The histories are pretty consistent in their opinions regarding Ricimer.
They don't like him very much.
Me being me, once I found out he's a relative of our fictional family, I took a closer look.
(The Back Story, establishing Ricimer's maternal connections)
Remember when we needed a worthy husband for our own Mamm of Dunnottar? She couldn't go through life all alone, and had a family heritage to add to. She needed a mate.
Fretting about it, I distracted myself by doing one of those on line quizzes: Which Conqueror Are You? Not exactly being 'conqueror material', and not really wanting to be, I didn't expect to find any matches.
Ha.
Up popped the only 'good guy' conqueror in the history of humankind: Alaric.
He did sack Rome in 410, this is true, but he wasn't mean about it. Mamm was at his side, and this was to be their final military campaign together, although they didn't know that at the time.
Alaric gave orders to not hurt anybody except in self defense. He insisted that the holy places be left alone, and everyone who got into them. Rumor has it that some of his men found a cache of wealth in the home of a little old lady. She told them it had come from one of the churches for safe-keeping. They gave themselves an escort, hoisted the wealth on their backs, and themselves carried it across town to return it to the church, with a crowd going along with them singing psalms and such. The other story that has survived is that one of his men found a woman alone. Instead of ravishing her he escorted her safely to the church where her husband had found refuge. Alaric gave his warriors but three short days to collect what they wanted, and then they were off - leaving to Rome almost all of the stores and supplies in the warehouses that had been held secure by his armies, and much of their wealth.
[Bear in mind that in the armies of Alaric were thirty thousand Getae warriors whose families had been ordered massacred by Honorius. Bear in mind that also in the armies of Alaric were tens of thousands of Getae who had been enslaved and earlier freed from their Roman owners by Alaric. So no, the sacking of Rome was not bloodless - but these folk were disobeying Alaric's orders, not going by them,]
Previously, he had held Rome under siege twice in the past two years.
THAT's the significant part, from our current perspective.
One of the negotiators for Rome was Aelia Galla Placidia, half-sister to the Emperors East and West, Arcadius and Honorius respectively.
One of the negotiators for Alaric was his brother-in-law Ataulf (Mamm's brother).
Turns out neither of them ended up being a lick of good in the negotiations, being as the two of them were locked in each other's eyes and busy falling deeply in love.
When Alaric left Rome that last time, Placidia went with Ataulf.
Skipping ahead a bit, Placidia and Ataulf ended up leading Alaric's people to settle in their new homeland: Aquitaine in Gaul. They were married and had a son. Then Ataulf was murdered. Placidia returned to her brother Honorius' household in the Western Roman Empire and was forced to marry the ambitious Constantius (the architect of the murder of Ataulf) and produce two children for her new husband. She ended up being Regent/Empress after Honorius died, while her son was a minor (Valentinian III - he was heir to the throne).
NOW we get to the part regarding RICIMER.
Mamm of Dunnottar, if you remember, has four brothers: Davidson of Chattan, LittleEthan of Tarnos, Ataulf of Dunnottar, and their younger brother Wally of the West (born to their parents after they sailed into the sunset to the Far Western Lands once Davidson, LittleEthan, Ataulf, and Mamm had been settled in where they needed to be).
After the murder of Ataulf, Wally of the West was chosen King by Alaric's people, as had been his brother Ataulf before him.
Wally's daughter Anna married Rechila King-apparent of the Suevii (NW part of what is now Spain, and just across the Pyrenees from Aquitaine).
Anna and Rechila had a couple of sons and a daughter.
Their second son was RICIMER.
[If you think I'm telling you a lot of stuff, you should see what all I'm leaving out!!]
The point here is that Ricimer's grandfather was the younger brother of Alaric's wife Mamm of Dunnottar and their other brothers, including the murdered Ataulf whose death left Placidia a widow. She would have been Aunt to Ricimer's mother Anna.
Family connections frequently made for the fostering of young ones by family members who were best suited to bring up certain young ones to fill certain niches.
Ricimer, being a second son with his elder brother slated to be a king, needed a career.
There's more to it than that, of course, but RICIMER went into Placidia's household during the years that she was reigning as Regent/Empress of the Western Roman Empire.
