The Romans
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In General
- Anachronism Stew:
- They're often referred to as "The Roman Empire" in-story despite still being The Roman Republic technically and not The Roman Empire yet (the assassination of Julius Caesar and the ensuing Civil War that would lead to the rise of Augustus likely will never happen).
- Monuments that would only exist at least one century and then some later such as the Colosseum can be seen in all their glory in Rome despite the comic book series still being firmly set around 50 BC.
- Badass Army: Yes. It's not normally noticed because they're normally seen with a Gaulish village whose inhabitants have Super-Strength, but the fact the people of this village are famous for successfully resisting Rome speaks enough. And then we're usually shown a few feats, such as when they finished the conquest of Hispania as an afterthought (they had legions there due their civil war, and since they had the troops), smashed the Briton tribes' united army in two battles, and almost annihilated the free Belgians' entire fighting force in minutes with a single reinforced legion (Asterix, Obelix, and Vitalstatistix being caught in the crossfire is the only reason the Belgians weren't wiped out).
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Any member of the Roman army who serves 20 years will be awarded with valuable land by the Emperor himself as thanks for their service, allowing them to build wealth and power for themselves. Granted, this is not for everyone, and some former soldiers choose to just re-enlist..
- The Empire: The year is 50 BC, and they have entirely occupied Gaul. That said, the comics portray them in a fairly neutral light, with Ceasar wanting to conquer the village only as a point of honor. In most tales, it's a "live and let live" policy between the village and the Empire: a few stories have neutral Romans visit the village with no trouble ("The Mansions of the Gods"), and in "Asterix in Switzerland" one of them even convalesces there. Note that calling them "The Roman Empire" is Anachronism Stew.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: The reason they look so harmless compared to the Gauls. They can beat any normal army, even the Gauls themselves fear them when their magic potion runs out. It's just that with the magic potion, the Gauls outshine even the Roman army.
- Punch-Clock Villain: The legionnaires are mostly just soldiers paid to go out and fight. It's an alright job, though the soldiers stationed near the village (as well as those in Belgium) begin to regret their career choices after a while.
- Villain Decay: As the series went on, this took effect. After all, living with the Romans' empire means both good and bad Romans exist. When Albert Uderzo handled the series on his own after René Goscinny's death, this came into greater effect partly because Uderzo focused on fantasy stories involving realms beyond the Empire.
- Zerg Rush: It's been proposed once or twice, and yes, the Roman Empire could overwhelm the Gauls with sheer numbers, because Super-Strength or not, it's one village versus the mightiest army in the world, and the magic potions doesn't make our heroes invulnerable (according to Getafix, there IS a potion that does, but it's never used in the comics), but if the Romans did resort to this, they'd have to leave a skeleton crew behind at their borders, endangering the rest of the Empire while they're busy stomping out one spot of resistance. It's really not worth it.
Julius Caesar
Voiced in French by: Jean Gold (radio play, 1960), Maurice Chevit (1967), Jean Parédès (1968), Jean Martinelli (1976), Serge Sauvion (1985-1986), Robert Party (1994), Philippe Morier-Genoud (2014-2018)
Voiced in English by: Anthony Stuart (1967-1968), John Ringham (1976), Gordon Heath (1985-1986), Henry McGee (1994), Jim Broadbent (2016)
Played by: Gottfried John (1999), Alain Chabat (2002), Alain Delon (2008), Fabrice Luchini (2012), Vincent Cassel (2023)
The leader of Rome, based on the Real Life person. A recurring villain of the series.
- Affably Evil: He's more or less the only sane Roman, tends to view the Gauls as much as potential allies as enemies, and as such holds very deep respect for them. In fact, they tend to join forces every time someone tries to usurp Caesar, since they know that if anyone more ruthless than Julius was on the throne, it would completely upset the balance between them.
- Agony of the Feet: Asterix the Gaul shows that here, Vercingetorix didn't throw his weapons at Caesar's feet, but on them.
- Anti-Villain: Usually a noble one. He is a decent ruler in the comic, but he still takes pride in conquering regions and it's obvious he is the Big Bad because the series is told from the Gauls' point-of-view.
- Badass Cape: "Render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar."
- Badass Driver: In Asterix and the Chariot Race, after Coronavirus throws the titular race, he dresses up as him to defend Rome's honor. And he would actually have won the last stage, even though his opponents had a lead on him, if he hadn't hit a pothole...
- Bad Boss: He repays those who serve him well, but his zero tolerance for failure means that the penalty for unsuccessful attempts is becoming lion toast. The only exception is that he won't punish the Legionaries in Gaul for constantly losing in battle against Asterix and his village as even by his high standards it would be ludicrous to demand success there. Though, if you suck up to him and come up with some scheme to take down the Gauls and fail in that, however...
