Jamballa

Commodus from Gladiator

My thoughts on Commodus

He might have been the villain, but he is the character I identify with most. Parents can be so cruel if you do not live up to their expectations. Unless one manages to realise in time that one has to be true to oneself and not give a damn about what everyone else thinks, the need to be accepted might drive one crazy.

Seeing how Commodus is treated by his family makes me want to beat them with a stick. Sure patricide is not a nice thing to do, but the guy was so cruel to his own son, I think he got off too nicely. Not only did he show Commodus again and again that he thought he was not good enough as his son, but he just picked a replacement.

Throughout the whole movie I just want to give a big hug. I'd also like to tell him a few things, because he is acting very short sighted, but at least I can understand the reason for that. He is trying to get the attention and love he was always denied. It is only fitting that later, when he realised that the only person that really mattered to him, his sister, did betray him, he snapped.

Commodus and his sister

It's almost heart-breaking to see how much he is in love with her, when she only fears and despises him. If the movie at least gave a good reason for that, she is set up as one of the good guys and yet she was so cold hearted. When Commodus began falling apart she only futhered it by giving him drugs. She certainly was intelligent enough to be doing this on purpose.

Rating:

Brainpower:
Physical:
Skill:
Presence:
Sex Appeal:
Toughness:
Badness:

Brainpower:

His long term planning is not the best, but on a short time basis he is deadly and accurate.(6 out of 10)

Physical:

Prefers to let others do his dirty deeds, but likes the idea of going in and fighting, provided that he has an advantage. (4 out of 10)

Skill:

Mostly has people do things for him, but for someone who had little opportunity to fight he trained himself quite well. One should expect more political far sight from him, but he now how to please the masses. Still there is not much diversity shown. (4 out of 10)

Presence:

Physically he might not be that threatening, but once he is on a roll, his anger, the voice and his growing madness makes him a very intimidating fellow. (8 out of 10)

Sex Appeal:

There is something about the hurt type, that is very appealing to me and the reason why I can understand why people like hurt/comfort fanfics. I feel like pulling him close and never letting go trying to give him all the love and closeness he missed so far. I know it sounds cheesy, especially giving that he is not real, but that's how I feel. (7 out of 10)

Toughness:

Despite trying to appear as someone equally tough to a Gladiator, it is obvious that he lead a sheltered life. Still he did put up an impressive fight giving the circumstances. In the end he was just too hurt from the beginning to take much more. (5 out of 10)

Badness

He certainly was a bad boy, admittingly people who conquer others are seldom nice, but he certainly proved that he knew how to be cruel. Ordering his men to rape and murder Maximus wife and burn and kill everyone and everything else gets him top grades, add sadistic plays in the collosseum and threatening the life of his nephew to force his sister to sleep with him gets him top grades. (10 out of 10)

Fanfiction involving Commodus

So far I have not read a fanfic that really blew me away, mostly some nice alternative endings, where Commodus is spared because some OFC intervenes on his behalf and nutures him back to health, some in between stories. What I really love to read is a story that is set in a more alternate story line and not so closely tied to the movie. Maybe something where Maximus was indeed killed at the beginning ...

I don't have more than vague ideas and certainly enough fanfics in the process.

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