Villain Profile - The Beast from Kill the Beast by Victor Cheng

Villain profiles return!  In my quest to promote more amateur gamebooks, I will look at a villain from a book I've found on www.ffproject.com.  I will mention these great amateur books in future posts.  The Beast is from Kill the Beast by Victor Cheng who has also written In the Footsteps of a Hero.  So, on with The Beast.

Appears in

Kill the Beast by Victor Cheng.  No prizes for guessing what the aim of the book is.

Background

You are a villager who is plodding along fine until The Beast comes from nowhere and crushes houses and crops.  It also carries off some of your fellow villagers.  You are tasked with going to a nearby town and hiring someone who can kill it.

The Beast has a thick soil coloured hide that resists blows.It also has 'tentacles, primitive limbs and big eyes – dreadful, demonic eyes.' It is also described as a 'great barrel of a creature' with a 'toothy maw'

Prominence

The beast is roaming around the countryside and can strike at any time.  This fact is made more terrifying by the fact that The Beast can burrow under the earth and can burst out of the ground in front of you at any time.  Now that's a surprise you don't want.  7/10

Hardness

The Beast's toothy maw and its many tentacles and limbs make it an extremely dangerous foe.  It has a skill of 12 and a stamina of 15.  It also has a thick hide that '... seems to be made of the Earth itself'.  Damage dealt against The Beast in combat is reduced by 1 point.  Besting it in combat will definately be difficult.  Your skill is between 5 and 7, so it will be suicide to take the Beast on yourself which is why you hire someone else to do it.  However, along the way, you may get a chance to weaken it and reduce its skill which will go a long way.  The trick to killing the beast is reducing its skill so that if you get someone who can hit it constantly then they will gradually wear it down.  It takes some luck and good judgement to do this, however.  7/10

Ambition

The Beast does not seem to want to do anything beyond wrecking the countryside and eating people.  5/10

Style

As beasts go, this one definitely seems unique (bonus point).  It's origin story is not explained, but I imagine it to be some kind of abandoned cosmic horror or the failed experiment of a mad wizard or an animal that has been mutated by evil magic or evil substances.  However, being a Beast means that it's not going to be an urbane Bond villain any time soon.  Of course, that also means that its actually going to kill someone.  6/10

Diabolical genius

Like Hate, there is no evidence of The Beast being sentient (of course absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but I'm going on the source material here.  of course, if Victor says that it is, then that's a different matter.)  1/10

Total score

It is not something that you want to come across, but it's not going to come up with a master plan to destroy the world any time soon.  26/50

Villain Profile - Globus

Add caption

Appears in


Spectral Stalkers (Fighting Fantasy 45)


Background


Globus is an archmage on the Ziggurat World who has summoned the Spectral Stalkers to find the Aleph, a powerful magical artefact that can transport its bearer to any time and place.  With it, he will attempt to conquer the Macrocosmos.


Prominence


Globus does not have any influence in any of the other worlds you come across in the Macrocosmos, but he does have an entry for him in the Directory of Wizards in the library of Limbo.  When you get to the Ziggurat World, you will find that he is its ruler, known to and hated by all that he rules over.  9/10


Hardness


You do not see any stats for Globus, but seeing as he places himself in an almost impenetrable giant crystal, I can't imagine that his skill and stamina are too high.  That said, he has placed himself in an almost impenetrable giant crystal, so you can't actually kill him. 8/10


Ambition


Globus looks down on those petty villains who want to conquer a mere world as he wants to rule the whole Macrocosmos.  He truly is aiming for the Moon.  And all the other planets.  11/10


Style


He pretends to be all luvvy duvvy and nice but in fact he is really really evil.  He also has some cool killer servants and lives on a giant Ziggurat.  7/10


Diabolical genius


He's under no illusions that he is anything but a tyrannical ruler.  He is also smart enough to know that because of that, most people want to kill him.  And also, he is not so vain that he thinks that people who hate him will fear him so much that they won't try to kill him.  He really takes precautions against those people.  He is able to summon and command some invincible relentless killers.  And when you do meet him, he pretends to be some kindly wizard who will help you.  In fact, you have to be pretty clever yourself to get him killed.  9/10


Total


Globus really has it all covered.  He already rules one world and from the point of view of most gamebooks, that's already game over.  He has super powered killer servants (who are, however, not too bright) and makes sure that no one will kill him.  It's only through a loophole that you have any chance of winning.  44/50

Villain - Night Dragon

Hello gamebookers!  Today, I revisit a type of post I did on my first April A to Z - a post of villains. Back in 2011, I picked 26 villains, each one with a name beginning with a different letter of prominence, hardness, ambition, style and diabolical genius.
the alphabet and rated them on

Since I was restricted by letter of the alphabet, I had to gloss over a few great villains, but now I free from such constraints, I am going to return to the format and profile some more great villains, starting with The Night Dragon.

So without further ado, let us see how it rates against the other villains...

Appears in:  Night Dragon (Fighting Fantasy 52) by Keith Martin and illustrated by Tony Hough.

