The Dark Lord (the Shadow Knight in Japanese) is the secondary antagonist of the 1991 action role-playing game Final Fantasy Adventure, as well as its two remakes, Sword of Mana and Adventures of Mana. He is the tyrant of the Duchy of Glaive, (Granz Realm in Sword of Mana) invading the world of Fa'Diel, but is in fact a pawn for his vassal Julius Vandole. He is far less evil in Sword of Mana, in which his name is Stroud, later used for the central villain in Dawn of Mana.
Characteristics[]
In Fighting Fantasy Adventure and its last remake Adventures of Mana, the Dark Lord is an unabashedly evil tyrant, without personality aside from cruelty, ruthlessness and sadism. He revels in watching slaves risk their lives in his arena, slaughters indiscriminately, and seeks to rule the world of Fa'Diel purely for the sake of domination.
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The Dark Lord in Final Fantasy Adventures).
He is collected, cold and uncaring, but exceedingly impatient and arrogant, crushing anything remotely standing on his way and scorning any foe as worthless, despite their continuous resistance. While a very talented general and top-tier swordsman, his bark is worse than his bite, being played all along by his much more dangerous right-hand.
Sword of Mana makes him much more ambiguous, despite him remaining a villain and being a way mightier half-demon. In this setting, demons are neutral and he is more misguided than evil, being a formidable conqueror who committed many exactions, but at the same time a good ruler liked by his subjects.
He is a very bitter, prejudiced, and hateful extremist, albeit poised, polite, and honourable, bearing no ill will to his foes. He wants to eradicate the power of Mana to mend the rift between Fa'Diel and Mavolia, and to save his dying mother no matter the cost.
He incorrectly believes that the Mana Clan is hoarding the power of Mana that sustains everything and oppresses Mavolia, repaying them in kind. He fancies himself as a necessary evil who can build and lead a better world. In Echoes of Mana he regards the law of Mana forcing Tree Maidens to become one with the Mana Tree as human sacrifices, and sides with the False Goddess Dema for he shares her goal of rewriting a multiverse free of tragedies.
Background[]
The Dark Lord in Adventures
Echoes of Mana reveals that the Dark Lord is rumoured to have killed his own father to gain the throne faster. He was already ruling during the fall of the evil Vandole Empire, which syphoned the power of Mana to rule Fa'Diel.
Shortly after, he found Julius as a baby in a cavern and raised him, probably sensing his enormous potential for magic which could prove an asset. He then started his own bid at world domination and furbished his armies in secret, until he was ready to wage his own war, with the Gemma Knights who toppled the Vandole Empire too old to act against him.
In Sword of Mana, Stroud is the hybrid son of Lord Granz (the human leader of the Gemma Knights) and Medusa, Queen of Mavolia (the Demon World) and Anise's counterpart. But the law separating mortals from mavoles forced his father to raise him as his heir, away from his mother and twin brother the Illithid Devius, whose power was running too wild to remain in Fa'Diel.
Medusa's memories and life are ebbing away due to her marriage, so Stroud renamed himself the Dark Lord, deposed his father and began outlawing the Mana Clan as "heretics", believing that Mana is what makes his mother ill. He executed the hero's parents when he was a child, despite his father Hermann being a consul of his realm who tried in vain to stop his deluded crusade, for sheltering Fuji. And he later captured the hero.
Final Fantasy Adventure/Adventures of Mana[]
The Hero Sumo (named Duke in adaptations) starts as a gladiator slave in the Dark Lord's arena. Right after he kills a Jackal monster, his best friend Willy dies in his arms, likely after failing to escape, revealing that the Mana Tree is in danger.
Artwork of the Dark Lord felling the Hero from Echoes.
Sumo escapes in turn through the pit of monsters and eavesdrops the Dark Lord ordering Julius to find the key to the Mana Tree. He is spotted and thrown down the waterfall by the despot.
Sumo survives by miracle and he later saves the Heroine Fuji (named Elena in adaptations), the sole survivor of the Mana Clan that was slaughtered by the Dark Lord. They seek help in the Holy City of Wendel, but the Dark Lord attacks it and Julius abducts Fuji, for her pendant is the key to the Mana Tree.
Sumo boards the Dark Lord's airship but can only take Fuji's pendant, later stolen by the Illithid Davias and given to the Dark Lords pet, the giant bird Garuda. But Sumo obtains the legendary Sword of Mana (albeit in a rusted state) and manages to storm the castle and avenge his friends at last.
With the Dark Lord gone, Julius takes centre stage and eventually gains godly power from the Mana Tree, becoming an extremely powerful demon ready to take over the world. Sumo slays him in turn with the restored Sword of Mana, but Fuji must merge with the Mana Tree and Sumo becomes its guardian.