- Big Bad: The Roman Empire wouldn't have been on the village's threshold if it wasn't for him and his imperialistic plans.
- Card-Carrying Villain: In Asterix Conquers America Luculus is, as a very close sycophant of his, experienced enough to know that praising his underhanded character would be a spot-on form of flattery.
- Catchphrase: "Veni, Vidi, Vici...", of course, though very often Subverted.
- Characterization Marches On: In the earliest albums, Caesar was little more than a villainous plot device that drove the Romans forward in their conquest of Europe; the original depiction doesn't even have the same design as the more well-known version. Once he began to appear as an actual character rather than a generic Evil Emperor, he quickly became the dignified statesman he is for most of the series.
- The Chessmaster: With more pawns than usual, and without getting into the chessboard himself of course.
- Combat Pragmatist: He generally employs tricks and manipulation to defeat the Gauls, since brute force is ineffective against them.
- The Comically Serious: His attempts to act with the dignity and gravitas befitting his historical drama life border on Wrong Genre Savvy when dealing with the comedic setting in general and Gauls in particular.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: At times he gets "creative" with the punishments he inflicts to subordinates who fail. The best one so far is gifting the Gaulish village to a soldier who had spent his entire service drunk and spent his last night as a legionary in jail for insulting him while drunk and disorderly...
- Deadpan Snarker: Especially toward Brutus and those who fail him.
- The Dreaded: He terrifies every enemy of Rome that doesn't have access to a magic potion. The reaction to his arrival in Belgium says it all: before it the Belgian chiefs were proud and had even made a dare to Vitalstatistix about who could destroy the most Roman camps, but as soon as they found out he had come personally they had lost any hope of getting out of that alive, they just hoped they'd manage to hold him off enough for their families and those of their warriors to get away.
- The Emperor: There's a reason his last name is the origin of several European languages' term for "emperor". He himself is only this trope in practice, however. Like his real life counterpart, he doesn't use the title and is referred to by his subjects as simply Caesar.
- Enemy Mine: In the first live-action movie, after Detritus betrays and overthrows him, he has to work with Asterix and co. to get his power back.
- Evil Laugh: In adaptations, notably in The Twelve Tasks of Asterix, to contrast his usually cold exterior he bursts into hysterically evil laughter and grins fiendishly.
- Face Death with Dignity: "Gauls, let Caesar show you that a Roman knows how to die with dignity!" — he's then informed by Asterix that the latter has no intention to kill him.
- Failure Is the Only Option: No matter what plans he concocts, or how much he has the rest of the world to his feet, there is no way he will ever dominate that village.
- Friendly Enemy: Very much so; he holds no personal enmity against the Gauls, despite having the ambition to conquer their last stronghold, and his main concern is the wellbeing of Rome. In private, Caesar occasionally admits that, between the Gauls and the Senate, he would rather deal with the Gauls—at worse the Gauls will just annoy him by greeting him in a blatantly disrespectful yet obnoxiously cheery manner, whereas the Senate is a bed of vipers and opportunists. Two episodes do show him being antagonistic towards them, notably Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield, and Asterix in Belgium — and in the latter he has been provoked.
- Graceful Loser: He tends to take defeat at the hands of the Gauls fairly well, all things considered. Sure, he gets mad at his minions failing him and the fact he's Surrounded by Idiots, but he tends to be courteous with the Gauls, even in defeat. He even once declares he's ready to Face Death with Dignity only to be told by the Gauls they have no plans to kill him.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't take a lot for him to lose his temper and start screaming, though he's usually quick to calm down again.
- Henpecked Husband: Played for laughs in his relationship with Cleopatra, who he's not actually married to in the books but who he has a definitely flirtatious relationship with, and who chews him out with terrifying ferocity whenever he's annoyed her.
- Historical Domain Character: Of the real Julius Caesar.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Cannot for the life of him see Brutus planning to betray him. Looking back at history, we already know what that cost him.
- I Gave My Word: If he gives his word, he'll keep it, no matter what. And if he promised to feed you to the lions, not even becoming a statue will save you.
- King Incognito: When Coronavirus throws the titular race in Asterix and the Chariot Race, he decides to secretly dress up as him and finish the rest of the race himself for the glory of Rome. This goes well until he hits a pothole.
