Avernum / Characters

A character sheet for the recurring main characters in the Avernum series. Be careful for spoilers.

Work in progress, any contribution is welcomed.

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Playable Classes

Soldier

The standard fighter class, Soldiers are well-trained in using all types of weapons, in physical skills and defense.

Mighty Glacier: Starts off with high Strength, Stamina and Defense, which means it will be the one carrying better defensive gear.
Multi-Melee Master: A Soldier starts with plenty of points in both Melee and Polearms, as well as some points in Bows and Missiles.
Soldier vs. Warrior: He's the Soldier compared to the Berserker: his skill with either swords or spears isn't that high, but he's better balanced and, because of the many spread points, has access to more figthing techniques.

Rogue

Rogues are nimble and capable of using bows, swords and, most importantly, lock-picking tools, skills which often puts them at odds with the Empire.

Fragile Speedster: Rogue value speed and dexterity over strength and stamina.
Heroes Prefer Swords: Unless you start as a Slith, the Rogue is only good with swords and daggers in melee.

Priest

Followers of one of the many faiths, approved or not, Priests can use their spells to heal, reinforce and damage undead and others.

Blade Spam: In the first trilogy, it could summon a cloud of swirling knives to damage enemies.
The Medic: The Priests number one priority is to keep others alive through healing spells.
The Nondescript: While there are many religions across the Empire, you never get to define the playable Priest's faith.
Playing with Fire: One of the middle-tier spells summons a rain of sacred fire in a circular area. The top spell Divine Retribution automatically targets all enemies around.
Status Buff: The number two priority is to buff other party members to improve their attacks or their defense.
Summon Magic: Priests can summon a Shade to fight on their behalf. The spell Divine Host summons a much stronger Divine Shade.
White Mage: The Priest is not well versed in combat but can perform the local equivalent of White Magic to heal, buff, cure and damage undead and other monsters.

Sorcerer

A scholar of magic and sorcery, well versed in arcane lore and usage of powerful spells in combat.

Black Mage: Continuing on the analogy above, Sorcerers' bread and butter are highly damaging spells to cast upon their foes with deadly results.
Elemental Powers: The many spells they have allows them to attack with fire, acid, ice, lightning and arcane energy.
Glass Cannon: The Sorcerer is the weakest class in terms of health, but on later levels they can wipe out whole groups of enemies unaided.
Summon Magic: They can summon aid of various kind, depending on the game: unlike Priests, they summon different creatures every time.

Rebel/Scout

A highly versatile class which can do pretty much everything, but never excel in a specific field.

Jack of All Stats: The Rebel in a nutshell. Can be useful for cerain skills whose usage depends on the skill points of the entire party.

Berserker

Powerful and savage fighters from the farthest reaches of the Empire, their brute strength is paired with a though body and top-class swordsmanship.

Barbarian Hero: Downplayed in that you are free to customize the looks of the character.
Master Swordsman: The standard Soldier usually starts with Melee at 5, the Berserker has Melee at 6, but 0 in Polearm.
Soldier vs. Warrior: Contrasting the Soldier, the Berserker is the Warrior of the duo.
Unstoppable Rage: In the first trilogy, Berserker were given the ability to go in a battle frenzy to strike harder, though games from 4 to 6 and the remakes remove this feature.

Archer

Usually trained in the army, these soldiers are focused on long-ranged combat using bows or other missile weapons.

Glass Cannon: As expected, he's a ranged class, so better keep the Archer out of harm's way.
Non-Indicative Name: It is possible to specialize the archer in javelins rather than bows, or crossbows (in the first trilogy only.]]

Shaman

This followers of rare and mysterious cults are less skilled than Priests when it comes to magic, but compensate with better fighting skills.

Church Militant: What he lacks in spell he makes up with weapon skills.
Potion-Brewing Mechanic: In the first trilogy, Shamans were also better with herbal knowledge and potion making.

Hedge Wizard

A rare type of mage, this class can learn both branches of magic, often at the cost of being unable to master both fully.

The Red Mage: Can channel both types of magic, though it's difficult to learn the top spells of both lists.

Allies

Erika Redmark

Once among the most powerful and resourceful sorcerers of the Empire, Erika was put under a curse and banished into Avernum. There, she joined forces with King Micah, Solberg and Patrick in order to make Avernum habitable and prosperous. She currently resides in her own personal tower and still plots her revenge against the Empire. She's killed by Rentar-Ihrno in 3.

Aloof Ally: She is on Avernum's side, though her reclusive lifestyle and obsession with revenge makes her not as much of a helpful asset as the Triad's wizards.
The Archmage: She's the best sorcerer Avernum has to offer and it shows. She can even teach your party magic if their reputation is high enough.
Big Good: Technically speaking she's part of the Big Good Duumvirate with King Micah.
Curse: After she was banished, she was put under a spell that makes sunlight exposure fatal to her. A flaw exploited by Rentar-Ihrno to kill her for good in 3.
Even Evil Has Standards: She means to take her revenge on the entire Empire even if that means endangering Avernum with a bloody war, but she won't go as far as making the surface an unhabitable wasteland because of it.
Good Is Not Nice: She made Avernum habitable and defeated Grah-Hoth, but is still a bitter, haughty, revenge-driven lady.
The Hermit: Her tower lies in the westernmore reaches of Avernum, in the Abyss.
Insufferable Genius: While she did created the multi-purpose Fungi to feed the Avernites and buildings, as well as the books of magic, Erika still behaves as if pretty much everything good in Avernum is her doing.
Killed Off for Real: Confronts Rentar-Ihrno in 3, who just shine some sunlight on her to kill her istantly.
Not Me This Time: In 3 / Ruined World you can find evidence of her doing behind the Slime Plague, but she claims it's not her fault this time.
Revenge Before Reason: You can point out that her plan to assassinate Hawthorne will inevitably cause retortion, but she openly admits that she doesn't care. She's actually thrilled at the prospect of a war against the Empire.
Token Evil Teammate: Downplayed, but while Solberg is, initially, a well-intentioned and good wizard and Patrick a humble and helpful mage, Erika is still very bitter and wishes to get revenge on the Empire, even if that means causing a war with Avernum.
Vain Sorceress: An extremely powerful sorceress who's also still quite good-looking and proud of it.
Weakened by the Light: Her curse will kill her if she comes in contact with sunlight.

King Micah

The king of Avernum, he rules the vast cavern kingdom from the Castle, in the southern caverns. An overall good and fair monarch in spite of his age.

Big Good: Of the first two games, since they do take place in Avernum.
Cool Old Guy: He's very old, probably around the same age as the three wizards, but he's an overall likeable fellow and just king.
The Good King: He worked hard to turn Avernum into a manageable, good kingdom.
Meaningful Name: After Mica, a type of silicate mineral.
"Not So Different" Remark: Detractors, such as Kyass, accuse him and Avernum of being a miniature Empire, fighting back the Slithzerikai and Nephilim for land and exiling undesirables and criminals to the Abyss.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He's overall a nice person, more than willing to speak directly with the players once they've proved their worth.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: He, with the help of Erika, contributed to forge the Kingdom of Avernum and his government.
We Used to Be Friends: He and Erika were close when they fought for Avernum. Now, she sees him like a spineless old coward who refuses to retaliate against the Empire, while Micah thinks she's a dangerous, reclusive extremist whose hatred for the Empire could undo all their efforts.

Solberg

One of the greatest wizards of Avernum, former member of the Triad in the Tower of Magi, lives as a recluse in his tower in north-eastern Avernum, but becomes a Triad member again in 3. Unlike Erika, he's a rather modest, level-headed person. By the time of the fifth game he creates the utopic community of Tranquility in the far north of Avernum.

