Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight Vol-2 (1998)
Released by: Central Park Media
Episodes: 7-13
By Keith "JC" Hayward

Introduction

I’ve been up to my elven boots (+4) in high fantasy lately. My personal favorite fantasy writer of all time and who shall now go mentioned a womping 3 times now in my reviews, R.A. Salvatore is back at the top of his game and kicking all kinds of sword slinging, monster fighting ass in his latest book, The Lone Drow. He’s been hooking up his fans here and there with the adventures of Drizzt Do’ Urden and his companions, but nothing seemed to reach the incredible heights of action fantasy that he wove in the all out war between the Dark Elves of Menzoberranzan and the stalwart Drawves of Mithril Hall in The Legacy. But now enough time has past that Salvatore once again has something to say and his famed cast from the Icewind Dale Trilogy are in for the fight of their lives and all the world of Faerun may never be the same. I never knew a fantasy world could have so many orcs, and unfortunately for the heroes of this latest book, neither did they!

This put me in the perfect mood to bust out the second volume in the Chronicles of the Heroic Knight Saga to see where the wind swept paths of Lodoss Island might take me.

Story

“The Black Knight has vowed to unite Lodoss under his tyrannical rule. To this end, he has invaded the volcanic lair of the demon dragon with the intent to capture the legendary Scepter of Domination.

Trapped in the fiery lair of the dragon, King Kashue and Parn must struggle to vanquish no only the Black Knight, but the murderous beast that has guarded the Scepter for centuries!”

Review

Things come to a climactic head quick in this installment, as in the first two episodes alone the saga of the original heroes we all knew and love comes to a swift and somewhat tragic end as one of them falls and the others pull out all the stops to defeat Ashram the Black Knight and his forces from gaining the Scepter of Domination. As opposed to what I remember in the original OVA, Ashram has far more than Pirotess and a bunch of no name villains to back him up during this confrontation, now he has a colorful band of hand picked dark warriors, wizards, and other minions at his disposal to take on Parn and his fellowship of brave fighters, wizards, and elves. Each pairs off with their chosen foes to best use their various talents, resulting in a fantasy battle royale – winner takes all. And if dark minions weren’t enough, the Lodoss Warriors also have a Great Red Dragon in the form of Shooting Star to contend with as well as their respective rivals. The whole volcano battleground goes up in the end and only one band is left standing… marking the end of one era and the rise of a new.

A young blue haired hero is troubled by dark dreams of monsters and a cry for his destiny to become fully realized. Spark, of noble tribal decent and knight in training for the Kingdom of Flaim struggles and fights for his time to become recognized and to become a true knight of justice like his heroes the Free Knight Parn and the Mercenary King Kashue. Ten years have passed since the Battle for the Scepter of Domination and in that time the cursed Island of Lodoss lived in relative peace. But alas, there’s never much rest for the wicked and in the darkness of the isle off the coast of Lodoss, Marmo, a new evil is on the rise and amassing its forces. The dark wizard, Wagnard, has designs of his own to release the sleeping goddess of destruction, Kardis, upon all Lodoss for reasons unknown. When his band of dark elf thieves break into Flaim to steal the Crystal Ball of Destiny, Spark finally gets his chance to show what he’s made of.

Now charged with the retrieval of the Crystal Ball of Destiny, Spark must lead a new rag tag band of fantasy misfits comprised of a half-elf shaman, a axe wielding mercenary, a dwarven cleric, later a mysterious thief with an agenda of her own and lastly the fledgling daughter of one of the original Lodoss Heroes. Without knowing the full gravity of their quest, it is up to these unlikely heroes to venture into the wilds of Lodoss and unravel the mystery of the Crystal Ball of Destiny before it’s too late. The armies of light and dark are already on the move and the fate of the world rests on the shoulder of a young knight in training who seeks to complete his quest and realize his destiny.

Blasphemy I know, but I have to say I actually like the brash new young hero, Spark more than the hot headed hero of the original Lodoss War OAV, Parn. Me and Parn go way back, so nothing will break that bond of friendship we forged, but out of the gate Spark just has a cooler color scheme and design to himthat was different from the archetypal mold that Parn was cut from. Where Parn was several shades of a solid brown and always roaring head first, Spark has a vivid and inspiring red, white, and blue color scheme and while he rushes in where elves fear to tread, he does it a bit more measured and thought out than Parn ever did. Although to Parn’s credit, he never had formal knight training when he decided to take up his father’s sword and armor, where Spark has been stuck in an unfortunate training rut

. Spark’s troupe is also more colorful in design and character than Parn’s. Where Team Parn seemed to be composed directly from their character classes, Spark’s Team seemed to take up more “2nd Edition” characters classes with creative license to mix and match characters and class as they saw fit. Each is still typical of their chosen character, but it just seems like this second cast of heroes had more source books to choose from in making up their party. What’s coolest about them is that this cast is all new and all original. They aren’t carbon copies of the previous cast, but their own set of heroes with their own unique chemistry, dreams, fears and demons to conquer. I hope all that D&D jargon wasn’t too over the top and served a proper metaphor to illustrate the differences in the two Lodoss War casts.

The animation, like the previous volume, is average at best and doesn’t boast high production values. What it does boast though is well directed episodes; action plays out either through actual choreography or sometimes cutting away to a painting that depicts the action at hand. They even kick it OVA style sometimes in that when a sword swipe comes we get the black screen with the arch of light that symbolizes the path of a sword or axe.

All in all you get a pretty decent package of episodes in this batch. You get to witness the end of a heroic era and the rise of a completely all new one with an all new cast, with their own unique chemistry.

Episode List:

Episode 7: Death… A Gentle Heart Bequeathed
Episode 8: The Scepter of Domination… The Dream of a United Lodoss
Episode 9: The Young Knight… Tested Strength
Episode 10: Recovery… A Mission Assigned
Episode 11: Light… A Girl Guided by the Gods
Episode 12: Sallying Forth… Pursuing a Dark Shadow
Episode 13: Nightmare… The Creeping Dark Power

Conclusion

Seeing as I’m in the right mood, I’m having a really good time visiting Lodoss again and hanging out with a completely new cast to boot! By day I immerse myself in my high fantasy novels and by night, I delve into the world of Lodoss, battling alongside new friends against new foes to save the world. The Saga of Lodoss is a must for fans of high fantasy and tabletop gamers a like.

Keith "JC" Hayward