- Lean and Mean: One of the tallest and thinnest characters in the series, having never lost the athletic build of his youth. His design makes an especially stark contrast to many other Romans who tend to have either a Heroic Build (mostly gladiators and elite soldiers or centurions), or a Fat Bastard one (often the wealthy and powerful). This is even Lampshaded in "Obelix and Co" where he briefly rants at the members of the Roman Senate, many of whom he campaigned alongside in his warrior days and who were all as fit and ambitious as him, but now have regressed into comically obese manchildren because of their success.
- May–December Romance: With Cleopatra. They even have a child together. His name is Caesarion a.k.a. Ptolemy XV, and the reason Brutus takes on the Gauls' Village is Cleopatra sent the child to Asterix to keep him safe from Brutus.
- Noble Demon: Even though he is willing to use deception, tricks and manipulation, he will always keep his word when he makes a promise, and be grateful to his enemies when they help him. When he finds in Asterix and Son the Gauls protected his son with Cleopatra from a murderous, power-hungry Brutus intent on securing power in Rome, Caesar's more than amiable to repair the damage Brutus wreaked.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Even when he personally leads his armies into battle, the man will not get his own hands dirty. In fact, the closest he ever gets to directly confronting Asterix and Obelix is during Asterix and the Chariot Race, when he attempts to finish the race alone by disguising himself as Coronavirus. Somewhat justified since the comics take place around 50 B.C when Caesar was in his early 50s and getting too old to fight in person.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: One of the only Romans (and villains) who poses a credible threat thanks to his intellect.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: A rare villainous example. Caesar generally does what's best for Rome from his perspective. He has no patience for incompetence. He's fully willing to back down, or even collaborate with the heroes if he believes it in his or Rome's interests, even willing to reward them when they actually help him.
- Retired Badass: The comics take place when he's in his early 50s and his fighting days are behind him, but it's hinted that he used to be quite the badass when he was younger. For instance, after taking part in the final stage of the chariot race, he comments that it reminded him of his youth.
- Running Gag: His use of "Et tu, Brute" (or "You too, my son") in situations not pertaining to Et Tu, Brute?. Brutus' reaction is usually along the lines of "One of these days I'm going to up and..."
- Sophisticated as Hell: In Asterix In Belgium, when news arrive about the "uprising" in Belgium, Caesar responds with his usual eloquence, only to be constantly interrupted by one of the other senators about the topic they were originally debating (salad farmers). Caesar finally runs out of patience and yells something along the lines of "Oh, STUFF the salad farmers!" The presiding senator tells the stenographer to leave that part out, as it doesn't make for a very good classical quote.
- Spared by the Adaptation:
- Averted. It's subtle, but the reader is constantly reminded that Brutus will kill Caesar no matter what, even if he finds out about Brutus' treachery early on. Since the series takes place before 44 BC, he just cannot die here.
- Played straight in the non-canon animated movie The Twelve Tasks of Asterix, where Caesar retires to the countryside with Cleopatra to live out his days in peace. As Asterix points out, it's just a cartoon.
- Subverted Catchphrase: Of his Veni, vidi, vici.Asterix the Gladiator: Veni, vidi, and I can't believe my eyes!
Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield: Right. Veni, vidi, and I get the idea. - Suddenly Shouting: Has a tendency to go straight from calmly discussing his plans to screaming at the top of his lungs when something interrupts or angers him.
- Surrounded by Idiots: From time to time, depending on the plan or people around him. The animated version of Asterix in Britain has a good example when his fleet accidentally attacks itself.Caesar: [facepalming] Make a note: I came, I saw, and I don't believe my eyes.
- Third-Person Person: Talks about himself in the third person, after the historical Caesar's habit of doing so in his Commentarii. After explaining his plans to his lackeys:Lackey: He's great!
Caesar: Who?
Lackey: Er... you.
Caesar: Oh, him. - Victory Is Boring: Doesn't seem to enjoy the bureaucracy and minutate of actually running the Roman Empire very much, and prefers the challenges of new conquests. He still does it without complaint (for the most part), but it's all too clear he'd rather be out on campaign than dealing with the corrupt idiots in the senate.
- Villainous Breakdown: Downplayed at the end of The Twelve Tasks during the final task, while he doesn't break down into uncontrollable sobbing like the ringmaster, his facial expression makes it clear that Caesar would probably want to join him in tears.
- Visionary Villain: His goal is for the Roman empire to spread across the known world and beyond, and for the Pax Romana to include all of Earth and it's people. It aint gonna happen...
- What's Up, King Dude?: Much to his annoyance, Asterix and the rest of his village treats him this way, usually calling him "Julius" when they meet in person, since they don't consider him to be their emperor. It's not actually intended as a sign of disrespect, just far more casual than appropriate.