Background:  The Night Dragon was a terror centuries ago before it got put to sleep.  However , it is now waking up and it seems that nothing can get in its way.  Modern dragons are oathbound not to fight it (bit of a stupid oath there) so they have to recruit an adventurer to do the dirty work for them.  Otherwise all Allansia will fall.

Prominence:  The dragon has a hard working cult infiltrating every town that you come across.  They are made up of a variety of enemies - there are grey robed 'foot soldiers', black robed assassin types and some pretty powerful people on top such as a high priest and a red robed wizard.  In addition to that, they are all creating stalkers which are large humanoid reptilian creatures.  there is even a stalker mage.  One town is gradually being drugged by this cult to be more subservient and everyone fears the cult so much that they will not talk of them.  By the time you start your quest, the Night Dragon's servants already have a strong hold over Northern Allansia.  In addition to that, the dragon itself is starting to enter dreamtime and spread its terror there.  Nowhere is safe.  10/10

Hardness:  The base stats for the Night Dragon are Skill 17 Stamina 32, already putting it more powerful than the Zagor Demon.  Even Razaak would be hard pressed to get his famous two consecutive strikes in against that.  The only Fighting Fantasy Villain with a higher skill is the Titanium Cyborg,  but he needs lots of futuristic technology to do that.  I haven't even talked about how the stamina of 32 is the minimum stamina - it will be higher.  How much higher depends on how long you took to get there.  Then you have to add into the fact that unless you have some pretty powerful magic items, you will lose 1 skill point when you meet it and any blow against it will be negated on the roll of a 6.  I also haven't yet mentioned its powerful breath and magic.  Put these all together and the Night Dragon is truly a formidable enemy.  And even when you beat it in combat, it still isn't dead.  You have to fight its skull.  I think all of these combined mean that the Night Dragon gets a well deserved 11/10.

Ambition:  All of Allansia will be destroyed by the Night Dragon if he (?) succeeds.  Also a bonus point for taking over Dreamtime.  10/10.

Style:  The Night Dragon's cult is smart about achieving its aims - it knows that it's not huge, so it drugs the populace or starts a reign of terror.  It hires the right people - wizards and high priests - to get things done.  It kills off your informants before they can give you much information.  However, individuals do not really stand out much - the cult is defined by robe colour, mainly and two grey robes are pretty much alike.  Also, the Night Dragon itself does not have much of a personality.  It doesn't even seem to enjoy the terror it spreads, making it a bit flat.  7/10.

Diabolical genius:  The Night Dragon's cult displays quite a lot of initiative in spreading its reign of terror (the aforementioned mass drugging for example).  I'm not sure how much of this was actually the Night Dragon's idea or how much was up to the cult.  I get the impression, however, that it is the cult that is coming up with all of this with the end of awaking the Night Dragon.  In that case, the dragon itself falls into the trap of being the big boss monster in a dungeon.  The traps, the wizard's attempts to strengthen the dragon and the stalkers all seem to be the cult's ideas, making the Night Dragon more of a figurehead than a leader.  It's fighting style also does not display much genius - cast lots of spells, breath fire and be hard.  6/10.

Total score:  When it comes to raw power, no one can match the Night Dragon.  However, it needs other people to do the thinking for it and it doesn't really have an MO beyond mindless destruction.  However, there will be a LOT of mindless destruction.  44/50.

Zagor - misunderstood hero?

Zagor gets a bad reputation for being a big bad villain, even though he hasn't actually done anything to deserve that reputation.

There's a case that Darth Vader is
the real hero of Star Wars.

I'm taking all of the information given to me from the source material - The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Return to Firetop Mountain, Legend of Zagor, Creature of Havoc, Titan, The Trolltooth wars and The Zagor Chronicles (however, I do not have the Zagor Chronicles for reference but I am going by my memory).

I will be giving an alternative character interpretation of Zagor's actions from the source material. 

Although the books describe Zagor as completely evil - and not even all of them do as the Warlock of Firetop Mountain does not state Zagor as being evil or doing evil deeds at all - it can be put down to propaganda from the so called Lawful side or people making snap judegements about powerful sorcerers who own their own mountains without looking for the details.  

Chadda Darkmane -
captain of Salamonis
and Zagor's biggest fan?

The writers of Titan obviously have no love for Zagor as well as Yaztromo and the people who try to slay him.  These are the people who wrote or influenced the accounts of the three gamebooks - Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Return to Firetop Mountain and Legend of Zagor. 

The account of Zagor in the Trolltooth wars was from Chadda Darkmane, who, although he is an officer in Salamonis, he is a man of his word and would not badmouth someone just because they have a bad reputation. 






Let's look at the facts:

How does he write battle   
plans wearing  bracelets
like those?

How does he write battle plans with
all those animals in his library?

Admittedly, Zagor's formative years don't make a good start for my case.  Zagor became an apprentice to the unapologetically evil and chaotic Volgera Darkstorm along with two other obviously evil characters. 

However, I'm sure that good teachers of magic are hard to find and that Zagor, as a gifted student did not want to squander his talent, so he picked the best teacher he could find.  Accounts say that he and his friends used to terrorise nomads.

How Volgera Darkstorm's
life ended.  Zagor seems to
get a bad reputation for
killing an evil wizard.

