From TES issue 4 (September 1996)

Series 3: Morghanna: Level 3

Yes! I'm sure you've noticed that for the first time ever this feature [titled 'Remember Her?' in TES] includes the word "Her", rather than "Him". Yet, from all of the female characters to walk the dungeon floors, I have chosen one who made no more than two appearances in Knightmare! "Why?" I hear you ask - well the answer is quite simple Morghanna, despite her brief stay Knightmare Castle, will remain one of the most ruthless characters ever witnessed by Knightmare viewers.

Due to the short nature of Morghanna's stay reign in level three, I should perhaps familarise you with her role within the legendary depths of level three.

Series three was unquestionably tough. Only three teams reached the third level, and they were possibly amongst the most accomplished teams ever to grace the dungeon.

Unfortunately, two of those teams became sworn enemies at Morghanna's from the very moment they set foot in level three....

Suffice to say, Morghanna personally snuffed out each dungeoneer in her first meeting with each.

Morghanna also carries further significance in that she became the first of three female partners for the chief bad-guy in Knightmare's history.

In series 4, Mogdred was joined by Malice, whilst in series 5 Lord Fear occasionally paired up with Aesandre.

Natasha Pope, who also played Velda and Brangwen, took the part at Morghanna and succeeded very well, giving the character a sinister evil aura.

This presence first appeared for Ross and team, midway through series three. Incase you haven't yet read about Ross' classic guest on page 19.I won't spoil this for you by revealing all the gory details.

However, in my opinion Morghanna's finest hour came in her fearsome pursuit of Martin as he reached level three late on in the series.

Gradually, Martin encountered increasingly dangerous obstacles. The tension would grow even further as Morghanna's evil mocking laughter would begin to echo through the chamber. Clearly Martin was being watched and it did appear to unsettle the team.

Soon enough, as if tired of merely mocking. Morghanna appeared in person - her entrance accompanied by aloud crash. As she stood above Martin -naturally dressed in nothing but black - she paused briefly before unleashing a lethal fireball directly at poor old Martin's head head - "ooh, nasty" indeed!

In my opinion, Morghanna deserved a much longer run as the queen of level three. A success rate of 100% cannot be ignored.

However, her role will always be remembered as being particularly fearsome, perhaps it is true that the "brightest star shines for the shortest time"

FEAR FACTOR: 9 - Ruthless, mocking , malicious, etc!
HUMOUR RATING: 3 - Ross's helmet was so funny she liked him!
KILLER INSTINCT: 10 - Two encounters - neither dungeoneer survived
OSCAR STANDARD: 7 - Indoubtably sinister, though possibly overacted?

Written by and submitted with the kind permission of Paul McIntosh.

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From TES issue 64 (July 2010)

Series 3. Level 3.
MORGHANNA
Morghanna is one of three Knightmare characters lifted from (or at least based on) Arthurian legend, the other two being Merlin and Mogdred, of course. Tantalisingly, Merlin informs Martin’s team that Morghanna has “moved from the old realm and entered the Dungeon via the deeper catacombs”, perhaps suggesting that this Morghanna is indeed the same one from the tales of King Arthur.

I think the main reason that this character has always been so well remembered by Knightmare fans (despite the fact that she only made two brief appearances) has a lot more to do with the dark, sinister, fatal nature of her encounters with both Ross and Martin than it has to do with Natasha Pope's skills at playing the character. The key to Morghanna’s success is atmosphere – an evil, powerful foe lurking in the deepest, darkest depths of level three, waiting at the very climax of the adventure in a particularly tough questing season, and mercilessly snuffing out the dungeoneer on both occasions. Wow, that’s classic Knightmare atmosphere for you! So it doesn’t really stand out or matter that Natasha Pope didn’t really do anything very interesting with the character, or make a very convincing stab at the few lines she was given!

In practical terms, of course, the fact that neither dungeoneer left the room alive after meeting her had nothing to do with Morghanna’s ruthless nature. In Ross’s case [pictured below], it was a very forgivable guiding error on a particularly tough path, and Martin’s team would have survived the encounter if they’d been entomologists, and thus earned some dragon magic. But in both cases, we were left with the impression that Morghanna – a dark, scary presence that haunted level three in a most chilling manner – was far more ruthless than Mogdred, even though he proved that he, too, could and would kill under the right circumstances (i.e. if the team made a fatal mistake) when he was given the chance.


This is a lot of what makes Knightmare so brilliant, of course – it leaves us with these lasting impressions, and the thrilling, slightly fearful sensations they’ve formed in our minds, even though – with hindsight – you can look back and explain it all away when you’ve watched it on video a few times… as long as you don’t mind shattering that wonderful illusion.

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Morghanna's popularity with Knightmare fans has been such that she inspired the Knightmare.com forum username of more than one.

morghannas mate joined the forum on 9th September 2004 ('Hey fellow Knightmare fans! Took a wrong turn it seems in the Corridor of the Catacomb but finally made it to the forum. Long live Knightmare!!!!'), but by the following day, he had made his 6th and final post to date.

Morghanna joined the forum on 13th April 2020, stating that 'My all-time favourite character [is] you guessed it: the beautiful, but deadly sorceress Morghanna. Such a shame that she could not have become a long-term character.'

[Previous version: 2007-12-23 19:19:18]

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