| “ | You’ll see, J.C. He's a bit of a weed, but very effective. The green-eyed monster follows him wherever he goes – it’s like magic. | „ |
| ~ One of Julius Caesar's supporters describing Tortuous Convolvulus to him. |
Tortuous Convolvulus (French: Tullius Détritus) is a character from the French comic book series Asterix, he is the main antagonist in Asterix and the Roman Agent (French: La Zizonie, The Discord), and the main antagonist of the 1999 live-action movie Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar where he was portrayed by Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter and director Roberto Benigni.
In the comic Tortuous was chosen by Julius Caesar to spread mistrust and discord in the Gallic village that continues to resist Rome, in order to weaken the Gauls's morale via psychological warfare and thus conquer the village and annex it once and for all into the Roman Empire. Tortuous succeeded temporarily in turning the Gauls against each other, but Asterix, Obelix and Getafix managed to settle the disputes among the villagers and reunite them against the real enemy, and then defeated Tortuous with his own weapons, resulting in his arrest.
Biography[]
Becoming Caesar’s Agent[]
Julius Caesar debates with the Roman Senate about the delivery of more funds and troops for his future campaigns, but the Senate denies Caesar these funds. Their reason is Caesar's failure to maintain the Pax Romana (Roman Peace) in the already conquered territories, referring to the Gallic village that continues to resist the Roman troops and defies the laws of Rome. Caesar suspects that the Senate's refusal is based on the fact that he has reduced their power, and this is a way of the Senate to get back at him, therefore Caesar decides to conquer the Gallic village to show the Senate who is in charge of Rome.
The very next day Caesar holds a meeting with his adopted son Brutus, his friends and followers to work out a plan to conquer the Gallic village. One of the attendants suggest sowing discord among the Gauls in order to make them split up thus nullifying the importance of the magic potion used by the Gauls as their main method of defense against the Romans. At first, Caesar is skeptical of this idea until another attendant suggest a candidate suited for such a mission, Tortuous Convolvulus. Tortuous' skill to create distrust and dissension are apparently so effective that he even managed to make lions eat one another. Intrigued by this, Caesar orders his men to send this troublemaker to him and he is shortly after escorted from his prison to Julius Caesar. After meeting Tortuous Convolvulus for the first time, Caesar gets to witness firsthand Tortuous' natural talent where he makes Caesar's associates fight each other just through his sheer presence alone. Impressed by that, Caesar entrusts Tortuous with his mission and sends him via a Roman Galley to the Roman camp of Aquarium led by Centurion Felix Platypus stationed near the Gallic village.
During the journey by sea, Convolvulus amuses himself by spreading lies and slander which causes the crew of the ship to argue among each other. When the pirates attempt an attack, Convolvulus tells them that they cannot since the African lookout agreed not to attack them in exchange for gold. The lookout is accused of being a traitor and this leads to a fight between and the sinking of their own ship.
Torturous' Plan, Phase 1: Planting the seeds of discord among the Gauls[]
| “ | I know all that, Felix Platypus. But you know what Caesar said: You must take your orders from me! | „ |
| ~ Tortuous to centurion Felix Platypus. |
At the Roman camp of Aquarium, Centurion Platypus provides Tortuous with all the information about every single inhabitant of the Gallic village and also, although reluctantly, entrusts him with one of his spoils from one of his campaigns, a valuable vase. Tortuous tells Platypus that his subordinates complained about the way the spoils were divided. While an outraged Platypus summons his subordinates, Tortuous takes the vase to the village.
Arriving at the gate, he tells the guard that he would like to give the vase to the most important man in the village. The guard informs Vitalstatistix and as the chief of the village, he assumes that this vase is meant for him. Vitalstatistix, together with the other Gauls, waits to receive the vase, but to his shock, Tortuous passes him by without even looking at him and instead hands the vase to Asterix and says then: "Having arrived lately in Gaul, and desirous of strengthening the ties of friendship between Romans and Gauls, I bring this gift for you, the most important man in the village.", this enrages the chief Vitalstatistix and the seeds of discord planted by Tortuous are beginning to grow and spread throughout the village.