- Worthy Opponent: Tends to regard the Gauls as this when they best him, often willing to reward their victories. He also considers the Belgians to be this, referring to them as "the bravest of all Gauls", an allusion to his statement of the same in his Commentaries on the Gallic War.
- You Have Failed Me: He has no patience for failure and incompetence, and failing him is a good way to fed to some lions in the circus. He once put the body of his admiral who had repeatedly failed and humiliated him in the circus, despite the man having turned to stone, saying he did so just in case the lions develop a taste for granite.
Brutus
Played by: Benoît Poelvoorde (2008)
Caesar's adoptive son, based on the Real Life Marcus Junius Brutus.
- Ascended Extra: Brutus suddenly becomes the Big Bad of Asterix and Son after spending the entire series as a joke character. He goes further than any prior villain by burning down the village. Fortunately Caesar rebuilds it out of honor and gratitude.
- The Brute: Well with a name like that... Later we see his tactical skill, it amounts to "Burn it to the ground".
- Characterization Marches On: His appearance and general attitude has been largely inconsistent in the various cameos he made over the course of the series. It's not until Asterix and Son that he gets actually solid characterizations.
- Composite Character: Historically, Caesar's adoptive son was Octavian, better known as Augustus, who was also his great-nephew.
- Devious Daggers: As Foreshadowing of his famous betrayal and assassination of Caesar, he is often shown playing with knives.
- Foreshadowing: Just about every one of his appearances reminds us that he will kill Caesar (though not in the series), but it's nonetheless inevitable.Caesar: [having gotten up to lead the others to the dining hall] You too, my son!
Brutus: [thinking] He's starting to annoy me with those classical allusions of his! One of these days I'm going to up and... - Historical Domain Character: Of the real Brutus.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Though opinions on him have historically fluctuated, the real Brutus is generally seen as someone who conspired against Caesar wanting to prevent him from completely doing away with republican rule, though Cicero’s account sees him as an extortionist. In Asterix and Son he's simply a power-hungry would-be murderer looking to remove potential rivals who threaten his prospects of succeeding Caesar as ruler of Rome.
- Knight of Cerebus: He is the main villain only for one book, but when it happens, he is one of the few villains to be played dead serious. He actually manages to burn the Gauls' village in the climax.
- Obviously Evil: In virtually all his appearances, he's playing with knives around Caesar or making veiled threats, all of which Caesar ignores.
- Phrase Catcher: "Et Tu Brute."
- Running Gag: Constantly handling knives and getting irritated at Caesar, foreshaowing his historical betrayal and murder.
- The Starscream: Asterix and Son reveals Brutus was after the "son" Asterix had because that was really Caesaerion, the son of Caesar and Cleopatra, and Brutus had tried to find AND kill the child to secure his ascension to the Roman throne. This story shows him out for once as a true Big Bad, and Caesar is aghast at this treachery.
- Too Dumb to Live: When asked by Caesar for a suggestion on how to handle the Irreducible Gaul village, he promptly suggested brute force. Against people with Super-Strength. Caesar promptly calls him out for how stupid his idea is. He finds out in person in Asterix and Son, when he comes up with a solid method to destroy the village and all he has to show for it is a horrible beating.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: He never really was portrayed as particularly nice, but in Asterix and Son, he ascends to full-fledged villain who Would Hurt a Child.note
- Top-Heavy Guy: Like most of the centurions, has huge hairy arms and chest with normal-sized legs.
- Would Hurt a Child: In Asterix and Son, he is implicitly willing to kill the baby aka Caesarion, Caesar's son with Cleopatra, making him one of the comic's more threatening villains.
Crismus Bonus
The original commander of the Compendium garrisson, Crismus Bonus is the very first antagonist of the series, and harbored treasonous ideas to overthrow Caesar with the help of the Gauls magic potion.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Upon being informed of Bonus treacherous plans, Caesar has him and his garrisson reassigned to Outer Mongolia as punishment.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Before him, the Romans had no idea about the magic potion, and their attempts at taking over the village are stated to have been simple frontal attacks rather than the deception used ever since.
- The Starscream: Rather than doing his duty to Rome, he plans to steal the magic potion to overthrow Caesar and become emperor himself.
- Starter Villain: For the entire franchise, and is also the first Roman villain the Gauls have to deal with in person.
- Villainous Breakdown: As the story progresses and Getafix keeps leading him on with no intention of ever actually making the potion for him, Bonus gets increasingly enraged and volatile.
Inspector General Overanxious
The latest in a long line of high-ranking officials sent by Caesar to conquer the village, Overanxious tries to simply keep the Gauls locked in their village with a blockade to keep their rebellious ideas from the rest of Gaul. When Asterix makes a bet that he and Obelix can escape the village and tour all of Gaul to gather regional food for a feast, Overanxious agrees, but secretly plots to keep the two from succeeding.
