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| “ | Pathetic mortal scum!! | „ |
| ~ Zargothrax |
Zargothrax is the main antagonist in the ongoing story told by the British power metal band Gloryhammer. He is dedicated to the eradication of Dundee and the McFife bloodline, after McFife's ancestor Dundax destroyed his home. Despite the band being created as a parody of other story-driven power metal bands like Rhapsody of Fire, Zargothrax is anything but comedic. He is an extremely dangerous, unstable, and maniacal sorcerer who has remained the primary villain through four albums, across two separate dimensions and an alternate timeline, and has come close to (or succeeded in) achieving his goals on numerous occasions.
Zargothrax was originally portrayed by the band's founder, creative director, and former keyboardist Christopher Bowes, better known as the founder and lead singer of Alestorm. He is presently played by Michael Barber.
Personality[]
| “ | Slaves of the armies of Angus! Warriors who yearn to be free! I will liberate you from the chains of your life, your souls now belong to me! Rise as a creature of darkness! Rise as an undead machine! In the name of the sorcerer Zargothrax, vanquish the Paleocene!" | „ |
| ~ Zargothrax' demand to the forces of light, in Maleficus Geminus |
Zargothrax is dangerously unstable. Thousands of years spent communing with elder evils, and imprisonment in liquid ice have taken their toll on his psyche. There are times when he still shows aspects of himself as the righteously angry peasant whose home was destroyed, while at other times he comes across as a maniacal madman who causes destruction for its own sake. His stated goal is to "liberate the multiverse from slavery and fear" but his methods for achieving this involve mass murder and soul enslavement.
Zargothrax greatly disdains mortal humans, often calling them "pathetic mortal scum" and frequently bringing up his own immortality as a point of pride. He seems to believe that mortal life itself is a form of slavery, which he seeks to save people from by killing them and enslaving their souls in undeath.
Despite his claims of wanting to save people, and his apparent belief that killing and turning them into undead is freeing them, Zargothrax shows no actual empathy for anyone. As seen in Legends From Beyond the Galactic Terrorvortex, when he corrupted an alternate version of the paladin Proletius to become his undead minion, he seemed to treat this ally with respect, but when Dreadlord Proletius was destroyed by the forces of light, Zargothrax' only response was to laugh and taunt his enemies, showing no concern at all for his fallen ally.
History[]
Zargothrax was born in Abernethy, Scotland. He lived a simple life as a peasant, weaving baskets for a living. When he was 31 years old a heroic prince by the name of Dundax came to Abernethy, and founded the city of Dundee and the kingdom of Fife. In the process, Dundax also tore down Zargothrax' home in order to make room for his royal palace. Zargothrax swore revenge against Dundax. He studied the scrolls of the prophet of Anstruther and forged a pact with Kor-Virliath the elder evil of the 18th hell dimension, granting himself the power of magic.
Zargothrax knew he could not challenge Dundax even with this power, but as an immortal he could spend centuries preparing. He found the Knife of Evil in the swamps of Paisley and spent a hundred years using its power to corrupt unicorns into undead monsters.
Tales from the Kingdom of Fife[]
Finally, in 992 AD (After Dundax), he was ready. By this time Dundax had long since died of old age, but Zargothrax was determined to destroy all the man had built. He invaded Dundee with his army of undead unicorns, razing the city to the ground and conjuring his own citadel from the rubble. He slaughtered the people of Dundee, except for the princess Iona MacDougall, who he raped and threw into prison.
Crown prince Angus McFife learned of the destruction of his home and swore his own vow of revenge. He gathered together a team of heroes including the barbarian warrior Hootsman from the frigid islands of Unst, the paladin Proletius who was leader of the Knights of Crail, and the enigmatic hermit Ralathor from the caves beneath Cowdenbeath. Together, they made their way through the dwarven caverns into Zargothrax' citadel where they faced the sorcerer in battle. Zargothrax was defeated and captured. The unicorns were freed thanks to the Amulet of Justice, and Zargothrax was imprisoned in a substance called liquid ice, from which he could not escape. He was then put under the watchful eye of the Knights of Crail.
Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards[]
Zargothrax remained imprisoned for 1,000 years. By 1992, the kingdom of Fife had become a great interplanetary empire. A cult of evil mages calling themselves the Chaos Wizards invaded the fortress of the Space Knights of Crail on Neptune's moon. Triton, and freed their evil master from his frozen prison.
Zargothrax immediately enacted a new plan. Flying to the Darkstorm Galaxy, Zargothrax met with the Goblin King Myrkanos Barbax and obtained a magic crystal which would allow him to open a passageway to the 18th hell dimension, summoning forth Kor-Virliath and his demon army to destroy the Intergalactic Great Empire of Fife.
Angus McFife XIII assembled an army of heroes once again, including the immortal Hootsman and Ralathor, and Proletius who had long ago died but was resurrected by good wizards as a hologram hero of light. However, the heroes could not fully defeat Zargothrax this time. As the heroes were preoccupied fighting the demon army over Mars, Zargothrax completed the incantation to open the passageway to hell and summon Kor-Virliath.
