Marcus Didius Falco/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Complete Monster: Happens occasionally. While the murderers are sometimes sympathetic, they rarely come here. Notable exceptions include the killer from Three Hands, Lysa from Ode and Philetus from Alexandria, although in his case it's a simpering, withering kind of way.
    • And Balbinus. Don't forget Balbinus.
  • Fridge Brilliance: In Time to Depart, after the death of Nonnius, Petro is alerted to the death by a team of vigiles who came for him because of the pot shoved on the body's head, their leader just happening to remember that particular pot on the list of stolen property from the Emporium raid. It's a clue that he's one of the many vigiles in Balbinus' employ, who was indirectly sending Petro a message.
  • Funny Aneurysm Moment: In-text example- in Shadows in Bronze, Falco, Petro and Larius go to Pompeii. One of the first things Falco says about it is that it's obviously a place that intends to last. In the next few lines, he points out that yes, he did know what happened to Pompeii, but it was eight years before the eruption, and everyone who thought Vesuvius was a volcano had concluded that it was extinct.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Famia's death in Two For the Lions.
  • Tear Jerker: Falco's description of the aftermath of the Boudiccan Revolt, Sosia's death in The Silver Pigs.
    • The funeral of Geminus and Marcus Didius Justinianus - and the circumstances that led to the baby not getting his own funeral in the first place. Values Dissonance played for heartbreak.

So on the sun-drenched slopes of the Janiculan Hill, one long, strange July evening, we paid our respects to Marcus Didius Favonius. Neither he nor tiny Marcus Didius Justinianus would have to face the dark alone. Wherever they were going, they set off there together, with my tiny son clasped for eternity in the strong arms of his grandfather.

  • What an Idiot!: Petro. He's a philanderer, and he decides to fuck Balbina Milvia, a notorious gangster's daughter- to be precise, the daughter of the gangster Petro managed to put away. Of all the women in the world, he went for the one that ensured him a lifetime feud with anyone connected to her.
  • The Woobie: Petro. He really loves his kids and his wife. His wife leaves him, taking custody of his kids... and then two of them die while he's abroad.