Oldoran Zagor

Oldoran Zagor, best known by his last name Zagor, is a powerful dark wizard and the most emblematic villain of the succesful series of gamebooks (books of which the reader is the hero)'' Fighting Fantasy. He is indeed the only Fighting Fantasy'' villain to appear in three differents books, and the villain of the first book of the series. (Which is also the very first real gamebook ever written, and which set the bases of the world of Titan, ancestor to the Warhammer universe itself.) Zagor is closely linked to his sinister hideout, the Firetop Mountain, full of labyrinthic caves where dwell the cohorts of monsters under his command.

About Zagor
Oldoran Zagor is described as an evil, ambitious and malevolent wizard who cares little about anyone else than himself. He wants to take over Allansia, the most featured of the three continents of the world of Titan, and he would stop at nothing to fufill his goal. The only thing which interests him about other people is what they own that he could steal, or the way he could use them. Those who survive to an expedition in his labyrinth are often thrown in jail for the rest of their lives or tortured to death. He is also greedy and rapacious, given that he very likely took control of Firetop Mountain to gain his ancestor's wealth, and given that he ransacked many riches from the populations around. Moreover, he always keeps a great deal of gold and jewels next to him and he crafted his own money coins, the "golden Zagors" with which he pays his troops.

Zagor also appears as someone very intelligent and patient who seems to wait for the outcome of the conflict between his two "friends" and fellow apprentices Balthus Dire and Zharradan Marr before claiming Allansia for himself; and who doesn't care about death as he always casts a resurection spell should the worst (for him) happen. Yet, in Legend of Zagor, he appears clearly irked to see that another hero has, once again, come to defeat him.

Surprisingly enough from such an evil being, Zagor displayed on many occasions a real respect towards his enemies, to whom he speaks very politely, and a strict code of honor. In Return to Firetop Mountain, when the player manages to overcome the chaotic Elementals, he acknowledges the player as an equal and challenges him to a fair duel with no armor and a single dagger for weapon, to see what would prevail between Chaos and Order, while he could have destroyed the player with a Lightning Ball spell. (He goes as far as giving the player a dagger to fight with.) This code of honor may be the reason why Zagor did not took part in the Trolltooth Wars, and only grugdingly helped the hero Chadda Darkmane, as he valued his friendly rivalry with the two dark wizards. He might even have helped Darkmane because of a bargain of some sort between the two.

Despite this, it is made clear that he is very confident in his abilities, and most importantly that should he lose, he knows that he will rise again. It is also made clear that he values his own ambition more than his friendship with his former fellow apprentices.

Background
Very little is revealed about Zagor's past and origins in the gamebooks that feature him, (even his first name is not mentioned) but one can learn more in several additional sources, written by the authors about the world of Titan and the Fighting Fantasy universe.

It is said that he is the great-grandson of the powerful warlock Gallan Zagor, who gained an immense fortune from his practice of magic and took over the gloomy caverns of Firetop Mountain to hide his treasure. Oldoran himself was born in the town of Zengis in Allansia. Some less reliable sources precise that his father, the merchant-wizard Gerlekus Zagor wanted his son to be of demonic origins, so that he performed a complex ritual involving several powerful artifacts to bring into the earthly planes a female demon that would give birth to Oldoran.

It is explained in the gamebook Creature of Havoc that when Zagor was a child, he was sent (possibly by his father) to the wicked wizard Volgera Darkstorm to be taught the arts of magic. He numbered among Darkstorm's very best students, along with two fellow pupils who were his equals in terms of power and malevolence; Balthus Dire and Zharradan Marr. The three apprentices became friends and (mostly) rivals, and started calling themselves the Demonic Three. They soon grew powerful and talented enough to frighten the aging Volgera Darkstorm, who began to fear their evil and thus limited the lessons he gave them, hoping that they wouldn't learn too much. Unfortunately for him, the Demonic Three grew tired of this and killed their now useless teacher with a Rain of Knives spell. They then ransacked Darkstorm's library and possessions before parting ways, likely entering a (not so) friendly competition to conquer Allansia before the others.

Zagor headed to Firetop Mountain, which had been occupied by a tribe of dwarves since Gallan Zagor's death. He was very likely driven by the desire to obtain what was left of Gallan's treasure, which he considered to be his inheritance. Zagor quickly raised hordes of monsters and undeads, which he used to take over the cavers of Firetop Mountain, which he turned into a cursed place. He turned his hordes into an actual army of monsters, sending them on the neighbouring towns and villages on a regular basis, to abduct the guinea pigs he needed for his experiments and to steal many riches to gain more wealth. It is even said that he cursed the surrounding of Firetop Mountain to turn those who die here into his undead servants. Zagor first displayed no apparent desire for conquest, but he may simply have waited for Balthus Dire and Zharradan Marr to fight to the death before making his move.

