The Dark Lord visits Greendale in his angelic form and designates Sabrina as the main antagonist of Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. The concept of the Shadow Self, coined by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, is central to dark witchcraft. The only known way to kill the Dark Lord according to himself is to use the Spear of Longinus, which Lilith used to mortally wound Lucifer Morningstar. Sabrina imprisons the Dark Lord in Blackwood’s body when she frees Lucifer from Nick’s body.
Lucifer Morningstar, also known as the Dark Lord Satan or The Devil, is a fallen archangel and the embodiment of evil and free. She reveals her true name and recruits players into her servitude, sending them off in search of a hidden treasure. To speak to Ranni the Witch, players must complete Caria Manor in northern Liurnia and defeat Royal Knight Loretta.
Witches and Warlocks are like servants to the Dark Lord, traditionally in a covenant. Before the Dark Baptism, witches were told to save themselves for the Dark Lord. Once they sign the book, they no longer have control over their powers. A Dark Lord is a wizard or witch who has been deemed a threat to Wizarding society, whether through political ambition or research into forbidden magic.
The Dark Lord suggests revealing the crew’s identities through magic and asking players to gather a set of items. The best times to use these items are during seasonal events and when the magic troops summon is open.
📹 On Writing: Dark Lords! ( Sauron | White Witch | Voldemort )
Chapters: 0:00 Opening 1:13 Good versus Evil 4:03 Character Arcs 6:49 Dark Lords are People Too 9:31 Creating an Active …
What do Pagans like?
Pagans believe in deity manifesting within nature and recognizing divinity in various forms, including goddesses and gods. They view nature as sacred and the cycles of birth, growth, and death as profoundly spiritual. Human beings are seen as part of nature, with reincarnation being a significant aspect of their existence. Pagans have a positive attitude towards healthcare staff and are willing to seek medical help when sick.
Pagans worship pre-Christian gods and goddesses through seasonal festivals and ceremonies, which are observed by patients in hospitals. Individual patients may have special requirements, such as having a small white candle or a figure of a goddess on their locker.
Do Pagans still believe in god?
Pagans believe in deity manifesting within nature and recognizing divinity in various forms, including goddesses and gods. They view nature as sacred and the cycles of birth, growth, and death as profoundly spiritual. Human beings are seen as part of nature, with reincarnation being a significant aspect of their existence. Pagans have a positive attitude towards healthcare staff and are willing to seek medical help when sick.
Pagans worship pre-Christian gods and goddesses through seasonal festivals and ceremonies, which are observed by patients in hospitals. Individual patients may have special requirements, such as having a small white candle or a figure of a goddess on their locker.
Who do pagans pray to?
Pagans believe in deity manifesting within nature and recognizing divinity in various forms, including goddesses and gods. They view nature as sacred and the cycles of birth, growth, and death as profoundly spiritual. Human beings are seen as part of nature, with reincarnation being a significant aspect of their existence. Pagans have a positive attitude towards healthcare staff and are willing to seek medical help when sick.
Pagans worship pre-Christian gods and goddesses through seasonal festivals and ceremonies, which are observed by patients in hospitals. Individual patients may have special requirements, such as having a small white candle or a figure of a goddess on their locker.
What God do Pagans follow?
Paganism is a rapidly growing spiritual movement consisting of various nature-based polytheistic religions, loosely based on ancient world religions. Pagans have diverse beliefs, ranging from Wiccan, Witch, Heathen, Asatru, Druid, Faerie tradition, Solitary Practitioner, and Eclectic. They view the world as a place of joy and life, not sin and suffering. They believe the divine is present in the natural world, not in a distant place in the sky. Pagans are earth-conscious and do not recruit members, as they believe that every person reveres the divine in their own way and that no one religion is better than another.
They hold a deep reverence for nature and the earth, and they do not recruit members. Pagans believe that the divine is present in both male and female principles and that no one religion is better than another.
Does Wicca believe in god?
Wicca and Druidry are two religious traditions with distinct beliefs. Wicca is primarily based on a horned male god and a moon goddess, with the Dianic Wicca focusing on only the goddess. Some wiccans believe in both gods and goddesses, while others prioritize the goddess. Druidry, originating from King Arthur’s legends, is connected to Arthuriana through the Loyal Arthurian Warband, a Druidic group that uses Arthurian symbolism in its environmental movement.
How to connect with other pagans?
Pagan Muses, founded in September 2016, is a social forum that connects practitioners of all paths worldwide. It has evolved from a single forum to a family of forums, offering a space for in-depth discussions and sharing of paths and practices. The platform is accessible on Discord and Facebook, and is a great place for practitioners to share their experiences and tips on their spiritual journey. The community welcomes everyone to join and contribute to the growth of Pagan Muses.
What god do Pagans follow?
Paganism is a rapidly growing spiritual movement consisting of various nature-based polytheistic religions, loosely based on ancient world religions. Pagans have diverse beliefs, ranging from Wiccan, Witch, Heathen, Asatru, Druid, Faerie tradition, Solitary Practitioner, and Eclectic. They view the world as a place of joy and life, not sin and suffering. They believe the divine is present in the natural world, not in a distant place in the sky. Pagans are earth-conscious and do not recruit members, as they believe that every person reveres the divine in their own way and that no one religion is better than another.
They hold a deep reverence for nature and the earth, and they do not recruit members. Pagans believe that the divine is present in both male and female principles and that no one religion is better than another.
Where to meet other pagans?
Paganism is a collection of thousands of different spiritual paths, making it difficult to have a clear list of people who self-identify under this heading. However, there are several ways to find and meet other Pagans in your area. The internet, such as Witchvox. com, Meetup, and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, can be used to find people in your area. Public events like Pagan Pride Day or metaphysical expos are another great place to meet other Pagans.
Check the national Pagan Pride website to see if there’s a PPD in your area. Getting involved in planning events is even better. If you’re a Pagan college student, check if there’s a Pagan student group on campus. Attending classes or events at local metaphysical stores can also bring you into contact with other Pagans. Although it may be difficult to find a store in small towns or rural areas, it’s worth the trip if you’re serious about meeting people.
Where do witches meet?
A covenstead is a meeting place for a group of witches within modern religious movements like Wicca, Contemporary Paganism, or Neopaganism. It serves as a place for rituals, lessons, and festival recognition. The covenstead can be a physical location or a concept like an astral temple. It is typically located in the house of the priest or priestess, but can also be a public area like a park or a room in a community building. The type of covenstead recognized by practitioners has evolved over time due to technological advancements and the evolution of various Neopaganism denominations.
The word “coven” comes from Old French, meaning “meeting, gathering, assembly” in the 1500s and “a gathering of witches” around 1660. The word “stead” comes from Old English, meaning “place, position”.
