Roman General becoming slave, then gladiator, then emperor.

The "best" way to get it to happen would probably be to have the duel coincidentally happen at the same time as a completely unrelated coup which lacks, or recently lost, its "Face Man" but still has its actual Mastermind, who then decides that a popular general turned slave turned gladiator who just managed to publicly humiliate, defeat, and kill an unpopular Emperor in front of the Imperial Senate and People would be a good Figurehead since he would be popular and recognizable but would lack any actual political connections.

Then, have the coup gradually fall apart as the various people who made it up start with the sort of infighting that the lack of a true leader figure can cause. Against all expectations, the Figurehead Emperor actually has the political savvy to play the splinter factions off each other, and off the other marginalized factions that weren't involved in the coup, and manages to secure actual tangible power.

Sounds like another day in the life to me.
 
The "best" way to get it to happen would probably be to have the duel coincidentally happen at the same time as a completely unrelated coup which lacks, or recently lost, its "Face Man" but still has its actual Mastermind, who then decides that a popular general turned slave turned gladiator who just managed to publicly humiliate, defeat, and kill an unpopular Emperor in front of the Imperial Senate and People would be a good Figurehead since he would be popular and recognizable but would lack any actual political connections.

Then, have the coup gradually fall apart as the various people who made it up start with the sort of infighting that the lack of a true leader figure can cause. Against all expectations, the Figurehead Emperor actually has the political savvy to play the splinter factions off each other, and off the other marginalized factions that weren't involved in the coup, and manages to secure actual tangible power.

Sounds like another day in the life to me.

Hmmm. This just might be crazy enough to work.
 
The "best" way to get it to happen would probably be to have the duel coincidentally happen at the same time as a completely unrelated coup which lacks, or recently lost, its "Face Man" but still has its actual Mastermind, who then decides that a popular general turned slave turned gladiator who just managed to publicly humiliate, defeat, and kill an unpopular Emperor in front of the Imperial Senate and People would be a good Figurehead since he would be popular and recognizable but would lack any actual political connections.

Then, have the coup gradually fall apart as the various people who made it up start with the sort of infighting that the lack of a true leader figure can cause. Against all expectations, the Figurehead Emperor actually has the political savvy to play the splinter factions off each other, and off the other marginalized factions that weren't involved in the coup, and manages to secure actual tangible power.

Sounds like another day in the life to me.

It depends on who the plotter is. A provincial officer, maybe, but not a Senator.
 
Hmmm. This just might be crazy enough to work.
All of my best plans are. :D

And yes, if the main plotter is still around he has to be someone marginal in order for it to work. But that makes sense even before you get to the circumstances that would allow such a plotter to be marginalized, because the main idea of the plan is that the mastermind can't just come out and take charge himself. I'm picturing some sort of Almighty Janitor or Hyper Competant Sidekick

Alternatively, you could get a really interesting story out of the interpersonal relationship of the Mastermind and the Figurehead if the two become friends and colleagues of relatively equal power. This is generally what I prefer to do with my stories, particularly with married couples in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, who play off of everyone else thinking they're rivals, because they are, to isolate threats to each other and ensure that together they remain in charge.

The Timeline I'm prepping for now has a doozy of a couple like that.
 
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