Characters / Fighting Fantasy Antagonists Allansia Rulers

Akharis

Appears in: Curse of the Mummy

The central villain of Fighting Fantasy’s take on mummy movies. The last Pharaoh of Djarat, the world of Titan's Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Ancient Egypt. He was a loathsome and reviled tyrant, who created the Cult of the Cobra dedicated to Sithera, the Goddess of Evil (in fact a guise taken by Sith, one of the Snake Demons). As he was dying poisoned by his enemies, he swore that he would return and sacrifice the entire world to Sithera, and the recently revived Cult of the Cobra is about to find his tomb in the dangerous Desert of Skulls to resurrect him. Unless you have something to say about it of course...

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• 0% Approval Rating: He was reviled by pretty much everyone in Djarat, save from fanatics as twisted as him.
• Achilles' Heel: Akharis' power is linked to the artefacts used in the mummification process, breaking them weakens him: namely the Earthenware Jars, his Funeral Mask and his Sarcophagus. Breaking the jars costs him -1 stamina per smashed jar and -1 skill per smashed pair. Destroying the sarcophagus costs him -6 stamina. Removing his mask costs him -1 skill and -2 stamina.
• Antagonist Abilities: He is superhumanly strong and durable, making him a really tough foe with stats beyond the normal maximum.
• Antagonist Title: He is the mummy of the title.
• Back from the Dead: The entire plot is driven by his upcoming return from the dead as a mummy.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: He fights primarily with his fists, and sometimes with his claws. And he uses them well.
• Big Bad: Downplayed, he is the threat you set out to defeat and the Final Boss, but nothing more. He does nothing of importance for the entire story. While many a Sealed Evil in a Can of the series have some influence over the threats you face and the evil that spreads, Akharis has zero.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: The one who leads the Cult of the Cobra in the search for Akharis's tomb and presides the ceremony to revive him, is in fact the High Priestess of Sithera. While technically his subordinate and much weaker than he is, she does all the actual villainous stuff, and is the foe who casts deadly magic you need special trinkets to survive, something usually reserved to Final Bosses.
• The Caligula: A fanatical worshipper of evil hardly makes a good ruler.
• Cool Mask: The funeral mask of pharaohs sure looks wicked on mummies.
• Curse: Should Akharis return, Titan as a whole will be reduced to a barren, sandy desert forever covered with dark clouds, full of scorpions, snakes, insects and diseases, unfit for mortal life. Where exactly did he learn how to unleash such a world-threatening curse is not explained, though it is implied that it will channel Sith's power onto the Earthly Planes to do the trick...
• The Dragon: He was this to Sith, being his most powerful follower on the Earthly Planes and the leader of her cult. She wants him resurrected to become this once more.
  • His vizier Amentut was this to him when they were alive, and his mummy still faithfully guards his treasure, but he serves as nothing more than a Boss Battle, and a rather underwhelming one at that.
  • Also, the High Priestess intends to become this for him.
• Elaborate Underground Base: His tomb, hidden at the very heart of the local Shifting Sand Land, as a tribute to the classic movies.
• The End of the World as We Know It: His return and subsequent Curse would cause a continental, and very likely a global one, reducing the land to a dark and inhospitable desert.
• Final Boss: With skill 13 stamina 25 (both 1 over the normal maximum) and little ways to match his might, Akharis puts up a tremendous fight. Fortunately, he can be weakened to even the odds.
• Feed It with Fire: Do not use the Iron Rod, lest its evil magic boosts him with +1 skill and +3 stamina.
• The Fundamentalist: He is fanatically devoted to Sith, and devoted most of his reign to expand her cult.
• Generic Doomsday Villain: He is very evil and dangerous, but he lacks characterization, has little role in the story proper, and is pretty much only there to provide a suitably epic Final Battle.
• Glowing Eyelights of Undeath: Made even creepier with his mask.
• The Heavy: Akharis is featured in the title and on the cover, he founded the Cult of the Cobra, the main antagonistic force throughout the story, and your goal is to prevent his return, driving the plot. But his only role in the story proper is to be the Final Boss.
• Human Sacrifice: He sacrificed countless people to satisfy his foul idol's lust for blood.
• Kill It with Fire: As per tradition, you destroy him for good by throwing him into the cult's magical fires after beating him. Normal fire won't work, as the High Priestess was cautious enough to cast a spell protecting him from it.
• Living MacGuffin: Well, for a pretty lax definition of "living"... You search his tomb to destroy him (and pocket his treasure while you are at it. Heroism Won't Pay the Bills after all), and the Cult of the Cobra is searching it to bring about his second coming.
• Load-Bearing Boss: Defeating him causes the temple to collapse. Forcing you to escape to fully succeed. Though it does not collapse right after your victory, but after you destroy Sith's animated statue.
• Long-Lived: Akharis died at 156...
• Malevolent Masked Man: The evil mummy of a fanatical demon-worshipper, wearing a funeral mask.
• Marathon Boss: He is exceptionally resilient, so dealing damage before the battle is advised.
• Mask Power: His funeral mask empowers him. But taking it off weakens him significantly.
• Monster Lord: As the mummy of a pharaoh, Akharis dominates Mooks-level mummies.
• Mummy: Well duh!
• Natural Weapon: His fists and claws. He needs nothing else.
• Nepharious Pharaoh: He went down in history as the worst tyrant Djarat ever known.
• No-Sell: Akharis resists spells and normal fire, so try instead to decrease his stats.
• Omnicidal Maniac: He wants to wipe out life on the surface of Titan.
• Post-Final Boss: Akharis is both the Final Boss and this, as he is fought again after his first defeat, albeit considerably Worfed. To clarify, after defeating him you need an Ankh to avoid getting crushed when Sith animates the statue in her likeness. She then revives him a second time, to stall you during the collapse of the temple. Fortunately, he has only skill 8 stamina 10, but you must defeat him in a limited amount of time before the temple crumbles on you, and must then escape the temple to fully succeed.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Villains with red eyes are scarier after all.
• Religion of Evil: He founded the Cult of the Cobra, fanatical worshippers of Sithera adepts of Human Sacrifice and out to give the world on a silver platter to their demonic idol. Positively charming really...
• Revive Kills Zombie: Dousing him with the healing Waters of Life deals heavy damage.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: One who not only needs to have his can opened, but to be revived as well.
• Shout-Out: His name is clearly inspired from Kharis, the titular mummy antagonist from the film series The Hand of the Mummy.
• Silent Antagonist: He never utters a word, and one can wonder whether he still can.
• Super-Strength: Akharis is strong enough to effortlessly lift you and throw you like a rag doll.
• Strong and Skilled: He is freakishly strong and powerful, but he also knows how to fight.
• Undeath Always Ends: At soon as it started, after you're done with him.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: After killing the High Priestess and stopping the ritual, Sith takes the matter in hand and revives him herself.

Balthus Dire

See his entry on the Demonic Three page under Rulers.

Bythos

^{Click here to see his human projection}

Appears in: Slaves of the Abyss

Also known as the Master of the Abyss, Bythos is an extremely powerful Physical God who reigns supreme over dimensions with an iron fist, and one of the few Big Bads you do not hear about right from the start. He is capable of travelling from his plane of existence (where he exists as a fifty-foot tall, massive entity) to our mortal world (where he adopts a human form). He targets Kallamehr, the Fantasy Counterpart Culture of the Persian Empires, with the intent of dragging everyone to his realm. Getting on his bad side would mean imprisonment in his inter-dimensional prison, and as one of many adventurers seeking to save Kallamehr, you will have to confront him in his realm...

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• Achilles' Heel: Fanghtane Steel, metal forged in the Sacred Mountain of the Dwarves, is the only substance that can kill him. The good news is that your Cool Sword is made of the stuff. The bad is that your fighting skills will not be enough.
• Ancient Evil: Bythos has ruled the Abyss for Titan only knows how many centuries.
• Antagonist Abilities: A virtually invincible Physical God, with absolute control over his realm, enormous crystal-based Elemental Powers and a One-Hit Kill Breath Weapon, not to mention a Magic Knight who can have you for breakfast anytime with weapons alone. Without the means to resist his powers and make him vulnerable, you are history, whether you fight him under his true, divine form or his human projection.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: He's really fifty foot tall on the picture... Pretty jaw-dropping ins'n it?
• Badass Cape: Bythos wears an imposing one, as seen on the illustration.
• Badass Longrobe: Same as above. He wears those both as a human and as a god.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: He fights you with nothing but his fists in the Final Battle, and uses them well.
• The Battle Didn't Count: He does not give a damn that you killed his human avatar, and tells you so in no uncertain terms.
• Bee-Bee Gun: Bythos can summon enormous swarms of giant hornets to attack entire villages and settlements, and teleport them to his realm under his rule. You must destroy his swarms by burning untainted Jheera leaves, killing them with the magic smoke.
• Big Bad: The evil Dimension Lord who must be destroyed before he brings everyone in Kallamehr and Allansia in his realm under his power.
• Breath Weapon: Bythos breathes clouds that seal anyone they touch into a Crystal Prison. You need to have eaten the Paa, Maet and Teth magical herbs to resist it, but only in the Abyss.
• Brought Down to Badass: Congratulations! You've just broke Bythos' divine power. You can now fight him on equal ground. Unfortunately, that does not make him bereft of powers and fighting skills.
• Brought Down to Normal: The only way to stand a chance against him is to make him this. But how?
• Cowardly Boss: As soon as he gets Brought Down to Normal, he high tails before you can blink. Not so high-and-mighty anymore eh?
• Crystal Prison: He can encase his victims in crystal, turning them into his sentient Crystal Warriors slaves.
• Crystal Weapon: His servant attack you with crystal javelins and the like, which he created himself. They turn everyone they harm into crystal. Bythos can make himself a crystal sword to fight you with.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Dishes out a nasty one upon you if you challenge him to a Sword Fight without weakening him beforehand.
• Deity of Human Origin: Probably. He seems to gain his divine powers from the Abyss, and needs to drink a special broth on a regular basis to control it. The fact that you take his place after drinking it hints that he became this by drinking it as well.
• De-power: You must drink his magic broth to gain his power over the Abyss and make him mortal.
• Dimension Lord: The evil, divine ruler of the Abyss, who has set his sight on Allansia and Titan.
• Dimensional Traveller: The guy goes from dimension to dimension like you change from room to room in your house. He needs a potion made from a ground crystal for this.
• Distinguishing Mark: The scar on his cheek and facial lines. It's not that obvious in the book, but clearly shown on the cover illustration.
• Dystopia Justifies the Means: He wants to take over Titan and enslave all its population in his realm because? Because he feels like it and has the power to do so. Lovely...
• Elemental Powers: Most of his powers are crystal-based.
• The End of the World as We Know It: If he has his way, every living soul in Titan will be his captive in the Abyss to boost his power, and their bodies will be his mindless slaves. Not exactly promise of sunshine and rainbows...
• Evil Is Bigger: Not bigger like tall, bigger like gigantic.
• Evil Overlord: Under his human form, Bythos rules a huge army to establish himself as this on Titan. Let's just tell him to wait in line with the others.
• Fighting a Shadow: You killed him in the Earthly Planes, yay! Or not, that was but a fragment of him and he is not even grazed.
• Final Boss: One you cannot hope to defeat without making him mortal first. After that, you'll just need to defeat a skill 10 stamina 10 foe. No big deal right?
• Final Boss Preview: Confronting his human avatar gives you a taste of what to expect against the real deal. You need a way to make him vulnerable before fighting him or killing him without fight with the right method. As a human, he is a powerful swordsman with skill 10 stamina 15.
• Gemstone Assault: Bythos controls crystal, and of course weaponizes it against you.
• God-Emperor: He is a divine being who rules his realm like a tyrannical absolute monarch, and plans to be this for Titan as well, ruling people in body and soul and being worshipped forever.
• God in Human Form: What he is on Titan. He looks the same both as a god and a human though.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: If the cover artwork is to be believed, he sports nasty ones.
• Hidden Villain: Despite appearing on the very front cover of the book, Bythos doesn't reveal himself as the Big Bad until more than halfway through the adventure. In fact your quest first consists in trying to uncover the threat to Kallamehr...
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Can happen both ways.
  • You can use his own Breath Weapon against him after taking his place.
  • If you use the "Spitting Fly" Secret Art against his human avatar, he parries it aside and kills you with the same technique.
  Bythos: "You are not the only one who knows that trick!"
• Karmic Death: Falling victim to the very crystallizing power he used to kill so many is deliciously cathartic.
• Kung-Fu Wizard: Despite all his power, he's also good with his fists when the need arises.
• Literally Shattered Lives: His death is this, as he turns to crystal upon dying and you shatter him into millions of tiny fragments.
• Magic Knight: Holds terrifying divine powers and is a supreme warrior, even in human form.
• Make My Monster Grow: His true form in the abyss is a fifty-foot giant human.
• Master Swordsman: No matter his form, even a warrior of your level is but a fly to him.
• Meaningful Name: Bythos is derived from the Ancient Greek for "bottomless" or "depth", especially the dark depth of the sea, hence the oceanic Abysses. It is also a name of the Supreme Being in Gnosticism.
• Mysterious Past: Is Bythos a god ruling the Abyss from the Dawn of Time, or a Deity of Human Origin? None shall ever know. Though you taking his place hints the latter.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Treat him like a normal foe or lack the necessary items, and find yourself at the wrong end of a nasty Curb-Stomp Battle. Even in his human form.
• No-Sell: Most artifacts and items you use against him will just bounce off with no effect, and simply bite you back in the ass. Even your flawless "Spitting Fly" technique and your skill-boosting shield against normal enemies, both gotten from your Mentor Archetype, don't work on him.
• Parrying Bullets: If you try the "Spitting Fly", your nearly infallible Secret Art on him, Bythos will contemptuously parry your flung sword aside. Even in human form.
• Physical God: The divine ruler of his realm, with full control over it. Among others, the Abyss contains the powers of every lost magic item of Allansia, and likely of Titan, and its ruler can use them all.
• Post-Climax Confrontation: Downplayed as it is a choice rather than a confrontation, but killing Bythos is not enough to reach the Golden Ending. You also need to send all his captive back to Allansia.
• Prison Dimension: The titular abyss where he imprisons those who got on his bad side.
• Pyrrhic Victory: It is possible to slay Bythos and then remain trapped in the Abyss, unable to release his prisoners, for all eternity...
• Race Against the Clock: You have a limited time to stop him before he dooms Kallamehr and all of Titan.
• Recurring Boss: You must slay Bythos in his human avatar, then under his true, divine form.
• Red Baron: He is known as The Master of the Abyss.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: As soon as he becomes mortal. Since you're now the god and he is not, he knows better than to antagonize you.
• Shoulders of Doom: Look at the size of his pauldrons in the illustration!
• Sizeshifter: Bythos is positively gigantic, but he can decrease to more convenient size if he wishes to.
• Skippable Boss: Both times, but only if you made him vulnerable first.
  • As a human, you can kill him on the spot with the "Spitting Fly" technique.
  • Once you replaced him as the Master of the Abyss, you can use his crystallizing move against him.
• Super Smoke: He can appear as a cloud of black smoke in the shape of his human form. He does it to exit his human avatar and return to the Abyss after you slew it.
• Super-Strength: Even when Brought Down to Normal, he remains strong enough to punch a hole big enough for him to pass in a wall. Now picture how strong he might have been as a fifteen-foot tall god...
• Strong and Skilled: He is frighteningly powerful and masters his powers perfectly, in addition to being a grade-A Master Swordsman.
• Take Over the World: Because why not?
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: He like you masters the "Spitting Fly" Secret Art that does exactly this with deadly accuracy. Using it against him in both forms only leads to a painful demise.
• Unflinching Walk: How he approaches you during the Final Battle.
• Villainous Cheekbones: The sod's face is like carved out of a rock.
• Villainous Widow's Peak: In the illustration and front cover.
• You Have Failed Me: Even being late in delivering him what he wants results in death... Overkill much?
• You Kill It, You Bought It: By killing Bythos, you claim the spot as the new divine ruler of the Abyss.

