Belisarius Series/Characters

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Future-beings

Aide

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

• The Consigliere (to Belisarius)
• Cunning Linguist: Teaches Belisarius language so fast that Belisarius is sometimes hard put to it to conceal his knowledge.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Literally Giving Radio To The Romans
• The Smart Guy
• Transhuman Aliens

Link

• Big Bad
• The Chessmaster
• Conqueror From the Future
• Cyborg: Part machine, part possessed woman.
• Demonic Possession of autistic girls no less.
• God-Emperor
• Giving Radio To The Malwa
• Scary Dogmatic Alien
• The Spock: Well yeah, it's a computer. And its biggest flaw was being unwilling to learn how to understand human feelings. Humans were its slaves, not its comrades; it was not their "aide".

Romans

Romans In General

• Asskicking Equals Authority: Justinian and Theodora rule not because they are aristocrats but because they are a peasant and a prostitute who happened to have enough genius, ambition, and ruthlessness to claw their way to the top in Byzantium.
• Badass Army: (They are Romans after all)
• Byzantine Empire
• Combat Pragmatist
• Consummate Professional
• Deadly Decadent Court
• The Empire
• Gadgeteer Genius
• Punch Clock Hero: It is nowhere mentioned that the recruitment terms of the Roman Empire include, "help save the world from a demon robot from the future". It is specifically mentioned that "Belisarius captures a lot of Plunder."
• Lightning Bruiser: When Belisarius' Cataphracts (heavy cavalry) are in the neighborhood, it is best for the enemy to be elsewhere.

Abbu

Bedouin Chief and Auxiliary Light Cavalryman in Belisarius' army.

• Army Scout
• Badass Grandpa
• Cavalry Officer
• Cool Old Guy
• HAD to Be Sharp: He's a bedouin darn it; he lives in the desert. That's why the Romans want him as a scout.
• Noble Savage: Averted. He is not particularly more noble than anyone else. He is however a skilled warrior.
• Old Soldier
• Proud Warrior Race Guy
• Scarily Competent Tracker

Belisarius

Seek the general who is not a warrior

Roman General and Title Character

• Battle Couple: with Antonia. Though only rarely do they appear on the same battlefield, they coordinate strategy together, and Rana Sanga once speculates that Antonia was assigned to the African theater because he knew that she would relieve him on time.
• Berserk Button: All of Belisarius' soldiers know that they had better not commit atrocities while he is in command.
• But I Read a Book About It: He is up on history, like many generals.
• The Chessmaster
• Cincinnatus: He never would have considered usurping the throne even though he easily could have.
• The Chosen One
• Combat Pragmatist
• Consummate Professional
• Country Mouse: It is noted that he is a Thracian and not a Greek. Thracians are pictured as the Byzantine equivalent of rednecks.
• A Father to His Men
• Four-Star Badass
• Genius Bruiser
• Guile Hero
• Happily Married
• The Hero
• Historical Badass Upgrade: How the heck do you upgrade Belisarius' badassery? Just give him a demon robot from the future to fight.
• Historical Domain Character : Never visited by time travelers as far as we know, though.
• I Just Want To Be A Blacksmith
• Plunder: Belisarius has strict rules about who is allowed to be pillaged and when it is to be divided. Nonetheless his campaigns send his men home with plenty to spend.
• The Strategist
• Touched by Vorlons
• The Women Are Safe With Belisarius: And those who have a problem with this will have an interview with Valentinian.

Antonina

Purity in the whore

Former courtesan and Belisarius' wife

• Ambadassador
• Battle Couple: With Belisarius. Also has a whole cohort of Battle Couple s at the center of her force.
• Female Success Is Family: A High-Class Call Girl instantly becomes respectable on marrying a great general, naturally enough. Antonina is however talented enough on her own account to allow her boost in status to make her a stateswoman and Lady of War
• Happily Married
• Historical Domain Character: Interesting enough the Real Life Antonina accompanied Belisarius on campaigns and was trusted with important staff and diplomatic duties.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Well a retired hooker. She does have a heart of gold.
• Lady of War
• The Social Expert
• Undying Loyalty: to Belisarius

Photius

Son of Antonina and adopted heir to the Roman Empire

• Heroic Bastard
• Maligned Mixed Marriage: Subverted
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: To the Persian Princess Tahmina. At age ten.
• The Wise Prince

