Best King's Quest Villain

[Baggins]

To be fare, AGD didn't come up with two cosmic families idea... It was Peter Spear originally... ...

AGD then depicted him as using his network to try and break Graham and coming VERY close to doing it - orchestrating the destruction of Daventry via the three-headed dragon, arranging Alexander to be brutally enslaved, and leaving Rosella behind as a thread on hope...only to have the dragon demand her life.  Even though Alexander manages to escape, slay the dragon, and free Rosella, the curse is still in effect - and having been brought from despair to joy in the space of hours, he is felled by the curse and comes within a hair of death.  Though Rosella thwarts the second part of the curse, and the third part...doesn't quite work as the Father intended, the monster is not defeated and will not be defeated. He will likely outlive Graham and find another king that isn't as resourceful in order to try again...

BTW, I don't know if you noticed, but he was under a tight schedule he had to get the crown in order to find out whatever power he was looking for, and it had to be done before something like thirty years after KQ2. There was some kind of alignment coming up on the date. If he didn't have the crown he couldn't find hte power, and he'd miss the alignment (whatever the alignment was).

I don't think Graham would be dead before that alignment, and it probably would be another 1000+ years before another alignment would come around.

[colin]

I also think Alhazred is my favourite villian. He is just a scum bag and I don't think he has any magical abilities
he uses the genie for everything including enchanting the door. As for why Shadrack and the Black Cloak Society
would accept him without magic powers of his own i guess they just liked him for his evilness.

As for AGDs Kinqs Quest 2 remake I love the game and I liked the father character and his attempts to get the
Daventry crown, but I don't like the curse bit. If we follow that storyline it sort of makes me feel like that story and everything that follows is governed by the curse.

[MangoMercury]

Nobody voted for Cedric yet?

Look at all the times that Graham has died, and Cedric never bothers to warn him away until Graham is already in the deadly predicaments and can't get out.

[Haids1987]

Touche, Mango.  It isn't until Graham is actually falling that Cedric says, "No Graham!"

[Allronix]

To be fare, AGD didn't come up with two cosmic families idea... It was Peter Spear originally... ...

I know. AGD just cranked it up to eleven by making an archenemy that commands his "family" like Graham leads his.

And thanks for reminding me about the Father being on a time clock. It still doesn't change the fact that the dude is practically immortal, leads a cabal of Ghu-knows-how-many evil wizards, has his tentacles in practically everything, and can't be completely defeated. At best, The Father can only be driven back into the shadows.  The curse hangs over Graham the way Space Quest 12 hangs over Roger - he knows it's there, he knows what it can do, but he can't do a darn thing about it, aside from hoping the worst of it can be dodged.

[Damar]

Alhazred would definitely be my second choice as he is incredibly slimy and we saw the depths of his treachery not just in KQ6, but also the implications in KQ5.  I think Cassima mentions in KQ5 that Mordack had a thing for her and forced her to be a scullery maid when she refused him.  Still, after the events in KQ6, you have to wonder if things actually went down that way, and Alhazred tried to rise to power and manipulated Cassima's parents simply as an opportunist when Mordack took their daughter away, or if Alhazred actually manipulated Mordack to do the dirty work so that he could rise to power.  Personally, Alhazred seems slimy enough (and Mordack impulsive and emotional enough) that it doesn't seem far-fetched to think that Alhazred actually manipulated Mordack into taking Cassima away so that he could get even more power.

Still, all Alhazred's manipulation doesn't beat Lolotte in my book.  Alhazred might be a manipulator, but so is Lolotte.  In fact, she's so much of a nasty manipulator, that you don't really ever see her use her magical powers (unless you get her to kill you by waking her up when you're in her bedroom).  Lolotte is pure evil, and she doesn't even need dark magic or a genie to make that evil happen.  She's just straight nasty!

[crayauchtin]

I think Manannan is my favorite -- followed by Lolotte for much the same reasons already indicated. You experience that evil, so as a player in the story it felt much realer and scarier.

Even now with the original (and, yes, in the remake as well) you can just imagine the terrible things that awful wizard put Gwydion through all the years before the game and he is a horrible presence in the game. Even in his defeat, he manages to terrify you -- "oh no, it didn't work!" and then he reappears and your heart just stops. Even now -- knowing what I know and having played it probably 100 times -- I freak. "He's gonna kill me. He's gonna KILL me!!!!!" It's that last moment that makes me love him best.
Also, I like him in KQ5 as well because he has that quality about him that I find described best in Quest for Glory V: "He will seek victory even in his defeat." He's a cat, but he's still gonna get you killed.