The Archmage: One of Avernum's oldest and most powerful sorcerers.
Big Good: Could be considered one alongside Erika and Micah in the first two games, he's also one as member of the Triad in 3. He becomes much less good in 5.
Demon Slaying: He helped fighting back Grah-Hoth and his demons, and can help you reforge the Demonslayer sword in 1. In 2, you can ask him a way to break through Garzahd's demonic-based defenses.
Genre Savvy: In 3, he doesn't trust Linda, but apparently has trouble convicing enough people to see things his way. Day 160 proves him right.
Giver of Lame Names: In 5 he has a pet Hellhound called "Cheeseball Two", much to the latter's annoyance.
The Hermit: In the first two games he abandoned the Tower of Magi and dwells inside a small abode in a small cavern in northeastern Avernum, surrounded by a pool of magma. Even more in the second game, where he's hunted down by the Empire and demons lay in wait for him outside, and you'll need a special pass to access his abode.
Humble Hero: He's the most level-headed, modest and reasonable of the original wizards. Becomes grouchier and more arrogant in 5 though.
Jerkass Has a Point: For all his mismanagement and unjust rule over Tranquility, his comments about food scarcity were already made by Rentar-Ihrno in the past and prove to be a major plot point in 6, where Blight is making food scarce.
Never My Fault: In 5, he can grant you access to the land of the Anama if you get rid of his former associate Sorengard, who he blames for the Sentinels' going mad. When you finally reach the core of the factory and destroy the Prime Sentinel corrupting the others, you can talk to a weak, starved Sorengard who reveals that it was Solberg's idea to make a "thinking Golem" to control the others, going against Sorengard's advice. When you confront Solberg about it, he briefly admits his involvement before rapidly blaming Sorengard again, accusing him of Bystander Syndrome.
Obstructive Bureucrat: In 5, his racism and hatred towards the Empire will cause a lot of trouble for the party, who need aspecial permit just to get into his personal domain and must help him defeating his own crazed golem creations.
Politically Incorrect Hero: In 5 he's still extremely prejudiced against people from the Empire and absolutely refuses to have the Anama even travel through Tranquility, to the point of openly threatening them with death. Slightly justified in the second case, as Anama abhors all sorcerous magic.
Reasonable Authority Figure: As a member of the Triad. He becomes much stricter as the ruler of Tranquility, accepting only a selected few into his utopic land and blaming others for his failure to control the Golems.
Sanity Slippage: When you meet him in 5, he's still lucid enough to carry on a normal conversation, but he's clearly going senile and paranoid with age. By the sixth game, he's gone completely senile and most Avernites see him as too much of a liability against the Slith Horde.
Sole Survivor: In the second trilogy, he's the last remaining wizard of the original three.

A crazy old sorcerer and member of the Triad, X is eccentric but powerful and resourceful, and can teach powerful magic to heroes. He made a series of special items in 3 which can be found and collected.

Anvil on Head: The secret spell he's working on. By the time of the second trilogy, he's perfected the spell and would like to have you procure him the perfect anvil in Fort Draco so that he can crown his project.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Ad odd and senile goofball of a wizard who's nevertheless one of Avernum's strongest wizards.
Genre Blind: He refuses to take Solberg' concern over Linda seriously.
Sanity Slippage: Due to his extremely old age, even by wizard's standards, X in the last game feels much less powerful and coherent than he was before and speaks in very terse, not-fully clear sentences.

Patrick

One of the three wizards of Avernum who defeated the Haakai Lord Grah-Hoth, he resides in his tower south of the Castle, where he leads his experiments and research. Passes away by the time of 3.

The Archmage: One of Avernum's strongest wizards, unlike Erika and Solberg he lives in a easy-to-reach abode south of the Castle, along with the people studying under him.
Killed Off for Real: Dies of old age during the 5 years between 2 and 3. You can find a monument to him in the Tower of Magi.
MacGuffin Guardian: In 2 he's tasked by King Micah to protect Demonslayer, keeping the sword in a secret crypt under his tower.
Only Sane Man: Compared to the revenge-focused Erika, the anvil-obsessed X and the Demon-loving Linda, Patrick is one of the tamest and most reasonable of the wizards.

Kyass

A charismatic outlaw who leads an outpost of rebels in the Abyss, rejecting the rule of King Micah, whom he considers an hypocritical tyrant. He's unaware that the Empire is secretly helping him and in Crystal Souls he's captured, tortured and transformed into a monster the party has to kill.

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Given this is the Abyss, it's only natural that Kyass is not only charismatic, but also stronger than his followers.
Fate Worse than Death: In 2 he's captured by the Empire, tortured, experimented upon by the cruel Elderan and transformed into a hideous dinosaur-like monster you're forced to kill.
Irony: Boasts about how his people are really free and how much of an hypocrite Micah is. Imperial agents are secretly supporting him.
Optional Boss: If you keep up with the Castle's "cease or desist" order, Kyass will turn hostile and attack you. Regardless of what you did, Kyass becomes one if encountered by the party under Elderan's Tower, as he undergoes a forced One-Winged Angel.
The Resistance: His outpost is essentially a living place for all those who can't bear either Micah, or the Abyss.

Motrax

One of the last Five Dragons of Avernum, Motrax is the friendliest and the easiest to approach, allowing humans and cats in his lair. In the second game he lies gravely injured for the war against the Empire and eventually succumbs to his wounds in the third game.

Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: In 2 he lies badly wounded in his lair after contributing to the war effort on Avernum's side.
Crazy Cat Dragon: His lair is filled with cats, which he cares after.
Killed Off for Real: By the time 3 rolls, he's succumbed to his wounds.
Kind Hearted Cat Lover: Unlike the other 4 Dragons, Motrax is neither power-hungry nor paranoid, is more than willing to barter knowledge and goods with the Avernites and thinks cats are "remarkable".
Morality Pet: One of the human wizards in his lair is incredibly affectionate to him, and despite his massive draconian ego he does admit he cares for her in return.
Our Dragons Are Different: One of the oldest and largest drakes of Avernum, he's an overall good ally of Avernum and content to live with humans.
Token Good Teammate: Compared to the other four dragons, especially the likes of Pyrog and Sulfras.

Athron

One of the last Five Dragons of Avernum, Athron is paranoid and reclusive, but her knowledge is great. She has her nest somewhere in southeastern Avernum. By the third game, she's returned to the Surface and gave birth to several hatchlings.

Mama Bear: In 3 she had hatchlings, and a warning in her lair openly states that she won't tolerate people harming her babies, not even in self-defense.
Optional Boss: It's possible to pick a fight with her in 1, but unlike most examples, doing so is not advised, since you need a vital piece of information to complete the game from her.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: She's the violent, paranoid and lonesome Red Oni to Khoth's more approacheable Blue Oni.
Teleporters and Transporters: In 2 she uses the portals in her lair to move the party in rooms full of hostile creatures. Passing through enough times, causes her to give up and let the party have an audience with her.

Sulfras

One of the last Five Dragons of Avernum, Sulfras is possibly the strongest, the most vicious and the hardest to find. She also knows the way to leave Avernum. She's captured by Empire Forces in 2, but she's eventually set free and returns to the surface in the third game.

