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Context Recap / AsterixAndTheRomanAgent

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2%%English-language quality swaps done here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1648933823047123100&page=1
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4[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/asterix15.png]]
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6Claiming that the indomitable Gaulish village is proof that Caesar is incapable of maintaining order within his Empire, the Roman Senate refuses to provide him with the funding he needs to launch further wars of conquest until he consolidates Rome's power in the territories he's already taken. As Caesar meets with his councilors to figure out a way to subdue the village, one of them suggests that their true strength comes not from the magic potion but from their unity. Another one suggests the perfect agent to turn the Gauls against each other - Torturous Convolvulus, a man so inherently disruptive that his neighbors managed to get him thrown to the lions - at which point the lions ate each other. Caesar sends for the man and is quickly impressed by the way he gets the guards escorting him and the councilors at each other's throats - and nearly gets Caesar to join in after speaking a mere two sentences. Promising Convolvulus a pardon and a rich reward if he succeeds in his mission, Caesar puts him on a ship to Gaul, which nearly sinks itself on the voyage because of the chaos he causes by his mere presence (and getting the pirates to sink themselves after a short conversation, proving that they don't need the Gauls to look like fools, making a good job of it themselves).
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8Meanwhile at the village, everyone is preparing for the Vitalstatistix's birthday celebration. As the chief practices his birthday speech, Impedimenta points out that claiming to be surprised by what the villagers give him is ridiculous, and they give him the same junk (a mixture of swords, shields, menhirs and stuffed fish) every year. Then Convolvulus arrives carrying a valuable vase (taken from the tent of the legion commander of the base he's operating out of), which he says is a gift from Rome to the most important Gaul in the village. The whole village gathers to see Rome offer tribute to a Gaul, only for Convolvulus to walk past Vitalstatistix and give the vase to Asterix. After the Roman leaves, the village wonders why the vase was given to Asterix and not the chief. A gathering of the village wives (including the wives of Geriatrix and Fulliautomatix, who are introduced in this volume) combines the facts that Asterix is a close friend of Getafix and the Roman's gift and concludes that the druid told Asterix the secret of the magic potion and that Asterix sold it to the Romans.
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10The rumor of Asterix giving the potion to the Romans reaches the garrisons surrounding the village, and Convolvulus starts the next stage of his plan. He has Magnumopus, an enormous legionnaire with a tiny head, ambush Geriatrix and leave his helmet behind. The villagers take Geriatrix being beaten up by a tiny soldier (according to the evidence of the helmet) as further evidence that the Romans have the potion. Vitalstatistix sends Fulliautomatix and Unhygenix to get confirmation, and they see all the Romans in the camp lining up in front of a cauldron. When they see a tiny soldier drink the 'potion' (actually water) and punch out the much larger Magnumopus (who is only pretending to be knocked out), they run back to the village with the news.
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12With eyewitness evidence that the Romans have the potion, the village confronts Asterix and Getafix. Asterix is outraged at the accusation that he sold the secret of the potion to the Romans. Getafix is outraged by the allegation that he told it to Asterix in the first place, as the potion is a secret that can only be passed orally from druid to druid. The two of them leave the village, accompanied by Obelix, the only person in the village who still has faith in Asterix (other than Cacofonix, who spends the entire book oblivious to what's going on).
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14The three of them confront Convolvulus and say that they despise him and that they're going to leave the area. As Convolvulus runs to the legion commander and explains that the rest of the village is defenseless without them (no druid, no potion), the Gauls steal the Roman's 'potion' and fight their way back to the village. As the Romans gather their full force to attack the village, Getafix demonstrates that the Romans didn't really have the magic potion and makes a batch of the real stuff. The potion is completed and distributed at the same time as the Romans finish assembling, and the battle is joined.
