Belgaroth

Belgaroth, the Dread Lord is a higly powerful, undead Knight of Chaos who serves as the main villain and final enemy in the Fighting Fantasy gamebook Knights of Doom. He was once a holy templar, brother of Chivalras IX the king of Ruddlestone, but he renounced his allegiences and turned to Evil, becoming one the most feared Chaos Lords ever seen in the history of Titan. In Knights of Doom Belgaroth returns from the Underworld and threatens the kingdom once more, and it is up to the player to slay him for good. Belgaroth can compete with Razaak for the title of the best protected and hardest to defeat Fighting Fantasy villain ever seen. Knights of Doom itself being widely regarded by fans as one of the hardest gamebooks of the entire series.

Background
Over one century before the events described in Knights of Doom, Belgaroth was born the younger brother of the wise and noble king Chivalras IX. He assisted him in ruling their country of Ruddlestone, located in the Old World, one of the three continents of the world of Titan, and was his second-in-command of the Holy Order of the Templars of Telak, devoted to the service of Telak, God of Courage and patron of Warriors. Yet, Belgaroth was ambitious, bitter and warmongering, and his jealousy of his brother's throne prompted him to openly criticize his rule, which he deemed weak and too lenient.

Belgaroth spent more and more time in his stronghold of Caer Skaal, alone and brooding, and his bitterness soon got the best of him. He secretly repudiated the ways of Telak and came to worship the Dark Gods. (Most likely the Demon Princes.) Over the years, Belgaroth's hatred coupled with his worship of the Dark Gods corrupted him to a point never reached before and deprived him of his humanity, turning him into a demonic Chaos Lord. Belgaroth then founded the evil order of the Knights of Doom and raised a chaotic army, planning to take over his brother's kingdom and instore his own tyranical rule. Fortunately, the king was warned by his spies and was able to make his move before his fallen brother, sparking the dreadful Crusade against Chaos. After entire months of an awful, gruelling war, Chivalras' armies and the Templars of Telak besieged Caer Skaal and ultimately managed to destroy the Knights of Doom and their entire forces. Belgaroth himself was slain by Sir Rhyaddan, the hero who wielded the magical elven spear Aelfgar.

Belgaroth was defeated but his nightmarish memory would never truly fade. Death itself wasn't enough to lessen the fear caused by the mention of his reviled name, and the ruins of Caer Skaal were considered as cursed, with none daring to approach it. When the gamebook takes place, no Templar of Telak ignores the gloomy tale of the Crusade and its very battlefield remains untouched.

Powers and Abilities
Belgaroth is a highly talented fighter and strategist, with incredible skills in swordfight, knightly jousts and even battle magic. He fights with a great broad sword, ornated with the runes of Chaos, which he infused with his own chaotic energy to cause greater wounds than a regular weapon and to channel his chaotic influence through his enemies' body, corrupting further the ones he strikes with each blow. Even his armour is infused with his chaotic energy and as such, it reduces any wound inflicted to him. All this makes Belgaroth a truly formidable foe, against whom only the most skilled and lawful warriors can stand a chance. Belgaroth can also attack by firing dangerous bolts of dark energy. Belgaroth was never seen leading a battle himself, but the violence of the Crusade against Chaos and the fearsome war machines that he invented give enough evidence of his talent as a warlord.

Though not as skilled in sorcery than his wife Morgwyn, Belgaroth is well versed in dark magic. Yet it must be noted that he is more akin of a Dark Priest than a sorcerer and that his vast dark power mostly stems from his control over the forces of Chaos. He is able to cast spells, (mostly based on spiritual magic such as the fearsome Assassin's Dagger) to grant special powers to his followers and to enchant his and his generals' weaponry with chaotic energy. Moreover, he can spread the chaotic forces over the country to wither the land itself, and to corrupt the heart of people by channeling the chaotic forces into a rune of Chaos. Belgaroth can also influence the weather and cause thunderstorms, tear open gates between worlds, and summon demonic beings, evil spirits and undeads that he controls. His foul influence alone is enough to plague both the country and its king like a fatal disease and to awake monsters and evil beings. All the chaotic beings in the land will naturally follow him.

Belgaroth's Generals
Either one hundred years ago or nowadays, Belgaroth always had powerful being by his side, who serve him and lead his armies on his behalf. All those who served him during the Crusade against Chaos were resurrected alongside him as living-deads, but there is also evil beings in the present time who aligned themselves with him.