However, this is a classic case of peer pressure and, desperate to fit in, Zagor had to go along with these sadistic jokes.  However, he had the greater good in mind. 

It is then stated that the 'Demonic Three' as they now became known, slew their master, looted his library and went their separate ways.  Most people would put it down to their evil ways and the need for them to usurp their master, but although this might be true for Balthus Dire and Zharradan Marr, Zagor did this in order to rid the world of a powerful evil sorcerer.  A clever strategist, he planted the seeds of dissent in his co-pupils' minds in order to turn evil upon evil.  It also shows that Zagor was obviously the cleverest of the three. 

However, despite being a formidable and driven sorcerer his early associations and practice of magic gave Zagor a bad reputation with pretty much everyone.

Zagor's home

Some monument, as seen in my dreams.

Zagor then went on to Firetop Mountain, inspired by demon sent dreams, apparently.  I find this doubtful considering that Firetop Mountain is the only mountain for miles around that has a red top.  If you need demons to tell you about one of the most unique landmarks on Titan then you must have had a pretty sheltered life and Zagor had not had a sheltered life despite learning magic in the Flatlands.

The 'official' story states that Zagor led an army of chaotics and undead to wipe out the dwarves in Firetop Mountain and took their treasure.  Sounds bad, but I bet that's not the whole story.  I think that behind this story is the story of how Zagor discovered just how judgemental these 'good' types are. 

Here is what really happened.

Zagor is an enthusiastic protector
of Allansia's heratige sites.

Wanting to do some sightseeing, Zagor headed to Firetop Mountain, asking the dwarves if he could lend them a hand.  After seeing a demonstration of his magic, Zgor earned the dwarves' immediate distrust and inspired a great level of hostility in them.  A confused and hurt Zagor was chased out of the mountain by an army of angry dwarves. 

The only creatures that Zagor felt welcome amongst were the undead who don't really think or say very much and orcs and other monsters who also don't really think or say very much.  Determined to beat the bullies, Zagor went to the mountain and demanded a tour of the world famous attraction.  It was his right a s a fully paid up member of the national trust. 

The dwarves once again refused since they were a snobbish and elitist lot, so Zagor set his friends on them.  After a long and bloody battle, Zagor decided that he would remain in Firetop Mountain to protect it and make sure that all could visit it.

Firetop Mountain, which although looks a bit strange, is certainly not an evil place.  The red on the top of the mountain is not due to anything sinister or destructive like a volcano but rather it is due to some lovely flowers.  How many evil sorcerers do you know of whose criteria for a base of operations include a lovely range of flora?  I know of none. 

He doesn't want you
harming the wildlife.

These flowers, as well as being sleep inducing are also an integral part of the ritual that cures one of a powerful death spell, which afflicted Nicodemus and the hero of Caverns of the Snow witch.  If Zagor was such an evil person, surely he would have got rid of the flowers once he had realised that one of Allansia's greatest forces for good had cheated death on the top of his mountain?  No - he let a vampire slaying hero become cured of the same affliction.  Thanks for protecting the mountain, Zagor. 




It's just a hobby. 

In Warlock of Firetop Mountain, there is no allusion to Zagor doing anything evil.  All he does is sit in his mountain and play with his cards, surrounded by guardians, who, yes, let's face it, aren't the most savoury types.

Now the fact that he uses orcs instead of humans may make some people think that he's evil, but which superstisious uneducated soldiers are going to work in a freaky mountain for a sorcerer?  I bet magic has a bad reputation in the area as well.  It seems that orcs, however, are far more accepting of activities which veer from the mainstream. 



If they're both enjoying it in the
privacy of their own home
then who are you to judge?

And are the orcs performing evil acts?  It seems all they are doing is sleeping, getting drunk and engaging in some activities which although you may not agree with, they seem to like.  Sure, they may be lousy employees, but that doesn't make them evil.  For example, if you try to save this orc servant from being whipped, he still fights against you.  What does that say?

Zagor also has a few nice characters in his mountain such as the dwarves and the old shopkeeper who are a bit tired of all of these chaotic types, but maybe they see tham as a necessary evil as they don't go out and kill them all.  They don't want the bad old days where a bunch of snobbish dwarves kept out all visitors.

No, old man, I don't know
about the Long Dark Night
because I don't live in a place
where there's hundreds of
metres of solid rock between
myself and the Sun.

The only allusion to sinister goings on are the long dark nights the old man in the giftshop refers to.  But who is to say that Zagor is causing them or that he is trying to protect people from them.  Lastly, you have to question the credibility of a man who talks about the length of the night when he lives inside a mountain. Especially when he's using it as an excuse to charge an extortionate TWENTY gold pieces per candle. 

What about the hero's motive?  Are the villagers worried that Zagor is about to do something nasty to them?  No.  Does the hero want to do some sightseeing?  No.  I doubt the hero is even a member of the National Trust.  The 'hero's' motive is pure greed.  In the end, Zagor does get slain by a greedy adventurer who takes his treasure  and then may or may not use Zagor's spellbook to rule over Firetop Mountain and maybe do a whole lot a crazy stuff. 

