When you read about Hans' life you get the impression he was a bit... odd
He attended a school for children when he was 22. He would start acting scenes of his plays at social events, unprompted, often interrupting whatever was going on. Charles Dickens was nice to him once and Hans took that as an invitation to spend over a month in his house, never realizing he was making Charles and his family very uncomfortable, never understanding they didn't like him back. He was open about his homosexuality but in a way that suggests he didn't actually know it was a taboo in his culture, like sending letters to men he was not close with about how "they made him feel like a woman," often making those men very uncomfortable...
It just doesn't sound real, it sounds like a little kid who doesn't understand how society works doing whatever he wants, except this was a grown man
Some may argue he was just "eccentric" but he doesn't seem eccentric to me, rather it sounds like he may have had a mental disability. That would explain why he was often so naive and clueless, and it would make his accomplishments all the more remarkable
Because I don't want to make it sound like I don't admire Hans. He wrote some of the most beautiful fairy tales in history and he rightfully deserves the fame he has to this day. If he was disabled in any way that just means his work is even more special than we thought
Mickey Mouse first debuted in 1928, 93 years ago, and Hans Christian Andersen's first collection of fairy tales was published 93 years before that in 1835.
Hans: Where am I. Did I die?
Throne of Heroes: Hans Christian Andersen for your great heroic deeds, you have been chosen to join the Throne of Heroes and become a heroic spirit!
Hans: Hold on? Heroic deeds? I spent my life writing fairytales and pining after an opera singer.
Throne of Heroes: Yes.
Hans: Okay, I can see how my writing might be considered "heroic" in the sense that it made people happy...
Throne of Heroes: No, I mean epic heroic deeds.
Hans: Okay, you've lost me.
Throne of Heroes: Just know that you will be summoned to battle other great heroes of history, such as Achilles and Hercules!
Hans: Wait, what makes you think I can fight those guys, my main claim to fame, is again, writing stories for children!
Throne of Heroes: Can't you perform magic?
Hans: No! Who told you that.
Throne of Heroes: Well, I'm going to say you can do magic. Just like Shakespeare!
Hans: Wait what?
Throne of Heroes: Nothing.
Hans: Fine. Just one more question.
Throne of Heroes: Yes?
Hans: Why am I a ten year old!
56 years later.
Throne of Heroes: Welcome Thomas Edison, you now have a lion head!
