Hadrian

"Surrender the Redstone Heart, now. Because, ha, I WILL trap you here, forever! I am one-hundred percent fine with that course of action!"

- Hadrian announcing his intentions while showing his complete lack of empathy

Hadrian is a major antagonist in Minecraft: Story Mode, and the main antagonist in the 8th (and last) episode of Season 1, A Journey's End?.

He is the unscrupulous leader of the Old Builders, and is in charge of the Old Builder Games, which are played by the Competitors. He uses the Old Builder Games to abuse the Competitors in his mines in the Nether after they lost.

He is voiced by the legendary voice actor Jim Cummings, who also played Steele in Balto, Fuzzy Lumpkins in the PowerPuff Girls, Nessus in Disney's Hercules, Long John Silver in The Pagemaster, Ed in Disney's The Lion King, Dennis in Disney's Tarzan, Hernán Cortés in El Dorado, Razoul in Disney's Aladdin, and Doctor Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM.

Background
Hadrian is the leader of the Old Builders. He, together with Mevia, Otto, Harper and presumably Cassie, built the Portal Network and invented the Games. They used to have competitors travel from all over to play in The Games.

However, in time Hadrian and Mevia grew more power hungry and sadistic. They started to make people fight against each other, just for sport. Losers in the Games were forced to work in the mines, until they got another shot in the Games. Unknown to anyone, the Games was rigged, so nobody could win. Presumably for that reason, both Harper and Cassie left.

Hadrian is known for making deals with numerous people, usually with other competitors about that if the deal was completed, the competitor would be able to go home. Presumably, that never happened, as Hadrian was always able to make sure it never happened.

A Journey's End?
When Harper and the New Order of the Stone arrived at the Games to retrive the Portal Atlas, after disrupting a game of Spleef, Jesse presented the Redstone Heart (that Harper took when she left) Hadrian offred a deal: If Jesse won the Games, he and his friends would get the Atlas. But if they lost, Harper would have to go to the Mines too. Jesse agrees to the deal, and Harper shows him/her and Petra/Ivor to the Competitor's Village.

The next day, while the competitors are preparing for the next event, which is a dangerous race, Hadrian visits them and tries to interview Jesse. After the interview, he, along with the other Old Builders, commentate the race. Hadrian, along with Mevia, are clearly surprised and dissapointed if Jesse wins.

When Jesse was at Hadrian's Palace, he found out that (presumably under Hadrian's orders) Axel and Olivia, two of Jesse's best friends, were kidnapped by Mevia from their home world to use to blackmail Jesse. Hadrian and Mevia also knew that Jesse had a best friend called Reuben, and as such, tried to kidnap him too, but, clearly not knowing his fate or even his species, Mevia kidnaps a Minecon Usher from Episode 1, who is coincidentally called "Reuben". Hadrian sadistiically changes his deal with Jesse and says that if Jesse wins and leaves, his friends will be sent down into the Mines, but if Jesse loses, he/she can go to the Mines in their place. He then gets Slab the Immovable to drag Jesse out of his Palace.

Hadrian is next seen during the Finale, helping announce and commentate the final game, which is a game of Walls. Hadrian likely rigged the Game so Jesse would lose by giving him/her no resource (aside from dirt and gravel) to defend himself/herself. Much like Mevia, Hadrian is dumbfounded and outraged when, thanks to Jesse, the competitors refused to fight each other and decide to rebel, with Jesse in the lead. Hadrian will show more frustration if Jesse agreed to lose The Games and work in their mines, due to him breaking the deal. If Slab joins Jesse's side, Hadrian will express annoyance and tells Slab that he will pay for his betrayal.

He, Mevia and Otto head down and confront them. Due to them having stepped on The Victory Platform and technically won The Games, Otto tries to give Jesse The Atlas as promised, but Hadrian and Mevia trap him and all the competitors except for Em, Jesse and (determinant) Slab in obsidian. Em runs away, much to Mevia and Hadrian's delight. They both begin to fight Jesse (and determinantly Slab). Jesse knocks Hadrian down on the ground, before he pretends to ask for forgiveness. Mevia eliminates Jesse off-guard, causing him/her to respawn.

