Ludo

"I knew they couldn't hide that royal brat from me for long! Soon, the wand will be mine and then the universe and then... Actually, the universe should do it. I'm coming for you Star Butterfly!"

- Ludo's vow

"(Laughs) That's your rainbow punch?"

- Ludo mocking a magic spell made by Star

Ludo is the secondary antagonist of the Disney XD animated series Star vs. the Forces of Evil. He was a diminutive evil ruler of an unknown dimension who wants Star's wand to be strong and take over the universe, and to also attract women as well. Initially presented as the show's main antagonist, he becomes the secondary antagonist after Toffee proves to be the bigger threat during the first two seasons.

Appearance
Ludo is a pale green pint-sized bird-like monster with sharp teeth, and what seems to be a dark green fringe surrounding the center, making Ludo resemble that of a.

Debut
In his debut, he wears a dark pale green robe with two small skulls, a bull skull with several teeth as a helmet, and flip-flops worn under his robe. Ludo is also seen wielding a black long "wand" with a green eye and dark bat wings.

Current
As of season two, particularly the episode "Ludo in the Wild", Ludo now grows a beard tied in three tails, wears a yellow potato chip bag, and holds a different wand, consisted of a skeleton arm, rock, and the half broken crystal, which originally come from Star's wand after the events of "Storm the Castle".

Personality
Ludo is very unforgiving of his minions for their constant failure to defeat Star. He also has a grudge on Star Butterfly for always defeating him and foiling his plans of universal conquest.

In "Quest Buy", he did manage to take Star's wand, but realized it was out of magic batteries, which ultimately lead to his quick defeat by the latter.

Role
Throughout the series, Ludo attempts to take Star's wand and transform into a more powerful form, but is unsuccessful.

Eventually he hires Toffee as an evil efficiency expert. Toffee manipulates Ludo into firing his right hand man, Buff Frog, and later convinces Ludo's army to reject him for him, kicking Ludo out of his castle. Ludo joins forces with Star and Buff Frog to defeat Toffee, but while attempting to take Star's wand he is eaten by Big Chicken. When Star uses the Whispering Spell to destroy her wand, it also destroys Ludo's castle and Toffee. Ludo hatches from an egg Big Chicken laid, and swears revenge on Star for destroying his castle. Star takes Ludo's Dimensional Scissors and banishes him to another dimension. Later, he becomes less cowardly and succeeds in stealing Star's spell book after making an army once he was banished to the other dimension.

Star Butterfly
Ludo despises Star, desiring to get her wand, and constantly annoyed that she always defeats him and his army. He doesn't like it whenever she undermines his power or calls him out for making stupid plans. When he tried to team up with her to deal with Toffee, it was only for his own benefit, and he tried to take her wand whenever he saw an opening. After the wand (along with Ludo's Castle) was destroyed, he view revenge on Star before she throws him into another dimension.

As Star immediately recognized Ludo and addressed him by name in the episode "Star Comes to Earth", that would mean they had either fought once before or Star was familiar enough with his misdeeds to consider him an enemy.

Marco Diaz
When Marco helped Star fight his minions off in the episode "Star Comes to Earth", Ludo was displeased that Star wasn't unguarded like he had originally been told. Although feeling more hatred towards Star, Ludo didn't like Marco and considered him a threat. However, "Storm the Castle" showed that he never bothered to learn Marco's name, as he displayed no recognition when Star mentioned him, saying "I don't know who that is" (though he did refer to Marco by name in the episode "By the Book", showing that he had since managed to learn his name).

Ludo's army
Ludo puts great trust in his army of monsters to defeat Star, but he gets easily irritated with them whenever they fail or act cowardly and wimpy. He doesn't show any compassion towards them, like thinking Deer Beard is being a baby about bleeding internally, makes them do all the work, and insults them when they invariably lose. Ultimately, Ludo's terrible treatment of his army allowed Toffee to convince them to turn on him, and appoint Toffee as their new leader.

Buff Frog
Buff Frog is Ludo's most loyal minion. In return, Ludo holds Buff Frog in slightly higher regard than the other monsters, even showing regret when Toffee convinced him to fire Buff Frog. He later tried to convince Buff Frog to work with him in reclaiming his castle by bringing him a sack full of tadpoles to be a father to, and offering his friendship. However, when Star came along, Ludo callously abandoned Buff Frog, telling him he was only pretending. Despite this, he tried to convince Buff Frog to get Star's wand when she was about to attack Toffee, telling him it was "their chance", and acting surprised when Buff Frog ignored him.

In the episode "Is Mystery", Ludo still bore some resentment toward Buff Frog, expressing a desire to let him die; he only decided to put Buff Frog to use as one of his workers at the encouragement of his magic wand.

Toffee
At first, Ludo was greatly impressed by Toffee, finding his professionalism and clever strategies a welcome change from his dim-witted followers. Toffee managed to easily manipulate him because of this, as evidenced when he talked him into firing Buff Frog. Ludo realized too late that Toffee was just using him, losing the loyalty of his army due to Toffee's machinations, and being thrown out of his own castle by him. From that point on, he hated Toffee, and became determined to get his castle and army back from him.

Ludo's Wand
Not realizing that his wand is actually Toffee, Ludo treats it like his best friend and advisor due to its power of speech (although Ludo is the only one that can hear it), even sleeping with it and tucking it in at night. In the end, the wand convinces Ludo to ask Glossaryck about Eclipsa's spell book page, and the resulting explosion of darkness allows Toffee to return through Ludo's body.

Brittney Wong
Ludo and Brittney have had limited interaction, but they have one thing in common: an extreme hatred for Star Butterfly, as shown in the episode "Brittney's Party". Ludo even called Brittney "so nice" for expressing hope that he would destroy Star.

Bird and Arachnid
When Ludo first encountered these creatures, he found himself terrified and at their mercy. In time, however, he managed to overcome them individually and press both of them into his service. While he is generally oppressive towards them, he does show an actual level of care for the two, referring to them as "girls" in a tone of familiarity, even telling them to run just before he unleashed the power of his wand on the bar rats, and is actually concerned for their safety during battle.

Trivia

 * He is voiced by Alan Tudyk, who also voiced Turbo/King Candy and The Duke of Weselton. He is even similar to the former, as King Candy and Ludo are diminutive rulers who are insane and childish.
 * Even though he is small, he still has a number of henchmen who are much bigger than him.
 * Ludo was the main antagonist for the early part of the first season, but was ultimately ousted by Toffee (who then took over as the main antagonist for the series), thus making him a Disc One Final Boss.
 * Ludo is similar to Viceroy Gunray from Star Wars Saga: They're both from an odd species, both leading an army with various species against one of the protagonists (ironically, both who happened to be a royal girl), and eventually making a deal with a mysterious villain (Toffee and Darth Sidious), only to be ended up betrayed and overthrown by the latter. Both are also cowards, and barely go to a direct fight. But while Nute Gunray is defeated before he can even have a chance to fight back, Ludo gains a new wand and learns to fight with no cowardice or mercy whatsoever.