History Literature / LegendOfZagor

* WeaponOfChoice: Anvar and Stubble stick to Axes, though the latter eventually gets ahold of a Hammer. Braxus is a swordsman and Sallazar wields a Staff. Some heroes can also wield a Longbow and/or a Crossbow.

* ThePlague: You can be infected with one (''[[UpToEleven or more!]]'') different strains of plague if you let the wrong enemy get a hit in on you. Luckily there's Plague Antidote and a few healers around if you can find them.

* UnwinnableByMistake: When you calculate the formula to use [[spoiler: the Onyx Staff]] against the War Dragon, the book neglects to mention that you have to subtract 100 from the result to find the correct paragraph.

''Legend of Zagor'' is the 54[[superscript:th]] entry of the ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' series of Gamebooks, written by Keith Martin (though Ian Livingstone is credited for it, and eventually confirmed Martin's authorship in 2014), acting as a SequelEpisode for ''Literature/ReturnToFiretopMountain''.

After the events of ''Return to Firetop Mountain'', Zagor was once again stopped and killed by a brave adventurer, who slew the treacherous revenant Warlock and put an end to his threat to Allansia and Titan... the keyword here is, ''to Allansia''. In the parallel world of Amarilla, a great battle was fought by the forces of good to defeat the powerful Bone Demon plaguing Castle Argent and his armies of Dragons, orcs and demons, and the being was sealed forever in the Casket of Souls. However, your hero is soon summoned by the good king Irian of Sanctuary to discuss an urgent matter: using a magical crystal he contacted Gereth Yaztromo, of Titan, who reveals that the soul of Zagor entered the dimension of Amarilla and was sucked inside the Casket of Souls, merging with the Bone Demon, who's now free back at Castle Argent, free to start a new kingdom of ruin and horror from Tower Island. It is up to you to wear the shoes of one of four adventurers (Anvar the Barbarian, Braxus the Warrior, Stubble the Dwarf and Sallazar the Wizard) and undertake a perilous quest: enter Castle Argent, defeat Zagor and make sure that this time he doesn't return from the dead again to threaten Titan or Amarilla.

** Sir Davion, a dispirited knight hiding somewhere in the castle.

* DropTheHammer: [[FrankensteinMonster Mungus the jailer]] wields a huge maul, the orc chieftain wields a magic hammer that [[BoomerangComeback he can throw at you and return]] while you fight his goons, and Stubble can find a legendary Stone Hammer as his InfinityPlusOneSword.

* EliteMooks: Mutant Orcs, they wear no armour, yet they're stronger than regular orcs, having more SKILL and STAMINA and can even survive a single Lightning Spell.

* IKnowYourTrueName: The merchant Coshturre and the priest Zuqurulm will provide further assistance for you when you reveal their true names. Inverted with Remstar the ghost-wizard, however; if you reveal his name, you'll provoke him further and will be forced to fight him.

** The Onyx Staff, with the knowledge of the symbols, can be used to deal massive damage to four of Zagor's most powerful creatures.]]
** You can get your hands on some grave dust that will do critical damage to any undead creature.

* MacGuffinGuardian: Plentiful, guarding important stuff: The four Heraldic Rooms are guarded by [[AnimatedArmor Animated Armors]] (two of them for two rooms), a Stone Colossus and a Plant Golem. Each of the four InfinityPlusOneSword weapons are kept by a monster, while the [[BigRedDevil Champion Hellhorn]] and [[GeniusBruiser Grool]] guards the Dragonbone Keys leading to Zagor's inner sanctum. Most of the time you can actually run away from the room to avoid combat. Subverted with the Mutant Chaos Ogre: despite guarding a chest in his room, he explodes into a veritable flood of acid when killed, which melts the entire room, chest included.

** While fighting the hag Grizzel and her cat Wacket, on a very lucky hit, you can be paralyzed by Wacket's saliva and have your adventure ended right then.

** On the other hand, if you're playing as Sallazar, you can use the Death Spell, which can instantly kill enemies whose SKILL is 9 or lower, regardless how high their STAMINA. Best to save this spell for bosses like Grool and Thulu.

* IKnowYourTrueName: The merchant Coshturre and the priest Zuqurulm will provide further assistance for you when you reveal their true names.

* MacGuffinGuardian: Plentiful, guarding important stuff: The four Heraldic Rooms are guarded by Animated Armors (two of them for two rooms), a Stone Colossus and a Plant Golem. Each of the four InfinityPlusOneSword weapons are kept by a monster, while the [[BigRedDevil Champion Hellhorn]] and [[GeniusBruiser Grool]] guards the Dragonbone Keys leading to Zagor's inner sanctum. Most of the time you can actually run away from the room to avoid combat. Subverted with the Mutant Chaos Ogre: despite guarding a chest in his room, he explodes into a veritable flood of acid when killed, which melts the entire room, chest included.

