Evil Overlord / Video Games

• Assassin's Creed III turns George Washington of all people into this trope in the Tyranny of King Washington DLC, which is set in an Alternate History where he went mad with power and crowned himself King instead of President. Instead of the White House, he has a golden pyramid for a Supervillain Lair and he plans on launching a fullblown invasion on England, before taking over the entire world.
• Asura's Wrath has Lord Deus, the Demigod Emperor of the Shinkoku who rose to power by overthrowing his benevolent predecessor and serves as the game's Big Bad. To match his god complex, his name literally translates to "God".
• One of the main characters of BAD END THEATER is the Overlord. She commands an army of bloodthirsty demons and is destined to kidnap the Maiden and be defeated by the Hero, but she is not actually evil; she just wants to live a comfortable life in her castle, and she tries to avoid bothering the humans so they don't have an excuse to send a hero to kill her.
• Baldur's Gate:
  • Zig-Zagged by the Big Bad of Baldur's Gate, Sarevok Anchev. He was a Tin Tyrant and the son of an evil god, but rather than trying to Take Over the World with brute force and an army of mooks he was The Chessmaster working behind the scenes as a Villain with Good Publicity. In Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, Lovable Rogue Jan Jansen mocks him to his face for his Evil Plan lacking the typical flair and audaciousness expected from Sauron wannabes.
  • Baldur's Gate III had General Ketheric Thorm and Lord Enver Gortash. The former was The Man Behind the Man of the first act and Arc Villain of the second, an undead oathbreaker Paladin with an army of some of the most evil creatures in the setting (necromancers, goblins, drow, gnolls, etc) and a massive fortress in a cursed region. The latter was The Chessmaster like Sarevok before him, but a more successful one as he managed to take over the titular city and turn it into a Police State with an army of Mecha-Mooks and the City Guards as his personal footsoldiers.
• Battleborn: Lothar Rendain has this trope written all over him: he belongs to a race of space-vampires (even though some don't like being called that), looks positively sinister due to his angular features, red eyes and Red and Black and Evil All Over color scheme, a reputation for cruelty, being The Dreaded and came into power by usurping the rightful Empress of the Jennerit Imperium. He subverts this trope due to lamenting being viewed as evil by others, since he wants to spare the Imperium from being destroyed by the Valresi at any costs — including becoming The Quisling for them and assist them in destroying the rest of the universe.
• Castlevania: Dracula. "Dark Lord" is his official title, and after he's killed off for good in 1999, said title is still up for grabs. Nobody's actually succeeded in taking it proper. Or wanted to, for that matter, in one case — Soma Cruz from Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, being Drac's reincarnation, came close accidentally, and he had to fight to not turn evil (and actually does in the bad ending). Dmitrii Blinov nearly became the Dark Lord intentionally in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. Nearly.
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow:
  • The titular Lords of Shadow are three malevolent supernatural beings that have plunged the world into darkness. They are Cornell, the Dark Lord of the Lycans; Carmilla, the Dark Queen of the Vampires; and the Necromancer Lord of the Dead. It's revealed that they are the pure evil halves of the Brotherhood of Light's founders who ascended to Heaven after triumphing over Satan.
  • Dracula takes their place and rules as the new "Prince of Darkness" following their downfall years afterwards. Turns out that he isn't so bad, as his presence keeps even worse evils like Satan and Zobek from terrorizing humanity. By the time of Lords of Shadow 2, he has turned into a heroic figure again, subverting this trope entirely.
• Emperor Draygon in Crystalis uses science and magic combined to assemble an army so he can take over the world.
• City of Heroes:
  • In City of Villains, Lord Recluse is king. Well more like dictator, but he has all the features — a distinct group of henchmen, Redshirt Army, island domains that vary between Vice City and urbanised Mordor.
