This is the character list for the first Overlord game and its expansion Overlord: Raising Hell.
Possible unmarked spoilers ahead.
Characters in Overlord II should be listed here.
For characters from the Light Novel series Overlord go here
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The Overlord and his allies
The Overlord
The Overlord / The Eighth Hero
Species: Human (later deity)
Appearances: Overlord I | Overlord: Raising Hell
The player character. Awakened by the minions to rebuild and reinstate a reign of terror after his predecessor was slain by heroes. Armed with a suit of heavy plate armor, a massive weapon, and an army of minions, he now seeks revenge against the heroes who slew the previous overlord.
- Anti-Villain: A low corruption Overlord is a merciless force towards threats, and seems to very much enjoy the power and position he holds, but he never raises a violent hand towards innocents, and at several points makes choices that are decidedly heroic.
- Ax-Crazy: You have to play this way if you want to go for 100% corruption, as the most Evil choice at various points in the game usually involve people getting violently killed, sometimes by the Overlord's hand. One of the biggest chunks of corruption - and likely to be the last one you need before 100% corruption, is to kill a thousand citizens. If you want to be true Evil, a lot of innocent people need to die to the Overlord directly.
- Big Bad Slippage: He started out as another hero who gave his life defeating the previous Overlord. However, the Minions healed him and branded him their new master; depending on the player's actions, he can either be a more benevolent, pragmatic ruler or an out and out tyrant is far worse than his predecessor.
- Black Knight: By default, he's an intimidating Tin Tyrant in ridged armor and a spiky helmet. If you pursue the corruption path, his armor eventually darkens and demonic spikes start growing out of his skin, until the armor is black as night as the spikes on his shoulders reach to the top of his head.
- Deity of Human Origin: At the end of Raising Hell the Overlord kills the Forgotten God and becomes the new ruler of the Abyss, which presumably makes him a god.
- The Dragon: He unknowingly played this for the previous Overlord inhabiting the Wizard's body, offing the fallen Heroes so he could reclaim his throne.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: One possible reason why he was canonically faithful to Rose, that he truly loved her.
- Even Evil Has Standards: No matter how Evil you make him in your playthrough, canonically, he made at least two Good-aligned choices according to the sequel. Namely, he canonically saves the last elven women (as the elves are still around, likely meaning he's not into causing racial extinction even if the elves are annoying), and he stays faithful to Rose (whether it be through actually loving her, being against adultery, or acknowledging her usefulness over her less reliable sister).
- Eviler than Thou: Play for full corruption, and you pull this on the Fallen Heroes. Every corrupting act that can be pulled off is the Overlord surpassing the former hero in their specific sin.
- Fallen Hero: Both figuratively and literally. He fell from the tower during the fight with the previous Overlord and was left for dead by his comrades.
- Fantastic Nuke: The last level of his fire spell at high corruption causes a massive explosion that indiscriminately sets everything in its radius on fire.
- Friendly Fireproof: In contrast, the last level of his fire spell at low corruption causes a damaging, controlled fire that only hurts enemies.
- Good Costume Switch: At higher levels of corruption, your armor grows spikes and turns black. If you stay low or avoid corruption entirely as the game carries on, your armor becomes brighter and shiny.
- Good Counterpart: If you beat the game completely uncorrupted, you end up as this compared to the Seven Heroes. Shows how messed up they became, if an Evil Overlord is the good guy in comparison.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: The only feature of the Overlord's face that can be seen under that helmet is his glowing eyes. They also change color depending on his level of corruption: being blue at low corruption, white at neutral, and naturally become red at high corruption.
- Hell Has New Management: Though unwillingly, he's now the ruler of the Abyss and gets to call all the shots, but he's trapped there as well, separated from his (now pregnant) lover.
- Heroic Mime: Villainous example. He never speaks, but he does grunt when he swings, and his voice is very deep.
- Kill It with Fire: His main offensive magic is a fireball spell.
- Knight in Shining Armor: If you remain at 0 corruption for long enough in the story, the ridges and spikes on the Overlord's armor become less pronounced and turn shinier. At 0 corruption and heading into the last few bosses, your armor is basically smooth and a bright, shiny silver.
- Knight of Cerebus: Downplayed. While the rest of the Evil cast, be they blatantly Evil and proud of it or nominally Good guys who've become blatant hypocrites, are over the top and ridiculous, the Overlord himself is played very straight. He's a giant among men, can kill almost anything in a one on one fight with better equipment (though it will be a bit tedious without help from the Minions), and his cold menacing aura contrasts sharply against the wanton destruction he's capable of. He's less of a Sauron parody and more of a Sauron Expy that landed in a parodic story.
- Large and in Charge: Most of the Minions do not seem to exceed 4 feet in height, and the Overlord is so tall that he cannot enter the homes of the villagers since their doors are too small.
- Magic Knight: He uses spells and weapons.
- Magikarp Power: At the beginning of the game, the Overlord can't really stand up in a straight-up fight and relies on his minions. After sufficient upgrades however he can be quite powerful.
- Mighty Glacier: He's slower than his Minions, but stronger and more durable. If you
upgrade the best equipment with only Brown Minions, he becomes an unstoppable One-Man Army. - Pragmatic Villainy: Gnarl justifies this as the reason for some of the downright heroic choices you can make despite having "Evil" in his title; a large population of relatively happy peasants with intact places to live (instead of unhappy and/or slaughtered ones in a burned-out wasteland) means a well functioning empire to terrorize and profit from.
- Tin Tyrant: Seeing as he's covered head-to-toe in ominous plate mail.
