid delusions in charge of a country.
 
He'd become the worst mass-murdering dictator in recent history.

So basically that Monty Python sketch where that scientist screwed up history and made him the comically over the top melodramatic tyrannical ruler of Germany?

Have to say, he would indeed be the worst dictator in history. I mean seriously, could you imagine him attempting to conquer Europe with his silly little Chaplin moustache?
 
One of the greatest fantasy writers? Have you ever tried reading his turgid and overblown prose? Even Tolkein, whose own "Lord of the Rings" series was panned as "the worst pulp ever" said Schicklgruber was a terrible writer.
 
When Adolf(easier that writting his surname, got when he say he hated his father, he take back his surname as way to start a clean slate but what surname, hitler was easier to write and pronounce) did have pretty fringe to outright strange beliefs, he was not different some of his peers(lovecraft come to mind in similar right wing ideas), his talent was pretty nice, as he always say he was a mediocre painter, see he got the idea of a paint into words and worked for him(and translator did make a good job bringing his works into several languages)

As other say, he did have a big start with is party, the Deutches worker party(DAP) before the infamous Beer Hall Coup derailed, maybe a shorter sentence or no coup at all and wanting to get the power via democratic means? i doubt he would apply his more radical ideas, he would not be more that a poor's man mussolini.

Wait, Hitler...lemme look that up...ah yes, a corruption of Hiedler, his step-grandfather's last name. I hear Alois Schicklgruber considered adopting his stepfather's name, possibly because it was easier than Schicklgruber, but he had a falling out with his stepfather and chose not to. I suppose it could have been changed to Hitler if an official had been inclined to do so.

Frankly Uncle Adolf, as he was known to those close to him, probably would have toiled around from job to job, perhaps spending some time in a political system until they got word of his crazy ideas and slowly put him on ice. If he can. And his views more to the mainstream, he becomes Germany's version of Rush Limbaugh, always harping on the Chancellor and calling for a return to traditional values. He will have a dedicated following but a lot of opposition.
 
He converts to Islam and purges Europe of Christianity in his 'Thousand Year Caliphate'. Btw this is totally not based on a certain satirical novel series written by Joseph Jughashvili.
 
You mean the idiot who spent his later years taking pot shots at Ulyanov Industries?
Hahahahahahahahahaha

I remember reading about that. It was bloody hilarious, especially that time he threw rotten corn at Ulyanov himself after he successfully lobbied the cutting of funding towards Renewable Biodegradable Energy.
 
His most famous and controversial work, the panel play* Unternehmen Walküre, doesn't get made. In it, he describes a cabal of military officers who successfully take control of a disastrous democratic regime as it faces annihilation from French and Soviet Jews and Communists and save Germany. While this could be superficially written off as mere authoritarian political thriller, his careful combining of Dreyfussard and neo-Dreyfussard politics and anti-Communism with violent elements of Norse mythology transform this into an entirely different work of apocalyptic scale. It remains a highly controversial work, but much like Birth of a Nation inspired numerous conventions in film, Unternehmen Walküre helped build the panel play into a legitimate literary art form.

*TTL's name for the OTL graphic novel.
 
He was actually a rather skilled author. Considering he was able to infuse some rather brutal realism, from his experiences in the first world war. Considering how hr described worlds locked in brutal epic struggles against the light and dark. Where the heroes went through the same losses and hardships has soldier would.
 

Bulldoggus

Banned
I don't deny that he has had an influence on the genre but it has been overwhelmingly for the worst. All the worst aspects of the fantasy genre were combined into that man without any of the positives. He had Lovecraft's racism but no sense of horror, he had Howard's childish power fantasies but without the nuance and social critique, his writing style is self-indulgent and impenetrable but without any substance behind it.
I have to second you here. He's lucky Sam Raimi added some humor and cleaned up some of the more... uncomfortable themes involved. Raimi turned some middling at best books into one of the best series of the fantasy boom of 2001-8.
He was actually a rather skilled author. Considering he was able to infuse some rather brutal realism, from his experiences in the first world war. Considering how hr described worlds locked in brutal epic struggles against the light and dark. Where the heroes went through the same losses and hardships has soldier would.
His battle scenes were excellently written, to his credit. He survived a gas attack, you know, that's how he was really able to capture the horror of the "Dwarven Mysts".
 