* ActionSurvivor: The three thieves you can find hidden in a dungeon room behind a secret passage survive by scavenging food and items from the floors above while avoiding the Orcs or the dungeons. You can even hire one of them to be your guide, unlock chests and doors and help you in combat.

* IntrepidMerchant: "Three Eyes" Haag set shop in the middle of the first floor, and is more than willing to shop with you. He says that his magic protections keep the Orcs at bay, and it's implied that the current residents occasionally barter with him from time to time.

* MessyPig: You can obtain a Ironhog pet: this little boar is covered in iron plates and feed on iron. If you give him some metal spikes, he will help you by eating up the armor of certain enemies.

* MagicMissileStorm: [[spoiler: Using the Onyx Staff successfully against the Hellhorn Champion will bombard him with a shower of magic chevron arrows, dealing severe damage]].

* AntagonistAbilities: Nearly all the "Bosses" have special attacks that can deal more damage or handicap you in some way, as well as having a lot of STAMINA and SKILL around 8 or more. Zagor in particular can cast spells dealing up to 7 points of damage.

* CombatClairvoyance: Anvar can apply this to avoid sneak attacks from traps or monsters.

* GeniusBruiser: Grool, the cyclopean ogre that guards one of the keys to Zagor's sanctum. As brutish as an ogre is, he's also smart enough to teleport away when things look bad, carry healing potions with him, and even use a freaking ''ballista'' against you!

* OurOgresAreHungrier: Two mutants in the Castle: the Mutant Chaos Ogre is a bloated, clawed monstrosity hooked up some acid tanks who can spit and bleed corrosive slime. The other is Grool, a crafty, horned mutant who guards the Dragonborn Keyes in the eastern Wing.

* RaceAgainstTheClock: Once you kill Zagor, [[spoiler: You have to carry his massive corpse to the Heartfires and have 500 seconds to do so before he starts to regenerate (after which you have 800 more seconds to deliver him to the flames).]]

* ResurrectiveImmortality: Demon Zagor can revive himself at will, no matter how badly-damaged he is. [[spoiler: If 500 seconds expires while you drag him to the Heartfires, he will start to awaken and will claw at you, hindering and damaging you as you proceed to the Heartfires chamber.]]

* WeaksauceWeakness: The Golden Medallions and Silver Daggers are these to Zagor himself. [[spoiler: They reduce his stats. The Onyx Staff, with the knowledge of the symbols, can be used to deal massive damage to four of Zagor's most powerful creatures.]]

After the events of ''Return to Firetop Mountain'', Zagor was once again stopped and killed by a brave adventurer, who slain the treacherous revenant Warlock and put an end to is threat to Allansia and Titan... the keyword here is, ''to Allansia''... In the parallel world of Amarilla, a great battle was fought by the forces of good to defeat the powerful Bone Demon plaguing Castle Argent and his armies of Dragons, orcs and demons, and the being was sealed forever in the Casket of Souls. However, your hero is soon summoned by the good king Irian of Sanctuary to discuss an urgent matter: using a magical crystal he contacted Gereth Yaztromo, of Titan, who reveals that the soul of Zagor entered the dimension of Amarilla and was sucked inside the Casket of Souls, merging with the Bone Demon, who's now free back at Castle Argent, free to start a new kingdom of ruin and horror from Tower Island. Is up to you to wear the shoes of one of four adventurers (Anvar the Barbarian, Braxus the Warrior, Stubble the Dwarf and Sallazar the Wizard) and undertake a perilous quest: enter Castle Argent, defeat Zagor and make sure that this time he doesn't return from the dead again to threaten Titan or Amarilla.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Four rooms on the second floor have distinctive colors and heraldic symbols, namely White, Green, Blue and Yellow. [[spoiler: You must fight the guardian inside to see the number and color of the heraldic symbols (Blue Chevrons, Red Lions, Yellow Goblets and Green Stars) to know how to use the Onyx Wand against the Dark Knight, the Champion Hellhorn, Grool and the War Dragon.]]

* {{Dracolich}}: A powerful Bone Dragon can be encountered in the dungeons of Castle Argent. It has powerful scores of skill 10 stamina 20 but you can attack him first twice since he's composing his skeletal body to fight. Killing it lets you have the Ebony Wand Sallazar can use.
* TheDragon: While a ContinuityNod to the Red Dragon of the first book, the War Dragon is much more than a mere RightHandAttackDog. He leads the Bone Demons' forces and is heavily implied to have prevented them from collapsing entirely, and kept his evil influence over Castle Argent intact. He is the second-to-last boss and the second mightiest foe of the game, roughly as dangerous as his lord, having skill 15 stamina 20 and a slew of dangerous attacks.

