Honor Harrington is a fictional character, the eponymous heroine of a series of books set in the "Honorverse", written by David Weber and published by Baen Books.

Early life

Honor was born on October 1, 3961 AD on Sphinx, the third inhabited planet of the Star Kingdom of Manticore. She is the daughter of neurosurgeon Arthur Harrington and genetic engineer Allison Chou Harrington. She is a yeoman; i.e., not descended from one of the very first Manticoran colonists. Her paternal ancestors were "genies", people genetically engineered to survive in Sphinx's higher gravity and differing environment. She was raised in the Third Stellar Missionary Communion (Reformed), but is not significantly religious.

Honor is one of the few people adopted by a Sphinxian treecat (whom she has named Nimitz), and she has devoted considerable research to them. She has become one of the foremost experts on treecats as a result.

Career

Honor attended the Royal Manticoran Naval Academy on Manticore's Saganami Island, and became an officer in the Royal Manticoran Navy. She is one of the RMN's best tactical officers, but without outstanding mathematical ability, which caused her much irritation and some problems while at the Academy. At Saganami Island, her roommate was Michelle Henke, cousin of Queen Elizabeth III of Manticore.

Honor has a seventh-level black belt in the martial art of coup de vitesse, and set a sailplane record at the Naval Academy (for combined altitude, time spent aloft, and acrobatics) which (as of the latest book) seems to have remained unbroken.

In the course of her career, Honor Harrington has become a Duchess of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, a Grayson Steadholder, and an admiral in both the Grayson Navy and the Royal Manticoran Navy. She has also earned several medals for bravery and ability, including the Manticoran Parliamentary Medal of Valor, and received the Monarch's Thanks for lifesaving aboard HMS Manticore early in her career.

Honor Harrington is regarded as a military genius and has been given the nickname "The Salamander" for always being in the "heat of the action".

The People's Republic of Haven once tried Harrington in absentia for murder, convicted her, and sentenced her to death. She did not take this seriously for many years, until she was captured by the Havenites. Havenite Secretary of War, Cordelia Ransom , planned to carry out the long-overdue sentence. Honor escaped, Ransom was killed, and her subordinates covered up for the public by faking Honor's execution. A state funeral was held for her on Manticore; her empty coffin was buried next to the similarly empty graves of Ellen D'Orville and Edward Saganami. The Grayson Space Navy named a starship after her while she was believed dead, but proudly refused to rename it when she was discovered alive — much to Honor's embarrassment.

As of Shadow of Saganami, Honor is commanding officer of the starship Unconquered.

Character trademarks

She owns and practices with a replica Colt M1911 .45 calibre semiautomatic pistol, a weapon considered to be an anachronistic "hand cannon" by her contemporaries who prefer pulsers, which fire smaller and much faster "pulser darts". She was taught how to fire Colt .45s by her uncle, Jacques Chou, who is an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism.

She also wears an eyepatch from time to time, due to the loss of her left eye while defending Protector Mayhew (the ruler of Grayson) from an assassination attempt. Normally she uses a cyberprosthetic eye, though on occasion it is rendered disfunctional in later books.

Honor Harrington in other media

An Honor Harrington movie has been announced by Echo Valley Entertainment. However, more recent information suggests that it will actually be a television series.

It has been noted that the character played by Angelina Jolie in the 2004 film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow bears a striking resemblance to Honor Harrington as she is often depicted on the covers of the Baen paperbacks, right down to her military garb and the eyepatch which she wears in later books.

External links

• Baen Books website
• Baen's Bar — official discussion forum
• Honorverse Art Gallery
• Baen Free Library — contains free versions of On Basilisk Station, The Honor of the Queen, and Changer of Worlds
• Honor Harrington's battlecruiser, HMS Nike