  • Downplayed with Emperor Cole from Praetorian Earth, who is a more well-intentioned version of this trope, since he rules his "utopia" with iron fist in the name of "the greater good" and he really dislikes being called "tyrant" by his enemies. Also turns out defeating him makes things worse, since he was keeping an even greater threat at bay, leaving his Earth vulnerable.
• Chrono Trigger: Magus the Fiendlord fits this trope rather well: he has an ominous castle, leads an army of fiends and wages war on humanity. However, his motives make him more of an Anti-Hero, who does what he has to do in order to destroy Lavos and find his sister. He can even join the player's party later in the game.
• Dark Souls:
  • The "Dark Lord" ending has you become this if you choose to let the first flame die after killing Gwyn. Note that this does not necessarily make you "evil," per se, depending on your interpretation of the lore and the Story Breadcrumbs, rather you simply choose to embrace the inevitable end of the Age of Fire and usher in the "Age of Man". At the end of the day, whether or not your character fits this trope depends on various points of view and interpretations, including your own.
  • Dark Souls III has the Lord of Hollows as a title that the player can assume if they fulfill certain story roles revolving around acquiring items called Dark Sigils. This Lord is a saviour for the Undead anointed by a church that preaches that the age of the gods has ended and that a new ruler should usurp control of the First Flame, giving the world into the hands of the undead as the true face of humanity. Like the prior game, whether this goal is good or bad is largely for the player to interpret.
  • The third game also has Pontiff Sulyvahn, who serves as High Priest for the Cathedral of the Deep that also rules the ruined land of Irithyl and Anor Londo. He also shares a few parallels with Sauron, since he corrupts his servants with cursed rings and his knights bear some semblance to the Nazgul.
• Dark Watch: Lazarus Malkoth is a vampire king whose release from his prison leads to a undead curse being unleashed upon the Old West, causing zombies to emerge from wherever he passes. He turns the town of Deadfall into his own Mordoresque hideout, which is flowing with lava and teeming with The Legions of Hell.
• Destiny and its sequel:
  • Oryx the Taken King is the divine ruler of the Hive, an evil race of pseudo-undead aliens and effectively an Eldritch Abomination of his own right only below the Darkness. He is so powerful that he doesn't even exist in this plane, but rather inhabits his own pocket dimension and the player spends most of the time fighting his duplicates before confronting him in his full power. His son Crota also qualifies having carved out his own personal kingdom on the moon.
  • Dominus Ghaul, the Big Bad in Destiny 2 is a relatively more mundane version of this trope, since he is just an mere warlord rather than a supernatural force like Oryx. Having usurped his own emperor and taken control of the Cabal, he launched an attack on Earth seeking to harness the Traveller's power for his own. For bonus points, he also wears a huge, scary armor (though its completely bright in his case) and his title translates to "Lord".
• Laharl, Disgaea's resident Overlord — though the first half or so of the game consists of you making the role legit (he's been asleep for two years thanks to Etna poisoning him). Other overlords in the series include Baal and Priere.
  • Disgaea 2 has Overlord Zenon, the God of All Overlords. He has cast a deadly curse upon the land of Veldime, turning its human inhabitants into demons, which also allows him to drain away their conscious and memories to empower himself. Except the Zenon whom laid the curse is an impostor. The true Zenon is another story entirely...
• Braccus Rex in Divinity: Original Sin was driven mad by the Dangerous Forbidden Technique of Source magic, and used his power to Take Over the World and inflict horrifying And I Must Scream torture on anyone who dared to defy him. He died long before the events of the first Original Sin game, but like Dracula, people keep reviving him for some reason.
• Dragon Age:
  • The Archdemons serve this role for the setting at large, in theory. They are physical deities sleeping underground that once they are corrupted by the Taint, they become immortal dragon-like beings that command endless legions of Darkspawn to ravage the surface. With that said, the Archdemons are less driven by conquest and domination and more by wanton destruction and have very little in way of personality.
