Arminius was raised as a roman, a son of rome, and as such he had to aspire to leadership, to glory and to greatness from the young age. Varus is his father, his mentor, he’s the man who taught armirius everything he knows about life and battles. He was the one who gave him his first armor, his first sword and his first sword fighting lesson. He was the one who would constantly talk about the greatest military achievements of the roman empire.And the one who led arminius to believe that as a roman he could accomplish anything he sets his mind to.
So imagine what arminius must be feeling when his father…his mentor, the man that led him to believe that he could be anything he wanted to be, tells him he won’t be going back to rome because he’s achieved everything he could in rome…No …Not everything he could…Everything SOMEONE LIKE HIM *a non roman, an outsider,a barbarian, a prisoner* could hope to achieve. With those few words varus wrecks his son’, arminius’ whole world and heart in the process.
Arminius spent his life trying to meet his father’s expectations, trying to make his father happy, trying to be the best son, trying to be his father’s best soldier , trying to make his father proud…. He was supposed to bring honor to his father’s name. He was going to be so great that he/his family would have been remembered through myths and songs . The painful realization that all of his hopes, dreams, and well-laid plans aren’t going to come about brought tears into his eyes.
The saddest part of that conversation was the realization that he had been living a lie, and that him becoming reik of the cerusci had been planned a long time ago.
“ Arminius reik of the cherusci that’s what l raised you to be “
“l thought you raised me to be your son.” AND JUST LIKE THAT l WAS CRYING… AND ALL I COULD HEAR WAS YOUR SON YOUR SON YOUR SON.
Everything was a lie, he was never meant for greatness, he wasn’t raised to be his father’s son or a son of rome, no, he was raised to be the future reik of the cherusci. He lived a lie…It was a lie and a big one.
He didn’t just lose an important part of himself a.k.a his dreams but the most important part of himself his belief in his father and rome. And that loss will lead to a mutiny.
