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In fiction and mythology, a dark lord (sometimes capitalized as Dark Lord or referred to as an evil overlord, evil emperor etc. depending on the work) is an archetype, acting as the pinnacle of and evil within a typically narrative.
There is a wealth of literature, folklore, and theology precedent for the idea of a dark lord, including the celtic mythology Balor, the Christian Satan, (known in Latin as the Princeps Tenebrarum, the Prince of Darkness in John Milton Paradise Lost) and various other chthonic figures or evil kings and sorcerers. The concept was developed throughout the nineteenth century with characters such as Richard Wagner's Alberich or Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, before crystalizing in 1954 with the character of Sauron in J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings, from which the archetype most often takes its name. Later The Silmarillion would focus on the character of Morgoth, of whom Sauron was the principal lieutenant and then successor, while other works would further popularize and diversify the concept with antagonists such as Darkseid in the DC Universe, Palpatine in the science fantasy Star Wars saga, or Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter series. More recent works sometimes also move away from the archetype's mythic origins in favour of historical allusions to infamous conquerors and such as Julius Caesar or Adolf Hitler.
Japanese media often features an equivalent of this archetype called a maō, drawing from analogous figures in religion and folklore.
Philip Pullman noted that the dark lord archetype in literature can often reflect the belief "that evil in the real world is usually embodied in a single person and requires a high position to be effective" and that this contrasts with Hannah Arendt's notion of the banality of evil.David Colbert, The Magical Worlds of Philip Pullman (Penguin, 2006).
The most famous lists, both referred to as the Evil Overlord List, were developed concurrently. Both were published to the Web in the early 1990s. The original, if lesser-known list was compiled in 1990 by members of the now-defunct FidoNet Science Fiction and Fandom (SFFAN) email echo. The FidoNet list originated with a 1988 Saturday Night Live skit featuring James Bond Villains touting a book What Not to Do When You Capture James Bond. The FidoNet list arose out of discussions regarding what sort of advice might be in that book, and was compiled and published by Jack Butler. It predated the following list, but was only widely published later, and is the more obscure of the two.
The later-produced and more famous version of the list was compiled in 1994 by Peter Anspach (hence it is occasionally titled "Peter's Evil Overlord List") based on informal discussions at conventions and on online bulletin boards in the early 1990s, and has subsequently become one of the best-known parodies of bad SF/F writing, frequently referenced online. It was originally The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became an Evil Overlord, but grew to include over 100 entries.
The Evil Overlord List has led to spin-offs, including lists for Stock character including (but not limited to) Hero, Henchman, Sidekick, the Evil Overlord's Accountant, and Starfleet captains.
In Australia, a minor literary scandal erupted in 1997 when it emerged that award-winning author Helen Darville Plagiarism the list for her regular column in Brisbane's The Courier-Mail newspaper, which led to her being fired.
Teresa Nielsen Hayden, author and lecturer, uses an expanded version of the list in her lectures on writing science fiction. She recommends selecting five random clichés from the list, and using them, or their reverse ("Say you've drawn A-34, 'I will not turn into a snake. It never helps.' You can have a character turn into a snake and find it doesn't help, or do it and find it very useful indeed") as the basis for a plot. "The Evil Overlord Devises a Plot" Excerpted from Teresa Nielsen Hayden lecture on Stupid Plotting Tricks
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