Mercenaries in popular culture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Like piracy, the mercenary ethos resonates with idealized adventure, mystery and danger and appears frequently in popular culture.
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[edit] Books
- The novel Dogs of War by Frederick Forsyth and the movie (1981) with the same name, which go into some detail about an actual if fictionalized mercenary operation in Africa in the 1960s.
- The novel The Wild Geese by Daniel Carney and the movie (1978) with the same name. The plot is that a global British financial syndicate seeks to rescue the deposed leader of a central African nation. It hires a band of mercenaries to do the job.
It is interesting to note that the both titles are derived from other sources. Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war is from Julius Caesar (III.i), a play by Shakespeare. After the signing of the Treaty of Limerick (1691) the soldiers of the Irish Army who left Ireland for France took part in what is known as the Flight of the Wild Geese. Subsequently, many made a living from working as mercenaries for continental armies, the most famous of whom was Patrick Sarsfield, who, having fallen mortally wounded on a foreign field, said "If this was only for Ireland".
In science fiction, the well-known author Jerry Pournelle has written several books about science-fiction mercenaries known as Falkenberg's Legion. Also, author David Drake has written a number of books about the fictional hovercraft armored regiment Hammer's Slammers. Both series of books are brutal in their portrayal of complex low-intensity warfare despite technological advances. Gordon R. Dickson's Dorsai!, part of his Childe Cycle, includes the planet Dorsai with a society structured like that of Switzerland. Like the old style Swiss mercenaries who hired themselves out to the Italian states, Dorsai hire themselves out to other planets. A series by Mercedes Lackey concerning mercenaries is the Vows and Honor Trilogy (The Oathbound, Oathbreakers, Oathblood). There have been a number of books based on the fictional universe developed for the board game BattleTech and in which mercenaries feature: Robert Thurston, The Legend of the Jade Phoenix; Loren L. Coleman, Patriots and Tyrants and Storms of Fate.
[edit] Magazines and comics
A magazine ostensibly written for mercenary soldiers is Soldier of Fortune.
The manga Hellsing features a band of mercenaries known as The Wild Geese, named after the aforementioned Daniel Carney novel. It is unclear whether the mercenaries are intended to be the representing the same group as in the novel, though this is highly plausible, considering that their last operation was in Uganda.
The manga Berserk promeniently features a group of mercenaries, the Band of the Hawk. The main character, Guts, is also raised by mercenaries.
The popular anime series Full Metal Panic! and its various sequels focus largely on a mercenary organization known as Mithril.
The manga and now anime series Black Lagoon focuses on mercenaries in present-day South-East Asia.
The Marvel Comics universe features many mercenary character, most notably Deadpool. Others include the Taskmaster, Agent X and Bullseye. The mercenary character Deathstroke is part of the DC Comics universe.
The webcomic Schlock Mercenary follows the galactic adventures of a 31st-century mercenary company.
[edit] Films
The (1978) Italian action film Duri a morire (Tough To Kill) concerns a group of mercenaries in an unspecified African country who turn on each other.
In the film Casablanca (1942), Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) is a former mercenary, although it is hinted that he chose sides on an ideological basis, rather than based on who would pay him the most.
The plot of the film The Warriors (1979), which was adapted from the novel by Sol Yurick is loosely based on Xenophon's Anabasis.
Tom Berenger stars as the head of a crew of mercenaries in the shoot-em up action flick/classroom drama The Substitute (1996).
Robert DeNiro plays a mercenary named Sam in the film Ronin.
The Chronicles of Riddick Trilogy contains numerous mercenary/bounty hunter characters, most notably William J Johns and Toombs.
[edit] TV
The A-Team was a popular TV series about a team of benevolent mercenaries. The violence was usually "toned down" to an almost cartoonish level to make the series acceptable for prime-time viewing (everybody shoots, no one gets hit).
The television anime series of Area 88, portrays fictional mercenaries in a country called Asran where foreign freelance pilots of all nationalities are assembled in Area 88, an isolated air force base that houses the military's only mercenary unit to fight in Asran's civil war.
Molotov Cocktease from the Adult Swim cartoon The Venture Bros. is a former KGB agent who went freelance, presumably after the dissolusion of the USSR.
One of the major antagonists in the tv series Jericho is a mercenary group called Ravenwood. They were working for the government to help restore order after the nuclear bombs went off but eventually went rogue and devoted themselves to looting. They attempt to invade Jericho but are driven off for now.
The character Jayne Cobb in the Firefly serie is a career mercinary who joined the crew of the Serenity after his previous employeer hired him to track their ship only to switch sides when offered a larger percentage and better perks. When later offered a bribe to again switch sides, Jayne refuses. When confronted, he explains that he would have but, "The money wasn't good enough." Dispite questionable loyalty, Jayne remained more or less loyal to the Serenity crew until the end of the series.
[edit] Music
The song Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner by Warren Zevon involves the exploits of a Norwegian mercenary in the Congo. Similarly his track Jungle Work does the same, citing "le mercenaire" directly in the lyrics.
The song Straw Dogs by The Stiff Little Fingers (as they say themselves in an interview on the re-release of their album Nobody's Heroes "a dirty nasty song about a dirty nasty subject") is about mercenaries
[edit] Board and card games
In Magic: The Gathering, 'Mercenary' is one of several 'creature types' game cards can possess. The type was introduced in Mercadian Masques, in 1999. The original mercenary cards were colored black, representing evil/darkness.Many of these cards could expedite bringing smaller Mercenaries into play.
The board game BattleTech has several mercenary units, some very powerful and well-equipped.
[edit] Computer and video games
The computer game series Jagged Alliance focuses on a team of mercenaries doing several missions in fictional underdeveloped nations. In 2005, LucasArts released a game for PlayStation 2 and Xbox titled Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, where the player controls one of three mercenaries in North Korea, and is able to accept mercenary contracts from the Allied Nations (a fictional version of the UN), South Korea, China, and the Russian Mafia.
Mercenaries from the board game BattleTech were featured in several of the spin-off MechWarrior computer games.
Several video games feature mercenary characters or organizations, either in a modern setting such as Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, the Metal Gear Solid series; or in a fantasy/sci-fi setting, such as Final Fantasy VII's Cloud Strife; or a full organization like SeeD from Final Fantasy VIII, or the Star Fox team. Players may also participate as mercenary pilots in Air Combat, Ace Combat 2 and Ace Combat Zero, and the game Strike Commander features a player-run mercenary air force. Armored Core features a mercenary organisation consisting of pilots of huge Mecha. In the Total War series, battalions of mercenaries can be hired at inns (in Medieval: Total War 1) or in the field (in Rome: Total War). In various Fire Emblem games, the protagonists are mercenaries, usually working for the benefit of everyone as well as for personal gain. This is likewise for Dante, the protagonist (antagonist of Devil May Cry 4) of Devil May Cry. In a recent release, Age of Empires III and Age of Empires: War Chiefs allows a feature that mercenaries from foreign countries may be hired. Blizzard Entertainment's award winning series Diablo II features several mercenaries for hire in each Act to fight for the player.
