This article covers the events unique to this version of Rohen Tahir. If you wish to read more about the character's past and future, please click here.
‘ You have done me excellent service. Return to your Order now, and tell them that the time of dawn is past. The time of war has begun! ‘
~ Dark One to the Phoenix Bearer
The Dark One is a younger, more sinister Rohen Tahir and the main antagonist of the Battle for Fiara. He came to exist at the same time as the older, wiser Rohen by undergoing a time loop which intertwined their fates.
Biography
Convocation
The Dark One is first seen atop his mighty tower at the onset of the Convocation, coming face to face with the Circle Mage Rohen Tahir who urges him to stop this madness as it would otherwise destroy them all. Unfased by these remarks, he attacks Rohen as the Primal Elements awaken from their slumber, causing the tower around them to crumble to pieces. At the height of their battle, they are seen plummeting into the depths, both trying to get a hold of the Book of the Convocation, before both teleporting themselves to safety.
Post Convocation
Following the Convocation, the Dark One kept his identity as the Circle Mage Rohen Tahir hidden and mainly worked from the shadows, influencing factions and events to further his ambitions with little to no regard for the lives of others.
His ultimate goal was to construct a portal through time, allowing him to return to a time before the Convocation, as he believed that the knowledge of its outcome would allow him to decide it for himself. To that end, he spent the first years after the Convocation searching across Eo for powerful artefacts and ways to set his plan into motion.
Amra and Lea
During his search, he caught word of the Pledge of the Gods, a ring given by the goddess Elen to a woman named Lea. Believing the artefact to potentially possess great power, he used his power and influence to become Lea's groom, much to her dismay, as she had already fallen in love with a warrior named Amra.
Before being forced into marriage with the Dark One, Lea had given away the Pledge of the Gods to Arma, which greatly angered the Dark One, as acquiring the ring was the principal goal of this charade. In retaliation, he murdered Lea and her family, leaving only her then-absent sister, Shan Muir, alive, before setting out to find Amra and bring the ring into his possession.
The two confronted each other and the Howling Mounds and after a brief battle, the Dark One slew Amra, leaving his comrades for dead as he took the Pledge of the Gods from him, disappearing from the scene. However, his victory would be short-lived, as he would soon come to realise that the ring was symbolic, holding no power inside it.
Godstones
Continuing his work on the Time Portal, the Dark One realised that the Godstones, crystals holding Aonir's power, should be a sufficient power source for the task. Though he was right in this assumption (according to the wiser Rohen Tahir), he ultimately decided on a different approach as a new opportunity presented itself during the events known as the Battle for Fiara.
Back Fist
Not long before the year 8 after the Convocation, the Dark One decided to use his wealth and influence to support a band of mercenaries under the leadership of the war-veteran Brannigan called the Black Fist. His money allowed them to not only acquire better equipment but to also hire various Ork mercenaries, turning them from a minor annoyance in the region to a threat needing to be respected by the inhabitants of Nortander.
Whether the Dark One had any long-term plans for the Black Fist is unknown, but it seems more likely that he was using them as a distraction to destabilise the region and to force the Order of Dawn to react to their increasing presence, not allowing them to work out his true plans and identity.
Hokan's Blades
At an unknown point after the Convocation, the Dark One ventured into the city of the dead, Whisper, to seek out the burial site of his once fellow Circle Mage Hokan Ashir. Though dead, as the most powerful necromancer of all time, Hokan managed to keep his soul bound to the world of the living, allowing the Dark One to confront and belittle him, before stealing the secret of his powerful Blades.
Much like Hokan did during the Convocation Wars, the Dark One would create a Soulforger, which he would then use to amass an army of the iron terrors under his command. However, he wouldn't actively use them in combat until much later during the Battle for Fiara, likely to keep them a secret from the Order of Dawn and the one person who posed a threat to his grand plan - his older self, Rohen Tahir.
Battle for Fiara
In the year 8 after the Convocation, the Dark One, together with a messenger of the Order, set out for the Shadow Pass as Rohen Tahir was about to summon the Phoenix Bearer. The messenger was tasked by the Dark One to bring a message to Rohen, after which the Circle Mage would depart for the Wildland Pass, leaving the Rune Warrior susceptible to a trap on her journey to Greyfell.
High in the mountains, they were confronted by the Dark One, who froze the Phoenix Bearer in place and commanded the Messenger to end her, after which he was to bring a casket with invasion plans to the leaders of the Black Fist. Though somewhat unsure of his fighting ability, the messenger obliged, after which the Dark One departed to his next destination.
Unbeknownst to both the Messenger and Phoenix Bearer at the time, the casket the Dark One had given him was empty - fully expecting to Messenger to die to the Rune Warrior, setting in motion the next stage of his masterplan.
He lay in wait until the Phoenix Bearer had finally reached Rohen, whereupon Rohen opened the casket, setting off a spell that had been sealed within it, yet again freezing them both as the Dark One appeared in front of them. He taunted them, and ultimately killed his older self, allowing the Rune Warrior to return to the Order, believing them not to be a threat anymore, now that he had taken care of the Circle Mage standing in his path.
Sensing his victory was near, he likely returned to Sharrowdale to work on his time portal, all while preparing his Blade forces for the retaliation that was sure to come.
This retaliation came in the form of an all-out attack of the Order of Dawn, using every single one of its members to break through the Blade blockade are the Frost Marshes, only to succumb to the neverending stream of Iron Ones coming to reinforce them. Most of the Order of Dawn had been defeated, with the Dark One taking its headmaster, Sartarius as prisoner, using him as bait to lure the Phoenix Bearer to him, for he knew that she had recovered the Phoenix Stone from the ruins of Mulandir - an artefact powerful enough to be used to fuel his portal.
As he expected, the Rune Warrior broke through the Southern Godmark to the place where Sartarius was being held captive. Though he tried to warn her of the trap the Dark One had set for her, it was too late: as she attempted to break Sartarius' chains, they were once again frozen by the Dark One's magic. Reminiscent of the time he killed Rohen, he slew Sartarius and took the Phoenix Stone, once again taunting the Phoenix Bearer for her failure. He then took the stone and the Book of the Convocation from her and returned to his work - leaving the Rune Warrior to be sent to the River of Souls at the claws of his Blades.
Though victory seemed within his grasp, the unexpected survival of the Phoenix Bearer caused the Dark One to employ his Soulforger to hold off her advance until his portal was complete. Once again underestimating the power of the rune, the Phoenix Bearer managed to destroy the Blade, angering the Dark One as he was to join him in the past as he was rewriting the future. Nevertheless, now face to face once more atop the obsidian mountain of Sharrow, he finally showed his true identity to the Phoenix Bearer, revealing himself to be Rohen Tahir.
In disbelief, the Phoenix Bearer had to watch powerlessly as he stepped through his portal, returning to a time at which the Convocation was yet to happen. However, though it had seemed as if he had achieved victory, upon reading the Book of the Convocation - something he thought would hold the secrets to winning the conflict - he was left puzzled by its contents.
Reading through them, he slowly began to realise the folly of his ways. He finally saw the Convocation for what it truly is: a lie, a ruse of the Renegades meant to destroy Eo. As time passed, his demeanour started to resemble that of the older Rohen he had killed in the future. Once the time of the Convocation had arrived, instead of fighting, he sought out his younger self of this time, hoping to be able to persuade himself to give up their foolish ambitions - starting the cycle of events anew.
Trivia
- While he was working on his time portal, the Dark One wrote many books on the matter which would later be read by Professor Twiddle who remarked on their difficulty to be understood because the Circle Mage often kept "rambling about world-domination".