Who is the most powerful evil god?
Mesopotamian goddess-demoness Lamashtu, known as Akkadian for “she who erases”, was the most terrible of all female demons. She preyed on women during childbirth, kidnapped their newborns, and slew them to eat their flesh. Lamashtu also enacted other evil deeds, such as disturbing sleep, killing foliage, infesting rivers and streams, binding men’s muscles, causing pregnant women to miscarry, and bringing disease. Amulets depicting Lamashtu were worn by expectant mothers to defend themselves against her.
A cuneiform tablet in the Louvre preserves a ritual against Lamashtu, and she was bribed away with offerings of small feminine objects. Despite her dark supremacy, Lamashtu had a weakness, the plague bringer, Pazuzu. Despite his malicious appearance in The Exorcist, Pazuzu was summoned by women to protect them from Lamashtu, and it is unclear whether he did this because he felt sympathy for expectant mothers or simply hated the demoness.
What are male witches called?
The term “witch” is primarily used in colloquial English, with women being the male equivalent. Modern dictionaries distinguish four meanings of the term: a person with supernatural powers, a practitioner of neo-pagan religion, a mean or ugly old woman, or a charming or alluring girl or woman. The term “witch” was first used to refer to a bewitching young girl in the 18th century, and “witch” as a contemptuous term for an old woman is attested since the 15th century.
📹 Dark Souls:Remastered | How To Join The Darkwraith Covenant
Quickly showing how to join the Darkwraith Covenant. ✰ If you have a suggestion/idea for a video that you would like to see, …
When I was 9, I tried to write a Fantasy novel with a dark lord. His Deal was, that he ruled the world for 3500 years, because he ate a magical strawberry when he was a child, that made him full on immortal and invincible, so he just stepped infront of the old king and killed him. Then he got defeated by four magical 12-year-olds that could bend the elements.
“-And 50% more Dead Protagonist Parents!” *Cracks up, then suddenly freezes and sits bolt upright* Did you keep track of which protagonists you killed the moms of and the dads of, and how many are both dead?! That will MASSIVELY influence the development of the protagonist! You might end up with a John Wick tier protagonist when you could have gotten someone a lot less lethal! 😮
I would add that there is a kind of weird inversion of The Dark Lord with the idea of a tyrannical light. A recent example of this would be Horde Prime in the Netflix She-Ra. Horde Prime conquers to enforce peace and order. That he crushes individuality and free will in the process is irrelevant to him. Prime’s light casts out all shadows.
Here’s an interesting story idea: You have your standard Chaotic Evil Dark Lord: spiky black plate, kicks puppies for fun, gearing up to crush the free world beneath his bootheel with his vast armies of mindlessly loyal minions. Then the Apocalypse happens. The earth heaves, the seas surge, fire rains from the sky, and everything is left on the brink of utter collapse (Dark Lord: “But I haven’t done anything yet!”). Now Mr. Lord is pretty much the only real power left on the planet (largely by dint of his lands already being pretty bleak, and thus comparatively less worse-off than elsewhere), just like he wanted, but there’s simply no room for his selfish evil in the struggle to survive in this bleak new world. If he tries to act as he always has, there won’t be anything left for him to rule. And he does want to rule. He started this gig to become a Dark *Lord*, not some two-bit bandit chief. He just didn’t expect actually ruling the world would be this hard, or that he’d have to save it in the process.
I hadn’t thought about the contrast between dark lords and the henchmen and their place in the story arcs. It’s something I’ve automatically done in a few story ideas, too, probably because of writing influences. I also have a new book to read. Mistborn sounds fascinating. Thank you for more food for writing.
Oddly enough, one of my favorite of my villains is a super-deconstruction Dark Lord. He’s actually more of a rebel than a tyrant, serving an Antichrist-like role as the apparent herald of the destruction of the civilization and perhaps even the gods. Everyone is terrified of him. His magic breaks the rules of magic. He’s an unstoppable force capable of single-handedly demolishing any opponent, while using his nihilistic minions to infiltrate and corrupt any opposition. …Except, most of that’s a lie. He’s a master of presentation, manipulation and psychological warfare who wants his enemies to THINK he’s an unholy abomination. Most of his “impossible” magics are tricks or unique applications of other abilities (though he does know some magic that is kept a secret from the public by the civilization’s leaders). His defeats of powerful foes are carefully orchestrated traps to exploit the foe’s weaknesses. He managed to nearly dismantle the protagonists’ team through a series of manipulations and tricks before they even knew his name. He’s actually a legitimately good leader, gaining his minions’ loyalty by respecting and aiding them in addition to exploiting their (legitimate) grievances with the society they are fighting. (The best example of that is when he learned one of his minions was in love with a main character. Instead of pulling a “Kill your lover to prove your loyalty to me!” thing, he promised the minion that he would do whatever he could to ensure the lover survived the upcoming war.
This came in the right time as I’m rewriting an old novel from high school. I kinda make a statement about the nature of love through the villains of the story. They’re a military squad and the Captain is forced to pretend he loves and cares for his subordinates, but one of them ends up betraying him and helping the hero. Also the evil captain is only desperate to defeat the hero because he’s told has no valuable if he doesn’t serve a purpose to the organization. Greetings from Argentina!
Here’s my issue with Ozai. For as one dimensional as his character appears in the show, his villainy stems from the conflicting mentalities of Zuko and Azula. As I see it, Ozai never had children. Ursa had a son she would do anything to protect and a daughter who she couldn’t entirely connect to, but she still loved both of her children. Perhaps not equally, as she saw how quickly Azula adopted some of Ozai’s vindictive traits, but ultimately, she admitted to Azula that her failing was having not loved her enough. Ozai however, had no children. He had a Weapon in Azula, as he fostered and probably instilled in her the relentless drive for perfection. Meanwhile, despite being his firstborn heir, Zuko was always a Weakling, to his eyes. He asked too many questions and was too compassionate for his own good. When Ozai banished and branded him, he indirectly granted Zuko his freedom, even if it took him three years to see past Ozai’s fiery reminder. The problem is, where does that leave Azula? Azula held Ozai’s respect and believed she had him wrapped around her little finger. In reality, Ozai had her safely stowed away in his pocket. Ozai banished Zuko for having more honour than him, but in doing so, punished Azula in term. For Azula to be the golden child, there had to be someone to set the standard for her to shine in comparison. With Zuko gone, Azula had to bear the brunt of satisfying Ozai’s exorbitant demands on her own. Any failings or mistakes could not be pushed back into Zuko.