  • Corypheus in Dragon Age: Inquisition was an Ancient Darkspawn Magister that aspired to become the new God of this world, though unlike most examples of this trope who use force of arms and conquer their enemies with their armies, he used subterfuge and behind-the-scenes manipulation by having his minions sowing chaos from within his enemies to weaken them. He is still an very powerful foe individually that is nigh-impossible to destroy.
• You are one of these in Dungeon Keeper.
• Elden Ring has Praetor Rykard, demigod nobility ande the head inquisitor of the Golden Order, and extremely proficient in torturing people...which only became even worse when he fell into heretical depravity himself and started purging his own population. His domain of Mount Gelmir is a giant volcanic area littered with corpses, both littering the ground, set on fire or hanged upside down, his human army was replaced by an army of snake-humanoids which it's implied he himself, or rather the serpent he has fused with, spawned. In the present he has rebranded himself as the 'Lord of Blasphemy' and has begun devouring the souls of hundreds if not thousands of people to fulfill his ultimate goal: devour everyone, kill the gods, and destroy the world itself. He's a surprisingly good father and husband, though.
• The Elder Scrolls:
  • In Morrowind, Big Bad Dagoth Ur is a complicated example. He tics almost all boxes for the trope like living active volcano surrounded by a blighted wasteland, and many twisted mutants serve as his minions and worship him like a god. He is a legitimate supernatural force rather than a mere mortal warlord and plots to take over Tamriel using Akulakhan, a Humongous Mecha created from the blueprints of the Numidium and powered by the heart of a dead god, while also spreading Corprus Disease. But as it turns out, he has a somewhat sympathetic backstory and he has shades of being a Well-Intentioned Extremist, since he wants to liberate Morrowind from the Empire's influence.
  • In Oblivion, Big Bad Mehrunes Dagon, Daedric Prince of Destruction, fits. His plane of Oblivion is known as the Deadlands, a full blown Fire and Brimstone Hell which, despite the seas of lava, causes mortal vistors to feel an unearthly chill. Dagon himself takes a Multi-Armed and Dangerous Big Red Devil form and his mortal servants are in the Mythic Dawn, a Path of Inspiration that quickly reveals itself to be a Religion of Evil. His Legions of Hell are the Dremora, a Proud Warrior Race of lesser Daedra who follow Dagon in an Always Lawful Evil fashion. Dagon's goal is to take over Mundus, the mortal plane, so that he can then destroy it, as befitting a deity who is the embodiment of destruction itself.
  • Skyrim:
    • Alduin would rather be this trope instead of an Omnicidal Maniac, as his role is to destroy the world so that it can be remade, but he would rather defy his own destiny and rule Tamriel instead. In ancient times long gone by, he and his kin were revered as gods and brutally ruled Skyrim through their Dragon Cult and now that he is back, he wishes to restore the old times back.
    • Lord Harkon in the Dawnguard DLC is a Vampire Monarch who also fits the trope very nicely, living in a Big Fancy Castle filled with his vampire and undead minions.
    • The final DLC Dragonborn has Miraak, a former Dragon Priest who previously ruled the Skyrim region that would later become the island of Solstheim and upon discovering he was a Dragonborn too, tried to stake his own claim to world conquest. And judging by his powers and his ability to bend dragons to his will, he could very well pull it off.
    • Wolf Queen Potema Septim is a female example of this trope. Though not as prominent as the latter three (given she is an antagonist to a side quest), but she definitely qualified in the game's backstory. Despite being of royal blood herself, she usurped the rightful Empress to install her son as the Puppet King and over-relied on necromancy to combat her foes. By the time of her death, Potema's court was made up of zombies, vampires and Daedra that she raised after hitting 0% Approval Rating due to all her supporters deserting her.