- Fat Bastard: Like most high-ranking Romans who aren't Julius Caesar, Overanxious is notably overweight.
- I Gave My Word: Very begrudgingly attends the feast at the end, which earns him an uppercut from Asterix for all the trouble he caused them throughout the story, but that said...
- I Lied: Has no intention of letting Asterix and Obelix even try to win the bet, and alerts all the Roman occupying forces to stop them.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Stays behind in his camp in Compendium the whole story and lets his subordinates do most of the work. Though to be fair he led personally his initial attempt to conquer the village.
- Take a Third Option: Well, he tries to anyway, rather than keep pointlessly fighting against the villagers or limping back to Rome in disgrace, he decides to simply wall up the village and keep the Gauls contained.
Torturus Convolvulus
A weedy, shady little Roman who has a gift for spreading disharmony and strife. The villain of Asterix and the Roman Agent, Caesar sends him to the village to make the inhabitants turn on each other.
- Divided We Fall: Torturus' mission was to cause this among the Gauls, and he very nearly succeeded.
- Hand Rubbing: Frequently does this when hatching an evil plan.
- Hate Plague: Forget his manipulation skill, his presence alone can cause friction among allies, leading to infightings and brawls. He was sentenced to death in the arena, but the lions fought and ate each other instead!
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Asterix uses the same priceless vase Torturus used to begin spreading discord among the Gauls to convince the Roman forces that Torturus is a traitor to Rome.
- Knight of Cerebus: Downplayed as he has his comedic moments but he is still one of the biggest threats Gauls have ever faced.
- Manipulative Bastard: Taken to near-superhuman levels; he originally came to the Roman government's attention when the people of the condimindium he lived in managed to escape his manipulation after god knows how long, and got him sentenced to being fed to the lions at the Colosseum. He got the lions to eat each other instead!! Even the normally unflappable Caesar is vulnerable to his scheming, as he barely spent 10 minutes in the same room as the guy, and almost succumbed to it.
- Near-Villain Victory: He single-handedly almost gave Romans the win. However, Asterix manages to outsmart him.
- Surrounded by Idiots: He finds himself at odds several times with the stupidity of the legionaries he work with, with them misinterprating psychological warfare as hitting others on the head with a club, truly believing that they have the magic potion despite him repeatedly explaining to them that they're faking it, or arguing about the sharing of the spoils, much to his chagrin.
Varius Flavus
The Roman governor of Condatum (modern-day Rennes in France), who's been embezzling the taxes meant for Rome, sending only a small pittance while keeping almost everything else for himself or wasting it on lavish orgies. His attempts to deal with a Roman inspector sets off Asterix's quest to Switzerland.
- Antagonistic Governor: Not only to the Gauls, but to other Romans, since he's trying to cover up the fact that he's been embezzling taxes meant for the Empire, to the point that he's willing to resort to treason.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: With Curius Odus, the equally corrupt governor of Helvetia (Switzerland).
- The Corruptor: He will make any inspector who comes by decadent, and fast, or he'll get rid of him.
- Corrupt Politician: Not only does he steal tax money, when a Roman Quaestor (treasury agent) comes to check his account, Flavus has him poisoned.
- Cordon Bleugh Chef: His feasts feature some truly bizarre food combinations, such as boar's tripe fried in aurochs dripping (with honey), to the point that Sinusitus's request for a simple vegetable broth for supper is met with surprise and disgust by Varius's chef.
- Did Not Think This Through: Subverted. Flavus knows that he only has his appointment as governor for a year, meaning that he needs to steal as much as he can from Rome to fund his orgies and future retirement. His embezzlement is so extreme, however, that the Senate soon sends Quaestor Vexatius Sinusitus to investigate... which Flavus had also planned for.
- Expy: Loosely based on Trimalchio from Fellini Satyricon by Frederico Fellini, and the excessive, hedonistic orgies and feasts shown in the film.
- Fatal Flaw: Greed and Gluttony. He provides three coins as Roman taxes, hoarding the rest for himself (when he doesn't spend extravagantly on food and orgies), and the whole reason the Gauls are able to get involved with the plot is that he's too busy stuffing himself at yet another orgy to notice Sinusitus's aide leaving the palace to get them.
- Fat Bastard: Even compared to other hedonistic Romans, Flavus is a fat pig.
- Fat Slob: All the corpulent Flavus wants to do is hold hedonistic orgies at the expense of Rome, not even caring to actually govern Condatum.
