I'd think it would be pretty cool if it were freespawning light infantry of some kind. You know, random guys with not much going on, who throw themselves at his feet - they're not the best soldiers, but he can't get away from it once it started.
But, if you want it to be something deliberate, I would agree that some nice heavy cav or knights would pretty sweet. Or perhaps some really heavy men-at-arms. Something he could at least make use of in the start of the game by doing Summon Allies for a few turns, and then having a nice little force to clear indies with.
He just needs a draw somewhere - he has to either be good enough at combat, or good enough at magic to justify his existence. Otherwise the only niche he has at all, is as an imprisoned scales god. Giving him a healthy bit of Awe helps, it justifies going Dom10 to get a really high Awe score - but I think if you want him to be taken awake, and not to be very magical, you need to bump the starting dominion to 3 probably. I mean, he is a legend to his own people - he's their Maximus Aurelius, they absolutely love the guy. And with starting dom of 1, it costs wayyyyy too much to get to Dom10, so no one will bother.