Editing Asterix (section)

==Synopsis and characters==
{{Main|List of Asterix characters}}
{{anchor|Village}}
The main setting for the series is an unnamed coastal village, rumoured to be inspired by [[Erquy]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Erquy: a day in the real-life Gaulish village of Astérix |url=https://uk.news.yahoo.com/news/erquy-day-real-life-gaulish-122532779.html|website=Yahoo! News |date=16 August 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530152528/https://uk.news.yahoo.com/news/erquy-day-real-life-gaulish-122532779.html| archive-date=30 May 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> in [[Armorica]] (present-day [[Brittany]]), a province of [[Gaul]] (modern France), in the year 50 BC. Julius Caesar has conquered nearly all of Gaul for the Roman Republic during the [[Gallic Wars]]. The little Armorican village, however, has held out because the villagers can gain temporary superhuman strength by drinking a [[Potion|magic potion]] brewed by the local village druid, [[Getafix]]. His chief is [[Vitalstatistix]].

The main protagonist and hero of the village is [[Asterix (character)|Asterix]], who, because of his shrewdness, is usually entrusted with the most important affairs of the village. He is aided in his adventures by his rather corpulent and slower thinking friend, [[Obelix]], who, because he fell into the druid's cauldron of the potion as a baby, has permanent superhuman strength (because of this, Getafix steadfastly refuses to allow Obelix to drink the potion, as doing so would have a dangerous and unpredictable result, as shown in ''[[Asterix and Obelix All at Sea]]''). Obelix is usually accompanied by [[List of Asterix characters#Dogmatix|Dogmatix]], his little dog. (Except for Asterix and Obelix, the names of the characters change with the language. For example, Obelix's dog's name is "Idéfix" in the original French edition.)

Asterix and Obelix (and sometimes other members of the village) go on various adventures both within the village and in far away lands. Places visited in the series include parts of [[Gaul]] ([[Lutetia]], [[Corsica]] etc.), neighbouring nations ([[Belgium]], [[Spain]], [[United Kingdom|Britain]], [[Germany]] etc.), and far away lands ([[North America]], [[Middle East]], [[India]] etc.).

The series employs [[science-fiction]] and [[fantasy]] elements in the more recent books; for instance, the use of [[extraterrestrials]] in ''[[Asterix and the Falling Sky]]'' and the city of [[Atlantis]] in ''[[Asterix and Obelix All at Sea]]''.

With rare exceptions, the ending of the albums usually shows a big banquet with the village's inhabitants gathering – the sole exception is the [[bard]] [[Cacofonix]] restrained and gagged to prevent him from singing (but in ''[[Asterix and the Normans]]'' the blacksmith Fulliautomatix was tied up). Mostly the banquets are held under the starry nights in the village, where roast boar is devoured and all (but one) are set about in merrymaking. However, there are a few exceptions, such as in ''[[Asterix and Cleopatra]]''.