The Dark Elf Sorcerer

^{Click here to see the in-book illustration (markedly different look)}

Appears in: Siege of Sardath

One of the very few Big Bads of the franchise you don't learn about right from the start. He is the mysterious ruler of the dark elves who are plaguing the land. He disturbs the balance of the sacred Forest of the Night, taking control of the region, and blocks all accesses to the city of Sardath, the centre of civilisation in northern Allansia, which is being isolated, besieged and attacked by his airborne black flyers. If Sardath were to fall, all of Allansia would soon follow. He also sends his shape-shifted agents to infiltrate the local cities and cause strife all over in the land, until you escape being killed by his agent and set out to solve the troubles...

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• Affably Evil: The Sorcerer is courteous and polite, being nothing but cordial with you and congratulating your progress in earnest. Though he is clearly threatening, and enjoys taunting you when he has you on the ropes.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: He has chalk-white skin, which is uncommon even among dark elves, usually with a darker complexion.
• Antagonist Abilities: A wizard too powerful to be defeated in a direct battle and too smart for a simple Battle of Wits, with mental magic, barrier spells and a Death Ray attack.
• The Archmage: One of the most powerful sorcerers among a very magically adept race, and all in all one of the mightiest Evil Sorcerers in the series hands down.
• Attack Reflector: You can only defeat the Sorcerer by deflecting his mental spell back at him to shatter his mind. Good luck in succeeding though, for having the means to do so won't mean you automatically can.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: The Sorcerer is very good in noticing things and deducing exact information from very few clues. You must use it against him by deceiving him to make mistakes without him noticing.
• Badass Bookworm: He is a very powerful master of dark elven magic and Evilutionary Biologist, in addition to a highly intelligent and calculating schemer. While he never fights in the proper sense of the word, he uses magic to Curb Stomp even expert warriors.
• Badass Cape: The illustration depicts him with a long cape expanding his already imposing frame.
• Badass Longcoat: The cover art however depicts him wearing a purple one with jagged sleeves.
• Badass Long Robe: He is clad in an impressive-looking set of ornate robes.
• Battle of Wits: How the Final Battle unfolds. You own the Brain-Slayer Amulet that can block mental magic and deflect mental spells, but he knows its powers, so you must bluff and goad him into casting a spell you can deflect. The Sorcerer on the other hand is reading through your words and actions to deduce your powers and strategies. Be very careful or he easily sees through your act and has you for dinner.
• Big Bad: The Evil Sorcerer behind all the troubles you face, whose schemes threaten the entire continent.
• Brought Down to Normal: To less than normal even, as his downfall shatters both his formidable mastery of magic and his brilliant mind, reducing him to a walking vegetable you deem Not Worth Killing.
• Chaos Architecture: Used to great effect by dark elves. See Eldritch Location below to see exactly how.
• The Chessmaster: His Evil Plan is well in its final stage when you uncover it. He spent weeks isolating the cities around with his forces, driving away the elves taking care of the Forest of the Night, to cut his main target Sardath away from reinforcements. He syphons the power of the Storm Giant Corianthus to wreak Sardath's defences. He also sends his shape-shifted agents kill and impersonate prominent members of the ruling councils of most cities around Sardath. There, they can vote to lead the citizens in his traps, spread discord, undermine attempts at discovering what is going on, and kill potential threats; to topple the cities from the inside as well as from the outside.
• Combat Stilettos: The illustration depicts him with them, contrasting a pretty buff and imposing physique for a sorcerer. He can wear them since he does not even need to move to Curb Stomp his foes.
• The Corrupter: The benevolent forces of the Forest of the Night start acting violent and dangerous under his influence, and his infiltrated spies sow discord and push for warmongering in their towns.
• Crazy-Prepared: The Sorcerer studies the artefact that can defeat him, intending to use it for his gain.
• Creepy Souvenir: He wears a skeleton's hand as a pendant.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: If you attack him straight out or if he has you Out-Gambitted, he hands you your ass on a silver platter. Either paralyzing you with Eye Beams and frying your mind, or knocking you out against force-fields and killing you with a Death Ray.
• Death Ray: He uses a spell that does just that, one-shotting you with a dark beam that burns your life-force while leaving your body intact.
• Deflector Shields: When you attack him with your sword, he retaliates by conjuring force-fields before you to knock you out and send you reeling, leaving you wide open for a Death Ray.
• Despotism Justifies the Means: He wants to take over the continent and have his people leave the subterranean realm they were banished to, in order to enslave the people of the surface.
  • Dark elves in general consider the other races as weaker and worthless, only fit for subjugation, and regard dominating them as the natural order.
• Elaborate Underground Base: His men are building a subterranean town for him and his troops. By the time you infiltrate it, it is almost finished.
• Eldritch Location: Buildings made by dark elves are logic-defying, maddening, and unbearable to watch for any other race, causing troubles and vertigo that can cost -1 skill at best or be lethal at worst. The dwarf leader Lokimur can give you a magic lens that protects you from its effects.
• Emperor Scientist: A magical variant. The Sorcerer built most of his power base on the result of his magical experiments and the mutants he created. He abducted Corianthus, the powerful Storm Giant, and is working to syphon his power.
  • He invented a shape-shifting potion he uses to infiltrate his elves into the local cities to further his plans. You need to use it to infiltrate his lair shape-shifted as a dark elf.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He is the sorcerous leader of the local dark elves. There are others at his orders, but he is the big deal among them, fittingly called "the Sorcerer". Gasp! What a surprise.
• Evil Counterpart Race: He is a Dark Elf, a group of elves who got corrupted by arrogance and tried to dominate the other races, only to be driven away in subterranean kingdoms. They are now Always Chaotic Evil masters of The Dark Arts, twisted by darkness.
• Evil Genius: Not only did he make quite the successful breakthrough with his magic experiments, but he displays huge intelligence, remarkable tactics and quite the Sherlock Scan.
• Evil Gloating: He indulges into this, but in a more subdued fashion than most, and only when he really has the upper-hand.
• Evil Sorcerer: A master of magic among a very magically powerful race, and quite the stylish one in looks, powers, plan and brains.
• Evilutionary Biologist: He performed experiments on his subjects to create dark elves with bat-like wings known as the black flyers.
• Eye Beams: He can fire yellow bolts from his eyes, that paralyze you.
• Fate Worse than Death: His final fate. Leaving him brain-dead and powerless, unable to provide for himself whatsoever is much worse than killing him outright. He so totally deserves it and nobody will shed a tear, but the prospect remains gloomy.
• Final Boss: The final and far and away the most dangerous enemy of the game, though he is fought in a Battle of Wits instead of a straightforward battle. Quite the contrary, trying to fight him the normal way only leads to a painful demise.
• Hidden Villain: You discover right from the start that the Dark Elves are behind the recent troubles, but who leads them and how is not disclosed until you storm The Very Definitely Final Dungeon.
• High Collar of Doom: His cape sports this on the illustration.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The Sorcerer is too powerful to be defeated otherwise, but he is also too smart to use magic carelessly. You must prove smarter than him.
• Kill and Replace: You realise to your horror that his agents are using this to infiltrate cities around and approach councilmen to do this for him and further his cause.
• Laser-Guided Karma: You defeat him by shattering his mind with the very spell he cast upon you, reducing him to a powerless, witless, walking vegetable, unable to command or threaten anything. For such a smart and powerful villain, spending his remaining time irrevocably brain-dead and weak really is a deserving end. Karma is a bitch baby!
• Magic Staff: Quite a stylish one, doubling as a Staff of Authority.
• Magical Eye: The Sorcerer uses his mental magic through eye-contact.
• Mind Rape: He can shatter your mind beyond repair with mental magic. He ends up with his mind irrevocably shattered after you defeat him.
• Monster Lord: The ruler of his own city, likely part of the four major clans ruling the dark elven race.
• No Name Given: He is only known by his title.
• Obviously Evil: One look is enough to know that this fellow means bad news.
• One-Hit Kill: As soon as the Sorcerer points his Magic Staff at you, you know you're screwed.
• Out-Gambitted: If you are not careful enough, he deduces what you are up to and the game is lost. You must outsmart him to win, but he is a highly intelligent Chessmaster who can see through your bluffs quite easily, so you must prove even more devious.
• The Paralyzer: His Eye Beams do just that.
• Playing with Syringes: Among the many villains doing nasty experiments, the Sorcerer has some of the best results, perfectly enhancing his subjects.
• Pointy Ears: A given for an elf.
• Praetorian Guard: He has elite dark elf soldiers with skill 10 stamina 8, guarding his inner sanctum and never allowing anyone to enter without permission. Worse, he commands the other dark elven sorcerers, very powerful wizards in their own right, serving as his last line of defence. You need a Lightning Sphere to destroy them. If not, they conjure a huge, dark energy sphere that engulfs and kills you by burning your life-energy.
• Psychic Powers: He is an expert in mental magic.
• Purple Is Powerful: The cover art depicts his Badass Longcoat coloured in a deep shade of purple.
• Puzzle Boss: He is faced in a mental challenge instead of an all-out battle, still plenty challenging.
  • You can only defeat the Sorcerer by knowing how to use the magic Brain Slayer Amulet to deflect back his mental spells, so you must goad him into using them. You must either threaten to destroy it or boast that he must kill you to get it, then feign panic yelling that it no longer works, then test your luck. (And in case of bad luck, state that you were bluffing.) He will assume that you are protected by something else but that the amulet really does not work, cast the spell and end up brain-dead. If you're too forward, the Sorcerer either sees through your bluffs or deduces your intentions and you're an epitaph.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: He leads the dark elves and he is far and away the most powerful you will face. Even other elite wizards of his Praetorian Guard pale before him.
• Samurai Ponytail: He is no samurai, but the illustration depicts him sporting an impressive one at the back of his head, falling down on his shoulders and separating his hair at each side of his head.
• Sherlock Scan: No detail is too unsignificant to escape his notice.
• Shoulders of Doom: Golden in the cover art, more armour-like in the illustration.
• A Sinister Clue: The Sorcerer carries his Staff of Authority in his left hand.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: He enslaves dwarves to build his subterranean town. You must free them to distract the Sorcerer's guards and sneak in his inner sanctum. The dwarf leader gives you directions and even ask you to punch the Sorcerer after you defeat him, which you do with unabashed glee.
• Sorcerous Overlord: He controls the local dark elves, building a subterranean city for him to rule, and uses his sorcery and the result of his experiments to attack the local cities.
• Staff of Authority: He holds a stylish one, more detailed in the illustration than in the cover art.
• The Strategist: The Sorcerer knows his way around warfare. He isolates Sardath from other cities that could help, cuts out all exits from which the population could evacuate, and sends airborne squadrons harder to defend against. Not to mention the cataclysmic, never-ending storm to wreck their defences. The city resists admirably with its enormous military might but is a hair's breadth away from falling.
• Superior Species: Elves in the Fighting Fantasy setting are stated to be better in magic than any other race in Titan. Despite being evil, dark elves also count and this guy and his followers do not disappoint. Played with in that they are only superior in terms of magic, can be matched by powerful individuals, and are are frailer than other races.
• Take Over the World: He seeks to take over Allansia, and possibly Titan as a whole.
• Undying Loyalty: He inspires fanatical devotion in his servants, who revere him and sing his praises. If captured, they would kill themselves without blinking rather than spilling his secrets.
• Villain Respect: Your skills and intelligence earns you his genuine appreciation.
• Villainous Cheekbones: He has sharp features and pronounced cheekbones.
• Villainous Widow's Peak: To complete the Obviously Evil looks.
• Weather Manipulation: He captured the Storm Giant Corianthus, and syphons his power to cause a tremendous storm over Sardath. With this, he can not only cover the sky with dark clouds to keep sunlight at bay, protecting his dark elves from it, but it wreaks havoc on the cities defences and makes navigation on the nearby lake impossible, making it an easy target for his armies.
• Worthy Opponent: He wants his foes to challenge him before falling, and views you as one.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: You spend the confrontation playing this against him. Each one adapting your next move from how the other acts or reacts. And it is very satisfying to beat him at his own game.

