Vandheer Lorde

Vandheer Lord (Concept Art)

The main villain of the Armed with Wings Flash game series.

Vandheer Lorde is sealed by Blackmist

He is a Warrior King, his sole goal was to build a strong everlasting Empire, and become the most powerful man in the world. He succeeded in these goals, and Blackmist itself tried to strike him down. He is the main character in Armed with Wings 2, and the final boss in every other game of the series.  He is the only character to have ever appeared in all of the games.

Appearance

Vandheer Lorde has a very muscular build with wavy black hair, and his facial features are concealed by a large, unique mask. His attire consists of a dark-colored fur-trimmed overcoat that is left open exposing his chest, with seemingly ripped off sleeves. The bottom of his outfit has two layers. The first layer is tied in a bow around his waist. The second layer covers his feet.

In Rearmed, he is shown to have a different attire than in previous games. His mask is redone, and has a smoother crest and light emanating from it. His fur cloak is replaced with a lighter cape, but he still has a bare chest and a bow on his waist. There is also metal studding his armor, mainly on the shoulders and hips.

Ruling

He only mentions it once, but he is in fact the king of the world. Little information is given about the way he ruled, but he seems to have been a tyrant, and he did something that resulted in an open rebellion. One reason for this could be that he sentenced his subjects to death for speaking out, as hinted in his encounter with the Lone Warrior in Armed with Wings 2. Apparently he was cruel and tyrannical enough that Blackmist himself, the creator of the world, decided to speed up his demise. Perhaps this is due to his possible connections with the powerful force of evil and destruction, Network.

He never appears in front of the people, his orders are carried out by the army. The members of royal guard are the only ones who are permitted to see him - an elite, handpicked group of warriors, with powers that resemble some of the abilities of Armed with Wings in the first game, which is probably controlling the flow of energy in the body.

His age is unknown, and it seems no one knows when his rule began, but some say that he is immortal, that he conquered the world ages ago. Others claim that the helm had been passed on from father to son. And some claim to know when he took over the throne. The truth behind that remains in mystery.

Combat

While Armed with Wings was aided by the creator, Blackmist himself, Vandheer's powers were born with him(Except in the final stage of AWW III when NetWork hosted his power in Vandheer). He excels at the art of combat with a diverse range of skills.

Swordsmanship

Vandheer Lorde has reached an unsurpassed proficiency of swordsmanship. He fights in reckless ways, often attacking with exaggeratedly powerful and heavy blows, yet without losing stability or getting interrupted easily. His most powerful sword attacks unleash residual blasts of energy.

Vandheer Lorde is a master of many sword types. He usually uses a hooked sword (possibly the Water Blade of Eden), but has also been seen using a straight katana and is also skillful in using all the Blades of Eden, exotic weapons with odd shapes. In Rearmed, he uses both a straight katana and the sword called Ice Blade, a white blade with several long adornments on the hilt and pommel.

One of the signature moves of Vandheer Lorde is becoming a flurry of shadows, being briefly immune to all attacks towards him. He finally comes to a stop next to his victim and draws his blade upwards, cleaving that person high up into midair. In Armed with Wings 3, a large burst of energy can be seen when blow is launched. In addition to being powerful both defensively and offensively, this attack is also hard to avoid, and in later years Vandheer even combined it with the usage of teleportation to follow up the first strike with additional blows.

Martial Arts

Vandheer does not show his unarmed skills often (only in Armed with Wings 1, 2, and Rearmed), but if forced to do so he shows himself to be wild and quick, able to annihilate multiple enemies in an instant. He showed his martial skills during the search of the Blades of Eden. His ultimate unarmed attack is a grappling move in which Vandheer catches the target with energy emitted from his hands, levitates it over his head, then unleashes a massive energy burst which sends the target flying very far forward, inflicting immense damage.

During his first confrontation with Armed With Wings, Vandheer was able to unleash a powerful punch imbued with ice, strong enough to send enemies flying. He also charged Armed with Wings and was able to throw him, contrary to his normal movement.

Agility

Vandheer does not seem to be as powerful in aerial combat as he is in ground combat, but he can still bash multiple enemies away with a simple punch or kick, although this is difficult to aim. He can gather his energy to jump to extremely great heights.