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16The battle ends with the four Roman armies (as well as the pirates, who were only passing by and were attacked simply because they were there) being defeated. With the legions crushed, Asterix confronts Convolvulus... and thanks him for setting up the legions, giving back the vase as payment for selling out the Romans. The Roman commander refuses to listen to Convolvulus' protests that the Gauls were lying and orders him put in chains and sent back to Rome to face treason charges--assuming Convolvulus' continued discord-sowing doesn't get himself and the crew drowned.
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18With the Romans defeated and the village reunited, Asterix suggests that they hold a second birthday party for the chief, to make up for the one that turned out so disastrously earlier in the book due to Convolvulus' scheming. However, Getafix feels the village should be taught a lesson, and conspires with Asterix and Obelix; later on, villagers see Obelix carrying Asterix on a shield, and rumors lead to the assumption that Asterix has somehow become the chief. However, it is revealed that the shield is a birthday gift, which Asterix was 'testing' for Vitalstatistix. With that settled (and the others feeling a bit foolish), the village has its feast and Vitalstatistix gives his speech.
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21!!Tropes:
22* ActingUnnatural: The villagers begin suspecting Asterix of being a friend of the Romans. Eventually, a fight breaks out over it, but everyone tries to "act natural" when Asterix starts approaching. The villagers stop fighting, but stay in the same big pile, which confuses Asterix further, because the villagers are more likely to be seen fighting than they are relaxing.
23* AppleOfDiscord: Convolvulus' specialty. The vase given to Asterix is a specific example (he stated it was for the most important man in the village).
24* {{Angrish}}: Obelix talks like this for a moment after he angrily storms out of Asterix’ hut, and before he calms down again.
25* AteItAll: Asterix and Obelix are sitting down to a dinner of wild boar when Convolvulus comes to his door; as the Roman leaves, he loudly thanks Asterix for the boar. Asterix gets up to deal with him, and he's not out for one minute before returning to find that Obelix has devoured both their boars, ruining his attempt to explain himself to a suspicious Vitalstatistix.
26* BelievingTheirOwnLies: More like 'believing the civil servant's lies'. The Legionaries are new to the psychological battle, and several times believe they have the Magic Potion.
27* ABirthdayNotABreak: The plot is set during the days leading up to Vitalstatistix’ birthday. His birthday feast goes so badly he has to do it again once the Gauls are actually united once more.
28* ButtBiter: Dogmatix bites a Roman legionary in his rear end.
29* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Asterix and Obelix are sent to hold off the Roman's advance units while Getafix brews the magic potion. After the usual CurbStompBattle, Obelix says that they need to press the Romans to stay - they can't hold them off if they're running away!
30* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Centurion Platypus is clearly French actor Creator/LinoVentura. Though a modern reader would be forgiven for confusing him for a caricature of Creator/SylvesterStallone.
31* DumbMuscle: Magnumopus, which Convolvulus uses to his advantage. He completely misunderstands psychological warfare, thinking it's bashing people with a club, but can beat any Gaul that doesn't have the potion. The Romans of Aquarium try to adopt this as a whole, but Platypus puts a stop to it.
32* EveryoneHasStandards: Fulliautomatix punches behind him (ending up slugging Cacofonix in the face) after Geriatrix whacks him on the foot, because he can't bring himself to hit someone in their nineties. He does the same in ''Recap/AsterixAndTheMagicCarpet'', that time hitting Unhygenix and initiating a brawl.
33* FacePalm: What inevitably happens when a ManipulativeBastard meets [[ArmedFarces military intelligence.]]
34* TheFettered: Felix Platypus is clearly not a supporter of Convulvulus’ tactics, at one point even claiming that he prefers honorable battles over devious ways of civil servants. Too bad for him his underlings don’t share his visions and don't see much honour in being beaten to a pulp.
35* GoneHorriblyRight:
36** Convolvulus stages an elaborate show to convince the Gauls that they have the magic potion. Unfortunately, the Romans believe it as well...
