Short Fred Lead

**Short Fred Ledd** is a major antagonist in Lavender Castle. He is an intergalactic pirate and slave trader that sells prisoners to Dr. Agon. He sails a space pirate vessel known as the Cutting Snark, and has a robot parrot named Tin Lizzie.

## Biography

Short Fred Ledd was the captain of the Cutting Snark, a spaceship designed to both resemble and function similarly to a pirate galleon. The crew is made up of robots who reside below deck, and are never seen on the show at any time. Rather than control them, he barks orders to maintain an illusion of having a real pirate crew.

In In the Beginning, Short Fred Ledd was a prominent slave trader working in the service of Dr. Agon. He would sail the space seas to difference planets and recruit many unknowing aliens into his crew, only to become his prisoners to sell as slaves. He attempted to sell Lyca, Roger and Sir Squeakalot to a displeased Dr. Agon before the Paradox arrived and rescued the slaves. The slaves went on to join the crew of the Paradox, with both Short Fred Ledd and Dr. Agon swearing revenge.

In Brightonia on Sea, Short Fred Ledd sent a holiday brochure to the crew of the Paradox to a tropical island planet. Once there, he ambushed them and left them tied and chained, before stealing the Paradox and leave them stranded without water. Upon returning to the Cutting Snark, the Paradox was then taken control of remotely by Roger and flown back to the planet, where a sea-sick Short Fred Ledd surrendered. He was dumped back on his ship and was left cursing the Paradox crew.

In The Black Swat, Short Fred Ledd happened upon the Paradox by chance after avoiding a space storm, immediately opening fire and destroying the ship. He took the crew aboard his ship and imprisoned them, but neglected the absence of Sproggle and Lyca. He found them both attempting to free the crew but were foiled by a device known as the Black Swat, designed to prevent use of an escape route. When attempting to force Sproggle to walk the plank, he was deceived by Lyca into going ashore and finding a fake treasure. Upon entering a cavern, the crewed escaped and Thrice trapped him inside with the Black Swat.

In Traitor, to compensate for failing Dr. Agon, Short Fred Ledd sent Tin Lizzie aboard the Paradox and corrupt Sir Sqeakalot's programming, turning him into an evil servant. The plan succeeded and an impressed Agon began referring to him as "Long Fred Silver" out of respect. Unfortunately, upon the Dark Station's arrival to the Cutting Snark, Lavender Castle caused Short Fred Lead's crutch to activate his cannon controls and fire upon the Dark Station. Though initially desperate to explain the accident, Short Fred Ledd eventually decided to return fire in a fit of rage.

In Diamonds Aren't Forever, Short Fred Lead headed to the Planet Icetar to procure the Icetar Diamond, seeking to use it's power to cause great destruction. In their efforts to track him down and stop him, Sproggle got separated from the Paradox crew and was found by Short Fred Ledd, who took him hostage. In return for his life, he gave the Paradox crew thirty minutes to find the Diamond for him. He collected it and was towed back to his ship, but was instead cast adrift by Roger with a shot from his boomerang gun. Outraged, Short Fred Lead attempted to activate the diamond's power, only to realise it was instead a piece of ice that Sproggle had swapped with the Diamond earlier. Thrice threw away the real Icetar Diamond and it exploded, setting Short Fred Ledd's boat on fire.

## Personality and Traits

In theme with his traditional pirate motif, Short Fred Ledd is a ruthless and decadent scoundrel. In comparison to Dr. Agon whom has occasionally expressed concern for his companion Trump, Short Fred Ledd is much more heartless and cruel. He has no regard for the well-being of anyone except himself, not even to his own companion Tin Lizzie. He is also shown to be sadistic, willing to use cruel torture techniques and threaten his adversaries with slow and terrible demises. He is also hot-headed, quickly resorting to violence whenever he is irritated by an annoyance for a short period of time.

But as evil as he is, he's proven to be both a fearless and ferocious adversary, unafraid of any challenges or acts of defiance from even superior foes. However, he becomes cowardly in the face of impossible odds and will demand empathy from his adversaries that he had sought to harm. He is also fairly unintelligent, often being easily fooled by simple tricks and apparently having terrible grammar. But despite his limited intelligence, he demonstrates a great level of cunning and has often successfully overcome the entire crew aboard the paradox by himself through traps and ambushes.

## Appearance

Short Fred Ledd is an overweight alien that largely resembles a boar, with an elongated snout, brown skin and pointed ears. He has long eyebrows, sharp teeth. He has a pair of earrings, a nose-ring and a ring hanging from a wart on his snout. He has yellow eyes and a pair of eye-patches that act as his eyelids. He has purple claws for finger nails and is missing a finger from his hand. In place of his left hand is a jagged hook.

He wears a dark brown bicorne hat with a matching uniform overcoat, a faded purple shirt with a patterned necktie and striped pants. He wears a belt with a skull-and-crossbones buckle where he keeps a cutlass and a laser pistol. He is missing both his legs and has a single prosthetic right leg. He has a pair of crutches made of bones that end in a pair of brown boots, likely the boots he had worn before he'd lost his legs.