Comic Book / The Eagles of Rome

3 Following

The Eagles of Rome (Les Aigles de Rome) is a French comic book series by Enrico Marini. It currently has eight albums and counting:

• Book I (2007)
• Book II (2009)
• Book III (2011)
• Book IV (2013)
• Book V (2016)
• Book VI (2023)
• Book VII (2024)
• Book VIII (2025)

Taking place in the early first century, it is the story of two men, born on each side of the Rhine, as they become friends and blood-brothers and then enemies, their paths colliding in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest and beyond.

After the Romans defeated and made the tribes of Germania swear allegiance to the former's empire, the latter must provide them with hostages to prove their goodwill in maintaining the alliance. Ermanamer, the son of the chief of the Cherusci, is brought to Rome. At the same time in Italia, Marcus Valerius Falco, the son of a veteran officer, is brought to the capital by his father, who is to meet with the Emperor. The elder Falco is charged with Ermanamer, who is renamed Arminius, in order to make him a true Roman along with his own son. Through long and arduous training, the two young men come to bond to the point of being blood-brothers. But Ermanamer has his own calling on the other side of the Rhine...

Tropes in this work:

• Abusive Parents:
  • As normal as his behavior is for his time, Falco Sr is physically and mentally abusive of his son, and it shaped Marcus as a man.
  • Lepidus repeatedly insults and terrifies Titus, and repeatedly beats and rapes his mother in front of him, to the point that Titus attempts to murder him in his sleep, before Priscilla stops him.
• The Ace: Arminius is an excellent warrior by the standards of both the Romans and the Germans. By the time he reaches full maturity, he is confident in his fighting skills to the point where he boasts to Marcus that the latter had never beaten him in single combat in all the years they've known one another.
• Action Dad:
  • What Titus Valerius Falco, Marcus's father, used to be, before he took an arrow to the thigh that prevents him from even walking without a stick. Meanwhile, Ermanamer's father Sigmar also leads his tribesmen into battle despite his age.
  • Marcus becomes one after he fathers Titus with Priscilla.
• Adorably Precocious Child: Titus, Priscilla's son. The kid still has more than that into him.
• Aerith and Bob: Played with. All barbarians brought to Rome are given Roman names. Thus, Ermanamer is known as Arminius to the Romans, and it's strongly implied that Albinia is not the original name of Marcus' mother too.
• Alpha Bitch: Morphea, "the most beautiful whore in Rome", is petty enough that she will swear terrible revenge on anyone who fails to attend her lavish orgies.
• Altar Diplomacy:
  • Albinia, Marcus's mother, is a German princess who was married off to his father to consolidate the peace between Rome and her people.
  • Invoked by Segestes, who wishes to marry off his daughters - including Thusnelda - to affluent Romans for this reason.
• Ambition Is Evil: Marcus argues that ambition is what motivates Arminius to attack the Roman legions, in order to be crowned king of the Germans - this because due to his origins, Arminius is not allowed to keep rising in the ranks after his time in the legion as a Roman-born citizen would.
• Ancestral Weapon: Marcus receives an ornate gladius that belonged to his grandfather at the end of Book 2 before he leaves for Germania. Doubles as a Cool Sword.
• Ancient Rome: Set during the reign of Emperor Augustus, the city of Rome itself is actually only half of the setting. The other half being the wild frontiers of Germania. Book 1 also largely occurs on the countryside estate of the Falco family.
• Animal Motifs: Marcus is repeatedly linked to birds of prey (the falcon in his name, the eagle that represents the Legion). Ermanamer is tied to white wolves.
  • Interestingly, both of them being part German and part Roman, the opposite is also true. Ermanamer rides into battle with an eagle painted on his torso, and Marcus is also tied to the she-wolf who nursed Rome.
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: After Marcus saves Thamis from ritual drowning by her husband Loknar, the chieftain of the Bructeri tribe, she is more than willing to offer him Rescue Sex.
  Thamis: You saved my life and now I'm yours.[beat]. What? You don't fancy me? Or do you prefer men?
• Arranged Marriage: A central motif in the plot, as upper class Roman families created and maintained ties to one another in this manner.
  • Marcus is betrothed to Silvia, the daughter of a patrician. She loves him, but he hates her for not being Priscilla.
  • Lucilla is married off to a fat old Roman senator, though she asks Arminius to deflower her before she leaves. When they run into each other in Rome, Lucilla turns out to be pretty happy. The senator in question is quite the hedonist, and their marriage is an open one. By the time of Book 6, it's implied that Lucilla had him poisoned so she could claim his estate for herself.
  • Priscilla is married to Quintus Aemilius Lepidus, the grandson of one of Emperor Augustus' disgraced rivals, as part of a bid by the latter to regain his family's power in Rome.
• Artistic License – History:
  • While the series by and large is brilliantly researched, several of the historical events depicted are condensed, simplified, or had their sequence of events altered for the sake of efficient storytelling.
    • The conclusive stage of the Battle of Teutoberg Forest, which occurred in a large swamp now known as Kalkriese Hill, is depicted as follows: Varus and his officers lead their battered army away from the forest swarming with Germans and into the Great Swamp. On their way there, Legatus Vala attempts to flee back across the Rhine on his own accord, but is intercepted and killed. The Romans enter the Great Swamp only to find themselves trapped by Arminius' army behind a long wooden wall, and Prefect Eggius is forced to take command of the Romans when Varus is too traumatized to do so. Prefect Ceionius then surrenders and is captured to be tortured in full view of the Romans, which is followed by the Germans storming the field and slaughtering most of the defiant Romans and Eggius with them.
    • In contrast, most historians purport that the final battle was less one-sided, and archeological evidence suggests that the Romans attacked the German wall and actually breached it in several places. Based on new archeological evidence, a newer theory suggests that the wall may actually been built and manned by the Romans as part of a last-ditch fortress.
