Overlord: Dark Legend - Story

Story

See also: List of Overlord characters#Overlord: Dark Legend characters

"Dark Legend" is set before the events of "Overlord". The game features a new story line, with new characters and locations, written by Rhianna Pratchett (daughter of British novelist Terry Pratchett) who also wrote for the other games in the "Overlord" series.

Instead of the unnamed Overlord introduced in the previous game, Dark Legend follows the story of a new Overlord (named "Lord Gromgard" in-game). In the form of puppet show-esque cutscenes, the Overlord's story is told (with Gnarl doing the narration). Lord Gromgard, as a child, was told by Gnarl that, on his sixteenth birthday, his destiny would be fulfilled. As the years passed, the kingdom suffered many problems in the form of blights, poor crop harvests, Halflings taking the local food, bandits stealing from the populace and wolves eating or destroying what was left. Desperate to reclaim his fame, the Overlord's father, the once mighty Duke Gromgard, set out on a quest to acquire some of his lost assets, only to return with nothing and to find his wife, Duchess Gromgard, had run off with a rich and strong nobleman from a neighboring kingdom. On his sixteenth birthday, Lord Gromgard is left alone when his father sets out on yet another quest to reclaim his fortune, leaving Lord Gromgard with his extremely unpleasant older siblings, Lord Greenville and Lady Gerda (in a reference to Cinderella).

After getting a birthday present (the Overlord's Minion-commanding gauntlet) from a present that the castle chef, Rollick (Lord Gromgard's only friend) found, Lord Gromgard finds the Dark Tower and the Overlord armor that once belonged to his uncle, the mysterious Black Baron (who might have been the First Overlord), and begins to learn the ways of the Overlord. He begins his rule by tearing apart his brother and sister's room (with help from some Brown Minions), and then repels a Halfling infestation. His grief, however, has just begun, as the Halflings start a castle-wide fire. Planning on stopping this, the Overlord finds the Red Minion Hive and returns it to the castle. He then destroys the remains of the Halflings, but incurs the wrath of the insane castle jester, a Halfling named Jinks, who was behind the whole attack. Fighting the Overlord in a pumpkin-launching makeshift tank, Jinks is sent flying after the Overlord causes the tank to explode. A brown Minion (Who is the same jester as in Overlord) quickly takes Jinks' title as the castle jester. The Overlord then goes to reclaim the castle forge, (which was stolen by the servants while the Overlord dealt with Jinks) that is in the hands of the "Black Flame Bandits", a notorious group of bandits. Using a rock giant to thin their numbers, the Overlord reclaims the forge and establishes some dominance in the world. He then visits the nearby town of Meadowsweet, where he meets a kind bard named Nym, who asks him to kill the local wolves encroaching on the town. The Overlord kills them, and returns to town to meet a little girl in a red hood, who asks him to take her to her grandma's house in the forest (in an obvious reference to Little Red Riding Hood). The Overlord escorts the little girl, only to find the girl is, in fact, a wolf queen. After slaying the wolf queen, the Overlord learns from the children he freed that they have seen the Blue Minions, mentioning that the local children have been disappearing after visiting a cookie salesman. The Overlord intimidates the salesman, who claims the real person behind this is a kind witch named Doris, who lives in the woods. The Overlord finds the cookie sales are being used by Doris to earn money from the tooth fairy (the cookies cause children's teeth to fall out). The Overlord shuts down her business, and takes care of the last of the fairy tale creatures.

The player then contends with the Overlord's brother and sister, who are siding with the Elves and Dwarves (respectively) to start a war and claim the kingdom for themselves. Using the robes of Dwarven emissaries, the Overlord slips into the Elves' hideout, freeing the Green Minions and destroying the Elves plant-like monsters. However, Erasmus, the Elven leader, sees through the Overlord's disguise, and tries to stop him, only to die. Lord Greenville misunderstands Erasmus's dying words, thinking that Gerda is responsible (thanks due to the Overlord leaving a Dwarven item near Eramus's spot of death), and takes over as leader of the Elves. The Overlord then steals the robes of Elven emissaries, planning to perform a repeat of what happened to the elves. The Dwarves king, Widget (like Erasmus before him), sees through the Overlord's disguise, and attacks in a robot-like suit. The Overlord, however, kills him and blames the Elves (similarly as to how he blamed the Dwarves for the death of Erasmus), leaving his sister to lead the Dwarves. The final cutscene shows the two forces fighting for years, only to have both sides give up after so long. Both Lord Greenville and Lady Gerda return to Castle Gromgard to be enslaved, leaving Lord Gromgard to rule as the Overlord.