Belisarius Series/YMMV


 * Acceptable Professional Targets: If a pimp gets more than a passing mention, expect word of his brutalization to follow shortly.
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Complete Monster: Venandakatra the Vile.
 * Emperor Skandagupta and his spymaster, Nanda Lal, also qualify. Venandakatra blows well past them on sheer Squick factor, admitted, given his preference for.
 * Nanda Lal also had the countervailing factor of actually being competent enough to earn some respect as a villain. Skandagupta and Venandakatra... not so much.
 * Belisarius pretends to be this to get his enemies off their guard. Even to the point of telling Venandakatra "God, how I love a sack". In reality atrocities by his men were the most certain way to make Belisarius send for the hangman, but he doesn't tell Venandakatra that.
 * High Octane Nightmare Fuel: What the Malwa do to their enemy is not a pretty sight.
 * Historical Hero Upgrade: The real Belisarius was a brave and loyal commander and very skilled. But there is no evidence that he would qualify for being the rescuer of humanity.
 * Historical Villain Upgrade: The Real Life Narses was never a traitor and was almost as much of a Four-Star Badass as the Real Life Belisarius.
 * Love to Hate: Venandakatra the Vile. His evil is so hammy that it is fun just to hate him.
 * Magnificent Bastard: Narses.
 * The Woobie: Justinian is this or a Jerkass Woobie.