Favorite Darklord

[GreenWood]

Everyone let me know who is your favorite Darklord and why. I'm really partial to Meredoth ( he reminds me of Lim Dul the Necromancer from MTG's ice age.) Soth is basically Darth Vader for fantasy and is also one of my favorites. So many good villians, it's hard to decide.

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

I especially like Urik von Kharkov, as he was a panther transformed into a human by a wizard. My love of cats--especially tigers--leads me to love rakshasas, so I also like Arijani.

Of course, I am a big fan of mind flayers, so the Illithid God-Brain is a favorite of mine as well.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Adam.
It's hard for a Darklord to be more tragic than he is.

[GreenWood]

I especially like Urik von Kharkov, as he was a panther transformed into a human by a wizard. My love of cats--especially tigers--leads me to love rakshasas, so I also like Arijani.

Of course, I am a big fan of mind flayers, so the Illithid God-Brain is a favorite of mine as well.

I have always loved Valchan. Kharkov was a very underutilized villian in my opinion. The God Brain is one of the most horrific of all the Darklords because you can in no way relate to it's alien nature.

[GreenWood]

Adam.
It's hard for a Darklord to be more tragic than he is.

Very true. He isn't even the greatest villian in Lamordia, his creator certainly is.

[Five]

Put me down for both Adam and Baron Urik von Kharkov.

To my understanding of them (and I don't take any one source material as "truth"; I take the sum resonance in my brain), both are ultimately the by-products of an evil, all-pervasive (closed) environment. And they both evolved into mirror images of that shithole they were "born" into. Sure, at some point the decisions were made to give in to Evil (one can even view the Dark Powers as oh-so cruelly setting these two up for failure, to further add to their pH levels!), but can a child truly be blamed for becoming an image of their parent(s)/guardian(s)? How hard is that struggle to be not like that which you see everywhere around you (assuming you even knew things as being capable of being different)? Every person you looked up to hurt you, betrayed you, turned into a monster before your very young eyes (remember: they were essentially newborns or, still-developing beings of the equivalence of very young children). Why not then stand to their height, nay, taller? More than them. These are the rules?, then so be it; I stand now. Alone. I don't need you. I am wicked. I am MONSTER. And I am better than YOU.

Poor misguided bastards. That's what I call a hard birth man. Slum kings.

Yet from a potentials point of view I also see them as two of the most likely of Darklords that can achieve redemption. They just haven't had a good soak in the sun yet, or, exposure to that other world of emotions for any length of time to fully analyse and live them. If they can turn away from their respective mirrors (their root cause of Current or "Borrowed" Identity) and look into and develop their Inner Self, then by the gods of all that's great they could very well become paragons for Protectors of the Downtrodden on every plane in existence. Scarecrows to the Wicked. etc, etc. The irony of them unselfishly fighting for a species nothing even remotely like their own, in a Superman sorta way, is not lost on me.

So says my coppers anyway (minted by a bank with the same name as me. Huh. Weird.)

[The Lesser Evil]

I have always loved Valchan. Kharkov was a very underutilized villian in my opinion. The God Brain is one of the most horrific of all the Darklords because you can in no way relate to it's alien nature.

If you can find your hands on them, there were a few Dungeon adventures that featured Valachan. Dungeon #42 features the hunt in Ungrad for a gluttonous nosferatu that has overstepped his bounds and potentially reveals the truth of the White Fever hoax. Felkovic's Cat (Dungeon 50) goes into more depth on the famous artifact and offers the chance to end von Kharkov once and for all (which is good for Valachan background even if you don't want to use the module for von Kharkov's destruction.) Some of the information from these modules were included in Gazetteer V too.

[GreenWood]

If you can find your hands on them, there were a few Dungeon adventures that featured Valachan. Dungeon #42 features the hunt in Ungrad for a gluttonous nosferatu that has overstepped his bounds and potentially reveals the truth of the White Fever hoax. Felkovic's Cat (Dungeon 50) goes into more depth on the famous artifact and offers the chance to end von Kharkov once and for all (which is good for Valachan background even if you don't want to use the module for von Kharkov's destruction.) Some of the information from these modules were included in Gazetteer V too.[/quote]

I have both of them! I have collected as many adventures in Ravenloft that were in Dungeon as I possibly could. Great stuff!

[High Priest Mikhal]

It's hard to decide, but I'm most partial to Azalin and Elena Faith-hold. The former because he just refuses to give up on escaping his curse, enacting one insanely dangerous scheme after another only for them to fall apart. That takes some kind of an ego and an iron will. Not a lot of wisdom, though. Of all the darklords, he seems to know the most about the true nature of the Realms of Dread and should best understand what he's railing against. Yet he continues to believe he can somehow circumvent forces and/or beings beyond even his ken.

Elena I like because she's part of the Shadowborn story and because she represents something I see all too often in life: zealots who believe their righteousness makes them exempt from the rules, only to learn they have much more to lose. I wish she'd received more coverage in 3.5 since her story is such a great example of how far and hard a paladin can fall even when they believe they're doing the right thing.

[Mistmaster]

Vlad Drakov (NeoTiamat's version) is my favourite, followed by von Mordenheim (I am of the school that Adam is the Curse, not the lord).

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Mikhal summed up my feelings on Az and Elena pretty well. They are certainly in my top 5. Strahd, for sentimentality's sake, Juste, for the opportunities he presents for unique story and gameplay, and maybe Harkon, because I love Affably Evil, and he's one of the best examples around... They probably round out that 5. Ask me again another day and you might get a different answer.... there are so many great ones.

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

I forgot about Juste. He is also one of my favorites.

[GreenWood]

Strahd and Azalin are so intrinsically tied to the world that I can't consider them my favorites. They are both fantastic characters but they get a whole lot of the spotlight. Not that they don't deserve it.

[GreenWood]

Hazlik is another another favorite of mine. The Gazetteer really improved upon his character! His is super prolific with his experiments and ambitions, to have only lived one lifetime.

[Epically]

It's not canon, but Vladmir Ludzig. In a campaign of mine, the players accidently united the forces of Borca, Mordent and Richemelont with the Freemen of Falkovnia. They ended up sacking Lekar and Gondegal killed Dracov personally.

The next viable lord was of course Ludzig. I made his curse be two things, since he is quite vile and both of these made sense to me. Firstly, he and his people can never escape the sewers. Just when they think they have it mapped out, the sewers magically change their layout. Secondly, I turned him into a vampire - the very thing he hates the most.

I'm quite proud of how all this turned out which is why Ludzig is my favourite.