Your insight is really helpful. I have a pure evil villain (a winter solstice demon that kidnaps and consumes people) and though they have important character development in a sequel, I realized the reason they are pure evil in this one is bc the hero is tremendously flawed and struggles with evil in his own ways – and struggles with shame when he sees he is like the villain in some small ways. Its helpful to see why that’s ok, and even a good dynamic.
First, loved your intro; just perfect. Second, as far as LOTR goes, there’s also the lesson that evil ultimately destroys itself. Better for good people to show mercy, certainly; but in doing so, it opened the way for Gollum to fall off the edge with the Ring in hand and thereby destroy the evil of Mordor. Edit: A really great example of “we’re not so different” is How to Train Your Dragon 3, where Hiccup has to confront the guy who isn’t just equal and opposite to himself, he’s everything Hiccup could’ve become if he chose to kill Toothless instead of freeing him.
Thanks for this! I have a story I have worked on off and on since I was a young teen in the ’90s. What started as totally derivative of the second-generation Tolkien knock-offs on which I cut my fantasy teeth, I have strived to improve without losing the essence of the story. I’ve been struggling with the villains the whole time. The guy you’d call the villain must necessarily stay in the background for most of the story, because 1) he’s trying to lure the protagonist to his home, where he’ll have the advantage and 2) the protagonist has lived in fear of the villain his whole life, and I want a strong moment at the climax where he realizes that the villain is basically just a guy who made different choices. Meanwhile, the bulk of the story is the journey the protagonist takes to reach the villain’s home, which presents its own obstacles. The main villain does have a lackey who shows up during the journey to kind of prod the protagonist. You’ve given me a lot to think about in terms of how I can make this lackey a stronger character, and perhaps through him reveal more about the main villain.
I’m on the opening skit and after perusal OverlySarcastic’s take on GrimDark – I’m honestly like “if the Dark Lords have only been 22% more dark this year than last year – what the hell happens when they stop holding back?!” I mean seriously, a global pandemic, wildfires, riots, government totalitarianism and the continued knowledge that no matter what we do or act, nothing will ever improve – and that was with the Dark Lords being only 22% more dark?!
I have plans to make one of the main characters of my book into the “dark lord” and I’ve been having some trouble working out exactly how that would work. Sorta like the character “doesn’t know” if you will. This article game me lots of insight into how I should write his story and the ones around him. Thanks tim!
The Mistborn Trilogy actually has 3 Dark Lords, one in each book. SPOILERS The Final Empire: The Lord Ruler, obviously. He wasn’t an active villain and didn’t have a sub villain, mostly because of the structure of the story as a mystery / heist. The Well of Ascension: Straff Venture. He went with the personal connection and sub boss tropes pretty hard. The Hero of Ages: Ruin. Interestingly enough, the two plot threads of the story each had a different sub boss, but the more important one was obviously Marsh.
If I may expand on the example of Mistborn: The Final Empire (some trilogy spoilers, btw): the subversion of the trope is greater than merely the mystery and how that is unveiled, it’s also in how the Dark Lord and his substitute are portrayed. Throughout the series, the ever present threat of the Dark Lord’s main servant exists in the form of the Inquisitors: largely interchangeable super-enemies with all of the magic of a Mistborn and then some (at least, all of the magic of a Mistborn in the first book, before the discovery of new alloys and their powers). These figures are absolutely inhuman: fanatically loyal to the Lord Ruler and absolutely reveling in the blood and carnage that comes with maintaining his oppressive regime. The Lord Ruler is ever present in the background – his title is even used as a blasphemous curse, because he’s the living god of this nightmare world, and everything suggests that he’s like most Dark Lords: like the substitute but worse. It’s only towards the end that starts to change, and you start to realize just how human he is. He’s a man who circumstance has forced to do terrible things. He’s touched a power beyond humanity, and been changed by it, taking the long view of a god while still being human, still having human thoughts and limits. He’s tried to create an ideal society, taking the aspects he respected of the various cultures from before his rule, and it’s failed repeatedly. So he acts as any human dictator does and has the rebels executed.
Very good article. And I absolutely agree that something that contrasts their Evil is vital to create interesting Villain’s. One of my favorite Villain’s is, in fact, Andras from the fairly obscure, but fairly good, game Seeds of Chaos. He is a violent, sadistic demon with plans for world domination… But what really grabbed my mind was a whiplash moment when I learned that he loved theatre and perusal plays –and even played in them himself. Another moment that cemented him and made him stand out as more interesting than his twin sister, was when he spared a prisoner’s life PURELY because the man was a clockmaker –and then proceeded to question him about clockmaking, seeming genuinely interested in it. And this from a Villain that reminds of a vicious Conan the Barbarian, obsessed with Power and Sex. Yet he discussed literature and was romantic when he courted the main character’s wife. The contrasts within him made him THAT much more compelling as a character. Unlike his twin sister, who is scheming and manipulative through and through. (It should be mentioned that I like the villainous traits in people above any others. The dark side of the human nature is always more interesting to me.)
THANK YOU!! Oh my word Tim, as someone with a reading disability those little arrows make SUCH a big difference! This is the first of your articles I haven’t had to pause and rewatch the text sections because my mind wants to read the text but literally can’t read and listen at the same time even though you’re reading the same thing.
about my dark lord: He literally lives in a world below the actual world in which the story takes place, his army emerges in a market square with his super minion somewhere in the front lines. His army gets kinda trapped there due to some geographical issues. He himself appears just before the seemingly main protagonist arrives. Kills that protaganist, A new protagonist emerges, the new protaganist fights him in an epic battle, which causes some shifts in the magic system (kinda similar to the male part of magic being smudged in the wheel of time), then gets dispelled from the physical world, his army re-emerges a couple hundred years later to fuck shit up and do the basic dark lord things. I did not think about how I would kill him, or if I will kill him at all.
i don’t know what accent you were going for with that intro but i swear to god it was the most peculiarly menacing, while also incredibly satisfying, thing i’ve ever heard. i imagine it was some sort of british accent. perhaps it was even He Who Shall Not Be Named. it was a very British-meets-Norwegian-as-done-by-an-actual-Aussie sort of a thing that i got from it, and it was nothing short of delightful.
Harry Potter books: Molly Weasly v Bellatrix Lestrange > Harry v Voldemort, 50% for the reasons you mentioned, 50% due to seeing a cliché motherly character going full lioness and being pushed to the breaking point, honestly didn’t expect that although it fits really well (Molly being always shown as deeply caring for her family and being a competent witch).
