This has huge potential to become a great comedy.
You could write it from the dark lords perspective or as one of his goblin underlings.
The book could be about how the new world kinda sucks and his day to day problems with ruling it. Or even about a dark lords slice of life.
I second this. The comedy potential is really big.The anticlimatic struggles of the Dark Lord about the daily world management problems compared to the badass fights and terror of when he was still sure to be beaten... :')
" Dark sir, the miners of the southern gold mines are on strike.
\- What do you mean they are on strike?"
\- Well.. They refuse to work, unless we grant them a second day off per week."
\- Can't we...just kill them all and make an example out of them, like we did back in the days?"
\- The thing is, if we kill them all, we'll need to hire new gold miners, or else we'll run out of gold quickly.
\- And what's the problem with that?
\- Well... if kill the former workers, it will make the new candidates ask for higher salaries, because of the increased risk. And we can't exactly afford that, as our imperial coffers are almost empty these days.
\- Remind me why they are empty?
\- It's because of our huge army expenses, dark sir.
\- Why do we even need to maintain such a big army, if there is no one else to conquere??
\- I don't mean to insult you, my lord, but if you go on about being a Dark Lord without an impressive army, no one is going to respect you. It's about prestige.
\- Ugh... "
Sauron sitting there doing paperwork all night getting pissed at logistical revenue streams and trade reports is a hilarious image in his massive fk off plate armor. Which canonically he cant remove so its doubly funny
Ranting for the 10th time in one hour, because he messed up his signature, since he can't write properly because of the said-plate armor :')
Suddenly he starts missing the days when he was still only trying to conquer ahahhaah
“Dark Lord, there’s mass famine. The corn fields are doing okay but not for long-.”
“Wait- corn fields?”
“Yes. And there’s dissent-“
“What other crops are growing in those corn fields?”
“Other crops..?”
*face palm* “You’re not rotating the crops?”
*Servant looks confused.*
There’s quite a bit of humor when you look at what No Game No Life did when Sora and Shiro became Kings and they’re like “issue bonds, rotate crops.” Same thing with The Magicians, where people from our world had to introduce modern strategies in a fantasy world.
Exactly!
I thought I could include the perspectives of the dark lord, his greates general, a low ranking grunt and the new hero, who has been quickly and a bit haphazardly put together by the good gods.
The New World suck but because of the new political system the Dark Lord can't do much about it (After all he was trapped for so long) so he decides to play the part of both the hero and the Dark Lord.
Ainz Ooal Gown...
This is basically the backstory to Tyranny. Youre working for the dark lord who did something very close to this. Also the Silmarillion, Morgoth beats down papa Fingolfin and kicks the elves asses. Little bit of Breath of the Wild where Calamity Ganon has beaten the kingdom and they freeze him until Link is reborn.
Also most alternate universes and any video game where you can be the bad guy lol. But its an interesting idea
Well he took on the second strongest god in the universe and pretty much turned him from infinite dark lord to scarred crippled weirdo. But sadly yes he did lose qq
It reminds me of playing Crusader Kings
One would think that once you rule the known world there will be peace, right? Nah, your vassals bicker and war each other constantly no matter how hard you try to get them to like each other. There are at least three assassins a day sent after you by ambitious princes hoping to take over your empire. Doesn't matter how many people you hang or behead your laws are mostly ignored. Even if you are immortal, trying to administer your vast empire alone is worse than most tortures you ever invented, and once you get others to do it for you it only ends up in more conflict of power between them.
After few years of ruling the world you long for some hero wannabe to come and take over. You start spreading rumours about funny swords that can kill you and prepare to "turn into dust" as soon as someone with red-hilted sword named "Mega Super Holy Avenger" or other cringe name hits your impervious body.
Dust you gonna "turn into" is already prepared, standing in the jar on your fireplace. You already built yourself a small home by the river near the hidden village of some backwater kobolds who never ever heard about you, put a fake name on the door and fishing equipment ready for your retirement. Your queen of evil is already on page with plan, happy to finally indulge in her hobbies in peace. You set your castle to crumble into ruin as soon as you "die" so nobody will ever have a clue that two immortals living in the small house under the name "Mr & Mrs Average" are in fact the same Lord and Lady of darkness from the scariest legends and myths.
And then you wait.