Aloof Ally: And in this case, Ally is... a stretch. To use an euphemism.
More Deadly Than the Male: Big time, compared to the good-natured Motrax and the reclusive Khoth.
Dragon Hoard: You have to contribute to it with some nice items. In 2, you can choose a piece of it as a reward.
Enemy Mine: In 2, the only reason she aids you is her imprisonment at the hands of the Imperial Army. In 3, she's willing to let you have a magical sword to deal with the Alien Beasts, if only because said beasts are a pain in the ass even for them.
Kill It with Fire: In 2 she releases a massive and deadly wave of Quickfire to cleanse the Imperial outpost in her lair. And you, if you're not fast enough.
The Leader: She could be considered this among the Five Dragons. Surely she's the largest, strongest and baddest.
MacGuffin Guardian: In an interesting case, the MacGuffin you need from her in 2 was given to her by the party from 1.
Not Me This Time: In 3, after being implicated as suspects in the plagues freely admits that the dragons are planning revenge against the Empire, but their plans haven't even started yet.
Necromancer: After roasting alive the Empire Soldiers in her lair she bounds their souls to the ground as a punishment.

Khoth

One of the last Five Dragons of Avernum, Khoth is reclusive but more tolerant than his sisters, and loves knowledge and magic, which is why he's willing to barter them for more knowledge. He returns to the surface by the third game.

Badass Bookworm: A giant dragon who's also gluttonous for lore and knowledge.
Berserk Button: Leave his scrolls and books where they are, thank you very much.
Enemy Mine: Implied to have considered an alliance with Imperials in 2, spoilt when they tried to steal books from him.
The Hermit: He lives in the northern reaches of Avernum, a place which is partly infested by demons and partly covered in underground rivers which make his lair hard to reach.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's the calm, collected and overall more open Blue Oni to Athron's red.

The Vahnatai Council

The powerful council that leads the Vahnatai people, they're at first distrustful of the heroes, who have to prove themselves by recovering the Crystal Souls stolen by the Empire.

Aloof Ally: They are very cold and disdainful at first, but they do get better when you actually recover the Crystal Souls. In the fourth game they are willing to help Avernum because of Rentar-Ihrno's actions, though the last game puts more emphasis on the Aloof part of the trope, as, according to their envoy, both the Blight and the Slith Horde are merely a natural way to end the taxing presence of humans in the underworld.
Break the Haughty: Minor example, they're still horrified to learn that a rogue faction is in cahoots with the Empire and has sold the Crystal Souls to them.
Enemy Mine: You have to cause a permanent alliance with the Vahnatai by recovering the stolen Crystal Souls.
Fantastic Racism: They're not too fond of humans, as their people are, but they eventually grow out of it and become genuinely respectful of you.
The Grays: They're essentially fantasy equivalents with crystal magic in lieu of superior technology.
Reasonable Authority Figure: In spite of their distrust and contempt for humans and the theft of the Crystal Souls, they're still willing to give your characters a chance. In the third game, their leader Borh-Ihrno still tries to help the Avernite stopping Rentar, and pays with his life.

Anaximander

Leader of Avernum's secret service, he's the boss of the heroes in 3 and sends them on their scouting quest on the Surface to investigate Valorim and find out how to prevent the Plagues from destroying what could be their new home.

Big Good: As your direct superior, he's this in 3.
Mission Control: You have to inform him of the various events you encountered on the surface and learn your next step.
Oh, Crap!: When he hears of the Plagues, but mostly that either Erika, the Dragons or the Vahnatai could be responsible for it.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He's your boss, but he's nothing but reasonable and helpful.

Empress Prazac

Successor and daughter of Hawthorne, Prazac is the young and wise leader of the Empire. Unlike her power-hungry predecessor, she's willing to cooperate with Avernum to stop the Plague. She loses her life in an attack from Dorikas, the leader of Darkside Loyalists.

Big Brother Is Watching: A benevolent example, the ending cinematic of Ruined World reveals that she was actually monitoring the party's whole adventures from her throne room in Blackcrag Fortress, and when the group's about to die in Rentar-Ihrno's Keep, she has them teleported to safety as a way to say "thanks". Still creepy in hindsight, as she has Anaximander himself summoned in her throne room in the same way.
Big Damn Heroes: As Rentar-Ihrno's facility is collapsing around the heroes and about to detonate to smithereens, Prazac orders her personal Court Wizard to use his magic to teleport everyone to safety.
The Emperor: Well, Empress, but unlike her predecessor, she's sane, sensible and willing to make peace with Avernum. Too bad most of her subjects pretend she's not here to order them and follow their own agenda anyway. Also, she's apparently the very first Empress.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Unfortunately enough, despite her well meaning and just ideas, her actions during III/Ruined World' turns several imperial nobles and generals against her, and ultimately the Darkside Loyalists have her assassinated.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Unlike the previous emperor, Prazac is reasonable and even willing to make a solid alliance with King Micah. After the Avernites successfully take care of the Monster Plagues depopulating Valorim, she's more than willing to let Avernum settle in the vast fertile lands of southern Valorim, which aren't far from the original Avernum's emerging spot.

General Manfred Redmark

One of the most influent generals in the empire and Prazac's most likely successor, he's also a descendant of the infamous Erika. He's in charge of the operation to hunt Dorikas.

The Cavalry: Personally leads a large army of imperial soldiers to assault Dorikas' fortress. Subverted as by the time they get there, you already did most of the job yourself.
Deadpan Snarker: His haughtiness leads to him being sarcastic to you, as seen if you try to ask him to talk about himself.
The Emperor: He's canonically the next emperor in 6.
Good Is Not Nice: He's the next candidate for the imperial throne, and also a pompous, bossy man.
Old Shame: In-Universe, his familial relation to Erika is this to him.
Pet the Dog: If asked, he can give the party a Blessed Shield as a gift, originally intended for the real party.
Tranquil Fury: While he keeps his emotions in check, he shows great fury when he sees that the Avernites have tricked your party of greenhorns into becoming the official hunting party.

Melanchion

Son of Athron, Melanchion is a great dragon who decided to return to Avernum but, rather than live in hiding as advised, decided to learn from the best of the old Dragons and establish a settlement in the depths of the northern caves of Avernum, willing to barter with the locals.

Badass Bookworm: Like Koth, he's more than willing to look for information and lore. Bringing him rare scrolls is a sure way to let him share his treasures with the heroes.
Reasonable Authority Figure: For a Dragon, creatures known to be arrogant, cruel and haughty, he's surprisingly civil and rules his small island justly. In the sixth game he even tries to act for the greater good of Avernum and take over certain lands, such as the Abyss.
Young and in Charge: For a Dragon, he's surprisingly young, so much that his mother Athron is keeping an eye on him, but he still lords over a portion of Avernum and forces several powerful creatures to pay him tributes.

Villains

Emperor Hawthorne III

The cruel leader of the Empire, Hawthorne is a senile, sadistic old archmage who rules the Empire with an iron fist and banishing thousands of people into Avernum. He's eventually assassinated by adventurers sent by Erika, which kickstarts a war with Avernum.

