Do we like them?

Do we like Napoleon?

A character from Animal Farm (1945)

Our score: 1 out of 10. No. He turns a hopeful revolution into a dictatorship, and he rules by fear and lies while the other animals pay for it.

In George Orwell's 1945 fable, the animals of Manor Farm rebel against their negligent human owner and set up a society where all animals are equal. Napoleon is one of the pigs who take charge. He is large and fierce-looking, says little, and is not much of a talker or a visible hero of the rebellion.

He is a patient schemer who plays a long game. He quietly takes charge of the young puppies' upbringing, trains them to serve him, and relies on the persuasive pig Squealer to explain away everything he does. He is a stand-in for Joseph Stalin, and Orwell uses him to show how revolutions can be hijacked.

He scores very low because he betrays the ideals that the revolution was built on. He puts his own comfort and power ahead of the animals who trust him, and he lies to them about it constantly. He is a classic cautionary tale of a tyrant.

His rise begins when he drives out his rival Snowball with his dogs. From then on he rules alone, rewrites history and the farm's commandments, and ends up behaving like the humans the animals once overthrew.