Lady Sige

^spoiler

This happens after you kill her.

Appears in: Slaves of the Abyss

As Lady Carolina Bluestone, ruler of Kallamehr, is gathering heroes to help with the invading armies and mysterious disappearances (both caused by the Dimension Lord Bythos), your effort are strangely hindered. As if someone was actively sabotaging you. Turns out there is a traitor in the capital city who must be unmasked and neutralized. It's Lady Sige the Silent, a member of the ruling council allied with Bythos. She'd do anything to rule the land, no matter who she needs to backstab.

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• Ambiguously Human: The spectre wounding you after you kill Lady Sige is hinted to be her true form.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Yet another high-born in a bid for supreme dominion.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Gotta admit that without supernatural threats and veteran adventurers, they could very well have won. And the fact that she does win despite all this in the worst ending is proof of her skills. Too bad, Bythos and you are both too tough a nut to crack.
• The Chessmaster: Lacking in brawn but certainly not in brains. Lady Sige is masterfully Playing Both Sides and using most characters as Unwitting Pawns.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Will use or backstab anyone if that can open the way to the throne. Loyalty and honour are clearly foreign concepts...
• Disc-One Final Boss: Must be dealt with before you enter the Abyss to deal with the real head honcho.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Bythos' main agent in the Earthly Planes, but out of self-interest instead of obedience. And if she can play The Starscream she won't be found complaining.
• Dystopia Justifies the Means: Wants power for the sake of power, without a care in Titan about the people.
• Evil Chancellor: Lady Sige is part of the ruling council of Kallamehr, and plots to backstab the leader Lady Carolina. Figuratively and literally.
• Evil Genius: Undeniably very smart.
• Faux Affably Evil: Appears as a noble and helpful citizen, but in fact holds nothing but contempt to anyone.
• Hero Killer: She is all but stated to have killed Lady Carolina, and her machinations led to the gruesome death of all the adventurers the latter hired.
• Hidden Villain: Even more than the Final Boss, as you know that he's here and plots something, though who and what is unknown. The mere fact that there is another villain to unmask is The Reveal.
• It May Help You on Your Quest: She gives you the pomander of herbs you need to resist the Big Bad's Breath Weapon.
• The Magnificent: Lady Sige the Silent. It serves as a clue for experienced readers as the trope is usually reserved to villains and she's the only one in the council to have it.
• The Mole: A member of the ruling council in league with the Big Bad. Though it soon becomes clear that what she's really after absolute dominion over Kallamehr, so if you can kill him she won't complain.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Gains props for trying when cornered, but while no stranger to fighting, you're better by a loooong shot.
• Our Spirits Are Different: Lady Sige is hinted to be an evil spirit, probably from the Abyss, inhabiting a human-like shell.
• Playing Both Sides: She helps both the Big Bad by eliminating threats and facilitating invasions, and you by giving you a crucial protection against his powers.
• Smug Snake: Admittedly a very high-functioning one, but despite being a certified Evil Genius, this one bites off more than she can chew and is as arrogant as smart, clearly too overconfident.
• Spot the Imposter: How you unveil this wretch's intention.
• The Starscream: In league with the Big Bad, only so long as she needs him.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Lady Sige owes her nickname to her uncanny ability to move silently and appear unnoticed. This is in fact a subtle hint that she is more than she seems.
• Take Over the World: Downplayed as this one only covets Allansia, which is too much anyway.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: If you venture into the Abyss without snuffing her, she gets named ruler of Kallamehr by the people, who will soon discover what kind of tyrant she really is.
• Walking Spoiler: As if all the blanked text was not clue enough...
• Xanatos Gambit: Whether she rules over Empty Shells controlled by Bythos as his vassal, or on her own with Bythos gone, she gets what she wants.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: If Lady Sige sees you with the locket that Ramedes the Invincible died to fetch back, she accuses you of treachery and has you captured. Fortunately, opening the locket proves your innocence and provides an opportunity to turn the tables.
• Unwitting Pawn: Uses you as one, just like everyone else. She's savyy enough to recognize you as the best hope against Bythos, whom she'd rather see gone.
• The Usurper: Plots to seize power and might succeed in the worst ending.

Leesha

Appears in : Temple of Terror

The evil priestess of a dark cult dwelling in the lost city of Vatos, Leesha is a spoilt and pampered woman of taste and power, ruling over the maddened cultists and the amorphous night horrors prowling the halls and corridors of her temple, acting as a secondary antagonist along with the evil Malbordus. She's rumoured to be immortal and protected from all weapons or magics, and it is up to you to see whether this is true...

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• Achilles' Heel: There's only one thing that she fears: A Sandworm Tooth.
• Affably Evil: Leesha is evil but she is sure courteous, speaking politely and bearing little ill-will even to enemies. Give her something she likes and she rewards you handsomely, oppose her or merely displease her, and she kills you without a second glance.
• Antagonist Abilities: Having Nigh-Invulnerability and being The Paralyzer makes her a deadly foe.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Leesha forms one with Malbordus, leading the temple you must explore and being in cahoots with the Dark Elf Champion, willing to let him have the Dragon artefacts.
  • Contrary to Malbordus, a Sorcerous Overlord wannabee working to build his own power base, she wields considerable power but only cares about sitting around and having her every whim catered. She flees as soon as you pose a threat, while Malbordus confronts you head on for the Final Battle, cementing him as the biggest threat and true Big Bad.
• Cowardly Boss: She lifts her skirt and runs away as soon as she sees you with the Sandworm Tooth.
• De-power: Enter her sanctuary through the rain of gold, and it cancels your ability to spellcast.
• Dirty Coward: Leesha acts high and mighty when you cannot do a thing against her, but as soon as you prove her wrong, she flees as fast as she can without looking back.
• High Priest: A female example. She is the high-priestess of a Religion of Evil worshipping one of the Dark Gods, though we never learn which one.
• Hot Witch: While she isn't a which in the proper sense, she is very beautiful and wields vast power.
• Human Sacrifice: Leesha is an evil priestess, so she unsurprisingly delves into this. She sacrifices all losers of her art contests for instance.
• Karma Houdini: She manages to escape the hero and promptly disappears from the scene, leaving you to fight Malbordus instead.
• Lady of Black Magic: She is beautiful, poised and elegant, and wields considerable magic power.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: Woman in that case. She loves beautiful artworks, and is willing to hold an art contest and reward the winner with no less than 300 gold coins. The losers on the other hand...
• Ms. Fanservice: While she's seen from a distance (see picture) she's quite attractive herself.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: She's protected by an enchantment that makes her virtually invulnerable to mundane and magical attacks. Except for a Sandworm Tooth.
• No-Sell: Trying to attack her is purely suicidal.
• Oh, Crap!: She quakes in fear if you reveal the only thing capable of killing her off.
• Orcus on His Throne: She never leaves her comfortable sanctum, letting her minions do all the work.
• The Paralyzer: If you lack a way to hurt her, she immobilizes you with a spell and call for Malbordus, who proceeds to take your Artefacts.
• Religion is Magic: Leesha is the high-priestess of a cult, and wields powerful magic.
• Religion of Evil: She is a High Priestess of an unspecified evil idol, and her cultists are either mindless fanatics or horrible monsters. It is implied that she worships the same evils as Malbordus.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: She doesn't even try to put up a fight and runs for the hills as soon as you threaten her with the Sandworm Tooth.
• Sequential Boss: First get rid of her minions, then take care of the wench herself.
• Slouch of Villainy: When you first set your eyes on her, she's reclining on a lavish sofa and being fanned by a massive brute she later unleashes on you.
• Smug Snake: Leesha is admittedly very powerful and has threatening minions, arbouring an insufferably condescending sneer all the time, but as soon as thing go south she sings a much more pathetic tune...
• Sorcerous Overlord: A rare female example. She uses her power and influence to rule the lost city of Vatos and the monsters dwelling there.
• Talent Contest: You meet people making works of arts for a contest she frequently organizes, in which the victor is handsomely rewarded and every other contestant is sacrificed. You are not involved directly into the contest, but knowing about it provide a vital clue you need to progress.
• Temple of Doom: She rules the temple of her cult, and the entire lost city of Vatos: Ancient ruins of a long-gone civilisation, derelict and filled with monsters and beasts.
• The Unfought: You confront her but never fight her, for she is a craven, Zero-Effort Boss.
• Vain Sorceress: Highly implied to be the case, as she surely likes to show off her beauty.
• Weak, but Skilled: Leesha masters deadly magic, but she does not even try to fight when you expose her sole Achilles' Heel, and likely never bothered to learn.
• Zero-Effort Boss: For all her power and posturing, getting rid of her is a piece of cake. Show her the Sandworm Tooth and voila! Bob's your uncle.

