From TES issue 10 (July 2001)

Series 3/4/5/6/7/8. Level 1/2/3.
HORDRISS THE CONFUSER
 
Clifford Norgate played the part of Hordriss for six series, which is the most series for any character other than Treguard. With his majestic red robes and red-streaked white hair and beard, Hordriss was essentially a very vain and very powerful sorcerer. He referred to himself mostly as "one" rather than "I". His role within the quest changed drastically in the six years he appeared on Knightmare. He was introduced to us as a non-aligned warlock who could prove either a fatal foe or a powerful ally, but ended up as a member of the Powers that Be who was constantly in danger from Lord Fear.


It is interesting to track this progression. His initial infrequent series 3 appearances saw Hordriss as something of a threat. When he met Leo on the bridge, for example, he refused to let the dungeoneer pass and had to be scared off with a SWORD spell. Later on in the series, he became more of a potential ally, but still had to be treated with extreme caution. Series 4 saw Hordriss join the cast as a regular character, this time often charging the dungeoneer with finding an object for him in return for magical aid. There was still a lingering threat about him.
  Series 5 and 6 saw the biggest change in this character. He acquired a gold medallion in series 5, as he had apparently been promoted to a wizard from a warlock. He was promoted again to mage in series 6. These series allowed him to identify solely with the powers of good, as Lord Fear's introduction to the Dungeon had obviously forced Hordriss to finally acknowledge the difference between good and evil. At the end of series 6, Hordriss joined the Powers That Be.
 
He remained as a mage throughout series 7 and 8, when Lord Fear was constantly trying to spell-trap and take advantage of both him and his daughter Sidriss, clearly showing that Lord Fear recognised Hordriss's potential for being a powerful ally to dungeoneers. The main focus of Dunston's quest in series 8 was releasing Hordriss from Lissard's body cage, one of his cunning traps, which the team achieved at the beginning of the final episode. Throughout the six years, Hordriss offered powerful spells and information in exchange for dungeoneers' help.
 
Fear Factor: 7 Could be pretty terrifying if he wanted to.
Killer Instinct: 1 He could and would have done in series 3.
Humour Rating: 6 He was very upset when Ben of series 5 didn't laugh at his jokes.
Oscar Standard: 10 Six years was plenty of time for Norgate to perfect the role.

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On the subject of Hordriss as a Knightmare Discussion Forum username, Grimaldine Grimwold once voiced his hope that 'whoever chooses the username doesn't do a tacky impersonation of the original Hordriss. Sorry, I just like Hordriss too much as a character, no offense to anyone intended. :D' In the end, it was chosen by Robin John Barlow, who created the account in May 2004, in line with his established Knightmare Chat username. However, Robin already had a Discussion Forum account dating from November 2002, RobinJB. No posts were ever made with the Hordriss forum account, and it was eventually deleted. Robin now uses Mashibinbin as his screen name across the online Knightmare community. However, Hordriss was claimed as a username by an unconnected Discussion Forum 'knewbie' in October 2008.

It seems reasonable to surmise that the forum username Boardriss was inspired by Hordriss too. Boardriss joined the Discussion Forum in June 2004, making eight posts within his first two days. Interestingly, some of these emerged during a dialogue with another user who had similarly skewed a KM character's name to create a username:

Lord Smear [SEE: Lord Fear]: 2 series of [Majida] was quite enough, i think it was probably her presence that affected viewing figures

Boardriss: I suspect Treguard was sick of looking at Pickle all day and wanted something a bit more pleasing on the eye.

Lord Smear: i always though Pickle fancied Treguard

Boardriss: Who wouldn't. Woof!!

Lord Smear: too true

Boardriss made a ninth post in March 2007, when the 'Enter Stranger' T-shirt competition tempted him back to the forum. He didn't win.

The forum username Malefact was also inspired by Hordriss ('I noticed that ... someone called Malifact had made a post (their sole post, I think). So, I decided to call myself Malefact. Stunning originality, eh? Now you know. :)'), as was RedMage ('I think - it was just trying to fit into a slight Hordriss mould, but without specifying too distinctly. Coincidentally, this was a blessing, since with our grand squire Malefact, and also ... Hordriss, this meant no near clashes - we're all our own people. Yep, Hordriss was a favourite, no doubt about that.')

[Previous versions: 2008-10-26 20:23:37, 2007-05-23 16:10:57]

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