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

• Animal Motifs: Valentinian is often referred to as a human weasel, due to his pinched face, extreme speed, and complete lack of compunction when it comes to killing. Indians, however, refer to him as the Mongoose, which has similar characteristics, but with overtones of courage and loyalty.
• Badass
• Battle Butler
• Bodyguarding a Badass
• Catch Phrase: When Belisarius wants someone disposed of he simply says "Valentinian".
• Combat Pragmatist
• Consummate Professional
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: When Belisarius needs men kept in line he turns to Valentinian, sometimes giving him the jobs requiring extreme methods
• Sociopathic Hero: Many men lack the ability to kill at the drop of a hat. Valentinian kills without anyone having to even look at the hat.
• Old Soldier
• Master Swordsman
• Off with His Head
• Poisonous Friend: He is not only Belisarius' bodyguard, he is his personal executioner.
• Those Two Guys: With Anastasius

Anastasius

Bodyguard of Belisarius

• The Big Guy
• The Philosopher
• Rome's Strongest Man: Anastasius is the most physically powerful character in the book, rivaled only by Ousanas and Rana Sanga. He easily overpowers Link's specially-bred giant guards, hits so hard that any opponent he has ever landed a solid blow on in battle was crushed to death on the spot, and uses a longbow with such a powerful draw that he routinely shoots arrows into one side of a fully-armored man's torso and out the other.
• Warrior Poet

Narses

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

Faith in the traitor

• Ambition Is Evil: In In the Heart of Darkness Narses knows he is being evil and curses himself for it, but his ambition is too powerful.
• Anti-Villain : In point of fact he is almost a hero at times and shows more loyalty toward Damadora then he did to Theodora. He also balks at assassinating Rana Sana's family because Even Evil Has Standards. In fact when doing so he refuses to be bribed by Link's offer to clone him, thus turning down his only chance at what a Eunuch could be expected to want most: descendants. He also understood, even before Rana Sanga did, how Belisarius made plans based on trusting Antonina to mount a Gunship Rescue.
• The Chessmaster
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
• Consummate Professional: He is a complete professional at conspiracy.
• Eunuchs Are Evil : His "evilness level" varies through the series but he is a eunuch.
• Exact Words: It is said that no one could lie to Link. In a Crowning Moment of Awesome he hides his intentions simply by not saying anything that is strictly speaking untrue.
• Handicapped Badass : Narses is far more manly then many who are more physically manly.
• Heel Face Revolving Door
• Irony: He was more useful to Rome because of his service to Damadora then he would have been if he stayed in Rome's service.
• Pet the Dog: When he rescued and hid Rana Sanga's family
• Pragmatic Villainy: There are few things he loathes more than incompetent villainy
• Reliable Traitor
• The Spymaster

Irene

• Ambadassador
• Badass Bookworm: She has one of the biggest libraries in the entire world.
• Battle Couple: With Kungas
• Catch Phrase: "We are going to have so much fun"
• The Chessmaster
• Happily Married: to Kungas
• Heterosexual Life Partners : to Antonina
• Lady of War: Especially toward the end when she is actually commanding troops when Kungas is away at war.
• Overt Operative: Her first cover was as The Mistress to a Roman aristocrat and general whom everyone knew preferred kind and gentle ladies as girlfriends.
• Ruling Couple : With Kungas
• Spirited Young Lady: Indeed she once confides to Antonina that she was likely to remain unmarried because too many men dislike being Overshadowed by Awesome.
• The Spymaster: She is more amiable than the typical example of this trope, many of whom are a dour sort.

Sittas

Long-time friend of Belisarius, and an accomplished cataphract general in his own right. 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 himself uses his own laziness as a metaphor for Beyond the Impossible.

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.

• Obfuscating Stupidity: And drunkenness; he often likes to pretend he's drunk.

John of Rhodes

Roman naval officer and weapons designer

• Chivalrous Pervert
• Fake-Out Make-Out: He and Antonia deceive the curious by pretending to have an affair even though he himself says that her fidelity is Made of Iron.
• Gadgeteer Genius
• Geeky Turn On: He says that he is turned on by Irene's library. To the point of Engaging Conversation.

