From
TES issue 39 (May 2006)
Series 8.
Level 2/3.
MALDAME
Born from an unsuccessful plan to hide Iona Kennedys pregnancy bump, Maldame will always remain one of the less successful
Knightmare characters in my eyes. She was a much less convincing character than
Greystagg, whom she directly replaced, and she never seemed to fit in to the quest situation, de
spite numerous appearances (many more than
Sidriss, certainly) in the final series.
Maldame was the Queen of the Mire World. When
Lord Fear moved down there from Goth, Maldame was most upset to find that her new neighbour had erected two enormous towers in her realm. However, she was prepared to overlook this affront as long as Lord Fear gave her one of the towers, leaving the other for himself, and the two could then work as allies. Lord Fear, of course, was having none of this, and turned Maldame to stone when she suggested it. However, thanks to the intervention of
dungeoneer Daniel [
Team 2 of Series 8], Maldame was rescued from her predicament and was able to take over Linghorm, where she took up residence, much to Lord Fears annoyance. Throughout the rest of the series, Lord Fear and Maldame were constantly trying to get the better of each other, which culminated in Lord Fears plan to use
Bhal-Shebah to raze
Marblehead, and destroy Maldame. However, thanks to Dunston, this plan was also foiled.
I always feel that Maldame was brought in to Knightmare simply to continue the ongoing battle with Lord Fear that Greystagg was involved with. The first stage of this,
series 6, saw the pair of them attempting to form a shaky alliance. The second stage, series 7, saw them accept their enmity for each other, with Lord Fear in a position of power. The third stage would have been for Greystagg to steal some of Lord Fears power and create her own empire to rival his. This is exactly what Maldame did with Linghorm, which really added to the sense that all she was doing was filling Greystaggs shoes.
As you can probably tell, I dont like Maldame very much, and I find her one of the most forgettable Knightmare characters of all. Perhaps its just because she added to the general disarray that was series 8, but I honestly believe that Greystagg could have performed her role more effectively, and with more continuity to the ongoing plot of the programme. But of course, the Greystagg costume was too tight to hide a pregnancy, wasnt it? Then why did they bother hiding Maldames lower half behind telescreens, windows and balconies in almost every appearance she made? If they were going to do that anyway, why not do it with Greystagg? Answers on a postcard, please!
Fear Factor: 4 Haughty and disdainful, but not really frightening.
Killer Instinct: 1 Sometimes threatened, but never made the move.
Humour Rating: 2 Very hard to get a laugh out of.
Oscar Standard: 5 A poor replacement for Greystagg, and the performance reflected this, in my eyes.
