The Warlord

''
First appearing in the Prison of Lights arc, The Warlord was a creature that inhabits the Prison of Lights. They are an ancient spiritfolk, a warmonger from the ancient spiritfolk-human war 2000 years ago. After the war, the Prison of Lights became their personal jail, where they remained, slowly festering.
== History ==
Following the events of some war between the Spiritfolk and humans who resided on The Shrouded Isles, the Warlord would eventually be thrown into the Prison of Lights, where he would remain for thousands of years.
What the Warlord exactly was and how it came to be is uncertain, however details about the nature of its existence are known. It was an amalgamation of animosity, comprised of various consumed Spiritfolk wisps that have been reshaped into whatever horrific form it deems fit. When Gregor attempted to use his Breadbrain on it, he felt as if his skull was on fire, pained by simply gazing upon its true form, or rather the various conglomerate of beings. Trying to find the true form of the Warlord, he came to the horrifying realization that it had spread between all of those individual forms, and in order to destroy the creature, all of those layers would need to be bypassed.
The Nine Shrines team would first encounter the Warlord during their original foray into the Prison of Lights, where it hunted the team, only held at bay by the light provided by Kyl'il. It would have another minor appearance "Halloween Special" at the tail end, however that episode is not considered canon. Since then, it would be briefly mentioned every time one of the team members took a shortcut through the Prison of Lights while traversing the Isles, secretly growing its influence until its next appearance.
Following as of yet unknown circumstances, the Warlord would end up confined in the very depths of the Prison, within a sigil of light, somewhat contained by that and the chains encumbering it. Presumably around the same time, Kyl'il would go missing, and other shadow creatures of similar demeanor to the Warlord would appear, inhabiting the walls of the Prison. However, the Warlord had changed significantly, transformed into its new form. It would be revealed that Kyl'il, transformed into a shadowy form, had somehow fallen under the Warlord's control, being puppeteered on one of its long tentacles, intent on adding more to its ranks as it fought the Nine Shrines Team. After the confrontation, Kyl'il would be freed as the tentacle was severed. The fight would continue down the hallways of the prison, as the Warlord pursued. Eventually, thanks to numerous explosions of light and Gregor's bread brain, the Warlord was at last killed, exploding into a mass of goop. In its last moments, the spiritfolk wisps it had once confined rebelled and were released, and will go on to reincarnate over the next centuries.
== Appearance ==
In its initial incarnation, the Warlord was a large wiry humanoid beast, with most of its body being a solid shadowy black, apart from its face which was a startlingly pale white. Curiously, its arms were attatched to its sides, sewn on. It moved on all fours, crawling about the Prison it rules.
With its reappearance in Where All Light Fades, the form of the Warlord had shifted dramatically. Its pale white face had now grown pupils, the shade spreading down to its torso while its arms were fixed, stitched to its body. From the torso down, the Warlord had transformed into a horrifying shadowy mass of tentacles and arms that it had been using to slowly spread its influence throughout the Prison, comprised of small shadow fingers interwoven to create a monstrous construct. At the center of the body lay a massive gaping maw, with serrated teeth circling down to the very center of the beast.
== Personality ==
The Warlord was a largely mindless beast, whose existence was solely sustained by its feelings of rage and animosity. Whatever the Spiritfolk was like before it became corrupted into this state is unknown.
== Abilities ==
In its initial form, the Warlord, while incredibly strong and agile with control over the few other inhabitants of the Prison, possessed few unique abilities other than being very scary and screaming. However, in its updated rendition in Where All Light Fades, the beast now bore tentacles that, while primarily serving to balance the beast, could also be used to bludgeon opponents. Curiously, unlike the other shadowy creatures in the Prison, the Warlord seemed largely unaffected by the light that surrounds the place, instead utilizing the energy of the light to temporarily expand its tentacles in a devastating attack. However, particularly large amount of lights still hindered it, seen through the light egg explosion causing several of its tentacles to fall off.
The Warlord had the unique ability to take control of others who run out of light in its domain. Puppeteering its victims with its long tentacles, they take on a more shadowy form as seen with Kyl'il.
The Warlord also had the ability to simply disappear into nothingness, fading into invisibility though it was still physically present.
== Relationships ==
== Trivia ==
== Gallery ==