* FinalBoss: Demon-Zagor, fought in his throne room in the innermost tower of the castle, gifted with skill 16 stamina 20 and a series of powerful spells and attacks to lay waste on you. [[spoiler: However, for every Gold Medallion and Silver Dagger you have collected you can detract, respectively, -1 skill and -2 stamina, making the battle easier. Or killing him outright if you could gather ten daggers.]]

* FusionDance: Offscreen, Zagor's ressurrecting essence was sucked in the Casket of Souls by the Bone Demon's presence, which merged the two into a singular entity.
* GottaCatchThemAll: In the introduction, you're advised to look for the Tower Chests (which, however, are trapped and you risks either a Luck point or 3 Damage points each) to obtain either the Gold Medallions or the Silver Daggers. [[spoiler: The former lower Zagor's skill score, the latter works for his stamina. They're not mandatory, but the more you have, the easier the final battle gets.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: If you [[spoiler: reach the Heartfires with Zagor's corpse but your STAMINA is 3 or lower, you'll lose your balance and fall into the Fires with Zagor: you won, but won't be around to enjoy your victory.]]
* InfinityPlusOneSword: Each character can find a magical weapon granting bonus attacks against Dragons or Zagor himself. Anvar obtains the Barbarian Axe, Braxus gets a Black Greatsword, Stubble obtains a Stone Hammer and Sallazar can get his hands on an Ebony Wand. Furthermore, it's possible to obtain more than one of these weapons, but only the mentioned character can get the bonuses from said weapon (for example, Braxus doesn't get any bonus from the Barbarian Axe, even if he can use it.

* KillItWithFire: You can greatly damage the Great Mummy in the Corridor of Fear by throwing your lantern at it. [[spoiler: You also get rid of Zagor once and for all by throwing his regenerating corpse in the chasm of the Heartfires.]]

* MacGuffinGuardian: Plentiful, guarding important stuff: The four Heraldic Rooms are guarded by Animated Armors (two of them for two rooms), a Stone Colossus and a Plant Golem. Each of the four InfinityPlusOneSword is kept by a monster, while the [[BigRedDevil Champion Hellhorn]] and [[GeniusBruiser Grool]] guards the Dragonborn Keyes leading to Zagor's inner sanctum. Most of the time you can actually run away from the room to avoid combat. Subverted with the Mutant Chaos Ogre: despite guarding a chest in his room, he explodes into a veritable flood of acid when killed, which melts the entire room, chest included.

* NightmareFuel: InUniverse, the Corridor of Fear fills your heart with sheer terror as you cross it.

* RedHerring: In the ruined village outside Castle Argent, you can find a vision Pit which, if you throw a coin in it, will advise you not to trust Remstar the Wizard. While you can fight him, it's possible to release him from his torment without a fight.

* WeaponOfChoice: Anvar and Stubble stick to Axes, though the latter eventually gets ahold of a Hammer. Braxus is a swordsman and Sallazar wields a Staff. All heroes can either wield a Longbow or a Crossbow.
* WeaponOfXSlaying: You can find a magical sword made to slay Orcs, though you don't brandish it but simply throw it at them, causing the sword to dance and slice all nearby Orcish enemies.

''Legend of Zagor'' is the 54th entry of the ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' series of Gamebooks, written by Keith Martin (though Ian Livingstone is credited for it, and eventually confirmed Martin's authorship in 2014), acting as a SequelEpisode for ''Literature/ReturnToFiretopMountain''.

!!''Legend of Zagor'' contains examples of:

* WeaponOfXSlaying: You can find a magical sword made to slay Orcs, though you don't brandish it but simply throw it at them, causing the sword to dance and slice all nearby Orcish enemies.

* FiveBadBand: The major bosses of the game form one.

* ElementalEmbodiment: The infamously though Air Elemental guards a room on the second floor [[spoiler: hiding the precious Onyx Staff]], as well as many Stone monsters, against which Stubble has a combat bonus due to his race.

* InfinityPlusOneSword: Each character can find a magical weapon granting bonus attacks against Dragons or Zagor himself. Anvar obtains the Barbarian Axe, Braxus gets a Black Greatsword, Stubble obtains a Stone Hammer and Sallazar can get his hands on an Ebony Wand. Furthermore, it's possible to obtain more than one of these weapons, but only the mentioned character can get the bonuses from said weapon (for example, Braxus doesn't get any bonus from the Barbarian Axe, even if he can use it.]]