While Hadrian and Mevia talk about how to punish the trapped competitors, with Hadrian having something "special" in mind for them, thanks to Jesse's friends (Em and determinant Slab included), after he/she respawns, he/she returns with diamond weapons and Tim's Armour. They fight once more, before Jesse manages to defeat Mevia. Hadrian and Jesse continue to fight. At one point, Jesse's friends taunt Hadrian and support Jesse from afar. Per Em's suggestion, Jesse breaks the obsidian bridge that he/she and Hadrian are standing on and he falls and gets eliminated himself. Hadrian and Mevia both respawn and are beaten up by the Gladiators.

Jesse then uses The Atlas to banish Mevia, along with Hadrian, to a world filled with either zombie-sized chickens or chicken-sized zombies. Mevia tries to crack a pun about their predicament, much to Hadrian's dismay. If Hadrian and Mevia are in the world of zombie-sized chickens, Hadrian will fire her. If Hadrian and Mevia are in the world of chicken-sized zombies, Hadrian would just be disappointed.

Meanwhile, due to some competitors surprisingly enjoying The Games, Otto (and determinately Harper) restarts The Games and makes them fun again, while those who don't want to participate return home, undoing the damage Hadrian and Mevia caused.

Appearance
Hadrian is an old man with white hair, light brown skin, and black pupils. He wears black glasses, a long purple checked suit with white buttons, a bright golden inner-dress, and black gloves. Hadrian also has white buttons on his suit.

Personality
"You really trusted "Hadrian"? That guy's like a creeper in a purple power suit."

- Jesse to Em after learning why she made a deal with Hadrian. (Determinant)

Hadrian is power-hungry, sadistic, selfish, arrogant, immoral, unscrupulous and overall malicous in nature. He shares these traits with his right-hand, Mevia, with both being extremely rude, snarky, obnoxious, unpleasant, heartless, sadistic and volatile. Both show no motives or reasons for their evil deeds aside from for their own selfish entertainment, as well as showing no redeeming traits or morals whatsoever.

Unlike Mevia, Hadrian has a tendency to make deals with others, and break those deals with no second thought, showing his completely honorless nature. For instance, at first, he tells Jesse and Petra/Ivor that if they win the Builder Games, they get to keep the Old Builder's Portal Atlas, which Jesse and friends need to get back to their home world, before later changing the deal and telling Jesse that if he/she wins the games, his/her friends will have to stay behind and work in his quartz mines, and if he/she loses, Hadrian will let his/her friends go if Jesse stays behind in their place. It is highly unlikely that Hadrian intended to keep his end of the bargain. As implied by Em and Harper, regardless of whether or not Jesse loses, Hadrian will very likely send Jesse and his/her friends all to the mines regardless, while claiming that was the original deal. As shown in his treatment of competitors who lose in the games, and his aforementioned deals, Hadrian likes to maximize productivity and had no qualms about enslaving people by sending them to work in his Quartz mines in The Nether. He even admits that he's fine with and has no problem with trapping people forever, showing a complete disregard and lack of sympathy for others.

Hadrian is also hypocritical, as if Jesse agrees to Hadrian's second deal, when he/she inevitably breaks it later, Hadrian gets enraged and yells at Jesse for breaking their deal, saying they had an "agreement" and Jesse "promised" him, despite his own aforementioned habit of breaking deals. As well as that, when first meeting Jesse, he accuses him/her of being a "sore loser" for lashing out because his/her friends were eliminated, or seemingly killed, despite Jesse not knowing that his/her friends would respawn. Later, when Jesse and the other competitors step on the winner's platform, Hadrian is enraged, due to not wanting anyone to win the games, being a sore loser himself. As well as that, he may even tell Jesse off for being rude, despite being at least equally, if not even more rude than he/she is.

Hadrian clearly and openly disfavored Jesse's Gang from the other competitors, possibly because they were trying to get The Atlas from him, or because of their association with Harper. He, possibly to hold a bargaining tone with Jesse, pretends to be polite, civil and somewhat friendly, while still condescending towards Jesse when meeting him/her in his palace. He was also somewhat impressed when he discovered that Jesse and his/her friends are famous heroes, but he still held them in very low esteem, as well as having no problem with maliciously messing with them.

