Warning: Contains spoilers for Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
Every franchise needs a truly twisted villain; but few are more dangerous than the infamous Szass Tham – a lord of the undying.
Though Tham appears as an undead monster, he was once human. After early experiments with dark magic, he began to sponsor adventurers to bring him enchanted items. When they had brought him enough, he would do away with them so they could not speak of the power he was accumulating.
Eventually, Tam became one of the foremost wizards in the land and was known as the Zulkir of Necromancy for his tendency to reanimate the dead. Tam even slew his former teacher, turning him into an undead skeleton to forever patrol the corridors of his home.
In his mid-50s, Tam led an unsuccessful invasion of Rashemen – the Land of Berserkers. Mortally wounded on the battlefield, Szass Tam’s broken and bloodied body refused to die, and the powerful magic he had gained throughout his life transformed him into a supremely powerful lich.
Liches are particularly dangerous in the world of Dungeons & Dragons, for they are undead who retain all the guile, smarts, and personality of their former living selves. Tam was already dangerous as a mere human – as an undying Lich he is a hundred times more deadly.
His incredible talent for necromancy has made Tam into an unrepentant enslaver who feels nothing for the beings he controls, once saying that “the lands are filled with potential servants. Should one fall, you will always be able to find another to take its place.”
In Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Tam is only on screen for a few minutes. But audiences are left with no doubt that he is a master manipulator secretly working from the shadows. Any sequel will surely see the return of such a menacing character.