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    The Bone Stalker Mage 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bone_stalker_mage_9.jpg
Appears in: Night Dragon
The founder and leader of the Apocalypse Cult worshipping the Night Dragon, dead set on awakening his eldritch idol to bring about The End of the World as We Know It. His cultists and draconic Stalkers are everywhere and will cause you trouble all over the story. But you quickly start to retaliate...
  • Achilles' Heel: He made himself draconic, and becomes vulnerable to the Legendary Weapon needed to slay his idol.
  • Antagonist Abilities: Not only does he have superhuman stats, but he casts powerful spells, wields a Poisoned Weapon and exhales weakening stench. Everything to make one hell of a Boss Battle.
  • Apocalypse Cult: The Bone Stalker Mage's Religion of Evil know that waking the Night Dragon spells doom, and wish for it anyway.
  • Badass Boast: He greets you by daring you to come to him, stating that he is not afraid of you, who mowed down your way through his acolytes and Elite Mooks. There is a hint of Schmuck Bait as well, as he is goading you to rush blindly right into his Barrier Spell.
  • Badass Long Robe: The Bone Stalker Mage wears a black robe covered in silver magic sigils, befitting a powerful wizard, and torn to shreds by his mighty draconic frame.
  • Black Mage: The Bone Stalker Mage fights with viciously dangerous spells.
  • Body Horror: If the rotting, bone-revealing flesh is not enough, the illustration show him with a mangled claw protruding from his shoulder. Lovely, isn't it?
  • Climax Boss: The leader of the cult plaguing you since the start, the second-to-last boss and the second mightiest enemy of the gamebook. With skill 13 (higher than the usual maximum) stamina 16, spells costing -4 stamina, and a Poisoned Weapon, he is a formidable foe putting most Final Bosses of the franchise to shame. Fortunately, you should be more than equipped to kick his scaly butt with little trouble.
  • Cold Ham: This guy uses hammy boasts and taunts, in a perfectly even tone.
  • The Dark Arts: He uses Dark Magic to perform hideous mutations on his servants.
  • Deflector Shields: He surrounds himself with a magic force-field that you must take down to attack him. Throwing a Magic Mirror breaks it. You can attack at distance, but if you fail he casts a dangerous spell. Don't rush or you knock yourself on it, losing -3 stamina, and getting automatically hit by his spell.
  • Draconic Humanoid: The Bone Stalker Mage performed Titan only knows what kind of Dark Magic on himself, to become the repellent half-dragon half-man monstrosity he is today.
  • The Dragon: He is this to the Night Dragon, whom he fanatically worships. He rules the Cult of the Night Dragon, spawns its Elite Mooks and creates atrocious magical devices to awake his foul deity. Fittingly, he is the second most powerful enemy in the game.
    • He has his own Dragon, Scalmagzaprin, the High Priest of the Cult in Carnex, who controls the citizens by drugging their food. But he serves as little more than an enforcer and a tough Boss Battle.
  • Dragon-in-Chief: With the slumbering Night Dragon mostly affecting the Dreamtime, he and his cult are behind all your hardships, but you only learn of his existence in the Very Definitely Final Dungeon.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: The Bone Stalker Mage seeks to end all life on the planet, letting his idol reduce everything to dust.
  • Evil Is Bigger: The Bone Stalker Mage is over ten feet tall, and very, very evil.
  • Evil Makes You Monstrous: He made himself monstrous through magic, out of fanatical devotion.
  • Evil Smells Bad: As if he weren't already disgusting enough. But well, it's hard not to reek for someone whose flesh is half-rotten.
  • Evil Sorcerer: And a very powerful one at that.
  • Evil Wears Black: A black, torn-up robe covered in silver sigils.
  • Evilutionary Biologist: He created the Draconic Stalkers by combining dragons and humans, after many awful experiments on baby dragons forcibly taken out of their eggs.
