To reply to my own question, I found :
Characters in The Order: 1886 To Have Over 100K Polygons
Whoa. And apparently the main character in Ryse: Of Rome has 85K polys. He also has 230 blends in his face and 260 joints in the face, which just seems silly. So I guess it is possible to have over 65k polys in your characters running in a game. Mind blown.