History Literature / TheLastLegion

* ApocalypseHow/Class0: The novel depicts the troubled times of the final death.of the Western Empire. Western Europe is torn apart by wars and famine, the Roman infrastructures are dilapidated or faded into oblivion, Germanic tribes have all but divided a former empire into smaller kingdoms.

* CityOnTheWater: Livia Prisca is from a very promising village, built in a easily-defensible lagoon by refugees from all the parts of Italy. The name of said village is [[UsefulNotes/Venice Venetia]].

[[caption-width-right:236:The eagle flies for one last time]]The Roman Empire is falling, crumbling into disrepair. In the last five years there have been five Caesars, and every one was murdered. Now the title of Caesar, highest office in Rome, must fall to the shoulders of a young boy, Romulus Augustus. Scared, naive, and unprepared, he is barely on the throne for a few days when the dreaded [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Goths]] supporting the chieftain Odoacer descend upon Ravenna and kill everyone except the emperor, his mother Flavia and his tutor, the british druid Meridius Ambrosius, AKA [[{{Myth/Merlin}} Myrdin Emreis]]. Deposed and exiled to the island of Capri, Romulus is rescued by a small band of loyal soldiers, the only survivors of the legion Nova Invicta, an elite force recruited by his father Orestes. But not before uncovering an ancient sword and the prophecy attached to it. Pursued by the Goths, the heroes are led by the prophecy to the faraway lands of Britain where Romulus must find his destiny.

* AnachronismStew: Averted. Manfredi has ShownTheirWork, and most of the novel is actually pretty accurate, history sense.
* AncientGrome: Averted. Being an Italian himself and a renowned historian, Manfredi depicts very well the late Roman society.

* BloodlessCarnage: Averted. The fights are depicted as a brutish and gorish mess. The soldiers evade this as much as they can.

* AnachronismStew: Averted. Manfredi actually DidTheResearch, and most of the novel is actually pretty accurate, history sense.

* CityOnTheWater: foreshadowed. Livia Prisca is from Venetia, but in the time of the book, it is only a very promising village.

* IdentityAmnesia: Aurelius. He "always was in the Legion, and can't remember anything else". Parte of his arc his finding his roots again.

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Livia Prisca.
* TokenMinority: Batiatus is black, and Ambrosinus is British.

* UndyingLoyalty: Many roman characters, as Aurelius or Ursinus, and many common people that help them to escape from the goths. Also Ambrosinus with Romulus.

''L'Ultima legione'', as it's called in the original italian, is an action adventure novel made in 2002, freely based off the story of the last days of the Roman Empire, created by Creator/ValerioMassimoManfredi.

* HolyCity: Played straight. Rome is both the spiritual center of the empire (although the actual capital of the Western Empire is Ravenna), and the seat of the Pope. All romans and italians (and even the barbarians) look at it with reverence.

* RapePillageAndBurn: Sadly, what happens in Derton and in Flavours Orestes' villa. [[NightmareFuel The villa is burned down, every woman raped and killed and the rest murdered as well.]]

* ScaryBlackMan: Played straight. The goths actually fear him because many of them never saw a black guy in their lives. But for those who know him personally he's a GentleGiant.

* WeUsedToBeFriends:
** When it's obvious the Western Empire is on a verge of total collapse, [[TruthInTelevision Romans find themselves fighting each other and the Eastern Empire leaves them without any aid]].

* IdentityAmnesia: Aurelius. He "always was in the Legion, and can't remember anything else".

* RescueRomance: Livia believes Aurelio was the man who saved her life during the Sack of Aquileia, and its partially the reason why she tells for him. [[spoiler: She's right, but for most of the plot he's amnesiac about those events, out of guilt and trauma as it turns out.]]

* UnresolvedSexualTension: Averted. Aurelius and Livia fuck in the woods before Stephanos betray them, believing that they will be separated. This is way before they actually confess their feelings for each other.

* FutureFamousPeople: Although [[spoiler: Romulus]] is already famous on his own, he's revealed to be the future [[spoiler: Uther Pendragon, King Arthur's father.]]

* YouKilledMyFather: Wulfila killed Romulus's parents.

* AncientGrome: Averted. Being an italian himself, Manfredi depicts very well the late roman society.
* AncientRome: Technically still counts, though it covers (in a fictional sense) the final events of its history.

* AnAxeToGrind: Wulfila.

* BadassGrandpa: Ambrosinus is pretty spry for an elderly man, he pulls off Houdini tricks, as the Greek Fire in the waters of Capri. Also Ursinus, who guides TheSquad by the Alps being an elderly, veteran '''miles''' who fought for Aecius in the Catalaunian Plains.

* TheCaptain: Aurelius.

* IdentityAmnesia: Aurelius. He "always was in the Legion, and can't remember anything else"

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: TheSquad consist of what is left of troops loyal to the deposed emperor, said emperor and their two allies.

* ScaryBlackMan: Played straight. The goths actually fear him because many of them never saw a black guy in their lives.

* TokenMinority: Batiatus is black, and Ambrosinus is british.

* ActionGirl: Livia Prisca. She is an ArcherGirl that saves Aurelio from Wulfila alone.

%* LadyOfWar: Livia.

* RaePillageAndBurn: Sadly, what happens in Derton and in Flavours Orestes' villa. [[NightmareFuel The villa is burned down, every woman raped and killed and the rest murdered as well.]]

* LadyOfWar: Livia.
* LastOfHisKind: Aurelius and three men are all that remain of their Legion.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Livia Prisca is from a little village inhabited by refugees looking to live in the Roman way, settling in a lagoon that can easily defended from raiding. She believes that their settlement will become an important city in a few generations. The little lake city is no other than the future UsefulNotes/Venice.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Livia Prisca is from a little village inhabited by refugees looking to live in the Roman way, and she believes that this city is going to be great. The little lake city is no other than Venetia.

* Foreshadowing: Livia Prisca is from a little village inhabited by refugees looking to live in a roman way, and she believes that this city is going to be great. The little lake city is no other than Venetia.

-->Anno Domini 476. The RomanEmpire is coming to an end.

* CoolSword: The sword of JuliusCaesar. Serves as the MacGuffin. [[spoiler: Eventually became {{Excalibur}}.]]

* {{Badass}}: Aurelius. Though he also has shades of ActionSurvivor.
** BadassGrandpa: Ambrosinus is pretty spry for an elderly man, he pulls off Houdini tricks, as the Greek Fire in the waters of Capri. Also Ursinus, who guides TheSquad by the Alps being an elderly, veteran '''miles''' who fought for Aecius in the Catalaunian Plains.

* BigBad: Appears to be Odoacer the Goth, but after the heroes flee from Italy it dissapears, and his erstwhile [[TheDragon second-in-command]] Wulfila emerges as the true main villain of the movie.

* LostRomanLegion: [[spoiler:The Ninth Legion appears in the movie, as the titular legion]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Seems to be superstition, legends, and old cults, and maybe just a little bit of good luck, Romulus's mentor Ambrosinus is revealed to be [[spoiler: Myth/{{Merlin}} in the last few minutes of the movie. Then again, his only magical act seems to be that he hasn't aged.]]
* OhCrap: At the crowning ceremony, Aurelius and his men are stunned to realize the "thief" they threw into a pool and nearly maimed at the start of the movie is their new emperor.
** Look closely and you can see Demetrius mouthing "we're dead."
* OlderThanTheyLook: Vortygn doesn't appear to have aged a bit since his first clash with a young Ambrosinus.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Aurelius goes by that name for most of the movie, until in one instance he reveals his full name is "Aurelianus Caius Antonius". Huh.