  • Mannimarco, the King of Worms, is a recurring example in this franchise, due to being an evil necromancer lord that aims to achieve godhood. With that said, he tends to be a minor antagonist most of the time rather than the Big Bad. In Oblivion, he serves as Arc Villain for the Mage Guild's questline while the aforementioned Dagon is the main threat, and he is The Dragon/The Starscream to Molag Bal in Online. In Daggerfall, he is the most Obviously Evil out of all patrons but he isn't the Big Bad (due to the story having Grey-and-Gray Morality).
• In Eiyuu X Maou; Villain Protagonist Felser has this ambition, and goes successfully fast-tracking on his way. The closer he gets to Total World Domination, the more it's revealed that his Motive Rants are right, and that the current leaders really do deserve to be overthrown and punished.
• EXTRAPOWER has a few in their roster of villains:
  • Series Big Bad Dark Force is a galactic conquerer who successfully takes over the home planets of the heroes across most games.
  • Attack of Darkforce features the titular Dark Force; Yoveriade, leader of the Yami Clan, beings from a shadow dimension in opposition to the Hikari Warriors and Seven Colour Princess; and General Tarantula, the secretive leader of a criminal organization terrorizing the world with Half-Human Hybrids and Power Stone exploitation.
  • Giant Fist has Zet, the last suvivor of the ancient Latour warrior race. Commanding mercenaries and devils to carry out his plans, operating in hiding in the tunnels below his cult's headquarters.
• Caesar of of Caesar's Legion in Fallout: New Vegas rules an empire of slavers based upon The Roman Empire dedicated to restoring order to the wastelands through Rape, Pillage, and Burn and enslavement. However, he's surprisingly intelligent with a twisted sense of humor, as well as possessing a love of political/philosophical debates when the Courier chats with him.
  • Also in the same game, Mr. House shows several traits of one, whether or not you view him as evil — he rules over his people from an intimidating and impenetrable fortress, no one ever sees him in person, his will is carried out by a lone lieutenant and an army of replaceable minions, and he's planning to Take Over the World. He could be considered a Deconstruction of this trope, showing that one can be the "Overlord" part without necessarily being "evil."
  • The Player Character themselves can become one, assuming that they have evil-Karma and pick the Wild Card route. With an army of Mecha-Mooks at their command and their rivals in tatters, they are free to rule over the Mojave.
  • In the Nuka World DLC of Fallout 4, the player ends up as "Overboss" of the raider gangs of Nuka World after killing the old one. The player can lead their raider gangs on various raids on settlements on the Commonwealth and enslave the local populace like a typical raider boss.
• Pagan Min in Far Cry 4 is a desconstruction of this trope: he is the self-styled king of Kyrat who took power by killing the rightful heir and turned the country into a narco-state with him claiming divine right to rule. Even though he is clearly not a good person, it's shown that he was not as bad as he used to be, thanks to being in love with the protagonist's mother who had a positive influence on him. Later on, the protagonist's own allies are shown to not be any better than Min - in fact, they can turn even worse, showing that being a Evil Overlord doesn't automatically makes one the Big Bad.
• Final Fantasy villains often fall into the Evil Overlord bin, but curiously, they are very seldom the actual Big Bad.
  • Quite possibly the best example is the Emperor from Final Fantasy II. He's a major military power throughout most of the game and when he dies, he becomes the freakin' ruler of hell. He also seeks to overthrow Chaos in Dissidia Final Fantasy. Quite possibly the only thing keeping him from being more popular is Final Fantasy II being the most overlooked game of the series.
  • Golbez of Final Fantasy IV before being revealed to be Brainwashed and Crazy.
  • Exdeath of Final Fantasy V is another good example. He also has the distinction of being the most evil tree to ever appear in any form of media, and certainly the only one who is also the Big Bad.
  • Gestahl of Final Fantasy VI is an evil overlord, but sadly also The Unfought. Kefka is also an example, and is one of the few that actually is an Evil Overlord at the end of the game when you fight him.
  • Rufus Shinra and his father in Final Fantasy VII, since the ShinRa company essentially rules the world.
