Red River ‒ Episode 14
Red River isn't just making shit up when it comes to Ramses. Well, it is to a point – he was a contemporary of Kail's son rather than Kail and there are other historical discrepancies, but the sticking point for some people in his character design does have some historical backing. I speak, of course, of his blonde hair. Analysis of his unwrapped mummy both visual and genetic indicates that he did, in fact, have light-colored hair, most likely red. No word on the heterochromia the series assigns him, though. It's probably also worth just mentioning that although he's often assigned as the Pharaoh from the Exodus story in the Bible, most scholars disagree, although he did reestablish Egyptian rule over Canaan.
As of right now in the story, though, he's just some cocky bastard working under Horemheb (himself a historical figure who is in precisely the right place and time as depicted here), who, of course, is fascinated by Yuri. He doesn't pop up in the series putting his best foot forward, however – when we first meet him in this episode, he's scarpering off to look for hot nomad babes since the prince he's meant to be escorting hasn't shown up. Ramses' first thought is to be glad that Zannanza hasn't appeared; he doesn't like the idea of a foreigner sitting on Egypt's throne. When he finds Yuri and Aslan in the desert and he learns that the prince is dead, he's pleased, which right there tells us a lot about him. He's a primarily political thinker, focusing on what he believes is best for Egypt rather than being concerned for the injured woman or sad at the loss of life, he's satisfied that his perceived problem has been taken care of. He'd have left Yuri to die (and probably stolen the horse) if she hadn't threatened to haunt him, something he must have taken very seriously.
What changes his mind is how adamant Yuri is about not having the arrow in her back removed. It does seem like a weird choice at first – is she trying to die of an infection? But her motive is something Ramses can understand and agree with: political. She needs the Hittite arrow to be embedded in her flesh so that there's incontrovertible proof that Zannanza's death was an inside job. (Something Ramses has zero problems believing, incidentally, even without knowing Nakia.) This will not only avert a war between two major powers, it will also put Nakia on notice – she failed and someone is fully aware of that. Even Urhi can't fully avoid this by killing the one surviving assassin, because we all know that Kail will listen to Yuri and Nakia's completely failed to kill her quite a few times now.
This clever move, as well as Yuri's toughness in getting the arrow removed, is what wins Ramses over. His assessment that she'd be an amazing queen dovetails with Kail's and Zannanza's, but Ramses' is completely devoid of attraction. He likes the power she could wield and her intelligence. In his way, he's as calculating as Nakia as he realizes just why Kail is so attached to his concubine. (Or at least part of the reason.) He's likely to be a real thorn in Kail's side going forward, which honestly we ought to have expected the minute he revealed his name. You don't throw in historical figures as well known as Ramses and not do anything with them.
I will admit that Red River is doing a better job in its second half. It doesn't necessarily look better, but now that Yuri is settled in and history is on the move, things are proceeding better. It's still a far cry from the manga and has excised virtually all of Yuri's interiority, but at this point, I'll take any improvement I can get.
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Red River is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
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