History Characters / HeroesOfMightAndMagic

* BeneathTheEarth: In every game where the faction is called Dungeon, it's an underground city.

* OurCentaursAreDifferent: In I and II, centaurs were the warlocks' most basic foot-soldiers (a possible nod to how centaurs in Myth/ClassicalMythology - Chiron excepted - often verged on AlwaysChaoticEvil after a cup of wine or two).

* HarpingOnAboutHarpies: Their tier 2 unit in III, bird women that can attack enemies then return to where they initially attacked from. Furies take their role in V, but without wings since they're normal dark elves.

* HydraProblem: One of their units in I, II, IV and V (it was on loan to Fortress in III). They can attack every hex around them and suffer no retaliation.

* OurElvesAreDifferent: Dark Elves in V, which bear great resemblance to both ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' counterparts.

* OurMinotaursAreDifferent: Aside from the iconic Dragons, Minotaurs have been ''the'' constant of this particular faction. The first three games depicted them as just a few steps shy of Dragon-tier, though ''IV'' and ''V'' kicked them quite a few notches down the food chain.

%%* HeroesWantRedheads

* TheChessmaster: The first real one in the ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' franchise, every previous BigBad being more the "amass troops, smash the good guys" variety.

%%* TheChessmaster: The first real one in the HOMM franchise, every previous BigBad being more the "amass troops, smash the good guys" variety (Archibald Ironfist was a schemer in the ''backstory'', but once the actual campaigns begin he sticks to more straightforward plans).

* MacguffinDeliveryService: Pulls this off with ''four'' heroes simultaneously during ''Shadow of Death''.
* TheManBehindTheMan: He guided Finneas Vilmar to becoming the PuppetKing of Deyja. It was Sandro who orchastrated the Restoration Wars... at least until [[DidntSeeThatComing Finneas tricked Sandro into attacking an innocent lord]], giving grounds for his arrest and letting Finneas take all the credit. However, it's implied that Sandro somehow arranged for Finneas' death at the hands of King Gryphonheart, if his narration in the ''Shadow of Death'' epilogue is to be believed.

%%* TakeOverTheWorld

[[folder:Antagarich Fortress]]

[[folder:Conflux]]
!Conflux (III-AB)
When the originally planned Forge faction was scrapped due to fan complaints about its sci-fi elements, the Conflux was introduced instead. Consisting of [[ElementalEmbodiment elemental creatures]], their armies are weaker than most, but make up for it with boosted growth rates, with the Phoenix in particular being the only tier 7 creature with an initial growth rate of 2. Their Might Hero is the [[DimensionalTraveler Planeswalker]], and their Magic Hero is the [[ElementalPowers Elementalist]].

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Elementals have no morality in the human sense, essentially living to fulfill the purpose assigned by the conflux that summoned them. While they were pretty much the BigGood of the AB campaign, a ''Chronicles'' campaign deals with them attempting to ''destroy'' the world. This is represented mechanically, since they have neutral alignment and elementals are immune to mind spells.
* ACommanderIsYou: Game Breaker/Spammer faction. It's even banned in official tournaments.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Psychic Elementals are immune to mind spells... which would be nice, except ''all'' elementals are immune to mind spells. Is it an oversight? An artifact from an earlier design? A bit of flavour? The world may never know.
* ElementalEmbodiment: Their tier 2-6 units are all elementals. This includes the formerly-neutral [[BlowYouAway Air]], [[MakingASplash Water]], [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], and [[DishingOutDirt Earth]] Elementals, their new upgraded forms [[ShockAndAwe Storm]], [[IceMagicIsWater Ice]], [[EnergyBeing Energy]], and [[MagmaMan Magma]] Elementals, and the entirely new [[PsychicPowers Psychic]]/[[PureEnergy Magic]] Elementals. Like undead, elementals have no morale bonuses or negatives. Unlike the Necropolis, this doesn't extend to their tier 1 or 7 creatures, the Pixie/Sprite and Firebird/Phoenix.
* ElementalRockPaperScissors: Enforced. Each elemental is resistant to certain spells but take extra damage from others - for example, Air Elementals are immune to Chain Lightning but vulnerable to Meteor Shower. Additionally, elemental opposites will deal 100% bonus damage to each other, namely Water/Fire and Air/Earth. Of course, this only comes into play for a MirrorMatch.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: A soft ArabianNightsDays feeling in architecture.
* FishPeople: Water and Ice Elementals. They look like fish-headed women with a snake-like tail that ends in a fin.
* FragileSpeedster: The Sprites and the Phoenixes, being the fastest creatures in their tiers -- and Phoenixes are the fastest creature in the game. Sprites, however, have the second-lowest health per unit, and Firebirds and Phoenixes are tied for the lowest health for a tier-7 unit.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: Ice Elementals turn into an ice sculpture then shatter upon death.
* OurFairiesAreDifferent: Pixies and Sprites are their tier 1 creature, refugees from the Sorceress town in I and II. They're fast and plentiful, but [[GlassCannon can't take a hit]].
* ThePhoenix: Noted for being the fastest creature whenever appears and being immune to fire. After being killed for the first time in combat, a stack of phoenixes has a 20% chance per bird to resurrect at full health.
* UselessUsefulSpell: Each of the upgraded elementals sans Magic Elementals can cast "Protection from X magic" (X being their root element) on an allied stack. Protection spells tend to be pretty niche, and you have to sacrifice that unit's actions for the turn to cast these (which given how strong Storm and Ice Elementals are, is ''not'' a good use of your turn). Most players will never use these effects.
* WintryAuroralSky: Their grail building is the Aurora Borealis, which fills their mage guild with every spell in the game.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ashan Fortress]]
!Fortress (V-[=HoF=], VII-[=TbF=])
->''[[ProudWarriorRaceGuy "For the Clan, for the Blood."]]''\\
\\