Lolotte is also one of my favorites because she is so blatant. She doesn't care. She's pure evil, pure greed, pure villainy and she knows everyone knows it and she LOVES it. And you come wandering into her realm -- which she has finally wrested control of by taking Genesta's talisman (and just try to tell me Genesta's description of that event doesn't give you a visual image that makes you gasp!). And you have no idea who she is. Oh. Pity.
So she makes DAMN sure you know. And once you know how incredibly, truly vile a creature she is... she forces you into her family. She's not doing that for Edgar, even if she plays it off that way. Yes, Edgar loves you and yes, that probably is what gave her the idea. But she can control you -- you the stupid, innocent-looking girl who've proved such an invaluable asset already.
For the rest of your life.
Yeah, she's definitely wicked.

Alhazred is great and all -- really, probably the cruelest and smartest baddie of the bunch. But so much of his evil in inflicted on others.... it doesn't have quite the same impact for me as the other two.
He does, however, also have that "seeking victory even in his defeat" attitude that I love. He knows he's done for -- but he still grabs a sword to fight you. He's determined to take you with him. A villain should always be desperate for success of some kind -- because a hero always is.

The Father is a fascinating, albeit non-canon villain. I love his plotline -- but I think you guys have already said most of everything that there is to be said about him.

The thing I think is missing is the Hero-Turned-Villain. I LOVE those kinds of bad guys. There's not one in the entire series. Sadddddd.

[Baggins]

Well, technically Lucreto could possibly fit the bill of "hero turned villain", as he was once the greatest of the Archons. In much the same way that Lucifer was the greatest of the angels before he turned against God.

It's not a perfect match to say a Anakin to Darth Vader kinda of change, but its the closest KQ has.

[Fierce Deity]

Well, technically Lucreto could possibly fit the bill of "hero turned villain", as he was once the greatest of the Archons. In much the same way that Lucifer was the greatest of the angels before he turned against God.

Was it ever explained as to why Lucreto chose to betray the Mask, or did he just wake up one morning and decide that it was a good day to dissent?

[Baggins]

About the same reason Satan fell, he coveted the power of God, and thus attempted to rebel against heaven in order to use the Mask. The explanation is in the game, although you have to put it together from quite a few different conversations and cutscenes in the game from various characters. It isn't all explained at once.

[Damar]

Yeah, I think they were setting up a parallel between Lucreto and Lucifer.  In both cases you have an angel of light who falls and corrupts creation.  Plus, one of the acolytes we see Lucreto speaking to is named Uriel.  According to Catholic tradition, Uriel is the name of an archangel.  So I'd assume that Lucreto's motivation, like Baggins said, would also be the same as Lucifer's motivation.  Lucreto decided that he would no longer serve, and so he turned.

That said, it would have been nice to have learned more about Lucreto, his origins, and his motivations in the actual game.  But I guess that's just yet another flaw in Mask of Eternity.  Ah well.

[Baggins]

Roberta even admits in an article that he's based on Lucifer, btw.

There are a handful of places where you learn Lucreto's motivation though. A bit from several of the characters you encoutner in the game, a bit from the dark crystal. I think there were a couple of visions concerning him as well (magic mirror and the witch's cauldron). Some info comes from comments made by several of the villains/Henchmen. There is a point in the game where you encounter the other archons, and if you listen to their whispers they explain things about Realm of the Sun and the archon's role.

Its not a detailed background per se but there is enough, if you remember the the details to understand who he was. There just isn't a situation like in KQ5 (see end game with Cassima and Crispin) and KQ7 (Edgar, and his parents expositions) where a character gives exposition recapping everything you might have learned throughout hte story. (well unless you count the Archon "whispers")

[crayauchtin]

About the same reason Satan fell, he coveted the power of God, and thus attempted to rebel against heaven in order to use the Mask. The explanation is in the game, although you have to put it together from quite a few different conversations and cutscenes in the game from various characters. It isn't all explained at once.

Oh yeahhhhhh.... he does fit the bill. I think he was one of the villains (much like Malicia) who I felt had a lot of potential that was squandered. Had he been done with more depth he would probably stand out in my mind as my absolute favorite.

Although, another thing is that we never get to see him be heroic -- and that's what makes that type of villain so great, the contrast between their heroism and their villainy. What would have been ideal -- and would have further connected MoE to the rest of KQ -- is if he had stepped in and aided the royal family at some point earlier in the series and then become the villain who nearly destroyed the world later. THAT would have been incredible.

[KatieHal]

I broke off the recent chunk of posts re: MOE and merged them with the Remaking MoE thread, as they were more in-line with that topic than this one.