  • The Fundamentalist: The Bone Stalker Mage is fanatically devoted to the Night Dragon, to the point of renouncing his humanity to make himself "worthier" of his foul deity. Talk about crazy...
  • Genius Bruiser: Feral, vicious and highly powerful, but an expert sorcerer and Evilutionary Biologist, who lays traps for his foes and goads them.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Half-human, half-dragon, albeit by self-inflicted mutation instead of by birth.
  • High Priest: The Bone Stalker Mage is the founder and Supreme Leader of the Cult of the Night Dragon.
  • Horned Humanoid: Goes hand in hand with having a dragon's head.
  • Horns of Villainy: To no-one's surprise...
  • Humanoid Abomination: No longer anything remotely human but not fully dragon, not really living but not really undead, he's a downright repulsive, decaying and stinky contradiction to the laws of nature.
  • King Mook: He is pretty much an even mightier, uglier and nastier Draconic Stalker. Justified since he fashioned them after himself, or the other way around, it's not exactly clear.
  • Large and in Charge: Huge and the leader of the cult.
  • Liminal Being: The Bone Stalker mage is a Humanoid Abomination tethering on the borders between human and dragon, and between life and undeath.
  • Magic Knight: He is both a considerably powerful wizard and an expert warrior of superhuman skill.
  • Master Swordsman: The Bone Stalker Mage wields his sword with perfect expertise.
  • Mook Maker: He created the Draconic Stalkers to make Elite Mooks for his cult.
  • More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Goes along with his draconic head.
  • No Name Given: He is only known by his title.
  • Obviously Evil: Goes without saying.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: In any other gamebook he would be one heck of a Final Boss, but next to a being as powerful and nightmarish as the Night Dragon, let alone someone equipped to face it, he is little more than a minor inconvenience. Without the Sacred Weapons however, that's another story...
  • Path of Inspiration: His Religion of Evil presents the facade of a nice cult of scholars, caring for the poor and teaching to populations, in order to integrate themselves and take control secretly.
  • Playing with Fire: He can cast a spell of Fire Threads that cost -1 skill for the fight and -4 stamina.
  • Playing with Syringes: He experiments on baby dragons to atrociously mutate them.
  • Poisoned Weapon: His blade is coated with a poison that costs -4 stamina instead of 2, but fortunately evaporates after three turns.
  • Pre-Final Boss: The Bone Stalker Mage is the last line of defence of the Night Dragon, guarding the doors to its lair. Better have packed potions and meals, you'll need them.
  • Rank Scales with Asskicking: Far and away the best fighter and mightiest wizard among the Acolytes of the Night Dragon he leads. He enforced the trope, mutating himself to become more powerful.
  • Religion is Magic: Averted. He is the High Priest of a Religion of Evil and uses Dark Magic, but because he is also an Evil Sorcerer.
  • Religion of Evil: His cult enslaves towns, performing Human Sacrifices and awful experiments.
  • Sinister Minister: As the High Priest of a Religion of Evil that masquerades as helpful scholars, the Bone Stalker Mage could not be anything else.
  • Stink Bomb: He smells awfully enough to weaken you by -1 skill during the Boss Battle.
  • Strong and Skilled: The raw might of a dragon combined to the expertise of a warrior and a wizard.
  • Summon Magic: During the first two attack rounds, he summons red snake-spirits that cost -4 stamina.
  • Technically-Living Zombie: He is alive and well, or as much as one can be in his state, but his flesh is decayed and bone-revealing like that of an undead.
  • That Man Is Dead: It is made clear that who he was as a human no longer means anything to him, if it ever did. He even relinquished his human name.
  • Was Once a Man: He used to be a normal human wizard, but he made himself "worthier" of his idol.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Would gladly submit unborn dragon babies to atrocious experiments.