    • Arminius was supposed to have a younger brother, Flavia, who was also brought up in Rome and joined the army. Flavus forsake his Germanic roots and choose to stay with the Romans. Supposedly, the author decided to combine this arc into Marcus' story. However, a dying Sigmar does mention Ermanamer having a brother who had embraced Roman culture and has since disowned.
  • By the naming standards of the time, Lucilla's name should be Valeria, as Romans women were called for their father's family name (here, Titus Valerius Falco). Priscilla, for example, is the daughter of Priscus.
  • Arminius's original name is unknown so "Ermanamer" is hypothetical, but later German nationalist historiography assumed it was "Hermann". The live-action TV show Barbarians, which is also about Arminius, assumes his original name is "Ari".
• Asshole Victim: By the end of Book 5, Lepidus is killed by Arminius as he was about to kill his abused wife Priscilla and her son Titus. Meanwhile, Varus commits suicide after his hubris leads to the deaths of thousands of Roman soldiers and civilians under his command, culminating in one of the Roman Empire's worst defeats.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership:
  • To unite the German tribes, Ermanamer has to prove his competence by defeating another German chieftain.
  • Meanwhile, Marcus has to cement his authority over a leaderless Roman garrison by dueling a defiant centurion who had become its leader prior to his arrival.
• Attempted Rape: After Morphea and Lepidus intercept Marcus' attempt to flee from Rome with Priscilla, the thugs they hired attempt to rape a drugged Marcus in a slum's alley. They are killed in time by Volcanus, who had been warned by Arminius.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: By Book 4, Ermanamer has married Thusnelda and become the official leader of the German resistance against Rome.
• Badass Boast: Almost every single named character, but especially the males, gets to deliver at least one.
  • Cabar gives one of the most memorable in the series after fighting off a band of Managarms ("moon wolves"), German bandits dressed only in wolf-skins.
  Cabar: As a child I used to hunt lions. A pack of wolves doesn't scare me.
• Barbarian Longhair: All of the Germans have it. Arminius keeps it cut above his shoulders though, also probably due to his Roman upbringing.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Ermanamer and Marcus don't have many scars to testify from their battles. Even more so: Priscilla endures years of physical abuse from her husband, but it doesn't show at all (except right after he beats her).
• Big Badass Battle Sequence: None more than the conclusive stage of the Battle of Teutoberg Forest in Book 5. It features a Splash Panel with numerous male characters from both sides all fighting in different places as Varus' army makes its Last Stand in the Great Swamp.
• Big Bad Ensemble: While Arminius serves as the main threat by rallying the Germanic tribes against the Romans, Lepidus is the obstacle in Marcus's relationship with Priscilla (not to mention that he plans on usurping Augustus). At the end of Book 5, Arminius kills Lepidus at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, cementing himself as the main antagonist of the story. Book 6 also reintroduces Sejanus, who made a minor appearance back in Book 2, as a major antagonist, who plans to use Arminius's rebellion to keep his political rivals busy while he plans to take over Rome.
• Big Guy: The Germans in general. They call Romans "an army of dwarfs".
• Blind Seer: Freya the woods witch, who predicts Ermanamer's rise to power and his rebellion against the Romans, is apparently blind, given her Prophet Eyes.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The three main men in the series: Arminius is the blond, Marcus is the brunet and Lepidus is the redhead. The female cast has Thusnelda the blonde, Priscilla the brunette and Thamis the redhead.
• Boisterous Bruiser:
  • Segestes, a burly German chieftain who is also very jovial and welcoming to his Roman guests.
  • Centurion "Calvadurus", who is called so because he uses headbutts to train his men.
• Bookends: Invoked by Ermanamer.
  Ermanamer: Roma! A wolf gave you life. Another will take it from you.
• Bookworm: In his younger years, Marcus is considered one because he is fond of poetry. This displeases his father, who sees this interest in literature as effeminate.
• Break the Cutie: Poor Priscilla. Being married by force to a man you hate is a thing, but then have your own mother, a renowned prostitute, bed her lover and hear him say he loves her, being reconciled with him only to have to leave him behind, enduring years of abuse from her husband and eventually meeting her Cruel and Unusual Death at the hands of German warriors after seeing her son taken away from her...
• Big Damn Heroes: Cabar saves Marcus's life a number of times. Marcus finally stops seeing him as a mole when Cabar comes back for him despite his initial mission being to look over Priscilla.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: How Marcus's father views him in Book 2.
• Cain and Abel: Marcus is the Abel to his half-sister Lucilla's Cain. She constantly bullied him back when they were children and was responsible for poisoning his mother. Years later, he tosses her off a balcony after she brags about it.
• The Casanova: Despite being in love with Priscilla, Marcus doesn't hesitate in engaging sexual relationships with other women. All except his actual wife, as their marriage was part of an arrangement by their fathers.
• The Cassandra: Marcus knows Ermanamer is up to something massive, but given that he's hated by his superiors, they would believe him.
• Celeb Crush: At a Roman camp in Germania around 9CE, one of the German recruits talks about how much he'd like to meet "that beautiful Egyptian queen", Cleopatra VII. A fellow legionnaire has to tell him that she's been dead for more than half a century.
• Chekhov's Gun: Ermanamer didn't abduct Thusnelda just for love, it also gave him a reason to claim that his new father-in-law, Segestes, was lying to get revenge for that when he came to expose Ermanamer's plan to his Roman superiors.
• Chekhov's Lecture: Everything that Arminius learned in Roman strategy from Marcus's father helped him overthrow the Roman legion in his homeland.
• Child of Two Worlds: Both protagonists, as Ermanamer was born in the Cherusci land across the Rhine, but spent his teenage years in Rome as Arminius. Similarly, Marcus is the son of a Roman war commander and a German princess, but his father wouldn't allow him to embrace anything from his mother's side.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Marcus will not hesitate to save a woman who is about to be killed for adultery... As long as he gets to bed her afterwards.