- G-Rated Drug: Since this is a comic for all ages, his "orgies" only focuses on the feast part, not the sex or the drugs.
- The Hedonist: His ambition is to make his life "one long orgy", with his embezzlement used to fund his parties.
- Jabba Table Manners: Whenever he's seen eating, he does so with his hands and drips most of whatever he eats all over himself. It's a disgusting sight.
- Meaningful Name: His name is a reference to his obsession with food.note
- Oh, Crap!: Flavus has a fairly spectacular one when he realises Sinusitus has been cured - and dosed with magic potion.
- Poison Ring: The jewelry on his hands have hidden compartments full of poison that he uses to assassinate his political enemies. Apparently he has a bad habit of forgetting to refill them afterwards.
- Suspicious Spending: Despite his governate allegedly can only provide a pittance in taxes, Flavus openly throws huge, elaborate orgies and feasts constantly in his lavish palace. When Sinusitus points this out after his arrival, Flavus just handwaves it with the excuse that "you can do a lot with good taste" before handing him the poisoned broth.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Poisons the food of a Roman treasury agent to hide his corruption.
- Villainous Glutton: He's this to a tee, being a solvenly and obese hedonist obsessed with food and drink.
Vexatius Sinusitus
A Roman Quaestor tasked by the Senate to go over the accounts of Governor Varius Flavus due to his suspiciously low tax revenue and his claims that the Rennes region is too poor to provide any more for Rome. Unfortunately, Sinusitus underestimated the extremes Varius Flavus is willing to go to hide his corruption.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Came damn near one, whatever poison Varius used on him is both slow-acting and very painful.
- Intimidating Revenue Service: Averted, he's a perfectly reasonable and honorable man, Governor Varius is just intimidated by him because he actually is embezzling the funds meant for Rome and is guilty as hell.
- Meaningful Name: His name sounds like "vexatious sinusitis", referring to a common and irritating infection of the nasal passages. He certainly proves vexing and irritating to Flavus, who badly wants to dispose of him.
- Megaton Punch: Gives a solid one to Flavus once he's healed, sending him flying into the air not to be seen again.
- Noodle Incident: He mentions that on his journey to Rennes, his ship was briefly attacked by the Pirates, but that they somehow managed to sink their own boat before they could board.
- Play-Along Prisoner: Agrees to be a "hostage" at the Gauls village while Asterix and Obelix are out on their mission, realizing it's his only chance of safety.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He refuses to be swayed to Flavus's Blatant Lies. He also makes an invitation to Getafix to treat him; though a Gaul, he's the closest competent medical expert around. When Getafix says Sinusitus should be a prisoner while Asterix and Obelix are in Switzerland, he agrees, both on honor and on knowing that staying under Flavus's roof isn't an option.
- Villain Respect: Villain only as he's a member of the Roman government that the Gauls are fighting against. He gets invited to the Gauls' feast at the end, one of the first (and VERY few) Roman characters to receive that honor.
Squaronthehypotenus
A Roman architect who oversees the construction of The Mansions of the Gods, a large Roman-style apartment building, just outside the Gaulish village, with the intent of defeating the Gauls through cultural absorption instead of violence.
- Bad Boss: A literal slave driver, not to mention he doesn't care at all that the slaves work is utterly pointless since the Gauls magically replace all the trees that are torn down.
- Damned by Faint Praise: He's introduced to Caesar as an architect of some reknown, and his biggest accomplishment is that many of the apartment buildings he's designed in Rome haven't collapsed yet. This is a Historical In-Joke, as even during the glory days of the Empire, Rome was full of cheaply made apartment blocks that could collapse at any moment.
- Determinator: Give credit where it's due, he doesn't give up easily and manages to turn the situation in his favor and to get the first building of the Mansion of the Gods built, despite a first beating by Asterix and Obelix and the Gauls' sabotages, including a slave revolt with them having the magic potion, the Gauls growing back all the trees he and his slaves take out and Cacaphonix driving all the mansion residents out. It takes a trouncing by the Gauls and them utterly destroying the Mansion of the Gods for him to finally quit.
- Heel–Face Turn: If The Golden Book is canon, as he's shown to have been invited to Asterix and Obelix's birthday party, and is planning to build a theme park in their honor as a gift.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the Mansion is destroyed at the end, and all the Romans have gotten a thorough asskicking, he decides to officially call it quits, deciding to go build pyramids in Egypt, since at least there the tenants are quiet.
- Sleek High Rise Apartment: Designed the Mansion this way, since the purpose is to make Romans WANT to move to a random corner of the Empire.