    The High Priestess of Sithera 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/high_priestess_of_sithera_1.jpg
Appears in: Curse of the Mummy

The evil priestess who restarted the Cult of the Cobra, worshippers of Sithera out to revive Akharis and bring about his Curse. Her cultists and Sith's Caarth roam the deadly Desert of Skulls in search of the tomb of the evil pharaoh, plaguing you throughout the story. But you give as good as you get...


  • Animal Motifs: A Cobra, just like her foul idol.
  • Antagonist Abilities: Her spells pack a mean punch and her Poisoned Weapon can make the Boss Battle against her really dangerous, especially if your poison score is already high.
  • Apocalypse Cult: Her own wants to resurrect a guy whose curse would extinguish all life.
  • Badass Cape: Her upper body is wrapped in a cool-looking cape, and badass she is.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: Akharis is the central villain, The Heavy whose threat must be stopped and the Final Boss, but it is the High Priestess who leads the Cult of the Cobra, is behind all the villainous stuff happening and presides the ceremony to revive him. While technically his subordinate and much weaker than he is, she is the foe who casts deadly magic you need special trinkets to survive, something usually reserved to Final Bosses.
  • Black Mage: Magic is her primary weapon, which she even uses to make her weapon deadly.
  • Climax Boss: The second-to-last boss, fought at the start of the Climax. While much weaker than Akharis, her magic makes her just as fearsome. With skill 9 stamina 7 she is not to be underestimated.
  • Cool Crown: She wears an Egyptian golden headdress.
  • Dark Action Girl: A young woman with great powers of Dark Magic, and a skilled fighter.
  • Deadly Gaze: Her gaze can drain your strength until you succumb. You can No-Sell it with an Eye Amulet. If not, you can survive but you will be severely weakened, hugely disadvantaged in the upcoming fights.
  • The Dragon: She is Sith's. Had Akharis got revived, she would have likely become this to him.
  • Dragon-in-Chief: With Sith as The Unfought Greater-Scope Villain and Akharis sealed in his tomb, it is her who leads the cult, which she recreated herself, both to search for the tomb and to get rid of hindrances, you included. Once Akharis' mummy is brought to the Temple of Sithera, she proceeds to revive him.
  • Elective Mute: She never deigns to spare you a single word. Incantations aside, the only time you hear her voice is when she invokes her idol's cursed name as she dies, lamenting that she failed her.
    • Averted when she has you at her mercy, as she taunts you before killing you.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: The High Priestess' ultimate goal is to unleash a continental, and very a global one by unleashing Akharis' curse, to turn the entire land into a desolate desert.
  • Energy Absorption: If she captures you, the High Priestess drains your life-force and transfers it to Akharis to revive him. Played with as she does not use it to heal herself but someone else.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": She is only known as the High Priestess, because that's what she is.
  • Evil Eyebrows: Giving her a stern and quite menacing gaze.
  • Evil Gloating: Just before she finishes you off, should she have you at her mercy.
  • Flunky Boss: Before fighting you, she sics her horde of mummies on you. You need charms or fire to destroy them. Trying to take them on only gets you overwhelmed and killed.
  • The Fundamentalist: Slavishly devoted to Sith. Even in death, she only cares about failing her idol.
  • The Heavy: Even more so than Akharis as she calls the shots, cementing their Big Bad Duumvirate dynamic. Her cultists number among your most troublesome foes, all thanks to her teachings.
  • High Priest: High Priestess in her case.
  • Hot Witch: She is young, pretty and regal, and knows quite a lot about magic.
  • Human Sacrifice: The idol she worships is fond of these. She wants to use you as one.
  • Hypno Trinket: Not the High Priestess, but if you face her wearing a Malachite Amulet, it will compel you to obey her and she will kill you without needing to fight.
  • Improbable Weapon User: She fights by animating her cobra-shaped staff to bite you like a real one.
  • Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: A skilled fighter wearing the lavish garments of high priests of Ancient Egypt.
  • Lady of Black Magic: She is regal, dignified and composed, and masters deadly magic.