  • Ultimecia of Final Fantasy VIII rules all in the future. And she is a rare female example.
  • Borderline example, Maester Mika in Final Fantasy X, who is the Pope of a Religion of Evil. Effectively commits suicide near the end of the game.
  • Final Fantasy Adventure/Mystic Quest and its remake Sword of Mana has an overlord as a villain, they even blatantly name him "Dark Lord". He is not actually the Big Bad, to no one's surprise after years of similar storylines.
• The Fire Emblem series likes this trope.
  • Rudolf of Fire Emblem Gaiden is the series Trope Maker, and lends his name to the archetype surrounding this trope. He is a militant emperor and a physically imposing Tin Tyrant with dreams of world domination. However, he is also an Unbuilt Trope for the series as a whole: his war was a Genghis Gambit to prepare Alm and Celica and make them powerful enough to kill the maddened Duma.
  • Hardin of Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem is the series Trope Codifier, building off of Rudolf and having a unique class and powerful personal weapon.
  • Arvis in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War is practically a textbook example, except he is a genuine Well-Intentioned Extremist.
  • Zephiel in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, who is the game's Big Bad. Altough he isn't the only Big Bad of the game.
  • Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade:
    • King Desmond can be seen as a similar way, but he does not actually try to hinder the heroes. He in fact wants his favourite child to be the heir, not Zephiel. He is also rather unpopular and incompetent, unlike most examples of this trope.
    • Nergal is this to some extent, but not as much as others like Zephiel and Arvis.
  • In Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Emperor Vigarde suddenly attacks the peaceful allied kingdom of Renais. He does not actually reveal himself to the heroes, only to the player appointing new generals who are just pawns in a greater plan by the Demon King, Lyon, and Riev. In another cliche, he is in fact not the Big Bad or even in control of his actions, since he has been dead for months prior to the game's introduction and was being animated by Lyon's magic.
  • Ashnard in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is definitely this, as he launches a bloody invasion of Crimea with the eventual endgame of turning Tellius into a Social Darwinist anarchy.
  • In Fire Emblem: Awakening, there are three evil overlords:
    • Gangrel, the Mad King of Plegia who wants to Take Over the World For the Evulz at first glance. However, his real goal is to conquer Ylisse and Ferox so he could build an empire capable to equal the one of Walhart, a bloodthirsty conqueror who wants to add Plegia, Ylisse and Ferox to his domain.
    • Walhart, The Emperor of Valm who wants to Take Over the World through wars and Conquests in order to unite all nations under a same banner and to ensure an eternal peace. He also wants to prevent the revival of the God of Evil.
    • Validar, the Evil Sorcerer taking Gangrel's place as the King of Plegia after the Time Skip. His goal is to revive the God of Evil Grima to bring The End of the World as We Know It.
• Golden Axe has Death Adder, the brutal warlord that conquered the kingdom and murdered several of the heroes' loved ones. In Beast Rider he gains a more armored look befitting this trope and actually goes transforms himself into a snake-like monster that he was named after.
• Varesh Ossa in Guild Wars: Nightfall is a very good example, although unlike other cliched evil overlords, she is in fact control of her actions and knows fully well what she is doing.
• In Imperium Nova, The Emperor of each galaxy is inevetibally labeled an evil overlord by his or her opponents. Whether or not the labeling is true is a matter of discussion.
• The "Regime version" of Superman in Injustice: Gods Among Us presides over an totalitarian regime after being pushed over the edge by Metropolis' destruction. At first he started as a Well-Intentioned Extremist, but by the end he is a straight-up villain, willing to kill anyone who even questions him like Billy Batson. In the sequel Injustice 2, he has been arrested and thrown into jail, but he can potentially upgrade himself into Multiversal Conqueror.
• Autarch Scolar Visari in the Killzone series was the supreme leader and dictator of Helghast who is driven to wage a war of revenge against the Vektans and the ISA with many real-life and historical dictators serving as inspiration for him.