In the novel Trolltoohth Wars, which retconnects the events described in Citadel of Chaos and Creature of Havoc, it is said that the famed salamonian hero Chadda Darkmane ventured into Firetop Mountain and came to an uneasy agreement with Zagor, who grugdingly accepted to help him reach Zharradan Marr, whom Darkmane eventually defeated.

Powers and Abilities
Oldoran Zagor is described by the great mage Gereth Yaztromo as one of the most powerful wizards ever seen in Titan. He mostly specializes in Elemental magic, as he is seen using elemental-based attack spells, commanding vegetal beings and crafting spells that can create fissures on the ground, but most importantly summoning Elementals (highly powerful creatures made of a distinct element) to serve him. Zagor is also well versed in necromancy and demonology, though in a lesser extend. He can raise living-deads and cast his signature resurection spell, which can revive him long after his demise, as long as a part of his body remains. He can also summon powerful demonic beings.

Zagor has also displayed the magical abilities to shapeshift, to teleport, to perform levitation, to hypnotize people, to cast generic illusions, to see and talk where he isn't physically present through a picture which represents him and to cause a plague. Inside the caves of Firetop Mountain, the player can find animated objects which move as if used by someone invisible to perform a distinct task, or who animates themselves to attack any passer by; drawnings that becomes real things or drawnings that cast a spell on those who see them; writtings that cast a deadly curse on those who read them and gems that transform into a powerful warrior made of carved crystal. All this being caused by Zagor's powerful spells.
 * In Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Zagor's power is rumored to reside in his treasured deck of bewitched cards. A rumor that eventually proves true, as the player can destroy the cards, which drastically decreases the warlock's strenght and makes the final battle much easier. This numbers among the many possibilities to decrease the final enemy's fighting skills or to kill him without fight, reccurent in the early Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. In the other two books Zagor's deck reappears, still carrying powerful magic but without further incidence on Zagor's powers.
 * Return to Firetop Mountain focuses on Zagor's Elemental powers. Zagor's magic once gives birth to a flamming spirit and Zagor's surgeon-mages cast a spell very likely devised by the warlock himself, to open a huge fissure on the ground to trap the player inside and close it. The player needs a magical staff to avoid this. Before the final battle, Zagor will summon four chaotic Elementals to fight the player, who needs to find a way to circumvent this.


 * In Legend of Zagor, the mighty warlock is accidently transported to another world, where he gets fused with a high-ranking demon and transform into an unfathomably powerful demon warlock. Because of this transformation, Zagor's power gradually increases, and he would have become all-powerful and invincible, hadn't the player reached him before the final stage of the metamorphosis. When the player reaches him, Zagor's magical might, physical strength and overall power are already beyond the limit of any fighter, and the player must decrease it, in order to stand a chance against him. Zagor has also gained the demon's foul ability to corrupt people's spirit and has become virtually immortal, as even when the player kills him, he awakes after a determinded lenght of time.

Zagor is also able to fight with a dagger, which he wields with remarkable proficiency.

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
Being the first gamebook of the series, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain focuses more on the situation encountered by the player than the characters' personality and background. Zagor himself is almost never refered by his name, which is only mentioned when the player "meets" him through a painting, and ventures into the Maze of Zagor. Even during the battle against him, the books calls him "warlock" when displaying his skill (level of power) and stamina. (life points)

Zagor is here surrounded in mystery and rumours, (who aren't always false) as very few have met him in person and lived to tell the tale. He isn't presented as someone malevolent or ambitious, though the fact that he commands monsters and have prisoners tortured give enough indications. What is known for sure is that Zagor guards an immense treasure, which the player wants to steal, should he or she do it over the warlock's dead body. Paradoxically, Zagor appears as a sort of victim who stands to protect his legitimate property and even his life.

The player must venture into the caves of Firetop Mountain and later find his/her way through the Maze, (which sure deserves his name) inside the innermost caves, while overcoming many obstacles, deadly traps and more or less dangerous monsters. (Including a strong iron golem, a dangerous wight and a powerful vampire.) The player must also collect many items, including the keys that can open the treasure chest at the end of the book. Without the right keys the game end in a failure, even if the player succeeded in finding and killing Zagor. Zagor's quarters are protected by a powerful dragon with 10 in skill and 15 in stamina. (Ironically, when the Fighting Fantasy universe further developped, these statistics came to prove ridiculously weak for a dragon.) The player can defeat the dragon without fighting it, thanks to a special incantation.