I’ll join Sixth Brother, Twice Removed for his fashionable black boots! xD But really, this was a great article and really helpful! I was just thinking about the main conflict in the lore for a TTRPG system that me and a couple of friends are creating and this really gave me some ideas we could explore
I think the balance between a dark lord, and their henchman’s direct effect on the protagonist is the most intriguing part of writing their conflict for me. Making both the resolution of the henchman AND the dark lord be equally cathartic or even have the dark lord’s be MORE cathartic is a new goal of mine. Seeing as the henchman being the more cathartic resolution is seemingly more common.
Great article as always! I was a bit surprised at your interpretation of the Doctor Who season finale, though. I always read (or viewed, I suppose) this as the Doctor refuting the Dalek dichotomy of killer (strong) or coward (weak), stating that what they consider cowardice is actually the morally superior (stronger) choice. Which makes the Doctor a more successful protagonist, since he does not fail to kill but rather succeeds in showing mercy (though he still needs rescue by Bad Wolf). Curious what you think of such an interpretation!
And speaking of Sanderson, I just finished The Way of Kings which is also an interesting take on how to deal with villains. Good reminder that not everyone is how/what they seem, and that in the beginning of a longer series – you don’t have to have a clear cut dark lord. This builds up the tension further even before a “dark lord” is introduced. P.S. havent’t read any of his other books yet so no spoilers please 😄
Watching this article made me realize I was subconsciously doing a lot of things you already mentioned. The big evil in my story is a Dark Lord who is incapable of showing themselves and so I have a secondary more human bad guy for the protagonists to fight while they get closer and closer to the dark lord. My dark lord is different though in the sense that she is doing all of these acts of unspeakable evil just to survive. If she doesn’t kill armies and corrupt souls she will die and it isn’t her fault.
My favorite Dark Lords: 1. Mistborn’s Lord Ruler – He was a genocidal maniac who actually had good reason after he was stupid 2. Sinbad (animated movie)’s Eris – She does it for the heck of it 3. The Enchanted Forest Chronicle’s Zennimar – Some really clever evil plans 4. Harry Potter’s Lord Voldemort – epitome of a cult leader I’m sure there were more! (edited for reasons)
Thank you for explaining dark lords are not boring! I know Lord of the Rings gets written off a lot for that, which is entirely unfair! Think also of classic Disney villains, like Malificent, Ursula, the Evil Stepmother, Scar. They are all great because they have such great personality (also partly why a lot of recent Disney & Pixar movies have boring villains). I have a Dark Lord who is both stylish & loves brilliant colors, very seductive & active, an actual good king. But those who know, know he’s terrifying. And he has a goal he is super after, has been for at least 50 years.
i love it when bad guys have some off time like in some story i cant remember the name of but heis a evil guy conquering many lands but the protagonist meet him in a neutral place like a opera house where the lord just sit and cry from the beauty of the song and refuses to do anything against the hero or th eland that managed to create such lovely music. he even helped the protagonist by helping finding a child th eprotagonist was looking for. if anyone remember or recognize this please let me know the name of it
The story idea that’s been brewing in my mind the past few months actually has a group of dark lords serving as antagonists but I was planning to have the story focus mainly on two as sort of the main driving force. The others serve their own roles. At the start, the dark lords seem like unrepentant evil villains that come from some dark and twisted world parallel to the protagonists’ world. However when they visit the world of the dark lords, the protagonists learn that the world is much more twisted than they through and that the brutal methods of the dark lords are quite possibly the only reason anyone has been able to survive in their world. The dark lords care about their power of course but they’re not as dismissive to the needs of their people as originally thought. The protagonists must still take action to protect their own world but they face the dark lords no longer viewing them as wholly evil. I’ve actually been making decent progress fleshing out my villains (at least I think so) but it’s my heroes that need more help now. Do you have any articles to help with that?
I think Shredder, be in the movies, shows or the IDW comics of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is one of the best examples of a well-written Dark Lord. He really feels like a person and, even if he is a evil disgusting person, he really is interesting and a very complex character. Also, no matter the medium, his interactions with his allies, like Krang, Karai or Bebop and Rocksteady, or his enemies, like Splinter and the Turtles, are always interesting and cool to watch and see. Edit: Please, hello future me, make a article about Shredder, he is such a interesting and complex character and deserves a article analysing him, be his movie, tv show or IDW comic book version, even if I think analysing all his versions together is the best option.
I felt this in Inuyasha. Eventually there are so many heroes & anti-heroes whose entire focus is hunting Naroku down all he can do is run away and hide. Instead, the real conflict is with the people who are tricked or forced to fight by Naroku: Kikyo, Kohaku, Kagura, etc. Nobody cares what happens to Naroku. We care instead about saving his pawns.
She Ra: Princesses of Power – Hordak was initially introduced as The Dark Lord, with his shadowy presence, armies, minions. BUT, as a series progresses, we begin hearing mention of Horde Prime, the ACTUAL Dark Lord of the series. Interestingly, Hordak was significantly more humanized while Horde Prime was being built up. In season five, Horde Prime was FINALLY revealed as The Big Bad, and he was An Evil Dark Lord on an entirely new level that made Hordak look actually naive and almost endearing by comparison.
The Emporer in the OT isn’t really a villain. He’s the embodiment of the pure evil that corrupted Vader. That’s why the story only works if Vader sacrifices himself to purge that evil from the world. That’s a big part of what makes the OT so good and makes Palpatine such an ineffectual villain in the PT.
I think you might have missed the point of the scene between the Ninth Doctor and the Dalek emperor. The problem was not regarding if it was wrong to kill the daleks. He was on board with that. The issue is that the wave he would have used to do it would have also cooked the earth. While it wouldn’t have destroyed all humans, there being colonies and such, it would have destroyed several billion lives. I think your point mostly still stands but the Doctor’s decision wasn’t about not wanting to kill something that was inherently evil.
You got one thing wrong about the Doctor Who example. The method the Doctor was using to wipe out the Daleks would have destroyed the Earth too. So the moral conflict wasn’t about if he was willing to destroy a species of pure evil beings, but if he was willing to sacrifice innocent people to do so. This was to what the Doctor said he was a coward for, he wasn’t willing to sacrifice the innocent people of Earth to destroy his enemies, no matter how much he hated them or how dangerous they were.
This is nitpicky, as all internet comments are, but the better example for a human side protagonist would be Azula. There’s a reason her battle with Zuko is so epic and satisfying, beyond just pretty blue and orange fire. She has been the real, present villain for the past two books while Zuko has been undergoing his metamorphosis.
‘Did you ever hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the wise? I thought not. It’s not a story the Jedi would tell you. It’s a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midichlorians to create life… He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying. The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. He became so powerful… the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. It’s ironic he could save others from death, but not himself.’
