Evil Overlord: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

The [[Archetypal Character|archetypal]] [[High Fantasy]] (and sometimes [[Heroic Fantasy]]) [[Villains|villain]].

 

 

Prone to [[Good Colors, Evil Colors|black]], and [[Always Male|generally male]]: hence, Dark Lord. Even more prone to being symbolically associated with [[Evil Is Deathly Cold|death, cold]], destruction, pain, and other bad things: [[CS Lewis (Creator)|CS Lewis]]' White Witch was associated with white, symbolic of snow, cold, ice, and endless winter, and his Lady of the Green Kirtle with green, symbolic of snakes and poison. When the [[Fisher King]] trope is in play, he is bound to live in a [[Mordor]]. And it usually is, because the [[Evil Overlord]] is often not even human, or no longer human, but a force of evil.

Not to be confused with the video game ''[[Overlord]]'' and its sequels, which feature these characters as [[Villain Protagonist|Villain Protagonists]]. Or an [[Drunk On the Dark Side|Evil Overload]], although he will likely have one at some point.

 

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=== I demand examples!! So speaks DOOM!!: ===

* Capricorn from ''[[The Inkworld Trilogy (Literature)|The Inkworld Trilogy]]'' is a cookie-cutter example of this trope. He's also something of a capricious ganglord punk. Depends what you take from it.

** The Adderhead, [[Big Bad]] of the [[Show Within a Show|Book within a Book]] and [[Refugee From TV Land|Capricorn's]] former boss, is a much clearer example.

** His team is as follows. His [[The Dragon|Dragon]], Dracon (no less!) is an ancient half-elf who is [[Immortality|immortal]] and extremely powerful, and his best friend. [[The Dark Chick]] was mind-raped into submission. [[The Brute]] (the [[Mook]] Captain) is entirely loyal and very intelligent. The [[Mad Scientist]] has yet to be introduced, but can produce technology to warp reality and use magic.

* Rugaard from E. E. Knight's ''Age of Fire'' series is a partial subversion of this trope. While he's an Evil Overlord, he's a dragon, carries a good approval rating from most of his underlings, even his personal slaves Rayg, Rhea and Fourfang with him intervening to save them more than once, practices Equal Opportunity Evil, shows most of the traits we'd expect of a fantasy hero, and oh, plans to subjugate all the hominids in the world. But it's all justified, you see, because not a single free homonid he's encountered has ever been vaguely nice to him.

* Belial from ''[[The Salvation War]]'': [http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=118769&highlight= Armageddon]. Interesting subversion: He's not the guy in charge, in fact he's a nobody in Old Nick's court. So much so that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah were considered highly amusing party tricks - and he's just there as the ''court jester''. Turns out, however, that they're not quite [[Superweapon Surprise|"party tricks" after all]]...

* Darken Rahl and Emperor Jagang in ''[[The Sword of Truth]]'' series by Terry Goodkind. Rahl is more archetypal since his minions ''know'' he's evil but still follow him out of loyalty, while Jagang and his empire think they're right.

* Paul Atreides of ''[[Dune]] Messiah'' is somewhat of a deconstruction/subversion of the trope. He is worshiped as a god by his Fremen legions whose jihad has spread their religion across the universe at the expense of billions of people, the once [[Proud Warrior Race]] is now rich and corrupt, and in comparison the Shaddam IV who he overthrew seems like a saint. However, none of this was Paul's intention. A group of overzealous Fremen started the religion and jihad and after 12 years it escalated to the point of Paul being a figurehead without any power to stop it, leading to the irony of being a powerful emperor who commands his subjects yet a powerless god who can't stop his worshipers. He also still manages to be the hero of the story because almost all of his enemies want to overthrow him for their own selfish purposes rather than stop the jihad. Paul was on top of this to begin with mostly because as enough of a prophet to see the big war is coming (back in the first book), he tried to somewhat limit the inevitable destruction by taking control.

** His son, Leto II, the [[God-Emperor]], is another deconstructive example. He rules over [[The Empire|territories from several galaxies with an iron fist]], [[A God Am I|demands that his subjects worship him]], [[Amazon Brigade|commands an army of savage female fanatics]], and [[Unobtanium|uses his monopoly over the spice]] to prevent any challenge to his authority. What only he knows, however, is that he is using his reign as a means to free humanity from prescient rulers like himself and to ensure that humanity follows his "Golden Path" - the path away from extinction. His contemporaries think he is simply a power hungry despot.