The Lizard King

Appears in: Island of the Lizard King

The ruler of Fire Island, a former prison colony which he took over and turned into a slave mine, the Lizard King is a brutal tyrant who has learned voodoo sorcery to make himself even more powerful. On Fire Island, he has amassed an army of lizard-men, orcs, giants and all manner of monsters, and periodically sends them out to raid the surrounding islands to seize new slaves and expand his realm. To make matters worse, the Lizard King is fused with a Gonchong, a spider-like parasite that grants its host enormous strength in return for most of their free will. But there is one who will rise against him...

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• Achilles' Heel: Fire Swords.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: Blue scales are quite uncommon, even for lizard-men.
• Antagonist Abilities: His max skill stat and immunity to normal weapons make him a formidable foe.
• Antagonist Title: Well duh!
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He became king of the lizard-men of Fire Island by being the strongest, smartest, baddest and meanest of them. His mastery of Voodoo sorcery and the power-boost he owes the Gonchong also helped.
• Attack Animal: The Lizard King has a black, maneless lion as a pet, that he sics on you before fighting.
• Badass Normal: The Lizard King might dabble in Voodoo sorcery, but he does not use magic in battle and has no need for it to kick ass.
• Big Bad: The slave-driving Evil Overlord, who must be taken down to restore Fire Island and relieve the local fishing ports of his raids.
• Body Horror: Has a horrible parasite attached to his brain.
• Cool Sword: A sword is cool in itself, but a fiery blade is even cooler. Especially when you wield it.
• The Dreaded: The Lizard King is feared in all the coasts he raids.
  • Even his Mooks are scared witless of the Gonchong.
• Empowered Badass Normal: He may not need sorcery to be badass, but he still uses a magic Flaming Sword that boosts him with +2 skill and the Gonchong gives him Nigh-Invulnerability.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He is king of the lizard-men and is called the Lizard King. Logic I say.
• Evil Overlord: Pretty low-scale compared to the others fought in the franchise, though that's because he is still building his empire. But being a powerful tyrant leading armies of monsters, with dark powers and a unique weakness to boot; and threatening the nearby villages, he more than qualifies.
• Evilutionary Biologist: The Lizard King attempts to create new monsters and life-forms to serve him, and submits his subjects to hideous mutations to empower them.
• Final Boss: Having skill 12 stamina 15, not to mention being only vulnerable to a Fire Sword makes him a very powerful foe. Fortunately, there are ways to weaken him.
• Flaming Sword: His weapon of choice is a fiery magical scimitar. Ironically, this is also the only weapon that can kill him. If you have another one, you can challenge him safely.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: He was originally just one of the guards when the island was still a penal colony. When it was abandoned, he unified the other guards and turned the prisoners into slaves.
• Genius Bruiser: The Lizard King is a powerful warrior, also smart enough to become a proficient self-taught Voodoo mage, and a competent army leader.
• Hollywood Voodoo: Like Cinnabar in Bloodbones, he uses Voodoo magic of this variety.
• Kill It with Fire: The Lizard King and the Gonchong must be killed with a Fire Sword.
• Magic Knight: Downplayed. He is a powerful master of Voodoo magic, but you never see him using it and he fights only with a sword. A magic one, but one nonetheless.
• Master Swordsman: The Lizard King is a very strong and skilled fighter.
• Monster Lord: A king among lizard-men. Self-appointed for sure, but he sure deserves the title.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: The Lizard King resists pretty much everything thrown at him.
• No Name Given: The Lizard King is never named, just referred to by his title.
• No-Sell: Attacking him with anything else than a Fire Sword is useless and leads to a painful demise.
• Panthera Awesome: His aforementioned pet. Not a panther but a lion in fact, but black and without mane it does get quite close...
• Playing with Syringes: His atrocious magical experiments to mutate and create life-forms.
• Post-Climax Confrontation: After killing the Lizard King, you must kill the Gonchong by severing its proboscis. If you fail or drop your guard, the Gonchong parasites you, brainwashes you and makes you the new Evil Overlord of Fire Island.
• Puppeteer Parasite: Not the Lizard King himself, but the Gonchong he fused himself with. Contrary to most examples of the trope, they have more of a symbiosis than outright domination.
• Right-Hand Attack Dog: He sics his Black Lion at you. With skill 11 stamina 11, it makes a powerful foe.
• Sequential Boss: First his Right-Hand Attack Dog, then him, then the Post-Climax Confrontation.
• Sinister Scimitar: The narration does not describe his Flaming Sword, but its this in the illustrations.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: He holds every prisoner in Fire Island as slaves, condemning them to gruelling forced labour night and day to build his kingdom, and abducts people from the nearby villages to replace them and raise his numbers.
• There Is Another: In the follow-up gamebook, Battleblade Warrior, a invokedSpiritual Successor of Island of the Lizard King, it's revealed that there are more colonies of Lizard Men from the powerful Lizard Man Empire, each ruled by a separate Lizard King. Although this one is implied to be the most powerful of them due to his use of sorcery and bonding with the Gonchong.
• Weaksauce Weakness: The Lizard King is deathly afraid of monkeys of all things (presumably since monkeys eat lizards). Bringing one to the Final Battle makes it considerably easier. If you own a Fire Sword, he is so terrified that only the Gonchong's influence makes him put up some token resistance, becoming an absolute walk in the garden with only skill 6 for you to Curb Stomp. If you don't, depending on a test of luck, he either drops his Fire Sword for you to use (losing -2 skill while you gain +2 in the process), or can frighten the monkey away by lashing out blindly, leaving you open for slaughter.
• Willing Channeler: The Lizard King deliberately let himself be parasited by the Gonchong to boost his might, and they reached an agreement of sort.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Why did it have to be monkeys in this case, but well, you know the drill.

Lord Carnuss Charavask

Appears in: Trial of Champions

The younger brother of Baron Sukumvit, the Feudal Overlord ruling the province of Chiang Mai from the city-state of Fang. While his brother inherited a prosperous estate and made it famous worldwide with the Trial of Champions: a labyrinth full of deadly monsters and traps; Carnuss had but a pretty worthless title. He was banished to the remote Blood Island after a poorly thought assassination plot. Now, he abducts people all over as slaves for his gladiator arena, intending to train a fighter skilled enough to win the Trial of Champions and pocket the 20000 gold pieces reward. But the very slave he sent to the labyrinth won't let him have his way...

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• Alliterative Name: Carnuss Charavask
• Aristocrats Are Evil: A thoroughly loathsome, heartless Feudal Overlord.
• Badass Normal: Carnuss has no powers and no magic weapon, and is still a talented fighter, not to be underestimated.
• Bad Boss: Oooooooh boy! He treats his slaves like filth and regards them as tools to toss and throw. He does treat you to luxury when you become his champion, but only because he needs you at the top of your game. Once you are, he throws you back into mortal peril without batting an eyelid...
• Big Bad: The wretched slave-driver who put you through hell and back, you swore revenge against.
• Blue Blood: He is of noble descent.
• Cain and Abel: Carnuss loathes his brother and the feeling is entirely mutual. He tried to have Sukumvit killed, and strives to humiliate him no matter the cost.
• Carry a Big Stick: He is depicted with a spiked mace, but he only uses it to sound the gong starting the gladiator battles and fights with a sword instead.
• Cool Helmet: He wears one hiding his face, complete with horns.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Given the success of the Trial of Champions and the public's fondness for bloody entertainment, he could have opened his gladiator arena to the public and invested to make it as popular as his brother's game, legally earning the wealth he envies his brother for. Given how much effort and resources he throws away for revenge in-story, it's not like he cannot afford it...
• Driven by Envy: Other villains of the franchise are motivated by power and control, but this one only swears by a childish grudge. Envy, thy name is Carnuss...
• Duel to the Death: How you face him in the end, requesting a duel to avenge your Fire-Forged Friends when Sukumvit offers to grant your wish as an additional prize.
• Evil Is Petty: And how! He wastes all his resources to basically say "nyah nyah" to his brother's face.
• The Faceless: His helmet conceals his face.
• Feudal Overlord: He rules Blood Island, where he was banished, but his domain is small and scarcely populated, hence is resentment.
• Final Boss: A powerful warrior with skill 10 stamina 10. While you overcame worse threats in the labyrinth, he remains dangerous and takes advantage of your weakened state after so many ordeals.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Carnuss is a bratty, petty Smug Snake, in stark contrast to his pragmatic and reasonable brother.
• Gladiator Games: Carnuss makes his slaves fight to the death, to weed out the weak until only the best warrior remains.
• Gone Horribly Right: When you want the best warrior around to serve you, make sure that he doesn't hate your guts unless you feel Too Dumb to Live.
• Green-Eyed Monster: He is consumed by jealousy of his brother, who enjoys lavish lordship of a prosperous city while he is left to rot on his island (by his own fault mind you), and strives to humiliates him. To such extent that he fails to (or straight up refuses to) grasp that Sukumvit made his city so thriving through his own effort, and that he could do the same without much trouble. Not to mention that he could have earned a position of power if he hadn't been so busy wallowing in bitterness.
• Hate Sink: The franchise has no shortage of utterly abhorrent piece of shit villains, but even the worst ones have at least a few traits of Evil Is Cool to make you Love to Hate them even a bit. This self-centered, petty, smarmy piece of filth has none. At. All. Livingstone went to great lengths to make you loathe him and succeeded. And man, does it feel good to give him his just desserts.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He wanted a warrior mighty enough to face any foe... Including himself.
• Horns of Villainy: All over his helmet.
• I Need You Stronger: He needs a powerful warrior, to win the Trial of Champions for him.
• It's Personal: For abducting you, forcing you to fight your Fire-Forged Friends to the death in his arena, and sending you through hell and back, your fondest desire is having his head mounted on your wall.
• Karmic Death: He ends up killed by the slave he abducted and tyrannized, avenging all the slaves who lost their lives for his petty schemes.
• Made a Slave: The fate he inflicts to all his victims.
• Master Swordsman: Carnuss uses a sword in the Final Battle, with enough skill to give you a solid run for your money. Literally at that, as he is the last obstacle between you and the 20000 gold coins reward.
• Never My Fault: Unable to grasp that the unfairness he blames his brother for is self-inflicted from A to Z.
• Obviously Evil: With him being The Faceless sporting Horns of Villainy and Shoulders of Doom, Carnuss might as well go around with a huge neon sign saying "I'm a rotten douchebag!"
• Out-Gambitted: He expected his slave to win the Trial of Champions, and the prize money to rightfully become his since he owns the victor. But Sukumvit quickly notices that you hate him with every fibre of your being, and seizes the opportunity to get rid of him at long last. As such, he offers you the additional prize to grant your wish, and as he figured out, you ask for a Duel to the Death, leading to the Final Battle and Carnuss's well-deserved demise.
  • He was already played by Sukumvit in his backstory, hastily hiring mercenaries to kill him... Mercenaries that were in fact spies tasked by a wary Sukumvit to keep tabs on him, who wasted no time reporting it all. You would think that Carnuss learnt his lesson, but no.
• Princeling Rivalry: In their past, though it did not end well for him. A second son coveting his elder brother's throne and resorting to crime to get it... Where did we see it before?
• Psychopathic Manchild: He's basically a bratty child in an adult body throwing a hissy fit like "My brother got the big toy, whaaaaaaaaaa! So I’m gonna break his toy and rub it to his face! Dash for the cost, consequences and anyone I drag into the crossfire!"
• The Resenter: Three guesses on who?
• Revenge Before Reason: His most defining characteristic. See Cut Lex Luthor a Check above and Stupid Evil below to see exactly how unreasonable he gets.
• Shoulders of Doom: He sports quite impressive ones.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: While ruthless and willing to have the first winner of his Trial of Champions assassinated, Sukumvit is a True Neutral Reasonable Authority Figure, who made Chiang Mai thrive and cares about his subjects. Carnuss redefines Stupid Evil, Evil Is Petty and Revenge Before Reason.
  • Heck, Sukumvit was mature enough to swallow his pride and use the first win as a challenge to remake his labyrinth even more Unwinnable by Design. And he seizes the opportunity to cut his losses when you win in turn. Carnuss on the other hand cannot let go of a grudge and is far too petty and overconfident for his own good, which naturally and satisfyingly comes to bite him in the rear.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: He has abducted many people and forced them to undergo a gruesome training before fighting to the death. They all hate his guts and want nothing more than revenge.
• Smug Snake: He acts high and mighty and has his servants talk about him like he is a big shot, but he is far too petty and repulsive to be impressive, and as seen in Out-Gambitted, he is much less smart that he fancies himself to be.
• Stupid Evil: Sure Carnuss, abduct people, treat them like dirt, and casually cause their death for petty revenge. You will get a highly trained Action Survivor, strong enough to win the Trial of Champions against all odds, who hates your guts and wants you dead. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
• Training from Hell: What his gladiators are submitted to.
• The Unfavorite: Totally averted despite him viewing himself as this. His brother inherited the title by virtue of being the elder, as it normally does, and he is entirely to blame for his poor lot in life.
• Villain Ball: Two major instances...
  • Carnuss could have recruited and trained gladiators without the slavery, torture or fights to the death; promising them part of the reward, or a position of power if he wanted to keep the prize money.
  • Even without that, making his best champion howling for his blood, AND signalling himself when he just won the Unwinnable by Design Trial of Champions is a whole new level of stupid.
• Villainous Valour: Downplayed, for he first tries to turn tail like the coward he is. Still, despicable as he is, when he realizes that he has driven himself in a corner, he accepts it with quite some poise. It might be because he is still confident he can win, but he at least has some guts.