- Tomato in the Mirror: He was the eighth Hero who was left for dead by his allies.
- 24-Hour Armor: Never seen outside his spikey armour. Although he does presumably take it off sometimes off-camera, as he was able to impregnate Rose.
- Unwitting Pawn: Your predecessor in the Overlord position only has you revived as part of a long game while he corrupted the other Heroes: he corrupts them into Evil, you kill them, and their deaths unleash enough Evil energy into the world for him to come back.
- Villain Protagonist: The titular Evil Overlord, though depending on how you play, your villainy can be greatly downplayed.
- Villain with Good Publicity: At low corruption, to the extent that you're really a villain in name only.
The Minions
The Minions
Species: Minion
Appearances: 'Overlord I | Overlord: Raising Hell | Overlord II | Overlord: Dark Legend | Overlord: Minions | Overlord: Fellowship of Evil''
Gremlin-like creatures that fall somewhere between the secondary Villain Protagonist of the game and an extension of the Overlord, the Minions are the heart and soul of the series almost more than the various Overlords they've served. They're happiest when serving an evil master with sights on conquest and domination and destruction and if their previous Overlord dies will actively scout out a new candidate that's suitably evil to ascend to the position. Minions are very disposable and happily accept this as their lot in life, though a handful of minions have survived long enough and proved useful enough to be given names and develop unique personalities and something approaching intelligence, with Gnarl being the oldest and most cunning serving as the leader for the entire species.
Minions come in four types:
- Brown Minions have no special abilities or notable traits, but brown life force is plentiful and they're the best fighters and have the most health, making them the perfect meat shields to fight and die en masse for you (they're also the only type to show unique hats and weapons, the other types just have generic armor as they upgrade).
- Red Minions are skeletal-bodied little pyromaniacs who are all about fire, throwing fireballs like artillery shells to serve as your main ranged offense, being able to safely walk across hot surfaces, and sucking fire sources into themselves to extinguish the flames, however to make up for their range, they're quite fragile.
- Green Minions are more lizard-like, bloodthirsty even by Minion standards and apparently smell REALLY awful, and yet are the stealth experts of the Minions. If commanded to guard a flag, Green Minions will go invisible, and if an enemy walks into their guarded area, they'll leap onto the enemy's back and stab them mercilessly and repeatedly for massive damage. They're also immune to sources of toxic gas and can safely travel through it to destroy the source.
- Blue Minions are fish-like and take hits about as a well as a plate of fine China thrown against a wall while hitting about as hard as pool noodle, but make up for their lack of combat prowess with their special ability; through the use of magic, they're able to resurrect other slain minions if they can reach them before their body vanishes. They can also safely enter water where the other Minions will drown in a spectacular fashion.
- Arbitrary Head Count Limit: The number of Minions the Overlord can have out at one time is restricted by their current level of power, starting out at a measly 5 and increasing with upgrades, with enough Minion totems in each game to increase the capacity to a respectable 50, and if combined with helmet upgrades to further increase capacity, can reach a truly dangerous army of 65-70 minions.
- Butt-Monkey: These guys live to be abused, misused, and die in horrible Black Comedy ways for their Overlord's ambitions. Very frequently they'll be eaten, blown away, smashed, impaled, and blown up. The Overlord can even sacrifice them himself for a health boost if he needs to, and there's no punishment for smacking them around yourself.
- Dumb Muscle: Brown Minions (besides Gnarl) are generally pretty dumb. While the other three types can show some degree of cunning and intelligence, the Brown Minion's solution to everything is to hit it with whatever implement catches their fancy until it stops moving.
- Glass Cannon: Red Minions' fireballs can do a ton of damage, especially if there's a lot of them stacked up in the squad nailing the victim with a sky-darkening amount of fire. This is traded off by them being very fragile even if they're fully upgraded, if your front line falls apart, your squad of Reds has a very high possibility of being wiped out.
- In the Back: If manually swarmed to attack while behind an enemy, Brown and Green Minions will leap on top of their victim and shank them multiple times before dismounting. Greens even specialize in this- their backstabs do incredible damage compared to Browns, and if they're commanded onto a flag, they'll leap on any enemy that approaches from an impressive range and regardless of the enemy's facing to start stabbing them.
- Super Drowning Skills: All types of minions except the Blue will, to quote Gnarl, "Drown in an amusing fashion" if led into any water that goes over their head. While some may manage to tread water to get back to shore, you can lose a fair amount of your squad if you underestimate how deep a body of water is.
- Support Party Member: The Blue Minions' ability to revive other dead minions is extremely useful, however they are the most fragile Minion type by leaps and bounds and will die if an enemy so much as breathes in their direction, and their damage is so pitiful sending your blues into the fray is like sending a child with a butterknife to attack a trained soldier. Unfortunately since you have to send them into the heat of battle to resurrect your fallen troops, it's very common you'll have one or two of joining the casualties even if they help restore your main fighting force.
- We Have Reserves: Minions are spawned fully grown and ready to fight the instant the the Overlord comes into contact with their matching colored Life Force, so there's no great loss if they die and no reason to not treat them as expendable footsoldiers to die for for you. Brown Minions especially as the frontline fighters and the most easily acquired essence will be spawning in great multitudes leaving you very little reason to care about their well-being. The Second Overlord even gets a spell that will kill the Minion himself for a health and mana refill.
Gnarl
Gnarl
Species: Minion (brown)
Voiced by: Marc Silk
Appearances: Overlord I | Overlord: Raising Hell | Overlord II | Overlord: Dark Legend | Overlord: Minions | Overlord: Fellowship of Evil
An ancient minion and The Dragon, Gnarl uses the Tower Heart and the Overlord's helmet to communicate with you over long distances, giving you advice on what to do next.
