 ✓
| ||
|
This Villain was proposed and approved by Villains Wiki's Pure Evil Proposals Thread. Any act of removing this villain from the category without a Removal Proposal shall be considered vandalism (or a futile "heroic" attempt of redemption) and the user will have high chances of being | ||
| “ | Ah, well... At last you know the truth, Signorina... But you, as well, must face the truth. I've no desire to deceive you anymore, but do admit what you ignore: We made a bargain, did we not? And we got what we bargained for. | „ |
| ~ Ludovic revealing his true nature to Fosca. |
| “ | If women sell their looks, why can't a man, if he can? Besides, the money wasn't even yours! It belonged to those ridiculous old bores... your parents! | „ |
| ~ Ludovic mocking Fosca. |
"Count Ludovic" (real name unknown) is the overarching antagonist of Stephen Sondheim's 1994 musical Passion. He is a womanizing fraud who travels over Europe, forging relationship with women drawn to his false title, robbing them of all their money and abandoning them with nothing to live on. His cruel methods are what caused the mental and physical deterioration of the musical's lead, Fosca.
He was portrayed by Matthew Porretta in the original Broadway show.
Biography[]
Ludovic was introduced to the then seventeen-year-old Fosca by her cousin Ricci, who was elated to finally see someone take a romantic interest in his hopeless cousin. Claiming to be a count from Austria, Ludovic immediately spellbound Fosca and her family. Despite Fosca detecting a dangerous energy about Ludovic, they married within a month.
Ludovic then began to see very little of Fosca, regularly going on travels. In secret, he was spending all of her money on gambling. When Fosca had no money left, she was forced to take what little remained of her parents' savings. On her way home from the market one day, she was accosted by a frenzied woman who revealed that Ludovic, on his travels, had been seeing her. In truth, he was not a count at all, but a monstrous conman who bled women of all their money before abandoning them with nothing, just as he had done to this woman and likely countless others, including his own wife and child in Dalmatia.
Fosca confronted Ludovic, who merely confirmed the accusations with a grin. He admitted to robbing her and her parents blind, arguing that attractive men are just as capable of using their looks to their advantage as women. After emotionally tearing Fosca down, and before taking his leave, he casually mentioned that he hadn't paid their rent since July, meaning that Fosca would soon be evicted.
Fosca's parents, impoverished and sick, died soon after. Fosca herself fell ill, losing the child that she had conceived with Ludovic (and Ludovic had so callously abandoned with them). Physically and mentally broken, she was reduced to a traumatized, convulsing mess, who would've had nowhere to turn if her cousin Ricci hadn't given her a new place to stay.
Disgusted by the false count's merciless and utter destruction of his family, Ricci spent months looking for Ludovic, but the man had vanished, never to be seen again.
Trivia[]
- According to the director's commentary, not even Stephen Sondheim himself knew where exactly Ludovic actually originated from.
External Links[]
- Count Ludovic on the Pure Evil Wiki