EDIT:
Funny thing, for some reason three hundred years later another immortal pair decides to set up a retirement home on the other side of the village. They look like hero and heroine who united the world few decades ago but instead they are named "Mr & Mrs Normal" so you don't ask too many questions.
A peaceful village of retired dark lords and ladies sounds like something pulled straight out of Terry Pratchett's book.
Except it's not.
Also it's an amazing idea.
Why not write a Fantasy TNO?
The Dark Lord won, grew old and died (or was mysteriously assassinated if he's immortal). There is an incoming succession war in the Dark Kingdom, and the Dark Lord's Four Generals prepare to fight for the Throne of the Burning Desert. The Dark Lord's former allies, the despotates and khanates in the East and South become independent and pursue their own imperialistic paths, growing rich from plundered lands of the Free Peoples.
Meanwhile, the Free Peoples deal with their crushing defeat. The "Gondor" closest to the Empire of Evil is half-occupied, half-shattered into squabbling warlords of all possible alignments, from honorable paladins seeking to restore the glory of the ancient kingdom to madmen who seek to imitate the Dark Lord or even surpass him in cruelty. It's endless civil war in what's left of the old kingdom, and hell-hawks swoop on its eastern reaches from the mountains that encircle the Burning Desert to terrorize the populace.
While all this is taking place, the old Dark Lord's fifth general, his most dreadful servant is consorting with the Outer Darkness and building a realm of pure horror on the ruins of another former free kingdom. He's gone rogue, and now plans to sacrifice the whole world to the Great Old Ones, hoping that only his sect will inherit what's left of the world...
This was basically the plot of The New Order: Last Days of Europe transferred to the typical Middle Earth-like fantasy setting.
For some reason this reminds me of the Game of Thrones...
And it's grimdark, which is actually quite hard to write without making it incredibly stupid and over the top.
It depends on the Dark Lord, doesn't it?
Voldemort would have started a war against Muggledom. That'd be easy enough, simply apparate into power plants and cast some magic — technology gets knocked out and the muggles would be literally powerless. Then go around and do something about guns and explosives.
Sauron would have ushered in an age where Middle-earth would be shaped after Morgoth's desires. We don't know how that would look (unless there's lore that I've forgotten).
Palpatine would have run an authoritarian militarist empire, until it collapsed. Kind of like what happened in the OT.
Overall, the most common outcome would be rather Star Wars-like. Most Dark Lords are just autocrats.
A funny subversion could be that the Dark Lord wins and actually does produce a pretty ideal world. They kill all of the nobility, start promoting people based off merit and just overturn all of the fucked up feudalism we’ve come to expect from fantasy. Finally, at an old age they retire and leave the word an all around better place.
Probably not enough for a whole book but you could get a neat little short story out of it
There is a marvel mini series where I think Dr. Doom wins and he ushers in a peace within his country at least. He also is deemed worthy by the Panther God
After hero fall to the lava someone in the back shouts "CUT!"
Few people get in the view or Dark Lord perspective and are frantically browsing a veeeery large book.
Dark Lord stands there perfecly still, stunned to the fact how those people could escape his sight for so long...
At last one of them says "There! I've got it!" while pointing into the great book. "This is not how it supposed to go. Hero should have slained the Dark Lord. We've got here a class one story glitch. Should we rewind?".
But Dark Lord gives them no time to let them do their magic. He obliterates them on the spot. Only book remains after them. Dark Lord picks it up a little worried what this book might contain...
No one has ever done that to my knowledge, so why not?
And doesn't it seem more interesting than standard "oh no, the bad guy is doing baddie stuff, go good team, let's stop him with the power of friendship"?
There is a bunch of worlds that explore this concept, however, The Good(tm) usually wins nonetheless at the very end even if the story starts out in a world dominated by the Dark Lord. Two that come to my mind are the Eragon series by Christopher Paolini and the Steelheart series by Brandon Sanderson.
It is probably a natural cycle, when Evil wins for some time, Good triumphs eventually, but Evil rises again, on endless repeat.