- Affably Evil: Gnarl is polite, likeable, and soft-spoken, even as he's betraying you for your predecessor.
- Arc Words: His catchphrase, as seen above, acts as this for the Overlord series as a whole.
- Cool Old Guy: Can be pretty chill all things considered and is funny with his witty lines.
- Corrupted Character Copy: His appearance, age and role as the mentor to new Overlords makes him seem like an evil version of Yoda.
- Dirty Old Man: Over the course of the games, Gnarl gets very vocal about his attraction to the mistresses - to the point it actually earns him a thump on the back of the head from both Rose and Kelda.
- The Dragon: Gnarl is one of the few recurring characters in the whole series, and since Minions can live for an unknown amount of time, he's had the chance to serve as the right-hand Minion at least four different Overlords - possibly many more.
- Evil Chancellor: For his Overlords, which works out just fine as him and his boss are Evil. Played completely straight in the first game, as he betrays you for the old Overlord, both out of loyalty and because the old one is potentially more Evil than you. Once you prove that you're the most Evil, Gnarl enters his service under you again.
- Evil Mentor: Given that he gave the Witch-Boy "a proper evil upbringing" in the second game, it's safe to say that he was most definitely one of these. He also acted as this for the first game's Overlord, bringing him up to speed after his long sleep.
- Loyal to the Position: He serves the Overlord, whomever they may be. Although he does imply he prefers the first game's protagonist to his predecessor (or at the very least, he will miss/misses him).
- Manipulative Bastard: There's some implications that have given rise to a fan theory that Gnarl is feigning subservience to you, and that his guiding you around is actually playing you as his dragon. Seeing as he's the one usually coming up with all the plans and goals and you're enacting them without (much) complaint, there's some weight to this.
- Mission Control: His main role in the series is to tell the player what to do and how to do it all the while quipping about Evil things.
- Non-Action Guy: As the most elderly Minion, he doesn't do field work any more and stays in the Tower. This used to be not the case, as Gnarl does reminisce about his time running around as a standard Brown Minion early on in the first game.
- Parental Substitute: He's this to the Overlad in the second game, having raised him since childhood and taught him how to be an Overlord.
- Pragmatic Villainy: His In-Universe justification for any good choices in the first game. Make yourself look good to fuel a long-term Evil empire, since you can't have one if all the wouldbe empire's towns are burned down and their residents mostly dead.
- Really 700 Years Old: He's positively ancient compared to just about any other character, as he still knows what the long-extinct dragons were like. In fact, since he's so old, it's not known if Minions can even die of old age.
- When I Was Your Age...: Played humorously, as Gnarl comments on the younger Minions and how he used to be like them, putting all sorts of weird things on his head.
Rose
Rose
Species: Human
Voiced by: Fay Maillerdet
Appearances: Overlord I | Overlord: Raising Hell | Overlord II
One of the Overlord's potential mistresses, Rose is an order-obsessed stick-in-the-mud who complements a low-corruption Overlord. Mid-game you have the option to spurn her for her sister, Velvet.- Big Damn Heroes: When the Wizard returns and tries to steal your magic and kill you, Rose (if you didn't spurn her for Velvet) interrupts him by attacking the Tower Heart, giving you a chance to get your magic back and go after him.
- Cutting Off the Branches: Canonically, the Overlord kept her as his mistress.
- Damsel in Distress: The Overlord rescues her from the raiders of Castle Spree.
- Deadpan Snarker: She's completely unfazed by everything, and the only people that escape her sharp wit are those who don't deserve it... which usually just comes down to the Overlord.
- Defector from Decadence: When Solarius shows signs of becoming too corrupt, Rose quickly changes sides and offers her aid to the Overlord.
- Face–Heel Turn: In an attempt to restore balance to the world, she joined Solarius in his campaign of world domination during the second game. Once it becomes clear that he's just another Hero that inevitably turns to Evil and is endangering the world, she joins the Overlord to address the issue.
- Fiery Redhead: She tries bossing the Overlord around the moment they meet.
- In the Hood: As leader of the Sentinels, she wears a hooded cloak.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: She's also canonically the first Overlord's lover and mother of the second game's Overlord.
- Mysterious Watcher: In Overlord II, she can occasionally be glimpsed in the background, spying on the Overlord.
- Neat Freak: She values organization and order, not necessarily goodness.
- Polar Opposite Twins: She's an orderly stick-in-the-mud, but her heart is in the right place... usually, and she loves the Overlord genuinely. Violet is a chaotic seductress whose love for the Overlord is only pockets deep.
- Power Floats: By the time of the second game, she's learned how to float via magic. On the plus side, it makes her immune to Trap Doors.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Rose often encourages this.
- Scare 'Em Straight: In the second game, she tries to scare her son off the path of the Overlord by showing him the ruins of the Tower. It doesn't work. Eventually, she decides that he's Necessarily Evil.
- Something Only They Would Say: In the second game, she reveals herself by reflexively telling Gnarl to shut up using his name, after no-one had mentioned his name.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She has a habit of swinging between ice-cold efficiency and lovesick cooing.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: She's suffered one in the backstory to Overlord II, apparently induced by the disappearance of her lover and the destruction of the Tower. Not only does she effectively abandon her own son in Nordberg and leave him to be bullied for the first few years of his life, but she also performed a full-fledged Face–Heel Turn by helping Solarius in his campaign against magical creatures.
