This is a list of characters in the Asterix comics.
Main characters Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix are the first characters with short descriptions usually listed at the beginning of each of the Asterix books (after the map of Gaul). They each have separate articles containing more information. Unless otherwise stated, this article uses the names chosen for the English translations of the books.
Asterix
Asterix is the main character. He is a brave, intelligent and shrewd warrior of somewhat diminutive size, who eagerly volunteers for all perilous missions.
Obelix
Obelix is Asterix's closest friend and works as a menhir sculptor and delivery man. He is a tall, obese man (he refers to himself as "well-padded" or "man with a slipped chest" and will immediately knock out anyone who calls him "fat") with two notable attributes: his permanently phenomenal strength and his voracious appetite for food, especially wild boar. His strength results from having fallen into Getafix's magic potion cauldron as a child. As a consequence, Getafix will not let him take additional potions for fear of side effects (for example, turning into stone, as shown in Asterix and Obelix all at Sea), something that Obelix finds immensely unfair. The only exception was in Asterix and Cleopatra when they were trapped in a pyramid and Getafix allows him to have three drops of the magic potion. Obelix's size is often the brunt of many jokes. In Asterix and the Big Fight, the druid Psychoanalytix mistakes Obélix for a patient with an eating disorder. At the end of the book, Obelix decides to go on a diet, but quickly goes back to eating huge quantities of boar.
Dogmatix
First appearance: Asterix and the Banquet (book 5 in France). Dogmatix is Obelix's pet dog. Unlike his immense master, Dogmatix is very tiny, but he can have a nasty temper. Dogmatix met Asterix and Obelix in Lutetia (in Asterix and the Banquet) and followed them all the way around Gaul until Obelix finally noticed him when they reached the village. He is only given a name in the next book, Asterix and Cleopatra, where he is shown to have been adopted by Obelix. Dogmatix has an "environmentalist" side, often bursting into despaired howls whenever he sees a tree get knocked down. He is also prone to jealousy towards any women that Obelix takes a fancy towards, often grunting and turning his nose up when Obelix dotes over them or vice versa.
Getafix
Getafix is the village druid. In appearance, he is tall with a long white beard, hooked nose, white robe, red cloak. He is usually seen in possession of a small golden sickle. While his age is never stated, in the story of Asterix's birth (in which all but the oldest villagers are seen as small children), he appears unchanged. In Asterix and the Big Fight, the druid Psychoanalytix (who appears quite old) refers to him as his elder and teacher. In Asterix and Obelix's Birthday: The Golden Book, as a gag, Getafix at 50 years older appears to be frail and old, while in the other books, he appeared healthy.
Although known for his strength-enhancing magic potion, he has many other magical and medicinal potions at his disposal, including a potion to make hair grow quickly, a potion to counteract poison, one that neutralizes a drug that would kill in a matter of days, and a potion that restores a person to full health after injury (although this potion also causes the person who takes it to lose their recent memories while also interacting badly with the magic potion). Aside from making the potion, he also acts as the village doctor and occasional teacher. Asterix (and most other villagers) will consult him whenever anything strange occurs. He rarely engages himself in combat, one notable exception being The Great Divide where he is seen distributing slaps during a fight with the Romans, with obvious enjoyment.
As the only individual able to produce the "magic potion" upon which the villagers rely for their strength, he is the focus of many stories, ranging from the Romans attempting to put him out of commission in some manner to requesting that Asterix and Obelix help him find some missing ingredient, and the conscience of the village. On a few occasions, he has refused to make the potion when the villagers become too selfish, including in Asterix and Caesar's Gift, where he refused to provide the potion for anyone while the village was divided by an upcoming vote for a new chief, only to provide them with it once again when Vitalstatistix asked Getafix to provide the potion for Orthopedix, the man he had been running against for chief. He has also occasionally been taken prisoner by hostile forces to get access to the potion, only to be freed again thanks to Asterix and Obelix. The full recipe of the magic potion itself has never been revealed, but known ingredients are mistletoe (which must be cut with a golden sickle [Asterix and the Golden Sickle]), a whole lobster (an optional ingredient that improves the flavour), fresh fish, salt, and petroleum (called rock oil in the book), which is later replaced by beetroot juice. Replenishing the stores of ingredients for the magic potion has led to some adventures for Asterix and Obelix, including Asterix and the Great Crossing and Asterix and the Black Gold.
Getafix is very similar to many wise old men who act as mentors and father-figures to the heroes, such as Merlin or Gandalf. In the earlier books however, Getafix came across more as just a friend of the protagonists rather than a wise old counselor. He was also, from the very beginning, shown as a figure of fun as well as demonstrating a sense of humor.
Major recurring characters At the beginning of most of the Asterix books, immediately after the map of Gaul, and before the narrative starts, there is a standard description of the main characters above, as well as Getafix, Cacofonix and Vitalstatistix (regardless of their importance in that particular book).