• Clean, Pretty Childbirth: Averted: the drawings of the childbirth of a slave girl either Marcus or Arminius impregnated are incredibly gory. Neither she or the child lives. Marcus's mother forces the two boys to watch as a lesson.
• Cliffhanger Copout: Book IV ends with Titus about to stab his sleeping stepfather Lepidus. Book V opens with his mother Priscilla appearing out of nowhere to stop him in time.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Silvia becomes mad with rage at the very mention of Priscilla.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: Both Marcus and Arminius, considering they were brought up to be soldiers.
• Conflicting Loyalty: Averted. Though they both have attachments on the other side, Marcus is loyal to Rome and Ermanamer to his people. They don't hesitate for a second.
• Cool Mask: Lepidus's helmet includes a mask of his own face. This was based on an actual Roman officer's mask that was unearthed at Kalkriese Hill, and which is now one of the most important artifacts displayed at the museum there.
• Cool Sword: The one Ermanamer won as a young teen by killing its Suevic owner; the gladius Marcus received from his father before he left to Germania.
• Cool Uncle: Marcus's uncle is an easy-going hedonist who hosts the two young men during their stays in the big city.
• Cruel and Unusual Death:
  • At the end of Book V, Priscilla is raped by a group of German warriors and decapitated while being raped.
  • Legatus Numonius Vala is cut in two along with his escort and horses when their retreat is intercepted by the Germans. Their body parts are hung from a tree and made into a grotesque display in the Great Swamp.
  • Instead joining the Roman's Last Stand in the Great Swamp, Prefect Ceionius surrenders to the Germans in hopes of receiving better treatment. He is rewarded by being stripped naked, spread-eagle tied, and is made to bleed to death from having his genitals severed. All in full view of not only the Roman camp, but also the reader.
• Culture Clash: What Arminius experiences as he arrives in Rome: though he speaks Latin thanks to a soldier made slave back home, he is illiterate and doesn't know anything about basic Roman tactics or what they worship.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Ermanamer is very aware of the superiority in number and strategy of the Romans, but thanks to sabotage, he manages to spread the legions enough so that the final battle is this. It's a direct contrast to the very first scene in Book 1, which is a crushing German defeat at the hands of the Romans.
• Daddy's Girl: Thusnelda used to be this back when her father was fighting the Romans invading their lands. She despises him now that he trades with them.
• Dead Guy on Display: Vala, the Varus' second-in-command, as part of his Cruel and Unusual Death along with his aide-de-camp.
• Dating What Daddy Hates: While Old Falco might not hate Arminius (he is a promising ward, after all, and his own wife is Germanic), both he and Lucilla are convinced that her father will kill him if he finds him abed with her. It only makes the affair more exciting for both of them.
• Death by Childbirth: Marcus and Arminius have their first sexual experience together with the same slave girl. One of them impregnates her and it doesn't end well for her.
• Death by Genre Savviness: Legatus Vala understands that his troops are doomed and tries to flee on horseback through the woods. In doing so, he isolates himself and is killed by the Germans offscreen.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: Marcus's mother, who clearly was more concerned for his safety and mental well-being than his father, dies early in Book 1.
• Defiant to the End: A recurring trope in the series given its emphasis on military life and history.
  • During a Roman cavalry raid on his village, an adolescent German boy picks up a slain warrior's sword to challenge Lepidus despite being obviously no match for an adult Roman soldier.
  • During the finale of Book 5, Prefect Eggius leads the remnants of Varus' now broken Roman army in a Last Stand at the Great Swamp, where Ermanamer's army is waiting for them behind wooden walls that leave the Romans trapped in it. He gives a fatalistic Rousing Speech that kickstarts the battle by ending with an insult to the Germans' main god:
  Eggius: Soldiers of Rome! I will not bend my back before these sons of whores! I will not end up the slave of the Germani! I am a Roman! And I will die like a Roman! And I say: WODAN SUCKS COCK!
• Depraved Homosexual: After Marcus arrives at the camp of General Varus with invitation from Emperor Augustus about his assignment and orders for Varus to make good use of him, Varus grows a lecherous smile and jokes that he'll probably "find some use" for Marcus.
• Did Not Get the Girl: Marcus survives the Battle of Teutoburg Forest while his romantic rival Lepidus is killed, but Priscilla is raped and decapitated while his son Titus is enslaved by the Germans.
• Dirty Business: Morphea has a group of misfits to do hers. For more prestigious dirty business, like bodyguarding her daughter, she has Cabar.
• Disappeared Dad: Ermanamer's dies in book 3; Marcus's is terminally ill at the end of book 2.
• The Dog Bites Back: After years of being bullied by her since they were children, and learning that she poisoned his mother, Marcus kills his step-sister Lucilla by throwing her out of her apartment window.
• Double Standard: Rape, Female on Male: Played with. While the scene where Morphea rapes Marcus is disturbing and drawn as such, it is still filled with fanservice, and the emotional heart of the scene is less the rape and more the misunderstanding that follows. Meanwhile, in the following scene, a man is prevented from committing the exact same crime, to the same victim, because that would be the sort of rape that would actually kill the power fantasy. Marcus is also far more upset about Morphea ruining his relationship with his daughter and, in Book VI, they end up having consensual sex again.
• The Dragon: What Seianus is to Lepidus, what Arminius appears to be to Varus, and what Loknar is to Arminius most of the time.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Ermanamer pretends to be The Dragon to Varus, but is actually getting information from the inside in order to drive the Roman legions away from his lands.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Marcus often has vague prophetic dreams.
• Driven to Suicide: In the Roman tradition, a commander can't survive too mighty a defeat, because as a consul he can't be taken alive. As the last remnants of his army is slaughtered, Varus is too timid to impale himself and so asks one of his aides to kill him instead.