- Villain Teleportation: Has a habit of performing these in the second game.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: She initially follows the Overlord out of a belief that his tyranny will bring Order to your kingdom better than the stupid feudal lords and fallen Heroes. In 2, she's so fallen into Order Versus Chaos that when Chaos gets an edge, she became much more extremist and much less well-intentioned.
- Woman Scorned: If you spurned her for Velvet, she betrays you in revenge and allows the Wizard into your Tower.
Velvet
Velvet
Species: Human
Voiced by: Jonell Elliot
Appearances: Overlord I | Overlord: Raising Hell (non-canon)
Rose's sister. Velvet is a sadistic, money-hungry seductress whom the Overlord rescues from William the Black. After saving her, she offers the Overlord to take her as his mistress and give him the time of his life, at which point he can spurn Rose and take her instead.- Big Damn Heroes: When the Wizard returns and tries to steal your magic and kill you, Velvet interrupts him by attacking the Tower Heart, giving you a chance to get your magic back and go after him.
- Cutting Off the Branches: Canonically, she was the Overlord's enemy.
- Gold Digger: Ohhhh yes, she had zero attachments to William, and it seems like she doesn't even end up falling for Even Evil Has Loved Ones with the Overlord. Her saving you if you choose her over Rose isn't an act of love so much as it is not wanting to give up her wealth, status, and servants.
- In Love with Your Carnage: She loves the murder as much as the pillaging.Velvet: That's enough prolonging the excitement darling, I want to see some real elf blood.
- Polar Opposite Twins: She's a chaotic seductress whose love for the Overlord is only pockets deep. Rose is an orderly stick-in-the-mud, but her heart is in the right place... usually, who loves the Overlord genuinely.
- Woman Scorned: If you reject her, She finds a way to get the Wizard into the Tower.
Giblet
Giblet
Species: Minion (brown)
Voiced by: Marc Silk
Appearances: Overlord: Minions | Overlord I | Overlord: Raising Hell | Overlord II
One of the Brown Minions who originally revives the Overlord and helps him recover the Tower Heart. Later becomes the forge master once the smelters are recovered.- The Blacksmith: Once you get the Forge operational.
- Extreme Omnivore: Giblet has a habit of chewing on almost anything, which will occasionally lead Gnarl to yell at him.
- Mauve Shirt: Is one of the few minions with a name.
- Older Than He Looks: The second game establishes that he is the second oldest minion after Gnarl while Minions is set an unknown amount of time before the first game, but despite this he doesn't look much older than the other minions. Though given how often minions die in the games it's possible that he's simply survived longer than most and is still pretty young for a minion, and it's also clear that even if he is the second oldest there is a clear age gap between him and Gnarl.
- Promoted to Playable: In Minions, which is a sequel to Dark Legend and therefore set before the events of the first game, you get to play as Giblet along with three other minions.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: By the time of Fellowship of Evil his role as blacksmith is taken up by a female green minion named Ricket, with no mention to what happened to him.
Jester
Jester
Species: Minion (brown)
Voiced by: Marc Silk
Appearances: Overlord I | Overlord: Raising Hell | Overlord: Dark Legend
The Overlord's Jester. He hangs around the main tower hall reciting the Overlord's titles.- Butt-Monkey: You can freely attack him with no ill effect, he serves as a training dummy in the tutorial.
- Court Jester: Complete with the hat with jingly bells, his own staff, and a repertoire of awful jokes you can deck him for.
- Face–Heel Turn: Ends up serving the Forgotten God, either out of spite or from possibly after being possessed by the Second Overlord.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After taunting the Overlord when he escapes from the collapsing Abyss portal, he disappears from continuity entirely, necessitating a new Jester in the second game. Chances are good he was killed offscreen for his betrayal.
Neutral Parties
Bob
Bob the Farmer
Species: Human
Appearances: Overlord I | Overlord: Raising Hell
An easily-victimized peasant, Bob is one of the few humans to own territory outside the heavily-fortified village of Spree, and has suffered terribly because of it; halflings have invaded his farm and staked him out on the pumpkin patch as an improvised scarecrow. As the expansion pack reveals, his troubles don't stop there...- Butt-Monkey: First, he's tied to a scarecrow frame and left to watch as his entire crop of pumpkins is destroyed. Then the Mellow Hills are invaded by Kahn. Then he's kidnapped by halflings all over again, this time being dragged into hell.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: In Raising Hell, sapient Pumpkins are one of the enemies of the Mellow Hills Abyss.
- The Schizophrenia Conspiracy: He's under the impression that pumpkins can speak and are working with the halflings. Nevermind that halflings actually eat pumpkins...
Archie
Archibaldamius "Archie" Methuselah Wobbleboard the Third
Species: Human
Voiced by: Steve Steiner
Appearances: Overlord I | Overlord: Raising Hell
As of Lord Spree's death in the attack on Spree Castle, Archie the innkeeper has been made the de facto mayor of Spree Village; with the village under siege by halfling raiders and no supplies but alcohol, he naturally beseeches the Overlord for help in recovering the food that the halflings stole from them.- The Bartender: Though he's also the mayor now, he much prefers his bartending job. There will always be beer ready for your minions whenever you drop into the town.
- Nice Guy: He's probably the nicest and most intelligent human we see in the game, which admittedly is a pretty low bar.
- Overly Long Name: Archibaldamius Methuselah Wobbleboard the Third.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He ended up stepping up to bat as the mayor of Spree after Jewel and Khan raided the castle and killed their local lord, and always thinks to do the best thing for his village. Unfortunately for them he judges the best thing for Spree is to betray you to Khan for their survival, how badly this bites them up to the player.