The Chaos Champion
The most powerful among the thirteen Knights of Doom, who serves as Belgaroth's champion and most likely his right-hand-man. The Chaos Champion is a highly skilled warrior, with fighting skills rivalling with that of Belgaroth himself, and an accomplished rider, expert in horseback battles with a spear. Fortunatelly, he lacks the enchanted weaponry of the other Knights of Doom and their lord, which would have made him even harder to defeat than the Dread Lord. The Chaos Champion is a talented and fearless general, who is apparently used to lead his troops from the front line, and who never looks twice before dealing with troublemakers personally, as evidenced when he attacks the player when he or she gets close to Caer Skaal. (Though he might have been sent by his evil lord.)

The Knights of Doom
The other twelve Knights of Doom serves are Belgaroth's first and foremost generals, who lead his chaotic armies. They are all powerful Knights of Chaos who were recruited, and possibly corrupted by the Dread Lord before the Crusade against Chaos, and returned as undeads alongside their master and their champion. The Knights of Doom all use armours and weapons infused with chaotic energy, which reduces their wounds and can increase the ones they inflict, making them deadly foes. They never leave Belgaroth's side and serve as his bodyguards, attacking alltogether anyone who challenges their wretched master. Given their huge fighting skills, their power and sheer number, none can even dream of defeating them all in a regular battle.

Morgwyn
Belgaroth's own wife. Morgwyn is a powerful sorceress and a worshipper of the evil Goddess of Sorcery Shekka. She helped her husband to raise his armies by summoning demons and evil spirits. During the siege of Caer Skaal she called forth evil ghosts to torment the besiegers every night, and she fought alongside her husband until the very end. She threw herself from the higest tower of the stronghold when she heard about her husband's demise, but she returned as a spectre when he and his Knigths were resurrected. Morgwyn's spectre haunts Caer Skaal and attacks anyone who dares heading towards the throne room.

Bryar
The Arch-Cleric of the once Holy Order of the Clerics of Lein, worshippers of the forest, who devoted their life in helping the poor and needy. For an unknown reason, the Clerics of Lein came to secretly worship Evil. While maintaining a facade of benevolence and helpfulness, Bryar and his clerics are leading a secret plot to destroy the forest of Lein, through the use of a demonic vegetal demon called the Darkthorn, whom they worshipp as their new idol. Their goal is to create a "forest" of thorns that would drain the land's strength, furthering the spreading of Belgaroth's evil influence over Ruddlestone.

Murgrim the Cruel
One of Belgaroth's present-day vassals, Murgrim is the leader of a powerful tribe of chaotic beastmen settled in the Banarask Hills near Caer Skaal. When Begaroth returned, he immediately pledged his allegiance to him. Murgrim is a ugly and overweight beastman with bluish gray furr, horns and hoves, who in spite of his size is a very skilled warrior who fights with a great axe. As his his nickname implies, Murgirm is cruel and highly sadistic, and spends his leisure time torturing his prisonners. He and his beastmen captured Celastrix, the divine bird that the player must rescue.

The Traitor
One of the lords of Ruddlestone, vassal of king Rannor, who secretly pledged allegiance to Belgaroth, likely out of ambition. The traitor was granted the ability to transform into a raven at will by Belgaroth's dark magic and he uses it to watch over the land and to travel to Caer Skaal, where he can tell everything he learnt to the Dread Lord without raising suspicions. While posing as a noble ruler concerned by his people's safety, he is in fact a vile, greedy and hateful man. He uses his raven transformation to watch the player all over the story and reports his/her progress to his master on a regular basis. Telling the traitor's name out loud before him while he is transformed breaks the spells and unveils his treachery.

Cadaver the Necromage
An ancient necromancer (referred to as a necromage) who singlehandedly caused the ruin of the village of Myrton decades ago, turning it into a ghost town. The people from the village managed to kill and to bury him, but not before his evil magic destroyed everything left here. Cadaver rose from the grave as an undead lich because of Belgaroth's evil influence that plagued the country and he became one of the Dread Lord's major servants. He uses his necromancy to rise countless undeads from the grave to increase Belgaroth's armies and he constantly sends his troops to attack the nearby village of Assart, empowering them with the sound of a cursed bell. The player must venture in the ghost town and find Cadaver's vault to confront and destroy the wretched lich.