After giving the vase to Asterix, Tortuous invites himself to the Gaul's house and is seen by Vitalstatistix, who has just had an argument with his wife Impedimenta about the vase. At Asterix's house, Asterix wants the Roman to take back his vase, but Tortuous insists that Asterix should keep it and leaves the house shortly afterwards. When Tortuous leaves the house, he is eavesdropped on by the already envious Vitalstatistix as the Roman expresses his gratitude to Asterix for the wild boar. This was of course nothing but a lie to spread more discord and disharmony in the village, since Asterix did not offer the Roman any boar to begin with. Asterix tries to explain the whole situation to Vitalstatistix, but in vain, as the chief has already made his judgement.
With discord and envy in the village, rumors quickly follow. In the village, the rumor quickly spreads that the village druid Getafix, who is close to Asterix, is said to have revealed the recipe of the magic potion to Asterix and that the latter is said to have told it to the Romans afterwards.
Phase 2: The fake magic potion[]
| “ | (...) Everything is going according to plan! We'll spread it about that we do have the magic potion, and I promise you the Gauls will soon split up and go away. | „ |
| ~ Tortuous to Platypus' soldiers. |
After a Roman patrol has overheard a conversation between the blacksmith Fulliautomatix and the old Gallic Geriatrix about the possibility that the Romans may have the magic potion and how the wife of Fulliautomatix is thinking about leaving the village behind, the Romans hurry to Tortuous and Centurion Platypus to report the matter. When Tortuous hears this, he tells the Romans that it is now time to implement the second phase of his plan.
The second phase of the plan is to make the Gauls believe that the Romans do in fact know the recipe of the magic potion, in order to force the Gauls to split up and go each their own way, and then the Romans take the opportunity to conquer the village. In order to execute the second phase, Tortuous needs the help of the narrow-minded but strong, club-wielding legionary Magnumopus and a cauldron filled with nothing but warm water.
Tortuous and Magnumopus are waiting for Geriatrix to knock him down in the forest, and it doesn't take long before the old and weak Gaul appears. On the mark of Tortuous, Magnumopus knocks Geriatrix down with a single blow on the head with the club and then leaves his helmet next to the unconscious Gaul. After Geriatrix comes to his senses again, he notices the big bump on his head as well as the Roman helmet next to him and hurries to the village to tell the others that the Romans have the magic potion. The overconfident but physically weak veteran tells the others that a Roman could only knock him out if they drank from the magic potion. Most Gauls believe Geriatrix with the exception of Asterix and Miraculous, while Obelix does not seem to have a clear position on the matter. To find out if the Romans really know the recipe of the magic potion, the chief Vitalstatistix wants to send someone to scout the Roman camp Aquarium. At first, Obelix volunteers for this task, but since he is Asterix's best friend and due to the fact that nobody in the village seems to trust the latter at the moment, Vitalstatistix commissions Fulliautomatix and the fishmonger Unhygienix with this task instead. After Vitalstatistix has made his decision, Getafix and Asterix think it is about time to teach their distrusting friends a little lesson.
On their way to the Roman camp, Fulliautomatix tells Unhygienix that his smell of fish could blow their cover, which easily irritates the fishmonger. As soon as they reach the camp, Unhygienix looks over the wooden stakes to spy on the Romans. Unhygienix sees the Romans all waiting in a queue while Tortuous serves them something from a cauldron that could be the magic potion. At the same time, Platypus suddenly notices the smell of fish, to which Tortuous replies that this smell must come from the Gauls spying on them, just as he predicted. Then he orders the little legionary Homunculus and Magnumopus to carry out their plan. The little legionary yells that now is the time to find out if this potion really works, and proceeds to give Magnumopus a weak punch in the face while the latter pretends to have been knocked out by it. The two Gauls fall for the charade orchestrated by Tortuous and hurry to the village to warn the others.