- What the Hell, Hero?: He calls you out if you choose to keep the food instead of giving it to the villagers. Though, if you're going down that karmic path, he's greatly misread your character.
The Silent Order
The Silent Order
Species: Humans
Appearances: Overlord I
A religious brotherhood established in the city of Heaven's Peak, the priests of the Order have barricaded themselves inside their fortress-like temple to keep out both the zombie hordes infesting the city and the remaining civilians seeking refuge.- Barrier Warrior: During the attack on their temple, the priests bolster their defenses with magical force fields.
- Black Comedy: People with lips sewn shut should be terrifying, but the Silent Order is played for laughs.
- Corrupt Church: Not actively villainous, but certainly self-obsessed, given that they're leaving dozens of potential worshipers to die outside their walls.
- A God Is You: After conquering their defenses, the Silent Order immediately declare you their new god. It even ends up as one of your titles!
- Light Is Not Good: The whole "stitching every member's lips shut" isn't a traditional "good guy church" thing..
- Mouth Stitched Shut: This is their price for joining their Order.
- Religion is Magic: The priests of the Order wield powerful magic abilities.
- The Unintelligible: Because their lips are sewn up, the few talkative members can only mumble gibberish and occasionally mime what they're trying to say.
- White Magic: Most of the magic used by the Silent Order seems to fall under this heading, given that most of it involves protective shields and resurrecting dead allies.
The Forgotten God
The Forgotten God
Species: Deity
Appearances: Overlord: Raising Hell
The former consort of the Elven Mother Goddess, when he spurned her, she banished him to lord over the Infernal Abyss and struck his very name from existence.
- Big Bad: Of Raising Hell
- Large Ham: He could give Gnarl a run for his money.
- Our Dragons Are Different: He resembles a cross between an eastern dragon and Quezalcoatl.
- Satanic Archetype: Like Satan, the god was once in service to another divine power, in this instance the Mother Goddess. By spurning that divine entity (cheating on her), he is banished to the Infernal Abyss for all eternity.
- Un-person: The Mother Goddess cursed him to this fate. Anyone who tries to remember the god will quickly forget him. Part of his evil plan is to be remembered once again.
The Mother Goddess
The Mother Goddess
Species: Deity
A deity worshipped by elves, and to a lesser extent dwarves and humans, who for whatever reason chooses not to get involved in the events taking place.
- Big Beautiful Woman: While we never see her in the flesh, according to Gnarl the horrendously obese (to the point of being Fan Disservice) Elven priestesses in the second game gorge themselves on food to make themselves emulate the Mother Goddess, implying she's heavy-set in a way that calls to mind The Venus of Willendorf statue.
- The Ghost: Doesn't appear in any of the games unlike her ex, though is mentioned often.
- The Gods Must Be Lazy: Since the presence of the Forgotten God confirms she exists, it raises questions as to why the Goddess doesn't help the elves who suffer the most in the games or any of the magical creatures in the second game. Since it is unknown if she actually enjoys the suffering of the people worshipping her, the only explanation is that she simply doesn't care enough to help.
The Seven Heroes
In General
Seven legendary heroes who, many years ago, slew the previous Overlord. However, as the years passed they grew complacent in their fame and gradually succumbed to their selfish desires, becoming villains themselves in the process.
- The Corruption: Self-inflicted as a direct result of descending into their respective vices, they all have absorbed a great deal of Evil energy.
- Corrupted Character Copy: Of the usual Stock Characters in fantasy stories and games, especially The Lord of the Rings.
- Embodiment of Vice: They all represent a specific sin in very obvious ways.
- Fallen Hero: All of them except the Wizard, because he was possessed by the Overlord so it isn't even him anymore, were hailed as Heroes until they became corrupt. Oberon is the only one who shows remorse and is granted a peaceful death for it instead of a karmic punishment in the Abyss.
- Offered the Crown: Some of the Heroes became king of their respective peoples after felling the last Overlord.
- Seven Deadly Sins: Each Hero is modeled after one of the Sins.
Melvin Underbelly
Melvin Underbelly
"Melvin ain't so small now."
Species: Halfling
Voiced by: Brian Bowles
Appearances: Overlord I | Overlord: Raising Hell
A Halfling and the first of the heroes you encounter. Since the Overlord's fall, Melvin has been made King of the Halflings, and has succumbed to the sin of Gluttony.- Adipose Rex: He became immensely rotund from his constant feasting as the ruler of Spree, after becoming a hero.
- Arc Villain: The main threat for the main questline in Mellow Hills.
- Fat Bastard: His stomach has expanded considerably since his glory days.
- Fork Fencing: His weapon of choice is a large golden fork, which is naturally stolen by the minions following his death.
- I'm a Humanitarian: According to captured peasants, Melvin's appetites have extended this far and he keeps human peasants as another ingredient for his endless feasts.
- Ironic Hell: For his gluttony, he wound up in a hell of killer pumpkins and exploding sheep, where he eats endless amounts of food and is unable to stop until he literally explodes... only to be re-incarnated and made to repeat this over and over and over again for all eternity. At the end of his abyss, the Overlord leaves him in a pit, where it turns into "starve for eternity", which is still ironic.
- Jabba Table Manners: His eating habits disgusts even the Minions, who urinate on everything and wear dead rats for hats.
- "Pop!" Goes the Human: When you kill Melvin he explodes into a disgusting mess of bile; when you find him in his Ironic hell, this become a gameplay element.
- Rolling Attack: Halfway through his fight he decides to just roll over the Overlord and his horde.
