The stopgap Darklord

[Rock of the Fraternity]

During a discussion on Discord yesterday, the subject of Wilfred Godefroy came up... and how he isn't particularly compelling as a Darklord.

Remember how S mentioned Mordent felt like it might slide into the Mists any moment, and her theory it was mostly the efforts of the Ezrites keeping it together?
Consider Godefroy: until those adventurers almost took him out, he would've been content to just loser around Gryphon Manor and bully his captives. The rest of the domain could go hang, as far as he cared. The last Darklord who so totally disregarded his land was Soth in the depths of numbness and despair, and Sithicus really did start to come apart at the seams.

So why did the Dark Powers install Godefroy?
My theory is that they were stuck for any solution that might fit. Strahd and Azalin had dragged Mordent into the Mists, but Strahd was needed to maintain Barovia, and Mordent would never have been enough to contain Azalin. Godefroy was "good enough for government work", and the Dark Powers plugged him into the Darklord slot.
Maybe they've maintained him out of an unwillingness to release Mordent... and because they're waiting for a more suitable replacement to come along.

Imagine the chaos if someone does finish Godefroy, and all his captive ghosts are suddenly free to rampage through this bucolic little domain...

[The Lesser Evil]

I dunno. I get why Godefroy doesn't seem that impressive on paper- but to me he symbolizes the banality (and pettiness) of evil. Godefroy became a darklord by default- but he wasn't simply a darklord the Dark Powers chose completely on a whim- they were already keeping their eyes on him (see the red box campaign setting book p. 65.) So perhaps the Dark Powers were playing a trick on Strahd and Azalin by redirecting their escape attempt to a land they were already considering annexing?

Godefroy is described as having a "creative bent toward evil" (p. 66)- so that even prior to his great awakening from complacency, he was up to some pretty horrendous stuff- I imagine it would take some doing to sire a bond with Gryphon Manor, as horrendous as the place itself is. That he was insular and tormented mostly the dead instead of the living doesn't not make him less evil. And we let Strahd go through cyclical periods of activity and lethargy- perhaps Godefroy has gone through similar cycles- his most recent emergency from complacency could just be his greatest rise to activity of all time. In my head canon, I like to imagine Wilfred Godefroy (and perhaps some of his earlier predecessors) had some hand in bringing about the decline of the various other noble families in Mordent's history- but that's just my personal head canon.

In any case, the implications of Godefroy's permanent passing on are interesting to discuss nonetheless. The mass release of the souls he has dominated and imprisoned into Mordent and beyond could have disastrous effects akin to the destruction of Ivana Boristi's Death Stone. And having said release as a ticking timebomb upon his death would be both an excellent insurance plan for Godefroy and totally within his sour grapes character to engineer the explosion of Gryphon Manor's containment field.

In the meantime, I'm wondering what Mordent's next darklord would be.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

An evil Ghostbuster?

[Gautsu]

Lord Vigo?

[DustBunny]

Well you could also tie his apparent 'Intern Darklord' status into his curse as well.

He 'knows' (or simply believes) from comparison to his surrounding rulers, that he is simply a seat warmer till someone 'better' takes an interest in his realm. Mix this up with his colossal ego and firm belief he is the 'last true noble' of Mordent and it seems quite plausible it would have major effects on his personality.

Trying to quash such thoughts, he swings between period of manic activity to prove that he is the rightful ruler and did not just get the consolation prize, and at other times he simply sulks on Gryphon Hill as the doubt gnaws away at him whilst trying to supress his thoughts of inadequacy by assaulting the captured ghosts.

It would also explain why he went into the manic phase after those adventurers, so as to prove that he was the real Darklord and had everything under control. The last noble of Mordent getting spanked by a bunch of common ruffians? Inconcievable! I'll show them!

But in reality he is the true Darklord. The idea he is just the "place holder" is simply yet another way that the DP's like to play with their food. And the taste of his doubt and self loathing is soooo delicious...

[Zilfer]

I'd also take a moment to consider familial abuse can be some of the worst feeling horror when I watch movies that just make you feel uncomfortable when someone is taken advantage of or abused in such a way where there is a power dynamic. (not sure it matches his initial write up completely but you could make him fairly "Evil" in that regard even if it doesn't necessarily rank that high on the "murdering someone" scale of things.)

I'd definitely put him under "Petty Evil."

[Cromstar]

I'd also take a moment to consider familial abuse can be some of the worst feeling horror when I watch movies that just make you feel uncomfortable when someone is taken advantage of or abused in such a way where there is a power dynamic. (not sure it matches his initial write up completely but you could make him fairly "Evil" in that regard even if it doesn't necessarily rank that high on the "murdering someone" scale of things.)

I'd definitely put him under "Petty Evil."

Years ago, in this post, I put down some sociological and philosophical commentary on evil and the Gothic horror genre. Godefroy isn't a particularly compelling villain in the Gothic Horror tradition...but he's perfectly in line with, as The Lesser Evil phrases it, the banal and petty side of evil. Quite possibly the most common kind of evil in our real world. Domestic abuse is a depressing topic, but that's what Godefroy represents. The rest of Mordentshire goes on normally, while up in the House on Gryphon Hill, a depressing story of familial abuse carries on even after everyone involved died. Nobody did anything or cared about it when the inhabitants were alive and nobody does anything or cares about it when they are all dead.

Godefroy's curse is similarly personal: he's the abuser, now turned into the abused at the whims of those he himself abused. He has no respite, nor any escape from them. His domain is bland and uninteresting to him and provides nothing to distract him from his torments. Its all just a cruel, petty, horrible tale rooted in the very real cruel, petty, horrible examples that are sadly common in the real world.

[Mistmaster]

I prefer explore the concept of legacy, haunting and family mistakes that's why my Vilifred was more active from the beginning.