After all, this sword swinging thief probably has less ability to handle all the powerful magic in the book.  Who is to say that they do not get corrupted by the power and try something nefarious?  Even sorcery for the cause of good is dangerous and shouldn't be used by the wrong people.  Zagor obviously had the inner strength to not go crazy with it, but most people don't.  Maybe its best that Zagor was in charge of the book.

However, if this adventurer does use the book, then they get their comeuppance a decade later when Zagor returns to claim what is rightfully his and may even save the area from this lunatic. 

I mean, how would you feel if someone broke into your house and started trashing it and the area where you  live?

Now you've annoyed him.

This could explain Zagor's behaviour in Return to Firetop Mountain. 

Sure it says in the background that casting a spell on yourself so you come back from the dead makes you evil but maybe that's superstitious peasants again.  Or maybe this book is written by the adventurer who slew him the first time and later got ejected from Firetop Mountain by the powerful sorcerer when he returned to claim what was rightfully his. 

And you can explain all of Zagor's behaviour (getting body parts, wanting to take over Allansia) as being hacked off (no pun intended) about being killed for no reason the first time.  After all, if hordes of fortune seekers kept marching into my home to kill me and take my treasure, I would give my right arm (once again, no pun intended) to take every precaution to stop it happening. 

Maybe he wanted to take over Allansia because he thought that sorcerers were getting a bad reputation and wanted to build more schools for sorcery and educate the young Allansians to show its useful side too.  Or maybe he just wanted to purge it of treasure seeking rascals.

However, once again, he is slain by another treasure seeking rascal, this time with the blessing of Yaztromo and the citizens of Kaad.  However, thankfully, the 'hero' or Yaztromo can do nothing about Zagor's resurrection magic.   

Then we get to Legend of Zagor - now Zagor wants to take over the world of Amarilla.  Or does he?

Zagor before...

He managed to get there when the Bone Demon was banished from that world.  Maybe he saw the portal as an opportunity to go to a more accepting world instead of a place where people kill him every ten years. 

and after.  He's obviously
had a change for the worse.
He's not looking after his
fingernails for a start.

However, as Yaztromo says, Zagor became mixed up with the demon, so it is not Zagor you are trying to kill, but a Zagor/demon hybrid. 

Maybe that's what made Zagor so evil in Legend of Zagor.  If it was just Zagor, then he would have just sat in Castle Argent like he did in Firetop Mountain.

In the book, Zagor performs a heroic sacrifice.  He has been fused with an evil demon who wants to destroy the world, but he does small things to help the hero.  The crystal ball that Yaztromo uses gets destroyed, but maybe Zagor was buying time by distracting the demon.  If it wasn't for him, Yaztromo may not have been able to get through at all.  Yaztromo sends gold talismans and silver daggers.  Maybe when Zagor was in the portal and he could feel himself being fused with the demon, he kept it open for a bit longer so that the talismans and daggers could get through. 

And when you are carrying the demon to the Heartfires, maybe Zagor is struggling to keep the demon unconscious so that you can complete your task, even though he knows that he will be destroyed in the process.

Zagor isn't actually
in two of these books
because he's not the
real villain - the
demon is.

I know he gets very angry because he is being faced by a 'wretch like you.', but of course he's angry.  Having his hobbies interrupted by being slain by some sword wielding vagabond is the story or Zagor's life.  It's already happened twice.  Now he's sharing his soul with a demon and although he knows he has to sacrifice himself to destroy this demon, he is bitter that the person who will slay the demon is not so different from the rogues who killed him before. 

Zagor has put all this work into being a powerful sorcerer.  All he wants is to face someone of legendary reputation.  He must feel very insulted that the people selected to slay him are basically bums of the street.  He must feel that no one respects him enough to send someone with a good reputation to slay him.  Or at least an army.

I think this all applies to the Zagor Chronicles too.  I have not read them for a while, but if I remember correctly, Zagor is not in book 1, book 2 is basically the novel version of Legend of Zagor, book 3 is set on Titan, sans Zagor and in book 4, they face the Zagor/demon hybrid again. 



Not a warlock in sight

Zagor was also in the Trolltooth Wars, where, once again, he was not trying to do anything malevolent.  In fact, he helps Darkmane to stop Marr from taking over Allansia.  Sure he's not too welcoming at first, but Darkmane and his gang have killed a few of his servants and Mantrapper tried to kill him straight away (but I'm not revealing why - read the book). 

He's not going to teach

you magic. He's tallying

you bill. 

In fact, once they are all on the same page, Zagor is a very helpful a courteous host. 

He does not demand any money for his services whereas the seemingly good Yaztromo takes 40 gold pieces for an enchanted dagger he gives to Darkmane, even though he is going to use it to save Allansia.  What a greedy so and so. 

So Zagor has helped to save Allansia once from his ex 'friends' who probably annoyed him with all their evil talk and the fact that they were giving him a bad name.  He has protected a place that was used to save the lives of Nicodemus and the slayer of the Snow Witch and when he unfortunately became fused with an evil demon he weakened it so that someone could slay it. 

So Zagor has killed an evil sorcerer, helped save the lives of two champions of good, helped save Allansia once and sacrificed himself in order to save the world of Amarilla.  He has performed more heroic acts than most protagonists in Fighting Fantasy books.   

