< Belisarius Series

Belisarius Series/Characters


Future-beings

Aide

Mysterious creature comes back in time to seek the help of the Roman general Belisarius to rise against evil


Romans

Romans In General

Abbu

Bedouin Chief and Auxiliary Light Cavalryman in Belisarius' army.

Belisarius

Seek the general who is not a warrior

Roman General and Title Character

Antonina

Purity in the whore

Former courtesan and Belisarius' wife

Photius

Son of Antonina and adopted heir to the Roman Empire

Procopius

Gossipy secretary who impugns Antonina's reputation for fidelity. Unaware that Belisarius and Antonina are playing him.

  • Gossipy Rooster
  • Historical Domain Character: Wrote Secret History of the Court of Justinian
  • Unreliable Narrator: Played with. The author feigns that all along he was simply a shameless gossip and his book full of blarney.
    • Given that in real life Procopius' several famous historical accounts directly contradict each other in alleged facts and characterization of the historical figures involved, it is unquestionable that at least some of his work was a... jaundiced account. The endless debate between historians is merely over "which one(s)"?
  • Unwitting Pawn

Valentinian

Bodyguard of Belisarius

Anastasius

Bodyguard of Belisarius

Narses

Traitorous Roman Spymaster. Once Theodora's mentor but betrays her and the Roman Empire because of his ambition.

Faith in the traitor

Irene

Sittas

Long-time friend of Belisarius, and an accomplished cataphract general in his own right.[3] He introduced Irene to Belisarius and Antonina; she was his so-called mistress.

  • Animal Motifs: When, in the first book, he demands that Belisarius tell him the details of a battle:

Most people, upon meeting Sittas, were struck by his resemblance to a hog. The same girth, the same heavy limbs, the same pinkish hide—unusually fair for a Greek—the same jowls, blunt snoutish nose, beady little eyes. Belisarius, gazing back at his best friend, thought the resemblance wasn't inappropriate. So long as you remembered that there are hogs, and then there are hogs. There is the slothful domestic hog in his wallow, a figure of fun and feast. And then, there is the great wild boar of the forest, whose gaze makes bowels turn to water. Whose tusks make widows and orphans.
"The battle," commanded the boar.

  • Attack! Attack! Attack!: Described as "the most aggressive commander in the Roman army ... prone to recklessness." He likes headlong cavalry charges. But he's not stupid, and can recognize — reluctantly — if it isn't a good time for one.
  • Brilliant But Lazy: Despite his thoroughgoing military competence and devotion to duty, he is widely regarded as the laziest man in the Roman Empire. Even Justinian, who obsessed about the possibility of being overthrown by one of his successful generals, didn't hesitate to put Sittas in charge of the capital city garrison because it was impossible to suspect Sittas of anything requiring actual work, such as ambition.

Sittas: Worry about something else, Your Majesty. Worry that the sun will start rising in the west. Worry that fish will sing and birds will grow scales. *snorts* If you really insist on fretting over fantasy, worry that I'll start drinking water and do calisthenics early in the morning.

John of Rhodes

Roman naval officer and weapons designer

Justinian

Emperor before he was excluded due to being blinded. Determined to rectify his failures in his historical reign.

Theodora

Murder in the wife

Justinian's devoted wife and Empress. Regent after his blindness.

Michael of Macedonia

Doubt in the prophet

Monk who first discovers Aide

Callopodius the Blind

Young soldier who becomes chronicler of Belisarius' exploits

Anna

Wife of Collopodius the blind. Becomes famous for cleaning up hospitals in the rear area

Agathius

Wounded Roman officer, Belisarius' chief of staff

Theodoran Cohort

Syrian peasants recruited to be the gunpowder unit in the Roman Army and the core of Antonia's force.

Maratha

Maratha In General

Shakuntala

Passion in the virgin

Indian Princess rescued by Belisarius so she can lead a revolt.

Raghunath Rao

One of the two most skilled fighters in India (the other is Rana Sanga), and a Maratha guerrilla commander.