  • Lady of War: She is regal, dignified and composed, and holds her own against seasoned fighters.
  • Life Drinker: She drains her victims' life-force in sacrifices. She plans to revive Akharis using your own.
  • Magic Knight: A very powerful spellcaster, wielding a staff in battle with quite the proficiency.
  • Magic Staff: See Improbable Weapon User above.
  • No Name Given: You never learn her name.
  • Poisoned Weapon: Not in the usual sense, but the bites of her cobra-staff are venomous, and each strike she deals adds 1 to your venom score. If it reaches 18 you are dead.
  • Pre-Final Boss: Akharis rises right after the High Priestess breathes her last.
  • Rank Scales with Asskicking: She leads the Cult of the Cobra, and by extension Sith's Caarth servants. While not the mightiest fighter of her cult, she is by far the most powerful spellcaster among them, and a tough foe overall.
  • Religion is Magic: A cult leader using fearsome magic. Justified as she owes her powers to her vile idol.
  • Religion of Evil: She leads the Cult of the Cobra, a cult fanatically worshipping a Demon Princess
  • Resurrect the Villain: Wants to bring back Akharis. As an undead mummy but it still counts.
  • Sequential Boss: You first need to destroy the horde of mummies bodyguarding her, then to survive two deadly spells, before being able to fight her upfront.
  • Sinister Minister: The High Priestess of the local Apocalypse Cult.
  • Squishy Wizard: She is powerful and dangerous in a direct battle, but she has a low stamina score.
  • Staff of Authority: A cobra-shaped one, which she can animate to fight.
  • Summon Magic: When you face her, she summons a demonic jackal-spirit covered in snakes, that rips you to shreds without a Falcon Breastplate, that summons a Guardian Entity to destroy it.
  • Villainous Cheekbones: Sharp features indicating a stern and imposing character.
  • Weak, but Skilled: While she is a skilled and dangerous foe in a direct battle, she is pretty frail. Clearly, it is her magic that makes her so dangerous.
  • With My Dying Breath, I Summon You: As you kill her, she invokes her evil idol with her last breath, so that she could resurrect Akharis despite everything.

     Sargon 
spoiler 
Click here to see him in Allansia 
Appears in: Advanced Fighting Fantasy

The central villain of Advanced Fighting Fantasy, a role-playing-game comprised of three books: Dungeoneer, Blacksand and Allansia. Not one of the many Obviously Evil villains you are told about at the start, this one only appears midway to the first book and the true extent of his villainy is not clear until the end of the second. Hailing from the lost kingdom of Carsepolis, Sargon is the long dead ghost of the evil High Priest of Elim, the Great Enemy: one of the three Primal Deities creators of the Planes of Existence, who strives to destroy the world and start anew.

Sargon died during the Chaos Wars. Three centuries later, his ghost bargained with your band of heroes tracking the Evil Sorcerer Xortan Throg, and resurrected by touching the Crystal of Power he told them about. Alas, he restarted his Religion of Evil and raised an huge army, soon becoming more of a threat that Throg could dream to be... Then again, there is no threat against which no hero can rise...


  • Achilles' Heel: Your best (and pretty much only) option is the Staff of Ashra created by priests of the eponymous First God, that vaporizes anything related to Elim at contact.
  • Affably Evil: Very courteous and cordial, gives you genuine advice and keeps his part of any bargain if not more. But make no mistake, if he wants you dead he won't hesitate.
  • Antagonist Abilities: Very powerful, immune to normal weapons and with such tremendous magic skill score that no spell of his can miss. He masters vicious spells ranging from weakening ones, to Forced Transformation, Taken for Granite and Death Ray, fighting to weaken or one-shot foes.
  • Apocalypse Cult: Sargon and his priests seek to bring Elim back on Titan so that he can return it to the Primeval Darkness. It is said that many low ranking Elimites are content with spreading chaos and gaining power, but most of them strive for destruction.