Facing Zagor
Zagor himself is a powerful enemy with 11 in skill (with the maximum being 12) and 18 in stamina. The player can try using some items against him before fighting, but if the item proves useless Zagor retaliates with flames, that cost 3 stamina points. If the player owns the magical gem Eye of Cyclops, it will reduce Zagor to dust without fighting. The player can also steal and destroy his bewitched playing cards, thus reducing Zagor to 7 in skill and 12 in stamina and making the final battle way easier.

The ending paragraph states that the player can chose to use Zagor's book of magic to become the new lord of Firetop Mountain, but the canon later retconected the story to fit his return, stating that the hero took the treasure and left.

Return to Firetop Mountain
In Return to Firetop Mountain, it is clearly stated that Zagor was an evil warlock who spread fear and misery all over the land, and that the one who killed him is hailed as a hero. The book takes place ten years after Zagor's demise. Everyone in Allansia knows that he is dead and his name no longer frightens people. But unfortunately, Zagor cast a resurrection spell before being slain. He then rises from the grave and causes a plague in the city of Kaad, before raising his armies again and recruiting powerful dark wizards to serve him. Also, given that Zagor resurrected but did not regained a body (being probably reduced to a living skeleton) he had his monsters abduct people all around, to take parts of their living body to reconstruct his own. As such, he is now covered in scars, but he regained his own face.

The player is an adventurer looking for fame and riches, who arrives in a small village and offers to get rid of Zagor. Unfortunately, Zagor has spies in every nearby village and the player must track down those who heard about his mission. The player can either go to the city of Kaad to ask for the great mage Yaztromo's help or directly head to Firetop Mountain. However, if the player chooses the latter, he or she will lack informations and items needed to succeed and will surely lose the game.

Upon arriving to Kaad, and even if Zagor's spies were killed, the warlock sends a dangerous ghostly doppelganger, who impersonates Yaztromo to get rid of the player. Yaztromo cannot leave the city, as he is busy curing the victims of the plague, but he provides precious indications and directs the player to a shop where he/she can find extremely useful (if not mandatory) items, and to a half-elf owning a giant eagle that would take him to Firetop Mountain. (The half-elf is later captured and tortured, and eventually meets his demise after helping the player one last time.)

The caves of Firetop Mountain are quite the same as in the first book. The player can even find elements of the previous adventure, such as empty boxes which contained items back then, skeletons of monsters once slain. (who rise again and attack the player) However, the place is now much gloomier and there is more monsters (stronger than in the previous book) and more traps. The player must survive the encounter with Zagor's wizard servants and the trials they put, and find four golden dragon teeth and learn the incantation and numbers linked to them, if he wants to survive the confrontation with Zagor. There is no longer neither the Maze nor the dragon but Zagor's quarters are now guarded by a much more powerful monster, a Mutant of Chaos created by Zagor himself, (The player needs to find a way to avoid the fight, as the creature has 12 in skill and 13 in stamina, and if it strikes the player twice, it rises to 14 in skill and 14 in stamina. Given the Mutant's strength, the metamorphosis is unavoidable, and there is no way the player can hold his/her ground agains 14 skill points, which is 2 points over the maximum available.) and by Zagor's personal surgeon wizards.

Facing Zagor
Zgor himself greets the player, stating that he needs his/her left arm to complete his body and summons four chaotic Elementals, one after another. If the player has the four dragon teeth and the corresponding numbers, he/she will be able to summon his/her own Elementals to counter them. Fire being countered by Water, Water by Wind, Wind by Earth and Earth by Fire. (The player also needs a throwing dagger to kill a rat that steals one of the golden teeth before it touches the ground.) Zagor then challenges the player into a fair fight. Once again, the mighty warlock has 11 in skill and 18 in stamina but this time, fighting is the only way to kill him.

However, the ending paragraph states that he will resurrect again.

Legend of Zagor
Given that a third trip to Firetop Mountain would have proven uninteresting, Zagor's third return takes place in another world very similar to Titan, in a kingdom called Amarillia.

The book's introduction states that five years ago, the populations of Amarillia scarcely managed to win the war against the fearsome Demon Bone and his armies of monsters, when the Demon Bone himself was trapped into the magical Casket of Souls, bannishing him outside of the world. However, the monsters continue to plague the land and the kingdom is on the verge of collapsing.

