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This article is about Zarok as a character. For the boss fights against him, see Zarok Beast and Zarok Serpent.

Sir Daniel Fortesque, my old nemesis, so we meet again!

– Zarok, MediEvil

Zarok (died 1386) was an evil sorcerer who tried to conquer the land of Gallowmere. His attempts were thwarted by his nemesis, the knight Sir Daniel Fortesque.

History[]

Background[]

Zarok was a smart but scrawny boy who came from a poor family in Gallowmere. His childhood days were spent with Mr Snuffy, his canine companion. However, on the day of King Peregrin's Coronation, Mr Snuffy was killed by a Royal Guardsman who thought the pup was going to attack the newly crowned king. This event changed Zarok's life forever and marked the beginning of his obsession with necromancy. Zarok left Gallowmere to take up an apprenticeship with an infamous dark sorcerer.[1]

50 years later, Zarok returned to Gallowmere, causing the land's crops to fail in order to expose the incompetency of Peregrin's Court Magician Mazok the Muddled. Mazok's attempts to save the kingdom from the famine failed, forcing the king to seek help from Zarok. Zarok was all too happy to oblige. Once the famine was dealt with, Zarok became the new Court Magician.[1]

As part of his secret plot to take over the kingdom, Zarok would go on to kill the king's champion by spooking the champion's horse with a toad, causing him to be thrown in a well where he drowned. Zarok then convinced the King to appoint none other than Sir Daniel Fortesque to be his new champion, as Zarok knew that Fortesque was incompetent and would doom the king's army during his planned invasion.[1] At some point, Zarok summoned Shadow Demons from another dimension to help him build a vast castle on top of a faraway mountain.

MediEvil: Fate's Arrow[]

Fate's Arrow[]

A day before his planned assault on the land, Zarok informed the King and his Champion about the approaching horde of undead, making excuses about why he cannot stop them.

The Jabberwocky[]

As part of his plan to weaken the King's army, Zarok made the Jabberwocky attack the castle. He was surprised when the Jabberwocky was defeated by Sir Daniel Fortesque. Later, Zarok discovered that it was indeed Sir Dan who repelled the Jabberwocky attack, but an undead version of him from the future. He ordered his henchmen, Boris and Merek, to take this Dan to The Mystic Maidens to kill him.

The Battle of Gallowmere[]

ZAROK453

Zarok commands his archers to fire their arrows.

Under the cover of night, Zarok's dark army spilled forth from their corrupt haven. The army marched south across the Silver Mountains and through the Silver Woods. Zarok's army had eventually overtaken the flood lands. This lead to the Battle of Gallowmere, in which Sir Daniel was killed. However, the history books said that he had defeated Zarok, just seconds before he died himself. Zarok survived the battle, however. He remained in hiding, preparing for a second invasion.

Some time after Dan's death, Zarok discovered a book of Black Magic which would become associated with him.[2] He also gained possession of the Shadow Artefact, the key to the tomb where his Shadow Demons were imprisoned. However, the Artefact was stolen from him by The Town Mayor before he could free them.[3]

MediEvil[]

ZarokOverlookingVillageIntroAV

Zarok casts the Evernight over Gallows Town.

100 years after the war, Zarok returned to Gallowmere once again. Using the powers of a spell book spell, Zarok stole the souls of the townspeople and resurrected the dead. While passing through Gallowmere's many locales, Zarok left behind him a green, slimy trail of magic. He was looking for the Shadow Artefact that was stolen from him.

Daniel first encountered Zarok at Cemetery Hill. Zarok tried to trap Dan in the necropolis by bringing two Boulder Gargoyles to life. Later in his quest, Daniel released Zarok's Shadow Demons due to needing an item located within the tomb to make further progress. The demons were killed however when Daniel released lava upon them in The Haunted Ruins.

Zarok's death ME2

Sir Dan defeats Zarok's Beast Transformation.

Zarok awaited in his lair. He sent Fazguls and later his champion Lord Kardok to kill Dan, but Daniel managed to outsmart them. In the end, Zarok decided to confront Dan himself and transformed into a beast. Once defeated, Zarok accepted his death and cast a spell that caused his lair to collapse, which he hoped would bring Dan down with him. Zarok was crushed in the wreckage, his magic was undone.

MediEvil 2[]

ZarokME2

Zarok's Beast Transformation on display in the Museum.

