History UsefulNotes / RamsesII

* BigBad or PredecessorVillain: In adaptations of the Exodus, which he is depends on if he is the Pharaoh of the Exodus or the Pharaoh of the Oppression. If he is the former, then either his father Seti I or his grandfather Ramses I will be the latter. If he is the latter, then his son Merneptah will be the former. The one exception is ''The Moon of Israel'' where the Pharaoh of the Exodus is Amenmesse, one of Merneptah's two successors who was either a younger son of Ramses or a younger son of Merneptah. (He is specifically portrayed as Merneptah's nephew, being the son of his elder brother Khaemweset.)

** As a young man, Ramses owned a lion that fought alongside him at Kadesh. The only works of fiction to have featured this lion has been the book series by Christian Jacq and ''Thunder at Kadesh'' by Gordon Doherty.

* ''Thunder at Kadesh'' by Gordon Doherty features Ramses as a mercurial tyrant and the BigBad, seeking to utterly destroy the Hittite Empire and enslave its people.

* RedHeadedHero: When a work portrays him heroically and remembers he had red hair, this is the end result. Strangely, EvilRedhead portrayals are even less common.

* He appears as a Rider-class Servant in ''Anime/FatePrototype: Fragments of Sky Silver'', referring to himself as Ozymandias. Like many Servants in the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}, there's some AlternateHistory with his backstory. Moses was his best friend, and while their backstory does follow the events of the ''Literature/BookOfExodus'', Ramesses does not pursue the Israelites upon seeing Moses part the Red Sea. Instead, he [[GracefulLoser bids his once close friend farewell and lets Moses and the Israelites leave unopposed]]. Additionally, his backstory seems to be a combination of ''Film/TheTenCommandments''[[note]]In which Nefertari is a notable person in Ramesses and Moses' lives. Though Ramesses in ''Prototype'' is shown to love her very much unlike the Ramesses of ''Ten Commandments'' who only viewed her as a trophy[[/note]] and ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt''[[note]]In which Ramesses and Moses viewed each other as brothers. Though in that case, they were foster brothers while they are close friends in the Nasuverse[[/note]].

* Briefly mentioned in ''Manga/AnatoliaStory'', where Ramses I is a major supporting character in the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue marrying, [[spoiler: Yuri and Kali's]] granddaughter.

[[caption-width-right:300:"[[Creator/PercyByssheShelley My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:]]\\
[[LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!]]" ]]

[[caption-width-right:300:"[[Creator/PercyByssheShelley My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:]]

** As a young man, Ramses owned a lion that fought alongside him at Kadesh. The only work of fiction to have featured this lion has been the book series by Christian Jacq.

* AdaptationDyeJob: Despite the discovery he was red-haired in his youth (his mummy still has wispy red hair on its scalp), every portrayal after 1994 [[note]]except ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' of all things, which actually got it right[[/note]] still portrays him with black hair. Probably because a red haired Egyptian would run into both RealityIsUnrealistic and BlackVikings territory and the unaware might perceive it as a RaceLift with ''very'' UnfortunateImplications.[[note]]A now discredited [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynastic_race_theory racist theory]] attributes all the achievements of the ancient Egyptians to a "pharaonic race" that somehow kept ruling over the place for millennia and which was white or at least whiter than today's Egyptians. This is of course [[ArtisticLicenseBiology impossible]] even ''with'' all the incest the Egyptian royal families were known for through the ages. The Egyptians themselves will often annoyedly comment that there are and more or less always have been Egyptians of all skin and hair colors, the country being a crossroads and melting pot for millennia; indeed, recent scholarship puts the Ramses dynasty as being descended from immigrants [[/note]]

* He appears as a Rider-class Servant in ''Anime/FatePrototype: Fragments of Sky Silver'', referring to himself as Ozymandias. Like many Servants in the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}, there's some AlternateHistory with his backstory. Moses was his best friend, and while their backstory does follow the events of the ''Literature/BookOfExodus'', Ramesses does not pursue the Israelites upon seeing Moses part the Red Sea. Instead, he [[GracefulLoser bids his once close friend farewell and lets Moses and the Israelites leave unopposed]]. Additionally, his backstory seems to be a combination of ''Film/TheTenCommandments''[[note]]In which Nefertari is a notable person in Ramesses and Moses' lives. Though Ramesses in ''Prototype'' is shown to love her very much unlike the Ramesses of ''Ten Commandments'' who only viewed her as a trophy[[/note]] and ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt''[[note]]In which Ramesses and Moses viewed each other as brothers. Though in that case, they were foster brothers while they are close friends in the Nasuverse[[/note]].