Worse, it happens that the magic that expelled the Demon Bone from this world accidentaly dragged Zagor, who had just resurrected for the second time, inside it. Both demonic beings were trapped in the same in-between limbo, were they merged into one demon warlock of unfathomable power. The newly-turned-demon Zagor came into Amarillia and took shelter into the Castle Argent, the former castle of the Amarillian kings, which the Demon Bone's armies invaded and ransacked. There, Zagor spread his evil influence over the entire castle and the land. Given that Zagor and the Demon Bone are now one and the same, (though Zagor's personality prevailed) he had no difficulties in gathering the Demon's surviving monsters under his command. Zagor's power is slowly but surely increasing and he is close to gain unprecedented and unstoppable might. Should this happen, he would have no difficulties in reforming the Demon Bone's entire armies and invade Amarillia once again. And this time, the exhausted country would not be able to resist.

Fortunately, the great mage Gereth Yaztromo managed to sense Zagor's disappearance and to establish a contact with Amarillia, warning the boy-king Irian of the upcoming threat. Irian, whose entire armies are busy keeping the kingdom stable, hires the player to destroy Zagor before he reaches his maximal power. (The book's major innovations are that the player can chose between four different characters to lead the adventure.) The player must venture into the Castle Argent and fight his way to the demon warlock. Needless to say, the castle is full of monsters, traps, riddles and obstacles and the player might catch several kind of plagues that would hinder him/her greatly. The player must gather as much Talismans of Gold and Silver Daggers as he can, and a powerful magical weapon (a distinct one for each character) to stand a chance against Zagor. Legend of Zagor contains many references to the previous books, and once again the player can "meet" Zagor through a bewitched painting or find his bewitched cards. Also, once again Zagor's last line of defense is a powerful dragon, only weaker that him by a single skill point.

The player will have to fight Zagor's powerful generals: Thulu the Orc King, Grool the mutant ogre, the demonic Hellhorns and their awful leader, the Black Knight and most importantly, the fearsome War Dragon. If the player manages to find the Onyx Staff and learn how to use it, these battles will be easier.

Facing the War Dragon
Without the Onyx Staff which can decrease his skill by 3 points, or with a special relic that can increase the player's skill for one fight, the War Dragon is virtually invincible, as he has 15 in skill (3 points over the maximum) and 20 in stamina. Worse, he can only be harmed with magic weapons and spells and he can attack with his bites and his flamming breath, which cost respectively 3 and 4 stamina points, in addition to his claws. Upon defeating the mighty beast, the player can tap into his treasure and gain priceless items. Then the only threat left will be none other than the dreadful Oldoran Zagor himself.

Facing Zagor
In this book, Zagor is a truly formidable enemy, with 16 in skill and 20 in stamina no less! This makes him one of the most powerful Fighting Fantasy villains ever. Every Talisman of Gold will cost him 1 skill point and every Silver Dagger will cost him 2 stamina points. If the player hasn't got at least three Talismans, he/she is as good as dead. (If the player has ten Silver Daggers, Zagor's stamina will fall to 0 without fighting but this almost never happens.) Before fighting, the player can try to attack Zagor at distance with special items but the mighty demon warlock can only be harmed by magic weapons or spells, and if he were to gain the upper hand, his spell will cost 1 skill point and 2 stamina point. Zagor can also summon a beast to fight the player and regain stamina during the fight.

During the battle against Zagor, the player can use any weapon, as long as it's a magic one. But Zagor also uses very powerful attacks. In the first turn, he casts a Lightning Spell that costs 7 stamina points; in the second a Fireball spell that costs 5 stamina points; in the third a Life-Absorbing spell that costs 1 skill point and 2 stamina points; in the fourth and fifth, he attacks with a poisoned dagger that costs 3 stamina points and in the following ones, he attacks with his claws and fists that cost the regular 2 stamina points. Therefore, the player has better win at least the first three turns to avoid his strongest attacks.

When Zagor is defeated, the player has a limited time to drag his corpse to the magical Heartfire located in the caves below Castle Argent, and throw it into the flames in order to destroy him once and for all. The player must by no means lose any second, because after a certain amount of time, Zagor partially awakes and grabs the player, drastically slowing him/her down. After another (shorter) amount of time, he fully awakes and kills the player. The player also needs to have more than 4 stamina point left when Zagor is thrown into the fiery pit, or else he/she will fall as well.

Other

 * Legend of Zagor was adapted in a boardgame and a series of three novels, co written by Ian Livingstone, co-creator of the Fighting Fantasy series and by Carl Sargent, best known by fans under his nom de plume Keith Martin.


 * The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is about to be released as a video game on Nintendo DS.


 * Oldoran Zagor's page on Titannica the Fighting Fantasy Wiki http://fightingfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Oldoran_Zagor

Balthus Dire 11:10, July 15, 2010 (UTC)