Highlights
- Abraham Lincoln and Elizabeth I are consistently featured leaders in the Civilization games, making them go-to choices for players.
- Julius Caesar is often portrayed as the representative figure of the Roman civilization in the series, with occasional appearances by other Roman leaders.
- Mahondas Gandhi and Shaka are notable leaders of India and the Zulu civilization respectively, appearing in almost every game of the series.
Sid Meier's Civilization has always enjoyed taking inspiration from history to the point where it uses actual historical figures as playable leaders. Of course, this can lead to wacky situations where people from different eras and locations meet up with chaotic results. This is a game where Abraham Lincoln can get caught in a nuclear war with Sumeria.
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As the series has progressed, so far containing six games (not including spin-offs) with a seventh in development, its roster of historical leaders and civilizations has expanded, but there are some people who have become staples of the series. These are characters who manage to keep coming back again and again, no matter what other changes are made around them.
5 Abraham Lincoln
Civilization: America, Appearances: 6
The 16th President of the United States remains one of the most famous to hold the title. His struggles to navigate one of the most divided moments in American history continue to inspire leaders today. The Civilization games have experimented with a few different American leaders: George Washington, Theodore, and Franklin Roosevelt, and even Eleanor Roosevelt in II, but Lincoln remains a go-to choice for the series.
He has managed to appear to some extent in all the main games, and some of the spin-offs. Even in Civilization V, where he is not one of the main leaders, he gets his own scenario about leading America through the Civil War.
4 Elizabeth I
Civilization: England, Appearances: 6
Somehow, the famous Queen Elizabeth I keeps finding her way into the Civilization games. She is not always the only option for England. Henry VIII, Winston Churchill, Queen Victoria, and Eleanor of Aquitaine have been playable English leaders at certain points in the series, but Elizabeth is the one person to do so consistently.
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She has managed to lead England in all the main games. While not initially included in the base game of Civilization VI, this was eventually rectified with the Leader Pass DLC.
3 Julius Caesar
Civilization: Rome, Appearances: 5
Rome has been a playable civilization since the original game, but the series has had a tendency to gravitate towards one particular figure: Julius Caesar, a military general and a charismatic politician who set the stage for Rome to shift from a Republic into an Empire.
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This makes some sense. A lot of the later Roman Emperors were known to be insane, corrupt, outright psychotic, and self-destructive. Occasionally, the developers change things up by bringing in Trajan (often considered one of the more level-headed Emperors), but Caesar has so far appeared to some extent in every game except Civilization V, where he was replaced by his adopted son, Augustus.
2 Mahondas Gandhi
Civilization: India, Appearances: 6
Gandhi has become notorious in the Civilization community, mainly because of an alleged bug in the original game that accidentally turned the famous passive-aggressive resistance leader into a psychotic nuke-obsessed warlord. While this story has been disputed, its popularity certainly contributed to Gandhi returning in every subsequent game.
In fact, he has almost exclusively led India throughout the series. The only exceptions so far have been Civilization II and Civilization VI, which added Indira Gandhi and Chandragupta Maurya, respectively. Even then, they were only added as alternatives to Gandhi.
1 Shaka
Civilization: Zulu, Appearances: 6
The Zulu have been part of Civilization since the original game, and they have almost exclusively been led by one man: the famous warrior king Shaka. The only exception to this rule was Civilization II, and even then, the alternative choice was essentially just a gender-swapped version of him.
Shaka has led the Zulu civilization through all six games and has continued to appear in spin-offs. Given this pattern, there is a good chance he will return for Civilization VII.
