Iorix le Grand (Iorix the Great) is a comic book by Jacques Martin. It was first published in Tintin magazine in 1971-1972. Then it was published as a comic album in 1972. This is the tenth episode of the Alix series.
Alix is asked to take a group of Gaulish mercenaries from Thracia to Gaul. After some hesitation, he accepts.
Iorix le Grand provides examples of the following tropes:
- Ambition Is Evil: Iorix wants to be a king, not only the king of his warriors, but of all Gauls.
- Antagonist Title: Iorix is the antagonist of the story.
- Anti-Villain: Iorix is clearly the villain of the story, but he has some redeeming qualities: his friendship with Hortalus is sincere, he is devastated when he dies and he wants to give him a proper burial; the security of his warriors is more important to him than gold and he agrees to leave the gold behind; he puts himself in danger to save Alix at the aqueduct.
- Barbarian Longhair: Iorus and his warriors decide to let their hair grow to revive the Gaulish custom.
- Beard of Barbarism: Iorus and his warriors decide to let their beard grow to revive the Gaulish custom.
- Cave Behind the Falls: There is a cave behind a waterfall and Iorus uses it as a tomb for Hortalus.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Iorus gets jealous whan Ariela shows interest in Alix. At some point, he undresses her in front of his warriors to humilate her. In the end, he even tries to make her die with himself.
- Damsel out of Distress: In the end, Iorix takes Ariela hostage, but she punches and scratches Iorix, so she manages to escape.
- Deadly Dodging: This is Iorus's strategy to defeat the barbarians. He pulls them towards the edge of a cliff and, when they charge, the Gaulish soldiers dodge out of the way and the barbarians fall into the chasm.
- Dies Wide Open: In the end, Iorix is stoned by his warriors and then he lies with his eyes wide open among the stones.
- Disney Death: During a battle, Enak is hit by the sword of a barbarian. He lies unconscious. Alix gets into a panic. Enak is wounded, but of course he survives.
- Distressed Dude: Alix falls from the aqueduct into the river and Iorix has to save him.
- Duel to the Death: Alix confronts Iorix in a duel in the end. He breaks the sword of Iorix, who runs away.
- Due to the Dead: Iorus makes great efforts to give Hortalus a proper burial behind a waterfall.
- Establishing Character Moment: When Iorus saw Ariela conversing with Alix, this was enough to set off his bad temper and he wanted to kill Alix right on the spot. Hortalus managed to calm him down however. Readers can pretty much guess what kind of relation will be between Alix and Iorus.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- The soldiers followed Iorix's orders without question since he's their leader. However, after seeing one too many blunders from his part, they had enough. The breaking point was when Iorix ordered his men to attack Alix.
- Iorix himself has some. He will not hesitate to kill anyone who gets in his way, but he doesn't approve slavery. Later on, Iorix also wants to kill Alix in battle rather than seeing him drown.
- Evil Counterpart: Iorus to Alix. They are both of Gaulish descent. They both fight on the side of the Romans. Alix even says that his father was probably part of the legion that Iorus now commands.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Iorus and his warriors decide to let their hair and beard grow to revive the Gaulish custom.
- Eye Scream: Iorus gives Valerus a whipping in the face and he puts his eye out.
- Flashback: A flashback tells the backstory of the group of Gaulish mercenaries.
- General Failure: Iorix may be good with tactics, but he's terribly bad at strategies. His poor decisions led to the death of many of his men and non-combatants. His major victory is against rival Gauls who were unprepared for an ambush. This small victory gives him delusions of grandeur and Iorix thinks he can now conquer Gaul.
- Girl of the Week: Ariela has interest in Alix (which makes Iorus jealous).
- Green-Eyed Monster: Iorus gets jealous when Ariela shows interest in Alix.
- Hired Guns: Alix has to take a group of Gaulish mercenaries from Thracia to Gaul.
- Historical Domain Character: Surena
and Marcus Licinius Crassus appear in a Flashback. - Homoerotic Subtext: In the cave, Iorix deplores the fact that Ariela has a romantic interest in Alix, whereas Alix is only interested in pampering Enak, which shows that he thinks that Alix and Enak are more than just friends.
- Imagine Spot: Before the final battle against the barbarians, Iorus imagines himself being an invincible warrior.
- Love Triangle: Iorus loves Ariela, who has interest in Alix. Whether Alix has interest in Ariela or not is ambiguous.
- Meaningful Rename: When he breaks up with Rome, Iorus decides to change his name back to the original Gaulish name, Iorix.
- Money Fetish: The commander of the Roman camp really enjoys picking up the golden items dropped by Iorus and Alix around the camp.
- Money to Throw Away: Iorus and Alix throw away golden items around the Roman camp, so that the Romans give up the idea of attacking the Gauls.
- Retcon:
- When he hears about the Battle of Carrhae, Alix says that he was there. In Alix l'intrépide, at the time of the battle, he was not in Carrhae, but in Khorsabad, hundreds of kilometers away.
- In Alix l'intrépide, Honorus Galla only told Alix that he had sold his father to an Egyptian slave trader. In this album, Alix says that his father was part of the legion of Gaulish mercenaries or he was deported to Syria.
- Save the Villain: Alix tries to save Iorix when the Gaulish soldiers are going to kill their leader. He fails to save him because a soldier knocks him out.
- Shameful Strip: Iorix tears Ariela's dress with the sole aim of humiliating her.
- Soft Water: Both averted and played straight. First Alix falls from an aqueduct into a river. He passes out because of the impact and he nearly drowns himself. Then, Iorix jumps from the aqueduct into the same river, and he is just fine: he can even save Alix.
- A Taste of the Lash: Iorix gives Valerus a whipping in the face to prevent him from following the wagon full of gold and he puts his eye out.
- Unwitting Pawn: The barbarians. The Romans tell them that the Gauls want to seize their land, so that they fight them.
- Villainous Crush: Iorus is in love with Ariela and he gets jealous when she shows interest in Alix.
- Villainous Rescue: Iorix jumps from the aqueduct into the river to save Alix, who is drowning himself. Then he says this is because he wants to kill Alix in a duel.