37** Later, this is how the Gauls beat Convolvulus. By the end of the book, he has established an atmosphere in which everyone associates him with tricks, ploys and double-crosses. After the Romans have been pounded into a fine paste, Asterix and Obelix simply walk up to Convulvulus in the presence of the centurion and thank him fervently for all his help, giving him the vase as "payment". Convulvulus tries to convince the centurion that it's a trick, but it's too late; since he's already shown that he's a ManipulativeBastard with zero conscience, it's all too easy for the centurion to believe that he would sell the Romans out.
38* GossipEvolution: Impedimenta and her circle tend to make tense situations worse with their speculations.
39* GossipyHens: The women of the village unknowingly become a prominent tool in Convulvulus’ plan due to their gossiping.
40* HatePlague: Convolvulus' mere presence is enough to make people hate each other (and it transcends species; when he was sentenced to execution in the circus, the lions ended up eating each other instead) and he simply needs a few words to separate great friends.
41* HistoricalInJoke: Once more involving Brutus, who is warned by Caesar not to play around with a dagger during the meeting, and thinks to himself that someday he’ll snap because of Caesar’s historical allusions.
42* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The vase Convolvulus gave to Asterix, starting the infighting between the villagers, is used to frame him.
43* IgnoredEnemy: The Pirates prepare to attack the Roman Galley carrying Convolvulus to Gaul...but the Romans are too busy arguing to pay them any mind. Then Convolvulus works his evil on the Pirates (by claiming that he personally bought off Baba the lookout), who sink themselves as a result of in-fighting.
44* ImagineSpot: During a banquet halfway through the book, Cacofonix (who, for once, is allowed to participate) is so unnerved by his fellow Gauls ignoring each other, that he imagines himself sitting alone at the table, with everyone else BoundAndGagged the way he usually is.
45* InsaneTrollLogic: Fulliautomatix's reason to believe that Asterix and Getafix may have betrayed the Gauls by giving the magic potion to the Romans borders on nonsensical logic. Geriatrix announces to the village that he was attacked by a Roman and Fulliautimatix assumes that a Roman would have to be fairly sure of himself to attack even an old man like Geriatrix, but points out that given the tiny helmet left behind (which is only because Magnumopus is a bulky figure with a very small head), the Roman in question must have been a "titch". It's not helped by Geriatrix choosing to lie and claim he had a difficult fight with a Roman when, in reality, he was just knocked out from behind and didn't get to see the legionary who did it to him.
46* ISurrenderSuckers: After leaving the village (see ScrewThisImOuttaHere below), Asterix and Getafix go to the Roman camp to confront Convolvulus, and tell him he’s won. Of course, it’s all a trick to make the Romans think the Gauls are vulnerable now, so they launch an attack the village the old fashioned way, leaving their camp and the cauldron with fake magic potion completely undefended.
47* JerkassHasAPoint: Fulliautomatix is being a bit of a dick when lecturing Unhygenix about the smell of fish as they spy on the Romans, but it is exactly that that tips the Romans off that they're being watched.
48* JustShootHim: Discussed during Caesar's meeting, throwing the full weight of the Roman army could take care of the Gauls, magic potion or not, but it would weaken the Roman Empire's borders.
49* KarmaHoudini: Zigzagged with Convolvulus, who got imprisoned for spreading zizanie, but escaped death as his sole presence caused the lions to devour themselves. At the end of the story he's sent back to Rome in chains for treason after having been framed by Asterix, but the narration mentions that he'll always get away in the end.
50* KeystoneArmy: Convovulus' plan centers around the fact that without Asterix, who is the smartest Gaul, Obelix, whose power is permanent, and Getafix, who makes the magic potion, the rest of the village is vulnerable, and thus seeks to make them leave.
51* KnightOfCerebus: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed as he has his comedic moments]] but Convolvulus is still one of the biggest threats Gauls have ever faced.
52* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Cacofonix avoids falling under Convolvulus' influence because he spends almost the entire book up in his tree in total ignorance of the fact that anything noteworthy is going on at all.
53* NearVillainVictory: Quite possibly the time the Romans came the closest to win. There is even a fakeout, dark version of the feast that suggests impeding doom at the darkest moment.