- Trash of the Titans: His mansion is decidedly messy; numerous corridors and hallways have been converted into improvised storehouses for all the dirty dishes and table scraps that the feasts constantly produce.
- Villainous Glutton: Melvin is so gluttonous that he's carved out an entire empire from the surrounding countryside just to feed his appetite.
- Weight Taller: He's taller than the Overlord! And that took some considerable work, since halflings are supposed to be short.
Oberon Greenhaze
Oberon Greenhaze
"Once I deserted by people, my forest, and I have been punished. I will not desert them again."
Species: Elf
Voiced by: Mason B. Fisher
Appearances: Overlord I | Overlord: Raising Hell
An Elven ranger and one of the heroes. After the Overlord's fall, Oberon succumbed to Sloth and slept while the Dwarves raided his home and wiped out his people. As a last subconscious act, Oberon's body became a great tree, blocking passage to keep the Dwarves from further destroying his people's home.- And I Must Scream: Oberon's semi-conscious and knows what he's doing to the forest, but is unable to do anything about it.
- Arc Villain: For the Evernight Forest. His dreaming state is the cause of the forest's state of corruption.
- Despair Event Horizon: After coming back from fighting the previous Overlord, he got tired of fighting or just making any effort at all. He ended up part of the forest and subservient to the tree that overtook him as his willpower waned.
- Destructive Savior: His last shot at the Dwarves did lock them into their mountains, but Oberon's done an incredible amount of damage to the forest because of it.
- Heavy Sleeper: He only wakes up after all of his tree's roots are killed.
- Ironic Hell: His abyss; he's trapped in his tree form and forced to watch his subjects massacred over and over in a (badly acted) play about the genocide of the elves. This ends when the Overlord arrives and he is finally granted a peaceful death instead of a new form of ironic torture.
- Lazy Bum: He is modeled after the sin of Sloth, though at most it is just being tired of conflict that shows itself as his physical body sleeping.
- Mercy Kill: In the final stage of the boss battle, he begs you for one of these. You oblige him. Of course, the Overlord can't reach Dwarven lands without killing him.
- Mook Maker: Creates some kind of skull-headed feral rat creatures from his nightmares. Get used to these guys while you travel in Evernight.
- People Puppets: Oberon got taken over by the magic tree, and the plant doesn't let him do anything.
- Token Good Teammate: The only one of the Heroes who expresses regret over what they've become, and the only one not enjoying himself; furthermore, the Wizard later reveals that when the Eighth Hero fell to his apparent death, Oberon was the only Hero who insisted that they try to rescue him. Even his sin (simply tiring of conflict) is rather light compared to the others. This may be why he has a sympathetic death scene, and his Abyss ends with him flat out destroyed and given the peace of true death while the others get their ironic hells shifted to another form of ironic torture. One could even make a reasonable argument this is why the Overlord canonically saves the Elves from going extinct, as Oberon wasn't particularly evil or corrupt and did make the attempt to try to rescue the Overlord when he was still a Hero while the rest of the party wrote him off as dead.
- Tragic Villain: This Elf may have caused most of his species to die by not wanting to fight any more, but it's considerably more sympathetic than the other heroes who laughed as they went down the slippery slope.
- When Trees Attack: While Oberon doesn't want to fight you, the tree sure does. It's the driving force in the boss battle; beat the tree down so you can kill Oberon.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: One Elf gets tired of war and refuses to fight, and his entire species is nearly killed as a result due to not helping fight the dwarven army led by his former ally. He then gets controlled by a giant tree in the time while the Overlord is sleeping. As it's a magic tree, it turns the entire forest into a literally nightmarish place populated by Skulls (upright-walking skull-headed animal nightmares) and Elf ghosts. Oberon cannot end it himself, seeing as the tree won't let him wake up unless it is in direct danger.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: Besides all the elves in the forest being, well, dead, there's also the small matter of Oberon's nightmares taking on a physical forms as monsters called Skulls.
Sir William
Sir William the Bold/Black
Species: Human
Voiced by: Steve Steiner
Appearances: Overlord I | Overlord: Raising Hell
A human paladin, Sir William succumbed to the sin of Lust and makes all of Heaven's Peak suffer for it, leading a cult devoted specifically to sex. He's also Velvet's betrothed, though she really doesn't give a damn about him.- Arc Villain: For Heaven's Peak.
- Camp Straight: He acts very effeminate, but the fact he summons succubi for his own pleasure should make it obvious he's not gay. Also he was supposed to marry Velvet.
- Decadent Court: Runs one, mainly concerned with being a pleasure cult.
- Degraded Boss: He makes a last stand to keep you from escaping his Abyss alongside the enslaved men who were being forced to work, but due to his death, the Abyss making him weaker, or being tied to a gigantic mop getting dunked and spun around constantly, William has about as much health and offensive power as one of Jewel's assassins - still somewhat threatening but a far cry from the fight he put up as a boss.
- Flunky Boss: When he's not fighting, he sends his cult goons to swarm you.
- Foreshadowing: He mentions the Wizard was the one who taught him to not care for his chastity, giving you an idea of who the main threat is. He also seems to know the Overlord...
- The Hedonist: He is fully committed to pursuing every pleasure and he regrets nothing."I may have fallen, but what a ride!"
- Ironic Hell: His abyss is a Ladyland where the housewives of the husbands his cult seduced are supernaturally empowered and forced William and the cheating husbands into slavery. William himself has been tied into what, for all intents and purposes, is a gigantic mop. By the time it's over, you end up forcefully taking the women and their husbands back to the city and leave William all alone with nobody to indulge in his hedonism with.
