History Characters / Ravenloft

* GenderFlip: Downplayed. In 5th edition, Succubi and Incubi are the same creature, [[OtherworldlyAndSexuallyAmbiguous only presenting different genders]]. As such, the Caller's gender goes unmentioned (assuming they aren't outright agender), though they could still present as male depending on the DM's wishes.

** Her stealth techniques, backstory, and mission to destroy evil bring to mind a villainous version ComicBook/{{Batman}}, as well.

* TheCorrupter: He's so evil the animals in his part of the forest have gone from TrueNeutral to NeutralEvil. His very presence has even ruined the ground and the water and caused all the fruit trees to give bitter issue.

* DemotedToExtra: Arijani used to be an outright darklord in earlier editions. Here, he's reduced to a character in another darklord's story.

* GenderFlip: Downplayed. In 5th edition, Succubi and Incubi are the same creature, only presenting different genders. As such, the Caller's gender goes unmentioned, though they could still present as male depending on the DM's wishes.

''[[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreatures Creatures]]'': General ([[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesAToE A to E]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesFToO F to O]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesPToZ P to Z]]) | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsDragons Dragons]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiends Fiends]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsUndead Undead]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsSettingSpecificCreatures Setting-Specific Creatures]]\\

[[caption-width-right:350:Friendlier than he looks here]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e2gpq8iuyai8_ns.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The hunter's students]]

* KickingAssInAllTheirFinery: Downplayed. In 3rd edition's artwork, they are depicted wearing practical, but still very upperclass clothing, with Gennifer wearing a dress and Laurie wearing a tailored suit and pants. In 5th edition's artwork, they wear much simpler, plainer-looking clothing.

* ZombieInfectee: InUniverse, George Weathermay believes that Gennifer is an afflicted werewolf, as a result of a bite she took from Natalie during that childhood attack. Where she is or isn't is left to the choice of the individual Dungeon Master. This only applies to the non-5e character lore.

* BrainsAndBrawn: Both girls are smart, but Laurie's a warrior specialized in the rapier, whilst Gennifer is a budding wizard (in 5E, her magic takes a more naturalist bent and she is a druid instead... for some reason).

* RaceLift: In classic lore, they are of pureblooded Mordentish stock, an ethnicity based on Gothic British/Scottish Highlander stock with pale skin and dark hair. In 5th edition, their artwork depicts them as an African ethnicity.

* ZombieInfectee: InUniverse, George Weathermay believes that Gennifer is an afflicted werewolf, as a result of a bite she took from Natalie during that childhood attack. Where she is or isn't is left to the choice of the individual Dungeon Master.

[[folder:Ahmi Vanjuko]]
A ranger from [[{{TabletopGame/Greyhawk}} Oerth]]; he ran afoul of Easan the Mad and wound up trapped in the body of a mechanical golem.

* BrainsAndBrawn: Both girls are smart, but Laurie's a warrior specialized in the rapier, whilst Gennifer is a budding wizard (in 5E, her magic takes a more naturalist bent and she is a druid).

* RaceLift: An interesting example. Due to Vistani views on culture (namely that FamilyOfChoice is the only one that matters), she is still a Vistana, even though it was retconned that she wasn't born to vistani parents.
* {{Retcon}}: Ez is a new character introduced in 5e's SoftReboot, but she's established as the daughter of Irena Radanavich and a student of van Richten.

* CrystalDragonJesus: Or his case "Crystal ''Vampire Elf''", since he became the indirect inspiration for the Church of the Morninglord though his true nature as a vampire is a closely guarded secret.

* SuicideBySunlight: Attempted to kill himself this manner, but the Mist aborted it. ''[[TabletopGame/BaldursGateDescentIntoAvernus Descent into Avernus]]'' implies that he might have succeeded in the end, but was condemned to Hell for his efforts. ''Van Richten's Guide'' retconned this version of him to be a clone.

[[folder:Victor Mordenheim]]
A MadScientist, and Adam's "father". Damned with his creation, he toils constantly to try to "fix" his wife, but has thus far only succeeded in prolonging her agony.

5th edition gave him a GenderFlip and made him Darklord of Lamordia. Tropes for this version of the character can be found on the Northern Core Darklords page.

