The Shadow King, born Agdrel, is the great villain of D20 Deathmatch. Played by Mudcat.
History
- Brother of Faucius Golden Shield and uncle of Elusia. On the Night of the Long Shadow (about 700 years before Season 1) he killed his brother and seized The Dread Fortress. He loved Elusia’s mother, his sister-in-law.
- He reigned for 300 years. He killed the parents of many chaos-gifted children (including Vythorn’s) to foster them and siphon their power. He says he was more of a father to Elusia than her real father, and calls her “daughter.”
- Defeated by Elusia, Atalantos and Kaja in Skypiercer. Vythorn then sealed his soul in The Box of Chaos as Gerald.
- A piece of him manipulated Vythorn, and he was rebuilt. In the Season 3 finale he killed The Arbiter and took over. Season 4 was his reign, with the Grandmaster a captive in all but name. Deaths under him are permanent unless a later season brings someone back.
- In Vythorn’s Return the Arbiter destroyed his body with Morir’s Cataclysm, but his soul escaped. Pieces of him are scattered across the Void and the hells.
- His old Dragon Knights became the Shadow Knights, the Order of the Ascendant Shadow (Pieces of a King).
Everything below is compiled from the episode pages, in show order.
Appearances
Skypiercer Part 1
Elusia’s uncle; killed Faucius (2:34:23). Taught Vythorn magic: “He was my … mentor in the arts” (2:34:49). Built a mage school of thousands (2:38:17). Has ruled “with an iron fist”; siphons the power of mages across the realms; is losing control of his chaos energy, which causes tornadoes, earthquakes, eruptions and dying harvests across the Void (2:37:29–2:40:17).
Skypiercer Part 2
Craven: “People have said his mind is decaying. He’s unable to contain the energy he’s stolen from the realm” (3:03:43). His staff Life Stealer had been left behind at Atheranon. Ends the episode as the shadowed figure on Faucius’s throne.
Skypiercer Part 3 (finale)
Faucius’s brother. Fought in the Chaos Wars and claims Faucius couldn’t have won them without him. Was “Agdrel the Shadow, a great warrior” with his Dragon Knights before the coup. Raised Elusia (“I raised you”). Feeds on his acolytes’ life and chaos energy. Killed by Elusia. His soul becomes Gerald, the Box of Chaos.
S3E17, Season 3 Finale - Soot Mustam v Huey Leatherface
. Elusia’s uncle, who returned from the Box of Chaos at the end of the season. He killed the throne-room goblins, chained Elusia, took the throne, summoned dozens of Dragon Knights, killed the Arbiter, and forced Elusia to kneel. He calls her “child” and “daughter.”
S4E1 — Shadows Reign — Atalantos v Kaja
. Elusia’s uncle, back in power over the Dread Fortress; this is his “first time” hosting a Deathmatch.
- Raised Atalantos and Kaja with cursed magic and studied “what became of everyone after our little spat years ago.”
- Gave Elusia the cursed plane-opening amulet. Calls the obelisk arena “my home.” Imported its door “from France… an age ago.”
- Rebuilt the Box of Chaos by putting Robert Hartley’s soul in an empty box.
- Can turn incorporeal and teleport through shadow, and controls the blood.
- Rolled a nat 1 on his first chaos roll. Killed Kaja as Elusia’s “birthday gift.”
S4E2 — Under the Bottom — Richardo v Evah
- Sits on Elusia’s throne and is called “uncle” by her. Plays with Kaja’s skull as a puppet.
- New to running deathmatches: skips chaos events and loses track of turns.
- Crushes the Acolyte Harvey with a shadow hand.
- Feeds Commander Scrib’s soul to the Box of Chaos. Makes gold fountain out of shadows.
- Summons a shadow fleet that bombards the arena.
- Kills the winner, Evah. He likes her fighting at first.
- His throne cushions point to a “sensitive ass.”
S4 Ep3, Swindlers - Griff v Cappin Fodder
. Rules from the Dread Fortress throne.
- Obsessed with Bop-It: he bops goblins instead of the toy and claims the toys are defective. He once gave Elusia a Bop-It for her birthday.
- Killed a music goblin with a shadow blade.
- “I was it once” (the Box of Chaos).
- Says he killed Vythorn: “almost sorry… He was a great student.” He animated Vythorn’s statue.
- Cheated Griff out of his reward and dismissed the Acolytes.