Hadrian is greatly feared by the competitors and even the gladiators, as seen when he simply glares at the competitors causing them to cower and hide, as well as when even the usually confident and tough Gladiators aren't brave enough to fight him and Mevia, implying that they have seen them (Hadrian and Mevia) fight before. Slab implies that Hadrian is impatient and doesn't like being kept waiting. As implied by Sebastian, Hadrian and Mevia tend to abuse and take their anger out on the competitors trapped in their mines.

A Journey's End?

 * Became power-hungry and selfish, just like Mevia.
 * Broke his deals and promises to people very often.
 * Deceived the Competitors into following a false idol, "Tim".
 * Tortured the Competitors in his mines in the Nether.
 * Kept the Competitors as his slaves after he became evil.
 * Had Mevia kidnap Jesse's friends and Usher Reuben to blackmail him/her.
 * Sadistically changed his deal toward Jesse.
 * Said that the Gladiators acted like idiots at one point.
 * Didn't let Otto hand the Portal Atlas to Jesse; instead, he and Mevia trapped him in obsidian.
 * Teamed up with Mevia in hurting Jesse.
 * Never reformed or regretted his actions after he was sent into the world of either zombie-sized chickens or chicken-sized zombies, Hadrian and Mevia's punishment being determined by Jesse's first choice in the 1st episode of Season 1, The Order of the Stone.

Quotes
"Stop the match!"

- Hadrian stopping a game of Spleef for the first time

"It's called "respawning", champ. We're not monsters."

- Hadrian to Jesse after he learns that his/her friends respawned.

"Your wish is my command, buckaroo."

- Hadrian if Jesse tells him to take the Redstone Heart himself

"I'm not surprised that you're confused! (To Mevia) Tiny brains."

- Hadrian, clearly unsympathetic towards Jesse believing that his/her friends are dead.

"Well sport, now that you've come and interupted our games, I'm sure our fans would LOVE to know how you got here! Spill!"

- Hadrian not-so-nicely asking Jesse how he/she ended up in their world.

"You... DARE to soil my - our - games like this and then stand here, STARING; SILENT!!?"

- Hadrian to Jesse, if Jesse chooses to stay quiet. (Determinant)

"Are you being a wisenheimer with me? Is that really what's going on?! Wow. Say, can we get someone to kill this little moron, please? A few dozen times?!"

- Hadrian after Jesse answers his question with a vague response. (Determinant)

"To tell me champ, why do you think Harper brought you here? My bet's on pet! That'll be pretty cute, right?"

- Hadrian questioning and insulting Jesse

"I'll admit, you're a quick sport. But not quick enough for my axe!"

- Hadrian to Jesse during combat.

"Straight and to the point... I'd like it, if I weren't shimmering with barely controlled rage right now!"

- Hadrian to Jesse after he asks him (Hadrian) to hand over The Atlas (Determinant)

"Here's the way MY offer works: You give me the Heart, you and your friends go back down to those portals, I never look at your insignificant faces again. (Petra (determinant): Wait, without the Atlas? But how will we get home?) (Ivor (determinant): Uh, without the Atlas? But we need that to get home.) Soooooooo not my problem. This is a one-time offer. You've caught me in a forgiving mood!"

- Hadrian offering a deal to the New Order of the Stone, clearly not caring that they need the Altas to return home

"Fine! Play it YOUR way! Which is to say I will crush you, and you won't win anyway. Slab, get this garbage out of my office!"

- Hadrian after Jesse rejects his new deal. (Determinant)

"Oh. Yee-ikes, is that who you got that from? I don't know what she told you... but those things aren't exactly valuable."

- Hadrian, about Cassie Rose and the White Pumpkin mask.

"You're fired, Mevia. You're fired."

- Hadrian to Mevia in the chicken Dimension. (Determinant)

"Well, that's cute. Almost as cute as you'll look down in the mines, slugger."

- Hadrian to Jesse. (Determinant)

"Shut up! Just shut up! All of you, shut up!"

- Hadrian to Jesse's Gang, Harper and Emily.