• Dropped a Bridge on Her: Marcus's mother Albinia dies suddenly and for no visible reason. We just know that Lucilla, her step-daughter, prayed for her death (though she hoped for something more painful) In Book 6 Ermanamer tells Lucilla that he knows she poisoned Albinia, which she denies. Later, in a confrontation with Marcus, she actually states that she did kill his mother.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Segestes first appears when sons of German chiefs are given away to Rome, but his role gets expanded much more from Book 3 on.
• Eating the Eye Candy: When they first see Morphea naked, both Marcus and Arminius can't do anything but stare for a moment.
• Ephebophile: Marcus and Arminius's trainer is an old gladiator with a thing for very young men, though Marcus said that if he ever approached him too close, he'd cut off his cupidus. Marcus's father also has a young man for a favorite, and Varus beds his squire. This was acceptable for the time period, so long as the younger partner was a slave and not a Roman citizen.
• Elopement: When chieftain Segestes refuses to marry off his daughter Thusnelda to Arminius, Arminius and his men sneak into Segestes' town and kidnap Thusnelda so they can elope together. Since they're already head over heels in love with each other prior to this incident, she's very happy with this state of affairs. Segestes later resigns himself to the reality that Arminius is now his son-in-law.
• Enemy Mine:
  • On the German side, Arminius/Ermananer exploits Varus' tyrannical rule to create a coalition out of the various tribes that normally feuded and fought each other over land and whether to be Roman influenced. Even Segestes, the most pro-Roman chieftain who planned on marrying off his daughters to Romans, eventually joins the coalition and slays a horrified Prefert Eggius in the climatic battle. However, he does let Cabar escape with Marcus after the battle.
  • On the Roman side, Marcus is freed and armed to help fight Arminius' revolt. In the climax, even Lepidus sets aside his feud to fight alongside Marcus against the Germans.
  Lepidus: I hope you kissed your family goodbye, Falco. Because I intend to deal with them as soon as this tedious battle is over.
  Marcus: If the barbarians don't rip off your head, Lepidus, I'll be happy to do it for them!
• Equal-Opportunity Fanservice: Marcus and Arminius are both ruggedly handsome and get many Shirtless Scene and more while female characters like Morphea, Thusnelda and Priscilla aren't shy. Downplayed as female characters have the lion's share of fanservice.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Ermanamer mercilessly lets his men rape and murder Priscilla, but makes sure to save her (and Marcus's) son.
  • Though Thusnelda has no issues with having Arminius abduct her from her father so they could marry, she's upset when Arminius had to kill the guards escorting her, since they were only doing their job.
  • Marcus doesn't like Germans but he rescues Thusnelda from being raped by soldiers and refuses to sleep with her when she offers herself to him.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Lepidus is a nasty piece of work but he conspires against Augustus to avenge his father. He also says that his grandfather, who raised him, was "like a father to me".
• Even the Guys Want Him: Arminius is offered services by a male prostitute in book 1. He doesn't take kindly to it.
• Everyone Is Bi: Due to being Ancient Rome, where being attracted to both women and effeminate men was completely normal. Marcus and Arminius seem to be used to having threesomes with prostitutes, although they're not interested in each other.
• Evil Uncle: Ingomar, Ermanamer's uncle, doesn't trust his nephew and has too much pride to be commanded by him.
• Famous Ancestor: Lepidus is the grandson of Lepidus the triumvir, who was supposed to command the empire with Octavian and Mark Antony. As a result, he thinks the emperor betrayed his grandfather and wants revenge against him.
• Female Gaze: Marcus and Arminius get to show their amazing bodies more than a few times (though it should be noted that like most comic book heroes, they are built more like male power fantasies than female sexual fantasies).
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Marcus's wants him to be a cold-blooded soldier and none of that poetry business.
• A Father to His Men: Arminius, Marcus, and Prefect Eggius. As in Real Life, the last is one of the few Roman officers who actually attempts to lead his troops competently during the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. In this universe, he is slain by Segestes during the Romans' Last Stand at the Great Swamp.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Marcus and Arminius initially despise each others and are always fighting until Marcus rescues Arminius from a bear.
• Flirty Stepsiblings: Arminius was brought up in the same house as Lucilla and has an affair with her.
• Flowers of Romance: Priscilla makes a crown of them for Marcus during one of their dates.
• Foreign Fanservice:
  • What the beautiful, blonde Albinia is in Rome: even Augustus calls her beautiful.
  • The very tanned and curly-haired Morphea most likely has Near or Middle Eastern origins.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Priscilla's father is surprisingly forgiving of Marcus's reckless drunken proposal, arguing that he too has done stupid things when he was young because of a woman. This woman turns out to be Morphea, the mother of his daughter.
  • In Book II, a drunk Arminius suggests Marcus to abduct Priscilla because it's a tradition in his clan. And indeed, he'll later abduct Thusnelda when her father refuses to give her to him.
  Arminius: My grandfather did it, My father did it... and if I have to, I'll do the same!
• Fourth-Date Marriage: Completely seriously.
  Marcus: It's the fifth time we see each other. It's time to ask your father for your hand.
• Foregone Conclusion: Due to being a Historical Domain Character, anyone with basic knowledge of Roman history will know that Arminius will eventually betray the Romans and lead a successful revolt against them. They will also know that Varus will be too trusting of Arminius and be manipulated by him into leading three Roman legions into a death trap.
• Friend Versus Lover: Arminius doesn't approve of Marcus' relationship with Priscilla, as he believes it could ruin his career (not unreasonably), and foils his plan to elope with her. Apparently, he still dislikes her years after, allowing his men to brutally rape and murder her.
• Friends with Benefits: Arminius and Lucilla have this kind of relationship even after their respective marriage. However, Lucilla plans to kill his wife and replace her, though Marcus kills her before she could act on it.
