Dark Lords

Villainous Overview Gallery

Dark Lords

“	Everything will continue to be fine as you remember who's the boss, and who's got the power.	„
	~ Randall Flagg

“	SeeD... SeeD......SeeD...... SeeD, SeeD, SeeD! Kurse all SeeDs. Swarming like lokusts akross generations. You disgust me. The world was on the brink of that ever-elusive 'time kompression'. Insolent fools! Your vain krusade ends here, SeeDs. The price for your meddling is death beyond death. I shall send you to a dimension beyond your imagining. There, I will reign, and you will be my slaves for eternity. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.	„
	~ Sorceress Ultimecia to the "Legendary SeeDs" who dares to undo the Time Compression and tears her new "eternal" kingdom apart.

Dark Lords, also sometimes known as Evil Overlords, are a popular theme of evildoers who are each a villain or antagonist of near-omnipotence with evil henchmen within his or her realm, who seeks to utterly dominate the world; he or she is often depicted as a diabolical force, and may, indeed, be more a force than a personality, and often personifies evil itself. The effects of his or her rule often assert malign effects on the land as well as his subjects. Besides her or his usual magical abilities, she or he often controls great armies. In particular, it is used as a moniker in universes where it is thought that pronouncing the villain's real name will bring bad luck or represents a negative omen. Such a villain usually seeks to rule or destroy the universe around them. While most Dark Lords are male, except in parody, there are Dark Lords whom happened to be female, which made them better known as Dark Ladies. It is the polar opposite of Light Lords.

History

The term Dark Lord has appeared in religious context, where it refers to Satan or other similar malevolent entities who hold powers over fiendish creatures and seek to disrupt comfort and lives of people.

In fantasy literature, Dark Lord term have become something of a cliché stemming from the success of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The main antagonist of the book, Sauron, was often referred as the Dark Lord. On occasion, the people of Gondor in Middle-earth refer to Sauron as "The Enemy" or "The Nameless Enemy" in spite of knowing his true name, arguably starting the practice of avoiding pronouncing a Dark Lord's actual name (which in turn, led to emergence of the "Unspeakable Evil" term). Following the example of Sauron, Dark Lords and Dark Ladies that featured after him in other fantasy fictions are always depicted as immensely powerful and implacably malevolent being with a great desire of power.

Examples

Religion

• The Devil/Satan (who is often called the King or Prince of Darkness) (Judaism and Christianity).
• Angra Mainyu (Zoroasterism).

Literature

• Middle-earth
  • Morgoth
  • Sauron
• Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter).
• The Chronicles of Narnia
  • Jadis the White Witch
  • Tash
• Randall Flagg (Stephen King's The Stand).
• The Wicked Witch of the West (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz).
• Nome King (Ozma of Oz).
• Arawn Death-Lord (The Chronicles of Prydain).

Films

• Star Wars
  • Sith (also known as the Sith Order)
    • Emperor Palpatine (also known as Darth Sidious)
    • Darth Vader
• Disney
  • The Horned King (Disney's The Black Cauldron).
  • Morgana le Fay (Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice).
  • King Stefan (Disney's Maleficent).
  • Hades (Disney's Hercules).

Internet

• Zalgo

Comics

• Darkseid (DC Comics).
• Thanos (Marvel Comics).
• The Evil One (Sonic the Hedgehog).

Television

• Lord Zedd (Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers).
• Rita Repulsa (Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers).
• Octomus (also known as the Supreme Master of the Underworld) (Power Rangers Mystic Force).
• Davros (Doctor Who)
• Lord Dominator (Wander Over Yonder).
• Lord Hater (Wander Over Yonder).
• Major Threat (Wander Over Yonder).
• Vicky (Fairly OddParents).
• Crocker (Fairly OddParents).
• The Destructinator (Fairly OddParents: Wishology trilogy).
• Makuta Teridax (BIONICLE).
• Gunmar (Tales of Arcadia trilogy).

Videogames

• King Bowser Koopa (better known as Bowser) (Super Mario Bros).
• Ganondorf (The Legend of Zelda).
  • Ganon (The Legend of Zelda).
• The Vizier (Prince of Persia trilogy).
• Kefka Palazzo (Final Fantasy VI).
• Sorceress Ultimecia (Final Fantasy VIII).
• The Overlord (Overlord).
• Xehanort (Kingdom Hearts).
• Wizeman the Wicked (NiGHTS: Into Dreams and NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams).
• Romeo (Minecraft: Story Mode).

Anime and Manga

• Queen Beryl (Sailor Moon).
• Talpa (Ronin Warriors).

External Links

• Dark Lord on Wikipedia
• Evil Overlord on TV Tropes.