"So help me, NONE of you will leave this place until you ELIMINATE EACH OTHER."

- Hadrian to the competitors in the Walls game if Jesse rejected his deal.

"Well, if it isn't Harper."

- Hadrian to Harper.

"And YOU. You were supposed to *eliminate Jesse.* Our deal's off."

- Hadrian to Emily.

https://youtu.be/r6UUwzaoD9s "Mevia! Come on! What kind of a rookie move was that?!"

- Hadrian to Mevia after she was eliminated.

"Tah-tah for now, bucko."

- Hadrian insulting Jesse before attempting to give him his final blow.

"Not your best work, Mevia."

- Hadrian, responding to Mevia's chicken-related pun

"What makes you think you can win when so many others have failed, huh?"

- Hadrian to Jesse in the Dormitory. (Determinant) "I will personally see to it that you and your friends will forever suffer!"

- Hadrian threatening Jesse and his/her friends (Determinant) "Oh, I'll get out of your face. But I'll be laughing at your face from my nice, cushy box while I watch you burn. I promise you that, you little NOTHING."

- Hadrian to Jesse when he is trying to interview him/her (Determinant)

Similar Villains

 * Chester V (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2)
 * Miles Axelord (Cars 2)
 * Palpatine/Darth Sidious (Star Wars)
 * Orson Krennic (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story)

