MovieChat Forums > Peter the Great (1986) Discussion > I wonder if the makers of the series eve...

I wonder if the makers of the series even knew who Charles XII was...


The character is nothing like him. He wasn't aggressive (though he never backed down from a fight), and he never drank alcohol, and he wasn't a sadistic, spoilt brat. Riding in a horse carriage? UNTHINKABLE. He much preferred the saddle.

Also, an interesting fact, the two characters who played Charles XII and Peter I are both German. If these monarchs had ever met (they didn't, another error in the series), they would probably have spoken German, seeing as both of them were fluent in that language, but in the series they speak English (obviously, since all characters speak it).

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They needed an external antagonist, and so they molded Charles XII into a XVIIIth century mini-Hitler. The real Charles XII would never have held the kind of social darwinist pep-talk the character had in the series, and if he ever had such thoughts his father Charles XI would have quickly beaten into his wits that war is about defending ones people, not hunting for sports.

Besides, in such a hagiographic series as "Peter the Great", lauding Peter as a rude, coarse, yet noble Emperor, how would they show that Russia in fact "nobly" plotted with Denmark-Norway, Saxony, and Poland to gang-rape Sweden and tear it apart while Charles XII was still young?

When does Charles XII ride in a horse carriage? Never saw that in a scene.

Plus, we see him jump on a woman in a bed, ostensibly to have sex with her. The real Charles XII had no interest in women, at all, and never even attempted to have relationships with women.

Finally, they jump from Narva directly to Poltava when nine years passed between the two battles. Charles XII wasn't even in the battle, badly wounded to the feet a few days beforehand. Had he been there it would have been a very near-run thing for Peter.

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