After the events of ''Return to Firetop Mountain'', Zagor was once again stopped and killed by a brave adventurer, who slain the treacherous revenant Warlock and put an end to is threat to Allansia and Titan... the keyword here is, ''to Allansia''... In the parallel world of Amarilla, a great battle was fought by the forces of good to defeat the powerful Bone Demon plagueing Castle Argent and his armies of Dragons, orcs and demons, and the being was sealed forever in the Casket of Souls. However, your hero is soon summoned by the good king Irian of Sanctuary to discuss an urgent matter: using a magical crystal he contacted Gereth Yaztromo, of Titan, who reveals that the soul of Zagor entered the dimension of Amarilla and was sucked inside the Casket of Souls, merging with the Bone Demon, who's now free back at Castle Argent, free to start a new kingdom of ruin and horror from Tower Island. Is up to you to wear the shoes of one of four adventurers (Anvar the Barbarian, Braxus the Warrior, Stubble the Dwarf and Sallazar the Wizard) and undertake a perilous quest: enter Castle Argent, defeat Zagor and make sure that this time he doesn't return from the dead again to threaten Titan or Amarilla.

** TheEvilGenius: Two in fact. Fist, Grool the hulking cyclopean ogre, who proves a much craftier and bothersome GeniusBruiser that he would let it appear. He shares the spot with Thulu the Orchestra King, who leads the Bone Demon's armies and keeps a healer hostage.

* CoDragons: King Thulu and the War Dragon: the former leads Zagor's Orcs and Zombies and controls the "mundane" part of the castle, the latter was one of the Bone Demon's servants and provides the last line of defense for Zagor himself.
* CollapsingLair: Downplayed example, Castle Argent begins shaking and trembling when you defeat Zagor [[spoiler: and start dragging him all the way to the Heartfires.]]
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Four rooms on the second floor have distinctive colors and heraldic symbols, namely White, Green, Blue and Yellow. [[spoiler: You must fight the guardian inside to see the number and color of the araldic symbols (Blue Chevrons, Red Lions, Yellow Goblets and Green Stars) to know how to use the Onyx Wand against the Dark Knight, the Champion Hellhorn, Grool and the War Dragon.]]

* ContinuityNod: Plenty to ''Literature/TheWarlockOfFiretopMountain'' and ''Literature/ReturnToFiretopMountain'': Zagor once again is served by Orcs and Undead, has an evil portrait in his lair, use magical tarots and is guarded by a Dragon. As a nod to the latter book, the only thing left of Zagor was his skeletal left arm, which can be seen embedded in his Demon form's chest.

* {{Dracolich}}: A powerful Bone Dragon can be encountered in the dungeons of Castle Argent. It has powerful scores of 10 SKILL and 20 STAMINA but you can attack him first twice since he's composing his skeletal body to fight. Killing it lets you have the Ebony Wand Sallazar can use.

* FinalBoss: Demon-Zagor, fought in his throne room in the innermost tower of the castle, gifted with 16 SKILL, 20 STAMINA and a series of powerful spells and attacks to lay waste on you. [[spoiler: However, for every Gold Medallion and Silver Dagger you have collected you can detract, respectively, 1 point from his SKILL and 2 points from his STAMINA, making the battle easier.]]

* GottaCatchThemAll: In the introduction, you're advised to look for the Tower Chests (which, however, are trapped and you risks either a Luck point or 3 Damage points each) to obtain either the Gold Medallions or the Silver Daggers. [[spoiler: The former lower Zagor's SKILL, the latter works for his STAMINA. They're not mandatory, but the more you have, the easier the final battle gets.]]

* MacGuffinGuardian: Plentiful, guarding important stuff: The four Heraldic Rooms are guarded by Animated Armors (two of them for two rooms), a Stone Colossus and a Plant Golem. Each of the four InfinityPlusOneSword is kept by a monster, while the [[BigRedDevil Champion Hellhorn]] and [[TheBrute Grool]] guards the Dragonborn Keyes leading to Zagor's inner sanctum. Most of the time you can actually run away from the room to avoid combat. Subverted with the Mutant Chaos Ogre: despite guarding a chest in his room, he explodes into a veritable flood of acid when killed, which melts the entire room, chest included.

* OrcusOnHisThrone: Like in the previous titles, Zagor is a sedentary boss, waiting in his well-protected throne room.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: War Dragons were a race of powerful and fierce dragons raised by the Bone Demon to act as his vassals. One of them is still alive and protects Zagor's hideout.