- Light Is Not Good: Paladins are commonly perceived as fully committed to the pursuit of Good and vanquishing Evil. And then William decided to "cast off archaic morality".
- Lust: While most directly seen with his association with the Succubus Queen and her subjects, Sir William lusts after everything to the point of general hedonism.
- The Oathbreaker: In regards to his vows of chastity.
- Teleport Spam: During his boss fight.
- Villainous Friendship: Goldo sent him a wedding present which suggests that the two are still close… though when the wedding is called off, Goldo is prepared to take the present back.
Goldo Golderson
Goldo Golderson
Species: Dwarf
Appearances: Overlord I | Overlord: Raising Hell
The Dwarven king who, predictably, fell to the sin of Greed; driven by hunger for gold, he attacked Evernight to loot the Elvish temple treasures, and kept only a handful of Elves alive- the males to work as slaves in his gold mines, the females to be his consorts. In combat, he uses a giant steampunk tank called Rollie.
- And I Must Scream: His afterlife comprises him being turned into a sentient golden statue that can never move (it can certainly writhe in pain, but not move)… and once his subjects get a hold of him, he doesn't even get to stay in the same shape anymore since they break him into chunks.
- Arc Villain: For Golden Hills.
- Beard of Evil: Has a beard like any other Dwarf, but he is the main reason the Dwarves became hostile toward other nations and enslaved Elves for his gold mine.
- Bling of War: Goldo totters into battle wearing a suit of golden armor and a golden crown, and wielding a golden axe for good measure. Both the crown and the axe become collectibles for your minions after his death.
- The Corruptor: His fall to Greed apparently took the entire Dwarvish race with him as they happily pillaged and massacred the Elves for loot and slaves, earning all of them, not just Goldo, a stay in the Abyss.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Rollie, a gigantic steam tank of war with a spiked roller on the front.
- Gold Fever: Suffers from this, and sparked it off in the rest of the Dwarves.
- Gold Makes Everything Shiny: His castle hoards tons of gold and he wears nothing but gold.
- Greed: His particular sin, which shows itself as Gold Fever.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Quite a few of Goldo's inner retinue can be crushed to death by falling chunks of ceiling thanks to his policy of over-mining the caverns.
- I Can Still Fight!: Even after the Overlord smashes Rollie, Goldo will still be standing and struggling to swing his axe. He can actually kill the Overlord by doing this.
- Ironic Hell: For his Greed, Goldo gets turned into a living statue of solid gold. Though, the one calling the shots in the Abyss is fascinated when the Dwarves' fury at Goldo for getting them sent to the Abyss overcomes their greed, and is content to let Goldo get pummeled by his own once-loyal subjects.
- Last-Second Villain Recovery: After you defeat Rollie, Goldo himself will stagger out of the wreckage, waving his axe menacingly in the air. Though he's in no fit state for a sustained fight and will go down in one hit, he can still damage you if you get close enough - and if you're not careful, it's entirely possible for him to kill you this way.
- Our Dwarves Are All the Same: He's squat, has a magnificent beard, loves beer, gold and axes, and when he fell to a deadly sin of course it would be a Gold Fever variant of Greed. Of all the fantasy races we see in the series, Goldo and the Dwarves are about as fantasy-standard as you get.
- Punny Name: It apparently runs in the family as, according to Gnarl, his mother is called Goldie Golddigger while his cousin is Golden Goldeater.
- Slave Race: He started a war between the Elves and the Dwarves because he wanted the Elves' gold. Goldo made the remaining Elven men into a workforce to mine more gold. And then he forced the remaining women to be his consorts.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Subverted; after seeing the Overlord and his minions approaching, Goldo beats a hasty retreat... only to return in the driver's seat of Rollie.
- The Scrooge: He went to Heaven's Peak to take his wedding gift back when he learned the wedding was cancelled.
- Taken for Granite: Was turned into a sentient gold statue after he died.
- Tank Goodness: Rollie, a deadly steam tank that he keeps as a last resort.
- Villainous Friendship: While he does try to take it back after the wedding is called off, he still sends a present to Sir William, suggesting that they remained close after the Heroes went their separate ways and became corrupt.
Jewel
Jewel the Thief
Species: Human
Voiced by: Melissa Monzo
Appearances: Overlord I
A human thief, Jewel suffers from the sin of Envy, and uses her skill as a thief to steal whatever she can. Alongside her lover and partner Kahn, Jewel leads an army of bandits and beholders in her assaults to make certain she gets what she wants.
- Arc Villain: Of the Ruborian Desert.
- Classy Cat-Burglar: Leads a band of ninjas and just steals everything, nailed down or not.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: For all her faults, her affection for Kahn seems to be genuine.
- "Get Back Here!" Boss: You don't actually fight Jewel in a boss battle. You have to chase her down to her hideout, then herd Jewel onto the nearby Tower Portal to nab her.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Got something you value? Even if it's just an old teddy bear, Jewel wants it. What you treasure, she wants out of nothing more then jealousy. Fittingly, envy is her associated sin.
- Non-Action Guy: She lets Khan and their army do the action.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: When you capture and interrogate her, she just... disappears from the game. Mention is made of an iron maiden from Gnarl, but Jewel doesn't even show up in the Abyss, so it's unlikely she died from it.
- Younger than She Looks: According to Rose she is "barely out of the cradle" which suggest she is in her late teens or early twenties. However she doesn't look that different to Rose.
