Hard to Be a God story
A human visitor to an alien world that is in a medieval state of development experiences all the horrors of their brutish society. It is based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.
14 total · 8 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| alien living secretly among us | major | Anton was a human for the future planet Earth who lived secretly under the alias Rumata of Estorai on an alien planet in a medieval stage of development. |
| covert alien observers | major | The story follows Anton, an undercover operative from the future planet Earth, in his mission on an alien planet that is populated by people whose society has not advanced beyond the Middle Ages. |
| extraterrestrial being | major | Anton, a human from the future planet Earth, was working as an undercover operative among a people who were in a medieval stage of development. |
| human life in medieval times | major | The story is set on an alien world where society is in a medieval stage of development and superstition is being used to retard the emergence of science and enlightenment. |
| primitive point of view | major | Anton, a human from the future planet Earth, witnessed numerous acts of superstition and barbarism while working as an undercover observer on planet full of people in a medieval stage of development. |
| romantic love | major | Anton and Kyra fell for each other. |
| superstition in society | major | The inventor of the printing press, the germ theory of disease, and the telescope were all persecuted and their ideas maligned because of superstition and religion. |
| the ethics of interfering in less advanced societies | major | Anton, an undercover operative from the future planet Earth, was forbidden from interfering in the development of an alien society that was in a medieval stage, but he ended up doing so anyway. |
| coping with being tortured | minor | People were tortured mercilessly in the Tower of Joy. |
| flying saucer | minor | Anton's colleagues came to pick him up in an octagonal variation of a classic flying saucer type spacecraft. |