Placidia was Ricimer's foster mother during his developmental years, from young boy-hood through early adulthood. She was his great-aunt, although young enough to have been his mother as he fell in age smack between her son Valentinian III and her daughter Honoria. He would have been in his early thirties when she died at about age 60.
What most historians seem to dismiss out of hand is that Placidia had left Rome to go with Ataulf, apparently of her own free will as we don't hear of any negotiations having been made at the time for her ransom or return. Later, yes. but not during the first years after she left. What they mention but seem to not find all that significant is that, when she returned to Honorius' household, she was accompanied by a lot of Alaric's warriors as her Personal Guard. She refused to relinquish them and they refused to leave the side of their Queen.
Me being me, fiction writer that I am and having the Characters that we do, my interpretation is that Placidia and Ataulf were a love match from the get-go. She was Queen to his King and together they led the people of Alaric although neither was related to any of them. Placidia was Roman royalty; Ataulf was from Albann (now Scotland). Yet the people of Alaric chose Ataulf, and apparently were just fine with Placidia as their Queen. What does that tell you?
At any rate, Placidia was indeed best suited to prepare RICIMER for what was ahead of him.
Meanwhile ...
There is, as always, a bigger picture to take into consideration.
Fictionally speaking, Ricimer is born to fulfill a Destiny not many would have been able to handle. Perhaps in reality as well, but fiction is our purview, not reality unless it fits into our Story Line. Just sayin'.
At practically the hour of his birth, our own Ullin of Iona claims RICIMER to fulfill that Destiny. From his earliest memories, Ricimer is well aware of what he will be called on to do, the reasons behind the demands, and the consequences should he fail.
Ullin of Iona, for those unfamiliar with him, is a very tall, very skinny, very bald, and VERY powerful Druid leader. His goal over the entire course of his very long life is to protect and preserve Freedom of Individual Choice for all of humankind, among other things. That he has issues with the Roman Empire is a given. That he might have issues with the direction Rome is taking 'Christianity' is a complex question.
Regardless of his personal take on the matter, Ullin of Iona serves the Mother of the Holy Trinity (The Father and the Son too, by association and the fact that the Trinity is unequivocally and inextricably ONE entity). His sight is far-reaching, to significantly understate, and he knows a lot more than he ever lets on.
When Ullin says something needs to be done, and bothers to explain himself, few are going to argue the point.
What Ullin sees in the future for the Peoples of Europe are the resulting outcomes should History take one course or another.
1) Should the Western Roman Empire revive itself and continue the course it started down so long ago, one outcome could be expected.
2) Should the Church of Rome gain ascendancy and move toward power, and control of Europe, a different outcome would be expected.
3) Should the various Peoples of Europe, the Getae/Celts go to war among themselves, still another outcome could come about.
4) Should the Vandals conquer all, something else would happen.
5) Should the invading folk from the East be given free rein, the result would be entirely different.
As RICIMER grows up in the household of Placidia, Ullin comes and goes frequently, teaching and training the young boy, the young man.
Between what he learns from Placidia about the ruling of an Empire, what he learns from Ullin about exploring options, and what he learns from Aetius the Roman General once his formal military training begins ... Ricimer is pretty darned well educated pretty darned early on.
Given that Ricimer is an apt student, the compelling goal of Ullin (to protect and preserve individual free choice for all) takes precedence. That it is a goal shared by Placidia might be an understatement. That Aetius is in accord with the concept is apparent from the fact that he's got a 'barbarian' for a wife and hasn't chosen a Roman woman. The women of the Getae/Celts bow to no man. Ever.
So all three of Ricimer's primary mentors share a common goal.
The goal itself is clear.
It's how to make it happen that needs to be fine-tuned.
The Peoples MUST forge themselves into strong nations whose people have steel in their backbones - steel powerful enough to turn aside the attacks that are to come, if they are to survive, if their culture of freedom is to survive.
The Future of the Peoples of Europe and beyond lie in the choices, and the hands, of one young man - RICIMER.
How will he choose?
Will he have what it takes to do what he has to do when he has to do it so that the Future will become what it will need to be when it needs to be it?
We'll find out.
NOTE: The five interlocked circles represent what all of our Characters live, fight, and die to protect and preserve:
Faith
Family
Friends
Freedom
Future
FAITH IS THE CENTER CIRCLE
