# Who are some "fictional" characters who really existed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701 "2005-05-27T02:01:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/41 "2005-05-27T17:36:59Z")
Arthur and Robin Hood are so fictionalized that any details about the historical character (if he does exist) are completely lost. All there is about Arthur is that there may have been a Saxon leader by that name – and there is no dependable historical record to confirm that. For Robin Hood, there might have been a highwayman named Robert or Robin Hood, but there were no merry men, he didn’t exist in the time frame the story gave, etc. It’s akin to saying that Dr. Who is based on the historical John Smith because he gave that as his name in one of the episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/42 "2005-05-27T17:43:04Z")
> [@TJdude825](#): > > I’ve heard that it’s up for debate whether Davy Crockett existed. Not in this space-time continuum. Crockett was a real person. He was a frontiersman and also served in the legislature of the state of Tennessee as well as the U. S. Congress. [Bio](http://www.americanwest.com/pages/davycroc.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/43 "2005-05-27T17:49:29Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I think there really was a **Betsey Ross** , although I don’t think anyone credits her with making the first flag anymore. There absolutely was a Betsy Ross, who had a very interesting life (getting booted from Meeting [Quakers] for supporting the revolution is interesting all by itself) and did contribute to the American Revolution. She was also certainly a seamstress at times. And the house you can visit here in Philadelphia was certainly hers (inhereted from one of 3 marriages.) We even have a bridge named after her, which is an honor even if it does take you to New Jersey. 😛 Over at the house itself they use ambiguous language about the flag; I suppose their other option is hanging a sign which reads \*“Although interesting things happened here and this is a genuine colonial home of a famous individual, we’d encourage you to turn around and not give us the admission fee because the flag thing is a 19th century crock.” \* 😃 The house is run by a private foundation, I imagine most people think it’s part of Indepedence National Park, but the feds never snapped up the property when they could have. I suspect that would have happened if there were more cred in the flag tale. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/44 "2005-05-27T17:51:34Z")
Macbeth was a real king of Scotland. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/45 "2005-05-27T18:05:37Z")
James Herriot of “All Creatures Great and Small” was a real Yorkshire veterinarian, [James Alfred Wight](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Herriot), who wrote a series of books about his experiences. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/46 "2005-05-27T18:08:24Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I wonder if she was a relative of Cardinal Richelieu (whose family name was du Plessis). Doubtful. Marie Duplessis was born Rose Alphonsine Plessis, a peasant of Normandy. Richelieu was a member of the minor nobility of Poitou. If they were related at all it was very distantly. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/47 "2005-05-27T18:10:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Macbeth was a real king of Scotland. Although his ghistory as given by Shakespeare bears ionly a passing resemblance to reality. I have a chart of the kings and queens of the British Isles, from which I learned that Lady Macbeth’s real name was **Gruoch** , which looks too much like “Grouch”, and had to sound bad, no matter how you pronounced it. If I were her, I’d want to be known as “Lady Macbeth”, too. On the same chart is **Cnut** , who’s only one typo away from obscenity. Must be why they prefer “Canute”. There really was an Egyptian official named **Im-Ho-Tep** , but he had nothing to do with ambulatory mummies, lost loves, or (of course) tana leaves. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/48 "2005-05-27T18:44:49Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I have four books (there are others, I know) that each argue for one particular historical character being the _real_ King Arthur. (Each book excoriates its predecessors for their choice of King Arthur Candidate). An irony is that two of your books could be by the same author, Geoffrey Ashe, the granddaddy of historical Arthur research. For decades he subscribed to the theory of Arthur as “the Bear” described by Gildas, a late 5th/early 6th century warlord, _then_ he completely about faced and proclaimed that Arthur was based on Riothamus who lived more than a century before and wrote books escoriating his own previous research as well as that of his colleagues. It was a pretty big blip in Arthur geek circles (which I fall in somewhere), rather as if Dumas Malone had written a book entitled _American Scumbucket: Why I Hope Thomas Jefferson Burns in Hay-ull_. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/49 "2005-05-27T18:52:28Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > He also notes in the same chapter that \*\* John Henry\*\* realy existed, and gives cites for him, too, noting that Eugene O’Neill even wrote a play to resurrect his image and set the record straight. Obviously he didn’t succeed, since most peoople still believe him to be fictional. He didn’t die trying to beat a steam-powered rail driver, though, so I’m not sure what he did to make himself memorable. Wasn’t he in a Subway commercial with that Jared dude? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/50 "2005-05-27T19:13:49Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > The impalings which gave him his nickname are, as far as I can tell, more or less non-contraversial Huh…I mean my Greek coworkers have no problem with Turks put up on spikes, but some of the other folks do… 😛 I believe the Marquis de Sade was real, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/51 "2005-05-27T19:26:31Z")