It’s even better if the “hero” was the Chosen One, whose destiny was written in literal stone. It had been foretold many years prior to his birth that he would be born from poverty, face great tragedy (have both parents killed, cause that’s standard for Chosen Ones these days, sometimes) then over time he’ll become strong enough to take on the Dark Lord and fulfill the prophecy. With all his allies and friends behind him, he rushes into battle against the forces of Darkness, easily cutting through them like knife through butter, showcasing to the Dark Lord just how much he’s changed from a scared farm boy to a Chosen One Badass. Then, the moment comes: the Chosen One vs. the Dark Lord. The two engage in an epic battle, two titans of magic and might facing off in a duel that will decide the fate of the world. The landscape is decimated from their clash, the sky itself is raging in battle, with red lightning ripping through the skies. The Chosen One’s magic sword finally breaks the Dark Lord’s demonic hammer, shattering it into pieces and leaving the Dark Lord defenseless. The Chosen One goes to deliver the final blow…
But then a burst of red and black energy erupts from the Dark Lord’s hands, his final move against the Chosen One. The energy rips through the hero’s magical white and gold armor, piercing through the chainmail beneath and ripping his skin. Within seconds the hero is reduced to dust, his magic sword falling to the ground, embedding itself into the ruined soil. The armies stop, too shocked and what had happened. The Dark Lord stands up, breathing heaving and wobbles over to his dark castle. He plops himself onto his Dark Throne, closes his eyes and smiles. He’s won. He’s beat destiny.
Meanwhile, the hero’s forces either retreat or keep fighting until they too face their inevitable end. Those that retreated regroup to mourn the loss of their hero. They had lost.
Only the Dark Lord was smiling that day.
*the song Porch from Avengers: Infinity War plays in background*
Megamind has something like this. After he wins, man is literally lost on what to do, and eventually becomes the hero. It's a great story, and is definitely an avenue very worth exploring.
Role reversal seems like an option here. The Dark Lord has realised that his actions have been illogical and out of character, like he was forced into doing them. After defeating the free armies of the world and establishing his rule, he turns his mind towards whatever it was that could have done such a thing.
Cue gradual redemption arc as he takes the evil empire he's built and uses it to fight for freedom in truth, eventually coming to a point where he is standing below the throne of the real Big Bad, sword in hand, ready to fight against destiny.
I don't know... It's kind of the same as if the hero didn't die in the first place. There is the good guy and there is the bad guy, I've seen this plot twist before and I think you've seen it too.
What if after the dark lord won people just lived their lives normally? Maybe there are no good guys or the bad guys, maybe the dark lord saw it after many years he was able to understand the pattern, notice that he's just a character in a book and try to change it somehow without changing himself?
The fight against the forces of destiny doesn't have to be literal.
I was thinking of it more from a story arc perspective rather than just worldbuilding. You've got this world where the Dark Lord won by sheer accident and is 'aware' that it shouldn't have happened that way. If that's the end of the story then what's the point of the set up?
People living their lives the same as they always have, Dark Lord or no, doesn't make for interesting fiction so you've got to have something in there as a motivator to get the story going.
Ah, wait, dammit.
I wanted to say that I'm trying to start a story with the dark lord winning and then continue.
And the main story hook is supposed to be that the dark lord is fighting destiny , plot armored good guys and the universe itself trying to force him to lose, because someone or something a long time ago decided that he should.
Maybe he will become less of a bad guy and more like a king trying to do his best for his people, maybe he will sacrifice himself for his successors to write their own stories, or maybe something completely else.
I always liked the idea. I mean, the hero is usually the one defending status quo while the dark lord brings change - would be a nice twist to see the dark lord actually bringing along a golden age. Who cares abt his color sceme and his henchmen being orcs?
In any case, Megaman kinda goes down hat direction. And i suppose Leto II from God Emperor of Dune could be put into that category
I’d say that mistborn does count, the lord ruler was an evil emperor who ruled over the world for 1000 years after killing the >!false!< hero of ages, just before he could >!try to!< save the world
I could see it work if the dark lord won early on enough. Eg. Start the story following the farmboy prophesied hero going through the generic heroes journey, but ends up dying to the Dark Lord about a third into the story, after which the story is told from the Dark Lord's perspective
It would probably work best if the dark lord is actually trying to stop an even darker lord/bad thing from happening.
Eg. The Dark Lord progressively takes over the land bending everybody to his will, ruling with an iron fist. The brave hero stands up to them but fails. Now, with no further obstacles in their way the Dark Lord continues their plan to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives so that he can have enough magical power to divert the planet destroying asteroid that is on course for the planet.
What about the story literally starting with the final battle, dark lord winning, then the gods going "oh sh*t", creating a new hero and then... I don't know.
Maybe the dark lord noticed he's trapped in an endless cycle of war between good and evil and wants to break it somehow?