Zagor has been widely misunderstood, partly because of peoples' distrust of sorcery and partly because he kept bad company when he was young (Balthus Dire and Zharradon Marr, who both tried something Malevolent in their gamebooks). 

Any hostile act he performed could be seen as justified anger at being socially excluded by dwarves, being constantly attacked by lowly fortune hunters or by being fused with an evil demon. 


He just wants a hug.

I think Zagor needs to be vindicated and be in a gamebook where he is allowed to let his true heroic colours show.  How about a book when Zagor comes back from the dead to find that his slayer is forcing the creatures of Firetop Mountain to invade Allansia and only he can stop it as he knows the mountain better than anyone.  However, even if he succeeds, he is still treated as the villain just because he's a sorcerer.  Which then leads to Return to Firetop Mountain...

Poor Zagor's had a hard life.  I suggest we start a 'Clear Zagor's Name' campaign where we put an end to his bad reputation.   

Good bad guys

So what has my odyssey into exploring and ranking gamebook villains taught me about what makes a good villain?

A good villain has many different methods of causing death and destruction.

He also has a sphere

The mercenary leader in the Crimson Tide has a lot to learn.  He just cuts people up.  Sure, he's good at it, but that makes him vulnerable to magic.  Jaxartes, on the other hand, does not just get a huge army to invade Kazan.  He also puts out the fire to the Fangs of Fury and assassinates all of the Warrazi.  He gets his mage warriors to infiltrate every level of the volcano and he has a traitor in the city of Kazan.  He knows how to approach a problem from all angles.


A good villain makes their presence felt.

Darklord Gnaag does not just sit in his castle in Helgedad looking at the latest insectoid steampunk fashions.  He is always hatching plans to get you killed and sending minions out to take over the world.

A good villain poses an immediate threat with massive consequences.          

When you finally confront Karam Gruul, he is surrounded by an army of vengeful war criminals and is about to unleash a doomsday device upon Gallantria.  That's something that really gets the blood pumping.  

A good villain does bad things to the hero and their friends.

It is not clear that Necklace of Skulls has actually caused any havoc in the wider world, but it is certain that he has killed your twin brother for no other reason than the fact that he is a sadistic pig.  He and his hyena servants are cruel and spiteful.  They take great pleasure in your suffering and break any items that you use to help you.   When you play the sacred game, they all come to watch you fail.  It is their actions that turn Necklace of Skulls and his servants into 3 dimensional characters that you really want to beat.  In Trial of the Champions, Lord Carnuss kidnaps you, puts you through painful ordeals, makes you fight against and kill your fellow slaves and then forces you to take part in the most dangerous dungeon in Allansia. It feels really good to kill this guy.  On the other hand, Balthus Dire wants to invade some place and you never see him until the end.  You don't really get a buzz from killing him. 

A good villain takes a lot of effort to kill.  

I might be undead,
bit I'm still buzzing!

The netherworld demon from the Crown of the Kings is a disappointing opponent for the climax of a four book series.  You need someone like Razaak who needs so much stuff to kill him, it takes most of a gamebook to collect it all.  The main villains of gamebooks should be difficult to kill because killing them should be the climax to the story and so it needs to be suitably epic and dangerous to make the reader feel like they have achieved something (but not so dangerous that they can't achieve it).  

No more villainous posts..?

So that is the end of the April challenge.  I enjoyed it immensely and I hope you did too.  I'd like to thank Tossing It Out for coming up with this great idea and organising it.  I'd like to do it next year on a different theme.

I'm glad that I did it.  I have discovered a lot of great blogs that I wouldn't have found otherwise and I shall be following them with interest from now on.

I have learnt a lot from making these blogs.  First of all, I have had a good analysis of what makes a good villain.  Villains seem to be integral to a story, sometimes even more so that heroes.

Alfred Hitchcock said 'The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture' and this certainly rings true for the gamebook villains that I have analysed.  The gamebook villains that have come top have been within inches of victory or already have cities or countries under their control and a horde of henchmen to foil your every move.

Villains also seem to hold an attraction with others.  Many other blogs have focused on villains or named villains as part of their posts such as:

Adventures that score 
Coffee Thoughts
The Waiting is the Hardest Part
Breaking Fantasy

Also, Jonathan Green has written numerous posts with villains as the theme:

B is for Baddies
Q is for Quezkari
Z is for Zagor
Guess the Book Cover (where Jonathan has a lego version of one of his book covers showing one of his villains)

Guess the Villain ( where Jonathan has made a lego version of one of his villains)

Lego Fighting Fantasy Villains (where Jonathan gives you step by step instructions on how to make your own lego Belgaroth).

Of course, there were probably posts about heroes too.  I don't know who would get more posts about them - heroes or villains?

But enough with the analysis.  Here's the final ranking of the villains and next week, I will write about what I have learnt makes a good villain.  

So without further ado, here are the rankings for the April A to Z League of Gamebook Villains...