* AffablyEvil: Mordenheim is not a cruel man. He despises death, and would save everyone's lives if he could. But he is also largely unbound by the strictures of morality, and when he can't get enough dead bodies to keep his wife's going, he arranges painless deaths with anesthetic chemicals.
* TheAgeless: It's been centuries. Mordenheim doesn't age beyond his mid-thirties, and no one finds this strange.
* AndIMustScream: His wife's current condition is one of constant misery and suffering, such that she is ready to die... but Victor's pride and hatred of death will prevent him from ever shutting down the torturous machines keeping her alive.
* AntiMagic: Not Mordenheim himself, but, an option presented in the 3rd edition version of the setting is that Mordenheim's sheer dismissal of magic has led to a phenomenon in Lamordia that mages dub "The Smothering of Reason", making the entire domain a place where magic is at some risk of spontaneously failing to work.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Mordenheim staunchly believes magic is inferior to science and dismisses it. The tie-in novel "Mordenheim" attempts to justify this by detailing an event where Mordenheim tried to switch his wife's mind using necromantic magic, but it backfired on him, leading to him denouncing magic as treacherous and unworthy. Although he has genuinely achieved some spectacular scientific feats, what his science can do still pales in many ways compared to the power of arcane magic.
* {{Curse}}: Even before the mists swallowed Lamordia, the gods had cursed Mordenheim for his arrogance by [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor allowing him to re-animate Adam in the first place]]. Many fans feel he, not his creation, is better understood as the ''true'' Darklord of Lamordia.
* DrFakenstein: A transparent Literature/{{Frankenstein}} pastiche, though much darker and less-sympathetic than the original.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: For all his many flaws, Victor did love his wife and daughter, two of the only real emotional connections he ever formed. To the extent to which his vanity allows him to do so, he regrets ignoring their pleas for him to rein in Adam before it was too late, and he works constantly to keep one of them alive. [[DeconstructedTrope However, because of his vain, selfish nature, he refuses to accept that he is only prolonging her suffering]], meaning that his love for her is still abusive and twisted by it.
* FlatEarthAtheist: Downplayed, but Mordenheim is a MadScientist who "neither worship[s] nor believe[s] in any power higher than man," and disdains arcane magic as a "diversion" from "real science." Despite coming from a world where, at the least, arcane magic is very real and its power is ''very'' demonstrable.
* ForegoneConclusion: Without the intervention of the gods that have spurned him, his quest to save his wife is hopeless. On some level, he is aware of this... but he keeps doing what he's doing anyway, because to do otherwise would be to admit to himself that he is as much at fault as Adam.
* FrameUp: Mordenheim, for all his faults, is usually rather harmless. But the superstitious people of Lamordia are afraid of him, crediting him with powers he does not possess, and they blame him not merely for the grave-robbing he actually engages in but with his creation's murders.
* GenderFlip: For 5th edition, Mordenheim was turned into Viktra Mordenheim. This also brought along AdaptationalSexuality, as Victor's wife was made a CompositeCharacter with Adam, known as Elise.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Has a big one right over his left eye.
* HealingFactor: An extremely powerful one. He will regenerate FromASingleCell if necessary. [[spoiler: Even the complete physical destruction or disintegration of his being will only ensure that his undying soul possesses a fresh male corpse, which, over the course of a week, comes to resemble him and takes up his work.]]
* InTheBlood: Mordenheim has no direct children, but his family legacy does continue on through myriad cousins and their progeny, and optionally through the bloodline of his adopted daughter. Those who bear the blood of Mordenheim invariably are brilliant, love knowledge (especially scientific knowledge) and are prone to ArbitrarySkepticism, in the form of a disdain for religion and/or arcane magic. The antipathy towards religion is particularly justified because all Mordenheims have inherited Victor's Curse of Godlessness, which in 3e prevents them from ''ever'' taking levels in any class that learns divine magic.
* LawfulEvil: His InUniverse alignment, representing his detached, pragmatic mindset and his selfish, proud nature.
* MadScientist: Obviously, but a strangely calm one, who does not suffer from ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder.
* MagicVersusScience: He comes down quite firmly on the side of Science, doing his best to ignore that many of the things his science can do, magic can do cheaper and more easily.
* NonActionGuy: He can't fight at all, but there are certain catches embedded in there...
* {{Pride}}: His tremendous, overbearing arrogance has damned him just as surely as if he had ''actually'' been a Darklord.
* {{Retcon}}: 5th edition made him (or rather ''her'', being [[GenderFlip Viktra Mordenheim]] instead) the Darklord of Lamordia, instead of Adam. This was a highly debated topic even before ''Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft'', as many fans considered Mordenheim more deserving of the curse than Adam.
* StoneWall: Can't fight, but he has the hit points of a flesh golem, can regenerate [[FromASingleCell from just about anything short of disintegration]], and [[spoiler: there's even a [[TimeLimitBoss timer]] involved, in that hurting him will quickly see Adam intervening to spare himself the pain]].
* {{Synchronization}}: He's technically more a feature of Adam's curse than a Darklord in his own right, and neither can die while the other survives. [[spoiler: Trying to kill Mordenheim will get Adam involved in short order, since they feel one another's physical injuries.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stelios, Glyptar of Demise]]
An NPC introduced to the canon in the netbook ''Quoth the Raven 21'', a preview of material for the fan-netbook on the Sea of Sorrows. Althea's husband in life, his treatment of her led to his death and her damnation to the Demiplane of Dread. He escaped death by binding his soul to an amethyst and becoming a glyptar, using his powers over Demise's rock and soil to torment his former wife and protect his heir, Leftheris.
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[[folder:Senmet]]
Centuries ago, before Pharaoh Anhktepot was drawn into Ravenloft, his high priest Senmet was mummified and entombed alive after his treasonous plans were uncovered. But Senmet would not rest forever...