S4E4 — Death Dealers — The Scourge v Bone Daddy
- Leads painting sessions for goblins using paint made from chinchilla blood. Was barefoot, and was given pink spa socks.
- Forgot the Sunday Deathmatch. Refuses to promise not to kill winners.
- Has giant spectral shadow wings. Hit Bone Daddy with a metal chair and beheaded Acolytes Commander Scribd and Edo.
- Fuelled the Box of Chaos by wringing the soul out of the Acolyte great to be a Gator.
- Says he has experienced complicated love himself. Calls the Grandmaster “Elusia.”
S4E5 — Toxicity — Toocher the Toxic v Sho Nin
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- Running the Fortress:
- Back in power; doing the taxes (1099s) for the first time and sorting receipts by size. His tower always had an intern for the taxes.
- Wants “a full accounting” of what Elusia did while he was gone.
- On Vythorn: “off[ed]” Vythorn, per Elusia, and a line likely his says “No, he’s dead. I killed him.” He mocks Vythorn’s symbol-writing.
- Cruelty: murdered the Acolyte Blissful Dwarf to prime the Box of Chaos, and turned the arena water to acid.
- With the champions: offered Toocher the “sign guy” job. Gave Toocher a victory lap that included an acid dip.
S4E6 — The Hunt — Witch Hunter v Grickle
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- In the Dread Fortress:
- Bowls with goblins and has “a big tournament this weekend.”
- Calls Elusia “my niece” and tightens the shadowy chains he keeps on her (“It’s because I love you”).
- “Definitely didn’t kill HR last week.”
- His face: behind it is a black void with yellow eyes, shadow teeth and tentacles. Elusia covered it with a trash bag.
- His powers in the arena:
- Keeps the master logbook of deaths, “a log of everything for everyone.”
- Primed the Box of Chaos with Glass Flippers’ soul and summoned the freezing storm.
- Caustic Phoenix: “He used to be the box.”
- The finish: he ended the match by crushing Grickle with a giant black boot.
S4E7 — Wings — Misery v Daisy Bloom
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- Rules from the Dread Fortress throne room (“my throne room”). Smokes ribs low and slow with Kansas City sweet sauce. Goblins serve him.
- “I might have killed your friend and taken over… your throne and your empire, but I’m not a monster.”
- Killed Acolyte Forty and fed his soul to the Box of Chaos. Raised the sand tornado.
- Honored Misery’s deal with the stone-coffin burial.
- Claims nobody has seen him and Criss Angel in the same place.
S4E8 — Blood Rain — Fatale v Claudia
. In power at the Dread Fortress.
- Plans: expanding the Dread Fortress across the Void (a pool where a school is), killing the people who live there.
- In this episode:
- Wore bunny slippers.
- Ripped out Lubofan’s head and spine for her soul and wants dice made from her bones.
- Crashed the ship and doubled all damage while cutting AC.
- Incinerated the winner with “my grandmother’s recipe.”
- He mocks the Grandmaster’s talking compared with Vythorn’s.
S4E9 — Shootout — Stanley Second Life Gibbs v Gideon Regalis Electus Gregorius the 537th (Greg)
.
- Now holds the throne room. He “recently learned of video games,” plays PlayStation with “Danny,” who is 12.
- Bought the console at Best Buy because the Radio Shack in Prexmarin was closed. Says “I’ve been in the box for 700 years.”
- Has killed a Gregor (slit his throat).
- Keeps Vythorn’s prismatic spray rings “as mementos.”
- Primed the Box of Chaos by pulping an Acolyte on the pool table. Gave away the drone’s weakness. Zipped an 8-ball past Greg’s head. Was annoyed that he didn’t get to kill anyone.
Into the Mirror 15–16, Old Friends - Sky
the Grandmaster’s uncle and a mage who siphoned the Void’s life force. Killed by Elusia, his soul held in the Box of Chaos. He influenced the Arbiter and rebuilt a body from sacrifices to the Box. Now “a god.”
S4E10 — Rivals — Nonamatt v Decima
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- Ordered thousands of tacos and numbers the goblins instead of naming them. Last cared about calendars “before the Gregorian calendar.”
- Says he “didn’t even kill” the Grandmaster when he came back; calls her necklace “for your own good.”
- Picks Box sacrifices from the crowd at random.
- Hurt Kesa, started a piercing taco food fight, and tried to feed Nonamatt to Kyle.