Honestly the doctor becomes responsible for every single murder committed by the daleks the moment he saves them. He has every single innocent – children too that will die as a result in the palm of his hand and decides the cleanliness of his own hands is more important, and that makes him an irredeemable villain. In a way he’s accidentally the highest evil to countless peoples’ stories and yet has basically no other insidious traits
Regarding moral greys and Dark Lords, RWBY Volume 7 (and hopefully Volume 8) did a good job of exploring this. All of the major characters agree that the dark lord needs to be opposed, but they keep having difficulty agreeing on the specifics of it – what should and should not be done in the name of that unquestionably good goal. The real tension in the story comes from the fact that the good guys’ alliance is constantly on the verge of collapse (which will almost certainly mean defeat), rather than anything the villain herself is doing.
I never really saw Game of Thrones as using grey morality so much as just extending the worst of the 1990s antihero comic book traits to high fantasy, adding extra incest, and claiming to be revolutionary. The only thing that would have taken it further is if the characters in GoT all had about a hundred pouches all over their costumes.
If a pure evil villain is boring then you’re just not using them right. Morally complex villains are good and do come with their own depth, but also classic Disney villains who just want what they can get or have some supreme power in reach are just as interesting to watch especially as their character is added onto.
Just my personal take but I think this is why Voldemort isn’t regarded as as great a villain than others because he only shows up for the final battle. He barely has any other confrontations with Harry throughout the story so the reader doesn’t know as much about him. Yeah Darth Vader only confronts Luke near the climax of every movie but we still see scenes of him interacting with his henchman. He wasnt a bad villain by any means but Voldy feels more like a distant “presence” as a fantasy Dark Lord rather than a human being which is largely what makes a villain so terrifying
I have an half baked Idea of a dark Lord that has at one point in the far far removed history dealt with a kind of magic he shouln’t have and is now compelled to spread his dominance across everything. He has been defeted, a few times actually but even the cycle of reincarantion isn’t able to remove this kind of influence so every few generations a person is born and has dis deep rooted drive to rule everything without any knowledge why or how. just an intense need to bring order and dominace to the cosmos.
I think Wonder Woman showed an a little more creative version of a dark lord. I actually really liked the first WW movie with Gal Gadot (let’s not talk about WW 1984). Ares definetly didn’t have the best lines in the movie. compared to other dialouges in WW, some of his lines were actually pretty bad. but the idea was pretty great. When Diana enters the human World, she is naive and believes that humans are actually purely good and she just needs to kill Ares to end war. Ares symbolizes the opposite and kinda teaches her that she is wrong about humans. the climax of the movie is not her defeating him but her deciding that after everything she saw, humans are still worth to believe in. like you sad in your article, he challenges her morally. Dont get me wrong, Ares wasnt perfect. but he is an example of a villain that isn’t just morgoth or sauron or palpatine. great article btw. as always 🙂
My sci-fi world has a Dark Lord maker in the form of the personification of Tyranny, a psionic entity known as The Pale Maw, which possesses its victims and plays off of of their greed, wrath, and ambitions. It cannot be killed, only sealed away without a host, and by the time of the story, its been split between two siblings: One got the megalomania and paranoia, the other got the godlike telekinesis and body hopping with clones ala Dark Empire Palpatine.
Interesting article. :). Thank you for doing this. Dark Lord characters are basically a staple/necessary trope for an Epic Fantasy series. In my series, the Light vs the Darkness. Basically, I based the Light on my faith/Christianity (God). And, the Darkness on Satan/Lucifer. But, I use the duality system/belief, so that there’ll be actual conflict. In my series, Elf Sisters, the Darkness created the vampires, sorcerers, and werewolves. The Light created the Elves and humans. The Light and Darkness are at war with each other and the Darkness takes possession of certain creatures and serves as the antagonist of the first two books. In the third, the original creatures of Darkness appear, and the Darkness takes possession of a certain character in the fourth and last book. So does the Light, in the style of “Incarnation” for both the Light and Darkness’s avatars. The three female protagonists are Adria, Celestina and Anastasia, whose mother was murdered by the first antagonist that was possessed by the Darkness years before the start of the series. In my opinion, Tolkien’s concept of Sauron was far more interesting/believable as a “Dark Lord” character. But, Voldemort and Darth Vader were superb as well. Tolkien, Rowling, Lewis, and Lucas are superb storytellers. :). Once again, love your articles. Especially, the ones concerning magic systems. :). Keep up the good work.
Well i like Melkor because he knows he is evil but he is evil because he wants exactly that. Sauron more thinks he is good on his own twistet way when you see the Silmerillion i do not think he wanted to be what he thinks the valar should be. Melkor just likes to be evil and creates destruction i think. I think if you create an dark lord, you have only 3 ways, 1. He knows that he is evil and he likes it. 2. He thinks he is good and thinks all his acts are good 3. Do not care about the concept of evil or good. Sorrx for my bad english i am german and i am not so good in english.^^”
The dark lord of my dnd campaign is a perfect example of lawful evil. He’s the emperor of the Visniri Dominion (human empire that he formed in the wake of a massive war). He institutes systemic evil and oppression because he has to. The setting is very grim and dangerous, so he sees the order he creates as the only way to save humanity against the elves and monsters constantly threatening the very existence of humans. But he’s also a power hungry, semi-immortal god king who has become corrupted by his own power and sees the preservation and furthering of his own power as the best way to save humanity, even at the cost of tens of thousands of his own people
Okay, opinion question to everyone: I have three leaders of the country in my story and together they have a dictatorship (meaning that they alone make all the rules (depending on their specialty) and only have a council of advisers). I also have three protagonists who want to take them down. Do people think that is a good idea? Or will it become to busy? Is it even possible or very difficult? Do people have ideas about how to have them connect to the heroes? (I was personally thinking of every leader being a foil to one specific hero)
I’m not quite sure what you meant by “hell, even satan has this one down”, but while satan is the grandfather of all dark lords, he is by far not the simplest, he used to be an angel, he used to be at God’s right side, his story is one of huberis, wanting to become greater than God himself, and while yes, his current incarnation is just against god for the sake of it, he does it because he’s trapped, fallen, he knows that if God Carry’s out with his plans, he’ll be thrown into the lake of fire, he’s not evil because he wants to be, he’s evil because he wants to delay his ultimate fate, and because he hates god.
One of my favourite parts of the D&D module Curse of Strahd for 5th edition (minor spoilers here) is that the book really emphasizes that Strahd is an active threat. That he shouldn’t just be a piece in the puzzle, waiting until the end of the story to make his play. He should be there every step of the way to terrorise the players.
