Vladek

Vladek was an evil scorpion knight who tried to take over Morcia.

Early Life
Vladek was an outcast even when he was young, for his name did not bare the last three letters of his home province; thus, it was unknown which Morcian province he grew up in. At one point he had a son, but it is unknown whether he actually married or not.

Vladek entered a Grand Tournament to try and become King of Morcia. However, despite making it to the final round, he was beaten by Mathias. Mathias became king, while Vladek was humiliated. However, to keep an eye on the scorpion knight, Mathias decided to appoint Vladek to be his royal advisor.

Heart of the Golden Shield
Vladek was approached by an ancient evil sorcerer, who influenced Vladek to try and take the throne directly from Mathias. Vladek waited, however, for King Mathias's retirement, for the king had grown old and was planning on retiring. When Mathias told Vladek that he planned to remain king longer than he originally stated, finding newfound strength, Vladek kidnapped the King and locked him in the dungeons of the Castle of Morcia.

The next day, Vladek spoke to the people of Morcia, telling them that their king had disappeared, and that as royal advisor, he would reluctantly take Mathias's position until the king was found again. In reality, Vladek was using the Book of Morcia to learn dark magic, and began transforming noble knights into his minions, the Shadow Knights. He ruled with an iron fist, but there was nothing anybody could do about it - he was, after all, the temporary king. Vladek also used magical scorpions to transform the welcoming appearance of the Castle of Morcia into a dark, forbidding fortress. He encountered some problems due to Time Portals that released a Triceratops and a Y-34 Vari-Walker, but when the Time Portals reopened and returned the dinosaur and titan to their own times, things returned to normal.

He continued false searches for King Mathias while keeping him locked up in the dungeons. At last, one day he spoke to the people of Morcia, telling them that the king was still missing, and that a Grand Tournament would be held on the setting of the fourth moon to decide who would be king. After going back to his secret chamber in the castle, Vladek learned from his crystal ball that four knights of Morcia secretly rescued King Mathias and embarked on a quest to find the Heart of the Golden Shield, which was said to be the only way to defeat Vladek's dark magic in the Grand Tournament. Vladek then sent his Shadow Knights to stop them.

Vladek later rode his horse to the Moorlands to stop the four knights himself. However, he was forced to retreat when Danju started firing a catapult at him. But the fourth moon set, and the Grand Tournament began. Vladek quickly reached the final round, using his dark magic to cheat and make him stronger than any of the other knights. When the final round was over and there were no more challengers, Vladek proclaimed himself King of Morcia, just as King Mathias stepped into the arena. Vladek quickly dismissed Mathias as an imposter to the crowd, but a young knight named Jayko fought in the tournament in Mathias's stead.

Vladek, it seemed, had the advantage, and used his dark magic to make his Lightning Sword more powerful than ever. He blasted Jayko's shield away, and as he was about to strike Jayko himself, Jayko took out the Heart of the Golden Shield, retrieved his shield, and attached them together. The lightning from Vladek's sword was deflected back towards Vladek, striking him in the chest and knocking him to the ground. Thus, Vladek lost and, now revealed to be the one who kidnapped King Mathias in the first place, was arrested.

However, only a few days into his prison sentence, Vladek mysteriously disappeared from his cell, having escaped with black magic.

Kingdom of Ankoria
Vladek slowly made his way to a neighboring kingdom to Morcia: Ankoria. There, he transformed every knight into a Shadow Knight and turned its main castle into his Dark Fortress. Vladek then collected other shards of the Golden Shield, and fused them into the Vladmask to give him even greater magical power than the Book of Morcia did.

Vladek spent most of his time in the Dark Fortress, sending his Shadow Knights out to do his bidding. Vladek was present at the Scorpion Prison Cave, where he taunted Danju and planned to drop the Alendan knight to his fiery death. A fleet of Morcia knights spotted him on a boat as they approached the Dark Fortress Landing in their Attack Barge. Vladek then battled Jayko once more, but his Vladmask was powerful enough to even overpower the Heart of the Golden Shield.