Lord Varek Azzur

^{Click here to see him in Assassins of Allansia}

Appears in: City of Thieves (cameo) | Midnight Rogue (mentioned only) | Crypt of the Sorcerer (mentioned only) | Blacksand! | Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World | Advanced Fighting Fantasy: Blacksand (mentioned only) | The Port of Peril | The Gates of Death | Assassins of Allansia

A major figure of the Fighting Fantasy universe, featured in many gamebooks albeit in passing mentions. Varek Azzur is from a noble family of Arion in the continent of Khul, until the day when aged sixteen, he sneaked into the temple of the Adepts of Kukulak, twisted worshippers of the God of Storms. He survived the religious initiation, which left him disfigured, and fled at sea. Abducted by pirates, he rose in ranks to become the Pirate King of the Western Ocean, nothing less. One day, he stormed and seized Port Blacksand, butchering the entire ruling council. He now rules the Wretched Hive with an iron fist.

While never met nor seen, his presence is felt in every gamebook set in Port Blacksand. Even when just passing by or coming close, you might hear his name. He takes an active role for the first time in The Port of Peril, from behind the scenes as always. He plots with the Spirit Stalkers to resurrect the Night Prince Zanbar Bone and capture the legendary wizard Arakor Nicodemus. In The Gates of Death, he helps you to save Titan, albeit for clearly selfish reasons. He sent the Assassin's Guild killers after your hide in Assassins of Allansia, being seen in person at long last. Will there be a day when his tyranny shall end?...