  • Back from the Dead: He was long dead by the time the story takes place, but his ghost immediately resurrects when he touches the Crystal of Power.
  • Badass Bookworm: Sargon is not only very powerful, but also very knowledgeable in magical lore, in addition to being a scheming manipulator able to gain countless followers in a few months, who targets what can threaten him before moving for the kill.
  • Badass Long Robe: He wears a lavish toga over ornate robes in the fashion of his lost kingdom, making him look both noble and powerful.
  • Beard of Evil: Making his Slasher Smile quite sinister looking.
  • Big Bad: Of the Advanced Fighting Fantasy overall. Sargon is causing all the troubles right after Xortan Throg is dealt with, and having his shadow looming over when Throg is around, even as a ghost. Especially prevalent in the third book, in which you put an end to the threat he built for the entire epic, once and for all.
  • Black Mage: He fights with a crapload of spells, to weaken, distract, or neutralize any foe coming his way.
  • Cast from Hit Points: Like all mages in Advanced Fighting Fantasy, spellcasting costs him stamina.
  • Casting a Shadow: He masters the Darkness spell that covers his surroundings in pitch-black shadows.
  • Choice of Two Weapons: Like his Praetorian Guard, he wields a sword in the Big Badass Battle Sequence, and a dagger as the Final Boss. But his foremost weapon is always magic.
  • Cool Helmet: Changes for one during the Final Battle.
  • The Corrupter: Sargon twisted many people into becoming his fanatical followers, howling for destruction.
  • The Dark Arts: He can summon and control demons, and casts all sorts of nasty curses.
  • Deal with the Devil: Played with in that you don't realise how evil he is and suffer little consequences, at least until he must be taken down. He offers you a way to beat the wretched Xorthan Throg, in exchange of a way to end his ghostly undeath. You only realise that it wasn't such a great idea as he resurrects instead of crossing to the Afterlife. In your defence, you did not have much choice.
  • Death Ray: The Death Spell casts a black energy bolt that insta-kills at contact, but it proves a double-edged sword as it ages the caster by one year per casting.
  • The Dreaded: Sargon starts the story completely forgotten, but by the time his reign of terror is fully established, he is very much feared all around.
  • Emotion Bomb: He masters the Fear Spell and the Befuddle Spell, greatly disturbing your characters for a while. They don't last long and can be resisted by winning a test of luck, but are debilitating.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: Devastating Allansia is only the first step, the sod wants to destroy everything, as an offering to his deity.
  • Evil All Along: Meeting Sargon in the first book, you know that his god is a bit ominous and that he cast a Death Spell, but he is nothing but polite and helpful, so you pay it no mind. If only you knew... It only appears in the next books that he was not just a bit fishy, but worse than Xortan Throg on every imaginable scale...
  • Evil Counterpart: Sargon is this to Zune, the High Priest of Ashra (Elim's greatest opponent) from the Ekaadian people: worshippers of the Old Gods who survived the Chaos Wars. Fittingly enough, it's Zune who strikes him down once and for all.
  • Evil Gloating: He indulges in this during the Final Battle, taking great delight at No Selling attacks and inflicting crippling status effects before mocking you for the results.
  • Evil Old Folks: He is very old, and very, very evil.
  • Evil Sorcerer: Played with. Sargon is a high-priest instead of a wizard, but he masters Priestly Magic and Dark Magic, making little difference.
  • Evil Virtues: He's rotten to the core something big, but he's polite, poised and honourable. He keeps his promises and can go the extra length to reward those who help him, without screwing them in any way.
  • Eviler than Thou: Played with since they never meet in person. Yet, Xortan Throg is but a small-fry compared to him, and he regards him as such. He speaks scathingly about him, calling him a "young idiot" and an "upstart", among other niceties.
    Sargon: "Pah! Let a man get a few spells in his head and he thinks he can do anything!"
