History Headscratchers / Overlord

* How are there so many elves in Overlord 2? They were on the brink of extinction in the first game and, while we can assume the previous Overlord saved the elven women from Goldo's mine, how did they manage to produce this many adult elves in what can only be a few decades (given that Rose, a normal human woman, is still alive).

* Bit of a meta one but why do people keep referring to the Overlord from the first game as the "Third Overlord" and his predecessor as the "Second Overlord?" The protagonist of "Dark Legend" being the First Overlord, sure, but at the end of ''Raising Hell'' Gnarl eulogises the protagonist by saying he's seen lots of Overlords fall, running down a list of deaths [[NoodleIncident (including being eaten by a giant weasel).]] Even if each type of death mentioned is a singular incident he mentions more than two so it follows that between ''Dark Legend'' and the first game there were more than just two Overlords.

* Bit of a meta one but why do people keep referring to the Overlord from the first game as the "Third Overlord" and his predecessor as the "Second Overlord?" The protagonist of "Dark Legend" being the First Overlord, sure, but at the end of ''Raising Hell'' Gnarl eulogises the protagonist by saying he's seen lots of Overlords fall, running down a list of deaths [[NoodleIncident (including being eaten by a giant weasel).]] Even if each death is separate incident he mentions more than two so it follows that between ''Dark Legend'' and the first game there were more than just two Overlords.

** Two possibilities I can see. First is that it's actually a mechanical flamethrower that's just called a dragon in reference to the extinct creature. Second it could be that while true dragons are extinct there are still lesser dragons around, kind of like how in Discworld greater dragons are gone but swamp dragons still exist.

*** Indeed. For all his greater eloquence and experience Gnarl is still a minion. There'd be no more reason to execute him than all the other minions brought under the old Overlord's sway; they exist to obey the Overlord and there was a debate at the time as to who that was. The debate now settled Gbarl is loyal again.

** Maybe Gnarl WAS the Overlord at some point and ruled for centuries, but eventually he started getting too old and frail to really do the hands on running of his empire anymore like the player ends up doing so he started recruiting "Overlords" to handle that sort of thing, [[MagnificentBastard all thinking they were the ones in control while Gnarl was the real boss, which also conveniently allows him to avoid being the target of coups, assassinations, KlingonPromotions, and upstart heroes, while being in a position to easily escape and restart the empire in the event it collapses like it does several times in the series.]]
** As far as we can tell there apparently aren't female minions. In order to make new ones they need to collect life force using that gauntlet the overlord wears. Call me crazy but I doubt Gnarl could wear it. In fact if anything it seems like Gnarl and the minions are sort of an ongoing deal with the devil from times unknown, you get there power, magic, and resources but you have to keep the minions going and conquer the land inorder to be the overlord and retain all the benefits.

** [[FridgeHorror Do they keep their memories if they are revived?]] Cause this troper likes to harvest gold and life force by [[FateWorseThanDeath killing local peasant in the church, have them revived and killed again]]...

** PragmaticVillainy. You give the town the food because 1)those peasants are no use to you if they're dead of starvation, and 2)Life Force is a renewable resource anyway. I mean the food pile only gives you fifty, and on my most recent playthrough I had ''over 200'' by the time I got it. You preserve the Sacred Grove and rescue the Elf women because 1) the Elves ''as a species'' will be ''eternally'' in your debt, and 2)it's not like you don't have the resources to just dig out Goldo's horde at a later date anyway. You remain faithful to Rose because 1)she's just that useful to have around, and 2)since she genuinely loves you, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes it's entirely possible that the feeling is mutual]]. You let the elves keep the statue, well, simply because ''it's just a freaking statue,'' and you don't get anything out of keeping it aside from some angry elves. Forgiving the peasants who betrayed you is admittedly pretty out of character for ''any'' evil overlord, but it's possible you have a cool enough head on your shoulders to realize that dead peasants pay no taxes.