• Gadflow in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is the corrupt King of the Winter Fae who sends his immortal army, the Thuata Deohn, to genocide the human and elven races of Amalur.
• In La Pucelle, Priere can become an Overlord if she kills too many demons in the Dark World, leading to a Nonstandard Game Over. Oddly enough, this is actually the canon ending. The remake incorporates this into the storyline, making it a requirement for the good ending.
• Mordekaiser in League of Legends might qualify. It's unclear whether he really rules over a Dark Kingdom (not much is known about his exact position in the Shadow Isles' hierarchy), but he has the stereotypical looks of a Tin Tyrant.
  • With his rework, he's been firmly established as one. A brutal ruler in life, who slew and conquered to rejoin his Warrior Heaven, Mordekaiser was disappointed to arrive in a barren afterlife and resolved to carve a new kingdom out of it, though he also formed a mighty empire after being summoned back on Runeterra by unwitting necromancers. Nowadays, he's inactive in the world of the living but is hard at work creating a kingdom in the afterlife.
  • Swain, the ruler of Noxus, is more manipulative and sorcerous and less of an angry metal barrel covered in spikes, but given that Noxus is very much a Might Makes Right kind of country, probably also qualifies.
  • Parodied with Veigar, who wants to be an Evil Overlord, but by virtue of being an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain, ends up actually making the lives of the people he's "oppressing" slightly better because he tends to kill other, more villainous villains in the process.
    Margaux: We humbly beg that you spare us and just, umm, you know...keep doing what you're doing...We'll just go home, and you keep doing your...reign of terror...thingy. Live and let terrorize, that's what I say.
• The Legacy of Kain series features a couple:
  • Nemesis in Blood Omen 1 is a sadistic despot during Kain's time that used to be The Good King in his youth before being twisted and is on a conquering warpath poised to bring Nosgoth to its knees.
  • The titular character of the series zig-zaggs this trope: following Blood Omen 1, he rules over the realm of Nosgoth as a Vampire Monarch, but he does take breaks to save the world as Kain wants to purify the corruption of the world and make it a vampire utopia because vampires came first and the world rightfully belongs to them. He succeeds in getting it on the right track, but judging by Blood Omen 2, which results from the paradox he makes, there's a long way to go.
  • The Sarafan Lord in Blood Omen 2 on the other hand plays this trope straight, being a brutal ruler that overthrew Kain and for 200 years, has ruled over humans with iron fist and slaughtered any vampires he could find. It's revealed that the Sarafan Lord isn't even human, but a Hylden (a race of extra-dimensional demons that hates vampires) and a powerful malevolent force in its own right.
• The Legend of Zelda: Ganondorf/Ganon, King of Thieves and the King of Evil. His trying to and/or conquering of Hyrule drive the plot of several games. He succeeded twice, first in the original Zelda, and in a Bad Future orchestrated by Ganondorf, King of Thieves in Ocarina of Time. Although he was banished, in A Link to the Past he has become the ruler of the Dark World and is trying to take over the Light World as well. Even when he has gotten killed, his minions still wreck havoc in his name.
• Zetta, Makai Kingdom's badass Freakin' Overlord of the Netherworld...until he blew it up. Damn you, Zetta! Damn you to...oh, wait.
  • Makai Kingdom reveals that Overlords are a dime a dozen in the Nippon Ichi 'verse, as anybody with enough mana can rule over their own collection of vassals and worlds.
• Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis presents us with a humorous, Large Ham version: The "Flayvor of Evil".
• In Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, one would think that Yomi Hellsmile fits this role due to being in control of Kanai Ward's law and ruling the city with an iron fist, and overtaking Amaterasu Corporation himself through his wits. This is wrong. Makoto Kagutsuchi, the CEO of Amaterasu Corporation and the Big Bad, is the one responsible for Kanai Ward in its current state, being the one committing various atrocities as part of Necessarily Evil scheme to keep the city's homunculi sustained, while keeping them in the dark about the fact that they're homunculi and not human. He also gained his power by blackmailing the Unified Government to keep their homunculus research secret. Essentially, Makoto has tricked the entire city into thinking they're something they aren't, and he is also, in addition, responsible for the conspiracy revolving around trying to hide this fact from them, while thinking himself to be in the right.