• Frontline General: The competent commanders personally lead their troops into battle and fight alongside them, such as Arminius, Loknar, Marcus, and Prefect Eggius. Discussed by a Roman legionnaire complaining about Varus' leadership (or lack thereof) before the final battle in the Great Swamp:
  Legionnaire: Where is our general?! Why hasn't he come out to fight alongside us?!
• Gold Digger: Although he's married to Thusnelda, Arminius is still in a relationship with Lucilla and promises to make her his consort once he becomes King of Germania. However, it's implied that he's doing it so he could use the fortune she recently inherited from her deceased husband to fund his cause.
• Gratuitous Rape: Both the Romans and Germans commit war rape on captured enemy women after battles. The comic doesn't shy away from depicting it.
• Green-Eyed Redhead: Loknar, the Chatte chief, and his wife Thamis.
• Grim Up North: Most of the Italian Romans hate being posted in Germania for this reason.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Played straight with Albinia. More complicated with Ermanamer and Thusnelda.
• Hanky-Panky with the Help: Marcus and Arminius both sleep with a servant girl named Thalita and she gets pregnant. Unfortunately, Thalita dies in childbirth along with the baby.
• Heart Is Where the Home Is: Ermanamer, a Cherusci tribesman and the chief's son, is in love with Thusnelda, a Cherusci noblewoman. He pines for her even after spending so long in Rome under the name of Arminius. On her part, she disdains Romans so much that she'll never find one of them attractive.
• He Knows Too Much: Ermanamer has Marcus discredited when he tries to denounce him. If it weren't for their childhood friendship, he most likely would have had him killed like his decurion Tassilo.
• Heroic Bastard: Given that he is the son of a second marriage, with a non-Roman mother, Marcus is often called a bastard.
• Heroic Sacrifice: To buy time for Marcus, Tassilo, and the cavalrymen to warn Varus of the German revolt, Centurion Calvadurus and his hundred legionnaires emerge out of the protection of their fort's walls to attack the German warriors besieging them. It's presumed that they were all slaughtered.
• High-Class Call Girl: Morphea is qualified as pretty cheap, but the fact that she chooses her clients herself gives her some prestige. Her orgias are a summit of high-ranking people and the child she gave a patrician was legitimated. Book 6 reveals that she's married to said patrician, and is of high enough status to watch gladiatorial games alongside Germanicus — the heir to the Roman Empire — himself.
• Historical Domain Character: The most prominent are Arminius, Varus, and Emperor Augustus.
  • On the Roman side, these are Legatus Vala, Prefect Ceionius, Prefect Eggius, and an Early-Bird Cameo of Sejanus, who will get important during Tiberius's reign.
  • On the German side, these are Segestes, Sigmar, and Thusnelda.
• Home Field Advantage: One of the reasons the Germans had such an easy victory. Outright named by Marcus after his troops fend off a German ambush while marching in the forest.
  Marcus: Don't follow them! They know their own turf!
• Horrible Judge of Character: Varus trusts all the people he should be defiant of, and has those he should trust punished.
• Human Sacrifice:
  • Ermanamer sacrifices Rufio to War God Tyr to "reward" him for opening the gates of his fort.
  • Morphea sacrifices Cabar's younger brother to Orcus both to curse Ermanamer and to punish Cabar for his failure to retrieve her grandson Titius.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick:
  • On the Roman side, Arminius appears to be this to Varus. He's actually a Dragon with an Agenda.
  • Cabar, an African warrior-slave, is this to both Morphea and Marcus. Initially Morphea's trusted bodyguard, she assigns him to accompany Marcus to Germania in order to return her daughter Priscilla and grandson Titus to Rome. After Tassilo is killed by the Germans, Cabar takes his place as Marcus' aide, and not only survives the ensuing Battle of Teuteberg Forest while slaying dozens of German warriors, but rescues Marcus in the process.
• If I Do Not Return: Before the final battle of Book 5, Marcus tells Titus he wishes he could have known him better and entrusts the five-year-old with a dagger to protect his mother. He does, and it saves him.
• Ignored Expert: Roman commanders Caelius, Eggius, and Marcus repeadtedly advise Varus against marching his legions in difficult terrain, and then moving the entire colony south when the native peoples are so hostile agitated, but he doesn't listen every time.
• Imminent Danger Clue: When a tree falls on the way and separates the colony, Marcus knows its a trick to scatter the troops. They are attacked a moment after that. Eggius also warns that the morning mists are excellent for allowing German warriors to creep up to and ambush Roman troops marching in the forests at close range. The Germans proceed to do exactly that.
• Imperiled in Pregnancy: During her last stage of pregnancy, Thusnelda is taken hostage by the Romans, almost raped by an officer and almost murdered by a Sicambri spy. The later event causes her to break waters.
• Insult Backfire: When Marcus criticises Calvadurus's training, Calvadurus snarks that Marcus must have knocked up Augustus's granddaughter to be assigned to a backwater garrison in Germania. Marcus confidently admits to sleeping with the Princep's granddaughter, but they had the foresight to protection.
• Insult of Endearment: As they swear an oath to become blood brothers, Marcus and Arminius keep insulting each other as they swear to protect each other too.
  Arminius: Marcus... You're a big dumbass... You can't pee straight... You couldn't tell a girl from a sheep... And by miracle, you saved my life... Still... With my blood, I swear to be your brother forever.
  Marcus: I too swear to always give you a hand to reach for if you trip on your own cock, brother.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Marcus and his former tutor Volcanus enventually share one.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: Phidias and Nektarios. Most characters, living in a society that worships hypermasculinity, are disgusted.
• Jealous Romantic Witness: To break off the burgeoning (and politically-inconvenient) relationship between Marcus and her daughter Priscilla, the High-Class Call Girl Morphea forces Priscilla to overhear her having sex with Marcus (having drugged and bound him beforehand), and hear Marcus say he loves Morphea. As soon as Priscilla's gone she has Marcus thrown out.
