The Horned King

 The Horned King is another major player in the Disney vs. Non-Disney Villains tournament, as well as the Disney Villains War. A sorcerer and necromancer, he is the secondary antagonist in the cult classic Disney film The Black Cauldron.

Pre War: The Dark Council
Prior to the events of the first war, the Horned King was one of the sorcerers, called by Maleficent to form the Dark Council, a faction that it would prevent Chernabog's rise in the universe. While Maleficent explains her plan to the others, the Horned King questions to the dark fairy, why they must stop Chernabog instead of joining with him and pledging their loyalties to him. Hades however doubt that Chernabog would finsh them if they attempt to do it. In conclusion Maleficent suggests to the other members that they must destroy the Crystal of Darkness, Chernabog's source of evil, by removing their most undesirable threats, with that plan their enemies would be destroyed and would be free from his harsh rule, a plan that everyone agreed to it.

The Fight On Bald Monutain
Finally the time has come for the faction to make their move and arrive on Bald Mountain to end Chernabog's goal. However two of the members of the faction, Hordak and Narissa, betray the team and take the Crystal of Darkness for their own purposes. Seeing his treacherous motives, the Horned King attempt to stop Hordak whatever the cause. But Hordak quickly retailed with a blats of magic, temporary blinding the lich king. After he recover his powers and their enemies were defeted, the Horned King, Maleficent and Hades, used all of their powers to destroy the Crystal and scatter the pieces to unknown areas of the world. As Chernabog swore revenge at the faction, the Horned King left Bald Mountain at the moment, along with other surviving members.

Vs Rameses
When the Horned King sought to gain new land for his growing empire, he set his sights on Egypt. Hoping to frighten the pharaoh Rameses into servitude, the Horned King unleashed the power of the Black Cauldron, sending fire raining down from the sky upon the country. Rameses refused to surrender, and in retaliation, led his Egyptian army to attack the Horned King's castle. As Rameses' army rushed through a gorge to the castle, the Horned King once again called upon the power of the Black Cauldron to cause a wall of water to rush into the gorge, drowning Rameses and his army. With Rameses dead, the Horned King successfully conquered Egypt.

Aligning with Maleficent
The Horned King began taking notice of the activities of Maleficent, after her recent victories against Ludmilla and Sharptooth. Impressed by her skill, the Horned King traveled to Maleficent's castle, and proposed an alliance to her. Maleficent happily accepted, and the two began to discuss their plan for world domination. To seal the bargain, the King granted Maleficent dual rulership of Egypt.

Hiring Nuka
The lion Nuka, seeking to please his mother Zira, requested an audience with the Horned King. Here, Nuka asked the Horned King for an opponent to face and prove himself. Unimpressed, the King decided to amuse himself by sending Nuka to his death, telling him to battle a seemingly old and helpless dog. The dog turned out to be a demonic cat called Red, who crushed Nuka to death beneath a pile of logs.

Vs Red
Upon finding out that Red was responsible for the death of her son, Zira traced his steps to the Horned King's castle. Upon arriving, she demanded that the King help her defeat Red, which the Horned King agreed to do, hoping to steal Red's power. After the pair confronted him, Red easily defeated Zira. The Horned King, however, used the Black Cauldron to banish Red from the mortal world, syphoning his power into the Cauldron in the process.

The End of The Horned King
Ruber, who had heard about the Horned King's recent triumph against Red and his alliance with Maleficent, led his forces to the Horned King's castle to murder him and crush his army, encouraged by Rameses, who had been returned to life and joined Ruber's faction. As Ruber, Rothbart, Zigzag, and Rameses decimated the Horned King's soldiers, Rasputin infiltrated the inner sanctum of the castle. There, he put his amulet into the Black Cauldron, tainting it, and causing all of the Horned King's Cauldron Born soldiers to die. As the Horned King observed his army's demise from his tower, he rushed back to the inner sanctum, where he encountered Rasputin. Now in complete control of the Black Cauldron, Rasputin began to use it to suck the Horned King in. Despite his violent struggle to escape, the Horned King was ultimately destroyed and absorbed by the Black Cauldron.

Disney Vs Non Disney Villains War - Part Three
Spending his time in limbo after his death in the mortal world, the Horned King soons meets another fallen warrior, Shan Yu, who enters limbo after the betrayal of one of his allies, Mozenrath.

Mysterious Origins and a Fall to Darkness
Before the Horned King became a horned lich, he was a noble ruler of a small German country that was called Prydain. The story of Prydain and its king are, however, closely entangled, and are the reason why there is no mention of it anymore. Before the king's descent into darkness, Prydain was one of the only countries that lived in relative peace after the Great War. It was mostly left unscarred by what the battle had wrought, and maintained a peaceful existence. Under their ruler, the people lived and prospered, and it was thought by many that they lived in a Golden Age.

That all changed on the King's birthday, when he invited multiple nobles and royals for a giant feast to celebrate it lavishly. The only one not invited was Maleficent, who angrily appeared on the celebration and presented her own gift to the king to be reborn as what he really was. A horrid transformation took place, after which the Horned King was born. All the goodness from the old king had died and only the lich remained. Quickly, the party members broke up and ousted the lich from his own castle into the wilderness where he stayed for a few years. When he returned, it was at the head of an army of barbarians that he had promised the wealth of Prydain.