Then, Jayko did the unexpected and destroyed the Vladmask. The main source of Vladek's magic leaving him, Vladek was no match for Jayko. and due to the shockwave released from the destroyed magical object, Vladek's Dark Fortress collapsed. Vladek was seen cursing Jayko as his fortress was destroyed.

Mistlands Tower
For many early years of Jayko's time as King of Morcia, Lord Vladek remained in hiding. He used this time to fashion himself a new sword to channel his dark magic, and to ally himself with the other Rogue Knights of Morcia. Then, around the same time as King Jayko did, he learned of a Mistlands Tower, where there was great power and the Golden Shield could possibly be reforged.

Lord Vladek led his Rogue Knights, including Karzon and Dracus, into the Mistlands to find this tower. Karzon set up some traps, and they caught King Jayko and two of his knights: Kentis and Adric. As the good knights struggled to cut the traps with their swords, Vladek and his Rogue Knights attacked them. Vladek delivered a monologue about how he would reach the Mistlands Tower first, then departed with Dracus on a Rogue Knight Battleship while Karzon left to set up more traps for the heroes.

While traveling in the Rogue Knight Battleship, Vladek and Dracus were attacked by Jayko, Kentis, and Adric, who were using an ancient catapult to hurl rocks at them. Vladek simply destroyed most of the rocks by shooting blasts of dark magic out of his sword. Then, Vladek used his magic to bring two gargoyles to life at Gargoyle Bridge in order to slow King Jayko and his knights. However, King Jayko and his knights were able to reach the Mistlands Tower first.

Lord Vladek and Dracus met up with Karzon again at the Pass, where they dispatched the knights waiting there. Vladek used his magic to tear off pieces of the Pass, while Dracus assembled these pieces into siege wagons that they used to destroy the pass and reach the Mistlands Tower. At the Mistlands Tower, Karzon and Dracus were defeated by Adric and Kentis, but Vladek then got ahold of a mystical orb at the top of the tower, which made him invincible. However, King Jayko was able to use the newly-reforged Golden Shield to turn Vladek's powers against him. Vladek was left at the tower, trapped inside the mystical orb.

Abilities and Traits
Vladek is a dark, brooding Minifig. He chose the scorpion to be his personal emblem, due to its sinister, striking nature. Like Evil Ogel, he is an evil mastermind, but not quite as intelligent as Evil Ogel and lacking a sense of humor. However, Vladek was foolish enough to not suspect that he was merely a pawn for the evil sorcerer.

Vladek's best-known ability is his usage of magic, able to bend objects and people to his will. Vladek is also a good fighter, and was able to make it to the final round of a Grand Tournament even without the Book of Morcia or magic.

Trivia

 * Vladek is the great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of Evil Ogel. This would suggest that he lived in the late seventeenth century or the early eighteenth century.  However, an article for The Brick Street Journal written in late 2005 suggested that the events of Ankoria took place in 2005.  It is possible that time travel is somehow involved, but whether it was Vladek who used time travel or the Brick Street Journal reporter who used time travel is unknown.

Appearances

 * The Castle of Morcia
 * Knights Kingdom Episode 01: The Missing King
 * Knights Kingdom Episode 02: Quest of the Knights
 * Knights Kingdom Episode 05: Rascus to the Rescue
 * Vladek Encounter
 * The Grand Tournament
 * Knights Kingdom Episode 08: The Grand Tournament
 * Find the Shield, Save the Kingdom Comic 03
 * Vladek's Siege Wagon
 * The Brick Street Journal
 * Prehistoric Creatures vs. Team Titan XP
 * Knights Kingdom Episode 09: Vladek's Revenge
 * Capture the Fortress, Save the Kingdom Comic 01
 * Scorpion Prison Cave
 * Capture the Fortress, Save the Kingdom Comic 02
 * Dark Fortress Landing
 * Vladek's Dark Fortress
 * Knights Kingdom Episode 11: Battle for the Dark Fortress
 * Defend the Tower, Save the Kingdom
 * Mistlands Tower
 * Battle for the Mistlands Tower!
 * Quest for the Tower