Last Emperor in the West

[Epictetus]

I tend to think of Julius Nepos as the last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, because he was recognised by Zeno and coins were issued in his name after Romulus Augustulus, but I'm curious to hear other opinions.

Who do you consider as the last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire? And why?

[M. Val. Naso]

I believe this issue can be resolved, if you use the eastern roman attitude, which is "there is only one roman empire, but the western provinces are slipping away due to the migrations". This way, you resolve the issue by saying that the tetrarchic system in its roots is only a pragmatical decision of decreasing bureaucracy, while taking into account, that in the absence of western high-ranking officials, eastern ones take over by right (like several times throughout late antiquity).

So my point is: the western augustus is whoever is recognized by the eastern one. It's merely a "might is right" thing, since the western half was declining, while the east was getting stronger.

[Robert Vermaat]

Semantics, but interesting to discuss.

Technically, Orestes' son Romulus Augustus was the last western Emperor, but technically he was the last one raised to that office. Of course he was a puppet, a child of the patrician Orestes (the notarius (secretary) of Attila the Hun) who had made a career in the army.
But then, far mor Emperors had been mere figureheads, subject to the Patricians who were the men behind the throne from the later 4th c. onwards.

We can argue that Romulus abicated when Odoacar killed his father. Nepos, on the other hand, did not abdicate, but fled from Italy when his position there became military untenable. In Dalmatia he remained in 'office'. Therefore Nepos, who was (lukewarm) accepted by his Eastern colleague Zeno, was still Augustus until he died in 480, killed by his troops when attempting to invade Italy.