Magnificent Bastard: Flavius Aetius is a Roman general and strategist whose patriotism is matched only by his cunning and charisma. Released by Emperor Valentinian's mother Placidia from prison to fight their enemies, he implicates Placidia in an assassination that Aetius foils to isolate her from the emperor. To deal with the Visigoths and the Huns, Aetius desecrates Hunnic corpses and makes the Visigoths look responsible to forge an alliance with the Huns, and takes Attila to Rome to impress the young prince with its splendor. After Attila, now king, builds up the Hunnic Empire and turns on the Romans, Aetius orchestrates a plot to assassinate Attila by convincing a slave girl with a grudge against the Huns to seduce Attila and kill him on their wedding night. Even when Aetius is forced to sacrifice his daughter for the good of Rome, he ensures that the man who took her from him, King Theodoric, will be killed in the final battle against the Huns. Aetius returns to Rome in triumph, and his murder at the hands of the emperor signals the final nail in the coffin for the once mighty empire, for there were no more men capable of defending it.
Rooting for the Empire: While we're ostensibly supposed to sympathize with Attila given that he's the main character, his arch-enemy Flavius Aetius is a much more interesting character to watch given his cunning, charm, and leadership qualities. Also, out of all the Roman characters, he's one of the few who isn't a Smug Snake of some stripe. Attila, by contrast, is a rather bland barbarian/romantic hero.
Either Odabella calculatingly exploits Attila's feelings for her to find the perfect moment to stab him, or she starts to reciprocate his love but has to kill him because a) he murdered her father b) she realizes that despite his affection for her, he still remains a cruel barbarian chief who will continue to raid her homeland if he isn't stopped.
Ezio is either a Pragmatic Hero who wants what's best for his country or he is a power-hungry schemer only pretending to be the former.
Magnificent Bastard: Odabella is a young woman whose city is attacked by Attila the Hun. After her father is killed by the invaders, Odabella vows revenge and continues to fight the Huns herself, impressing the Huns with her battle skills. Captured, she charms Attila with an impassioned aria about her love for her country and the courage of her fellow countrywomen. Soon she saves him from a murder attempt, since she does not want her revenge to be stolen from her, and Attila announces he will marry her. At the wedding, she lures him away from the Huns to and where her two co-conspirators are hidden, lets him hear "The Reason You Suck" Speech from each of them and stabs him with his own sword that he had previously given her, crying out that it is a sacrifice to her father.
Rooting for the Empire: Thanks to Attila's Evil Virtues, his love for Odabella and his Tear Jerker of a death, many people sympathize with him rather than the Romans. Even casual theatre-goers who hardly listen to opera have been heard complaining it was stupid of Odabella to kill him.
The Billy Joel album:
So Bad, It's Good: It's full of Large Ham moments, laughable lyrics, and is such a downright ridiculous musical effort that it's attracted many fans who would argue it's a prime example of this.
