Voting Station

William Tell

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Hero

The Resume

    Reportedly lived in the early 14th century in the Swiss canton of Uri
    Was punished for insulting an Austrian official, Hermann Gessler, by being forced to shoot an apple off his son's head
    After succeeding, killed Gessler
    His defiance sparked the rebellion that led to the creation of the Swiss Confederation

Why he might be annoying:

    Most historians doubt he ever existed.
    The first references to him were made a century and a half after he allegedly lived.
    Legends of a hero shooting a small object off his child's head and then killing the tyrant who forced him to do it were archetypes of German and Norse mythology.
    When historian Josef Kopp questioned Tell's reality in the 1830s, he was burned in effigy by the Swiss.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He reportedly died saving a child from drowning.
    He remains a popular hero in Switzerland.
    His legend inspired a play by Friedrich Schiller and an opera by Gioacchino Rossini.
    Adolf HItler ordered the Schiller play banned as subversive after an assassination plot by a Swiss youth (1938).

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 13 Votes: 46.15% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 7 Votes: 28.57% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 7 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 10 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 17 Votes: 52.94% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 15 Votes: 46.67% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 19 Votes: 31.58% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 13 Votes: 23.08% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 26 Votes: 42.31% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 88 Votes: 38.64% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 41 Votes: 34.15% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 101 Votes: 50.50% Annoying