For one of the stories I’m working on I plan on having the dark lord pretend to be a ally of the heroes. Then later close to the end show his true face and reveal that he’s been toying with the heroes. Of course there is more going on, but by doing this it turns the final battle from one against a distant dark lord that no one cares about into one against a former friend who was trusted.
Great article over all, but the dnd chart part was, legitimately pretty bad tbh. Light Yagami a dark lord? He is just a moraly questionable protagonist and a serial killer who follows his own sense of morality. He has like only 4 willing minions and 1 magical item. And he isn´t a ruler or a figure of influence anywhere. Also, I´m not sure about Morgoth being chaotic. Sauron ceirtanly isn´t. He wants to govern by force, opress the various races present in middle earth and to advance technology at the cost of nature. That´s superr into lawfull evil.
so I’m trying to write a story for a game, I have the main basis down for my character (who is practically a Dark Lord). but, I wouldn’t mind getting advice from people So the villian I have is this Eldritch god character who I basically had as some sort of symbol for human suffering (you know, trauma, depression, mass hysteria, etc.). he originally was…lets say, “Paying visits” to several planets and through this eventually developed the concept of certain beings being born better than everyone else (in other words, social Darwinism) and believed that he was born better than anyone else, being born immortal and insanely powerful. eventually however, he landed on what is essentially Earth and, like every other planet, decided to assert himself as its ruler. after a large war, he eventually got put inside a meteorite made from the weapons & armor of every single person who fought in that war and sent to space. later on after he began weakening it piece by piece, he eventually regained enough power to make an avatar and decided to start a cult around his beliefs and not only seek to obtain the planet (this time more discreetly), but also find like minded individuals (who are the more sympathetic minions, like the Darth Vader to his Palpatine) and absolutely, positively ruin the life of the person who led the war against him. leading to events such as: the man’s wife (and who was also queen) forcibly taking her own life, resurecting his fathers corpse and making him a stand-in leader of the previously mentioned cult, and then traumatizing her daughter for the rest of her life via the likes of killing her only real childhood friend (who eventually gets resurected and becomes the main character), forcing her into a marriage with an abusive twink of a prince, and attempting to kill and tortures’ every single person she cares about.
I’m about to start running a vtt game featuring one of the most infamous villains of the TTRPG genre and an undisputed irredeemable villain. I’ve watched this article before, but here I am brushing up to make sure my instincts are right, and indeed the biggest weakness in the story for me to improve on is that activity. Thanks so much for the lasting resources these articles are!
The main problem as I see it is that people often conflate evil with simple threat. A hurricane isn’t evil because it doesn’t intend to do harm. A villain (which does not exclusively mean dark lords, though they are in there too) is an unambiguous, unavoidable threat. They are a thing that must be stopped because the consequences of them winning are objectively negative for the protagonist. This may be because the villain is hunting the protagonist specifically or because they intend to conquer and/or destroy the world or even just the protagonist’s home. You can have a selfish, “gray” protagonist and an otherwise perfectly lovable villain, but so long as the dynamic between the two is unavoidably hostile the “hero-villain” story can still work.
One could perhaps solve the henchman-carrying-more-weight-than-dark-lord issue by making the henchman a conduit or a warlock, thus making the defeat of the henchman the end of the dark one’s influence on the world. Until a new warlock is chosen, of course, which still leaves the whole idea of the lord coming back. Something to consider
Re: active villains A pretty good book I read lately (I don’t think it’s translated into English, think Jewish Mythology Percy Jackson) had half of its page count be the dark lord’s POV. He was unequivocally evil – his goal was to become the king of all demons and declare open war on humanity – but seeing his side of his story, his rise to power, his struggles, his hopes and dreams and motivations, his relationships and eventually the final chapters jumping from him to the protagonist’s POV, it all made for one of the most interesting reads I’ve had lately. Even if the main character was kinda insufferable
In my story, I have the evil henchman and dark lord defeated in the same chapter. Ironically, the henchman has a moment in which they pridefully state that the darklord only exists because of them and only has any chance because of the hard work the minion has done. The Darklord then pridefully retracts the curse that gave the minion his immortality and invulnerability, and he dies. However, when the Darklord and protagonist fight, the Darklord is occupied with fighting the Big Good as well. The hero is crippled, but not dead, and so is able to act at a critical moment to sacrifice their lives and do the thing that allows the Big Good to finish off the Big Bad once and for all, even if it means the Big Good’s death as well. Had the Dark Lord not disposed of his minion, he would have stopped the protagonist from interfering.
I think the Norse God Loki would be the perfect example of chaotic neutral as the nature of chaos is what he embodies. No judgement or side, no actual wishes or aspirations, just the joy in randomness and being a pain to those that see themselves superior, only to get so destructive that the chaos destroys all himself included.
one of my favorite hero vs dark lord/evil mastermind tropes, is where the hero faces increasingly more dangerous Henchmen, and leitenants ect, prior to finally facing the BBEG. Basically whereby the hero(heroes) have to weave through a multi-layered labryinth of increasing threats, while trying to piece the pieces of the larger picture together. HENCE why I loved the slow build reveal of Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes novels.
My favorite villain setup is for Killgrave in season one of Jessica Jones. Long before he ever appears onscreen, you see all the trauma and harm that the other characters in the show have suffered because of him. By the time he actually shows up, you’re already dreading what he might do. Made my skin crawl.
I am berhaps the only one who thinks of this but I just kept thinking about Tengil who most ppl might not know about but he is the evil lord in a swedish book called Bröderna lejonhjärta. I dont know what it is called in english but I remember it from when I was little and have allways enjoyed it. Fore those asking the book is writen by Astrid Lindgren a famus swedish chilldrensbook wrighter.
The Black Pants Legion put it beautifully: “What is The Lord of the Rings about?” – “The tendency of power to corrupt; the value of hope and trust in the fight against evil; because humans are prone to the temptation of sin, nobody can stand against evil alone; and evil is just as likely to destroy itself as it is to overcome the forces that defy it.” “And what is Harry Potter about?” -“Magic cool, wizard Hitler bad.” I am paraphrasing, but only a little. Also, 7:35 I love that you used Iron Maiden’s Brave New World artwork there. You are a man of great taste!
One of my favorite dark lords in recent memory was the Crimson King in The Dark Tower books. He’s introduced by name in the first book, and over the course of the next five he’s gradually and meticulously built up as a cosmic, world-ending threat. It’s just a shame the final confrontation was such a joke.