Belgaroth's return
A few months before the beginning of the story, a tremendous, unnatural storm broke out above the ruins of Caer Skaal and tore open a huge vortex of demonic energy, allowing Belgaroth and his Knights of Doom to escape the Underworld as living-deads. This phenomenon had several witnesses and was spotted by the court mages of Ruddlestone, but none could know about the actual return of the Dread Lord, who was protected from detection by demonic entities. Considering all the people who started following him only few weeks after his return, it can be guessed that Belgaroth was brought back on purpose by his present-day followers, very likely by the already corrupted Clerics of Lein.

Belgaroth began to spread his evil influence all over Ruddlestone; plaguing the land itself like a fatal disease. A disease that would later affect even the king Rannor and threaten his life, weakening the country until Belgaroth could invade it without the same opposition as before, and granting him enough time to start raising another chaotic army. He then sent black-clad warriors harboring his heraldy, to ransack the nearby towns on a regular basis.

Presentation of the game
The king Rannor and his advisors call the Templars of Telak to tell them about Belgaroth's return. However, the meeting is interrupted by a ghostly knight sent to kill the king, who is destroyed by the playabe character, one of the most illustrious Templars of Telak. While the rest of the Holy Order is tasked to organize the Ruddlestonian army, the player volunteers to go on his own to sneak into Caer Skall and try to kill the Dread Lord, in order to avoid a full-scale war. The player wields a magical sword able to harm demons and spirits but might lose it during the course of the game. The player can also chose four Special Skills between the Warrior Skills: Battle Tactics, Ride, Weapon, Target and Tracking, and the Priest Skills: Banish Spirit, Arcane Lore, Holy Strike and Commune, the first three of each being the most useful. There is also two additional rules: Time, that must by no mean be wasted, and Honor, that need to be raised at the highest possible number.

The gamebook itself is very difficult, considering that it is a one-true-path, in which not getting a single element can be very damaging and even make lose the game. The player has to talk to almost everyone, (living and dead people alike) to visit many places and succed in many subquests, while wasting as little time as possible, while also gathering much knowledge and items, solving riddles and winning many very hard battles. The stronger the player is, the best it will be.

The Quest in itself
The player has distinct goals: to investigate about the many powerful monsters who appeared because of Belgaroth's evil influence; to gather clues about a traitor; to enlist the help of as many people has he/she can, in order to build a small army to fight Balgaroth's troops; and finally to learn the three parts of the "Tale of Sir Rhyaddan" to know where to find the magical, elven spear Aelfgar.

Very early in the game, the player gets targeted by the Assassin's Dagger: a powerful spell cast by the Dread Lord himself, which conjures a ghostly hand wielding a dagger that tracks down its target everywhere, to stab and kill it. If the player can use the Banish Spirit, he/she will get rid of one of the game's major threats right from the beginning. Otherwise, the Dagger will appear several times all over the game and attack the player. It has 10 in skill (level of power) and cannot be destroyed in battle. The player can only dispel it with a Holy Oil and must get rid of it at any cost.

When the player reaches Cleeve Manor, Lord Taris Varen requests his/her help to slay a gigantic boar who is laing waste on his land, and rewards him/her when the job is done. The player will later be attacked by assassins before meeting helpful people. Also, and if the player has gathered enough clues about the mysterious activities of the Clerics of Lein, he/she can sneak into their temple and unveil their nefarious schemes. Bryar the corrupt Arch-Cleric then summons the demonic Darkthorn against the player and only a potion Witherwell can destroy the unholy creature. The player then has to track down Bryar, and might fight some of his initiates in the process.
 * If the player hasn't got a cleric talisman, Bryar conjures vines to decrease his/her skill total of 2 points. The Arch-Cleric has 9 in skill (level of power) and 9 in stamina. (life-points) When slain, he curses the player to suffer a specific phobia.

When the player reaches the village of Assart, he/she is asked for help against the undead legions of the undead necromage Cadaver. The player must first lead the villagers against the undead hordes, before venturing in the ghost-village of Myrton where dwells the lich. If the player destroys the cursed bell, it will weaken the undeads. Upon entering Cadaver's vault, the player must fight against his Deathshead (undead flying skull) pet who has 9 in skill and 7 in stamina.
 * Cadaver himself is a powerful and dangerous enemy with 10 in skill and 12 in stamina. If the player suffers from arachnophobia, the lich's spider-like aspect weakens him/her of 1 skill point. If Cadaver strikes the player twice, he/she gets harmed further by the awful maggots that fester upon the lich's roten flesh.

The player will also have the choice to save the town of Carras, besieged by Belgaroth's troops, who use a dangerous war machine called the Juggernaut, which the player has to destroy from the inside.