** ''Film/{{The Ten Commandments|1923}}'' (1923), portrayed by Charles De Roche.

** ''Film/{{The Ten Commandments}}''
** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Prince of Egypt}}''
** ''Film/ExodusGodsAndKings''
* He appears as the Pharaoh of the Oppression (dad to the character in the above) in the 1995 film "Moses" where he was played by Creator/ChristopherLee (whom at reaching the Age of 92, is the only actor who both played him and who out-lived him).
* He appears (mummified) as a comedic character in Luc Besson's Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'Adele Blanc-Sec, along with several other mummies.

* TheEvilPrince: He is sometimes portrayed as this in fiction, and at one point, Egyptologists believed he had been responsible for the disappearance of Seti I's true sucessor (whose name was erased of all records after the latter's death). But Ramses fans think this is slander.

* AdaptationDyeJob: Despite the discovery he was red-haired in his youth (his mummy still has wispy red hair on its scalp), every portrayal after 1994 [[note]]except ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' of all things, which actually got it right[[/note]] still portrays him with black hair. Probably because a red haired Egyptian would run into both RealityIsUnrealistic and BlackVikings territory and the unaware might perceive it as a RaceLift with ''very'' UnfortunateImplications.[[note]]A now discredited [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynastic_race_theory racist theory]] attributes all the achievements of the ancient Egyptians to a "pharaonic race" that somehow kept ruling over the place for millennia and which was white or at least whiter than today's Egyptians. This is of course [[ArtisticLicenseBiology impossible]] even ''with'' all the incest the Egyptian royal families were known for through the ages. The Egyptians themselves will often annoyedly comment that there are and more or less always have been Egyptians of all skin and hair colors, the country being a crossroads and melting pot for millennia; indeed, recent scholarship puts the Ramses dynasty as being desended from immigrants [[/note]]

* AdaptedOut: As a young man, Ramses owned a lion that fought alongside him at Kadesh. The only work of fiction to have featured this lion has been the book series by Christian Jacq.

Notably, Ramses is one of a handful of pharaohs to be commonly known worldwide, the others being UsefulNotes/{{Tutankhamun}} and UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII. In 1976, when Ramses' mummy was brought to France for restoration, he was issued a passport noting his status and received a king's welcome. Contemporary records indicate that he had feared being forgotten after his death, and sought to make himself known to the future.[[note]]He had good reason to fear this; Egyptian pharaohs already had a centuries-long history of chiseling off the names of their predecessors' monuments and claiming them for themselves. He carefully designed his monuments and the carvings of his royal steles in such a way that removing his name would be difficult.[[/note]] By all accounts, he succeeded.

Notably, Ramses is one of two pharaohs to be commonly known worldwide, the other being UsefulNotes/{{Tutankhamun}}. In 1976, when Ramses' mummy was brought to France for restoration, he was issued a passport noting his status and received a king's welcome. Contemporary records indicate that he had feared being forgotten after his death, and sought to make himself known to the future.[[note]]He had good reason to fear this; Egyptian pharaohs already had a centuries-long history of chiseling off the names of their predecessors' monuments and claiming them for themselves. He carefully designed his monuments and the carvings of his royal steles in such a way that removing his name would be difficult.[[/note]] By all accounts, he succeeded.