I’ve only ever written 1 dark lord in my short writing career, but he was a favorite (among family and friends lol) his name was Kazul and he was the minion of the moon. His half brother O’zan was the champion of the sun, and Krystaline was the star maiden that came between them and ultimately caused Ananthera to be thrown into darkness (because Kazul killed his brother but not before he could have a daughter with Krystaline, Shamsia Sunray, the hope for Ananthera and it’s future) I never finished this story and I kinda hate it now, but conceptually it’s the most layered thing I’ve ever written
Oooh, you made me think I had a dark-lord type of character, but using a little worldbuilding element I can give her a little cute gimmick. Thirst of power and conquest, yes, but after walking away triumphant, finally outside the cloudy, grey and almost dead landscape of her homeland, this dark lord could stop wondering how the sun looks like, how is the bright, warm light on the other side of the border
Surely someone’s mentioned it already. . .yeah. . .no. . .no, okay. Warcraft? The Lich King? Literally one of the most easily identifiable of the Warcraft universes more mortal Dark Lords literally checks almost all of these boxes. He’s humanized without straying from his Dark Lordiness, he’s active constantly showing himself to the player during the expansion, and he utilizes minions and other Dark Lord aspects.
I find the Scarlet King from SCP very interesting This is backstory The Scarlet King was born with the planting of the Tree of Knowledge, called Khahrahk at the time. He was the smallest of his siblings, but the only one aware, and it brought him great pain. He decided that existence itself is painful and that he’d have no part in it, as well as destroying existence itself. He started by consuming his siblings and growing stronger on their essence. He vowed to destroy the Tree, the Creator and Creation, and consumed or subjugated all the other gods, naming himself “King of the Darkness Below”. He declared war on creation itself, one which will not end until the very end of everything. He took Sanaa, one of the gods he subjugated, forcibly as his wife and sired seven daughters on her. Sanaa died after birthing them, and the King took his seven daughters as his new brides, sealing them so they would not die as their mother had. From his seven bride-daughters he had seven children called Leviathans. The Scarlet King’s daughters are as follows: A’tivik, A’ghor, A’distat, A’zieb, A’nuht, A’tellif, and A’habbat. Other gods agreed to follow him as well, among them were The Prince of Many Faces, Moloch and The Hanged King. He’s huminised by the fact that he wants to destroy life not because pure evil but rather to free himself of his pain. But over time his hatred for life grows, until he’s just this Eldritch monster that needs to be stopped.
Point IV is the reason why people LOVED the WoW expansion Wrath of the Lich King and, weirdly enough, HATED Battle For Azeroth a couple expansion later. Both heavily feature the final boss during the expansions’ stories – they show up a couple time, foil your plans a little, help you a little, mock you… but in WotLK Arthas actually puts up a good fight at the end and basically wins, while N’Zoth at the end of BfA just kinda… dies? Even though he talks to you and is mentioned all throughout the story, N’Zoth has no actual presence and you can’t relate to the cosmic evil, so you never really establish a connection with him. Arthas on the other hand is an old friend, a fallen hero as you mentioned. And how far he has fallen ooh boy. It’s such a good story, which they tried to replicate with N’Zoth but failed on all aspects.
George Washington was offered by his men to take charge as a new king of America. He declined. He only served two terms as President. Starting a tradition that Presidents only serve two terms then step down. Mirroring Cincinnatus of Rome. The willingness to give up power. Franklin D Roosevelt would upset that tradition.
An idea for an On Writing article would be magic weapons and their role in narrative. Something that can be used as a source is The Rising of the Shield Hero. Watch the series and you will understand. Other sources you can include are Aang and his staff, Thor and his hammer, King Arthur (I think you know what weapon), Eragon (from Lord of the Rings) and his sword, Sauron and the one ring (because it is a weapon), Sokka and his meteor sword (lots of swords) and boomerang, Jedi knights and the processes of making their lightsabers, Harry Potter and the sword of Gryffindor, Batman and the battering. I’m sure there’s a whole lot of material to draw from and you could even collaborate with Shadiversity!
What I feel is that the world off JRR Martin is easy pickings for the likes of Sauron. Sauron excelled at corrupting the hearts of Men and these “Grey Characters” are exactly the type to first get corrupt. If the Great Numenor didn’t stand a chance then Martin’s world won’t even more. It is only through the sheer Goodness, Sacrifice, Love, Friendship can the evil of Sauron be stopped. One can argue that the realm of Arnor became “Martin Like” but it’s exactly at this time that the Witch King Scored his greatest victories. So again the world of Martin doesn’t stand a chance in the face of the Evil of Sauron.
Wheel of Time, Book 9: Winter’s Heart spoilers below. Beware, readers! One thing I found really interesting was the way Rand cleansed saidin of the taint. He essentially pit the evil of the Dark One–the taint on saidin–against the evil of humanity–Shadar Logoth. In the end, neither reigned victorious, and both were eliminated. The absolute evil of reality, of the Dark One themself, the being of absolute entropy and destruction, could only match the deepest evil of humanity, represented in Shadar Logoth. The evil of the Dark One, and the deepest evil of humanity, matched each other, and destroyed each other. It’s a message that humanity’s deepest evils match the deepest that could be; not only that, but that evil turned against evil, as is inevitable, will inevitably result in everyone’s defeat. At least, those are my thoughts on it.
What would I say about evil? In my experience, most “evil” is done by people who are convinced they’re doing the right thing, acting out of what they see as tragic necessity rather than malice. The ones who do act out of malice feel they’re something akin to agents of karma or justice, enforcing due consequence, or upholding some kind of “natural order”, or disrupting a flawed system. Others act out of selfishness, like they don’t recognize other people as agents they are wronging- just as obstacles to getting what they want. Many don’t even intend to do any kind of harm or register that they’re causing harm, they just act without thought, as if they themselves aren’t agents but rather just tools following directive. I don’t mean that in the sense of “good men doing nothing”, or even soldiers following orders, but like… as Josh Scorcher said about Veruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, her issue was greed and assuming the world bends to her will, but it’s almost like material desire wasn’t even a conscious choice for her, it was robotic, she’s like “see thing, want thing, tell dad to get thing, beep boop”. Things like “why do I want this thing, what will I do once I have this thing, the other party might not want to part with it, there’s maybe reasons I shouldn’t have it” never occur to her, she just “understands” that she acquires luxury material and acted the part. Was Veruca Salt “evil” though? Not necessarily, but I’m sure some people would call her such and she illustrates my point well.