Justinian

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

• The Atoner
• The Emperor
• Gadgeteer Genius
• Genius Cripple
• Historical Domain Character
• The Judge: Or The Grand Justiciar
• My Greatest Second Chance
• Ruling Couple: With Theodora
• A Shared Suffering: with Theodora

Theodora

Murder in the wife

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

• The Chessmaster.
• The Empress
• God Save Us From the Queen
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: She was of said profession before she married and she has a heart of gold mainly toward Justinian. A heart of iron toward almost everyone else.
• Ruling Couple: With Justinian
• Violently Protective Wife: After Justinian is blinded she goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Beginning by urinating in the eyes of the torturer who blinded him.
• The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask: A rather grim version of this, especially compared to Shakuntala. But she is a good ruler if only for her husband's sake.

Michael of Macedonia

Doubt in the prophet

Monk who first discovers Aide

• Badass Preacher
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He disappears after the first few books.
• Dark Shepherd: While he is good, he is scary for he has a penchant for calling down the wrath of heaven on Corrupt Churchmen and Corrupt Politicians.
• Good Shepherd
• Warrior Monk

Callopodius the Blind

Young soldier who becomes chronicler of Belisarius' exploits

• Arranged Marriage: with Anna
• Badass Bookworm
• Glory Seeker
• Insatiable Newlyweds: Zigzagged. When first he saw his wife he had one night and then went off to war. When he met her later after being blinded in battle they were effectively still newlyweds. And this time they were insatiable.
• Intrepid Reporter
• You Shall Not Pass: losses his eyes doing this

Anna

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

• Arranged Marriage
• Good Is Not Nice: Before modern medical science and even to this day, the chief tool in the kit of a doctor in a man-made or natural disaster is discipline. Anna does her work not so much by genius but by being a Neat Freak, following regulations to the letter, and hiring enforcers to beat up any lazy staff who object to doing the messy work they are getting paid for.
• Insatiable Newlyweds: Zigzagged, see above.
• The Medic
• Spirited Young Lady
• Spoiled Sweet: Being a rich noblewoman did not stop her from being decent and compassionate. Or from surviving in a war zone.

Agathius

Wounded Roman officer, Belisarius' chief of staff

• Badass Bureaucrat
• Handicapped Badass
• Happily Married(to the Persian noblewoman Sudaba)
• Self-Made Man(originally a baker's son)

Theodoran Cohort

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

• Badass Army
• Battle Couple: Most of the men were young married and their wives came along
• Mildly Military
• Training the Peaceful Villagers

Maratha

Maratha In General

• HAD to Be Sharp: Marathans live in nasty mountain country as befits a Proud Warrior Race.
• Proud Warrior Race
• La Résistance

Shakuntala

Passion in the virgin

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

• Badass Princess
• Badass in Distress.
• Battle Couple: With Rao
• Beware the Nice Ones: She is a charismatic, but kind and likable girl ... who can kill men with her bare hands.
• Celibate Hero : Until she marries Rao.
• Chastity Couple: With Rao. Until they were kind of not. Then they were something else.
• Damsel in Distress: In the first book.
• Hope Bringer
• Jeanne D'Archetype
• Lady of War
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage
• Rebel Leader
• Rousing Speech: She does this to convince the Kushans to change sides. The fact that she is a more likable employer then Venandekatra (not that that is difficult) helped quite a bit.
• Ruling Couple: with Rao
• Spirited Young Lady
• Teacher-Student Romance: with Raghunath Rao, but neither acts on it until she is Empress.
• Virgin Power: Well, she was a powerful virgin in the first half of the series. It gives her no magical power except for making it easier for Belisarius to manipulate Venandekatra's Lust.
• The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask: Very much so. She is so devoted to her duty that she has to be practically forced to accept that the man she loves is also the politically best match for her.
• Waif Fu: Shakuntala is Ragunath Rao's prize protegé, probably a more skilled fighter than her bodyguards and phenomenally fast and strong. For a 4'10, 90 lb. teenage girl.
• Wartime Wedding: Flaunted in front of the Malwa no less, with a delightfully gruesome chant about what this Battle Couple intends to do.

