Historical AU

Trope · Genre
Synonyms:
Related:	Historical Fanworks, Historical RPF, Alternate Universe, Barbarians, Modern AU
See Also:	Steampunk, Noir Detective AU, Regency AU, Slave AU, Western AU, Victorian AU
Tropes · Slash Tropes · Tropes by Fandom
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

I Met You On LJ featured an overview of the Historical AU for Fic Trope Friday.

Bodie and Doyle from the crime show The Professionals as medieval knights from the zine Foxhole in a Graveyard. Artist is TACS

An historical AU is a fanwork that moves characters into a different historical period from their canon setting. Typically this involves taking "contemporary" characters (from the late 20th Century or 21st Century) and putting them in an earlier historical period (such as the 19th Century or before). It can also refer to setting characters from a historical fandom such as Jane Austen in a different period, such as the First World War.

The AU may be a completely original setting for the characters or it may be more of a fusion where a canon setting from another fandom is used for the chosen characters. A story might be about Sherlock and Watson as two knights in a fantasy medieval world or they might be in the recognizable canon setting of a show that is set in a different time in history, like Merlin.

The popularity of a given historical setting might ebb and flow depending on which fandom or piece of media is popular at any one time (i.e., there might be a rise in the number of WWII AUs in the wake of a popular movie or tv show set at that time, etc.)

In The Professionals fandom, historical AU fanfics are referred to as "hystericals," especially, but not only, those by Meg Lewtan.

Popular Historical AU Settings

Popular settings for historical AUs include:

• Ancient Rome
• a vague facsimile of medieval England such as Robin Hood
• Vikings, more for the raping and pillaging aspect than for historical accuracy
• Britain's Regency or Victorian periods
• Pirates
• America's Old West
• World War I (AO3 tag)
• the 1920s
• World War II
• the 1950s

Historical Accuracy

Many historical AUs make no effort towards actual historical accuracy, but rather reflect the pop culture versions of the period the same way canon sources do. Historical settings are popular in romance novels and films, and those same sorts of unreal past worlds are often used in fanworks. Some fans refer to this as costume porn, where the point is more to dress your favorite characters up in period costumes than it is to really write about a historical setting.

For some fans - those who are historians, students of history or veterans of fandoms where the source text is concerned with historical realism - the more fantastical histories hold little attraction. They are more interested in the realistic history and placing modern characters into that very different setting to see how it would affect them. However, this kind of realism isn't mutually exclusive with the costume porn thing.

Some of the historical periods that are popular with filmmakers, authors and fan creators bring with them issues of race, cultural appropriation, misogyny, colonialism and imperialism. These issues are sometimes recognized, sometimes ignored and sometimes magnified in fanworks (intentionally or not). The issue of casting white male characters in historical settings or places where they are assuming another race or ethnicity is particularly controversial with fans.{Some cites for the J2 Samurai story might go here}

Slash fans are often fond of setting their modern characters—often men portrayed in the source in stereotypical hyper-masculine ways—in historical periods where physical affection between men was more common or where men dressed in less drab clothing, wore makeup and wigs, etc. Many of these popular settings have a more gender-segregated society as well, which forces the male characters together in close proximity, but also greatly restricts the roles for female characters.

Historical AUs may be made intentionally inaccurate to allow women or non-white characters to do things they may never have been able to do in the real historical period.

Meta

• everysecondtuesday, An Open Letter to Politifandom which discusses Noir 1920s and 30s AUs in Political RPF.

• sheafrotherdon, The Stories We Tell which discusses a Western AU in SGA fandom.

• facetofcathy, Historical AUs and race--my thoughts and questions and no real answers. which is a general discussion using various fic and pro examples of issues around race and class in Historical AUs.

• zvi, You don't have to go looking for this stuff, it just traipses across your reading page, you guys which discusses the pitfalls of placing a multi-ethnic cast in an intentionally inaccurate historical setting in an AIRPS story.

Examples of Fanworks

Fanfiction

Story illustration for the uber Xena novel Josie and Rebecca: The Western Chronicles, showing UberXena and UberGabrielle in a Western AU. Art by Angelique

Jim and Blair from the cop show The Sentinel on the high seas in the zine Warriors #12, artist Lorraine Brevig

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Various

• Really Stretching UNIT Dating is a collection of Doctor Who stories in which the Third Doctor's adventures with UNIT take place in different historical periods: the 1790s, the 1920s, the 2020s and ancient Greece.

Roman AUs

• The Annals by nightdog_barks, an epic House, M.D. gen fic, that places House as a Roman army doctor, and Wilson his captured slave who becomes his friend.
• a rare Starsky and Hutch historical AU places them in Ancient Rome in the zine Stans Missus
• Miles Scortillusque by Sineala is a 56,000 word The Professionals Bodie/Doyle slave hookerfic AU set in Pompeii in 74 AD.