• Just the First Citizen: Discussed. Marcus accuses Ermanamer of wanting to be king of the Germans. When Ermanamer retorts that the Germanic tribes would never accept a king, Marcus points out that neither would the Romans - and still Augustus has been princeps for decades.
• Karmic Death: Loknar was among those who partook in Priscilla's gang rape and murder. Her lover Marcus repays the favour in Book VIII by killing Loknar in Trial by Combat, decapitating Loknar as the chieftain had done with Priscilla.
• Kick the Dog: In Book V, Arminius allows his men to gang rape and murder Priscilla. Book VI implies that he did it because he resented her for ruining his friendship with Marcus. He also refers to Priscilla as "that little bitch".
• Know When to Fold Them: Segestes is a Germanic chieftain who is very pro-Roman. However, when it becomes clear that he has been Out-Gambitted by Ermanamer and his Roman allies ignore his intelligence about Ermanamer's plans (believing his words to merely be the slander of an aggrieved father who is mad that his daughter eloped with a man he did not choose for her), he reluctantly joins with Ermanamer's uprising. Ermanamer, for his part, is glad that his father-in-law is now an ally.
• Large Ham: On the German side, Segestes and Cattuvar. On the Roman side, Calvadurus and Eggius.
• Les Collaborateurs: Segestes, Thusnelda's father, is a pro-Roman chieftain who believed that the Romans would uplift his people. This causes him to butt heads with Arminius, who prefers that Germanica remain independent from Rome. By Book VII, he betrays Arminius by siding with Germanicus, even kidnapping his daughter and unborn grandson and handing them over to Germanicus as hostages, albeit under the condition that neither of them are unharmed.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Loknar, a German chieftain competing with Arminius for leadership of all the tribes, impulsively besieges a Roman fort because his wife Thamis was being held there. Not only does this lead to the unnecessary deaths of dozens of German warriors at the hands of Marcus and his troops, but the latter nearly succeeds in warning Varus about Arminius' treachery and plans for a revolt. Oh, and Thamis had escaped the fort just as his forces were about to attack it.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Marcus is different from his father Titus in various aspects. Marcus is a romantic who enjoys "unmanly" things like music and poetry, while Titus is a harsh, military man. Marcus has sentiments for the old Roman Republic, while Titus is loyal to the Emperor.
• Like Parent, Like Spouse: Priscilla has the same kind of beauty and gentleness as Albinia.
• Love Father, Love Son: While in Rome, Marcus is a sexual partner for the high-class whore Morphea, but later falls in love with Priscilla, who turns out to be Morphea's daughter. Her husband Lepidus is also one of Morphea's patrons. In addition, Marcus accuses Morphea of being involved with Strabo and his son Seianus and she doesn't deny.
• Love Makes You Dumb:
  • At least, when mixed with alcohol. A drunk Marcus comes to ask for Priscilla's hand while fully knowing she is betrothed (and the fiancé is in the next room). Priscilla asks her father to spare him, calling him an idiot, and he lets him go because he was young and stupid too once and they never had sex before.
  • Arminius repeatedly warns Marcus that he is too easily distracted by Priscilla's "bewitched pussy", and Marcus' refusal to heed his advice destroys their brotherhood.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Titus eventually understands that Marcus is his real father after spying on his mother. He is not happy about it.
• Male Frontal Nudity: We get to see Marcus fully naked twice or thrice, notably when he is vulnerable.
• Malevolent Masked Man: Lepidus, with his Cool Mask helmet. He kills a German child while wearing it.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Titus looks an AWFUL lot like some other guy we know...
• Marital Rape License: Lepidus sexually abuses his wife Priscilla, something not considered to be a crime given the era.
• Marry for Love: Ermanamer and Thusnelda. When her father refuses the marriage, she elopes to him. Marcus and Priscilla would have loved that too but it is impossible, she is already engaged.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": The reaction of the Roman army when they see the thousands of German warriors waiting for them in the swamps.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Falco, Marcus's surname, means Falcon, and he has a pet falcon.
  • The name Arminius symbolizes the wish to rip Ermanamer from his heritage and turn him Roman.
• Men Are Strong, Women Are Pretty: Because this is Ancient Rome after all, some standards have to be respected.
• The Mentor: Volcanus trains Marcus and Arminius in combat, Marcus's father trains them in military strategy.
• A Minor Kidroduction: Ermanamer is shown in the first pages around five years before the story itself starts.
• Missing Mom: Albinia dies in book 1. Ermanamer's mother is never mentioned. As of book 5, Titus lost his own mother.
• Mistaken for Gay: Many of Marcus and Arminius's friends at the training camp believe they are in a relationship.
• Momma's Boy: Marcus is initially indulged by his kindhearted German mother. Arminius even calls him so. His stern Roman father puts a swift end to it in order to shape him up into a stoic soldier.
• Ms. Fanservice:
  • Most of the named female cast get at least one nude scene.
  • The two principle love interests, Priscilla and Thusnelda, frequently wear transparent clothes.
  • Befitting her profession, Morphea spends most of her scenes not bothering to wear any.
• Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: Lucilla, who lusts after Arminius (and possibly Marcus as well), masturbates upon witnessing them having sex with a slave.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: In Book 6, Marcus calls Lucilla out for her delusions of becoming Queen of Germania, pointing out that Arminius is already married to Thusnelda. Lucilla retorts that she will simply have Thusnelda poisoned, just like she did to Marcus's mother.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Lepidus wants to be this to the Germans.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Marcus promised he'd come back to protect Priscilla after the battle. Alas, he was too late.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Remnants of the Liberators, the historical group responsible for Caesar's assassination, are revealed to have lived on in the shadows. Members include Priscilla's father, Lepidus, and Sejanus. Unlike the rest of the Liberators who want to see the the Julio-Claudian dynasty toppled, Sejanus wants to become Emperor himself and sees his newly appointed position as Tiberius's right-hand man as a stepping-stone to that goal. As such, he decides his co-conspirators have outlived their usefulness and quickly arranges for their deaths.