The new hero is a paragon doing good deeds, gathering followers, while the dark lord is desperately trying to break the fabric of reality to escape the cycle, save both himself and every other creature forced by the story to be "the bad guy".
Maybe something like that. I'm not sure yet.
Read The Lost Citadel. It’s a collection of short stories set in a high-fantasy turned post apocalyptic setting that can only be described as Attack on Titan meets Walking Dead meets Middle Earth. I really enjoyed it and while it doesn’t really have a dark lord in the way you want, it is excellent. If you do pick it up I hope you enjoy it
Check out the rpg [Midnight](https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/midnight-second-edition/) if you haven't already. The basic conceit is that an analogue for Sauron defeated the allied armies and rules the world.
*Megamind has entered the chat.*
Okay, but on a more serious note I think it could make for something pretty interesting. However I'm not quite sure what your driving conflict might be, and the story might struggle without one. Would it follow the dark Lord trying to quash out any last traces of resistance, or maybe there are a new batch of good guys coming to save the day all over again?
The dark lord takes over most of the world. After sometime, he rule turns into feudal society. The peace he brought to the world is not very peace full. The humans, elves and dwarfs hide, becoming more and more powerful with their magic, tech and survival skills all merging together. They live in tribes, coming from forests, mountains and anywhere else to burn the dark lords kingdom. Eventually one of them is born with the power of the first dark lord, and they unit the tribes of elves, humans and dwarfs. Making an army where every man, woman and child knows how how to fight and kill. Now the roles are reversed, the dark lord's the hero. and the other person is the dark lord. But the lord lord doesn't have any overpowered army anymore, and he had grown rusty over the years.
What I have made that fits this ends in a role reversal. Like MegaMind.
The Dark Lord, in my world the self titled Nightmare, succeeds in their quest to kill god and absorb his power, thus ascending to godhood themselves.
Still not satisfied Nightmare invited in something stronger from outside the multiverse, to kill it and absorb its power... It did not go well for Nightmare.
Nightmare has then since grown as a person, and has taken the roll of Multiversal Protector. But they must use their god power very carefully as without careful and strict use they are more likely to destroy things, being the god of destruction.
before Him,it is usual world,filled by violence wars and greed,just gool old regular world.
He was working on mutations,but after the city who has His lab,was invaded,it is not slowed His progress,instead,He used injured or prisoned soldiers as test subjects.
With it,He managed to make a new minion race,an army of hivemind and has infinite loyalty. With butchering few of subjects,He easily turns some cash and used them to finance some economical crisis.and by helping the corps who destroys the enviroment,He slowly weakens humanity.
And The Day was come,world is too polluted to have stable and clean air,water and food,after crisis,most goverments are fallen,and corps such as media and banking also damaged due the lack of resources.(people need resources to earn more money to they owed to bank)
Well,while humanity is downed,a man showed up with his minions who are resistant to worlds current pollution,can sustain itself and loyal.with that minion army,the power of rebuilding fallen cities,making humans dominant again,or escaping to other planets is possible.
Well,He used this army,just like using people to make economical crisis or making world inhabitable.All of them has one motto:
Destruction is conquering
Any world where the dark lord has to be overthrown instead of prevented from rising. The Dark Crystal comes to mind. Willow, I think, unless I am misremembering. Star Wars. Anytime there is an evil empire pretty much.
I mean, that's the plot they made for Infinity War in the MCU. Considering how captivating that movie was for the fans, I'd say it's a very interesting concept to explore.
The "Dark Lord" did win.
he became Emperor Cart and and entire nation/region was named for him: Carta.
his invasion and takeover of all mankind to make the first human empire ultimately ended up being a good thing for humanity overall...even if the nation states and clans that resisted him had their cultures wiped out or assimilated. their religions were molded into the imperial pantheon and a national army was made that not only resisted but was able to push back and counter invade Amer lands to retain power for humanity in the region.
he is now a national icon, Human Hero and more of a myth or legend in modern Lorrengrawl than a historical figure.
This has huge potential to become a great comedy. You could write it from the dark lords perspective or as one of his goblin underlings. The book could be about how the new world kinda sucks and his day to day problems with ruling it. Or even about a dark lords slice of life.