Five hundred years later, a couple of pages from Zarok's spell book resurface and are used by an evil sorcerer called Lord Palethorn to conquer London. Zarok himself is reduced to an exhibit in a museum in Kensington where he is described only as a coward.

Characteristics[]

Appearance[]

Zarok has pale grey/greenish skin and yellow eyes, and a somewhat feminine attire which consists of purple/red robes with gold highlights and a helmet with pointed "horns". He is rather thin, and he has two horns on each cheek. In MediEvil: Resurrection, his outfit has green gems, possibly to match his trident. His eyes are pale yellow/green and sometimes glow when he casts magic.

In the PS4 Remake, Zarok greatly resembles his concept art from the original MediEvil. His outfit is more purple, the gems on it are now red and he has a horn on his chin, as well as thick eyebrows with three points.

Personality[]

Zarok is a creepy, bitter and twisted soul. He is petty and vain yet intelligent, terrifying and evil yet charismatic, tough and dangerous yet at times campier than a Caravan park. He berates Daniel and calls him mocking nicknames. He also seems to be held in a very high regard amongst his minions. In MediEvil: Resurrection, there is a running gag of him not being able to give an evil laugh.

Abilities[]

Using the power of his staff and spellbook, Zarok can resurrect the dead, animate the inanimate and steal the souls of living beings. He was also able to build his own boiler guards and city; The Time Device - using science.

Behind the scenes[]

Development[]

MediEvil[]

Zarok small

Concept art of Zarok.

Zarok was designed by Lead Artist Jason Wilson. Wilson imagined Zarok as both "thin and fey" and "an evil puppet."[4][5] Wilson also noted that the character ended up being "rather camp" which gave him "an endearing quality as a villain" and suited the "quirky fun nature" of the game.[6]

MediEvil 2[]

An early iteration of MediEvil 2's plot involved Zarok being trapped in the Tower of London. Dan would have had to free him in order to form an uneasy alliance with him to recover his spell book from the clutches of an evil cult.[7] However, Zarok ended up not playing a major role in the final release.

Fate's Arrow (2003)[]

Zarok would have been the main antagonist in the 2003 MediEvil 3 Fate's Arrow concept pitch, teaming up with Kiyante, an evil sorceress with similar ambitions.

Portrayal[]

In English, Zarok was voiced by the late Paul Darrow, famed for his role of Kerr Avon in Blake's 7. According to Jason Wilson, Darrow was very enthusiastic about playing Zarok and was one of the reasons why Wilson wrote fictional biographies for the game's characters.[8] Darrow also liked to improvise his lines during recording.[9]

In Japanese, he was voiced by Norio Wakamoto who is famous for his roles of Oskar von Reuenthal in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Barbatos Goetia in Tales of Destiny 2, Charles zi Britannia in Code Geass, Xemnas in the Kingdom Hearts series, Cell in Dragon Ball Z, and Count Dracula in various Castlevania titles, and DIO from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure drama CD's and many others.

Casting[]

====

ZAROK THE EVIL SORCEROR[sic]

====

Casting write up.

  • There is no doubt about it, Zarok is a bitter and twisted soul! He was banished from King Peregrins[sic] kingdom for conducting arcane experiments on the bodies of the dead. Zarok thus vowed to destroy Gallowmere as a just punishment!
  • Zarok is a petty villain and will stop at nothing to enslave Gallowmere. He would kill anyone as soon as their back was turned in order to have his own way.
  • At first glance Zarok looks physically like a wizened old man, but there is something very alien and bizzare about the sly ancient wizard.
  • Casting Tips:
ZAROK'S MOTIVATION
[]

Zarok's goal is to enslave Gallowmere. Using his arcane knowledge Zarok has plunged the peaceful land into an eternal night, a night from which none of the mortal inhabitants can awake from! Whilst the people of the land sleep Zarok has raised an army of Zombies and has employed the services of evil Spirits. Cue evil cackling laughter!

WHAT DRIVES ZAROKS[sic] MOTIVATION?
[]
  • Zarok was once employed as King Peregrins[sic] in residence Wizard, every King must have one!
  • Zarok has serious problems with authority and is insanely jealous of anyone who can wield power over him. Zarok believes that he is[sic] has supreme authority over all.
  • Zarok was no doubt bullied at Wizard School, and has vowed to make everyone pay for his suffering!
  • Zarok abused the Kings[sic] trust by carrying out dark arcane experiments on the bodies of the dead. Deep within the Castle Dungeon Zarok was preparing an army of zombies to take over the King Peregrins[sic] Castle.
  • Zarok likes Zombies, they cannot answer him back, especially since he has had their mouths sown up!