So there we have it!  Gnaag is the best (worst?) villain out of the 26 villains we profiled.  This is due to the fact that he was a constant thorn in the side to Lone Wolf over several books, managed to conquer most of Northern Magnamund and kept control over the other Darklords who are a violent backstabbing bunch at the best of times.  Congratulations!  

I'd like to thank Naar
who spawned me...

Karam Gruul and Zharadon Marr share the runner up prizes for their efforts.  They were pipped at the post because of their lack of ambition and for not being as prominent as Gnaag.  Better luck next time, guys.

Not surprisingly, most of the bottom rankings are held by servants and henchmen who, by definition of their roles scored very low on ambition.  Most of them also scored low on prominence because they were hardly in the book apart from the scene where you kill them.  However, my sympathies to poor Ikiru for scoring lower than Darramous.  He must be sulking in his pit right now.

Next week, I'll go over what makes a good villain from what I've learnt about this lot.  But for now it's...

On the other hand, there are plenty of other gamebook villains that I haven't covered purely because their name starts with a popular letter of the alphabet, so I will be doing more villain posts in the future.  If you have any suggestions for villains, please leave a comment.  

Onwards to May.  Arion games is releasing Advanced Fighting Fantasy 2nd Edition.  I've pre ordered my copy and I will do a review on it at some point, probably in late June as May is going to be a very busy time for me this year and although I've scheduled all of May's posts, I won't be on the blog much as I've got a lot on.  I will go into detail about what on May 29th's post.  


Have a good week!

April A to Z - Z is for Zharradon Marr

He needs to feed his
 pets properly.

Appears in:  Creature of Havoc (Fighting Fantasy 24) by Steve Jackson.

Background:  Zharradon Marr is one of the Demonic three.  After his apprentiship ended with the murder of his master, he managed to get ownership of a gold mine and with the gold, he bought a training ground for his soldiers and mananged to capture a flying ship.  He is currently experimenting with creating new creatures with the aim of making a perfect monster for war.

Prominence:  Creature of Havoc has a very in depth background which highlights a lot of people from Marr's life.  You can meet most of these people in your wanderings.  9/10.

Hardness:  You cannot kill Zharradon Marr and if you annoy him, he will use his magic on you.  you can only win if you have a crystal club and the vapours of life.  And even then, you don't kill him.  you only destroy the portal to his dimension.  10/10.

Ambition: Marr wants to conquer Allansia 9/10.

Style:  Zharradon Marr has worked hard to get a smooth operation and a big organisation.  He has a cool flying ship, a castle in a forest and a gold mine.  His most trusted henchmen are very individual with the half troll Thugruff, the sadistic Darramous and the sick and wrong Quimmel Bone amongst many others.  8/10.

Diabolical genius:  Marr can create life forms.  You are his creation and your whole quest is a test of your abilities.  Marr has several sadistic traps such as a portal that creates endless chaos warriors, a robe that causes hunger and a zombie that shoots flames out of its eyes.  9/10.

Total score:  Marr is a tough adversary to get the better of and you don't actually kill him in the end.  You can only destroy his portal.  45/50.

April A to Z - Y is for Yourself

He's not a nice man.
If you meet him, you
may feel cut up about it.

For this post, I will count the mercenary leader in Crimson Tide as yourself as that is one of the interpretations of what you are told in the book.

Appears in:  Crimson Tide (Fighting Fantasy 47) by Paul Mason.

Summary:  The mercenary leader wears a demonic mask and leads a band of mercanaries.  They raze your village, kill your father and carry off your mother to be a slave.  The aim of the book is to avenge them.

Prominence:  The leader and his men appear a few times in the book before the showdown, including in your mind as well.  5/10.

Hardness:  The mercenary leader has a skill of 12 and a stamina of 18, making him very hard.  He is heavily armoured.  There is not much chance of slaying him in combat although he is vulnerable to magic.  7/10

Ambition:  He just wanders around the country causing trouble.  Of course, he may be some aspect of your dark side so it's pretty hard to tell.  5/10.

Style:  It's all about the mask.  Is it magical?  does it represent you being taken over by your rage and hatred?  If you put it on, a crimson tide descends forever.  Your opponent has a face similar to yours when you finally see it.  Beyond the mask, he's just a tough warrior.  4/10

Diabolical genius:  He's probably a good tactician but he has no grand plan.  4/10

Total score:  You should be glad that your dark side is just basically a powerful warrior with nothing else to do.  25/50

So that is 'yourself'.  However, there are plenty of times when you are your own worst enemy in gamebooks and in a future post, I will list stupid decisions that you can make in gamebooks.  

April A to Z - X is for Xakhaz

I'd hate to be his tailor.

Appears in:  Beneath Nightmare Castle (Fighting Fantasy 25) by Peter Darvill-Evans.

Background:  Was an archmage of the despicable gods of Zagoula.  He was defeated three centuries ago and his spirit was sealed beneath the city of Neuberg.  He has been awakened by a sorceress who has gained control over the ruler of Neuberg, Baron Tholdur and has moved into his castle.  He is now sending lots of disgusting beasts into the town and killing innocents.