You missed a good point of discussion with Mistborns antagonist. Spoilers for those of you 10 years too late to the punch: I will have you know the Lord Rulers death was indeed particularly cathartic for me and I’ll tell you why; you didn’t go over this much but you can definitely create tension and investment in a conflict with the little ways a dark lord acts that have a heavy impact on the plot; something the villain does that actively makes the heroes life miserable (i.e. by creating a world order in which the heroes are oppressed) without being directly involved in the heroes life. Using legislation to casually violate civil rights, or being responsible for something that destroys a protagonists life without a middleman to harbor the brunt of responsibility. I was a LOT less invested in ‘the-henchman-archetype’ Bendals death, even though it was a major catharsis unto itself, because while Bendal while an active threat with immediate consequences only acts directly and thus those consequences are a lot less far reaching; the Lord Ruler on the other hand was less immediate but the consequences create ripples in the characters lives, making his presence have much more weight without being as involved. Brandon Sanderson wrote it especially well; while Bendal could be fought, escaped, and hidden from the Lord Ruler couldn’t because his actions changed or defined the characters’ way of life. Like the difference between stubbing your toe and the circumstances that lead to it happening.
Fun fact: Martin isn’t a fan of gray-and-gray morality. I attended a con where he, as guest of honor, led a panel on “heroes and villains” and one thing he said was, pure good protagonists aren’t relatable, but if you want people to root for the hero you need to make the villain obviously worse. The example he kept coming back to was The Lies of Locke Lamora, but in his own books, well, you’ll never convince me there’s any gray area about Ramsey Bolton.
I have been occasionally catching some re-runs of the mentalist and despite the disappoint that was the final confrontation with Red John I can’t deny that there were some really strong moments to build him as a threat, brainwashing a medium so that she believe she was a ghost instead of just killing her and the time he “killed” a happy memory of the MC. Sad that all that went to waste. Regardless, When I heard Dark Lord 3 characters come to mind first and only one is male, Darkseid aside I wonder why the Lady from The Black Company and Mav, Qeen of Air and Darkness, from the Dresden Files have stuck with me…
For a great example of “Dark Lords are people, too,” watch Castlevenia. Spoilers One of the vampires, Carmilla, wants to take over the world. Her sister, Lenore, asks Camilla if world domination will make her happy. Carmilla goes on a tirade about how men of power have ruined the world. She built her entire life around taking things from crazy old men. Before this scene, there was even a discussion about how Carmilla never got over the abusive vampire who turned her. Carmilla concludes that when they needed help, other vampires said that women weren’t fit to rule, and that world domination won’t make her happy, but she will have conquered all that men have, and that’s enough. Simply understand a very relatable motivation, even if you don’t agree with it, can make a dark lord human. And of course, there’s Dracula, which I won’t explain here because you need to watch the show to see why he is such a great dark lord.
Some interesting applications of Dark Lords can be scene in the series “So I’m a Spider, so What?” – a light novel with anime and manga adaptions (though the manga apparently threw out half of the narrative, then ended early. There’s three characters that seem to be going for the Dark Lord archetype: Demon Lord Ariel, Administrator D, and a third character, that I’ll mention later, because that’s major spoilers for the anime, and first five volumes of the novels. I’ll go over the characters from least to most spoilery. Administrator D is the least spoilery, because it’s pretty obvious what she’s like from the moment she’s introduced. She’s somehow managing to straddle the line between the ‘Cosmic Evil’ type Dark Lord, and the ‘Dark Lords are People Too’ type, and is mostly kept at a distance, though she pops up from time to time. Despite being a self proclaimed evil god, she usually doesn’t behave antagonistically towards the characters, and actually helps the titular MC of the series (called Kumoko by basically everyone at this point) sometimes. But make no mistake – she is absolutely a sadistic, malevolent entity all the same. You know the type of Sims player that sets up a bunch of carefully designed sims, in a carefully designed death trap of a house, then sits back and watches them destroy themselves when left to their own devices? That’s what D does, expect she uses actual people, and she’s not above throwing her toys a bone now and then if she thinks it’ll be more entertaining that way.
One thing that makes an intriguing villian is when they think they are doing what’s for the best. Making the “hard choices” others are too “weak” or “sentimental” to make. Thanos is a good example, killing half of a population or half the universe because of over population and strain on resources. He’s not intent in ruling over everything, after the snap he pretty much disappears. Some who think they are doing the right thing, do want to rule in order to keep everyone safe. The Lord Ruler from the Final Empire is such a person, he tells Vin right before he dies “You don’t know what I do for mankind. . .By killing me you doomed yourselves.” Or villains who align themselves with a greater evil/mystery/force because they think they are doing what is for the best. Viren from the Dragon Prince, he might not be my favorite villain or the most compelling, he is so desperate to save humanity and he thinks he’s way is the only way. He doesn’t trust that there can be peace between Xadia and humans, we have to act now before the make us extint. He at first tries to take the crown because he doesn’t think the princes will have what it takes to protect mankind. All of these villains have twisted “good intentions” or what they think are good intentions, they aren’t good, their methods are questionable, even their goals are questionable, but in their minds they are doing what needs to be done.
My favorite covenant from the OG Dark Souls. I stumbled upon it when I fought the four kings early (after beating the game and starting over) and noticed that if you roll at the same time as the kings strike, you evade their attack. Once you get that down, the kings are super easy to beat IMO. The armor is pretty cool too and the sword.
Anybody who is struggling to take down the four kings as an early ish game sorcerer (Side note four Kings have a massive resistance to sorcery) aqcuire a pyro flame and upgrade it to +10 and seek out Quelana in blight town, the third sister of Quelaag and The Fair Lady, She can ascend your pyro flame and once ascended can be upgraded to a max of +5 with ascension, Buy the spells Magic Shield, Combustion (two if you can) and great combustion, Next get the crest shield from the now Hollowed old friend of ours in the Undead Asylum, he will drop the crest shield, It may not seem like it but the four kings deal pure magic damage and the crest shield has a massive resistance to it, Block all the attacks you can and use combustion after you block, rinse and repeat and if your damage is great enough you can take down the kings before multiple get a chance to overwhelm you, I just spent hours throwing myself at them until I tried this strategy Anyways dark hand acquired and my brain has officially melted from having to restart my playthrough about 5 times because NPCs crucial to my build dissapeared on multiple playthroughs (I killed bed of chaos before talking to Quelana in my last one and she dissapeared before i could get all her spells or even upgrade my flame lol so thats an example also my first few tries I didnt know about this and went with frampt but research pays off) anyways fuck you dark souls ilysm
So, uh… I ran down Frampt’s hole and placed the lordvessel without talking to Frampt. Can I still join the Darkwraith covenant or am I screwed? I figured the 4 Kings would be blocked off because the other lord soul bosses are blocked until you place the lordvessel. Is that not true? I really wanted that equipment this run…
Honestly I think the developer of this game should get a punch in the face from each person who purchased his game because of how he made the enemies it’d been great if he didn’t have them just you know spam the same f**** moves 90% of the goddamn time like I’m dealing with the stupid f**** dragon and it’s just let’s do the same move over and over again poor game design