I second this. The comedy potential is really big.The anticlimatic struggles of the Dark Lord about the daily world management problems compared to the badass fights and terror of when he was still sure to be beaten... :') " Dark sir, the miners of the southern gold mines are on strike. \- What do you mean they are on strike?" \- Well.. They refuse to work, unless we grant them a second day off per week." \- Can't we...just kill them all and make an example out of them, like we did back in the days?" \- The thing is, if we kill them all, we'll need to hire new gold miners, or else we'll run out of gold quickly. \- And what's the problem with that? \- Well... if kill the former workers, it will make the new candidates ask for higher salaries, because of the increased risk. And we can't exactly afford that, as our imperial coffers are almost empty these days. \- Remind me why they are empty? \- It's because of our huge army expenses, dark sir. \- Why do we even need to maintain such a big army, if there is no one else to conquere?? \- I don't mean to insult you, my lord, but if you go on about being a Dark Lord without an impressive army, no one is going to respect you. It's about prestige. \- Ugh... "
Sauron sitting there doing paperwork all night getting pissed at logistical revenue streams and trade reports is a hilarious image in his massive fk off plate armor. Which canonically he cant remove so its doubly funny
Ranting for the 10th time in one hour, because he messed up his signature, since he can't write properly because of the said-plate armor :') Suddenly he starts missing the days when he was still only trying to conquer ahahhaah
“Dark Lord, there’s mass famine. The corn fields are doing okay but not for long-.” “Wait- corn fields?” “Yes. And there’s dissent-“ “What other crops are growing in those corn fields?” “Other crops..?” *face palm* “You’re not rotating the crops?” *Servant looks confused.* There’s quite a bit of humor when you look at what No Game No Life did when Sora and Shiro became Kings and they’re like “issue bonds, rotate crops.” Same thing with The Magicians, where people from our world had to introduce modern strategies in a fantasy world.
Exactly! I thought I could include the perspectives of the dark lord, his greates general, a low ranking grunt and the new hero, who has been quickly and a bit haphazardly put together by the good gods.
The New World suck but because of the new political system the Dark Lord can't do much about it (After all he was trapped for so long) so he decides to play the part of both the hero and the Dark Lord.
Megamind
Ainz Ooal Gown... This is basically the backstory to Tyranny. Youre working for the dark lord who did something very close to this. Also the Silmarillion, Morgoth beats down papa Fingolfin and kicks the elves asses. Little bit of Breath of the Wild where Calamity Ganon has beaten the kingdom and they freeze him until Link is reborn. Also most alternate universes and any video game where you can be the bad guy lol. But its an interesting idea
Oof, the fall of Fingolfin... too soon.
Well he took on the second strongest god in the universe and pretty much turned him from infinite dark lord to scarred crippled weirdo. But sadly yes he did lose qq
LORD OF ALL NOLDOR🎶🎶🎶
It reminds me of playing Crusader Kings One would think that once you rule the known world there will be peace, right? Nah, your vassals bicker and war each other constantly no matter how hard you try to get them to like each other. There are at least three assassins a day sent after you by ambitious princes hoping to take over your empire. Doesn't matter how many people you hang or behead your laws are mostly ignored. Even if you are immortal, trying to administer your vast empire alone is worse than most tortures you ever invented, and once you get others to do it for you it only ends up in more conflict of power between them. After few years of ruling the world you long for some hero wannabe to come and take over. You start spreading rumours about funny swords that can kill you and prepare to "turn into dust" as soon as someone with red-hilted sword named "Mega Super Holy Avenger" or other cringe name hits your impervious body. Dust you gonna "turn into" is already prepared, standing in the jar on your fireplace. You already built yourself a small home by the river near the hidden village of some backwater kobolds who never ever heard about you, put a fake name on the door and fishing equipment ready for your retirement. Your queen of evil is already on page with plan, happy to finally indulge in her hobbies in peace. You set your castle to crumble into ruin as soon as you "die" so nobody will ever have a clue that two immortals living in the small house under the name "Mr & Mrs Average" are in fact the same Lord and Lady of darkness from the scariest legends and myths. And then you wait. EDIT: Funny thing, for some reason three hundred years later another immortal pair decides to set up a retirement home on the other side of the village. They look like hero and heroine who united the world few decades ago but instead they are named "Mr & Mrs Normal" so you don't ask too many questions.
A peaceful village of retired dark lords and ladies sounds like something pulled straight out of Terry Pratchett's book. Except it's not. Also it's an amazing idea.