After all this, the player can (and must) look for the legendary spear Aelfgar. By doing so he/she discovers his/her best friend and fellow Templar Sir Connor of Achenbury, who warns him about the beastmen and Celastrix the divine bird before dying from the wounds he recieved. He/She then meet the elves and the Forest Spirits, who put him/her on trial against a highly powerful Knight of the Flame with 12 in skill and 12 in stamina, whose blows inflict a loss of 3 stamina points. In the temple the player has to face several divine trials to finally obtain Aelfgar.

If the player wasted to much time, Belgaroth would have had enough time to gather his armies and will start invading Ruddlestone, overwhelming and killing the player. If not, and if the player has gathered enough soldiers to invade the Banarask Hills, they will face Belgaroth's already recruited forces. Note that the soldiers granted by Lord Taris Varen will betray the player's forces to fight alongside the enemy, that the player might face the Beastman Champion who has 12 in skill and 14 in stamina, and will have to flee when the beastmen join the battle.

The player then has to sneak into the beastmen village to fight and kill their awful leader, Murgrim the Cruel whom he/she finds busy torturing prisoners. When Murgrim is slain, the player sets free the divine bird Celastrix and enlists his help, and can finally head to Caer Skaal, Belgaroth's stronghold.
 * Murgrim is a powerful foe with 10 in skill and 11 in stamina, but fortunately, there is no special rules to complicate the fight.

Reaching Caer Skaal
Before reaching Caer Skaal, the player is attacked on the battlefield of the Crusade against Chaos by none other than the formidable Chaos Champion.
 * The player must fight against the Chaos Champion horseback in a knightly joust. If he/she hasn't the Special Skills Ride and Weapon (with a spear) he/she loses 2 skill points because of the big disadvantage. The Chaos Champion is a dreadful enemy with 12 in skill and 12 in stamina. If he strikes the player twince in a row, the player gets unhorsed and loses 2 other skill points. However, if the player has a spear and is the first to strike twice in a row, it is the Chaos Champion who gets unhorsed and loses 2 stamina points.

Upon defeating the champion, the player finally reaches Caer Skaal, which is being rebuilt by Belgaroth's followers. Entering the evil hideout by the front door is not the best choice here. When inside Caer Skaal, there is obviously many dangerous monsters to fight, including an invisible Poltergeist, and many traps. The player must discover the Five Words of Power, an incantation devised by Savant, a mage who did not followed his master Belgaroth in the path of Chaos and tried (and failed) to destroy him, and get in contact with the ghost of Sir Connor to learn the final clue about "the raven" the mysterious traitor. Then the last line of defense between the Templar of Telak and the Knights of Doom is the spectre of Belgaroth's wife, the mad sorceress Morgwyn.


 * If the player hasn't got a magical weapon, Morgwyn cannot be defeated and the game is lost. The sorceress is protected from the Banish Spirit by her dark magic. Should the player use it, she retaliates with a bolt of dark energy that costs 4 stamina points. Morgwyn has 9 in skill and 9 in stamina and uses dangerous attacks. If she wins the first turn she hurls a dark bolt, (minus 4 stamina points) if she wins the second, she conjures evil spirits (minus 6 stamina points) and after that she fights with her ghostly touch. (If she manages to strike the player with it, she might cause a loss of 1 skill point.)

At last the player gets close to Belgaroth's throne room. Be then prepared to face the HARDEST part of the game.