Vikings AUs

• Patience, a Steady Hand by Helenish, an Inception AU.

Renaissance AUs

• Renaissance is a popular Blake's 7 zine by Diane Holland. Editor Judith Proctor recommends it: "Renaissance places [Vila] as Vito Ricotti, a youn[g] shep[h]erd boy with a gift for sketching, who becomes apprenticed to Cervello D'Avonci (a blend of Avon and Leonard da Vinci). Blake is incarnated as the patriot Machiavelli and the stage is set for a replaying of the eternal story between the three of them." (1999)

Historical England(ish)

• How Soft the Scarf, How Deep the Water is another Sentinel example. The publisher's blurb: "In this exciting historical romance, in a setting much like Tudor England, aspiring actor Blair Sands and dashing merchant Jem Ellison have a chance meeting, which leads to their being caught up in a web of intrigue and murder."
• Supernatural RPF: Restraint by dark_emeralds, a long and very popular J2 Regency AU.
• One Direction/Radio 1 RPF: Most Dauntless, Voiceless Fortitude by mrsronweasley, a Gryles Regency AU.
• The Vampire Diaries: The Devil In Me by immortalpen, a popular Klaroline AU

Pirate AUs

• The Pirate's Prisoner and its sequel The Price of a Pardon are gen SGA stories by Eildon Rhymer that take place in 1721. While the first is a Pirate AU, the plot of the sequel centers around a political conspiracy that fits the real political situation at that time.
• Account of the Progress of the Reformation of Manners on a Caribbean Voyage or The Boy in the Cherry Strip’d Dress by tryfanstone. Historical AU where Jared is a pirate, Jensen is loot, tempting and tempted. (Written for Blindfold SPN.)
• The Prize, by magpie_fngrl. A Harry Potter Drarry historical pirate AU.
• Saltwater by mtothedestiel, a The Magicians story.

Old West AUs

• Bitterwood Creek is a Sentinel example set it the Old West. It is part 1 of a 3 part series written by Arianna and is available in Gen and Slash versions.
• Josie and Rebecca: The Western Chronicles (Xena: Warrior Princess)
• One Shot by iswyn, plumadesatada (frostiron, MCU, 2016)
• Clear as western skies by mwestbelle, a Bandom Mail-Order Bride AU

WWI

• World War I AU series by tabulaxrasa, a pan-bandom story
• Destiny That Darkly Hides Us by Nympha_Alba, a Merlin story
• Young and Beautiful by magpie_fngrl, a Drarry story
• Angel With A Fiddle by Remy_Writes5, a Sherlock story

WWII

• Stardust by Ulrike & Cindy C. An example of a historical AU from a historical source; resets the Regency novel Persuasion in Germany after WW2
• Their finest hour by Emily Shore. Swallows and Amazons at Dunkirk (2008)
• The Stone Gryphon series by rthstewart. Chronicles of Narnia. The Pevensies during the war; AU for The Last Battle (2009–present)

The 1950s

• Widdershins by beederiffic, a The Eagle story set at a 1950s boys' school.
• Somebody to Love by Lovervmins, an epic BTS fic set in 1950s London.
• You Give Me Fever by michi_thekiller, a Sherlock greaser/nerd AU
• Style of the Age by copperbadge, a MCU series set in 1951

Fanart

• Russo-Japanese war AU by riceball-in-a-fruit-basket - Yuri on Ice
• Art for King Anthony Stark by superfizz
• Bon Voyage by Maniacani for a Harry/Draco Pirate AU
• If I die before my time, bury me upside down Sterek art by iamonlydancing (Royalty AU)
• Public Enemy art by theopteryx for a 1930s AU (MCR)
• Illustrations for Hannigram AU ~ Overcoming by TheSeaVoices, a Hannibal omegaverse Regency AU
• Beyond the Castle Gates, a fancomic by sarriathmg (DCU)

Zines

• Epoch, a zine for The Old Guard, flips the Historical AU concept because of the characters' long immortal lives, and features "Historical Canon-Compliant" stories set in any eras other than the ones that canon stories exist for (ie, no Crusades, no Ancient Steppe, and no Napoleonic France). The zine was organized by Ashley Guillory.
• Pattern of Infinity, an anthology zine of Blake's 7 historical AUs.

Communities and Fests

• The Les Mis Across History Les Miserables historical AU fest, produced significant numbers of works found on tumblr, and to a lesser extent on AO3
• periodbandom, a Bandom challenge which ran in 2008

Resources

• Historical AU tag at Archive of Our Own.