History Main / TheConqueror

* Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon united Spain under their joint banners and conquered the last Muslim state in Western Europe. And then they subsidized an ocean voyage by some guy named UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus. Modern Spaniards like to give the credit to Ferdinand alone because Isabella was an icon of the Franco regime, but [[DatedHistory Isabella was a far more capable ruler]] and a better general to boot; while she was leading troops - often [[PregnantBadass while pregnant]] - he was off porking his various mistresses before showing up after the battle to take credit.

** No longer unique to Walhart as Chrom himself in ''VideoGame/TokyoMirageSessionsFE'' can reclass into this and Alm in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia]]'' can [[UpToEleven overclass]] into this. Especially fitting with Alm as the continent Walhart rules with an iron fist is named after Alm: Valm.

Throughout history, there have been a few individuals who have had a marked personal effect on the course of events around them. Some did this through political or sometimes aesthetic means, but most of those who were single-handedly instrumental in deciding the path of history have been military leaders. It seems that certain men combine a rare set of natural traits - leadership ability, tactical thinking, staggering ambition, copious ego, and a large dose of suicidal bravery, all combined with a visionary drive to [[TakeOverTheWorld rule the world]] and the imagination to see it done - to create a whole individual who is patently capable of turning even a ragtag band of woefully underfed and poorly equipped vagabonds into a fighting force that is not only formidable but easily capable of crushing any opposition that stands before it.

* Sultan Mehmet II gained this title at the yound age of 21, as he was the man behind UsefulNotes/TheFallOfConstantinople. The page's current picture depicts him.

[[quoteright:350:[[UsefulNotes/TurksWithTroops https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mehmet_the_conqueror2.jpg]]]]

* Charlemagne, King of the Franks and later the original [[UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire Holy Roman Emperor]].

* Sultan Mehmet II gained this title at the yound age of 21, as he was the man behind UsefulNotes/TheFallOfConstantinople.
* Suleiman the Magnificent: under his rule, the Ottomans controlled everything from Algeria to Iran and from Ethiopia to Hungary. In a bit of a departure from some of the other Conquerors here, Suleiman was also known for the great improvements he made to the administrative system of his country. While in the West he was Suleiman the Magnificent, in the East he was known as Suleiman the Lawgiver.

* Sultan Mehmedt II gained this title at the yound age of 21, as he was the man behind UsefulNotes/TheFallOfConstantinople.

* Robert Asprin's ''Myth Conceptions'' introduces Big Julie, the general in charge of one of the largest armies anyone has ever seen. He's conquered a fair bit of the entire world by the time he's stopped by the heroes. Of course, he's a CaptainErsatz of Julius Caesar.

* MyopicConqueror: A Conqueror who is very good at conqueroring...but nothing that comes after that.

* MyopicConqueror: A Conqueror who is very good at conqueror...but nothing that comes after that.

** Most notable is Emperor Tiber Septim (born [[MultipleChoicePast either Talos Stormcrown in Atmora or Hjalti Early-Beard in High Rock]], or possibly ''[[MergerOfSouls both]]''), who became the first person to unite all of Tamriel under his rule (as the Third Cyrodiilic Empire) and after his death [[DeityOfHumanOrigin became the Ninth Divine, Talos]]. He did so primarily through, well, conquest, but gained a couple provinces through shrewd diplomacy as well (such as the [[VoluntaryVassal peaceful vassalization]] of the [[OurElvesAreBetter Dunmeri (Dark Elven)]] [[TheTheocracy theocracy]], Morrowind).

A true Conqueror strives to claim the [[TakeOverTheWorld whole of the known world]] through military means, and often succeeds. (Note that he often doesn't put much thought into running it once he's taken it; he just wants the bragging rights). This is in contrast to those characters who rise to universal power through other means (such as subverting the democratic process or literally being ''appointed'' dictator by a legislative body).

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* Artur "Hawkwing" Paendrag of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' not only managed to take over the entire continent, but also ran it so well that "a child could carry a bag of gold from one coast to the other without fear", although his justice system became a bit draconian in later years. The only group he failed to conquer were the Aes Sedai, and possibly only because he died before his war against them was concluded. Unfortunately, he succumbed to VetinariJobSecurity, and his hard-won Empire collapsed soon after he died.

* ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'': Lord Fax of The Seven Holds. He was Lord of one hold by birthright, gained another through marriage and just took over the other five through force. By the time we first see him in ''Dragonflight'', it's just in time to see him killed by F'lar. His takeover occurs in the background of the prequel novel, ''Masterharper of Pern.''

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** The oldest from the game's background would of course be the Emperor of Mankind himself. In the 31st Millennium he won the Unification Wars on Terra and led his Great Crusade to conquer the galaxy, with the help of twenty SpaceMarine legions led by his [[TrulySingleParent clone-sons]], who in most cases were great conquerors themselves. The problem started with he decided to shift back to an EmperorScientist, gave command to his favorite son, but remained vague as to what the Space Marines' role would be once the Great Crusade was finished. The result was the Literature/HorusHeresy and ten thousand years of grim darkness, until there is only war.

** A nonhuman example would be Shas'O'Shovah, [[YouAreTheTranslatedForeignWord Fire Commander Farsight]] or the RisingEmpire of the Tau. One of three foremost students of [[OldMaster the legendary warmaster, Puretide]], Farsight was the first Tau commander to claim major victories against both the Orks and the Imperium; he literally WroteTheBook on both foes, ''The Book of the Beast'' and the ''Mirrorcodex'' (after the Space Marines' ''[[BigBookOfWar Codex Astartes]]'') respectively. After fending off an Imperial Crusade, Farsight led an assault across the Damocles Gulf to quickly retake several Imperial worlds and push back against the Orks. But in the process his army's [[ManBehindTheMan Etheral Caste "guides"]] were slain, and Farsight found... something on the artifact world of Arthas Moloch. The end result was that he took direct control of these "Farsight Enclaves" and ''declared independence'' from the Tau Empire, the first of his kind to do so, turning him from one of the Tau's greatest heroes to an almost taboo subject.

