I thought I’d let you in on some of the inspiration for our wicked villain. In the coming week’s we’ll learn much more about his past, but until then here’s some info on how I developed him.
The name was a bit of a mistake. I wanted to give him a menacing sounding name, without being too trite or cliche. I had written out a few different names beside early sketches, but when it came time to write and draw out his first appearance, I didn’t have those pages with me. So I picked the name that sounded best. As it turns out, “Mordred” was the name of King Arthur’s illegitimate son who brought about his death. I didn’t intend to take the name of an already existing character, but it works, so I’m sticking to it.
The inspiration for his appearance originated in a sketch I had done of Melkor a few years ago. Melkor is a character from The Silmarillion a story by J.R.R. Tolkien about the First Age of Middle Earth. Melkor was a Lucifer-type character who fell from his position as a guardian of the World to become its first Dark Lord (and renamed Morgoth by the elves). In the beginning he appeared as a beautiful being, but later was dark and corrupt in appearance. Here is the early drawing where I juxtaposed both versions of him. I wanted Mordred to be similar in style to the early Melkor: a being who was a picture of physical perfection, but was black and evil from within. It’s that sort of deceptive contrast that makes him such a dangerous villain (the style of dress, as well as the hair, was also inspired by Melkor).
If you have been taking note, however of his appearances in each comic, you’d have seen that behind the attractive visage, there are lines of insanity. He grins at the thought of his evil plans, while lines of anger and rage creep along his face. His is utterly powerful and utterly unstable.
But how did he come to be this way? What is the extent of his power? Much of his origins will be revealed in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!