  • Final Boss: The third book and subsequently the entire epic, ends up with his final defeat. He is a powerful foe with skill 10 stamina 15, and the tremendous magic special skill 29 (the skill he uses to spellcast). He first casts Weaken, Befuddle, Fear or Sleep, then resorts to Cockroach, Petrify or Death when push comes to shove, and uses a dagger when he cannot spellcast any longer. One-shotting the fucker with the Staff of Ashra is hands down your safest bet.
  • Final Boss Preview: If you fight him after he resurrects in the first book, he has skill 10 stamina 12, magic special skill 29 and several dangerous spells, announcing how the Final Battle will eventually unfold. Downplayed in that he distracts you long enough to escape instead of fighting back, and that he is not even established as the Final Boss yet.
  • Flunky Boss: is surrounded by the nine Elimist Commanders during the Big Badass Battle Sequence just before you settle your score with him once and for all. With skill 10 stamina 12, they make powerful foes.
  • Foil: Sargon the Black and Xortan Throg are both powerful and dangerous Sorcerous Overlords hailing from Carsepolis, with similar clothing and fighting style. But one is the High Priest who was a first class citizen, now a continent-threatening Big Bad and Omnicidal Maniac. The other is an Evil Sorcerer only remotely related to royalty, who is a Big Bad Wannabe obsessed by a long-gone kingdom and targeting another country for petty reasons. They both died the same way, but Sargon could resurrect and have another (much bigger) shot at villainy, while Xortan Throg has no hope left.
  • Forced Sleep: He masters the self-explanatory Sleep Spell, putting foes out of commission for a few turns. It is annoying but can be dispelled or resisted with a successful test of luck.
  • Forced Transformation: He masters the Cockroach Spell that turns you into a bug and must be dispelled. You can resist it with a successful test of luck.
  • Frontline General: He and his highest ranking commanders ride in battle along with his troops, laying waste in your ranks with weapon and spell.
  • The Fundamentalist: He will stop at nothing to enact his god's will and destroy Titan, city after city, continent after continent.
    • Not unlike Real Life fanatics, Sargon twists the creed of his religion to fit an extreme end. Elim is the Primal Deity of Destruction indeed, but also one of the creators of the universe who strives for perfection and wants to remake everything better. Yet, Sargon only cares for the destruction part, more fitting of worshippers of the Demon Gods Elim created. Then again, Elim is almost only remembered as the Great Enemy and his Well-Intentioned Extremist aspect is little known.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: Sargon plays this role in the first two books, being a powerless ghost in the first and a Hidden Villain at the root of the troubles you face in the second.
  • Hidden Villain: You never meet him in the second book, and only hear of him after you discover that his cult is behind the murder you are investigating and the Brass Golem rampaging across Port Blacksand.
  • High Priest: The supreme leader of the Church of Elim. He went from being its last member to leading a huge sect spread all across Allansia, boasting hundreds of acolytes and thousands of Mooks.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: In his backstory. He first died by having his Death Spell reflected back at him with a Crystal of Power. He knows that Xortan Throg will try the same trick, and that you should in turn use the same protection and take it away with you to prevent him from returning.
  • Human Sacrifice: Since Sargon leads a Religion of Evil, he and his flunkies are bound to perform those, especially on prisoners.
    • In the third book, you rescue the goblin Giblet from such fate, and he becomes a reluctant ally who proves instrumental in his downfall by gaining his people's support.
  • I Gave My Word: When he gives his word, he keeps it and withholds no information.
  • The Insomniac: Justified given that Elim's dark blessing prevents him from needing rest, meaning that he can fight all night long and is immune to the Sleep Spell.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: There is no point for him in fighting you after he resurrects, especially when you have the relic that killed him before, so if attacked he merely stalls with minor spells before high-tailing.
  • Magic Knight: He is a master spellcaster, but wields swords and daggers with impressive proficiency.
  • The Magnificent: He is called Sargon the Black, sometimes Sargon the Dark.