In other media[]

Main article: Cameos

Creatures []

ZarokCreatures

Zarok in Creatures.

An image of Zarok appears in Creatures, an artificial life program created by Millennium Interactive. This is because the backgrounds for Creatures were rendered by Jason Riley who also rendered all the full motion videos for MediEvil.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale []

Zarok, again? Could the evil wizard somehow have returned once more?

– Narrator, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

ZarokMinionIcon

Zarok appears as a minion, a type of support character, in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. He was made available for purchase on February 27, 2013 as part of the Super Minion Pack 2, Minion Pack 5 and as standalone DLC. Zarok is also mentioned several times in Sir Dan's arcade mode.

Quotes[]

JapaneseZarok

MediEvil[]

  • (to his army) "Fire!"
  • (to Dan) "So, even from the shackles of death my old enemy pursues me! You're too late Fortesque - already my army has risen from the grave! You will never leave this necropolis... Ha, ha, ha!"
  • "Sir Fortesque, my old nemesis, so we meet again! I see that a century spent as worm food has done nothing to diminish your naive obsession with the freedom of Gallowmere."
  • (to his warriors) "Prepare to attack, my warriors, I want the dogs gnawing marrow from those bones within the hour...Aargh! What is that Fortesque, your lucky cup?"
  • (after being defeated) "Ughh. Curse you, Sir Knight. I am finally defeated. Yet if I am to fail, then all shall perish! You are doomed, Fortesque! You will never leave this domain! Ha, ha, ha!"

MediEvil: Resurrection[]

  • (to Dan) "Ohhh Nooo... YOU'RE back. Looking like something from a butcher's dustbin. And what's that SMELL? Eau dee-Composition? Well, you're too late, anyway - my army has already risen from the grave. Still, never mind, eh? Chalk it up as yet another of your inglorious failures... mwah HAH! ... HAH...! I really need to work on that mocking laugh."
  • "Ohhh, Dan. Daniel. Dannikins. You are so persistent; I'll give you that. But then so are beggar's babies, and I trample those underfoot, too!"
  • (after being defeated) "CURSE you, Fortesque, curse you! Curse you THRICEFOLD! SO - it's come to THIS, I am finally DEFEATED. Painfully! Ignominiously! But particularly, painfully! But if I am to fail - then all shall perish with me! I didn't get to be the embodiment of evil without maintaining certain traditional standards! You are DOOMED Fortesque! You will NEVER leave this place! Mmwah-ha-HAH! Ha-HARRRRR! Oooh, yes! Now THAT was an evil laugh!"

Gallery[]

See also: Zarok images

MediEvil (1998)[]

MediEvil: Resurrection[]

Trivia[]

  • A hedge sculpture of Zarok appears in the Asylum Grounds level in MediEvil.
  • Zarok makes a possible joke about the practice of sheep sodomising in Scotland before the final battle of MediEvil when he says "Oooh... Oh not right now!" after he accidentally transforms himself into a sheep.
Preceded by
Mazok the Muddled
Court Magician
c. 1283 - 1286
Succeeded by
N/A

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 FatesArrowIcon MediEvil: Fate's Arrow. Written by Chris Sorrell. Art by Jason Wilson. Published by Titan Comics in 2019.
  2. Memory Card 2 MediEvil 2 manual. Written by Jim Sangster. Designed by Steve O'Neill. Published by Sony Computer Entertainment America in May 2000. Download.
  3. MedRemakeIcon MediEvil, Book of Gallowmere: The Town Mayor. Developed by Other Ocean Emeryville. Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment on October 25, 2019.
  4. MediEvil on JASON WILSON - PORTFOLIO: Art and Game Design.
  5. Proboards Interview with Jason Wilson on MediEvil Boards. Published November 3, 2013.
  6. Zarok on atomic-city concept art and design of Jason Wilson (archived version).
  7. Proboards Interview with Jason Wilson on MediEvil Boards. Published February 10, 2012.
  8. "I’ll never forget writing fictional character biographies for the MediEvil voice actors, mostly because of Paul Darrow."Jason Wilson on Twitter. Published June 3, 2019.
  9. "Paul was prone to improvising and we very much enjoyed tweaking and playing with the script during recording."Jason Wilson on Twitter. Published June 29, 2019.

External links[]

  • Wikia Zarok at the Villains Wiki.
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