Darklords Origins.

[Lord Loren Soth]

I searched for a similar thread, but the search results kept saying that the terms I'm using are to generic and couldn't be used as a search term. I hope there isn't something similar/same in the very recent past.

So, most (if not all) of you, apparently, know what was the inspiration behind the Darklords that roam Ravenloft's plans and islands. Or do you? I will try to add all the inspirations I know off along with the one that are only speculations. Basically, these are mainly speculations over the years, and as my knowledge of the world around me was growing, I realised what was the background for each Darklord was. I will try to add as many as possible, but please, feel free to correct and add your own here. Who knows, it might become a collaborative work. It will be a huge task, that I don't expect to finish in one post. I will add more and more as time goes by.

Stahd Von Zarovich (Barovia): The TV inspired Dracula from the Christopher Lee period, peppered with some elements from Bram Stocker's Dracula novella (the war against the Tergs, is the war against the Ottoman Turks).

Vlad Drakov (Falcovnia): The historical figure of Vlad Tepes (or Dracula) from history. The Impaler, even shares the same facial characteristics with Vlad Tepes. Snubbed by his surrounding Darklords even in the face of the worst atrocities and wars (Germany, Austria-Germany-Holy Roman Empire), he tries to invade the "Ottoman Empire" (Darkon) repeatedly, and fails.

Vladislav Mircea (Sanguinia): The folklore vampire (vrykolakas/vothrolakas) of the Balkans/Romania/Greece/Eastern Mediterranean Island. Coincidentally (not), his surname is Vlad Tepes' eldest brother name (Mircea II of Wallachia).

Frantisek Markov (Markovia): Inspired by the book "The Island of Dr Moreau. A doctor somewhere in the Southern Pacific Ocean who conducts experiments on humans and animals alike, creating, well, broken things.

Bonus non-darklords character: Jacqueline Montarri (Darkon): A fictional character (yeah, like all the previous ones were actual characters...) that was taken from the movie "Return to Oz". In the movie, an evil sorceress, Mombi, who wanted to live forever, stole all the heads of the women in the city of Oz, and King Nom gave her the way to stay alive forever, by using a different head every day. She did kept her own head though in her personal chambers along with a magical dust that brought inanimate objects back to life.

[alhoon]

Diamabel's origins go to some well known gothic story, that I don't remember the names of.
Ankhepot is inspired certainly by ... something, but not the movies of mummy.
Mordenheim and Adam are quite clear in origin from Frankenstein.
Hazlik is the typical evil wizard in his castle with a twist of extreme racism... against his own kind.
Hiregaard and Malik are inspired from Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde.

[The Lesser Evil]

Abour, Baroness Ilsabet
Ilsabet Abour (darklord of Kislova, from the novel Baroness of Blood) is Elizabeth Bathory.

Boristi, Ivan, and Dilisnya, Ivan
I've heard these characters (and Borca in general) were inspired by the Borgia family.

Hazlik
Hazlik is pretty fantasy inspired, specifically the Red Wizards of Thay from the Forgotten Realms.

Headless Horseman, The
Lifted straight out of Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Lady of the Lake, The
The Lady of the Lake from Arthurian myth

Lord Soth
Lord Soth was inspired by Darth Vader from Star Wars

b]Maligno[/b]
Maligno is Pinnochio if he was never accepted and turned evil.

Malik
Malik is Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde transposed into a Jack the Ripper type setup with some "sins of the father" tropes thrown in.

Mircea, Vladislav
Vladislav Mircea draws from Edgar Allen Poe's Masque of the Red Death.

Three Hags, The
The three witches from Shakespeare's Macbeth along with stereotypical folklore on witches.

Tsien Chiang

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

Azalin - Stereotypical "evil wizard" overlord, such like Saurmon.

Jacqueline Renier and Richmulot - a wererat version of Dangerous Liasons.

Ebonbane - Possibly Stormbringer?

Anton Misroi - variation on Voodoo priest/Baron Samedi

Morgoroth - Evil Merlin.

Daclaud Heinfroth - a combination of the worst myths of Bedlam and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Stetzen d'Polarno - inspired by, but taken in a different direction, Dorian Grey.

Vladislav Mercia - Based on "Masque of the Red Death" by Poe.

[El Gambito]

Morpheus and Hypnos of the Nightmare Court are named after the Greek gods of dreams and sleep, respectively. The Rainbow Serpent is named after an Aboriginal creator deity. Since we don't (officially) know a lot more about the backgrounds of these three, though, I can't really say if they were based on the beings they were named after.

Malocchio Aderre always made me think of Damien from the Omen movies, especially in The Evil Eye.

Bluebeard is (iirc, I'm sure Darklords mentioned something about it) supposed to be the ACTUAL Bluebeard from Charles Perrault's French folktale.

Gwydion is reminiscent of a Great Old One from the H.P. Lovecraft Mythos.

[The Lesser Evil]

Stetzen d'Polarno - inspired by, but taken in a different direction, Dorian Grey.

D'Polarno's a composite character of Dorian Gray and the Marquis de Sade.

[Strahdsbuddy]

I always thought Azalin was a dark mirror of Elminster from Forgotten Realms.

Strahd borrows heavily from Dark Shadows as well.

Tiyet is so blatantly similar to the character in the second Mummy movie (Brendan Fraser) that they must both be using the same source....

[ewancummins]

Morpheus and Hypnos of the Nightmare Court are named after the Greek gods of dreams and sleep, respectively. The Rainbow Serpent is named after an Aboriginal creator deity. Since we don't (officially) know a lot more about the backgrounds of these three, though, I can't really say if they were based on the beings they were named after.

Malocchio Aderre always made me think of Damien from the Omen movies, especially in The Evil Eye.

Bluebeard is (iirc, I'm sure Darklords mentioned something about it) supposed to be the ACTUAL Bluebeard from Charles Perrault's French folktale.

Gwydion is reminiscent of a Great Old One from the H.P. Lovecraft Mythos.

I like dressing up Bluebeard and Blaustein with an Ottoman air. That's not really [part of Perrault's original version, but it does show up in a lot of later depictions. My copy of the Blue Fairy Book has such illustrations (the girl and her brother also look Near Eastern in dress).

Blaustein as a domain with ties to the old Tergs?

Of course, the French-inspired names given in some later (fan-made) materials make sense for a domain so close to Dementlieu.