| “ | Avan: What a dreadful power... He's become a lot more powerful than when I fought him last... why? Hadlar: You want to know? If you find out you'll regret it. That's because like you always seems to think that I'm the Dark Lord. Because of his power, I was able to resurrect into the world again! I've even gained a stronger body! The Dark King...Vearn! |
„ |
| ~ Hadlar telling Avan that Vearn resurrected him. |
| “ | I know all about it.. All about the secret research you've been conducting on hyper-darklingic lifeforms. You will use that for me now! | „ |
| ~ Hadlar ordering Zaboera to transform him into a Superior Being. |
| “ | If I can defeat those disciplines of Avan, then I am fine with it! They are enemies worthy of that... I only noticed this now! Status! Prestige! Even life is no more use to me! Even if I lose this body, if I can strike back at them, I'll go down fighting if I have too! | „ |
| ~ Hadlar telling Mystvearn his determination of becoming a Superior Being. |
Hadlar (Japanese: ハドラー), feared worldwide as the Dark Lord (Demon King in Japanese), is a major antagonist in the Dragon Quest spin-off manga Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai and its anime adaptions, and the main antagonist of its spin-off prequel manga Yūsha Avan to Gokuen no Maō.
Originally a demonic ruler slain by the Great Hero Avan, he was resurrected by the Dark King Vearn to lead his Dark Army. Initially obsessed about his position, after repeated failures against the heroes, the Disciples of Avan led by Dai, his desire to triumph over them becomes so great that he relinquishes his pride and position to become a Superior Being (a perfect chimera), becoming a noble, honorable warrior in the process.
In Japanese, he was voiced by the late Takeshi Aono (who also voiced King Piccolo, Dracule Mihawk, Dr. Wily, Vanilla Ice, and Mr. Shadow) in the 1991 anime and all movie appearances up to Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai - Destroy!! The Reborn 6 Commanders and Tomokazu Seki (who also voiced Enrico Pucci and Gilgamesh) in the 2020 anime. In English, he is voiced by Brian Drummond (who also voiced Flazzard, Xenos, and Doctor Claw) in the 2020 anime.
Appearance[]
Overall, Hadlar is a tall, humanoid darkling (demon) with teal-green skin, long pointed ears, fangs, clawed hands, and long, silvery hair reaching his waist. As the Dark Lord, he was dressed like the Dragonlord in battle: sporting a black robe with a red-lined high collar, a headgear figuring horns, a golden medallion, and a sash, and carried a wooden staff. When not fighting, he wore a silver shoulder-piece, a black cape yellow in color on the inside, over a dark-blue robe, and black shoes.
He first wears a black cape with pointed shoulders covering his entire body and a hood figuring two horns with a red gem on his forehead, similar to his previous garb. But he later dons a long and heavy black and yellow cape ornate with red trimmings, and an elaborate shoulder-piece with spikes on the side and a breastplate with six blue gems figuring the Six Divisions of the Dark Army he now leads, over a long black robe. He usually fights shirtless, wearing white pants, pointed shoulder-pads, metallic bangles and boots.
After becoming a Superior Being, Hadlar turns considerably taller and more muscular. He still wears his black cape with shoulder-pieces, now sporting an ornate helmet, but fights naked. His face turns blue with bone-like points around his face, black lines from his eyes to his chin, and a red triple, horn-like structure on his forehead. His skin turns dark green, with black marks all over his chest. He sports a silvery, metallic layer of skin or armour on his legs, and forearms, and finally yellow, bone-like armour over his shoulders, chest, knees and feet. His shoulder can expand like wings of sorts.
Personality[]
| “ | He truly is a monster! | „ |
| ~ Brass commenting how cruel and vicious Hadlar is. |
Both as the Dark Lord then as the Dark Commander, Hadlar is horribly cruel, cold, and uncaring, slaughtering thousands without a care. He is extremely ruthless and sadistic, greatly revelling in lording over helpless victims and trying to gorily kill the grappler lady Maam in front of the mage Popp, just to taunt him and spite his pleas to spare her and his feelings for her.
Hadlar does not forgive failure for his servants, killing his loyal guard Bartos for failing at guarding his quarters' gate. He is also cold enough to sacrifice his underlings to save his skin, as shown when he used his two Archdemons guards as a meat-shield to survive the Dark Swordsman Hyunckel's Grand Cross attack.
He is selfish, callous, haughty, and prideful, boasting about being worth thousands of humans, and taking great offence at being stood against, swearing revenge against anyone who wounded him, forced him to retreat or worse, killed him. Still, despite this, he is well aware of the threat posed by the heroes and shows slight respect for his enemies, recognizing Avan and Hyunckel as powerful warriors, after getting fatally wounded by both, and labelling the main hero Dai as his utmost priority.
Hadlar is initially very power hungry, coveting dominion of the entire world and being willing to do anything to secure his leading position. He would do any dirty tricks for power, such as not sharing important intel about their enemies to other commanders, costing the Dark Army several battles and even some commanders. Vearn even noted that it weakened his mind.
However, his desire of defeating Dai gradually turned him into a noble fighter. While he initially wanted to erase the stain of his death by killing his archenemy Avan and his disciples to wipe out his legacy, gleefully fighting dirty, he eventually stopped caring about power and anything else. He wanted to prevail to the point of willingly rejecting his pride and his very self, and no longer caring about the consequences of losing, resulting in his metamorphosis.