54* OnlySaneMan:
55** Aside from Getafix (the sole villager to never fall influence to one of Convolvulus' speeches), Asterix, Obelix and oddly enough Unhygenix, serves as this for a good portion of the story. He buys into the belief that the Romans have the potion due to observing their trick, but for the rest of the story he remains on Asterix's side and tries to break up the fish fights.
56** Convolvulus, to his great chagrin, himself is this within the Romans whose stupidity causes them to misunderstand his plans, believe that they truly have the magic potion even when he explains to them that they are faking it, knock each other out due to their misunderstanding of of psychological warfare, or arguing about the loot distribution before they even reached the village.
57* PaintingTheMedium:
58** Characters under Convolvulus' influence have green SpeechBubbles. When Obelix' anger subsides, his bubbles become progressively whiter.
59** Centurion Platypus asking what exactly his troops are doing with clubs instead of weapons gets speech balloons bordered by flowers to indicate he's about to start yelling.
60** When Vitalstatistix finally gives his birthday speech, the speech bubble for the warm, emotional quote is coloured pink.
61* ThePowerOfFriendship: Not even Convolvulus can break apart Asterix and Obelix's friendship, and they make up almost immediately.
62* ProperlyParanoid: Near the beginning, Getafix worries that they've had so much good fortune - plenty of boars, no trouble from the Romans, Cacofonix losing his voice - that trouble must be brewing. Cut to the ship carrying Convolvulus.
63* RunningGag:
64** Magnumopus (and eventually the other legionaries) believing that 'Psychological Warfare' means hitting someone over the head with a club.
65** Vitalstatistix falls off his shield even more often than usual, and goes from being angry about it to simply being mentally exhausted.
66* RunTheGauntlet: The final fight pits the Gauls against the combined forces of all four Roman camps, and the pirates who were unlucky enough to sail by at that precise moment.
67* ScaryStingingSwarm: Three legionaires hear Gauls coming and hide in a tree, which happens to have a hornet's nest. They come back to the camp covered in welts.
68* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: When the Gauls believe the Romans have the magic potion, Getafix berates them for how ridiculous this is before angrily leaving the village, along with Asterix and Obelix.
69* SimpleSolutionWontWork: During a brainstorming session on how to deal with the Gaul village, Caesar notes that although the Gauls are famous for their internal squabbles, the village always sticks together. Thus they send a Roman specializing in causing strife and discord (he was sentenced to death, but just being around him made the lions eat each other) who almost succeeds in destroying the village until Asterix turns the tables on him.
70* SurroundedByIdiots: Convolvulus has problems explaining to the legionaries that they don't have magic potion.
71* ThrowTheDogABone: While Cacofonix is still BoundAndGagged as usual at the end, this time he's at the table with everyone else, probably because he initially didn't get caught up in an argument. In the dark, fakeout version of the feast, he is the only one who ''isn't'' BoundAndGagged.
72* VitriolicBestBuds: The entire village, as lampshaded by Caesar at the start of the book; for as mad and prone to arguing and fighting as they are, they retain an unbreakable bond. This is proven true by the end of the story, as while Convolvulus's schemes did strain and jeopardize that bond, not even he could break it in the end.
73* WhoWouldWantToWatchUs: After the vase is given to Asterix, Impedimenta tells her husband that if someone ever wrote about their village, they certainly wouldn't call it ''The Adventures of Vitalstatistix the Gaul''.
74* WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: Convolvulus is presented to Caesar as being able to spread discord and infighting without even trying. He is brought in (by two arguing guards), and as soon as he arrives the counselors descend into ratting each other out, mudslinging, and namecalling, with Convolvulus pointedly looking smug as he hasn't uttered a single word and already caused a brawl. Only Caesar maintains his cool, and even he blows his top with but a few choice words from Convolvulus, which is enough to thoroughly convince Caesar of the man's usefulness and send him to Gaul.
75* YouShallNotPass: Asterix and Obelix hold off the Romans attacking their village to buy Getafix time to make new magic potion.

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