Gaius Julius Caesar/YMMV
- Alternative Character Interpretation: Basically endless. An ambitious conqueror whose only goal was to rule the world, a Lohengramm-type who saw civil war and dictatorship as the only solution to a corrupt aristocracy, or something else?
- Another morbid one- Romans thought of Caesar as one of the most merciful men who could ever call himself a great Roman (Romans never considered mercy a virtue.) For instance! Instead of brutally murdering everybody in a city that rebelled against him (standard procedure), he simply cut off their right hands so they wouldn't do it again. He was the first man to think of a prison sentence (instead of execution) as a punishment. He pardoned just about every man who ever fought against him. The pirates he promised to crucify, he had killed first. If you want to know why there's an alternate character interpretation about Caesar's mercy- remember that bit where he cut off the right hand of every single man in a rebellious village so they wouldn't rebel again???
- You will also recall that Caesar is guilty of the world's first (and mostly successful) attempt at Genocide, where he spent a good chunk of his life subjugating all of France over ten years and killing approximately one million people during that time. These are not the numbers claimed by the Gauls- these are the numbers claimed by Romans who wanted to put him on trial for war crimes. This is also partly why the Roman Civil War started.
- Magnificent Bastard: And how!
- Memetic Badass: There's a reason Caesar means king or emperor in just about every western language.
- Well, sort of. The title "Caesar" was used by the Romans following the Year of Four Emperors and by the Byzantines (who considered themselves Romans) as a rank that was sort of like the second in command to the emperor and was a title given to many East Slavic rulers and adopted, at times, by Turkish rulers on account of the fact that they conquered Byzantium. So, it sort of was adopted by one people, who were extremely important for a very long time, and then spread from that people to many others.
- Among these are the Czar's of Russia and Kaiser from Germany; plus many others.
- Well, sort of. The title "Caesar" was used by the Romans following the Year of Four Emperors and by the Byzantines (who considered themselves Romans) as a rank that was sort of like the second in command to the emperor and was a title given to many East Slavic rulers and adopted, at times, by Turkish rulers on account of the fact that they conquered Byzantium. So, it sort of was adopted by one people, who were extremely important for a very long time, and then spread from that people to many others.