Plans for the next live-actionDungeons & Dragonsadaptation have been on hold ever sinceParamount made the mistake of canceling their D&D show, and there are plenty of theories about what the next steps for the property will be. While a lot of the theorizing is based in broad strokes, like wondering which ofD&D’s many settings the show will be set in, or how meta a show should be, there’s another important consideration to be made – who the villains should be.
Good villians define games ofDungeons & Dragons, so much so that some of the most iconic characters inD&Dhistory are villains like the lichVecna, who has tormented adventurers in multiple editions. Another undead villain of yore has gotten far less attention fromD&Dfans in recent years, butnow is the perfect time for the Knight of the Black Rose to rise again.
The Death Knight Lord Soth Is A Relentless Villain For A Live-Action Dungeons & Dragons Show
He Has A Great Story Arc
Born a mortal man in the world of Krynn, from theDragonlancecampaign setting,the man who would become the Knight of the Black Rose was once a noble Knight of Solamnia. A proud paladin, Soth succumbed to jealousy and temptation, killing his wife and newborn son in order to be with an elven woman who was also carrying his child.
When the gods gave Soth a chance to redeem himself and stop the impending Cataclysm, an apocalypse the gods themselves had set in motion, he instead fell victim to his paranoia and accused his second wife of infidelity. As their castle burned around them, she cursed him to suffer “one life for every life lost” that night, andhe was transformed into an undead mockery of what he had been in life - a death knight.
The Cataclysm reshaped the world of Krynn. The gods, angered by mortal hubris, hurled a flaming mountain at the world, obliterating a massive portion of the continent of Ansalon and causing natural disasters worldwide. Then, the gods retreated from the world,leaving society in ruins for three hundred years.
As a death knight, Soth is an implacable foe, with both a cursed blade and terrible magic at his disposal. His very aura is one of fear, and he has hordes of lesser undead bound to his will. He also appeared outside theDragonlancesetting when he spent some time in the world of Ravenloft as one of its ruling Dreadlords. That means thataD&Dshow wouldn’t have to be set on Krynn to feature Soth, since the barriers between worlds mean nothing to him.
Lord Soth’s Story Provides Pathos Where Other Villains Just Twirl Their Mustaches
His Character Arc Adds Emotional Weight To An Episodic Story
Lord Soth isn’t a great villain because of his power, but his tragic past. He is more than a mindless horror; he’s a tortured soul,a man who forsook oath after oath until all that was left of him was an ember of self-loathing inside a blackened suit of armor. In his castle of Dargaard Keep three banshees keep eternal vigil, singing horribly beautiful melodies every night to remind him of how he let the world burn. He loves his only true ally, the Dragon Highlord Kitiara, but that love is as sad and twisted as the rest of him.
While the setting of the eventual live-actionDungeons & Dragonsshow remains undecided, and there are plenty ofother powerful villains in theD&Darchives, Lord Soth would be well worth including in some way. In the meantime,D&Dplayers looking to tangle with the Knight of the Black Rose can find his Fifth Edition stats intheShadow of the Dragon Queenadventure module.
