Ozymandias (/ˌɒziˈmændiəs/ oz-ee-MAN-dee-əs; real name Adrian Alexander Veidt) is a fictional anti-villain in the graphic novel limited series Watchmen, published by DC Comics. Created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, named "Ozymandias" in the manner of Ramesses II, his name recalls the famous poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, which takes as its theme the fleeting nature of empire and is excerpted as the epigraph of one of the chapters of Watchmen.