The Archmage: Not only he's the emperor, he's also a frighteningly powerful sorcerer.
Big Bad: Of the first game along with Sss-Thsss and Grah-Hoth.
The Caligula: A cruel, insane despot and full-fledged madman in charge.
Decapitated Army: Deconstructed: as feared by many, killing Hawthorne not only doesn't stop the Empire the slightest, it also give them a valid excuse to eradicate Avernum in retaliation.
The Emperor: The cruel, wicked and insane leader of the massive empire.
Evil Old Folks: You can't help but notice how old and frail he looks. He's still a sadistic old douche.
Final Boss: More emphasis here since he's the one of the third and last of the three main quests.
Flunky Boss: Not only there's a portal spawning imperial warriors and imperial reinforcements coming up behind you, but he also has four personal golems he can infuse with magic to kill you in gruesome, creative ways.
Greater-Scope Villain: He and his precedessors are basically the reason why Avernum itself exist and why the conflict is happening.
Hoist by His Own Petard: The violent and cutthroat climate he contributed to create ends up being his undoing, his death caused by Avernites, people he exiled and abused for years, is only the icing on the cake.
Major Injury Underreaction: He's so senile and deluded that he barely realize that he's received a mortal wound and dies without much fanfare.
Orcus on His Throne: Justified, he has no reason to leave his home and you have to barge in.
Puzzle Boss: Surrounded by an invincible barrier, he relies on four golems to attack you. However, as you damage or destroy the golems, he'll use energy from his shield to heal and empower them. Once enough energy has been dissipated, you can kill him.
Sorcerous Overlord: He's the cold-hearted ruler of an empire encompassing the entire surface world and is also a powerful sorcerer.
Time-Limit Boss: Sort of, the more you wait, the more troops will flow in. Take too much time and you'll be overwhelmed.

Grah-Hoth

A powerful Haakai Lord of great power who once terrorized the cavernous kingdom which would eventually become Avernum, but was defeated and sealed away inside a magical prison by Erika, Solberg and Patrick. Too bad the seal on his prison is weakening... He's eventually freed by the heroes but before he can organize his forces he's killed by them with Demonslayer.

Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: After getting wounded by you a second time, he'll remark that he'll have to punish himself for allowing himself to grow so weak in these years.
Back from the Dead: Invoked by Linda in 3, where she secretly plots to use her own soul as a bait and open a portal to call Grah-Hoth back from Hell, but he was overtaken by his Haakai rivals who usurped Linda's plan.
Badass Boast: When he's introduced he gets one at your party, revealing that the Slith invasion you just stopped was merely a minor play he staged by possessing their leader.
Big Bad: Of 1/Escape from the Pit.
Bad Boss: He's not very kind to his underlings, the Imps he enslaved outright despise him and are willing to help you sneak in his throne room and furthermore, as the Sliths can attest, he has no use for pawns which have outlived their usefulness.
Big Red Devil: Especially in the remake, he looks a lot like one. Has a more eldritch-look in the ending picture.
Demon Lords And Arch Devils: He's a Haakai Lord, the most powerful breed of demons.
Evil Is Bigger: Towers over your heroes and lesser demons.
Evil Overlord: Including a massive basalt fortress in the middle of a cavern full of magma lakes and hordes of demonic servants.

Sealed Evil in a Can: Was defeated by Erika, Solberg and Patrick and locked inside a special urn, inside a golem-guarded crypt, beyond a stronghold manned by powerful undead soldiers. Still does nothing to stop his spirit to wander Avernum and cause havoc. You must break the seal with the Blessed Athame to release and kill him.
Villainous Breakdown: After the above-mentioned Arrogant Kung Fu Guy Moment, he starts to express disbelief in his defeat, and by the time he's critically wounded he's reduced to a frothing berserk crying in rage over your victory.
Volcano Lair: His personal domain is located in a far, charred land with a basalt castle emerging in a pool of scalding magma. Years later, Garzhad and Rentar-Ihrno would re-use his lair for themselves.
Weaksauce Weakness: Being a Haakai Lord, he's incredibly tough and difficult to kill, unless you have Demon Slayer/Arrows of Light.

Sss-Thsss

A despotical Slithzerikai warlord with a bad attitude and a giant army ready to eradicate Avernum, he's leading the Sliths to war and is the main threat of the kingdom. He's actually under the spell of Grah-Hoth.

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He's the leader because he's the most powerful Slithzerikai their army had to offer.
Brainwashed and Crazy: He's actually under the spell of Grah-Hoth the entire time.
The Dragon: He's secretly this to Grah-Hoth, who considers him his "pet".
Evil Overlord: He rules the Sliths with an iron fist and plans to destroy the Avernite to reclaim Avernum for themselves.
Flunky Boss: He's fought with his concubines and servants.
Old Shame: In-Universe, peaceful Sliths encountered in 2 and 3 feel regretful for all the collateral damage Sss-Thsss caused, and the Fantastic Racism they're subjected to doesn't help.
Large and in Charge: He's a huge, ferocious Slith.
Lizard Folk: Being a Slithzerikai, it's a due.
Villainous Legacy: In both 2 and 3 you can stumble into bands of renegade Sliths still worshipping the late Sss-Thsss as a God. In the sixth game, you learn that the Sliths of Gnass have built commemorative statues of the late Sss-Thsss as a warning for those who embrace warfare.

Anastasia/Zemera

A sorceress turned to a life of banditry, she's the chieftain of a gang of Nephilim and has stolen the enchanted necklace of the Mayor of Cotra. She makes a surprise return in 4, as a lich and the one who provided Rentar-Ihrno with magic and created the sea monsters plague.

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: She became the boss of a gang of Nephilim by torching several of them alive with her spells, causing the others to relent and follow her out of fear. Recently, though, there's attrition between her and the other high-ranking Nephilim shamans and warriors.
Evil Sorceress: She uses her magic to help bandits and perform acts of evil.
Flunky Boss: She's with Nephilim and can summon more monsters to help her. In the fourth game, she's surrounded by several spectral entities which acts as her Soul Jar and must be destroyed to weaken her shield.
From No Body To Nightmare: She starts as a renegade sorceress and became the leader of a ruthless gang of Nephilim bandits. Then she returned from the dead as a much more powerful Lich and helped the rogue Vahnatai against Avernum.
I Have You Now, My Pretty: In her fortress, you can find a human male prisoner who pretty much tells you that was kept alive so that Zemera could... relieve stress. Despite the rape implication, the dude is happy enough with the situation, given that the alternative is death.
Optional Boss: In the fourth game, as her domain in Khoth's Lair is optional.
Starter Villain: Of the first game.
The Undead: She can summon shades and undeads. In 4 she returns as a Lich.
Villain Team-Up: In 4, she allied herself with Rentar-Ihrno and her Vanhatai faction, though eventually she got bored and broke the alliance.

Linda

A member of the Triad with a penchant of demonology, she thinks she can learn arcane truths and secrets by summoning demons and has bound a Haakai Lord to the Tower, who promptly put her under his spell. During the second game she's exiled in Motrax' lair, but becomes once again a member of the Triad in 3. Only to summon a demon lord again, destroying the entire tower out of spite.

Ascended Extra: Zigzagged trope: she's a minor antagonist in 1, then an optional NPC encounter in 2, then back as a Triad member in 3 when she destroys the Tower of Magi and needs to be destroyed.
Brought Down to Normal: She seemingly loses most of her powers after the destruction of her Haakai summon. She gets them back in 3.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Summoning demons hasn't been... good for her mental health, to say the least.
Hoist by His Own Petard: In 3, she tries to open a portal and summon back Grah-Hoth using her soul as a bait, but other Haakai Lords interfere and grab ahold of her soul, using the portal to invade the tower.
Optional Boss: If you let day 160 roll by in 3, her plan will destroy the tower by summoning several demons through a portal and you have to destroy the demons and use the Blessed Athame to kill Linda, closing the portal.
Too Dumb to Live: While it's possible to learn magic to summon other creatures or even demons, trying to summon a Hakaai Lord and dismissing all concerns as ignorant nonsense is straight demented. She recovers some of her sanity in her final moments and begs to be killed.
Who's Laughing Now?: Destroys the Tower of Magi after day 160 in 3.

Pyrog

One of the last Five Dragons of Avernum, Pyrog is a violent and unsufferable monster who's attended by Giants and forces people to worship her. During the events of the first game she's eventually killed by some adventurers.