• Occupiers Out of Our Country: The comic dramatizes the life of Ermanamer the German, who grew up among the Romans as a political hostage before uniting the tribes under his leadership after he returns to his homeland and lures three Roman legions into a trap at Teutoburg Wald, driving the Romans out of Germania for good.
• Older Than They Look: Morphea is at the very least in her forties by book 6, and does not look a day over twenty-five.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Morphea did not take kindly to her only child's passing, and is still wearing mourner's black five years later.
• Papa Wolf: Marcus is determined to go through an entire battlefield, wounded, exhausted and almost delirious, to protect Titus and his mother. Unfortunately, there are simply too many German warriors in the way.
• Parental Love Triangle: The High-Class Call Girl Morphea wants to split up her daughter Priscilla and Marcus due to an Arranged Marriage, so she arranges for Priscilla to catch Morphea and (a drugged) Marcus as Morphea rapes him to make her daughter think it's consensual. Morphea had actually slept with Marcus earlier, but on a whim rather than any long-term plan.
• Pimping the Lover: The pimp Candidus has his own wife Calpurnia among his prostitutes. When Marcus declines her services, Candidus replies "You're right, she cooks better than she screws... and between us, her cooking is crap as well".
• Plot Armor: Ermanamer is basically immortal until the point of his historical death. Marcus will most likely live long enough to see all of the events the series cover.
• Plutocratic Pervert Parties: The prostitute Morphea, being the wife of senator Priscus, is wealthy enough to regularly host lavish orgies involving other members of the elite.
• Praetorian Guard: Of course. They even find Marcus naked in bed with a senator's wife. He wonders how they were able to find him so quickly, establishing that they have ears anywhere in Rome.
• Pre-Climax Climax: Ermanamer and Thusnelda have a thryst before the Battle of Teutoburg Forest
• Princess Classic: Priscilla, the only difference being that she's not Blue Blood.
• Proper Lady: Priscilla is virtuous and beautiful, in stark contrast with her mother.
• Punished for Sympathy: When Marcus refuses to kill two fleeing slave, his father Falco has him imprisonned for a few days and forced to hear the torture of the slaves.
• Questionable Consent:
  • Arminius and Thusnelda's first time. Thusnelda stops him saying "Wait... I'm still a virgin" and he replies "It doesn't matter. You're mine." She doesn't protest any further.
  • Marcus ends up sleeping with Thamis but the latter is his prisonner and she doesn't have any other options. Minutes earlier, he also brutalized her and threatened to have her gang raped by his men if she didn't give him valuable informations.
• Raised by Conquerors: The story adds the fictional character of Marcus to serve as a foil to Ermanamer (better known to history as Arminius): one is Roman (his mother is a German princess), the other a German raised by Romans, both grow up and serve in the army together though they end up on opposite sides.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: One for the Roman side in Book V. Everything Marcus and his troops have done to warn Varus about Arminius' plans is all for nought and three Roman legions are destroyed. All the competent Roman officers such as Eggius, Caelius, and Tassilo are killed. Priscilla dies a gruesome death at the hands of Arminius and the Germans, who enslave Titus. However, Marcus and Cabar survive the Battle of Teutoburg Forest and successfully prevent the last eagle standard from being captured before slipping away. Anyone with further knowledge will know that Rome will send another army under Germanicus to avenge Varus, which is where the plot of Book VI onwards picks up.
• A Real Man Is a Killer:
  • As a boy, Ermanamer secretly tags along with his father Sigmar's band of warriors. He's almost killed by a warrior from a rival tribe, but manages to kill the attacker instead. Sigmar is furious, but also pleased that his son has become a man.
  • Lepidus is abusive to Titus, who he has long-suspected is not actually his biological son, because he perceives Titus to be soft, weak, and unmmanly. After killing a German boy of Titus' age on a raid, Lepidus even tells Titus that the German boy - who challenged Lepidus with a sword - would have made a better son had he been a Roman.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Emperor Augustus is depicted as a charismatic and capable administrator who is more than open to reasoned discussion.
• Red Herring: As he is Segestes's guest, Marcus is warned to be wary of Thusnelda, his daughter, because she's Ermanamer's love interest. They don't even interact at all.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Rufus, the centurion Marcus entrusted the fort he'd been commandeering to, ends up surrendering it to the Germans in exchange for his life. The Germans decide to reward him by having him sacrificed to their gods.
• La Résistance: The German tribes ally against the Roman invader, and under Ernamaner's leadership, use unconventional tactics to avoid fighting pitched battles against the Romans until they are sufficiently weakened by the final clash in the Great Swamp.
• Retargeted Lust: After she raped Marcus and threw him out in the street, Morphea has Lepidus come finish her off.
  Morphea: Come. This dog left me in heat.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Marcus is the (slightly more) Sensitive Guy to Ermanamer's Manly Man.
• Series Fauxnale: Book V solves most storylines with Arminius defeating the Romans and becoming king while Marcus narrowly escapes after failing to save Priscilla. It helps that Book 6 was only published seven years later.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • Thamis flees Marcus's camp when her husband Loknar (who had attempted to sacrifice her for adultery) was released from prison on Arminius's orders, knowing that he will return with an army to get her back.
• Secret Relationship: Between Priscilla and Marcus. He wanted to make it official, only to learn she was betrothed to another man.
• Seers: One predicted to a child Ermanamer that he would lead his people to push the Romans out of their land.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: Priscilla was not ready for life in Germania. However, she endures everything with a lot of courage.
• Shoot the Messenger: Marcus spares a German soldier to deliver the message to Arminius that he has taken his pregnant wife hostage. Arminius angrily kills the messenger in response, an outcome that Marcus seemingly anticipated.