A faction of dwarves exclusive to Ashan. Their heroes use special Rune magic that uses resources and can be applied to creatures throughout battle. As is expected of the dwarves, they specialize in defense, with several abilities nodding to this. Their Might Hero is the [[FrontlineGeneral Jarl]], and their Magic Hero is the [[RunicMagic Runemage]].\\
\\
Not to be confused with the ''Heroes III'' faction of the same name, which focuses on swamp beasts and shares almost nothing in common with this Fortress.
----

[[folder:Sanctuary]]
!Sanctuary (VI)
->''"We strive for perfection in Shalassa's worship."''\\
\\

The first aquatic faction in the series, populated by nagas and creatures from Japanese mythology. Their battle system is based around all aspects of water as well as honor, favoring to fight enemies one on one. Their Might Hero is the [[KatanasAreJustBetter Samurai]], and their Magic Hero is the [[KungFuWizard Monk]].

* TheChessmaster: The first real one in the HOMM franchise, every previous BigBad being more the "amass troops, smash the good guys" variety (Archibald Ironfist was a schemer in the ''backstory'', but once the actual campaigns begin he sticks to more straightforward plans).

* TheChessmaster: The first real one in the HOMM franchise, every previous BigBad being more the "amass troops, smash the good guys" variety.

* {{Mayincatec}}: Present with some of their buildings, particularly their castle and the Gorgon dwelling. However, the majority are nests and wooden huts suspended above the swamp, implying that perhaps the more impressive structures are ruins from another civilization that the Fortress faction have taken over.

* AnimalMotifs: Griffins in III and V. The background of V, VI and VII also counts eight Duchies, each corresponding to an animal and being a FantasyCounterpartCulture: The [[NobleBirdOfPrey Falcon]] (AncientRome), [[OurGryphonsAredifferent Griffin]] (Russia and Eastern Europe), [[NobleWolf Wolf]] (Germany), Raven ([[HornyVikings Scandinavia]]), Stag (Ireland), {{Unicorn}} (Britain), [[DogStereotype Hound]] (France) and [[BrutishBulls Bull]] (Italy and Spain) Duchies.
* BadassPreacher: Monks in III, IV and V, and Sisters in VI (though the latter serve more as TheMedic).

* ScarilyCompetentTracker: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVeBw3S020E opening cinematic]] shows her analysing a battlefield and correctly surmising the course of the battle and who its participants were.

%%* AGodAmI

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name is spelled "Solymr" in ''IV'', where he gets his own half of a campaign, but the spelling from ''III'' is better remembered, even though he was just a generic hero there (although well-liked due to starting with the powerful ChainLightning spell).

* PastExperienceNightmare: In the secret campaign at the end of ''Shadow of Death'', Sandro starts having reoccurring nightmares about his defeat at the hands of Gem, Yog, Gelu, and Crag Hack. This is particularly bad for him, since liches have no souls and therefore [[YourMindMakesItReal dying in a dream will sever the magic keeping him alive]].

The [[InHarmonyWithNature Nature]] Faction. Originally serving as the counterpart to the warlocks in the first two games, they eventually became more associated with elves from the third game onward. As one might expect with a faction of elves, they are more associated with speed than the other factions at the cost of defense, and favor nature-themed magic. Their Might Hero is the [[ForestRanger Ranger/Archer]], and their Magic Hero is the Sorceress[=/=]{{Druid}}.

