INFORMATION ☥

[ramses]

BASICS

Character Name; Usr Ramses
Canon; Red River/Anatolia Story. Can be read here, or seen in summary here.
Canon Point; Post-Battle of Kadesh
Age; I'd estimate him to be in his early/mid-twenties.
House; Loki
Power; Telepathy


PERSONALITY & HISTORY

It's pretty important to note that the character of Ramses is based off of two historical figures, not one. While much of his background and name matches that of Ramses I (like beginning the 19th dynasty of Egyptian pharaohs), a lot of what he accomplishes later in life matches up better with Ramses II, including the famous peace treaty between the Hittite and Egyptian Empire. History also states that Maathorneferure, a daughter of Mursili II and Puduhepa (Yuri, in the manga) was married to him, but in the manga, she was a granddaughter of these two, and married to his grandson. The author kind of combined a lot of aspects of both of these kings into one character. While coming into power at the same time as Ramses I did historically, according to the epilogue, he is supposed to be the future Ramses II/"Ramses the Great" -- the most celebrated and powerful Pharaoh in all of Ancient Egyptian history. The historical aspects of this character are really important, and though I'll try to be brief when providing the cultural/political context behind his actions, it's a little difficult to justify his actions without any explanation whatsoever.

Ramses is, first and foremost, extremely ambitious. He dreams of becoming the next Egyptian Pharaoh but outing the current leaders of the 18th Dynasty. He feels that they are extremely corrupt, and that they've lost the ability to pay attention to the needs of their people -- that they are no longer fit to rule. But Ramses has plenty of plans and ways he wants to change that. It is more than a dream to him, however -- it is something that he knows he will make happen. He has the utmost confidence in himself and his abilities, and is extremely egotistical and full of himself. Though he's a general of the Egyptian army, he knows he will find a way to take the throne for himself.

However, he recognizes that he doesn't have all the tools he needs to effectively take the throne. Most importantly, he feels, he needs a wife who measures up to his own caliber mentally to be the Queen. While he has no problem sleeping with other women whenever he feels like it, he views pretty much every woman as below him, and not worthy of recognition. Not like the girl he meets while on patrol at the border between the Egyptian and Hittite border And that's where Yuri comes in -- the only current concubine of Kail Mursili II, next in line for the throne of the Hittite Empire. Because of her, we see how ruthless and sneaky Ramses can be when he decides that he wants something.

He actually ends up saving her life by taking her to civilization and giving her water when she is lost in the desert with an arrow in her back. He is thoroughly impressed with her when he realizes that she kept the arrow in her back the whole time in order to prove who had shot her to the Hittite Council (the arrowhead being unique to the kingdom it may have come from). He decides to hang around the Hittite Empire as an "ambassador" from Egypt after saving Yuri, to assuage the unstable situation between Egypt (a Hittite prince was originally sent with Yuri to marry an Egyptian princess, but never showed up due to Hittite betrayers that killed the prince). However, he has an ulterior motive for staying, and eventually ends up trying to kidnap her and bring her back to Egypt to marry him and become the Queen that he desires. He doesn't seem to care at all that she wants nothing to do with his scheme, or that she cares for Kail.

He attempts to kidnap her several times, and is generally thwarted by Kail, but he finally succeeds without even trying when the ship that (a very pregnant) Yuri is on wrecks, causing her to miscarry. Her servant Rusafa is forced to take her to Byblos for medical care, and seeks out Ramses begrudgingly in order to prevent her death. He takes care of her and gets her the best medical treatment available. Despite his frequent disregard for her feelings, and several attempts to force her into sex, he actually cares about her quite a lot and even loves her. There are many instances where he'll be inappropriately making a move on her and she'll feel ill -- and he immediately stops, running to get a doctor. He wants her to live well and be happy and healthy, although he's basically forcing her to be with him. He eventually learns to better respect her wishes, and keeps his hands off her, though his feelings still remain.

However, a huge problem remains for him in Egypt -- Queen Nefertiti. She is a ruthless, scheming queen that refuses to back down from her throne, and sees Ramses as a threat. Furthermore, Ramses receives intelligence that Nefertiti and the current Tawananna (Queen/King's consort) of the Hittite Empire have been sending traitorous letters back and forth, an issue that concerns both him and Yuri. After Yuri (rather unwillingly) takes her place as Ramses' wife-to-be in Egypt, she is soon involved in a scuffle with a temple official who wanted to cut off the hand of a child as punishment. She interferes to save the child, and for that, forces are sent to arrest her. However, Ramses goes in her stead to defend her, despite knowing that it might be a trap … and it is. Nefertiti captures Ramses and straps him to a wall in the hot sun, torturing him and refusing to let anyone come in to see him.

Ramses is soon saved by Yuri, who created a riot amongst the Egyptian peasants against the royalty for their crimes in order to get him released. She saves him before Nefertiti is able to kill him, and even tells Nefertiti off before escaping to the Hittite Empire. He has no choice but to let her go, since her identity as the concubine of Mursili II has been revealed, and it would be shameful for him to marry someone that everyone knew was another king's concubine. While that's the reason that he gives her, he also seems to understand that no matter how much he wants her, her heart will always belong to someone else. He also gives her a document that proves the Hittite Tawananna's traitorous actions are real, so that she can take it back with her to have her taken out of power. This action not only proves how much he cares about her and trusts her abilities (after all, he wouldn't have given just anyone such an important piece of information that could change history), but it also shows his determination to get corrupt leaders removed from power. Although his methods aren't exactly clean, he cares about the people of Egypt and wants to help them. He agrees to hear the demands of the peasants involved in the riot, and take their concerns to the Pharaoh in hopes that their needs can be dealt with.

Yuri's escape leaves Ramses with a bitter hatred for her lover, Mursili II, the only other man in the world (well, as far as he knows) that has the skill to potentially come anywhere close to him. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), his forces come to clash with Mursili II's in a battle between Egypt and the Hittite Empire. While their forces battle, Ramses and Mursili II go head-to-head with each other on chariots, and eventually ditch the chariots and weapons and literally just try to beat the ever-loving crap out of each other, to put it bluntly. They completely lose control of their command over their forces, because of the strength of their rivalry and hatred for each other. Though they seem to be exactly equal in strength and fight each other to a draw, Mursili II is the first to remember his place and go back to commanding his troops, and so Ramses deems him the winner -- because he could keep his head and think about his soldiers and his people better than Ramses did. Accepting his defeat, Ramses returns to Egypt to help draw up the peace treaty between the Hittites and the Egyptians, and asks Yuri to bear a son that would marry a daughter of his.

Overall, while Ramses can be an extremely entitled asshole on all accounts (partially because of cultural reasons, but also because he's just an egotistical jerk), and often treats others as (WAY) below him -- he is capable of showing a lot of kindness and respect to those that he feels deserve it. He has a good, level head on his shoulders most of the time and would make an excellent king. He is extremely smart and skilled at working behind the scenes to make sure things go the way he wants. He can easily outsmart most of the royalty in power (with the general exception of Nefertiti), and it's implied that he's had spies giving him intelligence on the people in power for years without any of them even noticing. He knows exactly how to play people to get what he wants, and being as handsome and smooth-talking as he is makes it pretty easy for him to win over pretty much any woman he likes. He's very good at talking to people, and is extremely charismatic, drawing a lot of following and respect -- even from people who have every reason to dislike him (especially Yuri, who still thinks of him as a good friend despite all the horrible crap he puts her through for his own selfish desires). He's definitely extremely selfish and immature when he first appears, but through Yuri and Mursili II, he matures a lot and really recognizes his true potential as a king.

But he's still kind of a dick.