Kahn
Kahn the Warrior
Species: Human (giant)
Appearances: Overlord I | Overlord: Raising Hell
A giant human warrior, Kahn is possessed by Wrath and leads an army of beholders and mercenaries alongside Jewel.
- The Berserker: Has taken this to a new extreme by being like this all the time.
- Berserk Button: Everything but Jewel, but he takes it especially poorly when you capture Jewel.
- The Dragon: For Jewel.
- Dragon Their Feet: After Jewel is captured, Khan goes on the warpath and tears a trail of destruction across the Overlord's domain to get her back.
- Epic Flail: Large spiky mace that's the shape of a barrel. All the better to smash little Minions with.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: For all his evil, he does really love Jewel, enough to go off on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge for her.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: A particularly extreme example, as almost anything will set him off.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: In their scenes together, he towers over Jewel by several feet. And then somehow gets bigger for your boss fight.
- Ironic Hell: Less so than the others, but still fitting. When you find Khan in the final Abyss, he's been turned into a wall, unable to fight or express his anger in a physical form. He doesn't seem to be too miffed about his situation, oddly enough, maybe because he was finally able to sit still long enough to realize rage won't solve anything at that point.
- Mighty Glacier: If you've seen berserkers in other games, they're normally fast. Kahn can't do much more than a slow walk, but that mace will take out groups of minions at a time.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Once Jewel is captured, Kahn and his men immediately begin invading the cities you've conquered.
- Scary Black Man: See how confident you are when a black man the size of a small house stomps towards you.
- Third-Person Person: When he gets angry, he tends to refer to himself this way.
- Unstoppable Rage: Got to put him down to end the invasion. And he's convinced the Overlord is in cahoots with the Wizard. His particular sin is, fittingly, Wrath.
- When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Stride toward Overlord, smash Overlord. Repeat.
The Wizard
The Wizard
"The good always want to be Heroes. They're so... predictable! And so are you."
Species: Human
Appearances: Overlord I
A human wizard and the first to turn evil in succumbing to the sin of Pride, and subsequently the one to corrupt all the other heroes.
- Appeal to Flattery: His corrupting advice to the Heroes always finished with saying "you're a Hero now", as not only does he suffers from pride but he made a point of cultivating it in others.
- The Arch Mage: Masters most of the magic in the game, and he even told William how to summon succubi for his cult.
- Badass Long Robe: Which also flaps a little as he flies around.
- Big Bad: He's actually the previous Overlord who was killed by the Heroes, having performed a Grand Theft Me on the original Wizard and purged his soul from his body. He uses the player to kill the Heroes after corrupting them and leaving them vulnerable while he recovered. When Kahn is killed, he takes that as his cue and returns to the Tower to steal back his power and kill you.
- Beard of Evil: Formerly just a Wizard Beard.
- The Corrupter: Every Hero you fight received advice from this guy. The Heroes might have remained Good if not for this fellow's influence.
- Early-Bird Cameo: If you look carefully during the Overlord's attack on the Golden Hills, he can be seen making a surreptitious exit.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite the fact that they're not actually his children, being the real wizard's kids he seems to genuinely care for his daughters and is upset about whichever turns on him in favour of the Overlord.
- Evil Sorcerer: Good Wizard, Evil Sorcerer. Oh, how time changes everything.
- Flunky Boss: With the twist that the flunkies he's using are stronger and more demented version of your own minions.
- Gone Horribly Right: He brought back the Eighth Hero to "succeed" him and kill off the other heroes so that he could easily reclaim his power. Not only did the Eighth Hero turn out to be a better master than he was, he ends up killing the Wizard after a brief struggle for power.
- Grand Theft Me: He completely purged the original Wizard's soul from his body, leaving only the Overlord.
- Hannibal Lecture: During his fight he taunts you with words he told the Heroes when he was corrupting them.
- Irony: The Wizard never stops gloating over how easy is was to corrupt the rest of the heroes into succumbing to the Deadly Sins... doesn't that sound a bit Prideful to anyone?
- Magic Staff: He's a wizard so obviously he has one.
- Parental Neglect: Rose and Velvet recall that the Wizard was too wrapped up in his work to be much of a father to them.
- Power Floats: He is never shown walking and during the final battle often flies to escape harm.
- Smug Snake: Pride's his hat. This had to come into play somewhere.
- Squishy Wizard: His health drops like an anvil once you can get past his magical defenses.
- Token Good Teammate: Oddly. The actual wizard effectively died without being corrupted, as he was possessed by the previous Overlord.
- Thanatos Gambit: His death allowed him to possess the Wizard and get close to the Heroes, corrupting them into the aggressive menaces encountered over the course of the game; once his replacement has done his dirty work in getting rid of them, he can take back his throne with no opposition from any of his former "allies", with a renewed and more powerful army of Minions to conquer the world.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The Wizard's failure to truly defeat the Overlord which led to him being possessed is to blame for everything that came after. Using the Wizard's body the Overlord is able to corrupt the Seven Heroes, with Gnarl believing that it was their villainy and deaths that made it possible for gates to be opened to the Abyss. This led to the new Overlord being trapped and leaving the Dark Tower defenseless when Florian sneaked in and caused the Tower Heart to explode, resulting in a magical plague that made people hate magical creatures and cause the creation of the Glorious Empire. The only way Good is able to return by the time of Fellowship of Evil in the form of the Shining Justice organization is because his grandson, who was the new Overlord, stopped the Devourer and restored order through dismantling the Empire and becoming ruler.
- Walking Spoiler: Due to being the corrupter of the heroes and the orginal overlord who survived through a Grand Theft Me of the wizard.