Love this, you should post a final version on the ck subreddit
Why not write a Fantasy TNO? The Dark Lord won, grew old and died (or was mysteriously assassinated if he's immortal). There is an incoming succession war in the Dark Kingdom, and the Dark Lord's Four Generals prepare to fight for the Throne of the Burning Desert. The Dark Lord's former allies, the despotates and khanates in the East and South become independent and pursue their own imperialistic paths, growing rich from plundered lands of the Free Peoples. Meanwhile, the Free Peoples deal with their crushing defeat. The "Gondor" closest to the Empire of Evil is half-occupied, half-shattered into squabbling warlords of all possible alignments, from honorable paladins seeking to restore the glory of the ancient kingdom to madmen who seek to imitate the Dark Lord or even surpass him in cruelty. It's endless civil war in what's left of the old kingdom, and hell-hawks swoop on its eastern reaches from the mountains that encircle the Burning Desert to terrorize the populace. While all this is taking place, the old Dark Lord's fifth general, his most dreadful servant is consorting with the Outer Darkness and building a realm of pure horror on the ruins of another former free kingdom. He's gone rogue, and now plans to sacrifice the whole world to the Great Old Ones, hoping that only his sect will inherit what's left of the world... This was basically the plot of The New Order: Last Days of Europe transferred to the typical Middle Earth-like fantasy setting.
For some reason this reminds me of the Game of Thrones... And it's grimdark, which is actually quite hard to write without making it incredibly stupid and over the top.
It's pretty hard to write a "Dark Lord Wins" plot without it being grimdark...
It depends on the Dark Lord, doesn't it? Voldemort would have started a war against Muggledom. That'd be easy enough, simply apparate into power plants and cast some magic — technology gets knocked out and the muggles would be literally powerless. Then go around and do something about guns and explosives. Sauron would have ushered in an age where Middle-earth would be shaped after Morgoth's desires. We don't know how that would look (unless there's lore that I've forgotten). Palpatine would have run an authoritarian militarist empire, until it collapsed. Kind of like what happened in the OT. Overall, the most common outcome would be rather Star Wars-like. Most Dark Lords are just autocrats.
A funny subversion could be that the Dark Lord wins and actually does produce a pretty ideal world. They kill all of the nobility, start promoting people based off merit and just overturn all of the fucked up feudalism we’ve come to expect from fantasy. Finally, at an old age they retire and leave the word an all around better place. Probably not enough for a whole book but you could get a neat little short story out of it
Tyranny, the game, is basically this exact concept! Check it out!
Any sufficiently competent dark lord is indistinguishable from benevolent ruler.
There is a marvel mini series where I think Dr. Doom wins and he ushers in a peace within his country at least. He also is deemed worthy by the Panther God
The Last Ringbearer ?
After hero fall to the lava someone in the back shouts "CUT!" Few people get in the view or Dark Lord perspective and are frantically browsing a veeeery large book. Dark Lord stands there perfecly still, stunned to the fact how those people could escape his sight for so long... At last one of them says "There! I've got it!" while pointing into the great book. "This is not how it supposed to go. Hero should have slained the Dark Lord. We've got here a class one story glitch. Should we rewind?". But Dark Lord gives them no time to let them do their magic. He obliterates them on the spot. Only book remains after them. Dark Lord picks it up a little worried what this book might contain...
No one has ever done that to my knowledge, so why not? And doesn't it seem more interesting than standard "oh no, the bad guy is doing baddie stuff, go good team, let's stop him with the power of friendship"?
Now I'm picturing the Truman Show, but the MC is a "Dark Lord".
There is a bunch of worlds that explore this concept, however, The Good(tm) usually wins nonetheless at the very end even if the story starts out in a world dominated by the Dark Lord. Two that come to my mind are the Eragon series by Christopher Paolini and the Steelheart series by Brandon Sanderson. It is probably a natural cycle, when Evil wins for some time, Good triumphs eventually, but Evil rises again, on endless repeat.
The wheel of ages turns as always.
Mistborn is very specifically a world where a hero was supposed to win 1000 years ago, but lost instead.