Raghunath Rao

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

• Battle Couple: with Shakuntala
• Bodyguarding a Badass
• Celibate Hero: Until he marries Shakuntala of course. Except for one embarrassing incident when he was fourteen.
• Chastity Couple: With Shakuntala before marrying.
• The Champion: to Shakuntala
• Genius Bruiser
• I Have Many Names: The Panther of Maharashtra, the Wind of the Great Country, the Shield of the Deccan.
• Ninja: Rao isn't Japanese, obviously, but he proves very early on that he can ninja with the best of them.
• The Philosopher
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage
• Rebel Leader
• Renowned Selective Mentor: To Shakuntala
• Ruling Couple: With Shakuntala
• Warrior Poet
• Wartime Wedding

Dadaji Holkar

Decision in the slave

• The Good Chancellor
• Happiness in Slavery: To Belisarius before his service to Shakuntala. Justified because he would otherwise have had a worse slavery and Belisarius gave him a promise of future freedom and a cause to work for.
• Made a Slave: As part of his backstory
• Rags to Riches
• Retired Badass Bookworm: In his backstory it is told that he was a Maratha warrior when he was young and saw the duel between Rao and Rana Sanga.

Rajputs

Rajputs In General

• Cool Horse
• Heel Face Turn
• Honor Before Reason
• Horse Archer
• Proud Warrior Race
• The Women Are Safe with Us
• Worthy Opponent

Rana Sanga

The friend across the field

Rajput prince and vassal of the Malwan Empire

• Bruiser with a Soft Center
• Cavalry Officer
• Doting Parent
• Exact Words: Which Emperor did he pledge loyalty toward exactly?
• Happily Married
• Heel Face Turn
• Honor Before Reason
• I Gave My Word
• Improbable Aiming Skills: In addition to being one of India's strongest and fastest swordsmen he is also its best archer. On one legendary occasion he kills a Mahaveda priest with a textbook-perfect shot to the breastbone... at a distance of almost five hundred yards. (The world's record for a longbow shot that actually hit anywhere on a standard archery target, let alone hit a bullseye, is less than three hundred.)
• India's Strongest Man: He once cut an armored man in half vertically. He also broke a reinforced Roman shield in half with one sword blow, has twice won hard-fought duels by parrying an opponent's blade so hard that their sword broke in half, and on one occasion almost snapped a bamboo pole by crushing it in his grip.
• Let's Fight Like Gentlemen
• Lightning Bruiser: In addition to being incredibly strong Rana Sanga is also blindingly fast, to the point that Valentinian - the single quickest swordsman in the entire Roman army, and one of the two greatest blademasters in the world - is only barely able to stay ahead of him.
• The Patriarch
• Proud Warrior Race Guy
• Warrior Prince
• Worthy Opponent

Lady Sanga

Wife of Rana Sanga

• Apron Matron
• The Chick
• Feminine Women Can Cook
• Happily Married
• Housewife
• My Girl Back Home
• No Accounting for Taste: Rana Sanga, the greatest Warrior Prince in India, is wildly in love with a plump, plain looking woman who is perfectly happy to Stay in the Kitchen.
  • After a few hours around her, Valentinian thinks Rana Sanga's taste in this matter is perfectly good.
• Proper Lady
• Silk Hiding Steel: She does not get frightened easily by crises or bloodshed despite being a Proper Lady. She also has no stereotypical feminine squeemish reactions to her son learning to fight although she is a bit shocked at how good a fighter he turns out to be. She is a Rajput lady.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Onions
• When She Smiles: Seeing her happy smile and the genuine warmth behind that smile is the reason Rana fell (and still is) madly in love with her.

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

• Blade on a Stick: They love spears. Oh yes they do.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Their emperor's list of titles is exactly the territories he is ruling at the time with no fol-de-rol about listing mythological claims and wishful thinking. When they conquer a territory it is added to the Emperor's title and when they lose it it is taken away. And that is that.
• Modest Empire: Compared to all the other nations they make a positive fetish of unpretentiousness. To the point where they resemble ancient Sparta.
• Proud Merchant Race
• Proud Warrior Race
• Scary Black Man
• Semper Fi: Sort of. Their national style of war is as marines with spears.
• The Spartan Way