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• All There in the Manual: His origins, rise to power, appearance and even his first name, were only revealed in official guides like Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Azzur is of noble descent and one of the most reviled figures of Titan's history.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He rose from the very bottom to the top rank, by being the smartest and most badass pirate around, before usurping power in Port Blacksand. It is quite telling that in a city where each governor killed their predecessor to take their throne, he remained in power for so many years without opposition. Even now, the pirates still answer to him.
• Avenging the Villain: He's out for your blood in Assassins of Allansia, to avenge his lord Zanbar Bone, whom you killed in The Port of Peril. Azzur being Azzur, his dirty work is done by flunkies, but not mere Mooks, oh no! He has the best Professional Killers of the Scorpion Guild of Assassins dog your tracks.
• Badass Normal: He is the only villain of the franchise to be The Dreaded without magic powers or supernatural influence, merely exceptional fighting and rulership skills, strategy and pure charisma.
• Badass Longrobe: Azzur wears them in every illustration following the Scholastic relaunch.
• Bad Boss: Zig-zagged. He is a ruthless tyrant, unforgiving to his underlings and rarely speaking to them aside from screaming in anger. But on the other hand, he is a very charismatic leader who inspires the absolute loyalty of his men, and is greatly respected by the scum of Port Blacksand. He can be genuinely generous and provides some favours to the population he oppresses to keep it under his thumb.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Downplayed, but still a huge step up compared to the Final Bosses ending dusted... Azzur does not exactly wins, for you're the only hero to meet him face to err... turban and come out alive. Still, he gets to throw you from the frying pan into the fire by conscripting you to the Unwinnable by Design Trials of Champions; basically a death sentence.
• Big Bad: After all those years ruling from the shadows and acting through proxies, Azzur finally gets a chance at calling the shots in Assassins of Allansia. He sends assassins after your hide, to avenge his liege, and even causes a Pyrrhic Victory at the end. But contrary to the others, he is not the Final Boss.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: In City of Thieves, Zanbar Bone is The Heavy and the biggest threat you must defeat, but Lord Azzur rules the titular city and is behind most of your troubles. Averted in the end, as The Port of Peril reveals that Lord Azzur has always been Zanbar Bone's most devoted servant.
• Blue Blood: Though he usurped the title he is known under, he is a noble, albeit fairly minor.
• Body Horror: Azzur's religious scars horribly mark his entire body.
• Bread and Circuses: Azzur maintains support of the citizens by indulging in their petty appetites.
• Breakout Villain: The Scholastic relaunch elevates him from an unseen background character to a plot-critical villain in the first three books.
• Carnival of Killers: He sends a very dangerous one after you in Assassins of Allansia. Gotta Kill Them All to survive.
• Co-Dragons: Lord Azzur's closest and highest-ranked servants are three ominous beings, wearing black, fur-trimmed robes that blend in the shadows, and a face-hiding cowl.
  • Lord Azzur's Mouth seems to lead and speaks in Azzur's place. He has no face but a large, glowing mouth, and hurls Fireballs that can either vaporize people or teleport them where he wants.
  • Lord Azzur's Eyes has no face but dozens of mismatched eyes. He seems to exert a Sinister Surveillance over the entire city, which could explain how the tyrant knew of your mission.
  • Lord Azzur's Ears is a bat-like Winged Humanoid, who hears everything from miles around and keeps watch over the city in combination with The Eyes.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Many a dissident suffers this in his dungeons. Scholars or mages in town who so much as look like they might use their trade against him find themselves in for a world of pain, having blinded one in Crypt of the Sorcerer and cut the eyes, ears and tongue of another in The Gates of Death.
• Continuity Nod: In City of Thieves you get almost run over by his coach in the streets. In the sequel The Port of Peril, you catch a glimpse of him from afar, as he leaves the palace, once again in his coach.
• Cool Sword: Several instances.
  • In The Gates of Death, he gives you a magic Khopesh (a sickle-shaped sword from ancient Egypt) that his men found. It is a powerful Infinity +1 Sword, and one of the two magic Khopeshes forged by the Big Bad Ulrakaah, the only weapons that can harm her.
  • He wields a wicked looking ornate sabre on the cover of Assassins of Allansia.
• Demoted to Dragon: After so many years of being an independent villain of whom even the Big Bads of the franchise were wary, he is revealed to be The Dragon to Zanbar Bone. Still, don't think for a minute it means Badass Decay, for you will see first-hand how dangerous he is when he takes matter in hand, while still never appearing in person.
• The Dragon: Most Big Bads would relish to have him serving as this to them. In Crypt of the Sorcerer, you even infiltrate Razaak's lair by saying that you are sent by him to pledge his loyalty. The Port of Peril reveals that he was always this to Zanbar Bone, being described as his most faithful follower.
  • In The Port of Peril, the Chaos Warrior Klash is this to Azzur himself, but he serves as little more than an enforcer and a Boss Battle.
  • The Gates of Death reveals that he has three Co-Dragons, who act as his collective Mouth of Sauron.
• Dragon Ascendant: In Assassins of Allansia, which takes place after you thwarted his efforts to resurrect his boss, the Big Bad of The Port of Peril. Surprizing none, he is quite miffed about this and spends the book howling for vengeance...
• The Dreaded: Pretty much everyone is scared shitless of Azzur. It's telling that not even the Terrible Trio of Balthus Dire, Zharradan Marr and Oldoran Zagor ever moved against him.
• Enemy Mine: In The Gates of Death, Azzur provides you intel and even a priceless Infinity +1 Sword, because he wants The Virus gone as much as you do. But he still takes much of your McGuffins and leaves your Parental Substitute to die without batting an eyelid. He may need you as Only the Worthy May Pass and worthy he and his agents are not, but he sees you as a mean to his end, nothing more.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Azzur is loved by the scum of Blacksand because he extends his oppression to everyone social standing be damned. In fact, he celebrates the New Year by sentencing a noble family to the death, and distributing their wealth to the poor. Also, he recruits everyone in his City Guard, from humans, to ogres, to Chaos Knights and Trolls as Elite Mooks.
• Evil Versus Oblivion: He helps you in The Gates of Death, because the Demon Plague caused by Ulrakaah threatens his rule and his very life. But he also covets her power and her treasure.
• Evil Weapon: The Khopesh he gives you in The Gates of Death is a cursed weapon forged by the Big Bad. He seeks to use it to absorb her power after you slay her. You cannot fully succeed without destroying it after winning the Final Battle.
• Evil Wears Black: He is almost always covered in head to toes in black garments, masking every inch of his skin to hide his scars.
  • Though his clothes are described as navy blue with gold trimmings when you see him from afar in his coach in The Port of Peril. And he is depicted as such in Assassins of Allansia.
• The Faceless: Azzur always keeps his face covered, as such even the scarce few who saw him don't know what he looks like. Only two people are known to have seen him unmasked, his personal high priest, and an extremely foolhardy thief who thought it was a good idea to break into Azzur's palace... His dismembered remains were eventually found scattered all across the city.
• Feudal Overlord: Given that almost all of Allansia is divided into city-states surrounded in hostile wilderness, Lord Azzur has complete control over Port Blacksand. Due to his tyranny and influence over scoundrels, he borders on Evil Overlord. He has spies and secret agents doing his dirty work all over and uses giant Warhawks as carriers and messengers.
• Four-Star Badass: With most pirates of the Western Ocean at his beck and call, he commands a fearsome military force. He used it to take over Port Blacksand, but did not used it for war ever since.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: From just a wayward noble child, to the Pirate King of the Western Ocean, the dictator of Port Blacksand, and a major face of the Fighting Fantasy universe.
• The Fundamentalist: He was already devoted to the Adepts of Kukulak's unwholesome cult before joining them, and he grew to a fanatical worshipper.
• Genius Bruiser: A formidable warrior and leader, in addition to a cunning strategist.
• The Ghost: You will hear of him many times, but the closest you come to meeting him is when his coach almost runs you over in City of Thieves, when you catch a glimpse of him from afar, again in his coach, in The Port of Peril, and when you are in audience with his Co-Dragons with him watching it hidden in The Gates of Death. Finally averted in Assassins of Allansia.
• Gladiator Games: Azzur is fond of these, and only appears in public at the local gladiatorial arena.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: His body is covered by the definitely evil scars resulting from the initiation ritual of the Adepts of Kukulak: The initiate is branded with fire and if the scars do not turn into the sacred runes of the sect they are executed. Unfortunately for everyone in Titan, Azzur survived.
• Gotta Kill Them All: Assassins of Allansia consists in a cat-and-mouse game against the thirteen best agents of the Scorpion Guild of Assassins working for him. You must kill them all or be killed.
• Hated by All: Played with. Everyone in Allansia hates and fears him, aside from the scoundrels, cutthroats and vermin who look up to him and admire him in earnest.
• The Heavy: He is largely to blame for Port Blacksand being such an awful Wretched Hive.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: He almost never seen in public. Even those granted audience with him are led to a carved wooden screen, behind which Lord Azzur stands, listening to complains and whispering his replies to his Mouth of Sauron, who carries his words to the visitor.
• I Have Your Wife: in The Port of Peril, he keeps Luannah Wolff hostage in his prison, to force her husband to carve the Artifact of Doom that can resurrect Zanbar Bone.
• I Own This Town: Azzur's mentality. He does have to compose with the powerful Thieves' Guild, and the high class, but, makes it clear that he could crush them anytime. His tradition to execute nobles and distribute their wealth serves both to restrict their influence and to warn them not to cross him.
• Informed Ability: Azzur is hyped as an extremely dangerous foe to cross, but this isn't truly shown for he is never directly faced in any gamebook.
  • Though his back story, and most importantly his actions in the Scholastic relaunch do prove that his reputation is not usurped by a long shot.
• Karma Houdini: Since he is never fought, his dictatorial rule remains unchallenged. He is the only Big Bad of the series you don't kill at the end of the book.
• Master Swordsman: If the sabre he is seen holding on the cover art of Assassins of Allansia is enough indication, he does know a thing or two about sword fighting.
• Neutral No Longer: He usually only bothers with tyrannizing his city and pays no mind to the various world-threatening crises happening all over. But...
  • Then comes The Port of Peril and he actively plots to resurrect Zanbar Bone, keeping hostages captives to coerce people and sending agents to capture Nicodemus, the biggest threat to his lord, and steal his Ring of Power. Nicodemus being too powerful to be faced upfront, he has him drugged.
  • He takes part in the conflict in The Gates of Death as well, sending his men to the Invisible City and playing Quest Giver to you in a rare Enemy Mine situation.
  • Finally, he hops in the Big Bad bandwagon in Assassins of Allansia.
• No One Sees the Boss: He rules that way, surrounding himself in total secrecy and always decreeing through his Mouthof Sauron.
• Orcus on His Throne: Azzur always acts through proxies, but don't think he's lazing around. He has agents and spies all over Allansia, each for a specific task, and he has them firmly in hand.
• Pet the Dog: Azzur can sometimes express genuine niceness to people who suffered too much for his liking. Such as when he rescued an innocent woman turned into a Snake People by worshippers of Sith, and gave her a life of luxury in Port Blacksand as the Serpent Queen.
• Pirate: How Azzur began his career and rise into infamy. He still controls piracy of the Western Ocean and enjoys sailing his admiral ship, the "Face of Chaos", to commit some raids from time to time.
• Police Brutality: His City Guard is comprised only of corrupt bullies, less likely to arrest the thief than the victim (for "troubling the public order"), who extort bribes left and right, or throw anyone who appears well-off in jail to "confiscate the stolen goods", among other outstanding displays of duty...
• Police State: His rule is enforced by his ruthlessly efficient (though horribly corrupt) City Guard. They patrol everywhere, enforce curfew, arrest anyone caught without a pass, have people thrown in pillories or outdoor cages, if not executed without trial. He at least once used Chaos Warriors for his black operations, so to speak... In broad daylight. Without anyone daring to move.
• Praetorian Guard: The elite guards in his palace are much tougher than those in town, and blindly devoted Tyke Bombs who would give their life for him without thinking twice.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Azzur knows that fear alone is not enough to rule, hence his oppression and favours being equally divided to all social classes, and adding acts of kindness to many ruthless actions.
• Present Absence: He seldom leaves his palace and is almost never seen in person by his people, yet his grasp over the town is almost tangible.
• Price on Their Head:
  • He does this to the group of heroes in Advanced Fighting Fantasy, believing them responsible of the rampage by the local Apocalypse Cult. But he retracts it after learning that you saved his city.
  • He puts a bounty on your head in Assassins of Allansia, offering no less than a thousand gold coins to anyone who could kill you and attracting all manners of cutthroats after your hide.
• Quest Giver: In a strange twist, he is this in The Gates of Death. You already know that you must reach the fabled Invisible City to mass produce the antidote to The Virus, but it is Azzur who tells you about the Big Bad and how to go there, also giving you the Sword of Plot Advancement.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: How his pirates work. No romantic Pirates of the Caribbean lifestyle there.
• Religion of Evil: He is part of a downplayed example. While Sukh, the God of Storms revered under the name Kukulak in Khul, is prideful and Hot-Blooded, he is quite benevolent. The Adepts of Kukulak however, are definitely twisted and fanatical, though not actively malevolent and dangerous.
• Resurrect the Villain: In The Port of Peril, Lord Azzur is trying to bring back Zanbar Bone.
• Returning Big Bad: The secondary villain of City of Thieves becomes a major recurring enemy in the relaunch. Downplayed in that he had to wait for Assassins of Allansia to become a proper Big Bad.
• Shadow Dictator: You will never see him in Port Blacksand, but you will always feel his shadow looming.
• Staff of Authority: Azzur holds one on the picture, whose pointed tip evokes a spear.
• The Stoic: Azzur is described as someone of unshakable calm and assurance.
• Tyke Bomb: Lord Azzur has infants abducted from their families at a very young age, and has them raised to be blindly devoted to him. They serve as a Praetorian Guard who never leave the palace, protect him twenty-four/seven, and would gladly march to their death if he ordered them to.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: All rulers of Port Blacksand succeeded each other by killing their predecessors, bringing more corruption with each coup d’état. Lord Azzur was the last and definitely the worst.
• The Unfought: Never faced in battle in any of the books. The game guide for the RPG rules even recommends against using Azzur as a Final Boss, as fighting him, not to mention reaching him in the first place, is basically the equivalent of Tomb of Horrors.
• Unseen No More: After over thirty years of gamebooks, you finally face him face to turban at the end of Assassins of Allansia.
• The Usurper: He took power by killing the former governor. As explained in Tyrant Takes the Helm, this could almost be seen as tradition.
• Villainous Friendship: He is friends with Baron Sukumvit Charavask, the ruthless yet neutral ruler of Fang. Given their different alignment, this is also a form of Odd Friendship.

Relem

See his entry on the The Pit page under Night Demons and other Demon Princes

Sith

See her entry on the The Pit page under The Snake Demons, Ruler of the Pit

The Snow Witch

^{Click here to see the second illustration (markedly different look)}

Appears in: Caverns of the Snow Witch

One of the very few female Big Bads of the franchise, the Snow Witch is a considerably powerful vampire Sorcerous Overlord in cahoots with Ice Demons, based in the Icefinger Mountains in the polar northern reaches of Allansia. She reigns in the Crystal Caves dug by her monster servants, worshippers of the Ice Demon, she is tended by slaves captured all around and compelled to obey her every whim by Slave Collars. She is about to unleash a second, everlasting Ice Age over the world of Titan, to rule it forever. And it is up to you to stop her...

Shareella, to call her by her name, is notable for being defeated twice at the middle of the story, the rest being spent lifting the Death Spell she cast on you. This was first a smaller adventure written for a magazine, thus too short for a book format, so Ian Livingstone had to complete it with Filler.