The first appearance of all the major characters is in Asterix the Gaul unless otherwise noted.
Vitalstatistix
Chief Vitalstatistix is the chief of the Gaulish village. He is a middle-aged, big-bellied man with red hair, pigtails and a huge moustache. He is generally reasonable, well-informed, fearless, (comparatively) even-tempered and unambitious — the last much to the chagrin of his wife Impedimenta. His major failings are his love of good food and drink, and his pride. As a Gaulish chief, he prefers to travel on a shield, carried by two shield-bearers. A recurring joke throughout the series is him falling off the shield in many varied ways. The names of the shield-bearers are never mentioned.
Before becoming chief of the village, Vitalstatistix fought at the battle of Alesia, where Caesar almost completed his conquest of Gaul. In Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield, it was revealed that the shield on which he is carried originally belonged to the legendary Gaulish warrior chief Vercingetorix.Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield, p. 5 His father was the village chief before him. He has a brother in Lutetia, Doublehelix, who has a young daughter and a son, Justforkix.
The introduction to each story states that Vitalstatistix has only one fear, "that the sky may fall on his head tomorrow"; however, he rarely alludes to this in an actual story, and then only as a rallying cry: "We have nothing to fear but ...". This characteristic is based on a real historical account where Gallic chieftains were asked by Alexander the Great what they were most afraid of in all the world, and replied that their worst fear was that the sky might fall on their heads.Arrian, Campaigns of Alexander, p. 49
While his role in some plots is minor, he is a central or pivotal character in books such as Asterix and the Big Fight, Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield, Asterix in Belgium, or Asterix and Caesar's Gift.
The Chief's shield-bearers
From Asterix and Caesar's Gift onwards, Vitalstatistix has had the same (unnamed) shield-bearers carry (and drop) him; prior to that, he had different bearers in each album. In Asterix in Switzerland, he fires both his shield-bearers after he tells them that it is a lovely day, and they look up, tipping the shield back and dropping the chief in the process. He then goes and hires new shield-bearers including Asterix, Geriatrix, Fulliautomatix and Obelix (in these cases the shield is horribly tilted, so he is forced to stand on a slant, and Obelix carried him with one hand like a waiter). The introduction page varies between showing the bearers straining under Vitalstatistix' not inconsiderable bulk as he looks into the distance in some of the books, while in others he looks at them in good humour as they look up to him in respect.
Impedimenta
First appearance: Asterix and the Big Fight (but not named until Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield). Impedimenta is the matriarchal wife of chief Vitalstatistix, leader of the village wives (in her mind) and the best cook in the village. She is often disappointed with the other villagers, calling them barbarians, and wishes Vitalstatistix was more ambitious. Consequently, she zealously defends and flaunts every privilege due to her as first lady of the village, such as skipping the queue at the fishmonger's, often marked by the catchphrase "After all, I'm the chief's wife". She frequently says she wants to go back to Lutetia and live with her successful merchant brother, Homeopathix, whom her husband openly dislikes.
While usually presented in the books as a nag to her embarrassed husband, she has shown bravery and on occasion fought the Romans side by side with the men, typically using her rolling pin as a weapon. Her role as a heroic figure is most prominent in Asterix and Son, where she leads the women in protecting Caesarion, and in Asterix and the Secret Weapon, where she assumes the role of village chief after her husband is deposed.
Her name appears to derive either from the Latin military term impedimenta, meaning "baggage", or from the English word impediment, meaning obstruction or hindrance.
Cacofonix Cacofonix is the village bard. He is usually only a supporting character, but has a major part in the plots of some albums (see Asterix and the Normans, Asterix the Gladiator, Asterix and the Magic Carpet, The Mansions of the Gods, and Asterix and the Secret Weapon). He loves singing and jumps at every opportunity to do so. While adept at playing his lyre and other instruments, and seen as a good teacher to the kids, his singing is absolutely atrocious, with other characters only able to stomach a few seconds before demanding he be silent. In later albums beginning with Magic Carpet, his music is so spectacularly horrible that it actually starts thunderstorms (even indoors), because of an old French saying that bad singing causes rain. For his part, Cacofonix considers himself a genius and a superb singer, and he is angrily offended when people criticize his singing, to the point of dismissing them as barbarians. In Asterix and the Normans, it is so unbearable that it teaches the ferocious Normans the meaning of fear.
Some villagers go to extreme lengths to avoid hearing Cacofonix's music. Most notably, Fulliautomatix, the village smith, strikes him on the head at the merest hint of breaking into a song. As a running gag, Cacofonix is generally tied up and gagged during the banquet at the end of most albums to allow the other villagers to have a good time without having to keep him from singing. He is nonetheless well-liked when not singing.