* Darken Rahl in ''[[Legend of the Seeker]]''

* Chancellor Dongalor is a parody of this in ''Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire''

* Lord Zedd of ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' is introduced as this. Even after his [[Jaded Washout|slide into has-been territory]], it was still a very real, very frightening moment when he appeared in the Command Center after capturing Kimberly and forcing the Rangers to pilot his evil zords. His subsequent hand-to-hand fight with Tommy later confirmed his status in this category.

* The Gorma Emperor from ''[[Gosei Sentai Dairanger]]''.

** In [[Forgotten Realms]], the god of tyranny Bane is the clearest example, and his church works with mortal overlords here and there, including [[Sorcerous Overlord|Manshoon]] with his Black Network. The conqueror Yamun Khahan, a pastiche of [[Genghis Khan]] (not only rumours about him are quoted almost verbatim, but the other names are used as is). But is more of a subversion: a ravenous warlord bent on conquering the known world through endless war, yet turning westward was a change of course forced on him in the [[Asshole Victim|Thayvian]] campaign's dead end, and he was a [[Benevolent Boss]] [[Villain With Good Publicity|adored]] by his people (not unlike the real-world Khan).

* Likewise ''[[Magic the Gathering]]'', including Volrath, Crovax, and [[The Man Behind the Man]] for both of these, Yawgmoth. Various other examples from ''M:TG'' include Baron Sengir, Lim-Dul the Necromancer, and Memnarch.

 

 

* Dr. Robotnik of ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' in some incarnations.

* [[Big Bad|Ganondorf/Ganon]] from ''[[The Legend of Zelda (Franchise)|The Legend of Zelda]].''

* The main characters in the ''[[Overlord]]'' series are archetypical Evil Overlords who wields hordes of gremlin-like creatures known as Minions, have mistress(es) and generally look like [[Tin Tyrant|Tin Tyrants]] with [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]] being the only visible part of the character. The first game lets you decide just how evil the Overlord can be, either a destructive tyrant to a [[Anti-Villain|leader]] [[Villain With Good Publicity|beloved by the peasants]]. Although at the end it turns out that {{spoiler|you're just [[The Dragon|a patsy]] for the real one}}.

** While canonically the Overlord of the first game was apparently a [[Noble Demon]] who saved the Elves from extinction and kept Rose as his Mistress, his son in the sequel is much more evil, being either an [[Ax Crazy]] butcher or a Dominator who enslaved entire populaces to his whim. Lord Gromgard of Overlord: Dark Legend is portrayed as more an [[Anti-Villain]] who while still an Evil Overlord is a benevolent tyrant [[Villain With Good Publicity|better-liked by his subjects]] more than his [[Jerkass]] siblings.

** Sir Grodus from ''[[Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door (Video Game)|Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door]]'' also fits. He's essentialy what Bowser would be if he weren't [[Played for Laughs]], weren't a moron, and actually [[Kick the Dog|Kicked The Dog]] as opposed to [[Poke the Poodle|Poking The Poodle]].

** [[Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door (Video Game)|Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door]] also has The Shadow Queen, {{spoiler|who gives Grodus a nasty taste of the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]].}}

* In ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]] 3'', the Warlocks and Overlords of Nighon fit this trope perfectly.

** ''[[Makai Kingdom]]'' reveals that Overlords are a dime a dozen in the [[Nippon Ichi]] [[The Verse|'verse]], as anybody with enough mana can rule over their own collection of vassals and worlds.

* Laharl, ''[[Disgaea]]'''s resident Overlord -- though the first half or so of the game consists of you making the role legit (he's been asleep for two years {{spoiler|thanks to Etna poisoning him}}). Other overlords in the series include [[Bonus Boss|Baal]] and {{spoiler|[[He Who Fights Monsters|Priere]]}}.

* The titular character from the ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' series spends a lot of time as this. He does take breaks to save the world, but he actually just wants to keep it alive so he can keep lording over it.

** Ultimately averted though, Kain wants to purify the corruption of the world and make it a vampire utopia because vampires came first and the world rightfully belongs to them. {{spoiler|(He succeeds in getting it on the right track, but judging by blood omen 2, which results from the paradox he makes, there's a long way to go).}}

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:Evil Overlord]]