: Re: How to handle characters being funny in a dire situation without ruining the mood There's one thing I always find impressive and moving when I see it in accounts of historical events or depicted

@Kimberly114

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Make the joke relevant to the situation — this will stop the reader from being distracted by the humour of the joke, and keep the serious atmosphere. Even bad or very funny jokes can be used if the character delivers them correctly.

And now some examples:

In the Time Riders series by Alex Scarrow, when two pirates are about to hanged, one says to the other "why are pirates called pirates? Because they aarrr!"

and from the Wikipedia article on Dienekes:

According to Plutarch, when one of the soldiers complained to Leonidas
that "Because of the arrows of the barbarians it is impossible to see
the sun," Leonidas replied, "Won't it be nice, then, if we shall have
shade in which to fight them?"

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