Blood Knight: She's actually disappointed if you do not accept her challenge.
The Brute: She's the most violent of the five, and also the dumbest.
Doomed by Canon: Even if you let her off the hook in the first game, she's killed by adventurers by the time the war starts.
Flunky Boss: She has her army of Cave Giants fighting alongside her.
Suicidal Overconfidence: She downright challenges anyone entering her lair to a fight. It gets her killed.

Garzahd

Hawhthorne's right-hand warlock, Garzahd is a powerful and crafty sorcerer with no morals and a burning desire to protect the Empire by any threats with any means, he's the leader of the Imperial Army in 2. Has made himself nearly-invulnerable by mixing his own blood with demonic blood.

The Archmage: He's among the most powerful sorcerers in the Empire, barring Hawthorne himself.
Big Bad: Of 2, being the general of the Empire Army stationed in Avernum and the main responsible for the invasion.
Dragon Ascendant: Subverted, he even laughs off your offer to let him rule after you take care of Hawthorne. More or less, he's something of a Dragon with an Agenda or Dragon In Charge.
Drop-In Nemesis: After recovering the Crystal Soul from the Ziggurat, he will appear from nowhere and blast the roof with Quickfire, forcing you to run for your lives, fighting through enemy forces.
Evil Sorcerer: An amoral piece of crap with a fantastic skill in dark magic.
Fate Worse than Death: In the fourth game, you encounter a tormented wretch in the remains of old Empire fort, barely held together by Rentar-Ihrno's magic. It turns out to be none other than Garzahd himself, who is in so much pain from getting reanimated constantly and begs you to finish him off. Before you do though, Rentar's magic kicks in and he tries to defend himself against his will. You have to put him out of his misery by killing him, or what's left of him at least.
Final Boss: He's treated as such for 2.
General Ripper: He's also the main commander of the military expedition against Avernum.
Half-Human Hybrid: He turned himself into one as part of his countless protection and defenses.
He Who Fights Monsters: His breakdown reveals him to be a Well-Intentioned Extremist variation of this.
I Am a Humanitarian: You can find humanoid bodies and "weird meat" in his pantry...
I Let You Win: How the battle against him in 1 is depicted: he's mostly unharmed, the damage you did was an illusion but he ultimately thinks that perhaps he could let you kill Hawthorne after all...
The Man Behind the Woman: Downplayed, but he has shades of this with Prazac despite being her main advisor. It's implied that the war against Avernum is entirely his pet project.
Nigh-Invulnerable: He wears a massive amount of protection on himself and is extremely difficult to harm and kill, taking only Scratch Damage from most attacks. Hitting him enough times with Demonslayer break his defenses.
Optional Boss: You can encounter what's left of him in Rentar-Ihrno's keep in 4. Killing him will allow you to enter a hidden part of the dungeon and deactivate Rentar's line of defense.
Properly Paranoid: He's always on the edge, fearing threats coming from the demons, the Avernites or the Vahnatai. 3 proves him right in hindsight.
Undead Abomination: His undead form in 4 resembles a gaunt, humanoid undead covered in rotting, misshapen flesh and bulging bones, which can fall off his body in droves to form more skeletal warriors.
Villainous Breakdown: Undergoes one if you have Demonslayer and gives a Motive Rant as you injure him more and more.
Villain Has a Point: Accuses the Vahnatai to be a threat for Avernum and the Empire. Game three proves him right, with the Monster Plagues nearly depopulating Valorim.
Weaksauce Weakness: He has demonic blood in his veins, which means: Demonslayer is the only weapon capable of demolishing his defenses.

Midori

An ancient and wicked Lich, dwelling inside the corrupted fortress of Angierach along with the Twelve (Ten in the remake) Masters, she guards one of the Crystal Souls.

Adaptation Personality Change: In the original game, Midori is a nondescript Flat Character at most. In the remake she has a more defined personality.
Ax-Crazy: Her personality in the remake. She enjoys putting intruders through a gauntlet of deadly fights for shit and giggles.
Dark Action Girl: Referred to with feminine pronouns, though by this point her gender is kinda trivial.
Equal-Opportunity Evil: The Twelve/Ten Masters are composed of extremely aged and evil humans, demons and Rakshasi.
Gratuitous Japanese: For some reason, possibly a coincidence, her name means "Green".
MacGuffin Guardian: A Crystal Soul is kept sealed inside her stronghold, protected by a magical barrier, impervious even to normal barrier-dispelling enchantments. But still vulnerable to Quickfire.
Our Liches Are Different: She looks like an ordinary skeleton, but is an incredibly powerful spellcaster. Like most liches from this series, she lacks a Soul Jar.
Quirky Miniboss Squad: She leads the Twelve/Ten Masters, a group of powerful humanoids serving her and ruling Angierach.

Rentar-Ihrno

Aloof and powerful Vahnatai sorceress, Rentar-Ihrno heavily distrusts humans and barely offers her help against the Empire because of her desire for revenge. She's ultimately so offended by the Empire's crimes that she and her followers engine the monster plagues to unleash on Valorim.

Aloof Ally: In 2, she'll eventually and begrundingly lend you her help only after you've recovered enough Crystal Souls, and even then she treats you with contempt and sends you on a dangerous errand for her.
The Archmage: She's among the most powerful Vahnatai spellcasters, as her handiwork in 3 shows.
Big Bad: The real mastermind behind the events of 3, she also escapes and turn her vengeance on Avernum in 4.
Combat Pragmatist: Once she realizes that Erika can match her blow for blow, she decides to aim for the ceiling and let sunlight burn the rival to a crisp.
Enemy Mine: In 2 she has nothing but scathing contempt for the Avernites, but she does recognize Garzahd as the most impending threat.
Fantastic Racism: Towards pretty much everything not Vahnatai.
Face–Heel Turn: By the time 3 runs around she seems friendly, but she's actually planning the eradication of the entire human population of Valorim and possibly the Empire. However, in the fourth game it's possible to talk her out of her vengeance and persuade her to come quietly to face judgement.
Good Is Not Nice: In 2 she's one of your allies, but is cold, unhelpful and disdainful. Cut to 3 and 4, and drop the Good part after The Reveal.
Hypocrite: She's mad at the Empire for daring to use the Crystal Souls as power sources, but she did the same to one of them to power up the Golem Factory.
Hoist by Her Own Petard: True, the massive facility under her volcanic lair allows her to generate all the monsters she likes and send them to wreck the surface. However, as Bon-Ihrno revealed, manipulating the energy beams and the slime production inside the machine can cause it to overheat and explode. In 4, completing the Shades sidequest will give you a magic shard from Rentar's current form, allowing you to use it to shield yourself against her strongest attacks during the final boss fight.
Hopeless Boss Fight: Fighting her head on and killing her the regular way is technically possible in III, but can take hours. The remake turns it outright in a Puzzle Boss and makes you sabotage the mechanism and activate the controls while fighting her back.
I Shall Taunt You: In the fourth game, she seemingly invites the heroes to her lair under the pretense of helping them... only to reveal herself as the mastermind behind the Shades and the other plagues of Avernum, taunting them before revealing that the cavern system they just walked through was a deadly trap to get rid of them.
Kick the Dog: In her private rooms you can find Demon Slayer, implying that she stole it from Avernum out of spite.
Load-Bearing Boss: Inverted in 3, instead of defeating her, you sabotage her machine and cause her lair to collapse. Played straight in 4 if you fight her to the death.
Mook Maker: She's adept at summon magic, and she created the Plagues along with her disciples.
Moral Myopia: Killing thousands of innocent citizens with her schemes? An act of justice. However, when your heroes kill her minions in self-defense, she deems them beyond forgiveness and plans to have them killed even if they agree with her plans. Deep down though, she feels remorse for her actions.
Omnicidal Maniac: If her plans succeed, Valorim will be reduced to a barren wasteland.
Orcus On Her Throne: She has no reason to leave her base after The Reveal, as the controls for producing more monsters are right inside her throne room. Justified in the fourth title, where she forcibly turned herself into a Crystal Soul.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: She's mad at the Empire and wants revenge at all costs. It's also behind the events of the third game.
She Who Fights Monsters: Her burning hatred for the Empire lead her to become a villainess.
Teleports And Teleporters: If you try to talk to her before the time, she'll forcibly teleport you outside her lab.
Villainous Breakdown: Reacts with utter disbelief and fear when the Avernites sabotage her facility, and loses it when they're saved from the exploding structure by Prazac.
Villain Has a Point: She'd rather have the Avernites leave Avernum, but at least she points out that the vast caverns of Avernum have meager resources and won't be able to support the current population for extended periods of time. She also justifies her vengeance on the Empire by poiting out that the Empire will be left in chaotic disarray and Avernum will be able to overthrow them and take back their land.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Her ultimate plan will allow the Avernites to settle back on the surface permanently... over the thousands of corpses and smoldering ruins of the Imperial cities.
The Woman Behind the Man: The mastermind behind the monster Plagues afflicting Valorim in the third game, while she's the one behind the Shades and the sea monsters in the fourth game.

