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Xerxes is a minor antagonist in the manga/anime series Record of Ragnarok.
He is the main antagonist of Leonidas’ Flashback during the Ninth Round of the Ragnarok Tournament.
Xerxes is the fourth King of the Achaemenid Empire who attempted to conquer Greece by unleashing the Greco-Persian War, but he’s defeated and repulsed a year after the Battle of Thermopylae during which he got the better of Leonidas and the 300 Spartans.
Appearance[]
Xerxes is a rather tall and muscular man, who wears an ornate pointed cap with two necklaces passing under his eyes. He wears a kind of dark toga with only one shoulder, the left, and only one leg, the right, under another kind of shorter toga, which reaches the waist, lighter and held by a kind of brooch on the shoulder left. He also wears ornaments such as bracelets on both his wrists and arms, a belt and a necklace. He's barefoot.
Personality[]
Xerxes is an ambitious man with expansionist policies, who tried to conquer the whole known world by unleashing the Greco-Persian War. At the same time, he can't stand those who oppose him and tries to defeat them as soon as possible.
Biography[]
Xerxes is the fourth King of the Achaemenid Empire. In 480 B.C. Xerxes, wanting to expand the Persian Empire, invades Greece with the aim of conquering it. Despite the threat represented by Xerxes, the Gerousia still decide not to fight him because, according to the will of their patron God Apollo, they must not fight during the Carneia Festival celebrated in his honor.
However, the King of Sparta Leonidas rebels against this decision and, together with 300 Spartans, reaches Thermopylae where he intercepts Xerxes' army and attacks it, triggering the Battle of Thermopylae during which Xerxes directly confronts Leonidas.
In the end it is the Persian army that wins the battle and kills Leonidas and the 300 Spartans, but their action still leads, a year later, to the victory of Greece over the Persian army which is thus forced to retreat. Xerxes will later be assassinated in 465 B.C. by Artabanus, the commander of the royal bodyguard and the most powerful official of the Persian court.
Powers and Abilities[]
Military Expertise: During the Battle of Thermopylae, Xerxes is able to successfully lead a massive military of 300.000 people, showing his merit as a military leader. He even managed to continue his conquest campaign for a full year before defeat.
Fighting Abilities: Xerxes is a skilled combatant, to the point of taking the field personally when he attempted to conquer Greece and to face Leonidas personally. His primary weapon is a pair of shamshir-like swords.
Trivia[]
- Although Xerxes is shown fighting Leonidas directly in the Record of Ragnarok series, according to historians the two never fought in the Battle of Thermopylae.
External Links[]
- Xerxes on the Shuumatsu no Valkyrie Wiki
