Anonymus

* Book
* Animated film

Anonymus (French: Petiminius) is a Roman civilian who appears in the Asterix comic book The Mansions of the Gods (1971) as an unnamed character, and returns as a more developed, supporting character in the animated film named after the book (2014). While at the Circus Maximus, he wins a raffle, the reward is a flat in the Mansions of the Gods where he lives with his wife until the Gauls intervene.

## Appearance

Anonymus is rotund, with a big rounded nose.

In the comic book his hair is light and he wears a pink / purple tunic.

In the animated film his hair is brown and he wears a teal tunic with white stripes. Compared to the comic, he is slimmer, his nose is smaller and his upper hair is closer to the head.

## Comic Book

The character first appears on Page 27 in the Circus Maximus, which he comes to with his wife. On that day, there’s a raffle going on in the circus: the visitors receive brochures of the Mansions of the Gods and numbered tickets. After the gladiator fights are finished, the winning number is revealed to be CIV (104), which he turns out to have. He doesn’t want to accept his prize, since the Mansions are built close to the village of the indomitable Gauls, but his wife attracts attention to him, and he’s threatened with lions in case he refuses to go to Gaul.

When the civilians arrive to the nearly complete Mansions of the Gods, the shopping precinct isn’t ready yet, and the architect Squareonthehypothenus tells them to shop in the nearby camps. However, the raffle winner’s wife suggests shopping in the Gaulish village instead, which becomes popular to do. This changes the way the Gauls live, and Asterix, Obelix and Getafix aren’t happy with it, so they come up with a plan to empty the Mansions without violence.

Oneday, as the raffle-winning Roman and his wife stroll through the Gaulish village and the nearby forest, Obelix shows up to frighten him. The couple returns to their flat in the Mansions, where Asterix knocks on the door and tells them Obelix is looking for him. The terrified Roman decides to move with his wife back to Rome tomorrow.

On the next day the Roman couple moves back where they came from, marking their last appearance on Page 39. The Gauls would then use the flat they left for their plan.

## Animated Film

Aside from a wife (who’s been given the name Dulcia), Anonymus has a son named Mischiefus in the film. Like in the book, he first appears in the Circus Maximus and he has the winning ticket, except its number is II (2). However, when he arrives to the Mansions of the Gods, the architect demands documents which he doesn’t have. Anonymus works with mosaics, so when he sees the mosaic with the architect in process, he points out the flaws, which will play a role later in the film.

The family walks through the forest and accidentally meets Obelix, who takes them to the Gaulish village where they settle for the time being. After a few days they gather all the needed documents and get the key to their flat.

Similarly to the book, the Roman civilians cause life in the Gaulish village to change. Asterix, Obelix, Getafix and Cacofonix ask for a flat in the Mansions, but all the flats are occupied. Unbeknownst to them, Anonymus’ family gets thrown out on the street, and they take the now vacant flat.

On the next day the villagers are offered free flats in the Mansions. Cacofonix is given a dose of the magic potion and is tricked into singing, which causes the Roman habitants to run from their houses. An offscreen villager knocks the bard down by throwing a fish at him. The Roman civilians return, and the villagers move in and adopt the Roman lifestyle. Asterix, Obelix and Getafix go back to the now deserted village, while Anonymus’ family continues living with them.

When the legionaries trap Mischiefus, Getafix and Dogmatix in the Mansions, the boy throws one of his toys into the rivulet outside. Anonymus and Dulcia look for their child, and the mother notices the toy swimming by. They run along the river and hide from the legion on the way. They spend the whole night looking for Mischiefus but fail to find him.

While the legionaries are contemplating whether they should attack the Gauls or not, Anonymus and Dulcia stand at the Mansion’s doors. Asterix crashes into Anonymus after catapulting himself away from the legion. Mischiefus calls from the inside, and Asterix and Anonymus begin their attempts to open or break the door. A curious legionary joins them and they use him as a battering ram, still to no avail. The three of them then watch Dulcia use her hair pin as a lockpick. Inside the building, Anonymus jumps on the guards’ heads and reaches for the mosaic, ripping out a piece, which causes almost the entire picture to crumble and bury the guards under the pieces. The couple frees their child, Getafix and Dogmatix.

Anonymus’ family helps Getafix brew the magic potion in one of the flats, and blocks the door until the legionaries manage to break in.

During the fight Anonymus drinks the magic potion off-screen. The slave driver and the architect try to escape with a cart, but Anonymus picks up a column and throws it at the cart, which then falls over and crushes them both.

Anonymus’ family returns to Rome with some gifts from the Gauls: a few instant-growth acorns and a miniature menhir. They revisit the Circus Maximus, where Anonymus gives one of the acorns to his son to play a prank on Caesar. Mischiefus throws it, and in a few seconds Caesar is hanging from an oak.

Back in the Gaulish village, Asterix admires Anonymus’ mosaic picture depicting nearly all the notable villagers (except Cacofonix).

## Videogame

There’s a Nintendo 3DS game based on the book and the film, which shares its name and release year with the film. Some civilians bear a resemblance to cartoon Anonymus, however he doesn’t really exist in the game, neither do his wife and son.

Civilian mob with a similar face shapeCivilian mob with similar colors
## Trivia

* His Russian name Нолиминус means “zero and minus”.
* In 2015 a series of bust figurines was released which depicted 10 characters from Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods. The Roman’s name is incorrectly written as “Petitminus”.