The final battle

 * Before even entering the Dread Lord's inner sanctum, the player needs the tree sap from the Forest of Lein to destroy the enchanted wooden doors of the throne room, or else the noise made when trying to pry them open will alert the guards, who will kill the player on sight.
 * When entering the throne room, the player finally encounters Belgaroth and the twelve Knights of Doom, as the Dread Lord is takling to a mysterious raven. If the player knows the Five Words of Power (and survives to the deadly energies they unleash) he/she stands a chance against the Knights of Doom. Otherwise, he/she is quickly overwhelmed and slain.
 * The Words of Power will kill six to eleven (and maybe twelve with the Special Skill Holy Strike) of the Knights of Doom. Every surviving Knight must be destroyed in battle. They are all VERY dangerous foes with 10 in skill and 12 in stamina, who lose only 1 stamina point when struck, and whose blows can cost 3 stamina points instead of the usual 2 ! The more Knights are slain by the Words of Power, the better. Fighting too many of them is higly difficult and can cause a huge problem, as the player needs as much stamina points as possible for the incoming fight against Belgaroth.
 * Belgaroth then uses the power of Chaos to corrupt the player, who must win a difficult test of honor to overcome it. The more honor points the player has the less dangerous this ordeal will be. If the player fails, he/she becomes a Knight of Chaos under Belgaroth's command and loses the game.
 * Belgaroth then attacks with a bolt of dark energy that cannot be avoided and costs 5 stamina points. If the player uses the Holy Strike, he/she only loses 2 stamina points, but if he/she uses a Black Crystal Orb, it will magnify the Dread Lord's evil energy and reduce the player to ashes.
 * Finally, the player can fight against the formidable Dread Lord who is a truly DREADFUL foe. Belgaroth has 12 in skill and 17 in stamina, he loses only 1 stamina point when struck and whenever he wounds the player, he/she loses 3 stamina points and 1 point of honor, no less! If the player loses all his/her honor, he/she tuns into a Knight of Chaos and the game is lost. Given Belgaroth's huge level of power, the player needs very high stamina and honor totals to stand a chance, but given the previous ordeals, this is easier said than done. Fortunately, the battle stops when Belgaroth's stamina drops to 7 or less. Unfortunately, THIS IS FAR FROM OVER YET !
 * If the Assassin's Dagger has not been destroyed, it will strike from behind during the battle and kill the player.
 * Seeing that the player is gaining the upper-had, the raven (the traitor transformed) will fly away to warn Belgaroth's guards. If the player hasn't guessed the traitor's name, he/she will be overwhelmed by the soldiers and Belgaroth himself will land the finishing blow.
 * Saying the traitor's name out loud breaks his transformation and reveals his identity. The traitor is none other than Lord Taris Varen. (Varen=Raven, he sent assassins after the player and his soldiers joined the enemys side during the battle.) Taris Varen, now reduced to a awfully deformed half-raven half-human mutant, attacks the player out of rage. He his greatly weakened by his current state and has only 7 in skill and 8 in stamina, but fighting him allows Belgaroth to flee.
 * Belgaroth_cavalier.jpg killing the vile traitor, the player goes after Belgaroth, who is found on the battlements of Caer Skall. The Dread Lord then summons his hellish mount, a Night-Mare (a demonic, winged steed) and sends it after the player. The powerful creature has 10 in skill and 11 in stamina, but fortunately there is no additional rule and the battle stops when its stamina drops to 6 or less.
 * Belgaroth calls back the Night-Mare and flies away towards his armies, leaving the player to deal with his guards. If the player cannot summon the Celastrix, he/she is caught and killed by Belgaroth's Warriors of Chaos and the chaotic army will invade Ruddlestone.
 * Upon summoning the Celastrix, the player must ride the divine bird to catch up with the Dread Lord. If he/she loses a test of skill, he/she falls from his/her mount to his/her death.
 * The player then engages an aerial duel against Belgaroth who attacks again with a bolt of dark energy. If the player hasn't got the spear Aelfgar, he/she gets struck and falls to his/her death.
 * If the player wields Aelfgar, he/she must throw it at Belgaroth and succeed, otherwise, the Lord of Fright strikes him/her with his dark bolt, sending him/her falling to his/her death.

FINALLY the Player manages to destroy the fearsome Belgaroth once and for all, banishing him back to the Underworld for all eternity. He or she then recieves the thanks and the blessing of the ghost of the former king Chivalras IX, thus finishing one of the hardest quests, if not the hardest, of all the Fighting Fantasy series.

Trivia

 * Belgaroth is mistakenly referred to as a sorcerer in the backcover of the gamebook, despite being a Knight of Chaos.
 * Belgaroth and Razaak are very similar Fighting Fantasy final enemies: both are undoubtedly the hardest ever seen, both needs an insane amount of knowledge and special items or spells to be faced safely, (with an item that can kill the player) and both are formidable foes with special rules that makes them close to invincible. Belgaroth is less hard in one-on-one battle, though. But in turn, the player must win many VERY TOUGH battles and needs the aforementioned knowledge and items before AND AFTER fighting him.
 * Belgaroth is also similar to two other Fighting Fantasy villains: Voivod the Waster and Mortis of Balthor, who are also powerful Dark Knights and Evils from the past, who need a magical spear to be defeated. This similarities with Voivod are stronger, as both are demonic Chaos Lords who control a formidable team of Dark Knights, and whose returns triggers the appearance of many monsters.
 * Oddly enough, Belgaroth shares his name with a planet of the Star Wars extended universe.
 * Belgaroth's page on Titannica, the Fighting Fantasy Wiki: http://fightingfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Belgaroth