Vandheer is able to either teleport or move so fast that he seems to be teleporting - vanishing in a puff of black mist. He can use this technique to avoid attacks or to ambush an opponent, following his teleports with a swift strike. By the time of Armed with Wings 3 and Culmination, he is able to teleport in midair, making him formidable even in aerial combat, able to cast an energy wave below him. In Rearmed, he boasts the ability to jump into the air to unleash a burst of black lightning. This attack is less impressive in radius that the previous attack, but takes less time to charge up and execute.

Ice

One of the signature moves of Vandheer Lorde, the Ice Shot is cast by quickly freezing the air around his hand and throwing the air projectile in a straight path. This attack has an extremely long range, able travel very long distances, although at a slow pace. It can instantly kill Royal army soldiers, sometimes even several of them if they are standing too close. The only man able to block this move is Lone Warrior as Armed with Wings, who uses his sword to slash apart the Ice Shot (or block it in Rearmed). This move can prove a liability to Vandheer, however, as a skilled opponent can actually deflect it back at him with a well-timed strike.

Vandheer is able to channel the powers of ice and water to unleash a large avalanche that not even Armed with Wings can withstand at all. It is impossible to avoid and can only be survived by blocking and not being thrown too far. In Rearmed, this move is slightly less deadly as it no longer covers the entire arena, can be interrupted if Vandheer is hit during the casting time, and can be dodged through. He does not use this ability after Rearmed.

Vandheer shows several additional ice powers in Rearmed, the most notable is the ability to create jagged ice shards. He typically summons them hanging in midair before raining them down upon his enemies. The more time Vandheer spends preparing the attack, the more shards are created and the bigger and deadlier they get. In cutscenes, he is also shown firing similar shards forward like lances, and can create uncountable amounts of them.

He has also shown the ability to unleash a massive blast that leaves an entire area covered in ice.

Speed/Teleportation

Vandheer has shown many times the ability to disappear from his position in a blur and reappear elsewhere, though it is not entirely clear whether this is teleportation or simply moving at speeds defying the human eye. In Rearmed, he displays something that appears to be true teleportation in order to escape from Armed With Wings.

Power Channeling

In Red Moon, he is known to channel the power of the Red Moon, which grants him a limited unique move. Channeling energy into his sword, he smashes the ground and a barrage of energy eruptions occur, spreading from his position. The eruptions seem to spread slower over time, but they also grow more powerful.

Heavy Stance

When he is concentrated, he can endure large extents of injury, only slowing his attacks when damaged. He is even able to change his attacks as he is hit, but only for the time of Armed with Wings 3, when he shows a skill similar to Leo's Anti-Flinch. (This is true in Rearmed as well, when Lone Warrior has this skill.)

Behavior

Vandheer's attitude is cold. He mastered the art of not caring about irrelevant things. He simply ignores those who can't serve his goal, and uses those who can. He is proud, determined, ferocious, fearsome, full of himself, smug, and stubborn. He is capable of showing some emotions however. Mainly disappointment, anger, and he can be very wrathful sometimes.

He actually has some determined aims and wants. Apart from fulfilling his conquering wish by ruling the world, and "rise to godhood", possibly reaching incomprehensible strength, he once mentioned Lonely Warrior and Eivana being the only worthy men to be "harvested", close to overpowered in meaning. While he was overthrown as a king, he never breaks down and merely swears revenge against the rebel who has scorned him. Network once described him as one who was "sealed by the hands that created everything... therefore, he hates everything." This is not necessarily true, but Vandheer does not seem to enjoy peace, or well-being at all, as he mercilessly killed many of the citizens in the world.

Vandheer Lorde's combination of power and cruelty has attracted the attention of Network, who reveals himself to the king for the first time during the events of Red Moon. It is unclear whether they had already struck a deal back then, but it's possible (since in Armed With Wings 1, Vandheer has a couple of shadow creatures among his troops). Network calls on Vandheer's services in Armed With Wings 3, where he frees him from his prison and makes him his Chosen, much like Armed With Wings himself is the Chosen of Blackmist. It is possible that Vandheer received his powers from a pact with Network, as Network goes as far to invest his energy in Vandheer at the climax of the third game.