Warlock Lord

Talimar the Black, more commonly known as the Warlock Lord, is the primary antagonist of the Shadowgate series of adventure games.

Talimar was originally a member of the Circle of Twelve, an elite group of mages which kept watch over the land of Kal Torlin, until he was corrupted by his own lust for power and use of black magic.

Shadowgate (1987)
The Warlock Lord first hid within the depths of Castle Shadowgate, with his goal being to wake the legendary beast known as the Behemoth and use its power to take over the world.

When the hero Lord Jair reached his inner chamber, the Warlock Lord was just about finished with his ritual to raise the Behemoth, and stood by the beast as it emerged from the depths of the earth. Lord Jair then used the magical Staff of Ages to attack the Behemoth, sending it into a rage which caused it to thrash around and fall back into the abyss. In its rage, the Behemoth grabbed the Warlock Lord and dragged him down into the depths as well. The Warlock Lord was then presumed dead.

Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers
Even though the player is initially led to believe that the dark wizard Belzar is the main antagonistic force of Shadowgate 64, a series of scrolls and journals reveal that the Warlock Lord somehow survived the Behemoth's attack, although he remained trapped in the depths beneath Castle Shadowgate.

During the game's climax, Belzar used the Staff of Thunder, which he incorrectly believed to be the Staff of Ages, to perform a ritual in order to summon the Warlock Lord from the realm of shadows. Although the use of the incorrect staff which was rigged with a dragon's eye by protagonist Del Cottonwood resulted in Belzar's death, the ritual was successful in bringing the Warlock Lord back from the depths.

After the ritual left much of the castle grounds ruined, the newly emerged Warlock Lord appeared as a towering giant over the castle. Possessing the Staff of Ages but unable to use it himself, Del bestowed the Ring of the Kingdom along with the staff unto a statue of Lord Jair, which came to life and used them to cast a powerful spell which apparently destroyed the Warlock Lord.

Beyond Shadowgate
Taking place in a different continuity from Shadowgate 64, the timeline of this game assumes that the Warlock Lord remained trapped in the Well of Souls where he tried to summon the Behemoth after his defeat by Lord Jair.

Once again, the Warlock Lord only makes an appearance during the game's climax, wherein he is summoned from the Well of Souls by the treacherous Belezaar. Rather than the human appearance he had shown during the previous games, the Warlock Lord appears as a giant, snake-like monster. Although Belezaar intended to use the Warlock Lord's power to expel humanity from the world, the Warlock Lord quickly double-crossed and consumed Belezaar.

The Warlock Lord then intended to absorb the souls of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Erik to multiply his power and take over the world above. If Erik is equipped with an ordinary item, the Warlock Lord will consume him; however, if Erik has the Staff of Ages, the Magic Sword or the Paddleball, he will subdue the Warlock Lord, causing him to fall back into the Well of Souls.

Afterwards, the wizard Lakmir used his magic to surround Castle Shadowgate in an impregnable layer of foliage, sealing it and presumably the Warlock Lord away forever.

Shadowgate (2014)
In this retelling of the first story, the Warlock Lord is once again found within the depths of the living castle Shadowgate, where he seeks to obtain a mysterious but terrible source of power with which to subdue the kingdom of Kal Torlin. As the hero Jair makes his way through the castle, the Warlock Lord taunts him several times, declaring that he shall never make it to the Inner Chamber in time to stop him.

However, when Jair finally opens the Behemoth's chamber with the Bladed Sun and the Platinum Horn, the Warlock Lord appears behind him, revealing that he could not himself solve the mystery of how to enter the chamber. The Warlock Lord, recognising the Behemoth's power over the Fates, attempted to destroy the beast and take the power for himself, but was dragged into the abyss when Jair used the Staff of Ages to destroy his magical sentries.

Other mentions
In the NES version of the game Uninvited, a number of graves belonging to other Kemco characters can be found in the zombie maze. One of these is labelled "Here lies Talimar, so we think"; if the player strikes this grave, a zombie will emerge, and when spoken to will ask if the name "Warlock Lord" rings a bell.

In the tie-in comic Shadowgate Rising, the protagonist Raven mentions having fought the Warlock Lord.

