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Description

The British Consul Walter Plowden knew well the political events of Ethiopia during the 1850s and had foretold the rising star of Kassa the freelance warrior from Qwara.

When being crowned as King, Plowden described him as such:

The King Theodorus is young in years, vigorous in all manly exercises, of a striking countenance, peculiarly polite and engaging when pleased, and mostly displaying great tact and delicacy. He is persuaded that he is destined to restore the glories of the Ethiopian Empire and to achieve great conquests: of untiring energy, both mental and bodily, his personal and moral daring is boundless... When aroused his wrath is terrible, and all tremble; but at all moments he possesses a perfect self-control. Indefatigable in business, he takes little repose night or day: his ideas and language are clear and precise; hesitation is not known to him; and has no counsellors or go-between. He is fond of splendour, and received in state even on a campaign. He is unsparing in punishment – necessary in a wilderness as Abyssinia (at that time). He salutes his meanest (poor) subjects with courtesy, is sincerely though often mistakenly religious, and will acknowledge a fault committed to his poorest follower in a moment of compassion with sincerity and grace. He is generous to excess, and free from all cupidity, regarding nothing with pleasure or desire but munitions of war for his soldiers. He has exercised the utmost clemency towards the vanquished, treating them more like friends than enemies. His faith is signal: without Christ I am nothing.

The French explorer, geographer, ethnologist, linguist and astronomer Antoine Thomson D'Abbadie describes him during his stay in Ethiopia:

Kassa passed for being twenty-eight. His face was more black than red. Like almost all Ethiopians, he had a slender body and seemed to owe his great agility less to his muscles than to his powerful will. His forehead is high and almost domed; his slightly aquiline nose is a common trait among Thoroughbred Amharas. His beard is very light and his lip thin.

Georg Wilhelm Schimper the German botanist had mentioned the following about Tewodros:

Theodore, the new King of Kings of Ethiopia, was certainly the most remarkable man that has appeared in Africa for some centuries. At the date of his assumption of the regal title, Theodore was thirty-seven years of age, of medium stature but possessing a well-knit muscular frame capable of ensuring any amount of fatigue – a noble bearing and a majestic walk – and he was the best shot, the best spearmen, the best runner, and the best horseman in Abyssinia.