Sword of Mana[]
the Dark Lord in Sword of Mana.
In this game, the Dark Lord is best friend with Julius, who is a reincarnation of sorts of the evil Emperor Vandole and seemingly able to canalise his worst impulses. He has Goremand as his (barely loyal) vassal and later returns the feelings of the Demon Lady Isabella (counterpart of Belladonna).
He notices Sumo's and Willy's escape and offers to name them his vassals, but as Sumo attacks him in a rage to avenge his parents, he effortlessly swats his sword away bare-handed and throws the boy off the bridge down the river.
Here, Sumo and Fuji fight together, and the Dark Lord is with Julius when Fuji is abducted. After the heroes are forced to kill Medusa in self-defence, her furious sons barge in, but the Dark Lord allows Devius to settle the score. Devius is defeated and choses to die despite Julius' offer to heal him.
The heroes face the Dark Lord, who labels them as hypocrites for calling him out for they have killed as well, and tells them his vision of a pacified world under his rule. Sumo retorts that they killed when they had no other choice, calling his goal deluded and pleading for the innocence of the Mana Clan.
Stroud easily defeats Sumo.
The Dark Lord forbids his vassals to intervene in his battle against the heroes. Before dying, he asks the heroes and Isabella to beware Julius, but Goremand devours his soul to Isabella's outrage.
Boss Battles[]
In the original, the Dark Lord is tough, fast and sturdy, but easy to beat. He strikes, blocks frontal hits with his shield, and resists spells. Sumo must keep away and hit from the sides, mostly with dashes.
Adventures of Mana makes him significantly mightier, albeit just as easy. He tails Sumo, strikes, lands energy-infused dashes, and fires blue energy blades. Spinning and Dashing attacks are advised.
In Sword of Mana the Dark Lord battles Sumo and Fuji together. He is fast and strong but quite easy, especially against strong enough heroes. He strikes, performs stabbing dashes that can paralyze, and fires three energy blades causing the darkness status. He is highly resistant to magic, so he must be harassed with weapons.
Circle of Mana[]
The Dark Lord is playable in this card-based game featuring most characters of the series, under his Sword of Mana aspect. Every character is played as cards to save the Mana Tree from monsters, and can gain power, equipment and Class Changes. Several cards featuring her are available, each evolving following a distinct path.
Echoes of Mana[]
Both versions of the Dark Lord tag team in Circle of Mana.
The Dark Lord and his Sword of Mana counterpart appear in this mobile medley game in which the Mana Goddess tasks two heroes from the Mana Clan to restore all the worlds with memories from different continuities. The two Dark Lords cooperate as some of the villains recruited by the False Goddess Dema to spread the roots of her Fake Mana Tree across the worlds to assimilate them. Their conflicting morality making their team-up cordial, but a bit tense.
The original one drags the heroes into his gladiator arena, pitting them against a Goldroot Jackal: a mightier, armoured version of the original game's first boss. After its defeat, the Dark Lord from Sword of Mana appears and the two evil swordsmen challenge the heroes.
When beaten, the original one merely opts to stick with his primary plan to seize the Power of Mana, while the remake one argues that rewriting the multiverse could unmake all tragedies. Still, the heroes retort that the right to decide freely cannot be taken away.
As a boss the Dark Lords make quite the fearsome team, fast, spry and powerful, but fortunately not that resilient. They fight in the same way as in their respective games, but they can teleport. The original one conjures a barrage of dark lightning bolts, the remake one fires huge, tripe energy waves, and both share their mightiest attack Dark Twist: a continuous spin imbued with dark blue energy, sending crescent-shaped dark energy blades all around.
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Artwork of the Dark Lord without his helmet from Echoes of Mana.
The original Dark Lord can be unlocked as a playable unit. Of course, he wields his sword. As the Knight in Brutal Armour, he uses the Dark element, powering himself up with STR Boost or by summoning the Dark Guardian, and attacking with Great Gash or his mightiest move Shadow Crescent Slice.
He also uses Dark as the Ruler of the Realm, boosting himself with Initial St Gauge Boost and Darkness Incarnate, and attacking with Dual Sky Sever or his mightiest move Dark Stalker Thunderbolt.
Going only by the Dark Lord, he uses the Water Element instead, powering himself up with STR Boost or Indomitable, and attacking with Great Gash or his mightiest move Step and Striker.
Trivia[]
- The Dark Lord is the first of the many Black Knight type of villain present in the story, most notably the Darkshine Knight and the Ebon Knight, with the latter using some of his attacks.
- Being a powerful ruler and the apparent main villain betrayed by his sorcerous vassal who was pulling the strings all along would be reused in the sequel Secret of Mana with Emperor Vandole.
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