* SuicideBySunlight: Attempted to kill himself this manner, but the Mist aborted it. ''[[TabletopGame/BaldursGateDescentIntoAvernus Descent into Avernus]]'' implies that he might have succeeded in the end, but was condemned to Hell for his efforts.

* TheArchmage: His suggested [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin statblock]]. This makes him an 18th-level wizard and thus one of the most powerful non-player characters outlined in Van Richten's Guide.

* TheArchmage: His suggested [[ExaclyWhatItSaysOnTheTin statblock]]. This makes him an 18th-level wizard and thus one of the most powerful non-player characters outlined in Van Richten's Guide.

* TheArchmage: IT's the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin name]] of his Startblock. He is an 18th-level wizard, which makes him one of the most powerful non-player characters outlined in Van Richten's Guide and the most powerful non-Darklord named in the book.

A powerful and brilliant wizard traveling the domains, Finan is ruthlessly determined to escape the mists of Ravenloft entirely. Not much is known as to how he came to believe that there are realities beyond the domains, but he has peerless knowledge about the nature of Ravenloft and the domains. He investigates ruins, ancient prophecies, temporal anomalies and hints of a certain entity he calls "the escapee." [[spoiler: It is all but spelled out that he is Azalin Rex, the elusive Darklord of Darkon, having regained his human form and being set free from his domain, but not Ravenloft itself, after completing the [[RitualMagic hour of ascension]].]]

* TheArchmage: He is an 18th-level wizard, which makes him one of the most powerful non-player characters outlined in Van Richten's Guide and the most powerful non-Darklord named in the book.

[[folder:Jander Sunstar]]
An elven vampire who originally lived in the TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms, he fell in love with a woman in an insane asylum who was actually a plane-lost reincarnation of Tatyana. When the Mists stole her back to Ravenloft, he followed her, and found himself in the role of teaching Strahd what it meant to be a vampire before turning on him for his evil ways. He tried to commit suicide under the sun after failing to kill Strahd, but the Mists stole him away, so he failed.

[[folder: Firan Zal'honan]]

[-'''Firan:''' None of this is real.-]

[- '''Firan:''' My genius is immortal and has been tested like no other.-]

[- '''Firan:''' I will endure this test. I will reap my reward. I will have my revenge.-]

A powerful and brilliant wizard traveling the domains, Finan is ruthlessly determined to escape the mists of Ravenloft entirely. Not much is known as to how he came to believe that there are realities beyond the domains, but he has peerless knowledge about the nature of Ravenloft and the domains. He investigates ruins, ancient prophecies, temporal anomalies and a certain being he calls "the escapee." [[spoiler: It is all but spelled out that he is Azalin Rex, the elusive Darklord of Darkon, having regained his human form and being set free from his domain, but not Ravenloft itself, after completing the [[RitualMagic hour of ascension]].]]

* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler: Apart from the specifics of how he escaped his domain, the book leaves it unclear whether or not, or to which extend he is aware that he is Azalin Rex. His profile has him call his genius "immortal", he alludes to his nobility, hates Darkon (which would have been his own IronicHell), has a personal animosity towards Strahd [[HatedByAll (not that that's anything special)]] and he has taken up what is presumably his old surname. However, he claims that he ''could '' have been a king and obsesses over an "escapee", which would be himself. Although this escapee could also be another Darklord who has managed to flee Ravenloft altogether, possibly [[Ravenloft/FormerDarklords Vecna.]]]] This is probably left intentionally vage for a Dungeon Master to decide on.

* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler: Apart from the specifics of how he escaped his domain, the book leaves it unclear whether or not, or to which extend he is aware that he is Azalin Rex. His profile has him call his genius "immortal", he alludes to his nobility, hates Darkon (which would have been his own IronicHell), has a personal animosity towards Strahd [[HatedByAll (not that that's anything special)]] and he has taken up what is presumably his old surname. However, he claims that he ''could '' have been a king and obsesses over an "escapee", which would be himself. Although this escapee could also be another Darklord who has managed to flee Ravenloft altogether, possibly [[Characters/Ravenloft/FormerDarklords Vecna]].]] This is probably left intentionally vage for a Dungeon Master to decide on.

* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler: Apart from the specifics of how he escaped his domain, the book leaves it unclear whether or not, or to which extend he is aware that he is Azalin Rex. His profile has him call his genius "immortal", he alludes to his nobility, hates Darkon (which would have been his own IronicHell), has a personal animosity towards Strahd [[HatedByAll (not that that's anything special)]] and he has taken up what is presumably his old surname. However, he claims that he ''could '' have been a king and obsesses over an "escapee", which would be himself. Although this escapee could also be another Darklord who has managed to flee Ravenloft altogether, possibly Vecna.]] This is probably left intentionally vage for a Dungeon Master to decide on.