Eon

• Bruiser with a Soft Center
• Chivalrous Pervert
• Cultured Warrior: He loves books.
• Dying Moment of Awesome
• The Good King
• Nice to the Waiter: He always treats the palace servant girls well back home. And they respond gratefully.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: His first official wife was a representative of an influential Arab tribe in a marriage that helped appease a budding rebellion. As a bonus she was very pretty stunningly beautiful, was a Spirited Young Lady, loved to read just like Eon, and was very useful at helping with paperwork.
  • One of the rare justified examples of this trope - Rukaiya was only one of a small horde of Arab noblewomen competing for the position -- literally every Arab clan in the region had sent their most beautiful daughter of the relevant generation hoping to get picked -- and she was selected over all the rest precisely because her intelligence and temperament were such a fine match for Eon's. You get a large enough crowd of beauty contest winners together and interview them all, you're pretty much guaranteed to find at least one smart and nice one.
• Scary Black Man
• Spare to the Throne
• Warrior Prince
• The Wise Prince

Ousanas

• Battle Butler
• Blade on a Stick: His preferred weapon.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Dope Slap: prone to giving this to Eon
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: He is Eon's own personal drill sergeant nasty
• Genius Bruiser
• The Good Chancellor: After Eon becomes King
• Noble Savage: Subverted. He was originally from an uncivilized African tribe, but he is quite cultured.
• The Philosopher
• Scary Black Man
• You No Take Candle: Ousanas does this at first, but it is really just an act.

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

• The Empire
• Enemy Mine
• Feudal Overlord: Each Deghan(warrior) is this.
• Horse Archer

Khusrau

Emperor of Iran

• The Chessmaster
• The Emperor
• The Magnificent: Aide reveals to Belisarius that Khusrau will one day be known as Khusrau Anushirvan, or Khusrau of the immortal soul.
• Reasonable Authority Figure
• Try to Fit That on A Business Card: Khusrau's full title is "King of Kings of Iran and non-Iran."

Baresmanas

Persian General and contact of Belisarius

• Ambadassador
• Cavalry Officer
• Four-Star Badass
• Officer and a Gentleman

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.

• Nobody Calls Me Chicken
• Trash Talk
• Unwitting Pawn
• Zerg Rush

Tahmina

Persian Princess who marries Photius cementing alliance with Rome.

• Damsel in Distress: When first met she is about to be raped by an stray mercenary in Belisarius' army. She is rescued from this fate by Belisarius and her tormentor is introduced to Valentinian.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage
• Princess Classic

Sudaba

Wife of Agathius who travels with him on campaign

• Happily Married
• Lady of War
• Spirited Young Lady: The scene where she yells at Belisarius, shaking a fist under his nose as she demands to be allowed to accompany Agathius, is a riot. "Roman tyrant! Monstrous despot!"
• Undying Loyalty

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

• Battle Couple: With Irene
• Bodyguarding a Badass: To Shakuntala for a while.
• Da Chief: Both as Shakuntula's jailor and later as head of her first Praetorian Guard.
• Founder of the Kingdom: Founder of a renewed Kushite empire that is.
• Happily Married: To Irene.
• Heel Face Turn
• Ruling Couple: With Irene
• The Stoic: Kungas' expressions are so subtle that only those very familiar with him can tell what he is feeling.

Ye-Tai

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

• Exclusively Evil
• Barbarian Tribe
• The Horde
• Rape, Pillage and Burn
• Villainous Valour

Malwans

Malwa in General

• The Empire
• Impaling With Extreme Prejudice : They seem to have an odd fascination with this.
• Malwan Mook Hand-to-Hand Combat Academy
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Apparently no one else in the entire world is as fond of it as they. You'd think an empire led by a robot devoted to breeding purity would find a less erratic method.
• Rape, Pillage and Burn: They don't just do this because military discipline fails—they do this as a policy.
• Religion of Evil
• Slave Mooks
• Stupid Evil: Oh, honestly!
• We Have Reserves

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.
  • More like she almost had him.
• 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

• Becoming the Mask: With Rajputs. He puts on the mask of an honorable warrior until it starts to actually fit him.
• The Emperor
• Going Native: With Rajputs to some degree
• Heel Face Turn
• Only Sane Man
• Pragmatic Villainy
• The Rival: To Belisarius.
• The Wrongful Heir to the Throne

Skandagupta

• The Emperor
• Puppet King: Link holds all the real power.

Nanda Lal

• Combat Pragmatist
• Pragmatic Villainy
• The Spymaster

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.