Dadaji Holkar

Decision in the slave

Rajputs

Rajputs In General

Rana Sanga

The friend across the field

Rajput prince and vassal of the Malwan Empire

Lady Sanga

Wife of Rana Sanga

Rajiv Sanga

Eldest Son of Rana Sanga

  • Beware the Nice Ones: He really is a very nice boy, just someone you want your daughter marrying. He also is a very scary warrior and even frightens his father a little.
    • To put it another way, he is the kind of boy you want taking your daughter to a party especially if the way to the party goes through a bad part of town.
  • Big Brother Instinct
  • Combat Pragmatist: Valentinian has to teach him to be this. His instinct is of course different. But when he gets the hang of it he is a murderous killing machine.
  • Foreign Exchange Bodyguard: Rajiv ends the series moving to Constantinople to spend a term as a bodyguard to Phoetius.
  • Kid Rajput: He is so scary that in fact for a moment Rana Sanga has to reassure himself that Rajiv is not a budding Sociopathic Soldier by remembering that his many heroic deeds include risking his life to give some hapless gate guards a chance to surrender.
  • I Am Not My Father: Toyed with. Rajiv's best combat instructor is the one that gets it into the kid's skull that he will never match his father in size and power so he should adjust his style accordingly before he gets himself killed.
  • Honor Before Reason: Like his father he is as Rajput as they come.
  • Like Father, Like Son
  • My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad: Quite true and Rajiv is very proud of that.
  • Nice to the Waiter
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy
  • Renowned Selective Mentor: One of the two people that survived a duel with his father winds up instructing him.
  • Warrior Prince

Axumites

Axumites In General

Eon

Ousanas

Rukaiya

Wife of Eon. Chosen from a number of candidates by to cement relations between Axum and protectorate Arab tribes.

  • Beauty Contest: Winner of a political beauty pageant so to speak; she was chosen for political usefulness but beauty was a consideration because it makes it easier for the king to fulfill his duty.
  • The Chick
  • The Chief's Daughter: Sort of. Her father is a sheik of a powerful merchant clan
  • The Consigliere: She helped with bookkeeping, both for her father and for Eon.
  • Daddy's Girl: She got along with her father so well that she almost was disappointed to marry a king and leave him. Her father was a Doting Parent who amazingly actually taught her to read.
  • Geeky Turn On: One of the things that makes her love Eon is the fact that he has one of the biggest libraries in the world.
  • Mandatory Motherhood: Despite being beautiful and intelligent, she is almost rejected because she looks too skinny to produce heirs.
  • Ojou
  • Perfectly Arranged Marriage
  • Sexy Secretary: To Eon
  • The Smart Girl
  • Succession Crisis: She lived through two major succession crises' in the series, one when Eon's family was killed(which she was called upon to solve) and one after the death of Eon when the only heir was a baby.


Persians

Persians in General

Khusrau

Emperor of Iran

Baresmanas

Persian General and contact of Belisarius

Firuz

Incompetent Persian general who commanded against Belisarius before the war with the Malwa. Goaded into making a stupid assault and presenting Belisarius with a great victory.

Tahmina

Persian Princess who marries Photius cementing alliance with Rome.

Sudaba

Wife of Agathius who travels with him on campaign

Kushans

Kushans In General

  • Cadre of Foreign Bodyguards: Kungas' men. Because anyone who could be Shakuntala's jailor would be a very effective bodyguard for her.
  • Combat Pragmatist
  • The Engineer: After their Heel Face Turn they manage to change the course of one of the biggest rivers in the world and change it back again to trap the enemy.
  • Fighting For a Homeland
  • Happiness in Slavery: Downplayed. After one unit captured they are supposedly slaves but under negotiated terms of surrender that rather more resemble clientage then slavery. Kushans had always fought primarily for their own tribe's interests and when they got a chance to get away from the Malwa they get a better deal latter. They just have an eccentric preference for being slaves to being defectors even though the effect is the same. Toward the end the same unit is allowed to join Kungas in founding the new Kushan empire.
  • Heel Face Turn
  • Proud Warrior Race
  • Worthy Opponent

Kungas


Ye-Tai

Asian Steppe nomads serving as Military Police for the Malwa. Valiant but savage and dishonorable.

Malwans

Malwa in General

Venandakatra the Vile

A Malwan lord that takes the Deadly Decadent Court trope Up to Eleven Living exponent of every vice known to man and some that aren't.