Convolvulus then announces that he is going to stop serving the fake magic potion to the rest of the legion, but, after seeing Homunculus knock out Magnumopus, the other legionnaires believe that the "magic potion" is genuine and protest at not being allowed to drink it as well. Tortuous tries to remind them that the "magic potion" is just hot water and they are pretending it is real, but the others are not convinced and this leads to a series of misunderstandings that result in Magnumopus knocking out the other legionnaires with his club and Convolvulus gettingg rather muddled himself.
Back from their mission, Fulliautomatix and Unhygienix tell the others that the Romans have the magic potion, to which Asterix replies that this is impossible. Fulliautomatix then draws Asterix's attention to the fact that there have been many Romans in the village lately, implying that Asterix has told Tortuous about the secret of the magic potion, whereupon Getafix angrily asks Vitalstatistix if he accuses the druid of telling the secret of the magic potion to Asterix, a secret that may only be shared among druids, leaving the chief speechless. Afterwards, Asterix and Getafix pretend to leave the village forever along with Obelix, while Vitalstatistix begs Getafix to stay, because without their druid, they have no more magic potion to defend themselves against the Romans.
The trickster gets tricked[]
| “ | I've done it! It worked! The druid, the dwarf and the monster have left the village! | „ |
| ~ Tortuous taking the bait. |
After leaving the village, Asterix, Obelix and Getafix are on their way to the camp of Aquarium to visit Tortuous. Asterix and Getafix enter the tent of Tortuous, who hides behind his pillow out of fear and asks them what they want from him. Asterix and Getafix then tell him that he has succeeded in sowing discord in their village with his lies and slander, and then tell him that they have had enough of him and the village and stating that they will leave the village forever together with the magic potion and Obelix. This is, of course, nothing more than an act to deceive Tortuous, and the two Gauls succeed in this. After Asterix, Obelix and Getafix have left the camp, Tortuous immediately rushes to Platypus to tell him that his plan was a success and that the druid has left the village together with its strongest fighters and now is the perfect opportunity to conquer it. Tortuous and Platypus leave the camp completely unguarded together with all legionaries and march towards the village.
The three Gauls enter the empty camp to search for clues and actually find a cauldron of hot water. They manage to bring the cauldron back to the village and then ask one of the Gauls to taste some of this "magic potion". Fulliautomatix drinks from the potion found in the camp and then tries in vain to uproot a tree. Getafix then tells Asterix, who drank from the real potion to help Fulliautomatix, and he uproots the tree with ease proving to the others that the Romans did not have the magic potion after all. Their friends apologize for ever having suspected Asterix and Getafix of having collaborated with the Romans and put all their differences aside as forgetting about the discord spread by Tortuous, which strengthened the Gaul's morale and fighting spirit, much to Tortuous' dismay. With the help of Asterix and Obelix, Getafix quickly prepares a magic potion to defeat the approaching Roman troops. A battle ensues in which the Goals defeat the Romans.
Arrest[]
| “ | I never! It’s a slander! You can't believe such wicked lies! | „ |
| ~ Tortuous desperately trying to reason with Platypus. |
After the Roman’s defeat, Tortuous comes down from the tree in which he was hiding during the entire fight and is made responsible for their loss by Centurion Platypus. Tortuous is trying to make his leave but is surrounded on all sides by Gauls and Romans alike. All of a sudden, Asterix moves towards the cornered Agent and reaching out for his hands and thanking him for his efforts. Tortuous is completely befuddled by Asterix behavior and shakes the Gaul's hand without noticing. Getafix then tells Tortuous, that he will always be welcomed in their village followed by Vitalstatistix giving him the vase back as a souvenir. The Gauls then celebrate Tortuous and calling him a good friend in front of the Romans.