In a final, desperate move, the cyborg barbarian Hootsman sacrificed himself, detonating his neutron star heart to destroy the Earth and seal the portal. In the process he created a twisted wormhole, to another dimension known as the Terrorvortex. Zargothrax flew into the wormhole, followed by Angus McFife XIII.
Legend from Beyond the Galactic Terrorvortex[]
Zargothrax appeared in a parallel version of Scotland, far in the past, 10 years before that fateful day when Dundax would destroy his home and set him on the path of evil. He immediately hunted down his old foe - at this time still a child - and murdered him. He next hunted down and murdered his own alternate self, for reasons unknown. This done, he began a campaign of terror, to establish himself as the emperor of Earth. To this end he also hunted down this world's version of Proletius and stabbed him with the Knife of Evil, turning him into an undead and making him the leader of the evil Death Knights of Crail. Zargothrax' new goal was to use the solar conjunction which he knew would happen in 992 AD, in order to become a god.
In 992, Angus XIII appeared from the wormhole, however his hammer had lost its power and he had no allies, allowing Zargothrax to easily defeat him and drive him off. Angus met with the leader of the anti-Zargothrax resistance, this world's version of Ralathor. Ralathor helped Angus find the legendary enchanted jetpack so he could fly into space and repower the hammer. Together they also built a powerful warship, the flying submarine known as the SS Hootsforce, armed with missiles of nuclear justice, which they used to kill Zargothrax' minion, Dreadlord Proletius.
Even with all of this, Angus was still no match for Zargothrax. However, just when it seemed the villain would finally win, there was a crash of thunder and a god fell from the sky. It seemed Hootsman had not died when he destroyed the Earth in 1992, but had instead merged with the fabric of this new reality to become its One True God, Hootus Dei. With the newly repowered Hammer of Glory and the power of Hoots, Zargothrax was finally killed and dissolved into liquid dust. However, before he died, he managed to stab Angus XIII with the Knife of Evil. The hero was forced to take his own life by jumping into the volcano Schiehallion to avoid becoming an evil undead.
Return to the Kingdom of Fife[]
Even this did not stop Zargothrax. In the moments before his death, Zargothrax sent a subspace message back to his home dimension, to awaken one of the many clones he had created of himself. This clone, Alpha-1, awakened in 1022 AD. He led a surprise invasion of Dundee, slaughtering the non-superpowered guards with impunity. Before the heroes could launch a proper counterattack, he conjured a nuclear missile from the future to destroy the city. The result was the complete destruction of Fife, as well as a paradox which shattered space-time and created an alternate timeline, 38-B.
Alpha-1 had once again destroyed Fife and killed Angus McFife in the process, however he still wanted to free his original self, and needed to prepare for a counterattack from the surviving heroes, and a new rival: Angus McFife II. He traveled across the nuclear wasteland of 38-B to find the Vorpal Laserblaster of Pittenweem, which along with Angus' Hammer of Glory and the Knife of Evil was the last of three weapons left behind by the Starlords of Eternity. Using the blaster, Alpha-1 stormed the citadel of the Brotherhood of Crail, slaughtering the knights and freeing his progenitor. The two then linked themselves together at the brain, and prepared for their confrontation with the heroes.
This confrontation was cut short, however. The Starlords had sensed that the three weapons had come together again. They appeared in the sky above Scotland to pronounce judgment upon planet Earth. Zargothrax was killed by the Starlords' wrath, along with everyone else on Earth except for Angus II, who was taken away to become a Starlord himself.
It is unknown if Zargothrax will, or can, return again.
Powers and Abilities[]
| “ | At last, by the machinations of my clone, I am free from the shackles of frozen slumber. After countless aeons of scheming across multiple dimensions, the grand cosmic plan of Zargothrax will now come to fruition! The chronological imperative will be eradicated. By the power of two wizards you shall perish! | „ |
| ~ Zargothrax' monologue to Angus McFife II from Maleficus Geminus |
Zargothrax possesses a powerful and immortal body thanks to his pact with Kor-Virliath. Clone Alpha-1, who had the same powers as the original Zargothrax, was standing at the epicenter of the 50 megaton nuclear explosion that destroyed Dundee, and he walked away completely unscathed. Even before that, the original Zargothrax was at the center of the Hootsman's transnova explosion which completely vaporized the Earth (making it at least around 50 quintillion megatons), and he survived albeit drained of his power.
He is also super-intelligent and highly skilled, having thousands of years of knowledge and combat experience. All of this was passed on to Clone Alpha-1 when the original Zargothrax died, and then shared with his past self when the two merged their minds together, giving him multiple lifetimes of skill.
Needless to say, Zargothrax can effortlessly defeat any number of ordinary human warriors, and takes great sadistic pleasure in cutting his way through entire armies. Only similarly superpowered heroes like the Hootsman, Angus McFife, and Proletius can hope to stand against Zargothrax, and even then they can rarely do more than just slow him down temporarily. Only divine intervention has ever managed to kill him.