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• Absurdly High-Stakes Game: See The Gambler below... During the last battle, the Snow Witch challenges you to a game of Discs (basically Rock-Paper-Scissors), in which you both bet your life. If you lack discs to play with or if she wins you're history. but if you hold the disc that can beat her bet, twice, you win. It's much trickier than it sounds.
• All There in the Manual: Like many villains of the franchise, nothing is told about her in-story, not even her name, all is told in the additional guides like Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World and Out of the Pit. Made all the sadder in that it reveals she is a Fallen Hero who got corrupted.
• Antagonist Abilities: A vampire with potent Hypnotic Eyes and a super powerful witch with One-Hit Kill spells, who can't be defeated in a direct battle.
• Antagonist Title: The story is centered around her after all.
• Attack Animal: Anyone who would send a pet rat against a seasoned warrior would be laughed at, not her, see Right-Hand Attack Dog below to learn why.
• Big Bad: The evil vampire witch who threatens the entire world with a second Ice Age.
• Black Mage: She masters deadly spells.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: The Snow Witch provides a glaring example. Justified in the fact that the Final Battle would otherwise be a Hopeless Boss Fight, but still... Sure Shareella, you have The Hero at your mercy, you can kill them at any second and they proved that they are a threat by destroying your physical body. Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? What? They challenge you and you accept? A game of discs? You bet your own life as well? What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Lots of things in fact. But for you as well...
• Classical Movie Vampire: The Snow Witch is first and foremost a powerful Winter Royal Lady, but she fits the bill for Vampire Tropes. Sleeps in a vault? Check! Rises from it to suck your blood? Check. Hypnotic Eyes? Check. Nigh-Invulnerability? Check. must be staked to be for her physical body to be destroyed? Checkmate.
• Climax Boss: She is not the Final Boss, but confronting her is a turning point in the narration both times.
• Cool Crown: She wears a fancy, skull-shaped diadem on the in-book illustrations.
• Corrupt the Cutie: Not what she can do to you or her slaves, but what happened to her in her backstory.
• Curse: The Death Spell she casts on you before you destroy her for good. It gradually drains your life-force and you must search for the most powerful Healer Mage of Allansia to survive. You only make it if you could drink a life potion.
• Dark Action Girl: Played with. She is more than able to destroy you with magic and will do so if she beats you, but she never does so in a direct fight. Most likely because she is too powerful for you to face upfront but still needs to be defeated.
• The Dark Arts: Her main field of expertise, being expert in casting deadly spells, crafting cursed artefacts and raising undead, among others.
• Dystopia Justifies the Means: The Snow Witch does not merely wants to Take Over the World, she wants to rule a scarcely populated (if at all) frozen wasteland filled with cold monsters and undeads.
• The End of the World as We Know It: A second Ice Age would spell the doom of Titan's civilisations.
• Evil Laugh: The Snow Witch indulges in this when she has you on the ropes.
• Evil Sorcerer: A rare female example and an impressive one. Easily one of the mightiest in the franchise.
• Explosive Leash: She can use her Slave Collars to kill her slaves or cause them intense pain, or knock them out to create zombie clones of them. It is all but stated that she uses them to monitor her slaves.
• Fallen Hero: She was once a very promising mage apprentice from the Holy City of Zengis, who was sent to the Icefinger Mountains as part of her training. There, she stumbled upon an Ice Demon who corrupted her and taught her Dark Magic, turning her into the Big Bad she is now.
  • You will meet the Ice Demon who corrupted her, but only for a Boss Battle and while not the hardest fight in the game, weaker than mere Elite Mooks, he remains a dangerous foe with skill 9 stamina 11, whose Breath Weapon deals additional damage. Her backstory implies that they form a Big Bad Duumvirate of sort, but this is hardly explained. He is content being worshipped by the Snow Witch's Mooks, leaving the Snow Witch as the sole Big Bad and far and away the biggest threat of the book.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Once an innocent mage-in-training, now a formidable vampire witch.
• Fur and Loathing: She is a villain and wears a lavish white fur coat. Justified in that she lives in mountaintops in the polar reaches.
• The Gambler: She loves playing luck-based games with her victims. This proves her undoing in the end.
• Hot Witch: Despite being a creepy vampire, the Snow Witch remains a gorgeous woman... When she is not baring her fangs that is.
• Hotter and Sexier: The original in-book illustration was not that appealing, but the second set racks up the sexiness, depicting her in a skimpy Leotard of Power.
• Hypnotic Eyes: Like any self-respecting vampire. You can resist it with garlic or by winning a test of skill, otherwise she compels you and bites you, turning you into her vampire slave.
• An Ice Person: She controls ice and snow, rules over a polar mountain and commands all sort of ice-related beasts, up to a rat that she turns into a White Dragon.
• Lady of Black Magic: She is regal, imposing and clearly the most powerful witch fought in the franchise.
• Leotard of Power: She wears one in the second set of illustrations.
• Magic Wand: She has one on the picture, though not in the story.
• Mirror Self: Before the Final Battle against her, she creates two zombie clones of your travelling companions for you to fight, as a way to torment you. It is implied that she was originally meant to kill them outright and reanimate their corpses.
• Mook Maker: She created her Elite Mooks and her Praetorian Guard, not to mention turned her pet into a Right-Hand Attack Dog, with her potent sorcery.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: You cannot destroy this wench by normal means, no matter how you confront her.
• No Body Left Behind: She is Reduced to Dust after you kill her, but you're not done with her even then...
• No-Sell: Attack her with your sword, and she drains your blood in the first confrontation, and blasts you to death in the second. Using a sling during the second confrontation might knock the orb and deviate her energy blast, but still does not harm her.
• Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: She has you on the ropes during the second confrontation, but you insult and challenge her and she never backs down from a challenge. Though she does so out of sadistic amusement rather than a Berserk Button. This leaves you with a chance to defeat her, while she could easily obliterate you with magic. Justified plot-wise, since you need to stand a chance against her to win the game, and story-wise by her fondness for torture and mind-games, and her arrogance.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: No one knows her real name in-universe and she is only referred to by her title in the entire gamebook.
• Our Spirits Are Different: when you face her for the second time, only her spirit remains within her Soul Jar. Not that she minds.
• Our Vampires Are Different: The Snow Witch is revealed to be a vampire when you finally meet her. She has shades of the Classical Movie Vampire but the Sorcerous Overlord and Winter Royal Lady aspects of her character are more prominent.
• Post-Climax Confrontation: In a strange twist of the trope, everything you face after killing her (meaning a good third of the book) can be seen as this, being due to her lovely parting gift.
• Puzzle Boss: The second confrontation against the Snow Witch is basically a fantastic equivalent of the Rock-Paper-Scissors game called Discs. Star beats Square, Square beats Circle, and Circle beats Star. You must hide the figure that beats the one she names. If you do she is destroyed. If you hide the figure she names, the game is void but you can only survive the second round by beating her. She names Circle so hide Square. In the second turn she names Star so hide Circle.
• Praetorian Guard: She animated a bunch of Golem-like Crystal Warriors to serve as this. They are very powerful, with skill 11 stamina 13 and too sturdy for swords. If you lack a mace you're a goner.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: The Snow Witch sports this look. Justified knowing that she is a vampire.
• Recurring Boss: You fight her twice, each confrontation getting trickier and trickier.
  • In the first, you confront her in her vault, must resist her hypnosis and stake her.
  • In the second, you challenge her in a battle and when she has you on the ropes during the battle, you insult and challenge her to a game of Discs, which is basically Rock-Paper-Scissors in another name.
• Red Baron: The Snow Witch. You know her more under her title than her real name.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: As a vampire, this could not be any other way...
• Reduced to Dust: Her physical body ends up like this after you're through with her... Though you’re not done with her even then...
• Right-Hand Attack Dog: She has a pet white rat who attacks intruders. Nothing scary until it transforms into nothing less than a White Dragon! With skill 12 stamina 14, and breathing clouds of frost costing -3 stamina, it is easily the deadliest monster fought in the game. Fortunately, you can break the transformation spell with ground minotaur horn and avoid the fight. You are also protected from his Breath Weapon with a gold ring.
• Sadist: She gets her kick by tormenting her foes and putting them through the wringer emotionally.
• Sequential Boss: In the second confrontation, you must use a sling to knock out the Snow Witch's orb and test your luck to avoid her energy blast, before facing her. (If you are unlucky, you can still survive the blast with a high enough stamina score, but must retry.) Then she creates two zombie clones of your friends for you to fight, before challenging you to a game of Discs.
• Shock and Awe: During the Final Battle against her, she hurls very powerful lightning bolts that either fry your sword out of your hand or One-Hit Kill you.
• Shout-Out: She evokes the White Witch from The Chronicles of Narnia, without being a full-blown Expy.
• Slave Collar: She puts one on every unlucky schmuck who get captured by her forces. They are still fully conscious and loathe their condition, but cannot do anything.
• Sorcerous Overlord: She is a highly powerful and accomplished witch, who rules over the Icefinger Mountain and controls an army of monsters.
• Soul Jar: So? You thought you have won after staking her? Well think again! She keeps her spirit bound to the Earthly Planes in a bewitched orb, and her power remains intact.
• Taxidermy Terror: She uses stuffed white owl as a headwear, though it's not from the latest cover art.
• Trial-and-Error Gameplay: During the final confrontation against Shareella, you must try discs pretty much at random, without knowing which can counter her own. One mistake and ciao bambino! It's Square for the first turn and Circle in the second turn.
• Undeath Always Ends: You are here to end hers.
• Undeathly Pallor: Being a vampire, this is a given.
• Vampires Hate Garlic: As per tradition.
• Vampires Sleep in Coffins: Well not a coffin, a friggin' ornate vault carved in stone.
• Wave-Motion Gun: Her deadliest spell is a powerful energy blast. You can survive the weakest ones if your stamina score is high enough, but at full power they kill you outright.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Justified game-wise. If she just did, you would stand no chance against her and the story needed a way for you to kill her if you want to finish the game.
• Wicked Cultured: The Snow Witch enjoys listening to her minstrel's music.
• Winter Royal Lady: She rules polar mountains and ice caves, wears fur and has a clear winter theme.
• Wooden Stake: You need one to destroy her when you confront her at her coffin. You need to be skill 10+ to be able to stake her, otherwise she pries the stake off your hand and turns you into her vampire slave.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: She kills her servants whenever she feels like it, and mostly does it to display her power.

Zanbar Bone

^{Click here to see him in The Port of Peril (Brazilian edition)}

Appears in: City of Thieves | The Port of Peril

An enormously powerful lich who rules from his Black Tower. He was born in Fang from rich merchants and secret worshippers of the Snake Demon Myurr, who imbued him at birth with huge evil powers. His parents sent him away to the Wizarding School of the Forest of Yore, where he became one of its best students, along with the Star Pupils: Arakor Nicodemus, Gereth Yaztromo and Pen Ty Kora. He displayed creepier tendencies over time, until Nicodemus witnessed him kill a female elf student named Ellanor, and nearly got killed in the ensuing Wizard Duel. Fortunately, Bone was driven away by Grandmaster Vermithrax Moonchaser. He fled and killed his parents, to seize their wealth and their cult. He later became a feared Evil Overlord and the rest was history.

Zanbar Bone casts his ghastly shadow over the prosperous trade city of Silverton. He demanded the daughter of mayor Owen Carralif to be sent to him, and upon refusal he set his Moondogs to the city, murdering anyone they could find every night ever since. Carralif sends a mercenary to his former adventuring friend, the legendary wizard Arakor Nicodemus, in hopes that he can help bring down the undead tyrant...

Zanbar Bone was destroyed, but his most faithful follower and his Spirit Stalkers are plotting to resurrect him. Now he sets out to restart his reign of terror from an even bigger domain, threatening Allansia as a whole. It is up to you to ally to the best fighters and mages of the land to take him down once again...