- Spared Nonamatt because the Grandmaster is “like a daughter to me.”
S4E11 — Beatdown — Sprinkles v Nigel
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- Watches a black-and-white TV and believes the moon landing was faked. “I know a thing about illusions.”
- Has traveled only to the Shadowlands and Prexmarin.
- Keeps a blood cannon under his throne.
- Says Elusia’s mother was his sister-in-law.
- Calls the Box of Chaos “my former home.”
- Shot the Acolyte Majestic Wolf into the box as an arrow.
- Took 42 purse damage from the grandmothers and flung them into the sky.
- Grew Nigel’s body and sliced it open. Ended the match with a slime rain.
S4E12 — Racoons — Sam Cletus v Ben Zappa
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- Makes keys from shadow fingers. Has killed five to ten therapists. Ate all the cake and spiked the punch.
- Botched the taxes and blames Vythorn.
- Killed the Acolyte Aether Flux to prime the box. His throne collapsed and he sat on a goblin pyramid.
- Says he’ll cut all employee benefits.
- Locked Ben in the Box of Chaos, promising to “see what I can do about the rabies.”
S4E13 — Swole — Storm on the Horizon v Grug the Wizard
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- He wears fancy leather boots with silver straps; others secretly hung bells on them.
- He sits on the Dread Fortress throne and speaks of “the regime.” The goblins and civilians “don’t mean a lot to me.”
- He barely knew about the chinchillas or the cat army.
- He ran the Box of Chaos with Iron Trout’s soul and called the metal-chair event a “family activity” with Elusia. He saved Grug from drowning (“Try not to die too early”).
- He sent the victor into space with a spectral falcon.
S4E14, Vythorn’s Return Part 1 (Vythorn alone in the in-between; the God of Fate)
Seen only in memory: dying and spared by Vythorn. “He works off of the threads of minds.” Vythorn fears the Shadow King will murder the Grandmaster.
S4E15, Vythorn’s Return Part 2
named by Vythorn as his foe. Per Ise, he killed Vythorn’s parents with his own hands.
S4E16, The Dragon and the Spider, Ricky Red Dragon v Traxton (Spider)
- Rules from the Dread Fortress in Season 4 and has his own throne room there.
- Throws secret solo pre-parties: strobes, lasers, the Super Troopers techno song, a keg behind the throne.
- “Was once a shadow monster… I had skin and then I didn’t have skin and now I have skin again.” The tail question was left unclear.
- Can make his eyes glow yellow to see through magical darkness, and gave the whole crowd that sight with one snap.
- “I used to be the box of chaos… I killed the guy who made the box.” Fuels the box by ripping an Acolyte (Toolkit 71) in half and taking their soul.
- Claims he saved orphans; Elusia: “it was not a good thing.” Claims he gave himself tinnitus to tune Elusia out.
- Can dissipate into shadow and reappear elsewhere, and can transform people (Spider into a tarantula).
- Closing promise: “While I’m around, there will be death in the arena.”
S4E17 (Season Finale) - Vythorn’s Return Part 3
- Appeared in the sky over the arena on a descending throne.
- Admits killing many parents of chaos-gifted children, fostering the orphans and siphoning their refined chaos energy.
- His body was torn away by the Morir maws, leaving a yellow-eyed shadow soul. He escaped into the chaos storm clouds during Vythorn’s hesitation.
- Fights with shadow blades from his arms and an ethereal shadow form.
- Per the post-show, he doesn’t know the goblins’ names.
S5E7 — Ducks of Death — Robbie Clark & the Hunger v Bob the Barbarian
mentioned only. A piece of his soul is in the Blade of Shadow. Thea: “an old bad guy… we didn’t like him.”
S5 Ep17 — Vythorn’s Return Part 4
- Mentioned only. “Not here” after the fight.
- Post-show: weakened and gone, “his pieces of body scattered around the hells.”
S5 Ep17 — Vythorn’s Return Part 4
- Named by vision-Elusia as the controlling mastermind who decided Vythorn’s role.
Pieces of a King Ep 1 — DӒMMERUNG
Believed dead and “scattered across the Void,” but his power may be accumulating.
Pieces of a King Ep 4 - The Warmind
(in a vision)
- Studied how to master chaos and considered sacrificing planes, a civilization, or kin such as his niece Elusia.
- Learned to put diluted chaos into his own bone marrow.