The Fallen Blackguard

[Gez]

There's a webnovel (it's like a webcomic, but with more words and no images ) -- that, by the way, I recommend to those here who can read French [Link]-- in which there was an interesting character concept: the fallen blackguard.

Markus-Wilmar von Drakenström (the name is volontarily a cheesy villain name, the story is quite humorous and few names are serious) is a remorseless blackguard, and proud of it. He is ruthless, violent, treacherous, egotistical, cynical, and sadistic. He enjoys raping, pillaging, killing, stealing, terrorising, and otherwise being famous as the most dangerous criminal warlord of the continent. He is peculiarly fond of harassing churches and monasteries and nunneries -- especially nunneries -- of Hegan, the God of Law and Order.

In short, he's a mean evil badass.

One day, while he was burning his umpteeth Heganite monastery, someone got tired with his antics. And that someone was none else than Hegan himself. Who caught Markus, sent him for a subjective eternity in a plane of raw agonising pain, summoned him back, told him that lasted only a mere second and that he was to spend unnumerable eons there for his crimes.
However, being the kind and just and magnanimous god he is, he would offer one chance of redemption to him. Markus is a skilled fighter, and the opportunities of fighting for a just cause are many; so if he was to become his devout champion and paladin, he could escape his punishment.

After a few more planehopping diplomacy sessions, Markus' pride was broken enough, and he accepted, reluctantly. He accepted to go and join a pompously-named Paladin Order. He accepted to be constantly watched and followed by a celestial spy. He accepted to go on a quest to seek a holy avenger. And so on.

Eventually, though, he didn't even noticed that he was no more forced to act gallantly and bravely. That his "shoulder angel" was gone since a long time. That he forgot the pain and the afterlife threat. That he was now a paladin because he wholly embraced this new life, rather than because he was constrained. He had numerous occasions to return to his previous self, but didn't.


So, what do you think of that character concept?

 

[Piratecat]

I think it freakin' rocks.

 

[Enkhidu]

Seconded.

This would be fabulous for high level games.

 

[Particle_Man]

Sounds like Xena, Warrior Princess.

 

[SSquirrel]

heh the god's name is very close to my real name...

I like that

Hagen

 

[Alzrius]

So, what do you think of that character concept?

The premise seems somewhat weak, IMHO.

Blackguards, like paladins, are holy warriors, just for evil deities. As such, that means that Markus there should have his own god who's quite happy with the way he's blackguard-ing around the countryside. The fact that Hegan personally showed up, and used a rather draconian "change alignment or suffer" tactic should have immediately brought down Markus's own god to his defense.

Basically, I think gods should protect their champions from the direct wrath of other gods (or at least, when those other gods initiate it; it'd be different if Markus had ridden into Hegan's home plane and started whacking him with a club). Otherwise, what's the point of acting in your god's name, when a rival god is going to personally come down and smite you? Deities who personally intercede to kill or forcibly convert another god's champions are a huge divine no-no.

 

[Anabstercorian]

I agree with Alzrius.

It would be a stronger premise if the conversion was initiated by the blackguard himself.

 

[Darthjaye]

But it makes no sense for the Blackguard to do it himself within the context of the tail. If your gonna offer that avenue you have to pitch in an alternative so that your being constructive and not just agreeing for the sake of being right. Not to harp but it just makes sense in the EN World community to help rather than just plain shoot someones idea down.
As to the story, most things Gods do don't make sense to mortals. Maybe this was a bet between two gods over whether it could be done. Maybe some other champion of the dark god got away with a little too much and the Dark God let this one go in a trade for the better guy down the road. You could definately expand with any number of explanations to back this story and even have him find out the real reason behind his change. Maybe he was born to be this paladin after all but dark forces tried to prevent this by taking him as a child and changing him. Anything is possible so please don't just turn a story aside because you think it doesn't make sense. Expand on it yourself and see what fun things can come from it instead. After all we are gamers and we're supposed to be slightly more creative than your average guy!!

 

[hong]

The premise seems somewhat weak, IMHO.

Blackguards, like paladins, are holy warriors, just for evil deities.

Can we drop the D&D groupthink for just a minute please? Yeesh.

The blackguard is basically the epitome of the champion of evil. Darth Vader, in archetypal terms, is a blackguard. Forget the fact that he doesn't cast spells, uses a lightsaber, and breathes funny; he's a champion of big-E Evil, representing all that the heroes are fighting against. That is what a blackguard is, after you strip away all the D&D tropes that have been drilled into you.

The exact relationship between a blackguard and the cosmos is something that is up to individual DMs to decide. While YOU may think of blackguards as holy warriors, there is nothing about the underlying archetype that requires it. Vader himself is a classic example of a champion of evil who has no divine ties whatsoever.

Now back to the original question: redemption is a pretty common theme in stories about morally dubious characters. There are two ways you can go about it in a game. The first is to put it all in the character's backstory, so that he starts the game already reformed. But that seems a waste of dramatic potential.

The alternative is to roleplay the process of redemption, But this process, like all things that radically change the theme of a character, can be hard to pull off in a game. The player has to trust the DM to orchestrate events appropriately, and at a pace that's to everyone's liking. Unless both the player and the DM can agree on this, it's a nonstarter; even then, you really want to have the other players onside as well. It can be hard to maintain your enthusiasm for reform if the other PCs just keep treating you as an evil bastard. Not saying it can't be done, it'll just require a lot more OOC communication than is usual, to keep things from going off the rails.

 

[RangerWickett]

It's a nice idea. Not wholly original, but quite doable. It might be useful to consider what sorts of higher powers might have been miffed with him turning good. And to wonder how many folks he killed while evil might want a piece of him now.

In Buffy, Angel at least was fortunate enough to just live discreetly for a few decades before becoming a champion. Gave the people he tortured time to die.