Gagik Bagratouni

Gagik Bagratouni
Fictional Character
Videssos Cycle Videssos Series
Appearance(s):	The Misplaced Legion through Swords of the Legion
Type of Appearance:	Direct
Nationality:	Vaspurakan
Religion:	"Princes" of Vaspurakan
Occupation:	Soldier, Nakharar
Spouse:	Zabel

Gagik Bagratouni was a Vaspurakaner general and nakharar who led a contingent of his countrymen alongside Avtokrator Mavrikios Gavras during the Maragha campaign and the whole of the War Against the Yezda.

He had a commanding presence, as Marcus Scaurus of the "Ronams" noted when Bagratouni reviewed the Videssian army outside the town of Amorion in the west of Videssos; the Roman likened Bagratouni to a lion and compared him to Julius Caesar and the Roman general's resemblance to an eagle.

Gagik Bagratouni invited the Roman commanders to dinner at his villa during their stay at Amorion. They noted his taste for a good time, but also saw his hot temper flash whenever crossed, as it was when the radical priest Zemarkhos, whom Bagratouni detested, wished to speak to Scaurus. When Zemarkhos insulted Bagratouni, he placed Zemarkhos in a bag with a panicked dog, ironically Zemarkhos' and whom the latter had named Vaspur as a calculated insult.

Bagratouni volunteered to take back a Yezda-held Khliat. Knowing that would cause lots of casualties, Soteric, suspicious of whether the Avtokrator was giving dangerous assignments to enemies, said that Bagratouni had "more honor then sense"

Literary Comment

Everything Vaspurakaner is heavily based on Armenian culture. Bagratuni, similar to Bagratouni, is the name of the ruling dynasties of Armenia during the 10th and 11th century. Gagik was the name of two Armenian kings.