  • Manipulative Bastard: He is very good in using people to do his bidding. He uses you to resurrect by posing as a friendly and helpful ghost. He also started his cult in the Wretched Hive of Port Blacksand, knowing that its corrupt denizens would be easier to sway.
  • Master Swordsman: You never face the sod head on in a Sword Fight, but he wields a sword when fighting along with his troops and with his skill 10 score, he is bound to use it very well.
  • Mr. Exposition: You learn about Xortan Throg's background, ambition and grudges from Sargon of all people in the first book.
  • No-Nonsense Nemesis: In battle, Sargon targets the most dangerous foes first, specifically those who can harm him. He casts spell to incapacitate, and pulls out the big guns if that fails. He only resorts to normal weapons when he can no longer spellcast. Zune must hide the Staff of Ashra 'till the very end and sneak up on him while you keep him busy, otherwise he destroys both.
    • On a larger scale, he targets the city of Kaad to find and destroy the Staff of Ashra, that is located near. He doesn't want to enact his goal before threats to his power are no more.
  • No Ontological Inertia: Averted, the Petrify Spell he cast are not lifted after his final destruction. Hinting that he might have survived for a possible return in an upcoming book... that was never made.
  • No-Sell: Elim's dark blessing made him immune to normal weapons. He can only be harmed with magic weapons and spells. In fact, he takes great delight in tanking attacks that cannot harm him just to invoke the trope, while remaining wary of attacks that can. Also, he can cast Ward Spells to negate them. Your best tactic is to throw useless attacks to distract him until Zune, High Priest of Ashra, can strike.
  • No Body Left Behind: Is obliterated after his defeat, or is he?
  • Noble Demon: He is evil and twisted, but honourable. Any help he gives is self-serving, but he never screws people over and proves pretty generous.
  • Oh, Crap!: Delightfully so, he screams in pure terror when Zune strikes him down for good.
  • Old Master: As old as he is powerful, which means a lot.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: His god wants to destroy Titan to restart creation anew. Sargon himself is determined to destroy Titan, one city at a time.
  • Our Ghosts Are Different: Sargon was doomed to roam the subterranean ruins of Carsepolis for eternity as a ghost, but he found a way to return...
  • Outside-Context Problem: The Primal Deities shaped the universe and created the gods, but left Titan to the gods after the First Battle, when it became clear that their conflict could not be settled. As of now, next to no-one even knows they ever existed, so a Religion of Evil worshipping one took most by surprise. To defeat him, you have to ally with ancient worshippers of the other Primal Deities: Ashra who championed creation and Vuh who championed balance.
  • The Paralyzer: He masters the Hold spell that can freeze you on the spot and prevent movement for a while. You must successfully test your luck to escape it, but it can be dispelled.
  • Pet the Dog: If he had cordial enough exchanges with you in the first book, he restores the rusted sword you found into the Infinity -1 Sword it used to be. Not part of the deal, just a token of gratitude.
  • Plague Master: He causes a plague that decimates the city of Kaad, just because he could.
  • Praetorian Guard: His nine powerful Elimite Commanders are this in the Big Badass Battle Sequence.
  • Pretender Diss: Amusingly, Sargon views Xortan Throg as a pathetic Big Bad Wannabe. If the heroes tell him about their mission to kill Throg, he'll rant about the foolishness of his plans and how his schemes to topple Lord Azzur are bound to fail.
  • Rain of Arrows: He masters the powerful Arrow Storm Spell that hurls a volley of arrows at a group of enemies, undistinguishable from an archery ambush.
  • Rank Scales with Asskicking: A very powerful High Priest ruling a huge cult of fanatical acolytes, and an army large enough to threaten the land. Sargon might not be the most powerful of them in terms of skill score, but he is hands down the mightiest spellcaster.
  • Religion is Magic: As a priest he gains powers from his god, as well as mastery of Priestly Magic.