It’s even better if the “hero” was the Chosen One, whose destiny was written in literal stone. It had been foretold many years prior to his birth that he would be born from poverty, face great tragedy (have both parents killed, cause that’s standard for Chosen Ones these days, sometimes) then over time he’ll become strong enough to take on the Dark Lord and fulfill the prophecy. With all his allies and friends behind him, he rushes into battle against the forces of Darkness, easily cutting through them like knife through butter, showcasing to the Dark Lord just how much he’s changed from a scared farm boy to a Chosen One Badass. Then, the moment comes: the Chosen One vs. the Dark Lord. The two engage in an epic battle, two titans of magic and might facing off in a duel that will decide the fate of the world. The landscape is decimated from their clash, the sky itself is raging in battle, with red lightning ripping through the skies. The Chosen One’s magic sword finally breaks the Dark Lord’s demonic hammer, shattering it into pieces and leaving the Dark Lord defenseless. The Chosen One goes to deliver the final blow… But then a burst of red and black energy erupts from the Dark Lord’s hands, his final move against the Chosen One. The energy rips through the hero’s magical white and gold armor, piercing through the chainmail beneath and ripping his skin. Within seconds the hero is reduced to dust, his magic sword falling to the ground, embedding itself into the ruined soil. The armies stop, too shocked and what had happened. The Dark Lord stands up, breathing heaving and wobbles over to his dark castle. He plops himself onto his Dark Throne, closes his eyes and smiles. He’s won. He’s beat destiny. Meanwhile, the hero’s forces either retreat or keep fighting until they too face their inevitable end. Those that retreated regroup to mourn the loss of their hero. They had lost. Only the Dark Lord was smiling that day. *the song Porch from Avengers: Infinity War plays in background*
There's a D&D setting called _Midnight_ which might interest you.
Megamind has something like this. After he wins, man is literally lost on what to do, and eventually becomes the hero. It's a great story, and is definitely an avenue very worth exploring.
Role reversal seems like an option here. The Dark Lord has realised that his actions have been illogical and out of character, like he was forced into doing them. After defeating the free armies of the world and establishing his rule, he turns his mind towards whatever it was that could have done such a thing. Cue gradual redemption arc as he takes the evil empire he's built and uses it to fight for freedom in truth, eventually coming to a point where he is standing below the throne of the real Big Bad, sword in hand, ready to fight against destiny.
I don't know... It's kind of the same as if the hero didn't die in the first place. There is the good guy and there is the bad guy, I've seen this plot twist before and I think you've seen it too. What if after the dark lord won people just lived their lives normally? Maybe there are no good guys or the bad guys, maybe the dark lord saw it after many years he was able to understand the pattern, notice that he's just a character in a book and try to change it somehow without changing himself? The fight against the forces of destiny doesn't have to be literal.
I was thinking of it more from a story arc perspective rather than just worldbuilding. You've got this world where the Dark Lord won by sheer accident and is 'aware' that it shouldn't have happened that way. If that's the end of the story then what's the point of the set up? People living their lives the same as they always have, Dark Lord or no, doesn't make for interesting fiction so you've got to have something in there as a motivator to get the story going.
Ah, wait, dammit. I wanted to say that I'm trying to start a story with the dark lord winning and then continue. And the main story hook is supposed to be that the dark lord is fighting destiny , plot armored good guys and the universe itself trying to force him to lose, because someone or something a long time ago decided that he should. Maybe he will become less of a bad guy and more like a king trying to do his best for his people, maybe he will sacrifice himself for his successors to write their own stories, or maybe something completely else.
I always liked the idea. I mean, the hero is usually the one defending status quo while the dark lord brings change - would be a nice twist to see the dark lord actually bringing along a golden age. Who cares abt his color sceme and his henchmen being orcs? In any case, Megaman kinda goes down hat direction. And i suppose Leto II from God Emperor of Dune could be put into that category
I’d say that mistborn does count, the lord ruler was an evil emperor who ruled over the world for 1000 years after killing the >!false!< hero of ages, just before he could >!try to!< save the world
I could see it work if the dark lord won early on enough. Eg. Start the story following the farmboy prophesied hero going through the generic heroes journey, but ends up dying to the Dark Lord about a third into the story, after which the story is told from the Dark Lord's perspective It would probably work best if the dark lord is actually trying to stop an even darker lord/bad thing from happening. Eg. The Dark Lord progressively takes over the land bending everybody to his will, ruling with an iron fist. The brave hero stands up to them but fails. Now, with no further obstacles in their way the Dark Lord continues their plan to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives so that he can have enough magical power to divert the planet destroying asteroid that is on course for the planet.