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• All There in the Manual: His background is explained in Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World and Out of the Pit, later summed up in The Port of Peril.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: He plans to make Yaztromo's Mage Tower his new Evil Tower of Ominousness in the second book. This is a central plot point, for the Spirit Stalkers are channelling his arcane magic to turn it black, so as to resurrect him by placing an Artifact of Doom at the top.
• Animal Motifs: A black cat, fitting his cat-like eyes. You see one at the start of the story and before confronting him in the first book, which is hinted to be Zanbar Bone himself shape-shifted.
• Antagonist Abilities: Zanbar Bone can paralyse you, has a One-Hit Kill Touch of Death, and Summon Magic, among other niceties, and is too powerful to be fought straight-on.
• The Antichrist: Being a mortal anointed at birth with evil powers by a Demon Prince to wreak havoc.
• Arch-Enemy: He was this to his old school rival Nicodemus from the moment they met. Both were sons of rich merchants from Fang, and Nicodemus had heard gloomy rumours about Bone's parents' cult. Later, Nicodemus exposed him as a murderer and they fought a deadly Wizard Duel. They are hinted to have fought for decades until Nicodemus was too old and weary and you came knocking in City of Thieves. They settle their score in an epic fashion in The Port of Peril.
• The Archmage: He is never described as such, but he is definitely a step above the other Evil Sorcerers of the series. When still a young human, he could trade blows with an actual Archmage in a Wizard Duel, and that was before the decades of experience and knowledge he has under his belt as the Final Boss.
  • The monster guide Beyond the Pit did set his stats at skill 14 stamina 20, making him one of the mightiest villains of the franchise. The IOS adaptation Fighting Fantasy Legends on the other hand, sets the still formidable but more normal Final Boss tier, skill 12 stamina 17... Jury's still out about which one counts, if at all, but what is sure is that his power is considerable.
• Back from the Dead: In The Port of Peril, much to everyone in Allansia's dismay.
• Badass Cape: As befits the powerful Evil Overlord he is.
• Badass Long Robe: Described as a black tunic in the narration, but depicted as a billowing whitish robe on the illustrations.
• Bee-Bee Gun: In the second book, he summons millions of flying, venomous insects to kill you. A Dragonfly Pendant will protect you. Without it, you lose -4 stamina and -1 skill, but Yaztromo destroys them before they can devour you whole.
• Big Bad: In both books, being the demonic lich spreading evil all over the land.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: In the first book. Zanbar Bone is The Heavy and the biggest threat you must defeat, but Lord Azzur rules the titular city and is behind most of your troubles. Averted in the end, as The Port of Peril reveals that Lord Azzur has always been Zanbar Bone's most devoted servant.
• Brought Down to Normal: You need a way to make him this to stand a chance in the second book.
• Boom, Headshot!: How he meets his end in the second book. Literally.
• Came Back Strong: Zanbar Bone is even more powerful after his resurrection now being one of the Demon Princes themselves! So strong in fact that he cannot be confronted head-on. Even worse, it is stated that what killed him once no longer works on him after he returns.
• Continuity Nod: In Crypt of the Sorcerer, the Big Bad Razaak (also a lich) has similar powers, namely the life-draining touch turning you to an undead, and the disguise unveiled by a Ring of Power. In the second book, Zanbar Bone uses in turn one of Razaak's powers, summoning a plague of insects.
• Cool Crown: He is described wearing one in City of Thieves and wears a diadem ornate with a demonic head in one illustration, fitting his title as the Night Prince.
• Creepy Souvenir: A disgusting Shrunken Head he wears as a pendant.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: In his backstory, Zanbar Bone inflicted this on poor Nicodemus, only to find himself on the receiving end of one courtesy of Grandmaster Moonchaser. Yes, his Wave-Motion Gun could have killed him, no sending one is not enough to kill the most famous Grandmaster in the history of Yore.
  • The Final Battle of both books can either be this in your or his favour, depending on how you played.
• The Dark Arts: He is an expert in Dark Magic and Demonology, being able to summon very powerful demons and eldritch forces.
• The Dead Have Eyes: His Glowing Eyes of Doom. They are hinted to be the source of his power.
• Dem Bones: Zanbar Bone appears as a skeleton wizard.
  • He'll also summon skeleton henchmen before the Final Battle in both books.
• Demon Lords and Archdevils: He has become no less than one of the Demon Princes after resurrecting in The Port of Peril. Though whether he reached the rank of the superior Snake Demons or the subservient Night Demons, or something in-between, is never explained.
• Demon of Human Origin: Zanbar Bone used to be a human wizard, albeit a human imbued with demonic powers that can count as a half-demon, downplaying the trope. But after turning into an undead, he became not only a lich but also a full-fledged Skeleton Demon.
• De-power: In both books, you must break his evil power and make him vulnerable to kill him.
  • In the first book, you must shoot a silver arrow through his heart to paralyze him.
  • In the second book, Nicodemus casts the extremely powerful Ring of White Flame spell that traps him and breaks his powers for a while, going as far as making him vulnerable to mundane weapons. And a skeleton without uber dark powers proves very brittle.
• The Dreaded: He is feared all over Allansia, and seemingly all over Titan. Understandably so.
• Emperor Scientist: The Fantasy counterpart. His backstory explains that he always had an unhealthy obsession with elven magic, especially the dark elves', dedicating his existence to learn all its secrets.
• Evil Sorcerer: And undead, to make it worse.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: Zanbar Bone "lives" (so to speak) in one in the first book. You burn it to the ground at the end after destroying him, though he aims to turn Yaztromo's tower into another in the second book.
• Expressive Skull: It helps that the sod retains eyes, but he still remains able to convey expressions like a human. And specializes in evil expressions like Kubrick Stare or Slasher Smile for extra creepy points.
• Final Boss: In both books, true to form. See Anticlimax Boss above and Sequential Boss below for details.
• Frontline General: In the second book, he besieges Yaztromo's tower with his armies. Played with as he sits on a palanquin throne while his troops do all the fighting. Still, he organizes them in perfect formation, stops them all at once by simply raising his hand, and makes them loudly rattle their weapons against their shields for intimidation, showing that he's not the last when it comes to warfare.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: His horrible, shining green eyes. His backstory explains that he had them since the moment he was born, reflecting the huge demonic powers bestowed by Myurr.
• Go for the Eye: How you destroy him in the first book. In a rather odd play on the trope, you must rub a magic compound on them instead of striking them.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: He now has wings in the second book. No point for guessing which sort...
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He is prompt to fly in vicious rages when you thwart him in the second book, and it is quite creepy. He was more composed in the first.
• Hate at First Sight: Bone loathed the Star Pupils since the second they met. And this was totally mutual.
• Hellfire: The second book describes Zanbar Bone as able to attack foes with Demon Fire.
• Hellish Pupils: Fitting his Animal Motifs, and making his cat-like eyes look even more demonic.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: He's hidden under magical illusions in one of the rooms of his tower in the first book. Finding out where he is and how to uncover him is part of the challenge.
• Horns of Villainy: Fitting his demonic nature.
  • For trivia, Iain McCaig the artist who designed him seems fond of them, given that sixteen years later he would design another villain with a similar set. Who? None other than Darth Maul.
• Horned Humanoid: As with the above, his skull is covered in horns, even longer after he resurrects.
• Hypnotic Eyes: One of his most prominent powers. He can paralyse anyone he looks at in the eye.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Kickstarts the plot by demanding the Mayor of Silverton's daughter captive, for reasons unknown. His backstory implied that he sacrifices them in experiments. At least a bit less Squicky than the alternative, but still not a peach...
• I Shall Taunt You: He taunts you as you come near him in the first book. This is in fact a hint that you are getting close to his lair.
• Keystone Army: His skeleton soldiers crumble into dust when you kick his ass. Justified, in that they were animated by his necromantic magic.
• Kubrick Stare: Does a nice one on the original cover art of the first book.
• Last Breath Bullet: Attempts the magical variation but is thwarted, after you kill him in the second book. His corpse points a finger at you, most likely to cast a deadly spell, but fortunately for you Hakasan Za cuts off his hand just in time and he gets Reduced to Dust.
• Laughing Mad: Bone does this unnervingly often in the second book. Coming Back from the Dead seems to have unhinged him quite a bit.
• Life Drinker: Zanbar Bone's Signature Move and deadliest power is his ability to drain life-force with a touch. If he catches you, too bad for you, You Are Already Dead.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: He resides in a gloomy yet lavish and well-kept tower, filled with many wondrous works of art, like a normal mortal lord would.
• Master of Illusion: He can cloak himself in illusions undistinguishable from reality. Without the Ring of the Golden Eye, he catches you off-guard and kills you without fight.
• Meaningful Name: His last name is "Bone" and he is a skeleton.
• Mook Maker: He creates the aforementioned Spirit Stalkers and the Moondogs. He can also create skeletons by throwing his teeth to the ground, and raises an army of skeleton warriors in the second book.
• Mysterious Past: Zanbar Bone's backstory states that only a few scholars know about it, with anyone else only caring to know that he exists since as long as can be remembered. This clearly indicates how long he has ruled and how much he is feared.
• Necromancer: He is an expert in necromancy, being able to create powerful sentient undeads, raise an army of elite skeleton warriors, and drain life at contact.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: No normal weapons and spells can harm him.
• Night of the Living Mooks: He raises an army of a thousand skeleton warriors in the second book.
• No Body Left Behind: You don't just kill him, you obliterate him. Unfortunately, he is more persistent than your average cockroach...
• No-Sell: During the Final Battle of the second book, he laughs off every spell Nicodemus throws at him... Until his old rival pulls out the big guns.
• Obviously Evil: He looks like a demonic Grim Reaper.
• Oh, Crap!: He has a very satisfying moment of sheer terror when Nicodemus casts the Ring of White Fire spell to De-power him, in the second book.
• One Degree of Separation: Zanbar Bone was at school with the legendary Star Pupils, arguably the Big Good of the entire series.
• Orcus on His Throne: In the first book. Justified as he sees no point in Taking Over The World, since he already has pretty much everything he wants. He is content with merely extorting whatever strikes his fancy and cursing those who resist.
  • Averted in the second book, in which he threatens Allansia as a whole, being implied to direct his servant from beyond the Veil and taking matter in hand when he returns. Then again, he seems more interested in seizing a new domain, much larger while he is at it, than in conquest for the sake of it.
• Our Demons Are Different: He is a lich, but he gives demonic vibes, made even clearer by his backstory. The second book explains that he is both an undead lich and a Skeleton Demon at the same time.
  • All ambiguity flies through the window in the second book, in which he becomes no less than one of the Demon Princes. Nifty promotion isn't it?
• Our Liches Are Different: He lacks the Soul Jar, but being a highly powerful undead wizard, and looking like a skeleton wearing robes, he fits every other criteria like a glove.
• The Paragon Always Rebels: He was one of the very best and most promising students ever seen in the Forest of Yore, and his defection is still regarded both as one of the greatest displays of magic there and as a turning point in the school's history. Then he got away and it got ugly big time...
• The Paralyzer: Through his Hypnotic Eyes, leaving preys wide open for his Touch of Death.
• Red Baron: The Night Prince. Talk about Names to Run Away from Really Fast...
• Reduced to Dust: Both times after you show him who's the boss...
• Resurrective Immortality: The second book reveals that he will always return, one way or another, more powerful and evil than before. Yet, he still needs to be resurrected by external intervention.
• Returning Big Bad: After thirty-four years in Real Life, old Zanbar Bone is the Big Bad of another gamebook.
• Right-Hand Attack Dog: He uses a friggin' Lesser Demon in the second book! Quag-Shugguth, a giant, tentacled Animalistic Abomination and a formidable foe with skill 12 stamina 13, costing you -4 skill without the Weapon of X-Slaying. Thankfully, said weapon grants you +3 skill for a way easier fight.
• Self-Made Orphan: Bone killed his own parents. It is strongly hinted that he used their wealth and took over their cult, over whom he already had a strong influence, to start his first reign of terror.
• Sequential Boss: In both books:
  • In the first, you must overcome his illusions, fight the skeletons he creates, successfully shoot his heart, and try to rub his eyes with the magic mixture. One single mistake and you're screwed.
  • In the second, you must survive his plague of insects, destroy his Right-Hand Attack Demon, and have Nicodemus wear his Ring of Power to make him Brought Down to Normal, before shattering his skull with a long-range weapon. If you lack the latter two you're screwed.
• Shrunken Head: One he wears around his neck in the first book. As if you needed any more clues that this sod was bad news.
• Signature Move: The Touch of Death is Zanbar Bone's go-to solution to fighting his foes in the first book. Not in the second though.
• Sinister Scythe: Illustrations of the first book depict him with one. They were iconic enough for the second book to include their every detail, scythe included. He never fights you with it though.
• Sinister Surveillance: He can see you and talk to you from a distance when you are in his tower.
• Silver Has Mystic Powers: Shooting a silver arrow (a silver dagger in the IOS) paralyzes him and breaks his power in City of Thieves.
• Slasher Smile: He sports one on every illustration, made all the creepier in that this is as visible on his skeletal mug as it would be on a human face.
• Sorcerous Overlord: A considerably powerful undead wizard who rules a large domain, controls many monsters and terrorizes the land.
• Summon Magic: He can create skeletons from his teeth, and does so before fighting you in the first book.
  • In the second, he summons Demons, skeleton warriors and plagues of flying insects.
• Taking You with Me: See Last Breath Bullet above for more details.
• Technicolor Fire: In his backstory, he fought Nicodemus by conjuring many tentacles of red fire.
  • Ironically, Nicodemus' White Flame Magic proves his undoing in the second book.
• Tin Tyrant: Zanbar Bone wears a black armour in the illustration of the second book.
• Too Important to Walk: In the second book, he enters the fray sitting on a cushioned throne on a palanquin, carried by four skeletons.
• Touch of Death: Anyone he touches is drained of their life-force and becomes his undead slave.
• Trial-and-Error Gameplay: There are three possible salves to destroy him in the first book, and you have no way of knowing which one unless you played it before. It’s hag's hair and black pearls.
• Undeath Always Ends: It is your job to make sure his own won't last any longer. In both books.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Only hinted at. The black cat among his illusions (and even the one you almost trip over at the very beginning) in the first book, is implied to be Zanbar Bone shape-shifted.
• Was Once a Man: He was born a man, albeit one with Hellish Pupils from birth according to his backstory, and became a lich bordering on Humanoid Abomination. He is now one of the Demon Princes...
• Wave-Motion Gun: Zanbar Bone is described as able to destroy his foes with magic energy in the second book. This fits his backstory, in which he unleashed a huge onslaught of magic at Vermithrax Moonchaser, who managed to deflect it and grievously wound him.
• Weather Manipulation: He causes a thunderstorm and even directs a bolt of lightning to strike next to him in the second book, but he fortunately never uses it against you.
• Winged Humanoid: Zanbar Bone sports black bat-like wings after his resurrection.

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