  • 0% Approval Rating
  • Brain Bleach: His presence requires a lot of this. He is not called the Vile One for nothing.
  • The Caligula
  • Conspicuous Consumption
  • Dirty Coward
  • Evil Is Hammy
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Belisarius manipulates this. He is able to, as a distraction, convince him that Eon is an entitled pervert who absolutely loves raping slave-girls (somewhat like Venandakatra in other words). As the main part of the plot he is able to convince him that Kushans, despite the fact that they were ordered to guard Shakuntala's virginity, were absolutely certain to try to seduce her. The idea that they might be honorable soldiers who would never do such a thing (when they do defect it is out of politics and simply because they like Shakuntala better as a person, not out of their own lust) never occurs to him, because of course Venandakatra does not really believe there is a such thing as honor. As a result the Kushans are replaced as guards by celibate priests who are supremely qualified as garrote-fodder for Rao. Basically Belisarius manipulates Venandakatra's assumption that everyone is like him.
  • For the Evulz:
  • General Failure
  • Gorn: He loves this. Anything to do with causing suffering and feeling power is his delight. Hey a man's got to have some hobbies doesn't he?
  • I Have You Now, My Pretty: He almost had Shakuntala.
  • Karmic Death: Raghunath Rao emasculates and castrates him and severs the nerves in his arms and legs before impaling him on the short stake he carved his throne into.
  • Lust
  • Man of Wealth and Taste: Subverted. He indeed has lots of wealth and he drags enough of into the field with him to make a full-scale palace(which does little for his already negligible military effectiveness). However he has absolutely no taste in how he displays it.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Subverted. No he is not "The Ruthless", he is not "The Cruel", nor is he "The Terrible". He is the Vile One. People may fear his mooks but they will never respect him personally.
  • Rape, Pillage and Burn: His favorite hobbies. As long as it doesn't require him to do any actual fighting.
  • Royal Brat
  • Sex Slave: He tortures them in the process until they are completely traumatized even though he has enough power to have the minimal decency to just order them to have sex with him, or enough wealth to hire any amount of women of negotiable virtue either on short or long-term contract, rather then violently raping them. It is specially noted that in other countries "concubine" means "aristocrat's pampered junior wife" whereas to him it means "Venandekatra's next rape victim".
  • The Sociopath
  • Stupid Evil
  • Too Important to Walk: Has a sedan chair which he takes wherever he goes. If his servants fail at carrying him they are tortured to death. Even if they have to go fight that proves they are not doing their duty.
  • Unwitting Pawn: To Belisarius.
  • Villainous Glutton

Damodara

Skandagupta

Nanda Lal

Ajutasutra

Henchman of Narses, and one of the most skilled secret agents in India.

  • Badass
  • Deadpan Snarker: Stands out amongst an entire cast of Deadpan Snarkers in this regard. Damodara at point Lampshades that it would be impossible for him to keep Ajutasutra on as his chief royal assassin, despite him being overqualified for the position in every other aspect, because Ajutasutra is constitutionally incapable of restraining himself from cracking wise at his friends' expense -- which is entirely fine so long as he's working in the field, but would be impossibly disruptive to an Imperial court.
  • The Dragon: To Narses who in turn is one of Damadora's dragons
  • Even Evil Has Standards: He considers pimps to be subhuman
  • Hitman with a Heart
  • Non-Japanese Ninja: Not really a ninja as he is not Japanese, but the author implies that there is a similar attitude toward assassin skills in India.
  • Professional Killer
  • Stealth Expert
  • Undying Loyalty: Toward Narses who he considers a Parental Substitute.
  1. ↑ Prompted by Narses, who evidently realized it first.
  2. ↑ It is highly unlikely that any other man both could have and would have served as Damodara's spymaster to the point that his rebellion would be entirely successful, given Nanda Lal's personal attention to that case.
  3. ↑ Incidentally, the Real Life Sittas married Empress Theodora's older sister Comito around the time that he's introduced in this story, and may have fathered the wife of Justinian's real-world successor -- she's known to have been Theodora's niece, but Theodora had another sister.
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