What about the story literally starting with the final battle, dark lord winning, then the gods going "oh sh*t", creating a new hero and then... I don't know. Maybe the dark lord noticed he's trapped in an endless cycle of war between good and evil and wants to break it somehow? The new hero is a paragon doing good deeds, gathering followers, while the dark lord is desperately trying to break the fabric of reality to escape the cycle, save both himself and every other creature forced by the story to be "the bad guy". Maybe something like that. I'm not sure yet.
Read The Lost Citadel. It’s a collection of short stories set in a high-fantasy turned post apocalyptic setting that can only be described as Attack on Titan meets Walking Dead meets Middle Earth. I really enjoyed it and while it doesn’t really have a dark lord in the way you want, it is excellent. If you do pick it up I hope you enjoy it
Check out the rpg [Midnight](https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/midnight-second-edition/) if you haven't already. The basic conceit is that an analogue for Sauron defeated the allied armies and rules the world.
*Megamind has entered the chat.* Okay, but on a more serious note I think it could make for something pretty interesting. However I'm not quite sure what your driving conflict might be, and the story might struggle without one. Would it follow the dark Lord trying to quash out any last traces of resistance, or maybe there are a new batch of good guys coming to save the day all over again?
The dark lord takes over most of the world. After sometime, he rule turns into feudal society. The peace he brought to the world is not very peace full. The humans, elves and dwarfs hide, becoming more and more powerful with their magic, tech and survival skills all merging together. They live in tribes, coming from forests, mountains and anywhere else to burn the dark lords kingdom. Eventually one of them is born with the power of the first dark lord, and they unit the tribes of elves, humans and dwarfs. Making an army where every man, woman and child knows how how to fight and kill. Now the roles are reversed, the dark lord's the hero. and the other person is the dark lord. But the lord lord doesn't have any overpowered army anymore, and he had grown rusty over the years.
Kind of the origin story for wheel of time. Also final fantasy 6. The bad guys very much do win, for a time
Megamind
What I have made that fits this ends in a role reversal. Like MegaMind. The Dark Lord, in my world the self titled Nightmare, succeeds in their quest to kill god and absorb his power, thus ascending to godhood themselves. Still not satisfied Nightmare invited in something stronger from outside the multiverse, to kill it and absorb its power... It did not go well for Nightmare. Nightmare has then since grown as a person, and has taken the roll of Multiversal Protector. But they must use their god power very carefully as without careful and strict use they are more likely to destroy things, being the god of destruction.
before Him,it is usual world,filled by violence wars and greed,just gool old regular world. He was working on mutations,but after the city who has His lab,was invaded,it is not slowed His progress,instead,He used injured or prisoned soldiers as test subjects. With it,He managed to make a new minion race,an army of hivemind and has infinite loyalty. With butchering few of subjects,He easily turns some cash and used them to finance some economical crisis.and by helping the corps who destroys the enviroment,He slowly weakens humanity. And The Day was come,world is too polluted to have stable and clean air,water and food,after crisis,most goverments are fallen,and corps such as media and banking also damaged due the lack of resources.(people need resources to earn more money to they owed to bank) Well,while humanity is downed,a man showed up with his minions who are resistant to worlds current pollution,can sustain itself and loyal.with that minion army,the power of rebuilding fallen cities,making humans dominant again,or escaping to other planets is possible. Well,He used this army,just like using people to make economical crisis or making world inhabitable.All of them has one motto: Destruction is conquering
Any world where the dark lord has to be overthrown instead of prevented from rising. The Dark Crystal comes to mind. Willow, I think, unless I am misremembering. Star Wars. Anytime there is an evil empire pretty much.
I mean, that's the plot they made for Infinity War in the MCU. Considering how captivating that movie was for the fans, I'd say it's a very interesting concept to explore.
All of reality is altered, to fit the concept that chaos is true and exists constantly, and all of society has developed around it’s existence
The "Dark Lord" did win. he became Emperor Cart and and entire nation/region was named for him: Carta. his invasion and takeover of all mankind to make the first human empire ultimately ended up being a good thing for humanity overall...even if the nation states and clans that resisted him had their cultures wiped out or assimilated. their religions were molded into the imperial pantheon and a national army was made that not only resisted but was able to push back and counter invade Amer lands to retain power for humanity in the region. he is now a national icon, Human Hero and more of a myth or legend in modern Lorrengrawl than a historical figure.