Titus Pullo (character of Rome)
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| Rome character | |
 |
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| Titus Pullo | |
|---|---|
| Name | Titus Pullo |
| Class | Freedman |
| Family | None named. Deceased mother, who was a slave, mentioned several times |
| Allies | Lucius Vorenus Gaius Octavian 13th Legion (Legio XIII Gemina) Eirene |
| Enemies | Erastes Fulmen |
| Appearances | 1-1 "The Stolen Eagle" 1-2 "How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic" 1-3 "An Owl in a Thornbush" 1-4 "Stealing from Saturn" 1-5 "The Ram Has Touched the Wall" 1-6 "Egeria" 1-7 "Pharsalus" 1-8 "Caesarion" 1-9 "Utica" 1-10 "Triumph" 1-11 "The Spoils" 1-12 "Kalends of February" |
| Portrayed by | Ray Stevenson |
Titus Pullo is a fictional character from the HBO/BBC original television series Rome, played by Ray Stevenson. He is depicted as a friendly, upbeat, devil-may-care soldier with the morals of a pirate, the appetites of a hedonist, and a total lack of personal responsibility, who discovers hidden ideals and integrity within himself. The basis for this character is the historical Roman soldier of the same name, who is briefly mentioned in Julius Caesar's De Bello Gallico.
[edit] Personality
Titus Pullo knows little of his mother and nothing of his father. Presumably we will learn more about his upbringing in upcoming seasons of Rome, but it is safe to say, the legion is the only family he has really known and Lucius, with his strict discipline and value-filled life, comes to represent something of not quite a father, but an older brother to him.
He is good natured, but a beast of a man who ends up becoming a terror to his enemies and his own worst enemy. After killing Eirene's lover, being banned from the house of his friend, and having left the XIIIth, he is filled with a death wish and only his love of the 13th can snap him out of it.
He represents on one side the demonic forces of the plebeian and barbarian masses that are helping to tear the republic apart, but also the life spirit and general goodness that is helping forge its future.
[edit] Character history
In Rome Titus Pullo is an optimistic, impulsive, risk taker. He is a foil and friend to Vorenus. Born of slaves in northern Italy, Pullo seems to live life to the fullest, but at a base and hedonistic level. He is initially a brash and insolent Roman legionaire in the 13th Legion (Legio XIII Gemina) under Vorenus. When Caesar gives Vorenus orders to retrieve his stolen standard, Vorenus chooses Pullo to accompany him because "finding the eagle is just as dishonourable as losing it, it's like trying to find a black dog in the night." The soldiers soon stumble upon Pompey's men, who had stolen a white horse which Atia of the Julii had intended to give to Caesar. These men had also kidnapped Octavian, Caesar's nephew. Octavian shows interest in both Vorenus and Pullo after they rescue him.
Upon returning to Rome with Vorneus, both Pullo and Vorneus are rewarded by Atia (on Octavian's insistance) by having dinner with Atia and Octavian. Pullo soon finds he cannot adapt well to civilian life, wandering into the underworld of Rome through inertia and his skill at killing. Pullo struggles to define himself outside his life in the legions, and through this - and his friendship with Vorenus - discovers depths, needs, and even ideals which go beyond the image of himself as nothing more than a fighting, drinking, lecherous soldier.
While at times he shows a high level of piety and faith in the gods (particularly during the numerous times he is jailed for losing his temper and lashing out violently), some of the more notable exchanges between Pullo and Vorenus center on the latter's disgust with the former's challenging and even bitter attitude toward the ruling deities. Perhaps the most notable example of this impious streak occurs when Pullo defies Triton before the ship he and Vorenus are taking to Greece sinks into the sea. His overall defiant attitude toward authority may represent an exaggerated desire to be a slave to no one, regardless of the power they wield.
Pullo is also depicted as tutoring young Octavian in fighting and copulation. It is also implied that, unbeknownst to Caesar, Pullo becomes the father of Caesarion.
