Characters / Knightmare Antagonists

Series 1- 4 antagonists

Mogdred

Played by: John Woodnutt

The big evil from Knightmare's first to second series, until Morghanna largely took over from him in Series 3 and he teamed up with Malice in Series 4. Departed at the end of that series.

• Evil Counterpart: Merlin describes Mogdred as his "alter-ego" and the dark side of his nature and power.
• The Ghost: Mentioned, but not seen in Series 1. It was implied that he would have appeared at the very end of Level 3, but no team reached that far.
• Kick the Dog: After a Series 2 team made a wrong turn and blundered into a room with no exits, Mogdred showed up to taunt the dungeoneer, just before his life force ran out.
• Out of Focus: In Series 3 he was largely supplanted by Morghanna as the primary villain.
• Schmuck Bait: Averted. He offered the POWER spell to Team 8 of Series 2, which he claimmed could be used as many times as the team liked, while he offered a GLORY spell to Team 4 of Series 3, saying it would make them "a winner". Neither team ended up using the respective spells, but it's considered likely that the spells would have hurt them in some manner.
• Troll: In the infamous "Shroud" incident he paralysed Treguard and turned the dungeoneer invisible just to see how his team would react. Granted, even he probably didn't expect how much of a meal his team would make of it.

Morghanna

Played by: Natasha Pope

Series 3's villain. Both of the two dungeoneers who actually faced her perished at her hands. Left after Series 3.

• Big Bad: She essentially took over this role from Mogdred in Series 3. She didn't actually have a huge amount of screentime, but she was by far the most visible of the villains that series.
• The Dreaded: By far and away the deadliest antagonist in the show's history; she killed both dungeoneers that she encountered.
• Invincible Villain: Downplayed. No one ever managed to beat her, but it was certainly possible had they been more clever.

Malice

Played by: Samantha Perkins

• Big Bad Duumvirate: With Mogdred, in Series 4. The two had roughly equal amounts of screentime, though Malice never actually killed any dungeoneers, whereas Mogdred took out the first team of the season.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Morghanna, to the point where Malice's costume was just a slightly altered version of Morghanna's, making it likely that she was a quick replacement after Natasha Pope proved unavailable.

The Opposition (Series 5-8)

Lord Fear

Played by: Mark Knight

The main villain of the series who first appeared in Season 5. Unlike the other antagonists, he was more active in trying to stop the dungeoneers and defeat Treguard.

• Big Bad: Whereas Mogdred tended to veer in and out of the role over his time on the show, Lord Fear held it with both hands, and was the clear leader of the opposition.
• Child Hater: He seems to take great pleasure in ensuring the dungeoneers' demise.
  Lord Fear: "There's nothing more terrifying than adolescent humanity. Well, unless it's me, of course."
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Something of a Running Gag was that at the end of each series Lord Fear's plans would backfire on him. At the end of Series 5 he ended up being frozen himself by his plot to have Aesandre freeze the dungeon so as to kill the last dungeoneer of that series. Then at the end of Series 6 and 7 he ended up being squashed by a Red dragon and a troll respectively, the former of which resulted in the destruction of his old lair. Averted in Series 8, which ends without any major plan and with him and Treguard swearing that the battle isn’t over.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: If your name is "Lord Fear", you’re obviously not a good person.
• Orcus on His Throne: He spent most of the show communicating with the other members of the Opposition from his lair, which dungeoneers could view via spyglasses placed around the dungeon. He only took action on a few occasions when a dungeoneer was at the end of their quest.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: At first he just served as a more visible version of Mogdred, who co-ordinated the Opposition's forces against the dungeoneers. Starting in Series 6, however, his goals became much more grandiose, including the total destruction of the Powers that Be.

Skarkill

Played by: Rayner Bourton

A goblin trainer who frequently was sent to enter the dungeon and deal with the teams.

• Beleaguered Assistant: Lord Fear very rarely encountered dungeoneers directly. Skarkill was usually the one trying to chase them down, meaning that he also ended up being the one who suffered when they fought him off.
• The Dragon: Largely shared this role with Sylvester Hands, with the two being the agents of Lord Fear most likely to try taking on the dungeoneers directly.
• No-Sell: In Series 5 one of the teams lacked the gold bar they needed to bribe him, and so tried to dupe him into believing that a horn they had collected was magical and could grant wishes. Skarkill immediately spotted that it was actually a goblin horn and turned their own ruse back on them by getting the dungeoneer to blow the horn, summoning a couple of goblins to take him prisoner.