  Segestes: Did you spare him?
  Marcus: Not sure...
• Shown Their Work: Though it inevitably had to take some liberties - Marcus and other characters are fictional since details about Arminius' life under Roman captivity are vague - the series is arguably one of the most historically accurate comic depictions of Ancient Rome. Each book begins with a preface and maps about the historical background of the plot, and ends with a glossary explaining vocabulary used by the ancient Romans and Germans. The costuming is so accurate that Lepidus' battle mask is based off of an actual Roman artifact discovered at the site of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Morphea is very dangerous. It reads on her face.
• Son of a Whore: Priscilla is revealed to be the daughter of Morphea, a High-Class Call Girl in high demand in Rome. It speaks greatly to Morphea's social status that Priscilla was legitimated as the legal daughter of the Roman patrician who sired her.
• Sworn Brothers: Arminius and Marcus become blood brothers in their teenage years, after Marcus saved Arminius's life by killing a bear. Arminius breaks the oath in a fit of rage after Marcus decides to part ways with him in favor of Priscilla, but the memory of their friendship remains strong.
• A Threesome is Manly: Marcus and Arminius have threesomes with various prostitutes during their time in Rome, being blood brothers and all. Subverted, in that the classic trope is a one guy-two girls power fantasy situation, while this, despite oozing the male power fantasy, is a one girl-two guys situation.
• Til Murder Do Us Part: In Book VI, Morphea kills her husband Priscus for refusing to retrieve their grandson Titius. Sejanus, arriving upon the scene immediately after, muses that she saved him the effort of doing the deed himself.
• Token Evil Teammate: All of the German chieftains are ruthless men, but most are driven by a combo of ambition and desire to be free from Rome. Loknar is the only one who's just a sadistic, vile scumbag and leading Priscilla's rape and murder seals how awful he is.
• Too Dumb to Live: Lucilla. "Hey, my seasoned killer of a half-brother who hates my guts just barged into my home in fury, let's boast about how I killed his mother."
• Took a Level in Badass: Marcus was already a good fighter, but half a decade's experience in gladiatorial combat turns him into an absolute menace who easily overpowers Arminius when they meet again.
• Variant Cover: Book VIII has two alternate covers: one with Marcus and one with Arminius.
• Villain Over for Dinner: Segestes is initially an ally of the Romans, and often has them as guests in his home. For Thusnelda, who hates them, this is this trope.
• Villain Respect: Lepidus encounters a German child whose village he pillaged. Seeing the boy's defiant attitude despite being hopelessly outmatched, Lepidus comments that he would have taken the boy in as his own or even as a gladiator, but had already given orders to leave no one alive and beheads the boy. He later tells Priscilla that he regretted this decision because the boy proved to be more of a man than his supposed son Titus.
• Wall Glower: Arminius during the orgia organized by Morphea. She and Lucilla have to drag him into it.
• War Crime Subverts Heroism: The series doesn't shy away from showing the ugly side of war. The Germans rebel against Roman invaders but they retaliate with gruesome executions and the rape and murder of an innocent woman.
• Warrior Princess: Thusnelda is the daughter of Chief Segestes, and a fierce woman who commands men around her with ease. During the final battle, she's even present on the battlefield to cheer her husband and his army on.
• Wartime Wedding: Ermanamer abducted and bedded Thusnelda (the reader saw no ceremony as itself) right he went to claim his right as the leader of the rebellion of the tribes.
• We ARE Struggling Together: One of the reasons why the Germanic tribes had so much trouble resisting the Romans was because most of them spend as much time fighting each other as much as they did the Romans. It didn't help that apart from ingrained tribal rivalries, the Germans were divided over how to deal with the Romans. Some like Segestes prefer a peaceful co-existence as the Germans could benefit from Roman innovations, while warhawks like Arminius's uncle reject any Roman teachings. Arminius is the first to unite them as King through cunning, force, and charisma, and succeeded in defeating the Romans at Teutoburg Forest with most of the Germanic tribes on his side. Even then, it's shown that his authority is tenuous at best.
• Whatever Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Since the plot closely follows Marcus or Arminius, all of the characters based in Rome don't appear again once the plot shifts to Germania in Book 3. These include Morphea, Lucilla, Sylvia, and Seianus, but The Bus Comes Back in book 6, which is set in Rome five years after the battle.
  • Thamis is last seen hiding from German warriors in the forest.
• Wicked Stepmother: How Lucilla sees Albinia. The only time the reader sees Albinia act this way against her is when she slapped her for shrugging off the horrible Death by Childbirth of a slave girl.
• World of Jerkass: With very few exceptions like Albia, Priscilla and Titius, the overwelming majority of the cast are deeply unpleasant and self-serving.
• Would Hit a Girl: Lepidus does not hesitate to beat his wife.
• Would Hurt a Child: Lepidus is determined to kill Titus after learning he's not his son. Even before that, he was pretty abusive.
• You Have to Believe Me!: Caelius is uneasy about how elusive the tribesmen have become, how merchants appear to be spying on the Romans based in Germania and how the forthcoming expedition could be open to attack. Most of the veteran officers dismiss his concerns due to his youth. Marcus also tries to warn Varus of Arminius' treachery but is framed for the murder of a fellow Roman and thus disbelieved by Varus and other officers until it is too late.
• You Killed My Father: Lepidus bears a deep grudge against Augustus for executing his father for treason, driving his mother to suicide in the process. Not to mention that Augustus betrayed his grandfather, the historical Lepidus who had been part of the second Triumvirate alongside Augustus and Mark Antony.
• Young Conqueror: Ermanamer is only in his mid-twenties and leads the Cherusci to drive away the Roman settlements.
• Younger Than They Look: By the time of the battle of Teutoburg Forest, Marcus and Ermanamer are in their mid-twenties, but look about ten years older.