YMMV / The Turkish Gambit

• Magnificent Bastard: Anwar Effendi is a Turkish politician and spy, subtly manipulating the politics in his country and pushing for liberal reforms while always staying in the shadow himself. Under his other identity—brilliant French journalist Charles Paladin—he accompanies the Russian army in the Russo-Turkish war and, by skillfully feeding misinformation to the high command, makes sure to prolong the conflict. He pays a Romanian colonel, a gambler who is deep in debt, to assist him in his scheme, and then kills him under the pretext of a duel once he is no longer useful. He shoots an officer carrying a critically important message during a battle and frames another officer for that, killing him too and making it look like suicide. His last plot, luring Russia's best general into a trap, fails after Anwar is unmasked by Erast Fandorin, but Anwar knows that his main goal of weakening the Russian Empire is achieved. He calmly shoots himself, refusing to surrender. Combining his ruthlessness with genuine charm and Old-School Chivalry, Anwar hides so well in the guise of Charles Paladin that for a long time, Fandorin refuses to believe his own conclusions about Paladin's true identity.