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WARDUKE
A Brief History of D&D's Most Iconic Villain
Warduke began life on the cover of issue 17 of The Dragon magazine in 1978, as an unnamed evil fighter with the iconic dragon-winged helm and glowing red eyes.
He would not be fleshed out and named until a few years later in the 1980s AD&D toy line. Premièring in 1983 from LJN, the AD&D toyline introduced Warduke as the primary antagonist for Strongheart the Paladin.
Warduke was available as a single figure, or mounted upon Nightmare.
Warduke's origin, along with several other characters from the toyline, was revealed in the 1984 module XL-1 Quest for the Heartstone by Michael L. Gray, with art by Timothy Trumane & Jeff Easley.
Originally a close friend of Strongheart the paladin, the two became mortal enemies when exposed to a magical item called the Heartstone, which brought Warduke's cruel nature to the fore. He is a close ally of a woman named Skylla, an evil wizard. Warduke is loved by one woman, a formerly good cleric named Raven, and hated by another, a good cleric named Mercion. He works under the evil Sorcerer Kelek, but he and Skylla plan to overthrow him once all the good fighters are defeated.
“A true fighter,” Warduke feels, “makes himself rich and powerful by the strength of his sword arm. He takes what he can—if you would keep your possessions, kill those who seek to take them.” He calls his sword “Nightwind.”
Warduke previously made his first appearance in the Dungeons & Dragons gameline, however, in 1983's AC-1 The Shady Dragon Inn by Carl Smith, a supplement designed to help DMs introduce fully designed characters into any scenario.
Herein Warduke is mentioned as being a member of the same adventuring party as an elf named "Peralay," who also had an action figure in the LJN toyline.
Interestingly, the Peralay figure was originally named "Melf." In the Greyhawk campaign setting, Melf, also known as Prince Brightflame, is a grey elven archmage, and was originally a player character of Lucion Paul Gygax in Gary Gygax's home campaign.
Warduke would also appear in two D&D colouring books in the early 80s...
As well as being immortalized in the Dungeons & Dragons animated series episode "In Search of Dungeon Master," wherein Warduke succeeds in capturing the Dungeon Master with plans to ransome him to Venger.
A Brief History of D&D's Most Iconic Villain
Warduke began life on the cover of issue 17 of The Dragon magazine in 1978, as an unnamed evil fighter with the iconic dragon-winged helm and glowing red eyes.
He would not be fleshed out and named until a few years later in the 1980s AD&D toy line. Premièring in 1983 from LJN, the AD&D toyline introduced Warduke as the primary antagonist for Strongheart the Paladin.
Warduke was available as a single figure, or mounted upon Nightmare.
Warduke's origin, along with several other characters from the toyline, was revealed in the 1984 module XL-1 Quest for the Heartstone by Michael L. Gray, with art by Timothy Trumane & Jeff Easley.
Originally a close friend of Strongheart the paladin, the two became mortal enemies when exposed to a magical item called the Heartstone, which brought Warduke's cruel nature to the fore. He is a close ally of a woman named Skylla, an evil wizard. Warduke is loved by one woman, a formerly good cleric named Raven, and hated by another, a good cleric named Mercion. He works under the evil Sorcerer Kelek, but he and Skylla plan to overthrow him once all the good fighters are defeated.
“A true fighter,” Warduke feels, “makes himself rich and powerful by the strength of his sword arm. He takes what he can—if you would keep your possessions, kill those who seek to take them.” He calls his sword “Nightwind.”
Warduke previously made his first appearance in the Dungeons & Dragons gameline, however, in 1983's AC-1 The Shady Dragon Inn by Carl Smith, a supplement designed to help DMs introduce fully designed characters into any scenario.
Herein Warduke is mentioned as being a member of the same adventuring party as an elf named "Peralay," who also had an action figure in the LJN toyline.
Interestingly, the Peralay figure was originally named "Melf." In the Greyhawk campaign setting, Melf, also known as Prince Brightflame, is a grey elven archmage, and was originally a player character of Lucion Paul Gygax in Gary Gygax's home campaign.
Warduke would also appear in two D&D colouring books in the early 80s...
As well as being immortalized in the Dungeons & Dragons animated series episode "In Search of Dungeon Master," wherein Warduke succeeds in capturing the Dungeon Master with plans to ransome him to Venger.
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