The Slime Plague

The first plague afflicting Valorim's province of Krizsan: hordes of mindless blobs roams the country, dissolving everything in their path. They're spread thanks to the demented rogue wizard Bojar and the eldritch Alien Slime.

Blob Monster: An entire invasion of slimy, corrosive blobs of brightly-colored death.
Body Horror: In the Pit, you can run into slimes trying to merge with various humanoids and beasts. There's also Bojar in the remake, who's partially turned into a Slime himself.
Bright Is Not Good: Ruined World makes this more evident, since "natural" slimes are dull-colored instead.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Usually, the slime's color helps you remember their specialties: green ones are corrosive, ochre ones can slow you, mauve ones can use spells, and so on.
Degraded Boss: Several more Alien Slimes are fought in the final dungeon.
Eldritch Abomination: The Alien Slime is a towering, grotesque, slime-spitting abomination that flails and wobbles around in the deepest reaches of the Slime Pits, and looks like nothing you've ever seen. It vaguely looks like a massive spider too in the Remake.
Fusion Dance: Some Slimes are trying to give birth to new abominations by forcibly merging with living creatures.
Mook Maker: Slime Pools/Pillars are used to give birth to slimes by the dozens. Bojar was able to start his own collection using a sample of the breeding fluid.
Starter Villain: They're the very first Plague you come across, and the easiest to deal with.
Walking Wasteland: The slimes, due to their corrosive trails, are ruining the lands and slowly corroding the buildings.
Who's Laughing Now?: Implied to have been Bojar's main motivation.

The Roach Plague

The second plague, afflicting the Island province of Abigail: Swarms of gigantic cockroaches infest the island, thriving in garbage, spreading filth and illness. They originate in the remote and mysterious Filth Factory.

Animal Jingoism: They're at odds with the Giant Spider colonies on the island.
Big Creepy-Crawlies: An entire army of them. Some of them are even human-sized, Judas Breed-style.
Creepy Cockroaches: The smallest of which are around the same size as dobermans.
Kill It with Fire: The Quickfire generated by the Phoenix Egg is the way to get rid of the Factory once and for all. Also include Collapsing Lair and Outrunning the Fireball.
The Pig-Pen: An entire gigantic Factory filled with mountains of trash and organic waste is used to breed new insects and produce more filth to feed them. Furthermore, the insects spreads even more filth which, of course, ruins the island.
Token Good Teammate: There's a colony of Giant Intelligent Friendly Talking Roaches living on the island and working with the Giant Intelligent Friendly Talking Spiders of Bigail. You'll need their help to locate the Factory.

The Troglo Plague

The third plague, afflicting Sharimik province: these massive humanoids were believed to be extinct, but now they have reappeared, stronger than even, guided by their warrior priests in combat.

The Brute: Troglodytes are stout, massive and physically powerful, though unlike the Giants, they do show traces of Genius Bruiser, using clever tactics and fire magic.
The Chessmaster: Surprisingly enough, the Troglo King is one: under the pretense of a diplomatic mission, he essentially manipulates you into getting rid of his fanatical priest who's hindering his plans and forcing him to fight the humans, under the promise of relenting the attacks on humans. He lied on the last part, but he does stop attacking humans once the pathway to the Giants' Lair has opened again.
Fantastic Racism: They hate Giants more than anything else, and is actually the key to defeat them.
Living Relic: They were thought to be extinct, but were brought Back from the Dead by the Vahnatai.
Pragmatic Villainy: The Troglos are attacking human towns under the pressure of their priests, but they'd rather spend their energy on fighting their ancestral enemies, the Giant, if only they could get rid of the barrier.
Proud Warrior Race Guy: They're mostly ferocious warriors, with the warrior-priests known as Khazi leading their lines. They even have separate burial grounds to differentiate cowards from true warriors.
Religion of Evil: They worship their gods through a demonic altar which empowers them.

The Giant Plague

The fourth plague, afflicting Lorelei, Sharimik's neighbour: Giants, thought as extinct, have reappeared and spread chaos and death, besieging several cities and destroying minor villages in their path.

Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: They're among the biggest enemies you can encounter.
Back from the Dead: Hill Giants were wiped out by the Empire centuries ago, but the enemy force has resurrected them along with the Troglodytes.
Boring, but Practical: They're a gigantic population of humanoids using arms and equipments barely at Bronze-Age level and mostly attack by throwing large boulders: there are so many of them though, that such methods are more than enough.
The Brute: They're the most physically-oriented of the five Plagues, consisting in an entire race of massive, brutal humanoids who live in primitive, bronze-age castles.
Enemy Civil War: They'd gladly attack the Troglodytes given a chance... And once you demolish the barrier separating the two people...
Fantastic Racism: They pretty much hate everything shorter than them, including humans and Troglodytes.
Improvised Weapon: They often use massive stones and boulders in combat.
Living Relic: They were eradicated by the Empire in a distant past.
Our Giants Are Bigger: They are huge, primitive humanoids of limited intellect and huge strength. They also keep monsters as guards and worship pain.

The Golem Plague

The fifth plague, afflicting Gale: whole squads of mindless and tireless automatons emerged from the wilds, killing everything alive on their paths and forcing the people of the province to consume the deadly Skribbane Herb to stand the pain. They're seemingly spawned by the deadly Golem Factory.

Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Normal Blade Golems are gray, Fire Golems are Red, Frost Golems are blue, Jeweled Golems are green.
Creative Sterility / Dumb Muscle: General Baziron notes that the Golems use extremely rigid tactics and are much slower to adjust to a changed battlefield situation than human combatants.
Elemental Powers: Some golems are enchanted with the powers of Fire, Ice, Lightning.
Golem: An entire Factory of them, which continuously produce them in massive numbers and spawn them in the surrounding region, killing anything living, be them animals or humans.
Implacable Man: Unlike the Slimes and Roaches, they're actually a threat. Unlike the Troglos and Giants, they lack psychological weaknesses, needs for sustainance or reasons to direct their rage at anyone else than their intended target. They're slowly wiping out the life from Gale's Province, demolishing the cities brick by brick and forcing the imperial soldiers to take Skribbane Herb, essentially amphetamine, just to keep up.
Keystone Army: Once the Crystal Soul fueling the Factory is destroyed, the entire Factory is destroyed and the Golem production stops.
Omnicidal Maniac: They not only attack humans, but kill any animal life they come across.
Our Demons Are Different: They also include Demon Golems, which are... well, golems built to resemble demons and can cast magical abilities typical of demons.
Perpetual-Motion Monster: Golems are unstoppable and don't need to sleep, rest or eat.