There is a theory that Osiris was real (not a god, but a person of that name who was mythologized) but I’m not sure what the basis of that is. **Rob** (ert) (Fitz) **Roy** (McGregor) was real. Croesus (for whom “rich as…” was an allusion for many years) existed; though nowhere near as wealthy as the Persian emperor who conquered him (and who he went to work for), his name may be linked to riches due to the fact that his family (the royal family of Lydia) was among the first to coin money. (Precious metals had been made into round flat units for many centuries before them, but their habit of stamping their likeness on the disks as both a certification and propaganda was an innovation.) Nellie Bly was real and quite interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/52 "2005-05-27T19:44:57Z")
> [@Perderabo](#): > > I’m surpised that no one linked [Did Dracula really exist?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_131.html). Well, I guess post #13 _doesn’t_ exit. Anyhoo, though Crockett was real, the details of his death have been wildly fictionalized, which I’d guess is the source of the confusion. > [@kidchameleon](#): > > I believe the Marquis de Sade was real, as well. Yep. 1740-1814. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/53 "2005-05-27T21:39:24Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Yeah, but the character in the _Tintin_ comics was still a fictional character, though he might have been based on Herge’s friend. Well, of course, that is why I said: “based” first. And it was not just “might have been based” as you said! In a comic book biography of Herge (amusingly echoing Herge’s stile) Chang had to defend of charges of treason in communist China since he was in contact with Europeans. He pointed out that he was a dear friend of Herge and pointed out that Tchang (the French spelling) was himself to the communist authorities. (here, I am not sure, but IIRC he was in jail for political reasons) His eventual release, leaving china and then living in Europe was made possible thanks the efforts of Herge. Of course Chang never encountered the yeti, but the true life of Chang was IMO stranger than fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/54 "2005-05-27T23:24:47Z")
Wong Fei Hung (portrayed by Jackie Chan in the “Drunken Master” series and Jet Li in the “Once Upon A Time In China” series) was a real person. ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/55 "2005-05-28T01:18:15Z")
**Judge Roy Bean:** > [@](#): > > Here, he was self-appointed justice of the peace and called himself “Law West of the Pecos”. His method of justice was somewhat odd and comical, but always final. On one occasion, a dead body had $40 and a gun. He fined the dead body $40 for carrying a concealed weapon. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/56 "2005-05-28T03:42:35Z")
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle based Sherlock Holmes on [Dr. Joseph Bell](http://www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/The_Society/Arthur_Conan_Doyle/Joseph_Bell.htm). Bell was a professor at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, where he impressed Conan Doyle with his ability to deduce an astonishing amount of information about his patients from his observations. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/57 "2005-05-28T08:02:56Z")
Wasn’t James Bond based loosely on a noted bird expert? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/58 "2005-05-28T09:16:22Z")
That’s where Flemming found the name - he wanted something boring and unremarkable but the ‘character’ wasn’t in any way based on the bird man, they were just namesakes is all. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/59 "2005-05-28T11:02:57Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Well, of course, that is why I said: “based” first. > > And it was not just “might have been based” as you said! In a comic book biography of Herge “Might have been” in this use does not imply doubt as to truth. It means the same thing as if I had said “Regardless of whether he was based …” or “Although he was based …” or “Although he might have been based …” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701/60 "2005-05-28T11:05:46Z")
Anyway, the point of the OP, it seems to me is characters who were meant to represent real people. It seems to me that a minimum requirement is that the character have the same name as the person and at least the implication that he had the same experiences as the real person. Characters “based on” real people could get into the thousands. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-fictional-characters-who-really-existed/305701.md?page=4)