His most famous and controversial work, the panel play* Unternehmen Walküre, doesn't get made. In it, he describes a cabal of military officers who successfully take control of a disastrous democratic regime as it faces annihilation from French and Soviet Jews and Communists and save Germany. While this could be superficially written off as mere authoritarian political thriller, his careful combining of Dreyfussard and neo-Dreyfussard politics and anti-Communism with violent elements of Norse mythology transform this into an entirely different work of apocalyptic scale. It remains a highly controversial work, but much like Birth of a Nation inspired numerous conventions in film, Unternehmen Walküre helped build the panel play into a legitimate literary art form.

*TTL's name for the OTL graphic novel.

Don't most fans consider Unternehmen Walküre to be kind of fanon discontinuity? It's important to remember that Adolf...was kind of a lunatic, and yeah, maybe there were some uncomfortable themes in his novels, but they were a product of his time.

Honestly, as I said, I really doubt this idea that he'd become the Trotsky of our universe. After all, for all of Trotsky's faults, Trotsky was competent...if paranoid after that fiasco with Jughashvili. Adolf running a country is as absurd as Frank Miller taking over the United States.

Although it is an interesting what-if, and I agree that he certainly would have destroyed the German Republic...if you want to get ASB enough to give the Nazis instead of the SPD that power. Still, remember the Luxemburg fiasco. There's a reason most dystopian TLs involve her.
 
Much to Tolkein's dismay. Old Dolphie

I don't deny that he has had an influence on the genre but it has been overwhelmingly for the worst. All the worst aspects of the fantasy genre were combined into that man without any of the positives. He had Lovecraft's racism but no sense of horror, he had Howard's childish power fantasies but without the nuance and social critique, his writing style is self-indulgent and impenetrable but without any substance behind it.

His works are formulaic and quite frankly toxic. They depict manichean worlds where the noble forces of good are constantly besieged by the forces of evil, and yet despite this disadvantage the forces of good are able to win every battle simply because of their goodness which automatically causes the degenerate and corrupt denizens of evil to fall over. Yet despite all these victories the forces of good always under threat, whether it be from external racist African stereotypes or internal anti-Semitic Jewish stereotypes, who are simultaneously the greatest threat to the world but can be scattered the moment the good guys (and it is always guys by the way) unite and decisively crush them. To make matters worse he makes it pretty clear that the good guys are good simply by being born good whilst the bad guys are always inherently evil by virtue of their blood. Most fantasy writers either ignore the implications of this trope or subvert it by having people from the evil races be good and the good races be evil, but Adolph just runs with it to its inevitable democidal conclusions. When Alfric betrays the Sworn Brotherhood its not because the noble Alfvolk are morally complex beings but because he's secretly a mixed breed whose corrupted blood compels him to. When the Obsidian Knight defects it is of course revealed that he was a pure-born Magarin who was captured by the black legions as a child.

You think it's offensive to compare Schicklgruber to Trotsky and I would agree. For all his faults Trotsky was at least a decent writer and had a far better grasp of reality than that hack. I'd hate to think what would happen if you put someone with those sorts of paranoid delusions in charge of a country.

Adolph was clearly a pulp fiction writer and it shows in his writings. At least it was better than the mess that was Mein Kampf which reads like it was written by a deranged 10 year old. Lucky for Adolph he found a patron that paid his way through college as that dramatically improved his writing. Either that or he was simply not cut out for politics and it showed in his writing. If he continued in politics I am sure his party would have remained small like the zillion other two bit parties that were in post war Germany. It would have simply died and he would be a forgotten man.
 

Bulldoggus

Banned
Also, let's not forget, after college, Adolph became a fairly middle of the road Christian Democrat, albeit one with some uncomfortable racial positions.
 

Puzzle

Donor
I sort of thought that his stories were sequels to Conan when I first read them. You know, since Hyborea was set before the rise of the sons of Aryas, who I didn't realize were actually real.
 
Well HP Lovecraft would have no competitors for the worst political views trophy. Seriously, the two of them were nutcases. People back then thought they were racists. In the 1930s.
 
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