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* Lord Median the Conqueror from ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'' united the game's war torn world under his own rule.

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* UsefulNotes/CyrusTheGreat ''created'' the Persian Empire by conquering pretty much every other civilization in Southwest Asia, the Near East, and the Middle East, from Anatolia to the Indus River. Furthermore, he was a savvy statesman able to give his empire a lasting stability by being generous to the conquered peoples, securing their loyalty. Cambyses and Darius, Cyrus's successors, added Egypt, parts of Greece and even more of India to Cyrus's empire.

* UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler nearly managed to succeed where Napoleon had failed and unite Europe under one banner. He also failed where Napoleon had failed - he never was able to conquer the British, and possibly due to developments in the Balkans, Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, was launched on the same day as Napoleon's invasion of Russia. For extra TemptingFate points, he planned the later phases of the war from Poltava, where Charles XII's [[UsefulNotes/TheGreatNorthernWar invasion of Russia had failed.]]

* Rider in ''LightNovel/FateZero'' is none other than Alexander the Great and is known by the additional title ''King of Conquerors''.

* UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat holds the record for most land personally conquered by a single individual.

* UsefulNotes/HernanCortez and his comparatively small force of Conquistadors toppled the Aztec Empire. Of course, it helps when your opponents have never seen horses, steel weapons or firearms before, have made plenty of enemies to ally with thanks to their practice of human sacrifice, and above all else are dying in droves from the foreign diseases you brought with you.

** Most notable is Emperor Tiber Septim (born [[MultipleChoicePast either Talos Stormcrown in Atmora or Hjalti Early-Beard in High Rock]], or possibly ''[[MergerOfSouls both]]''), who became the first person to unite all of Tamriel under his rule (as the Third Cyrodiilic Empire) and after his death [[DeityOfHumanOrigin became the Ninth Divine, Talos]]. He did so primarily through, well, [[CaptainObvious conquest]], but gained a couple provinces through shrewd diplomacy as well (such as the [[VoluntaryVassal peaceful vassalization]] of the [[OurElvesAreBetter Dunmeri (Dark Elven)]] [[TheTheocracy theocracy]], Morrowind).

* Aegon the First, also called The Conqueror, in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', went from ruling a small volcanic island to ruling the better part of a continent in only a few years. Being a DragonRider helped.

* Timur-I-Lenk (aka Tamerlane), who claimed descent from UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, united both the Chagatai Khantate and the Il-Khanate, as well as various other Central Asian states under one banner - his own. He also earned a reputation for brutality that was pretty much unsurpassed until the modern eras of fascism and communism, building pyramids of skulls from his slain enemies, and massacring entire cities. He was once quoted as saying "As there is only one God in Heaven, there should be only one ruler on Earth."

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'': Tamriel has seen several of these in its time.

** Most notable is Emperor Tiber Septim (born [[MultipleChoicePast either Talos Stormcrown in Atmora or Hjalti Early-Beard in High Rock]], or possibly ''[[MergerOfSouls both]]''), who became the first person to unite all of Tamriel under his rule (as the Third Cyrodiilic Empire) and after his death [[DeityOfHumanOrigin became the Ninth Divine, Talos]]. He did so primarily through, well, [[CaptainObvious conquest]], but gained a couple provinces through shrewd diplomacy as well (such as the [[VoluntaryVassal peaceful vassalization]] of the [[OurElvesAreBetter Dunmeri (Dark Elven)]] [[TheTheocracy theocracy]] {{Morrowind}}).
** Reman Cyrodiil, founder of the Second Empire, conquered less territory than Septim[[note]] his empire failed to capture Morrowind and only got the Summerset Isles to join via treaty with exceptionally favorable terms to the native Altmer (High Elves)[[/note]] but was no less influential on Tamrielic history and culture. The capital province of the Empire, Cyrodiil, [[LordCountry still bears his name]] (though conflicting sources in-game state that he ''probably'' took the name of the country for himself - it was called "Cyrod" by the [[AbusivePrecursors Abusive Precursor]] Ayleids).

** No longer unique to Walhart as Chrom himself in ''VideoGame/TokyoMirageSessionsFE'' can reclass into this and Alm in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia]]'' can overclass into this. Especially fitting with Alm as the continent Walhart rules with an iron fist is named after Alm: Valm.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', we have Chin the Conqueror. The Avatar-verse's equivalent of UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, it took the ruthless [[GodInHumanForm Avatar Kyoshi]] to stop him.

* Walhart of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' may as well be the trope page provider, as he unified the warring states of Valm into a mighty empire through force prior to the events of the game. He now sets his eyes on the neighboring continent of Ylisse. His unique class is even called Conqueror and his special class skill "Conquest".
** No longer unique to Walhart as Chrom himself in Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE can reclass into this and Alm in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia can overclass into this. Especially fitting with Alm as the continent Walhart rules with an iron fist is named after Alm: Valm.

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* On the Literature/{{Discworld}}, the very word "tactics" is derived from a famous Morporkian leader of antiquity, General Tacticus. He more or less wrote the Disc's [[BigBookOfWar book on military strategy]], helped Ankh-Morpork forge a mighty empire, and when given command of a satellite city-state, promptly made the most rational choice in its self-interest and declared war on Ankh-Morpork (and won, of course). This is only partly why he isn't much liked by Ankh-Morpork's modern leaders - Tacticus was a CombatPragmatist who tended to minimize his own side's casualties, something the likes of [[GeneralFailure Lord Rust]] consider cheating.

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