#clearly this is taken directly from the French folktale of the same name

[darklordazalin]

Azalin reviews: Darklord Bluebeard

Domain: Blaustein Domain Formation: 643 BC Power Level: 💀 ⚫⚫⚫⚫ (1/5 skulls) Sources: Domains of Dread (2e), Darklords (2e), Ravenloft Player’s Handbook (3e), VRGTR (5e)

Bluebeard is the Darklord of Blaustein within the Sea of Sorrows. His tiny island is made up of his castle (creatively named “Bluebeard’s Castle”) and a single village. 

Bluebeard was an ugly yet charming man with enough wealth to offset his repugnant features. Nowadays, I don’t believe his blue facial hair would really amount to such disdain, but one never knows. Though even if his beard was a more “natural” color, it is his personality, or lack thereof, that most truly distain. 

Bluebeard is from an unknown land and who’s distrust and pettiness lead him to kill every single woman who agreed to marry him. Why did they keep on agreeing to marry someone who’s wives continually died or went missing? Well, he was said to be a kind and just ruler, which led many to overlook his otherwise glaring faults. How could such a seemingly benevolent lord murder all of his wives? I imagine that’s what his people asked one another as they heard screams echoing down from his castle…

Bluebeard would marry a young woman and expect absolute loyalty and obedience from them. Trust me, regardless of how powerful you may be, this is not a realistic expectation to have in one’s spouse. To test their obedience, after a month of marriage, Bluebeard would go on a trip and give his wife a number of keys that opened various doors in the castle. He told them they could go anywhere they wished, except a small room on the top floor of a tower. This room was locked with a golden key and he forbade his wife to go within.

Each woman he married let their curiosity win over their obedience and used the golden key to enter the room. What they found within was a room stained in blood and the dead bodies of Bluebeard’s previous wives suspended on hooks hanging from the ceiling. Though, I suppose his first wife just found an empty room. That must have been very disappointing, though preferable over what the other wives found. The golden key, when used to open the door to this room, became stained with blood. No one but Bluebeard could remove the stain.

Upon returning from his trip, Bluebeard would demand the keys from his wife and upon seeing the blood stain on the golden key, he would feign disappointment, kill his bride, and hang her in the room with the rest of his dead wives. After eight or so wives, Bluebeard was claimed by the Mists. 

Our tormentors were so kind to gift him with some of the most ridiculous boons. He is no longer exceedingly physically ugly, he can erase his misdeeds from the memories of his subjects, and every single one of those subjects, including his dead wives, are fanatically loyal to him. Now, this ability of his to change their minds only works on those native to Blaustien, so it is no where near my own abilities and something I managed to achieve on my own. Oh and he’s a living lie detector. Handy. I’d like to have him interview a certain vampire someday. 

At night, his wives freely roam his castle as spectres and show their husband their devotion, but he rebuffs them, disgusted with their undead forms. Now whenever Bluebeard courts a woman from Blaustien, they take on the appearance of one of his wives in their undead form, a smirk always upon their face. No one else sees this and it seems to only affect women native to Blaustien...which, naturally, leads Bluebeard to seek out wives in other realms, though their fate is always the same. A golden key, a room of dead brides, and another murder.  

In Van Richten’s new guide, Blaustien is no longer considered its own Domain and Bluebeard’s wives have overthrown him and entertain him with endless torment. Perhaps the Dark Powers decided the woman had suffered enough at his hands and it was now his turn to endure a true punishment? I would venture that none of his boons exist any longer. Perhaps they have transferred to his countless wives.

Despite all of the boons the Dark Powers once granted him, Bluebeard was always just a petty, distrustful, mortal man. A mere insect to be swatted away and a Darklord who cannot even control the Misty borders that surround his so-called Domain. I am reluctant to give him a single skull.