The Alien Beast Plague

The last plague, these alien creatures were made not only to hunt down the Imperials but also to destroy everything in their path with unearthly ferocity. They were so destructive the entire province had to be sealed behind a giant wall.

Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: In the remake, the description mention that the beasts can do so with their necks to shred people apart.
Eldritch Abomination: A downplayed example, they're still an entire race of ferocious, unstoppable monsters never seen before and this contribute to the terror they inspire. Unsurprisingly enough, they serve the ulterior end to keep the Imperials from finding proofs of Rentar-Ihrno's involvement.
Large and in Charge: They also have Pack Leaders which are bigger.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: In 3 they have three pairs of legs.
Nigh-Invulnerable: They're very tough, even more so than Giants and Golems.
Omnicidal Maniac: Alien Beasts aren't satisfied with exterminating the population, they'll even tear buildings apart and destroy both vegetation and the soil itself, making the entire land they've invaded bare and lifeless.
Our Monsters Are Weird: Alien Beasts are massive, six-legged black worg things or, in the remake, large, quadrupedal dinosaur beasts of unimaginable ferocity and strength, powerful enough to destroy an entire country if left unchecked and to bother beasts such as Dragons.
Race Lift: Massive canine mammals in the original games, they look more like dinosaurs in Ruined World.
Sealed Evil in a Can: They were so vicious, the Empire gave up fighting them and decided to keep them inside the Province by building a giant wall around them. The bad news... they're learning to dig under the wall and crossing the mountains.
Walking Wasteland: The entire province they've infested has been turned into a desert, and they did this with nothing but their claws and fangs.

The Shades

Appearing in the fourth game, these towering spectral ghosts have manifested in several cities of Avernum, such as Formello, Silvar, Almaria and the western reaches of the Great Cave. Seemingly invincible and unscrutable, these black creatures have thrown Avernum's citizens into panic.

An Ice Person: The first Shade employs ice attacks and can inflict the "Frozen" status to your characters.
Burning with Anger: The Shade of Wrath also uses fire attacks.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The Blue Shade of Ice, the Green Shade of Venom and the Red Shade of Wrath.
The Dreaded: The people of Avernum have learnt to fear these monstrosities. Since Shades apparently attack those who try to deal with foreigners, this leads to whole cities shutting down and refusing to communicate out of sheer terror.
Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: They showed up out of nowhere, start randomly hunting people for no discernible reason and nobody knows much about them.
Hate Plague: The Red Shade drives surrounding people into senseless rage, to the point that the entire city of Dharmon decide to openly protect the Shade by killing all those who may fight and stir it into a battle frenzy, and show no sign of gratitude when the Shade is killed, accusing your party of putting Dharmon in unnecessary jeopardy
Healing Factor: Before you acquire the Onyx Scepter, Shades are able to cast spells to recover from all damage after a while. Attacking them in an exercise is futile before that.
The Heavy: They serve as the main plague of Avernum for most of the story, keeping Almaria sealed up, for example.
In the Hood: They resemble huge, towering humanoids cloaked in black robes and hoods.
Mook Maker: The Red Shade sheds a Draining Skeleton on its turn after sustaining damage.
Our Ghosts Are Different: They were created by Rentar-Ihrno to bring chaos to Avernum and spread fear. They're more like Golems, though they are susceptible to Repel Spitit.
Run or Die: In the first part of the game, winning against the Shades is impossible, so if you accidentally aggro one early on you're advised to run away, as they won't pursue you past the city gates.
Turns Red: When finally fought, each Shade goes through three phases during which they use a cheap shot: first they spawn a large amount of mooks, then they use a special trick (the blue one makes itself Nigh-Invulnerable, the green one spams a wave of terror, the red one grows stronger) then they use the summon trick again.

The Sea Monsters

A mysterious breed of monstrous creatures which have appeared in the seas of Avernum, because of this creatures all forms of travel by ship are impossible. They appeared alongside the Shades.

Combat Tentacles: They have long tentacles they use to grab and sink ships.
The Ghost: They are exclusively mentioned and descripted several times, you can see one of their abandoned breeding grounds but you never see or fight them. Justified, as the game never implemented battles against sea creatures.
Outside-Context Problem: Avernites were used to fighting monsters of all kinds from the caverns or, at most, coming from the water but fighting on land: the presence of kraken-like abominations who swim too far away and too deep to be attacked left them with no real answer to counter them.
Perpetual-Motion Monster: Subverted, their only weakness is the fact that they need to be fed and reinforced with spells very often: with the defeat of the Big Bad, they'll die off on their own.
Sea Monster: Very large, green monsters with long tentacles and teeth-filled maws.

Dorikas

Leader of the Darkside Loyalist, an imperial faction secretly planning to overthrow the Empire. His men are secretly sabotaging Avernum and taking advantage of the situation to spread chaos.

The Bad Guy Wins: In 5, your party can decide to go rogue and help Dorikas, which makes him become the Emperor instead of Redmark. The following game confirms it never happened, though.
Berserk Button: When he confronts the party in his keep, he will become outraged if the party chooses to play the Ignored Enemy card when he shows up.
Big Bad Duumvirate: In the fourth game, alongside the real Big Bad Rentar-Ihrno, despite having no direct connection to her. He becomes the actual Big Bad of the fifth game.
Combat Pragmatist: If the fight starts going against his favor, Dorikas is not afraid to use any method to turn the tide to his advantage.
Crazy-Prepared: His Evil Lair was actually meant to act as a fully functional outpost for the Empire so that they could monitor the Avernites.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: In 4, after suffering enough damage in combat he will summon some critters and cast Terror on the entire party as he makes his escape to another part of the base, where he recovers some health and attacks again. He uses a similar strategy in 5.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a massive burn scar across his face.
Irony: For a snobbist racist who despise Avernum, he used the very same plan as the Avernite used to assassinate Hawthorne with similar results (though rather than a war, he's hounded by imperial agents).
Joker Immunity: Even if you manage to slay him in the fourth game, he reappears alive in the following.
Large and in Charge: Described as an enormous man, surpassing his own soldiers in size.
Magic Knight: Dorikas is prepared for anything: he can rip you a new one with either his spear or with a barrage of spells, your choice.
Neck Snap: If you decide to spare him so that he can face judgement, he will use Ruth's last spell to kill himself in this manner.
"Not So Different" Remark: When you confront him in 5, he will comment that he wasn't much different from the playable characters when he was younger and more idealistic.
One-Handed Zweihänder: When he first appears, the narration describes him wielding a massive halberd in his right hand and a rune-engraved baton in his left. While his sprite wields the polearm two-handed, his size and spellcasting implies he easily wields the thing with one hand (while in the fifth game his sprite uses a sword).
Tin Tyrant: Wears a massive platemail covering all his features, except for his face.
Villain: Exit, Stage Left: When you deal enough damage, Dorikas will cast spells of Terror before making his getaway through a portal.
Villain Has a Point: You spend the entire game seeing first hand that Avernites tend to be arrogant, hostile and distrustful of the Empire. Even when you kill him, General Redmark still honor his last request to use his own hidden fortress as an outpost to keep watch on the Avernite from the Northern Frontier.
Villainous Legacy: In the sixth game, you can find remnants of the Darkside Loyalists hiding in the caverns and Erika's old lair in the Abyss.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: How Dorikas ultimately sees himself. The player may come to the same conclusion during the course of the game.