As a Superior Being, Hadlar becomes noticeably far less cruel, fighting fairly, looking down on the dirty tricks he used to favour, and showing great, almost fatherly concern for his Royal Guard. He is calm and collected, also growing displeased at the prospect of unfair fights, punishing subordinates for trying to kill his enemies in underhanded ways. Though he notes that is former self would have executed them instead of throwing them to jail.
Even as his end draws near, he only wants to die in a glorious battle, following his own terms. He is appalled to learn that his liege he respected so much would sacrifice him without qualm, and develops a genuine respect and appreciation towards Avan's Disciples. By the time of his death, he changed so much that even Popp and the other Disciples who loathed him thought of him as a friend of sorts.
Power and Abilities[]
Befitting his title of Dark Lord, Haldar displays monstrous strength, speed, durability, hand-to-hand fighting skills and mastery of magic, enough to effortlessly kill a dragon (the mightiest monster kind) with a single punch, to enter areas protected by magic, and to cast very advanced attack spells.
Back then, Hadlar apparently favoured spells for battles, only displaying basing feats of strength or using his staff as a blunt weapon. He specializes in Fire, Heat and Blast magic, mastering the highest-level Fire and Boom spell: the highly powerful Kafrizz (his own conjuring Hellfire) and Kaboom, as well as the mid-level Heat spell Sizzle. He can cast normal spells to fly, teleport and all sort of magic.
Hadlar was also able to use the Legendary Forbidden Magic to create very powerful constructs taking after himself, such as Flazzard and later his Royal Guard. He proved able to write blood message on mirrors, to walk on water, to see and talk from a ring, to project himself where he is not present, and to break through immensely powerful anti-evil barriers. Much worse, his evil presence is such that he can brainwash every monster in the world to evil, turning even the most peaceful creatures into killing machines. The most notable victim was the wise lump shaman Brass, who was one of his mightiest lieutenants before retreating to Dermline Island after his demise.
Furthermore, Hadlar is an expert of close-range fighting. He needs no weapon but his fists and feet, but he can grow extendable Hell Claws from his knuckles. He describes them as his mightiest weapon, strong enough to slice apart Hyunckel's incredibly sturdy Magic Armour. He can cast his spells through them to make his strikes even deadlier.
He also has a strong healing factor, growing back any severed limb, and even surviving without the lower half of his body. Indeed, Hadlar only needs one of his two hearts to live, and he can displace said hearts inside his chest.
Power Boosts During the Story[]
Vearn revived Hadlar much more powerful than before, boosting his strength, speed, skills, and might to the point of surpassing Avan, formerly at least his equal. He can fire up to three Kaboom spells at once, and his already deadly Fire magic becomes such that it burns as long as it takes to incinerate his targets, rendering useless even the powerful Kaclang spell turning people to metal. His power is further increased twice, first after he defeats Avan, then after he is killed by Hyunckel but resurrected again. He now masters the final-level Heat spell Kasizz: far and away the most destructive regular spell, so much that only a few of the best mages can master it.
After becoming a Superior Being, Hadlar can no longer be resurrected, but his might skyrockets to the point of rivalling Baran in his mightiest form and holding his own even against a weakened Vearn. Not only does he gain overwhelming strength, speed despite his bulk and stamina, as well as near-instantaneous regeneration, but he can still cast spells, something Zamza could not. Moreover, he now masters Aura, energy stemming from life-force, his own being fuelled by Dark Fire as searing as the flames of the Underworld, using it to blast foes or to propel himself as he flies.
He can still use his Hell Claws and he has the Sword of Champions made of the divine, indestructible Orichalcum metal fused with his right arm, and a Hell Chain in his left, both growing out of his wrist. He lashes at enemies or binds them with the latter, and can infuse his Dark Fire Aura into the latter for his deadliest attack, Ultra Combustion Slash a devastating blow causing a tremendous explosion of aura, enough to level his surroundings.
In Video Games[]
Hadlar appears in the mobile game A Hero's Bonds and the PS5 game Infinity Strash, adapting the anime. He is a boss when faced in the story, but is playable in the former's original story. He is very powerful and resilient, but quite easy to defeat with a strong enough team using powerful moves. In A Hero's Bonds, he punches or strikes and fires powerful violet waves or fiery blows with his Hell Claws, casts three Kafrizz at once, Kaboom and Sizzle over a wide zone, Dark Shockwave (a huge violet blast) and Kasizz (a devastating wave). As a Superior Being, he lands normal or energy-infused blows, sword slashes and chain stabs, spams Kaboom, and can cast Ultra Combustion Slash.
In Infinity Strash, he is fast and agile, and strikes with his Hell Claws infused with purple energy. He can blast Kaboom on a wide zone, fire huge Kafrizz orbs in succession, up to three Sizzle beams, and a devastating Kasizz blast.
Hadlar makes a cameo in the medley games Dragon Quest of the Stars, Dragon Quest Monsters: Super Light and Dragon Quest Tact. In the latter, he appears as both the Dark Commander and the Superior Being.
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 Villains
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The Dark Army The Dragon Masters The Royal Elite Guard Others | ||