Tremensdelirious
A drunk legionary who kicks off the Caesar's Gift and Asterix and the Actress stories. Having (technically) served in the Roman Legion for 20 years, he's due for retirement and a land deed as a reward, but due to idiotically bad-mouthing Ceasar the night before his release in a drunken stupor, he's gifted the Gaulish village as a kind of punishment.
- The Alcoholic: A disgraceful lout of a legionnaire who has spent pretty much his entire service to Rome in a drunken stupor.
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Stupidly rants about Ceasar while drunk, something that would normally get a Roman citizen a one-way trip to the Colosseum, if Ceasar hadn't come up with a better punishment.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: At the end of Caesar's most creative: he was given Vitalstatix' village as a discharge gift.
- In Asterix and the Actress he was given the light punishment of restocking the Roman's water supply because of Tremensdelirius absolutely hatred of water he thought of it as a cruel punishment.
- Dirty Coward: Offers up his best friend to the Gauls to save himself.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: The above-mentioned friend knocks him on the head.
- Too Dumb to Fool: Selling the deed to the village allowed him to fumble his way out of Caesar's intended punishment of having the Gauls beat him up for trying to claim ownership... At least until he was dumb enough to demand it back.
- Too Dumb to Live: Let's see, talks shit about Ceasar, tries to sell the deed to the village he was given (which you're not allowed to do in the first place) for more wine, and later tries to take it back. He also sells Pompey's weapons for an urn of wine.
Caius Preposterus
A Roman expert in Economics, who sets off the Obelix and Co. story: He proposes a plan to integrate the Gauls into the empire through capitalism since force isn't working, believing that once the villagers have been exposed to the economics of the wider world, they will join the empire on their own volition.
- Conspicuous Consumption: Preposterous encourages Obelix to engage in this, using his money to buy flashy clothes to show off his new wealth.
- Did Not Think This Through: For an alleged expert on economics, Preposterus isn't very good at long-term planning. While his funding of Obelix's menhir business does cause some early progress in his goal, it eventually drives Caesar into heavy debt since as the financial backer of the plan, he isn't getting any profit from it. To be fair, he tries to fix this by reselling the menhirs himself, marketing them as a class symbol for the wealthy, but this just causes other parts of the empire to produce their own menhirs, escalating into an economic crisis that almost sets off a civil war.
- Additionally, his plan was going relatively well when Obelix was the only producer of menhirs in the village, because the amount of menhirs that Rome had to buy was manageable. When later half the village starts producing menhirs, Caius makes the mistake to keep buying while still increasing the price.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: He looks like Jacques Chirac, a French politician who served as Prime Minister and President of France.
- Oh, Crap!: When Caesar asks him to go back in Gaul and say they won't buy menhirs anymore. He is scared and tries to walk away right after giving the order but the centurion caught on that they are in for a beatdown from the villagers for it and he is not letting Caius walk away from it.
- Organization with Unlimited Funding: Averted. Preposterus is given unlimited credit by Caesar to put his economics operation running, but he's funneling money into a product that's not getting enough profit out to match the input — partly his fault because by his own admission he was raising the price of menhirs to keep things going, and partly the intervention of other parties who tried making their own menhirs — and he causes an economic collapse.
- Ridiculous Future Inflation: The whole scheme ends up causing a massive devaluation of the Roman sesterti currency, wiping out the wealth the village had earned throughout the album. Nobody's sad to have it go, the Romans have to repair their economy and the Gauls don't really care.
Gluteus Maximus and Gaius Veriambitius
An athletic Roman legionary and his commanding officer who serves as his coach, the two have been chosen to be part of the Roman squadron of the Greek Olympic games, only to despair when they find out that the Gauls also intend to take part.
- Anti-Villain: Despite technically being the antagonists of the story, neither Maximus or Veriambitius are particularly antagonistic, and arguably come off as more sympathetic than the main characters this time.
- Break the Haughty: Maximus starts out as a somewhat arrogant Jerk Jock, only to be thoroughly humbled by Obelix effortlessly trouncing him without even trying or noticing him at one point. Thankfully, the Gauls are charitable enough to let them have their award, which pleases Caesar.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Romans and the Gauls (who are forbidden to take magic potion in the tournament) are completely outmatched by the Greek athletes, and lose every single event to them, to the point that the Olympic committee creates a new event just for Roman participants to maintain friendly relations and keep tourists coming to Greece.
- Despair Event Horizon: They lose any hope of winning anything at the Olympics thanks to the Gauls' presence and efforts.
- Subverted Catchphrase: Through the series, the phrase "Caesar won't be pleased" is thrown several times. At the end of the album, thanks to Asterix giving away his Palm of Victory, it closes with "For once, Caesar is pleased!"