This charade unfolding in front of Centurion Platypus makes him wrongly conclude that Tortuous was working together with the Gauls the whole time against the Romans and he is charging Tortuous with high treason. The desperate Tortuous is telling the furious Centurion and the other Romans to not fall for the Gaul's wicked lies but unfortunately for him the Romans do not listen to him. Centurion Platypus then orders his men to put the "traitor" in chains and be send back to Rome where he shall stand trial for high treason against Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire.
However, the narrator tells the reader to not worry about Tortuous' fate as he will use his talent of spreading discord to get himself out of this situation.
Live action movie[]
In the film, He is a tribune of Caesar instead of agent, he is seen talking to the centurion and laugh as the centurion call him a scoundrel as Caesar tell him if his speech make him laugh, but Tortuous say the centurion just tell him a Belgium joke, which Caesar tell him which one in anger but he make him understand that he don't want his speech disturbed again. When he return home its where he was plotting against Caesar and wanted to take his place, but of course it was not easy because the task seem more difficult then ever.
When Caesar tax collectors return to Rome after get attacked by the Gauls, Tortuous say he would put the collector to the lions, but Caesar say if they don't handle the Gallic village he will be the one put to the lions which Tortuous was disgusted after the collector laughed, later him and Caesar go to the Romans camp which he order his troops to attack but only to be beaten and Caesar get insulted by Obelix as Asterix try to give him the chest back, later he disguised himself as a druid and capture Getafix.
Of course Caesar find out about Tortuous scheme and arrest and was send to jail, but Obelix who pretend to be a Roman called "Obelus" get in his role and let Asterix be arrested after knocking a guard Tortuous tell him to help him capture Caesar which he did and jail Caesar and pretended that he is sick and was about to die as he announced that Obelus will be his loyal hand men and take Caesar place, which will later lead to his downfall.
When he finally get his hand on the potion secret and get strong he say that the potion was only for him and his own men, but after the potion was knocked off by Obelix who punched a Roman Caesar then appear revealing he's actually alive and well, Tortuous scheme is put to an end when he is arrested and try to convince Caesar it was the Gauls' fault but he is not influenced by him as the Romans garrison drag him he then yell at Caesar that he will get revenge on him and his family by telling him that he will also get his parents despite that Caesar parent might be dead for a long time or that he would destroy his home.
Personality[]
Tortuous Convolvulus is a man who leads a life of lies and manipulation, spreading discord wherever he goes, either by spreading lies or sometimes simply by his sheer presence. His strength lies in psychological warfare as demonstrated in the story where he reduces the morale of the Gauls through lies and manipulation.
However, his strength in sowing discord is also his greatest weakness, illustrated at the end of the story. When Tortuous himself became a victim of slander by the Gauls, there was no one who came to his aid because no one trusted him, not even his Roman allies. Precisely because he leads a life of lies and deceit, he has not earned anyone's trust and therefore in times of need he cannot rely on the help and loyalty of others.
Quotes[]
| “ | Having arrived lately in Gaul, and desirous of strengthening the ties of friendship between Romans and Gauls, I bring this gift for you, the most important man in the village | „ |
| ~ Tortuous giving the vase to Asterix. |
| “ | Teehee! Your magic potion is me! | „ |
| ~ Tortuous to the Romans. |
| “ | I've chosen you for this mission, Magnumopus, because you have all the necessary qualities for participating in psychological warfare... | „ |
| ~ Tortuous to Magnumopus. |
| “ | Tortuous: But it isn't a magic potion! It’s only hot water! Legionary: What d'you mean, it isn't a magic potion? What about him then? Tortuous: But I explained it all to you! We're just pretending! |
„ |
| ~ Tortuous to the confused Romans |
| “ | Now that those three Gauls have gone, the others will be harmless. No more Druid, no more magic potion! | „ |
| ~ Tortuous to Centurion Platypus. |
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