Diksha Sundriyal
Peacock’s ‘Those About to Die’ is as close to seeing an accurate portrayal of the Roman Empire as you can get. The show does an incredible job of bringing that world to life, and it does so by creating a mix of real and fictional characters that guide us through the complexities of that world and show the audience how to maneuver the situations to their end. One of the characters that we follow calls himself Tenax. At the outset, he mentions that this is not his real name, which shows that he has a dangerous past that he wants to keep hidden while insinuating that he is ready to change himself in the future when he gets what he wants. This creates an intrigue surrounding him, raising several questions, starting with his name. SPOILERS AHEAD
Tenax’s Real Name Reveals His Dark Past
Everyone has a secret and is guilty of something in ‘Those About to Die.’ Tenax is one of them; like most people, he is aware of the importance of keeping one’s dark past hidden. Several times throughout the season, we hear him confess that he has done some really bad things to get where he is now, and he reveals that he is ready to do much more if that’s what it takes to get what he wants now. In leaving his past behind, he also had his real name, so if anyone came looking for him, they wouldn’t find him. But his worst fears come true when a man from his past comes knocking, demanding his due.
This man is named Ursus and calls Tenax by his real name, Quintus. It turns out that they knew each other as boys when they worked as slaves in the house of a wealthy patrician in Syracuse. What’s worse is that the man didn’t just exploit them for work. He was a pedophile with a proclivity for young boys, and Ursus and Quintus had to bear the brunt of it. The boys forged a bond in their suffering and eventually decided to escape their tormentor. One night, they set fire to him and his house and ran away. While leaving the house, Ursus was stuck, and Quintus could not help him. As the fire raged, Quintus thought Ursus was dead. The only thing he could do was save himself, so he ran away.
Unbeknownst to Quintus, Ursus survived but felt betrayed by his friend. He thought Quintus left him to die, so he found the boy one day and paid him for his betrayal. Meanwhile, Quintus made his way to Rome because this was where he thought he could make the money to change his life. He decided to shed his past life entirely and reinvented himself as Tenax. The changed name didn’t just give him security from people seeking him out but also gave him the confidence to be whoever he wanted and get whatever he wanted by any means possible.
On the other hand, Ursus joined the Roman army and was forged in their rigorous training, becoming a beast who was seemingly impossible to beat. Using his newfound resources, he tracked down Quintus and discovered that he had changed his name to Tenax and now operates a betting ring. Ursus decides to get his compensation by taking Tenax’s life and his money. He also drops a bombshell on him, revealing that their patrician master who raped them was Tenax’s father.
The man had a bastard child with one of his maids, and he kept the boy as his slave. This is life-changing information for Tenax. It is heartbreaking to discover that he was abused by his own father, whom he also killed. But instead of being bogged down by it, he sees opportunity in this information and decides to return to Syracuse someday and dig up the truth. If he does have patrician blood, he will use it to better his social status.
Read More: Those About to Die: Is Iwan Rheon’s Tenax Based on a Real Person? Was the Gold Faction Real?
