Trope:The Conqueror


 * Mirror Archer: Great men are not peacemakers. Great men are conquerors!
 * — Star Trek: Enterprise, "In A Mirror, Darkly"

Throughout history, there have been a few individuals who have had a marked personal effect on the course of events around them. Some did this through political or sometimes aesthetic means, but most of those who were single-handedly instrumental in deciding the path of history have been military leaders. It seems that certain men combine a rare set of natural traits - leadership ability, tactical thinking, staggering ambition, copious ego, and a large dose of suicidal bravery, all combined with a visionary drive to rule the world and the imagination to see it done - to create a whole individual who is patently capable of turning even a ragtag band of woefully underfed and poorly equipped vagabonds into a fighting force that is not only formidable but easily capable of crushing any opposition that stands before it.

A true Conqueror strives to claim the whole of the known world through military, and often succeeds. (Note that he often doesn't put much thought into running it once he's taken it; he just wants the bragging rights). This is in contrast to those characters who rise to universal power through other means (such as subverting the democratic process or literally beingappointed dictator by a legislative body).

The easiest way to recognize this character is by what he manages to accomplish. If he doesn't take over two or three countries (at least) in the course of the story, he's not The Conqueror.

Most Conquerors are by nature Magnificent Bastards. Some even dip into Omnicidal Maniac territory. They are also their own Trope Namers. Quite often, these characters appear in the Backstory of a setting, and all that is left of their conquests is a Vestigial Empire.

Conqueror From The Future is a Sub-Trope of this when the Conqueror in question has, in fact, actually managed to conquer something. Galactic Conqueror and Young Conquerorare specific variants. Multiversal Conqueror is this trope taken to its logical extreme.

These fellows often get "The Conqueror" as a sobriquet—frequently one of many.

Examples

 * Linyoa Kanna, known as, suprise suprise, The Conqueror, conquered pretty much all of Osea, including ISAF, Leasath, Aurelia, Yuktobania, Took, and most of Erusia. He also conquered a good portion of Samarkand as well as various island colonies. Also like a true "The Conqueror" he was unable to hold on to most of the territory he captured. Directus was only able to keep hold of Aurelia, its Samarkand territory, and its island colonies.
 * Sparklelord is sometimes called the Conqeuror despite not actually having conquered any nations in the timespan of the game. On the otherhand he is supposedly a multi century old being so maybe his title has some merit in the past.
 * Seymon Ritger tried to be this. It turned out to be a crowning moment of stupid instead.
 * While little is known about him and his reign, or if he really existed at all, Sitorium Solethinian, as the founder of the Soleilian Empire, probably applies.