I had a similar experience with the characters in Sienkiewicz's Trilogy. A number of the fictional characters were amalgamations of actual historical figures, with added or modified histories. For example, the character of Sir Wołodyjowski is actually drawn from two figures with the same surname.

(For those interested, Jerzy Hoffman has produced excellent film adaptations of these books, two while navigating communist censorship, which is why they were filmed in reverse order. In reading order:

- "With Fire and Sword" (1999) [1]

- "The Deluge" (1974) [0] (trailer for the significantly shortened 2014 director's cut [3])

- "The Colonel Wołodyjowski" [2]

In my opinion, and this is widely regarded to be the case, the original 5+ hour "The Deluge" is the best of the three and frankly one of the best movies I've ever watched.)

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqdrKEEt_nc

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCESk2joFo8

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFO4O4JNjXw

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBfhvt1zrfU