Darklord

The Darklords are the rulers and prisoners of the plane of Ravenloft, from the D&D setting of the same name.

You might be wondering "How are they rulers and prisoners at the same time?" The reason for this is simple: each Darklord was pulled into the plane by the nebulous forces known only as the Dark Powers after an especially heinous deed, which reshape a part of the plane into a pocket realm tailored to their crimes. In his own realm, a Darklord has absolute power over everything except whatever they desire most- which is always ever so slightly out of reach to amplify their torment further.

Notable Darklords

Strahd von Zarovich: Darklord of Barovia, and the first Darklord to be introduced to the setting- in fact, its named after his own castle.

Originally the the conqueror of a region of the same name, Strahd came to lust after a woman called Tatyana who rejected him in favor of his younger brother Sergei. Strahd took this very badly; badly enough that at some point he made what he called "a pact with Death" that turned him to a vampire in a desperate attempt to restore his youth. This too failed to win her over, and on the day Tatyana was to be married to Sergei Strahd killed him and drove her to suicide.

His realm is a copy of Barovia, which he has absolute power over to the point where he can enter any private home uninvited (since he owns them all). However, he's cursed to have the events leading to his damnation repeat themselves forever- once every generation he will encounter a woman who he believes to be Tatyana's reincarnation, only to be rejected by her and become responsible for her death once more.

Azalin Rex: Darklord of Darkon. A powerful mage who inherited the rule of the city-state of Knurl, his draconic rule culminated in the execution of his son when he was caught freeing political prisoners. Soon afterward, Azalin became a lich and devoted himself to searching for a spell that could resurrect the dead, in the hopes that he could revive his son and attempt to retrain him so he might be as merciless as himself.

As soon as he was taken into Ravenloft he lost the ability to learn any new magic at all- a terrible thing for any magic user, and even worse for a lich like him. This power over memory affects anyone else who enters Darkon as well; staying there for more than three months at a time causes a visitor's memories to be erased and replaced with false ones of spending one's whole life in Darkon.