* AdaptationDyeJob: Despite the discovery he was red-haired in his youth (his mummy still has wispy red hair on its scalp), every portrayal after 1994 still portrays him with black hair. Probably because a red haired Egyptian would run into both RealityIsUnrealistic and BlackVikings territory and the unaware might perceive it as a RaceLift with ''very'' UnfortunateImplications.[[note]]A now discredited [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynastic_race_theory racist theory]] attributes all the achievements of the ancient Egyptians to a "pharaonic race" that somehow kept ruling over the place for millennia and which was white or at least whiter than today's Egyptians. This is of course [[ArtisticLicenseBiology impossible]] even ''with'' all the incest the Egyptian royal families were known for through the ages. The Egyptians themselves will often annoyedly comment that there are and more or less always have been Egyptians of all skin and hair colors, the country being a crossroads and melting pot for millennia; indeed, recent scholarship puts the Ramses dynasty as being desended from immigrants [[/note]]

Also known as Ramses the Great, Ramses II (1303 BC -- 1213 BC) is popularly considered the greatest and most famous of all Ancient Egyptian pharaohs. To modern Egyptians, he's a national hero - sort of the equivalent of Myth/KingArthur, part real man and part legend - whereas to the rest of the world he is best known for his portrayal as [[Literature/BookOfExodus the Pharaoh of the Exodus]]. Believers actually claim that it's more likely that one of the pharaohs of the earlier Eighteenth Dynasty (the one with Thutmose and Hatshepsut and UsefulNotes/{{Akhenaten}}/Sun God Guy) was the one in Exodus. (Ramses himself was the third monarch of the Nineteenth Dynasty.) However, Egyptian rule in Canaan continued throughout that time and through his entire reign, making a founding of Israel unlikely at that time. One of the few clues in the Bible as to the time of the Exodus is that the Hebrews laboured to build the cities of Pithom and Pi Ramses, which are now known to have been constructed or greatly expanded in his reign. Also, the first mention of Israel outside of the Bible occurs in a record made sometime after his death, during his son's period on the throne, which indicates possible involvement.

* BigBad or PredecessorVillain: In adaptations of the Exodus, which he is depends on if he is the Pharaoh of the Exodus or the Pharaoh of the Oppression. If he is the former, then either his father Seti I or his grandfather Ramses I will be the latter. If he is the latter, then his son Merneptah will be the former. The one exception is ''The Moon of Israel'' where the Pharaoh of the Exodus is Amenmesse, one of Merneptah's two successors who was either a younger son of Ramses or a younger son of Merneptah.

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* Ozymandias from ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' takes his name from Ramses II's Greek name, a corruption of his Egyptian royal name Useermaatre.

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* He appears as a Rider-class Servant in ''Anime/FatePrototype: Pale Silver Fragments'', referring to himself as Ozymandias. Like many Servants in the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}, there's some AlternateHistory with his backstory. Moses was his best friend, and while their backstory does follow the events of the ''Literature/BookOfExodus'', Ramesses does not pursue the Israelites upon seeing Moses part the Red Sea. Instead, he [[GracefulLoser bids his once close friend farewell and lets Moses and the Israelites leave unopposed]]. Additionally, his backstory seems to be a combination of ''Film/TheTenCommandments''[[note]]In which Nefertari is a notable person in Ramesses and Moses' lives. Though Ramesses in ''Prototype'' is shown to love her very much unlike the Ramesses of ''Ten Commandments'' who only viewed her as a trophy[[/note]] and ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt''[[note]]In which Ramesses and Moses viewed each other as brothers. Though in that case, they were foster brothers while they are close friends in the Nasuverse[[/note]].

* He appears as the Pharaoh of the Oppression (dad to the character in the above) in the 1995 film "Moses" where he was played by Creator/ChristopherLee.

* French writer Christian Jacq dedicated five books to Ramses II. Moses appears in books 1-4 and Ramses does play the role of Pharaoh of the Exodus but neither he nor Moses go under any HistoricalVillainUpgrade not does he pursue the Hebrews but rather a captain of the guard does. On further note all but three of his children (Khaemwaset, Merneptah and Meritamen) undergo UnrelatedInTheAdaptation with all of the others being children who attend school in the royal palace.