Returning to his throne and beginning his new rule, the end of the Golden Age of Prydain had begun. The country fell into despair, and those that didn't escape the plundering barbarians and marauders died from starvation and murder. The King didn't pay much attention to what his once loyal subjects felt. He just fell into despair of what he was now. But that despair drew a new stranger to his side. A mighty dragon whose name is only called in whispers visited the lich and proclaimed himself an emissary of the Great Evil.

Intrigued by this creature that called himself an emissary, the Horned King started to dabble in dark magic and created an army of the dead. His dark magic began to grow and prosper as he and the dragon created the first Cult of the Great Evil. But while they were heading it and spreading their heretical prophecies, the French army combined with the Huntsclan found them and destroyed the cult completely. Once more the Horned King fell into depression. His armies were driven back to Prydain while he himself was locked in his citadel. That all changed when someone who claimed to be chosen by the Great Evil himself came to his side. Together, he thought they would bring life back into the Cult of the Great Evil and together they would smite their enemies. On his birthday, the King sets in motion a plan with his ally to destroy the one that had given birth to him...

Vs Maleficent
That day, the Horned King plans to destroy Maleficent after the demise of Diablo while she is still in grief. So, appearing from the castle gates in a suitable dramatic fashion, he unleashes his army of Cauldron Born soldiers against Maleficent, but they meet a quick defeat at her hands, forcing the Horned King to retreat. After his retreat, a being chosen by the Great Evil, Queen Narissa, merely surveys the situation and decides to leave him be until it is time for the next part of her master's plan.

Vs Demona
For a while, the Horned King meditates in his throne room, pondering his role in the war against those who oppose the Great Evil and deciding on what course of action he should follow next in order to regain Narissa's graces with him. No sooner has he begun thinking this when he is suddenly confronted by Demona, who comes to his castle in order to steal some spells from his spellbook. Although she is able to frighten away the guards and Creeper, the Horned King knocks away her spellbook, and threatens to tear her to pieces, causing Demona to flee the castle empty handed.

Death
Desperate for a comeback in the war, the Horned King attempts to revive his Cauldron Born army in order to give them to Chernabog as a forgivance present, but is interrupted by Doctor Facilier, who is seeking to kill him "for the greater good", revealing that due to his previous failures, he saw it fit to destroy his fellow "comrade", as is Chernabog's orders. The Horned King dispatches his Gwythaints to defeat Facilier, but they are quickly subdued when their chains become stuck. Sensing an oppurtunity to end the battle quickly, Facilier then tosses a batch of Dark Aether into the Black Cauldron, causing it to become active and drag anything in its radius into its maw, including the Horned King. As he is being dragged into the Black Cauldron, the Horned King is granted a final vision from Chernabog, who tells him that he has failed him for the last time, leaving him just as the Cauldron's amplified energies tear the lich into pieces and vacuum the bony shreds into its gullet.

Resurrection
Hoping to gain a new ally for their cause, Narissa and Lady Tremaine travel to the Horned King's castle, where the Black Cauldron still stands. Using her magic, Narissa is able to bring the Horned King back to life and he agrees to assist them in their goals. However, this is but a sham, as the Horned King still holds resentment towards Narissa and Facilier for betraying him in the previous war. As a result, the Horned King begins to plot against Narissa.

Attempt At Revenge
Unbeknownst to Narissa, the Horned King secretly sneaks away from the palace and locates Facilier, who is locked in a battle against The Witches of Morva. Both Facilier and the Witches are surprised to see him alive, believing him to still be dead. Calling on the power of the Black Cauldron, the Horned King manages to defeat the Witches, but Facilier blows magic powder into the Horned King's face, temporarily blinding him and creating enough time for the doctor to escape.

Assembling An Alliance
As villains assemble their forces to fight in the upcoming war, the Horned King does the same, recruiting Doctor Facilier and Lady Tremaine. Combining their magic together, they are able to resurrect Queen Grimhilde from the dead, though they are unaware that she is plotting against them with Magneto.

Vs Morbius
Morbius, after hearing of a possible cure for his vampire condition from The Witches of Morva, sets off to the Horned King's castle to acquire it. When Morbius arrives, he is captured by the Horned King's men, and placed inside of a glass casket. It is then, that the Horned King reveals that he too, is looking for a cure for his Lich-like form, and after finding a potential antidote, decides to test it on Morbius. Refusing to be king's guinea pig, Morbius escapes the casket,and burns the Horned King's face with his hand, only to be blasted out of the castle by Lady Tremaine. After this embarrassing defeat, the Horned King recruits Shan Yu, and the Huntsman into his alliance.

Vs Magneto
Seeing that the Mandarin is a growing power in the war, the Horned King decides to eliminate the threat before he is too much of a concern. At Queen Grimhilde's beckoning, he sends the Huntsman after Fin Fang Foom and Shan Yu after the Mandarin himself. To the Horned King's chagrin, both of them fail in their missions and perish. The Horned King does not get long to sulk, however, as Magneto and his mutants storm into the castle. When his barbarian guards and Gwythiants prove to be poor deterrents, the Horned King uses the Black Cauldron to summon his Cauldron-Born warriors. However, Magneto's magnetic powers give him an edge, altering the Cauldron's composition so that the magic no longer works. Magneto then uses his powers to turn the magnetic energy of the metal cauldron against the Horned King, pulling the sorcerer into the cauldron and tearing him to pieces.