• Mortal Kombat:
  • Shao Kahn is the ruler of Outworld, a demonic realm. Basically, his mission is to invade Earthrealm. He accomplished it without much trouble in MK3, though it took an Evil Plan involving the resurrection of his lost queen Sindel on Earthrealm to do it without having to go through the trouble of defeating Earthrealm's warriors in Mortal Kombat. In every other game (or movie adaptation), he's been thwarted by the God of Thunder, Raiden, and those allied with him.
  • Shinnok, a fallen Elder God, lords over the Netherrealm. His lust for power is what caused his peers to exile him to the Netherrealm. There, he suffered constant torture until he overthrew Lucifer and became the new ruler. By the end of X, Shinnok has been deposed (due to being reduced to a still-suffering head) and Liu Kang has taken over the vacant position with Kitana as his Hot Consort.
  • Subverted with Kotal Kahn in Mortal Kombat X. He becomes the new Emperor of Outworld after usurping it from the rightful heir Mileena after surviving under her and in spite of his sinister appearance and abilities involving Blood Magic, he isn't really interested in conquering other realms like his predecessor and is an Noble Demon Reasonable Authority Figure who manages to keep Outworld stable unlike Mileena. When he turns against the protagonists towards the story mode's end, he does so in an attempt to spare his world from being destroyed by Shinnok and essentially becomes an Anti-Villain.
• Neverwinter Nights 2: The King of Shadows seemingly fits this trope like a glove, since he is a being made of shadows (just like his title says) commanding an undead army to ravage the Sword Coast. Turns out it's more complicated because he is actually a Tragic Monster not fighting for power or control, but because he was created to protect the empire he was guarding from all its enemies even centuries after its fall, partly because of him.
• Every Dark Oppressor in Nexus Clash aspires to this. They have an elaborate skillset based on rewarding one's followers and punishing one's enemies and gain power in Stygia as they surround themselves with followers and allies. They inevitably have other Oppressors as rivals, though.
• Oda Nobunaga in any Capcom game, including the Onimusha and Sengoku Basara series (and the latter's anime adaptation).
• The main characters in the Overlord series are archetypical Evil Overlords who wields hordes of gremlin-like creatures known as Minions, have mistress(es) and generally look like Tin Tyrants with Glowing Eyes of Doom being the only visible part of the character. Overlord I lets you decide just how evil the Overlord can be, either a destructive tyrant to a leader beloved by the peasants, although at the end it turns out that you're just a patsy for the real one.
  • While canonically the Overlord of the first game was apparently a Noble Demon who saved the Elves from extinction and kept Rose as his Mistress, his son in Overlord II is much more evil, being either an Ax-Crazy butcher or a Dominator who enslaved entire populaces to his whim. Lord Gromgard of Overlord: Dark Legend is portrayed as more an Anti-Villain who, while still an Evil Overlord, is a benevolent tyrant better-liked by his subjects more than his Jerkass siblings.
• Trials of Mana has your pick of three evil overlords: A despotic lizard man, a dark cleric, and the Mana series' analogue of Lucifer — all going to war. Just as the Mana Knight is picked from one of 6 characters, players have control over who gets to be the big boss villain. It also determines which of the three Final Dungeons opens up, too. (This encourages replays.)
• Grigori Rasputin attempts to become this in Shadow Hearts: Covenant.
• Soul Nomad & the World Eaters has The Devourlord aka you in the Demon Path. Combines this with Omnicidal Maniac for a terrifying result.