Prominence:  Almost all of the encounters in the book are because of Xakhaz.  The swordsmen are there because they want to raise Xakhaz from the dead.  The Lovecraftian monsters are Xakhaz's creations.  There are many other sadistic encounters such as being attacked by Baron Tholdur's daughter who is wearing a crazed suit of plate mail or by a crazy goo driven robot who calls himself Skarlos (the hero who slew Xakhaz three centuries ago).  Xakhaz clearly likes to revel in his insanity.  9/10

It's not a barrel of laughs.

Hardness:  You have to pass a willpower test to fight him.  If you do, you will realise that the huge mound of limbs that is Xakhaz is way more powerful than even the strongest adventurer - skill 14, stamina 32.  He can be killed or severely weakened if you have both the Talisman of Loth and the green glass globe.  There are also several skill enhancing items so you can even the odds a bit as well.  8/10

Ambition:  Wants to become lord of all Khul.  9/10

Style:  Xakhaz is Lovecraftian through and through.  Neuberg Keep his not his place, but he's making it his own with his tentacled horrors, diseased mutants, 'head juice' to drink and general terror that could snap you sanity at any point.  Unlike most other sorcerers, he is a huge mound of limbs and other body parts that have been sewn together.  Great.  9/10.

Diabolical genius:  Xakhaz's ways are defeating you are unique in the sense that death is one of the better options.  Madness is his main weapon.  Xakhaz has also created his own unique monsters that can drive someone insane as much as tear them to pieces.  In fact, Xakhaz doesn't kill many people unless he wants some body parts.  He's actually quite efficient.  He also has a sick sense of humour.  Instead of locking up the baron's daughter he puts her in a suit of plate mail which attacks people.  He lets Senyakhaz control the baron's mind and he creates a mockery of his former killer.  What a joker.  9/10.

Total score:  Xakhaz is great.  Most evil sorcerers like to cause terror and mayhem but most evil sorcerers also prefer to have the boring bipedal body structure and just employ orcs to do their dirty work.  Most evil sorcerers are also not completely insane.  These sorcerers have a lot to learn from Xakhaz.  44/50

April A to Z - W is for The Winter King

He thinks he's so cool.

Appears in:  Night of the Necromancer (Fighting Fantasy 63) By Jonathan Green.

Summary:  The Winter King lives in the tower of Frostfinger which also holds the Spirit Stone, gem which holds the souls of many people.  The Spirit Stone can be used by you as a powerful weapon against Unthank, but the Winter King will not just let you take it.

Prominence:  He owns his own tower, but he plays no other part in the book.  2/10

Hardness:  His tower is tough to infiltrate.  If you can't fly, you have to fight several ice ghosts to get across a frozen lake to the tower.  When you enter the tower, you climb stairs which seem to take an eternity to cross and then you may have to fight a hellhorn, a coldclaw and a hellhorn champion.  When you do get the spirit stone, you then have to face the Winter King himself who first sends 1-6 ice ghosts against you before fighting you himself.  He has a skill of 11 and a stamina of 14, which makes him a tough opponent.  In addition, being killed by the Winter King means that your adventure is over for good, unlike most combats in Night of the Necromancer where you get another chance.  8/10 

Ambition:  He really wants to keep the Spirit Stone, live in his tower and stay king of winter but that's about it.  5/10

Style:  He ccertainly fits the 'winter' bill.  Less so with the king thing although you may have just caught him in his armour rather than his royal gear that day.  Ice based villains occur quite often.  The Winter King has the added extra of an army of ghosts, so bonus points there.  6/10

Diabolical genius:  He basically sends lots of creatures to fight you and then fights you himself.  1/10

Total score:  The Winter King is a strong opponent but we don't really get a wider picture of his power beyond trying to steal the Spirit Stone.  22/50

April A to Z - V is for Vonotar the Traitor

It's a blast.

Appears in:  Fire on the Water (Lone Wolf 2), The Caverns of Kalte (Lone Wolf 3), The Prisoners of Time (Lone Wolf 11) all by Joe Dever.

Background:  Vonotar was a member of the wizards' guild of Toran but he betrayed them for the magical power of the Darklords' wizards.  He then ends up in Kalte, controlling the mind of the ice barbarian chieftain.  You catch him and Vonotar is thrown into the shadow gate which leads to another dimension.  You also get thrown into the shadow gate a few years later where you come across him again.  And he's annoyed.

Prominence:  Vonotar or his servants are not prominent in any of the books, but he is one of the few recurring gamebook villains.  Bonus marks for this.  6/10.

Hardness:  With a power ring he wields, Vonotar has a combat skill of 30 and an endurence of 21.  He is immune to Psi surge and mindblast.  His endurance is quite low, but his combat skill is quite high for an ordinary wizard (I expect the power ring improves it).  He also manages to blast you and damage you for five endurence points before the combat and before you get near to him, you have to fight five notorious criminals from Sommerlund which have a combat skill of 38 and and endurance of 46 together.  Killing him and the five criminals is a pretty tough job even with all of the combat skill raising weapons and skills you have.  7/10.

