Grand Duke of Owls

The Grand Duke of Owls

"I positively loathe rrrock n' rroll."

The Grand Duke of Owls is a minor antagonist in the Kingdom Hearts Unlimited Saga, serving as a member of Jadis' BlackFrost Organization and as the primary villain of the Sunnyside Farm campaign of "The Chain of Memories".

A magical owl with sorcerous capabilities, the Grand Duke despises all things dealing with the Light, and will stop at nothing to bring forth an endless eternity of darkness upon his world. When his world is pulled from the Non-Disney Universe to the Disney Universe by the powerful memory energies of Castle Oblivion, the Duke decides to take advantage of the situation by allying himself with the White Witch Jadis and collecting the memories of his world's inhabitants to combat the schemes of the Dominion XIII traitors. He even allies himself with Ursula the Sea Witch to make doubly sure his scheme will not fail.

Later on, after the fall of the Seekers, the Grand Duke re-emerges from the shadows to ally himself with a new villainous faction known as the Nightbreed to wage a new war against the Realm of Light...

Story

Backstory

The Grand Duke of Owls, with his air of sophistication, love of organ music, fear of light, and bumbling henchmen, may not seem like much of a threat at first glance. However, he carries in his veins the last remnants of the blood of an ancient race of some of the foulest demons known to exist.

In ancient Mesopotamia, the demoness Lilith was worshipped as a goddess of fertility and wind. It was believed that she could cause the plague with her breath alone. Among her followers were a group of owl-demons that served as her messengers, collecting child sacrifices for their mistress. To catch sight of one was a certain omen of death.

One of the owl-demons serving Lilith was Polyphonte, whose name means "Slayer of Many." Polyphonte survived her mistress' imprisonment by the Keyblade Unions and traveled to Greece, where she raised her brood, known to the Greeks as the Strix. Though not as powerful as they had been under Lilith, the Strix were still a deadly threat to mortals; no longer offered sacrifices, they sustained nourishment for themselves by drinking the blood of children.

Even Hades feared the Strix, so much so that he temporarily put his enmity with the other Olympian gods aside to be rid of them. Combining their forces, the gods managed to slay Polyphonte and drive her foul brood from Greece. The survivors set up roosts in Eastern Europe, where they became known as strigoi. Here, they continued their vampiric ways, and are said to have interbred with mortals to produce vampires.

Over the years, conflicts with mortals seeking to protect themselves from the strigoi's predations depleted the creatures' population. Now, only a few remain. One of them, which traveled to England, became known simply as the Owlman of Mawnan. No longer able to feed on human blood, his prey having become more vigilant, the Owlman was nothing but a phantom, reduced to frightening travelers in the night. Interbreeding with ordinary owls, the Owlman bore a son, the Grand Duke.

Though merely a fraction of the threat his ancestors once posed, the Grand Duke grew up on tales told to him by his father of his race's great lineage. Determined to make himself something to be feared, the Grand Duke made a pilgrimage to Israel, seeking his demon ancestors' legacy. After months of searching, he finally found Lilith's resting place in a half-sunken grotto by the shores of the Dead Sea. Though the Mother of Demons was saddened to hear of how her children and servants had come to ruin, the Grand Duke did not have enough power to free her. Instead, Lilith infused the Grand Duke with a small fraction of her own power, for it was all that she could release through her prison. Though nothing like the powers his ancestors had once wielded, this powerful magic was more than his line had known in a long time.

Traveling to Sunnyside Farm, a small, humble place where he could build a new power base in secret, the Grand Duke asserted his power over the local owls, one notable individual among them being Hunch, his nephew on his mortal mother's half of the family. Hearing of the rooster Chanticleer, who could command the power of the sun with his singing, the Grand Duke swore to make an example of him and show the universe why the night is something to be feared.

The Chain of Memories

(His role from Rock-A-Doodle, later serves as part of Nos-4-A2's traitor faction)

Encoded Truths

(Survives his earlier brush with Hunch, takes part in the gathering of Imperial Sorcerors held by the Archmage to discuss the second coming of Darth Sidious)

The Fantasmic Dreamtime

(One of many villains who invades Taran's dreams in order to put him to sleep and use him as the conduit for Darth Sidious's reawakening)

Return of the Keyblade

(Betrays the Empire/Seekers after they see him as having outlived his usefulness to their plans, leaves to go work under Queen Nehelenia)

Boss Strategy

Boss Music: The Fight for My Friends (1st Battle), The 13th Struggle (2nd and 3rd Battles)