Zargothrax is called Wizard King for a reason, as he is a master of magic, particularly summoning spells. He can conjure demons and also physical objects from across time and space. It is stated the nuclear bomb which destroyed Dundee in 1022 was in fact summoned from the future of 1961. However, he prefers to use his magic only for utility, and relies on physical might for combat, especially with his two artifact weapons.
The Knife of Evil is a short blade of solid-state hyperquenched cryofluid, colloquially referred to as liquid ice - the same material which imprisoned Zargothrax for a thousand years. This blade is strong and sharp enough to pierce through nearly any armor, and allowed Zargothrax to easily defeat the Robot Prince of Auchtertool, whose powersteel armor was one of the strongest in the world. When stabbed into living flesh, the blade opens a microscopic portal to the 18th hell dimension inside the victim, which causes them to become possessed by an elder entity. The victim seems to retain some aspects of their personality and memory (as Dreadlord Proletius still thought of himself as Proletius) but otherwise transforms them into an undead servant under Zargothrax' control. This effect can be reversed by the Amulet of Justice, which was used to save the unicorns at the end of Tales From the Kingdom of Fife.
The Vorpal Laserblaster of Pittenweem takes the form of a handheld pistol. It has two modes of fire: a laser pulse, and the far more powerful dark matter cannon which has an effective range of just under 4 megameters (almost the width of the continental United States), and a recharge time of 12 seconds. The Vorpal Laserblaster's destructive potential is unknown, but it is known that it is considered the ultimate weapon created by the Starlords. Its power allowed Clone Alpha-1 to easily storm the citadel of the Brotherhood of Crail and slaughter everyone there. The Laserblaster's power is great enough that the Starlords considered destroying the entirety of Universe 38-B to be preferable to allowing the weapon to be used.
Zargothrax also possesses numerous other technological creations. He knows the secret of human cloning and has seeded multiple clones of himself to awaken in the event of his death. He also has an arsenal of nuclear missiles, including the one that destroyed Dundee. He also used an "infinity bomb" in Space 1992, to destroy the Questlords of Inverness by erasing them from history, though this weapon doesn't seem to be something he normally has access to. Notably, however, he still refers to himself as "Archfoe of the Questlords of Inverness" in the next album, despite that group of heroes having never existed, suggesting that he is aware of erased timelines.
Quotes[]
| “ | The prophecy is written: Dundee will fall! | „ |
| ~ The dark prophecy of Anstruther |
| “ | Zargothrax, Master of Nightmares, Keeper of Celestial Flame. Sorcerer, bound to the darkness, evil lies in his brain. Dark Lord Zargothrax, Master of Nightmares, Keeper of Celestial Flame. Wizard King, Chaos Incarnate, Zargothrax is his name! | „ |
| ~ The chorus of Keeper of the Celestial Flame of Abernethy lists some of Zargothrax' aliases |
| “ | And lo, after centuries of frozen slumber I am free once more. Cosmic infinity courses through my veins. My body is ablaze with astral charge. The galaxy shall once again tremble before the might of Zargothrax! | „ |
| ~ Zargothrax' monologue from Rise of the Chaos Wizards |
| “ | Mwah ha ha ha! Such a pathetic display of valor! You are naught but insignificant worms before the infinite power of Zargothrax! Now...the solar conjunction is at hand...my ascension to godhood is inevitable! And there is NOTHING you can do to stop me! Worship my omnipotence! | „ |
| ~ Zargothrax taunts the forces of light in Fires of Ancient Cosmic Destiny |
| “ | Gliding across the sun to soak up all its might/Charging my solar gun and prepare for epic fight/Questing through nebulas in search for crystal stone/That gives me the overdose of force to claim space throne/It is time take up your arms/Nova bombs and plasma guns | „ |
| ~ Zargothrax' verse from Universe on Fire |
Trivia[]
- Zargothrax' name came from a friend of Chris Bowes, and is a modified version of that friend's World of Warcraft character, a night elf hunter named Zylothrax.
- Angus McSix reveals that Zargothrax failed to defeat Angus McFife XIII as well, as the hero was able to come back from death "one better" as the title character, however this is not canon to the Gloryhammer storyline.
- On a reddit post from R/Gloryhammer, Chris has confirmed that Zargothrax’s original name before becoming the malevolent sorcerer was John Dundee. However, due to the ridiculousness of the idea, this is debatable.
- According to members of the band, their original idea in the first album was that Zargothrax was a false wizard with all of his "magic" actually being "sufficiently advanced technology". Though the band has since made it clear that magic actually does in fact exist in the Gloryhammer universe, Zargothrax has retained aspects of this, as he usually fights using technological artifacts like the Knife of Evil and Vorpal Laserblaster, rarely using actual spellcasting.
- Zargothrax is said to have raped Princess Iona MacDougall in the song Unicorn Invasion of Dundee. According to Christopher Bowes this is meant to be a satire on the fate of Princess Airin from Rhapsody of Fire's Emerald Sword Saga, and in this context is meant to be taken according to the 10th century definition of the word, meaning "to abduct or kidnap". Even so, Chris has said using that word was a mistake and is the one thing he would change in any of the band's lyrics.
Gallery[]
Images[]
External Links[]
- Zargothrax on the Dundaxian Codex Wiki.