Trivia

 * Hadrian is the last episodic antagonist to appear in Minecraft: Story Mode, the first three being Aiden, the White Pumpkin, and PAMA.
 * He is also the second major antagonist in the series, with the first one being the Wither Storm, and the third (and last) one being the Admin.
 * Also, the Wither Storm serves as the primary antagonist in the 1st half, while Hadrian serves as the primary antagonist in the 2nd half, of Season 1.
 * Hadrian is quite physically strong, as shown when he simply kicks Jesse once (with his/her regular armor) and immediately takes out two hearts (or one fifth) of Jesse's health. In regular Minecraft, a simple punch takes out half a heart (or one twentieth) of one's health, meaning that Hadrian's kick alone can do four times more damage than an average human's punch.
 * Hadrian could very well be the most evil character in Minecraft: Story Mode, and the only one that is Pure Evil, worse than Ivor, the Wither Storm(s), Aiden, the White Pumpkin, PAMA, or the Admin, who are arguably the most dangerous antagonists in the game. Jesse can be an antagonist if he/she chooses, and can be very dangerous as well.
 * Jesse, while he/she, depending on the player's choices, can commit villainous acts, regardless of player choices, he/she truly cares for his/her friends, though choices that can turn Jesse into a Pure Evil villain might be added in the future; currently, the worst Jesse can get is an Anti-Villain.
 * Ivor isn't particularly evil and actually cares for the safety of others, though he did commit evil acts that still counted him as a villain.
 * The Wither Storm(s) show no signs of malicious personalities (or possibly any personality), aside from being cataclysmic, seemingly mindless monsters; however, they, too, also committed evil acts that still counted them as villains (although they may not have even known it).
 * Aiden was a fame-seeking brat and a sociopathic bully, although he can actually be redeemed and will show remorse for his actions if showed mercy. However, even if Jesse doesn't save him, Aiden still doesn't qualify as Pure Evil.
 * The White Pumpkin was a serial killer, but in the end, she finally saw the error of her ways. As well as that, she genuinely loves and cares for her pet cat, Winslow.
 * PAMA was a computer that went rogue, but had good intentions and wanted to make everything useful and more efficient.
 * The Admin was shown to be truly evil and much worse than the Wither Storm(s), and wants Jesse to be on his side (which is ongoing). However, he was not revealed to be Pure Evil so far, as he may not feel being treated fair (but this is currently debatable until future episodes are released). Although he has much similarities with Hadrian, he might not be as bad.
 * Hadrian, however is a sadistic, power hungry tyrant that keeps the competitors from dying and therefore are trapped as slaves forever, with absolutely no sympathy for them, even enjoying their suffering, while showing no redeeming traits whatsoever. He has no known motives for his evil aside from purely entertaining himself. While in these ways, he is similar to his right hand woman, Mevia, she isn't as outwardly manipulative and dishonest as he is.
 * On top of that, he even kidnaps innocent people from their home worlds (or orders Mevia to do so), and makes false promises to give his victims false hope. Therefore he is likely one of (if not the) only villain in Minecraft: Story Mode that is undoubtetly classified as Pure Evil, and possibly the most evil character in the entire game.
 * While this is only demonstrated with Harper, Facemeat mentions that the Old Builders (presumably Hadrian included) don't like being called "Old Builders".
 * Hadrian seems to bear a slight, physical resemblance to Colonel Sanders (the founder of real-world fast food restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken), and it was somewhat implied at the end of the episode, when he ended up in the land of Chickens that are the size of Zombies (determinant).
 * Hadrian might have known Soren, because he has a book named, "A Man Forever Voyaging, by Soren."
 * This refers to, A Mind Forever Voyaging.
 * Hadrian may have been named after (and might refer to) the real-world Roman emperor of the same name called Hadrian, who was the 14th emperor of the Roman Empire and was known for building "Hadrian's Wall".
 * This is heavily implied since one of the Games that he runs is "The Walls", which might be a nod to this.
 * Despite his irredeemably evil qualities, Hadrian allows Slab to spend time in his office whenever he wants, although this might just be for Hadrian's convenience.
 * The fact that Harper left the Old Builders and took the Redstone Heart, while vowing to never return with it, as well as Harper's dread about Hadrian possessing the Heart implies that Hadrian may have been misusing its power before Harper left.
 * Hadrian shares some similarities with the following villains:
 * Mevia.
 * As stated above, both have similar personallities, with both being extremely selfish, rude, highly sadistic, unscrupulous, hot-tempered, and vindictive, all while showing no redeeming traits.
 * Both run and commentate The Games, while trapping the losers in their mines, with absolutely no sympathy towards them whatsoever.
 * Both are also powerful fighters who defeated Jesse in battle once, only for him/her to get help from his/her friends and then reuturn to defeat them, before then banishing them to a bedrock world full of zombie-sized chickens/chicken-sized zombies.
 * However, Mevia lacks Hadrian's tendency to make (and break) deals, and her role in the story is relatively minor compared to Hadrian's.
 * Pigma Dengar (Star Fox series).
 * Both share many personallity traits, such as being extremely sadistic, rude, selfish, immoral, arrogant, psychologically abusive and completely unreliable and honorless.
 * Both serve as the main antagonist of a spin-off from a popular game (Star Fox Guard for Pigma, although he appears in the main series as well, Episode 8 of Season 1 of Minecraft Story Mode, A Journey's End? for Hadrian).
 * Both are very greedy (albeit in different ways, money for Pigma, power for Hadrian).
 * In addition, both commit a heinous act that can easily push them over the Moral Event Horizon and greatly impacts the protagonist by wronging those close to them. (Pigma betrayed the Star Fox team to Andross for money, causing the presumed death of James McCloud, Fox's father, while Hadrian ordered Mevia to kidnap Axel, Olivia and "Reuben" (the former two being two of Jesse's best friends and the latter being mistaken for Jesse's late pet pig with the same name) to use in a sadistic extortion against Jesse, all while threatening to keep them trapped in his mines forever.)
 * President Coriolanus Snow (The Hunger Games franchise).
 * Both are cruel, ruthless and sociopathic tyrants who are the leaders of their games
 * Both enforce the competitors through use violence and manipulation, using it against them.
 * In addition, both are old men with white hair.
 * Both are Pure Evil (President Snow is Pure Evil in the novels, but not in the movies).
 * Both are the titular antagonists in their stories.
 * However, Snow is unshakably honest and never told a lie (movies only), while Hadrian is extremely dishonest and very frequently tells lies for his own benefit.
 * It is safe to assume that Hadrian has more similarities to President Snow in the novels than in the movies.
 * Steele (Balto).
 * Both are voiced by the same actor, Jim Cummings.
 * Both are the most evil antagonists in their stories.
 * Both attempted to get rid of the main protagonists, and even betrayed them.
 * Both are scheming liars.
 * Both wanted everything to go their way.
 * In addition, both have lost the respect they never deserved.