• Soul Series:
  • Nightmare, though he is more of an Omnicidal Maniac throughout the series, he conquered the castle of Ostrheinsburg and turned it into a place of ghosts, monsters and Malfested. He fits this trope better in SoulCalibur IV, where he moves on from all-out slaughter to taking over Europe with his Malfested army. It also helps that he is clad in dark armor.
  • Algol is a subversion. He is immortal and nigh-powerful, definitely looks the part◊, rules over an dark plane of existence and serves as Predecessor Villain to Nightmare, since he was the original Soul Edge's wielder. Unlike Nightmare, he shows himself to be a Noble Demon and an Anti-Villain who has good intentions for conquering the world. Several endings for heroic and neutral characters have them outright sparing him, stating he is not really that evil to begin with.
• Bowser from the Super Mario Bros. series fits this to a T in almost every game (sometimes even ones where you're just Go-Karting with Bowser), from ominous castles/lairs, plans for world/universe domination, and infinite hordes of loyal minions.
  • Fawful in Mario & Luigi, who goes on to call himself 'Lord Fawful' in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and has one overly long ego trip through the game. He plots to Take Over the World, lives in two hijacked Evil Towers of Ominousnesses, has hordes of goons which have a copy of his face as their head, starts wearing dark clothing as soon as he turns into Dark Fawful and originally had a 0% Approval Rating until brainwashing the population.
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein turns Heinrich I, the first king of Germany into this trope. He is a supernatural warlord that studied the black arts and attempted to conquer Medieval Europe, before being sealed away in a tomb by a mystic because he was too powerful to be killed.
• Dark Warlord Zanshin from Throne of Darkness. The player's lord becomes one after taking his place.
• The Tiamat Sacrament:
  • Ry'jin rules Ildria with an iron fist, heavily taxing his subjects and hunting down any remaining dragons for their DNA.
  • The Dragon Shards quest reveals that Ry'jin isn't the only despot in the setting. Elsium has its own tyrant, Lord Nephron, who is conducting similar dragon DNA experiments to take over the world.
• In Tyranny, has Kyros the Overlord. The player character is a Fatebinder who has risen to high rank in Kyros' armies. There may be a trace of Well-Intentioned Extremist in the Overlord, however; Kyros is said to have embarked on conquest after surveying various warring factions and deciding that "the world would be better" under a single, draconian, code of law.
• Several examples from the Warcraft series:
  • Blackhand from Warcraft: Orcs and Humans is the warchief of the The Horde trying to conquer the human kingdom. He gets replaced by his second (and player character) Orgrim Doomhammer, who would prove to be a much bigger threat to the Alliance in 'Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness.
  • Starting with Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, the Lich King becomes the next big threat after he successfully destroyed the kingdoms of Lordaeron and Quel'thalas with his army of the dead.
  • Azshara, once queen of the night elves, is now the empress of the naga, Snake People who want control over all the seas in the name of the Eldritch Abomination they serve.
  • NPC races Evil Overlords are some of the most common villains in World of Warcraft. Examples include Charlga Razorflank, Gorak Tul, Lei Shen, the Gorian Imperator, and every troll leader.
• Witch Hunter Izana: The primary antagonist, the vampire Verand is one. She is personally leading the invasion of Scier's island. In any ending where she wins, she goes on to establish an empire of Evil, with her as it's decadent head.
• The title character of Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do to Deserve This? mixes this trope with the Distressed Dude, being utterly helpless from abduction by heroes without the help of his God (the player character) and the creatures that inhabit his underground lair.
• Yes, Your Grace: King Beyran. Thirteen years ago, he was a thief to whom King Eryk and Queen Aurelea promised their first-born daughter in marriage to get away with their lives. In the present day, he's showing up with an army, or more accurately, a group of refugees escaping a war-torn land that was mistaken for an army by Eryk's scouts. Beyran has actually cleaned up his act and is ready to discuss an alternative to the initial promise with Eryk. This makes him a subversion of the trope.

---