Sylvester Hands

Played by: Paul Valentine

A foolish thief employed by Lord Fear. He’s notably the only member of the Opposition to appear in all four series in the second half.

• Not So Harmless: While he often seemed like a bumbling idiot, he could also be a sneaky and cunning thief. Series 6 showed him at his most dangerous, as he personally captured a dungeoneer who foolishly tried bribing him with Lord Fear's lost magic ring, instead of using said ring to subdue him.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: Though he doesn't particularly like Lord Fear, he becomes very subservient in his presence. Which came in useful for a Series 8 team who found the means to impersonate Fear in order to get past Hands.

Julius Scaramonger

Played by: Rayner Bourton

• Took a Level in Jerkass: In Series 5 he would often try to scam the teams (which came to a head in Team 7's quest in which he sold them a spell that backfired on them), and was even indicated to have caught and killed a young deer, but he could sell them useful items when needed. In Series 6, however, Ah Wok took over the job of selling the dungeoneers useful items, with Julius becoming almost completely villainous.

Aesandre

Played by: Juliet Henry-Massey

• Punny Name: Her name is pronounced "ice-ander", a reference to her status as sorceress of ice.

Greystagg

Played by: Iona Kennedy

• Anti-Villain: Whereas Morghanna, Malice and Aesandre were completely evil, Greystagg will sometimes help out the Powers that Be if Lord Fear's plans will somehow prove detrimental to her fellow witches.
• Evil Counterpart: For the most part she's this to Sidriss, to the point where she's even played by the same actress. That said, she's a much more competent magic user, and not actually completely evil.

Lissard

Played by: Clifford Barry

• The Dragon: Takes over the role of Lord Fear's main henchman from Skarkill in Series 7 and 8. Also a more literal example of this trope than most, given his lizardly nature.

Raptor

Played by: Clifford Barry

• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Skarkill, since he often had some goblins with him.
• Talk Like a Pirate: As a pirate, he naturally speaks like one.

The Brollachan

Voiced by: Anthony Donovan

• Adaptational Intelligence: The original legend described Brollachan as the shapeless offspring of the Fuath (a type of Celtic water spirit), with a limited vocabulary. Whereas here, it's highly intelligent (being robbed of all it knew notwithstanding) and can talk just as well as the next person.
• Anti-Villain: Not really bad at all; Lord Fear had stripped him of all his knowledge and forced him to do his bidding, but whenever he confronted dungeoneers he was more interested in filling the gaps in his memory than doing anything to help Fear's plans.
• Blob Monster: The Brollachan is gelatinous in nature, and it can travel around the dungeon by seeping through the cracks in walls and floors, enabling it to catch up with Dungeoneers no matter where they were.
• The Eeyore: Wasn't very happy with having so many gaps in his memory, and constantly complained about having to work for Fear.
• Eldritch Abomination: It's an amorphous shapeshifter, that feeds on knowledge.
• Expy: For the wall creatures of Series 1-3. The Brollachan was a little different, however, as teams only had to be truthful, not correct in their answers, meaning that he'd actually accept any answer he was given so long as he wasn't being knowingly deceived.
• Fantastic Diet Requirement: It subsists on the information that people give it, to the point where it doesn't need to consume organic matter. That said, it's not above devouring anyone foolish enough to provoke it by telling it lies. Thankfully this never happened in the show.

Maldalme

Played by: Iona Kennedy

• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Greystagg. Literally the only reason why they changed the character for Series 8 was because Iona Kennedy was pregnant, and Greystagg's costume wouldn't have fit her.

Bhal-Shebah

Voiced by: Bill Cashmore

• I'm a Humanitarian: On encountering the first dungeoneer of Series 8, who was already doomed due to not knowing the combination to get into Level 2, he wondered whether the dungeoneer would taste better raw or cooked. He naturally chose the latter, and barbecued the dungeoneer alive.
• Split Personality: A problem Lord Fear had when he had the red dragon under his service. The dragon had two personalities (each named with the the two parts of his name) that didn't get on with each other. It became such a problem that Lord Fear ended up brainwashing the dragon and renaming him "Firestorm of Marblehead".