Maharbal
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- Hannibal: “What is it, Maharbal? I accomplished what none other has.”
- Maharbal: “Perhaps, Hannibal, you do know how to gain a victory, but I fear you do not know what price you have paid for it.”
- ― Maharbal remarking to Hannibal about his success in crossing the Alps after amusedly laughing about it. (Godzilla: Rage Across Time #4)
Maharbal (マハルバル Maharubaru) is a Numidian army commander from Numidia who was the second-in-command and best friend of Hannibal Barca. He appears as a side character in IDW Publishing's 2016 comic Godzilla: Rage Across Time #4.
Name
Maharbal's Punic name is "𐤌𐤄𐤓𐤁𐤏𐤋", while the romanized spelling of his name is "Mhrbʿl." Interestingly, Maharbal's name in ancient Greek is "Μαάρβας."
Design
Maharbal is a short middle-age man from Africa, visibly out of shape and scarred from battle. His eyes appear orange, though they possibly are brown by actuality. He wears a blue tunic, copper-colored metal armbands, tall brown boots, and a dark brown belt with a sheath presumably for a blade. Quite prominently, Maharbal is seen wearing a dull red cloak that covers most of his being during his appearance. Most distinguishably, Maharbal wears four identical ear piercings on the top of his helixes. One visible scar is seen on his hand and another which spans from his cranium down his right eye and stopping at his jawline.
Personality
Maharbal is the rational, level-headed best friend of Hannibal Barca, supporting the commander-in-chief with loyalty and obedience though he nonetheless questions his leader's actions quite consistently. Maharbal is unafraid to berate Hannibal for his recklessness, which he ends up doing a lot during their travels through the Alps. After suffering tremendous casualties and losses in the journey through the mountains to Godzilla and faced with the threat of the oncoming Roman forces in pursuit, Maharbal was quick to get himself a drink when him and Hannibal's forces felt hopeless and decided to drink in their seeming last moments. When Hannibal was instead rejuvenated by the occurrence of a plan to defeat Godzilla, Maharbal promptly followed his leader's scheme, having their surviving forces turn their wine supply into vinegar and binding it together in preparation. When Hannibal faced death in his successful efforts to lure Godzilla to the spot of the offense, Maharbal had flaming arrows fired at Godzilla, getting his attention and saving Hannibal. Given a cue, Maharbal promptly took an axe and chopped loose the blinded barrels of wine-turned vinegar, which came out successful as Godzilla was buried beneath rubble. As they made their way out of the mountains, Maharbal amusedly laughed about the success of Hannibal's plan, remarking that he perhaps knew how to obtain a victory after all. In addition to that, Maharbal sincerely warned Hannibal about the price of their occurrent success.
History
- Godzilla: Rage Across Time #4 (2016)
Godzilla: Rage Across Time
"Classic Rome"
In 218 BC, Maharbal was with Hannibal Barca as they and their forces traversed the Alps on a march to Rome from the unguarded north. At some point, the foreign army came upon the ancient monster, Godzilla. Like Hannibal, Maharbal survived the encounter and was around to witness the on-panel arrival of Roman forces that were after Hannibal.
When the Romans arrived at their abandoned camp, Maharbal watched alongside Hannibal as some of their elephants appeared before the Romans while enveloped in blue flames, followed by the awakening of Godzilla. Maharbal questioned why Hannibal would watch the suffering of the unfortunate Romans after they themselves had just barely survived their encounter with the monster. When the commander attributed their survival to his unfulfilled goal, Maharbal rationally objected, stressing that to the monster, they were "but ants to it." In response to his concern, Hannibal added onto Maharbal's analogy, recalling a childhood experience when he witnessed as a colony of Siafu ants managed to aggravate a rhino into causing destruction to a Bantu village. Understnading that Hannibal meant for them to fight the monster with the same approach, Maharbal suggested that there was alternative means of reaching Rome, though he failed to deter Hannibal's desired course of action. After Hannibal led an unsuccessful attack on Godzilla, resulting in the deaths of a few troops and horses, Maharbal angrily called him a fool. Once more, Maharbal was unable to persuade Hannibal, who ordered for word to be sent to the mercenary commanders they hired, bent on attacking Godzilla same as the Siafu ants do, "as an unbreakable column." Later that night, when the mercenaries opportunistically attacked Hannibal, once again drawing the wrath of Godzilla, Maharbal rushed to Hannibal take him to a ravine where their troops had found refuge from the ensuing chaos. Regrouping with their men, Maharbal treated himself to a drink, which Hannibal berserkly knocked out of his hands. The sober and confused Maharbal questioned Hannibal once more, only for him to find himself carrying out preparations for a scheme. During such, Maharbal had the army take their supply of wine barrels and boil it all before cooling it down in the snow and taking it to the ravine, where they waited for their leader to lure Godzilla. When the commander successfully lead Godzilla to the ravine, Maharbal had the men rain flaming arrows down on the monster's back, saving Hannibal from the enemy's retaliation. In the ensuing chaos, Maharbal heard his beloved leader's cue to cut loose the barrels of wine turned vinegar, chopping the ropes holding the supply with an axe and watching as the barrels created an explosion that brought down the cavern ceiling onto Godzilla, burying him. On their trek back outside, Maharbal amusedly laughed, which Hannibal overheard and asked about. To his own pleasure, Maharbal remarked that perhaps Hannibal knew how to achieve victory after all, though he warned his best friend of the price it cost him to acquire such. Regardless, Maharbal stood beside Hannibal as the latter blew his battle horn for all in the nearby Roman city to hear.
Abilities
Physical abilities
Maharbal is resilient and capable for an individual of his physique, going through with years of military experience prior to 218 BC, obtaining some battle scars in the process. Despite the harsh conditions of traversing the Alps, Maharbal endured by Hannibal's side.
Blade
Though only seen in one panel, Maharbal wears a sheath on his belt presumably for a blade, though the object in mind itself does not appear.
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Maharbal's sheath
Axe
Briefly, Maharbal armed himself with an axe to chop the ropes holding together his army's supply of wine barrels after hearing Hannibal's cue to let them loose.
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Maharbal wielding an axe
Gallery
Scans
Trivia
- In real life, following the battle of Cannae, Maharbal insisted to Hannibal to immediately march on Rome. When Hannibal expressed that he needed time to weigh the plan on subject, Maharbal said to him, "Assuredly, no one man has been blessed with all God's gifts. You, Hannibal, know how to gain a victory; you do not know how to use it." The Latin translation of such is "Vincere scis, Hannibal; victoria uti nescis."[1]
References
This is a list of references for Maharbal. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
External links
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