Mandrake

"Tonight your pod will bloom here. And when the pod blooms in darkness, it belongs to the darkness. I'll destroy the forest with the very thing you hoped would save it."

- Mandrake revealing his plan.

Mandrake is the main antagonist of Blue Sky's 8th animated feature film, Epic. He is the villainous leader of the Boggans. He also has a son named Dagda.

He was voiced by the two-time Academy Award winning actor, Christoph Waltz, who also played Hans Landa, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Chudnofsky, Léon Rom, Bert Hanson, and Walter Keane.

History
Mandrake is the leader of the creatures called Boggans whose goal is to defeat and destroy the Leafmen and to take over the entire kingdom and to destroy M.K.'s home and kill her father. Dagda is killed by Ronin after one of the arrows Dagda shoots is fired back at him by Ronin, but before he is killed, Dagda's second arrow penetrates Queen Tara's heart, killing her as well. He interrogates Bufo to tell him where M.K. and her other friends were heading. Mandrake is beaten when Ronin and Nod work together, using their swords to push him out of the queen's castle. The gust of wind pushes him to a piece of sap or tar, imprisoning him. His magical staff was with him when he was covered with the tar, so it is unclear if he will escape or not. It is assumed that he would never escape, as his fate was presumably sealed to death.

Personality
Mandrake is known for being snide, ruthless, greedy, cunning, and aggressive. He is an oppressive and treacherous monster who enjoys suffering and hates plants. His powerful of the dark magic of decay increased his rule over his kingdom. Despite his vituperative and tyrannical nature, he is also a caring and compassionate father of his dark prince named Dagda, and becomes more consumed of revenge over his son's death. One of his most manipulative plans is when he takes over the entire kingdom.

Powers and Abilities
Mandrake is a skilled hand-to-hand combat warrior, commanding animals of the dark (ravens, moles, bats and anything else), enhanced strength and agility. Mandrake's staff can decay, rot, and kill any living thing with one strike at full force fuel by the user rage. Mandrake shows Bufo his power by rotting a tree and splitting it in half as it dies, killing a bat that a Leafman (Nod) mounted by stabbing his staff and turning the bat into a skeleton.

Trivia

 * He is very simlar to King Chichak from the 2008 animated film, Turok: Son of Stone.
 * Mandrake's goals are the same with Hexxus from the 1992 animated film, FernGully: The Last Rainforest, both are evil creatures with their hatred of the beauty of the forest, tired of living in the shadows, and determined to destroy it as their new kingdom.
 * Unlike his race, he, his wife (deceased) and son are more advanced Boggans with more intelligence than rest.
 * He wears a bat pelt as head cap, cape and clothing, some villains and culture tribes wear pelts to command respect and leadership over their people. Mandrake proving himself as a powerful ruler by killing a bat by himself and showing battle plans of conquering the dead forest kingdom his created.
 * Mandrake's reign of terror and personality is like the Cambodian dictator, Pol Pot, because he turns a plentiful nation into a disease-ridden wasteland, killing people in the process.
 * Mandrake is also very similar to Emperor Maltazard from the Arthur and the Invisibles franchise.
 * Both are leaders.
 * Both have sons (Dagda and Darkos).
 * Both wish to destroy the main race of creatures (Leafmen and Minimoys).
 * He is the third main antagonist of the Blue Sky film to be a parent, after Madame Gasket and Sour Kangaroo.