Ambition:  Vonotar's orginal ambition is more magical power, but then he tries to take over ice barbarian tribes.  His ambition in the Prisoners of Time is to get home.  Ultimately, Vonotar is a lackey to the Darklords and so can't get too high a score in ambition.  4/10

Style:  Quite typical wizard with a typical modus operandi of wizards.  4/10

Diabolical genius:  He manages to get the Kai Lords killed but after his initial betrayal, his genius kind of stops there.  4/10

Total score:  When it comes to Lone Wolf's enemies, Vonotar is a small fish that resurfaces more than once.  25/50.

April A to Z - U is for Unthank, the necromancer

The kitchenware salesman
really had a unique sense
of style.

Appears in:  Night of the Necromancer (Fighting Fantasy 63) By Jonathan Green.

Summary:  Unthank is the chamberlain of your castle, but he has secretly being making pacts with evil spirits and sacrificing innocent people in an attempt to cheat death and take over the Old World.

Prominence:  Unthanks and his servants appear in a few scenes in thebook before the final confrontation.  He is also responsible for the nasty spirits that hang around your castle.  7/10

Hardness:  Since you are a ghost, he is able to banish you.  He is also well passed his sell by date and he should have died years ago.  If you face him in combat, you will have to fight a skill 11 stamina 10 opponent which is not too shabby for a wizard.  In fact, the combat skill of wizards on Titan seems to range from reasonable to completely awsome.  If he summons the Sahdow King and the Shadow King kills him, he comes back from the dead as a skill 9 stamina 8 opponent, which is quite good for a dead man.  8/10.

Ambition:  First, he wants to live forever and has managed that quite well so far.  He also wants to summon a powerful spirit and rule the Old World with an army of the dead.  9/10

Of course he's evil.

Style:  He looks a lot like a villain which makes me wonder why you didn't kill him ages ago.  The beard alone should have been reason to.  6/10

Diabolical genius:  He's managed to become the chamberlain of your castle while simultaneously taking part in all of his nefarious sorcery.  He's managed to get you killed and, if his schemes are not thwarted, he will sacrifice your sister to some evil spirit.  Lots of diabolical with a side of genius.  7/10

Total score:  He's a cunning necromancer and a worthy adversary.  37/50

April A to Z - T is for The Titanium Cyborg

How does he shower?

Appears in:  Appointment with F.E.A.R. (Fighting Fantasy 17) by Steve Jackson.

Background:  The Titanium Cyborg's real name is Vladimir Utoshki.  He is an expert in enhancing the human body with robotic parts and he is also the leader of the Federation of Euro-American Rebels (F.E.A.R.).  You need to catch him.

Prominence:  Most but not all of your criminal adversaries are working for F.E.A.R. in this book.  8/10.

Hardness:  At skill 18 (the highest in a Fighting Fantasy book), stamina 20, the Titanium cyborg is impossible to beat in normal combat.  He will also kill you within three attack rounds with his lighting eyes.  You can only win if you get a circuit jammer and then he becomes a puny skill 9 stamina 10 opponent.  8/10

Ambition:  He wants to gain control of a satellite (A Star Wars satellite - is this a comment on the Cold War?) capable of destroying cities.  He will use this to control the world.  10/10

Style:  There aren't many cyborg villains with lighting eyes.  He also has an interesting collection of super villain underlings, although the other five heads of F.E.A.R all look disappointingly normal.  8/10.

Diabolical genius  From killing JFK the unnamed president to taking over an army base to collapsing a stand at a football match(?), the Titanium Cyborg certainly has a wide array of super villains with different powers to draw on.  8/10.
:

Total score:  This guy has Titan city crawling with criminals and gets to within inches of ruling the world.  42/50

April A to Z - S is for The Sorcerer

Big boots.

Appears in:  Siege of Sardath (Fighting Fantasy 49) by Keith P. Phillips.

Background:  Not much is known about the Sorcerer.  He is leading a city of Dark Elves who want to take over Allansia and he has kidnapped a Storm Giant with the idea of learning what he knows.

Prominence:  From paragraph 1, you learn that the Sorcerer's shapeshifting (and sometimes bat winged) dark elves have infiltrated all communities in Northern Allansia in order to drive them apart and cause strife and warfare.  He is smart enough to send servants to a tomb in order to retrieve a magical amulet that will cause his downfall.  He also cuts of Sardath with a magical storm.  8/10

Hardness:  You never get to know the sorcerer's stats because if you try to fight him, he utters a spell preventing your attack and then drains your life.  Unlike most gamebook villains, the sorcerer does not underestimate you and converses with you to discern your weaknesses.  You can only defeat him if you have the amulet, have the right number on the back and say the correct things.  However, once you know the correct conversation, you will always win.  7/10

Ambition:  Taking over Allansia for the Dark Elves.  9/10.

Style:  The Sorcerer has a very imposing figure despite his profession.  His Dark Elf lair also has some insanity inducing architechture.  Also instead of the standard villain lines, you can also have quite a pleasant conversation with the sorcerer.  It's almost like he's a bond villain, who are always very stylish.  8/10.

Diabolical genius:  He has created bat winged dark elves and a shapeshifting potion.  He is also trying to break the will of a storm giant.  In fact, simple combat is the last thing this guy would take part in.  8/10.

Total score:  The Sorcerer is a sophisticated villain who has covered all of his bases and requires a lot of effort to take down.  40/50.