  • Religion of Evil: He does not worship the Demon Gods, he worships the Primal Deity who created them. Elim is more of a Well-Intentioned Extremist who wants to reset a world he regards as beyond saving, but Sargon and his followers are evil with a capital E.
  • Sequential Boss: You must engage Sargon along with his Praetorian Guard during the Big Badass Battle Sequence, before fighting the proper Final Battle against him. Even then, his bodyguards must be dealt with before attacking him, and the fight itself is a distraction for Zune to strike.
  • Sinister Minister: He pretends to be wise and caring, if a bit spooky in more ways than one, and entices followers pretending to hold ancient forgotten secrets that can change their lives. But he is in fact a fanatic of the worst kind who corrupts his followers and wants the world to go down in flames.
  • Shoulders of Doom: He sports those on his outfit in the third book.
  • Sorcerous Overlord: He raised a cult that quickly grew enormously influential, with a huge army to boot, threatening all of Allansia.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: The last, most evil and most dangerous enemy of the Advanced Fighting Fantasy quests. Long story short, he is everything Xortan Throg craved to be and more.
  • Squishy Wizard: Sargon has enormous power and skill, but he has low stamina and old age makes him very physically feeble.
  • Summon Magic: He and his priests can summon powerful demons to do their bidding. The plot of the second book starts when they summoned one to kill the rich merchant named Brass who knows too much without being suspected.
  • Supernatural Fear Inducer: The aforementioned Fear Spell.
  • Supernatural Light: As a ghost, Sargon is surrounded with an intense halo.
  • Taken for Granite: He masters the very dangerous Petrify spell, which decreases its target's stamina by slowly turning them to stone, becoming a statue when they die. You must successfully test your luck to escape it, but it can be dispelled.
  • They Look Like Everyone Else: Justified as you don't know his true alignment from the start. Still, refreshingly in a franchise filled to the brim with bad guys whose looks scream "eeeevil" miles around, Sargon looks like a normal old man, albeit wearing lavish robes and toga. His evil is expressed through his facial expressions more than anything else.
  • Uncertain Doom: His cult and armies are destroyed during the Big Badass Battle Sequence at the end of the third book, when attacking the city of Kaad. Sargon himself disappears in a blinding flash of light. Whether he was destroyed once and for all or could teleport away as he was struck down with the Staff of Ashra remains unclear. His final fate is left to the appreciation of the Game Master.
  • Undeath Always Ends: Unusually, his own ends by returning to true life.
  • Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Played with in that he is not defeated, and his villainy is just hinted, but Sargon teleports away as soon as he is resurrected and done with you in the first book.
    • It is implied that he managed to escape after his final defeat...
  • Villainous Rescue: You only learn that he is a villain long after the fact, but his ghost scaring away the Fish Men who took you prisoner as he appears to you is this in retrospect.
  • Walking Spoiler: The very fact that he is a villain, let alone the Big Bad, is a major plot twist. Hence the loads of blanked text.
  • We Have Reserves: Sargon being a priest and not a general, he has zero sense of military strategy and did not expect resistance in the Climax. As for tactics go, he is content sending his Mooks to Zerg Rush while he and his Praetorian Guard cast spells. Uncouth but efficient. Don't think he lacks caution though.
  • Weak, but Skilled: Sargon is a frail and feeble old man, but his enormous mastery of Priestly Magic makes him formidable, nonetheless.
  • Weapon of Mass Destruction: Sargon and his priests experiment on them. In the second book, the Priests of Elim build a towering Brass Golem in Elim's likeness as a magical one: A titan with skill 10 stamina 30, with 2 attacks per turn and powerful Damage Reduction (-2 damage and the Mighty Blows, the usually lethal double dice roll dealing normal damage.) It can pretty much only be destroyed by striking its heart or navel with projectiles. Two successful tests of luck to reveal and strike the heart, one for the navel.
  • What Could Have Been: The hints that he survived the decisive battle were meant to tease a possible Sequel Hook, but the project was scrapped.

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