* HateSink: Markal is an unrepentant, scheming monster of a man who plays on Isabel's love of Nicolai and uses it to take control of the Griffin Empire, devastate the Silver Cities, and lay waste to Irolan.

%%* {{Stripperiffic}}: Shamans in V and Harpies in VI.

* BadassInCharge: During the events of Tribes of the East, Wulfstan is proclaimed king of the dwarves by Arkath, the Dragon-God of Fire. Even before then, he is a highly respected leader among the dwarves for fighting alongside his men on the front lines.

* CainAndAbel: With his half-brother Rolf, the dwarven King's EvilChancellor.

* {{Cyclops}}: Cyclopes are present in every game as high-tier units for the faction, with them even being the ''strongest'' in most games (although they're topped by Behemoths in III and IV). They have EyeBeams in I, II, V and VI, and settle for throwing rocks in other games.

* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: Goblins are typically smaller, dumber orcs that typically serve as the faction's tier 1 creature, although strangely in IV they were high-tier neutral creatures aligned with Chaos. They are TheChewToy and DirtyCoward in V, with specials that make them flee when hit and even ''turn against you'' when you're losing the battle. A bit of {{Irony}} when in VI Kraal praises them for their UndyingLoyalty and they're armed with a PrecisionGuidedBoomerang.

* OurOrcsAreDifferent: Even among the different games. The first, fifth and sixth games looked humanoids, when those of the second and fourth games were [[PigMan pig men]], and for the third, greenskin. In [[TheVerse the Ashan universe]], they, and the rest of the humanoid creatures in the faction, were "made" with human criminals and demon blood, and [[SlaveRace enslaved]] after having [[DudeWheresMyRespect saved the world from Demons]].

The leader of the Barbarian faction in Heroes of Might and Magic I, he was initially involved in a three-way war with Queen Lamanda and Lord Alamar, but was defeated by the newcomer Morglin Ironfist. Later he allied with Lamanda and Alamar against Ironfist but was unable to stop him from conquering Enroth. Supposedly, his bones are buried in the foundations of the Barbarians' Coliseum in Heroes II.

* HatedByAll: Although he was popular with the people of Krewlod during his initial ascent to the throne, respect for Kilgor almost immediately disappeared after his warlike and power-hungry ways came forth. By the time of ''Heroes IV'', his very name has become a swear word. No one hates him more than the few surviving barbarians, who are still trying to escape the vicious savages that Kilgor's actions painted them as.

* {{Cyclops}}: Cyclops are present in every game as high-tier units for the faction, with them even being the ''strongest'' in most games (although they're topped by Behemoths in III and IV). They have EyeBeams in I, II, V and VI, and settle for throwing rocks in other games.

* TheCorruptor: While disguised as [[spoiler:Queen Isabel]], Biara corrupts many of the Griffin Empire's heroes, especially Lazlo, turning them into bloodthirsty zealots. She also [[spoiler:corrupts the Heart of the Griffin by murdering Prince Andrei and using his blood to reverse its effect, letting it summon demons rather than banish them.]]

* WorthIt: When she is finally cornered in Talonguard, Biara boasts at how much damage she caused to Ashan just before Isabel kills her, claiming her death will be worth all the destruction.

!Sandor (VI)
[[quoteright:128:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Sandor_8347.png]]
First, but illegitimate son of the Duke of Griffin. With his half-sister Irina and the Orc Kraal (the Duke's master-of-arms) as his only friends, and finally fed up with his life, he flees to the Orc's Pao Islands to become a Barbarian.

* SatanicArchetype: Meets the criteria by the virtue of being the supreme leader of the Demons, thus being an enemy of not only the Good factions, but even the ''other Evil factions''.

* FatalFlaw: {{Pride}}. Both [[spoiler:Agrael and Kiril]] had the power to bypass the seals keeping the demons in Sheogh. While he could exploited their abilities to free himself, Kha-Beleth let both opportunities slip away to focus on a plan to get out of Sheogh under his own power rather than compromise his plans for their goals or share power with anyone. [[spoiler:Whether this actually stops him in the long run depends on the player's choices in ''VideoGame/DarkMessiah''.]]

* TheChessmaster: He plans to [[spoiler:liberate Urgash, GodofEvil, and if you don't stop him as Sareth, it'll work. The rest of the addons in V is just a sham.]]

* TheQuisling: After Lucifer Kreegan took the throne following Xenofax's death (in [=M&M6=]), Xeron immediately swore his loyalty to the at-the-time unpopular new king. This ended up swaying the Kreegans in favor of Lucifer, since Xeron was ''that'' respected.