New recruits to the sect would be drugged and taken there - after which, they were convinced that their leader could get them into Heaven at will, making them fearless on missions. Mistaken for Afterlife: According to the text, the leader of The Hashshashin exploited the idea behind this trope by running a fake paradise in a hidden valley.Mighty Whitey: Do remember he might have mildly exaggerated this.Intrepid Merchant: Marco (and the rest of his family).Going Native: According to one or two biographers.Bold Explorer: The book is a biographical (and somewhat confused) recounting of the Italian explorer's 13th-century expedition to the Middle-East and China.Notably, he was accompanying two uncles when he went out on his famous journey to China. Badass Family: In addition to Marco Polo himself, others in his family were also world-exploring merchants.Badass Bureaucrat: Marco claimed he had been this for Kublai Khan.Tropes in The Travels of Marco Polo a.k.a. Not to be confused with the videogame Marco Polo that was of course inspired by this adventurer. For that reason, even though more than one "biography" has been written, large parts often come from the author's imagination.Īnd, contrary to the myth, he never introduced pasta to Italy. The Travels themselves are a surprisingly dull book but the idea of the story was so powerful that it became a classic, and Marco was nicknamed Il Millione for the "millions" of tales he brought back (or, perhaps, because of the large numbers Marco used to describe Chinese society).Ĭuriously, very little is known about Marco himself. This story was later published under the title Description of the World or Books of the Marvels of the World, but it has eventually become better known under its nickname Il Milione or, more simply, The Travels of Marco Polo. In any case he was kept prisoner next to a professional storyteller and told his adventures to pass the time. He was captured and apparently looked too rich for the Genoans to throw him overboard and waste a good ransom.
Upon returning he set out as a warrior in the Venetian Fleet to meet the hereditary foe, the Genoans. He stayed there many years serving The Emperor of China, Kublai Khan. Marco Polo was a 13th century Venetian merchant who set out from Venice on a journey to the east.
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