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Even though Asterix ends up being the only non-Greek character to win a single event, he gives his Palm of Victory to Maximus, because he seemed to need it much more. Julius Caesar is greatly pleased with Maximus's apparent victory, and as a reward, promotes Maximus to centurion and Veriambitius to Tribune.
- Villain Has a Point: Veriambitious gets the Greek authority to forbid the Gauls to take magic potion because it's an incredibly unfair advantage. Even though he only did it in a petty attempt to stop and dishearten the Gauls, he's got a point: the Olympics are an athletic competition and not combat, the potion is performance enhancement and isn't allowed. With that said, a bunch of Romans do try to win through cheating by ingesting the potion, and they get exposed, as planned by Asterix and Getafix, and disqualified.
M Devius Surreptitius and Dubbelosix
The head of the Roman empire's secret intelligence service, known as M.I.IV, and his top agent, Surreptitius and Dubbleosix are sent to sabotage Asterix and Obelix's mission to secure a supply of rock oil, the secret ingredient required for the Gauls magic potion.
- All for Nothing: Despite succeeding in their mission to destroy the rock oil, it turns out to have been completely pointless as Getafix found a substitute ingredient while Asterix and Obelix were gone.
- Expy: Dubbelosix is based on James Bond (specifically Sean Connery), and Surreptitius is loosely based on his taskmaster M.
- Familiar: Dubbelosix gets a female fly to act as messenger. The insect looks adorable, is hopelessly in love with Dubbelosix and follows him wherever he goes.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: As punishment for failure, Caesar sentences them to Circus Maximus, where they're drenched in honey and has a swarm of bees sent after them. This was allegedly a real execution method once used in Ancient Rome.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Dubbelosix learns that the village is out of magic potion early on, but instead of immediately sending a letter to Caesar to let him know about this golden opportunity to crush the village he keeps it secret because he wants to trick Getafix into telling him the magic potion's recipe, and so he goes on the quest with Asterix and Obelix to sabotage them. By the time he does send the message near the end of the book, Getafix has already found the substitute ingredient and the Roman army is routed as usual.
- No Honor Among Thieves: Surreptitius and Dubbelosix plan to betray Caesar and use the magic potion for themselves, while Dubbelosix plans to keep the potion for himself.
- Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: Befitting a parody of 007 himself, Dubbelosix has access to a variety of useful gadgets.
Manlius Claphamomnibus
A legate who devises a plan to conquer the village by putting together an all-female legion in order to exploit the Gaulish code of gallantry preventing their warriors from using physical violence against women.
- Butt-Monkey: He gets trampled on by the very legion he put together a total of three times, gets all his teeth knocked out by Obelix, gets beaten up again when the Gauls attack Totorum, and is finally left behind in Gaul when Cacofonix's singing scares away the legion.
- Crazy Enough to Work: If not for Bravura arriving in the village when she did, his plan would likely have gone off without a hitch.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: As per usual, he and the (male) legionaries are on the receiving end of this courtesy of the Gauls. However, he at least gets to dish one out himself, by cleaving the Pirates' ship in two with his galley in order to make sure no-one witnesses the female legion.
- Just Eat Gilligan: Played with; his plot to exploit the Gaulish code of gallantry seems like such a simple one that you wonder why Caesar hasn't tried it before. However, the stigma around women serving in the Roman military means that Caesar would have been in danger of being made a laughing stock had the plan failed — and sure enough, that's what happens.
- Revenge Before Reason: Had he accepted Bravura's offer for the now female-led village to join the Pax Romana, he would have won by doing absolutely nothing. Instead, he rejects the proposal and announces his intention to completely destroy the village and enslave its occupants, causing Bravura to pull an Enemy Mine with Asterix and plot to defeat the legion.
Coronavirus
A chariot racer who always wears a helmet to conceal his face, Coronavirus is widely considered one of the greatest racers in the world, and participates in the cross-country race held by Senator Lactus Bifidus, to showcase the quality of Roman roads.
- Badass Driver: One of the greatest chariot racers around, which was already a really dangerous sport to start with.
- Cool Helmet: Always wears a full-faced golden helmet.
- Expy: Very similar to Frankenstein from Death Race 2000, and its modern remake Death Race.
- King Incognito: Coronavirus makes a sudden comeback in the race finale, and almost wins — it's actually Julius Caesar in disguise, having taken over the reins after the real Coronavirus left.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: The real Coronavirus abandons the race two-thirds in after finding out his co-driver has been cheating to get them ahead.
- Secret Identity: Coronavirus's real name is Testus Terone.