Gladwell

A mysterious and creepy sorcerer found in the Abyss, where he fled after some of the experimental slimes he was breeding killed four people. Implied to be a former student of Patrick, he has a penchant for cruel experiments, dangerous missions and putting geas on people in exchange for his "help".

Affably Evil: He genuinely wants to be helpful and aid the Kingdom of Avernum but... his methods and prices are still immoral.
Ambition Is Evil: His ultimate goal is to gather enough strength to take over Avernum. The player can decide whether to stop him or to let him become the next king.
The Bad Guy Wins: If you complete all his quests in 6 and you do not kill him, then he will be able to dethrone Starrus and become the supreme overlord of Avernum.
Bad Samaritan: He's very generous with the help he can provide. Not so much when it comes to the price for said help.
Collector of the Strange: In his tower, the corridor leading to his balcony has paralyzed monsters as decorations.
Joker Immunity: He's a recurring character in the second trilogy, but even if you kill him in the fourth or fifth games, he comes back in the following.
Karma Houdini Warranty: After spending years killing people, performing sick experiments and enslave innocents under the pretense of helping them, Gladwell is finally slain by some adventurers in a battle inside Erika's Tower ruins.
Mad Scientist: From raising man-eating slimes to send heroes to collect body parts of various creatures to sending whole parties to unleash wild magic all over the caves.
Mysterious Past: Very little is known of him, except that he once was a student in Patrick's tower.
Suspiciously Specific Denial: In the sixth game, no matter what anyone else implies, he's not responsible for bringing the Scuttlers from the Northern Frontier... despite being from the Northern Frontier.

Lysstak the Beast

Chieftain of a band of bandits infesting the newly-colonized region of Drake Pillars, Lysstak is said to descend from an imperial general and is feared for his fighting prowess, his unmatched speed and the sheer number and organization of his followers.

Bad Boss: Thinks nothing of forcing his men to share their hideout with a violent ogre and in his room there's a freshly killed Goblin.
The Dreaded: The miners and civilians of Drake Pillars would love to get rid of him... but they're just too terrified of him and his men to actually act and even help you. Case in point, when the clue given to you by the innkeeper leads you straight into a trap which she boldly denies, everyone in the tavern silently sides with her.
Equal-Opportunity Evil: He's willing to hire women, nephilim, nephar, slithzerikai, goblins and ogres.
Lightning Bruiser: Because of his magic, he can move around and run at top speed, like a blur. Subverted in that his actual trick involves Self-Duplication using his own future selves as copies.
Lone Wolf Boss: Zigzagged, he denies working for Dorikas despite respecting his ideals, but you can find letters signed by the man himself which makes clear that he was involved with the Darkside Loyalist.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Beast doesn't really sound reassuring.
Oh, Crap!: His last copy (and real self) does this when you kill his two future selves, even after reassuring himself that he can use their experience to deal with you and avoid death.
Power Misidentification: People believe that his enchanted jewel gives him otherwordly speed to the point of making duplicates. Turns out his actual magic makes duplicates from his future selves.
Starter Villain: He's the first important threat faced by the party in 5, supported by Dorikas.

Incantor Ruth

A powerful Darkside sorceress and Dorikas' right-hand woman.

Affably Evil: She's courteous, kind and treats the party with more respect than their colleagues.
Disappointed by the Motive: She will react with disgust and asks herself how could she see an ally in you if you still refuse to join the Darkside Loyalists and still express your loyalty to the Empire.
The Dragon: Responds directly to Dorikas. She's also the last line of defense before the area where the Darkside Loyalists are holed up in.
In the Hood: She wears a full sorcerer's robe with a large hood.
Villainous Breakdown: A very short one when fatally wounded by the heroes, where she seemingly regrets fighting the Empire and ending up dying alone in the dark caves of Northern Avernum.
We Can Rule Together: When encountered by the party in Exodus, she offers them the chance of renouncing to their quest and actually aid Dorikas.
You Shall Not Pass!: She and her warriors will try to stop the pursuing party from crossing the Black River beyond the Vahnatai Lands.

Dervish Tholmen

A Darkside Dervish and one of Dorikas' lieutenants. He prepares an ambush against the party halfway through.

Black Knight: Wears a full armor, brandishes a pole axe, fights in the name of an evil master and blocks your way across a bridge.
The Brute: One of Dorikas' loyal followers, though he can mostly fight.
Flunky Boss: He sets up an ambush with a veritable army of bandits and Darkside Loyalists, forcing the party to run for their lives, fighting through waves of enemies before reaching the camp where Tholmen is fought.
Hostage Situation: Thanks to his small army, he can force the Anama village to help them into laying an ambush for the heroes. The Anama wouldn't do this, but can't fight back.
Hypocrite: For all his talks of honor and discipline, he's still the guy who had several miners murdered and thrown into an abyss.
Noble Demon: He's honorable and the thought of fighting a fellow imperial warrior sincerely disgusts him. He also shows a good deal of respect for the party and, if slain, will go down gracefully.
Villain: Exit, Stage Left: When wounded enough he pulls out a smoke bomb to make a getaway, though reluctantly so. Letting him flee allows you to prove your loyalty to the Darkside Loyalists and eventually join them.
We Have Reserves: Sends waves after waves of Avernite outlaws at the heroes.

The Slith Horde Leaders

The three leaders of the Slithzerikai Horde threatening Avernum's safety along with the Blight's threat running rampart across the cave. Each of the three leader specializes in a different field, the first being Khrez-Yss the Shadow, the second Ess-Kalyn the Manburner and the third Ghavassa-Oss the Impaler, a Slith warlord.

Big Bad Duumvirate: Of the sixth and final game, though Avernum has already plenty of problems even without the Slith Horde.
Blood Sport: Ghavassa-Oss' palace include a massive arena, where captured humans have to fight against Sliths and lizards.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: They're structured as this in both specialties and roles.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: Khrez-Yss takes the party on in the cellar system of Formello, taking advantage of his stealth and the number of healing vats in the area to escape to safety whenever his health gets too low and go back attacking the party from a different angle. You need to disable the spawing points to keep him from coming back again and again.
Hoist by His Own Petard: The encounter with Ghavassa-Oss starts with the party lead into the arena portion of his palace, where several Sliths and lizards are sicced on the heroes. After slaying a good amount of them they can then challenge Ghavassa-Oss himself and, if they defeated enough waves, pretty much force the warlord to come down in the fray and fight personally.
Keystone Army: Deconstructed with Ghavassa-Oss: true, his death deals a massive strike to the morale and organization of the Horde... but for the moment it makes the entire Slith garrison of Formello furious, forcing the party to flee towards the teleportation pylon as fast as they can.
Kill It with Fire: It's right there in Ess-Kalyn's moniker.
The Magnificent: All three of them carry significant monikers related to their profession and skill, namely the Shadow for the stealth operations, the Manburner for the fire-wielding caster and the Impaler for the spear-wielding warrior leader.
Oh, Crap!: Ghavassa-Oss has a minor one if the heroes defeat all the enemies in the arena then issue a challenge, as he realizes that he must take them on to save face despite the danger he'd be in.
Orcus on His Throne: Ghavassa-Oss leads the troops from the conquered city of Formello, sending soldiers to attack the Eastern Gallery. By contrast, Khrez-Yss is first encountered in a goblin cave deep in Avernum territory, spreading chaos and rebellion.

Characters / Avernum

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Characters / Avernum

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