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One last thing, Sire... Killing innocents, and I use the term loosely, increases your Corruption level. This attracts more Evil Energy which increases your powers. However, this is rarely suitable for establishing a long-term Evil plan. That requires people, living people. Gratitude comes with it's own rewards.

— Gnarl explaining the Corruption mechanic


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OL Icon Corruption

Corruption is a mechanic in Overlord that represents the player's level of Evilness.

Certain choices that are especially Evil will increase the player's level of Corruption. As the Overlord's Corruption level increases, his appearance changes significantly.

Starting at 10% Corruption, the Overlord becomes slightly darker and spikes will start growing out of his shoulders, arms, and legs. At 50% Corruption, a dark haze will begin to form around the Overlord, making him appear much darker and his spikes will have grown significantly larger. At 100% Corruption, the Overlord has become pure, unfiltered Evil and heat distortions will appear around him, replacing the dark haze from 50% Corruption. In addition, the Overlord's armour will be significantly darker and the spikes extremely large.

The Dark Tower changes based on your corruption level. From 0-20%, the tower throne room view will be a normal blue sky. From 20-40%, a dark violet Evil Cloud cover begins to partially surround the tower, while some parts are still blue. From 40-60%, the sky will start turning red with some normal clouds. From 60-80%, the red sky starts to turn violet and the sun will be nearly blocked. From 80-100%, the sky will be completely covered with dark violet clouds, darkening the tower even more, with the sun being a small white dot in the sky. It appears that the Tower Heart caused this 'corruption' to manifest in the Overlord, collecting evil energy and imbuing it into the Overlord, dramatically increasing his power but making him more evil at the same time. In Overlord 2, the Overlad has no spikes regardless of alignment, proving that the Tower Heart was what caused the spikes to appear and generated the red haze. The theme of the Dark Tower changes as well; the more corruption the Overlord has, the more spikes form on the tower.

OL Icon Corruption Increasing Corruption[]

Corruption can be increased by performing evil deeds around the world. Every deed adds a small percentage to the Overlord's Corruption level. Below is a list of all deeds that increase Corruption along with the percentage of Corruption the deed adds to the Overlord's Corruption level.

  • 3%You have killed a friendly peasant. An unfortunate accident or the start of an Evil rampage?
    Kill any innocent peasant (Lock onto a peasant and attack).
  • 5%You killed 20 peasants. Are you holding back?
    Kill 20 peasants
  • 10%You have killed 100 peasants. Got a taste for it, have you?
    Kill 100 peasants
  • 15%So many lives lost. So much Lifeforce for you. You are the ultimate Enemy of Mankind.
    Kill 500 peasants
  • 5%You have killed 10 females, Wenchbane!
    Kill 10 female peasants
  • 1%You are a Harasser of Humans and the people of Spree don't like you anymore.
    Kill a few peasants in Spree
  • 3%Now you've Suppressed Spree. The people officially hate you.
    Start killing peasants in Spree until they stop attacking and start begging (Their health bar becomes green again)
  • 3%You have "persuaded" Spree's peasants to come and work at your Tower.
    After suppressing Spree, return to the Tower and immediately return to the Mellow Hills. A peasant with a sacrificial "virgin" girl bound to a wooden frame will appear, offering her in the hopes that you will show mercy towards Spree. Attack her and then make 2 Minions carry her to the Tower Gate. You need to explore most of the Mellow Hills area, not just the village of Spree. You can recognize them by their lines such as "I'm not going with you... you sheep killer" and "You don't want me, you want my sister, she's the pretty one". When you capture them all, return to the Tower and you'll have an amusing dialogue of Gnarl giving orders to your new slaves.
  • 2%You trashed all of Spree's houses, Homewrecker!
    Break down all doors of the Spree homes and send in your minions until smoke comes out of the houses.
  • 3%You kept the peasants' food. Your Minions are happy, the peasants are not.
    Keep the peasant's food you recover in Halfling Homes (2) which gives you +50 Brown Lifeforce. This is the sin of Gluttony
  • 3%You trashed all of the houses in Heaven's Peak, you Town Trasher.
    There are only four such houses, spread out over the city. Once again, break doors, then send in your Minions
  • 2%You caused a bar room brawl in the Halfway to Heaven Inn.
    At the Halfway to Heaven Inn, simply attack somebody there
  • 10%You dumped Rose in favour of her sister Velvet.
    Once Sir William is no more, order your Minions to carry Velvet's bed, instead of turning the wheel near Rose. This is the sin of Lust
  • 5%The Sacred Grove is a blackened wasteland.
    In Evernight Forest, burn down the Sacred Grove using a Fire spell or Red Minions. Can also happen if you hit a Bloody Unicorn with a weapon enchanted with fire magic. This is the sin of Sloth
  • 5%You have killed 10 Elves, you are hereby known as Destroyer of Elves.
    Kill 10 living Elves (Not the ghost Elves encountered in Evernight forest)
  • 5%You've fattened the slugs by feeding the Elves to them.
    You need to open the gates for the elves in the Glittering Mine to then let the large slugs devour them. Killing the slugs and then killing the elves yourself does not work
  • 10%You traded the Elven Race for lots of lovely gold.
    Once you defeat Goldo at the Royal Halls in the Golden Hills, you chose to save the 3,000 gold and not the female Elves. This is the sin of Greed
  • 5%The Mother Goddess statue looks great in your Tower. The Elves are a bit upset.
    Once you capture Jewel and recover the Mother Goddess statue from the Ruborian Desert, kill the ghost Elves and take the statue for yourself. This is the sin of Envy
  • 5%You gave your traitors the punishment they deserved.
    After freeing Spree from Kahn, kill the traitors near the inn. A quick target lock and Inferno spell does the trick. This is the sin of Wrath

All deeds added together results in a total of 100% Corruption.

OL Icon Corruption Good Decreasing Corruption[]

There are a few decisions the Overlord can make to reduce Corruption, thus letting you "accidentally" do a few bad things, but still end with 0% Corruption. Staying on the "good" side is all about *not* doing anything bad, i.e. attack innocents.

  • 2%You selflessly returned the food to the fat peasants.
    Return the food you find in Melvin's Kitchen, granting extra sheep and a ram in the pasture nearest the tower gate, good for 6 extra brown life force each time the area reloads, these extra sheep will stay for as long as you don't suppress Spree.
  • 2%You chose to keep Mistress Rose.
    Once Sir William is no more, you kept Rose instead of choosing Velvet as your new mistress.
  • 2%The Elven race will live on, thanks to you.
    Once you beat Goldo at the Royal Halls in the Golden Hills, you chose to save the female elves, graciously rejecting the 10,000 gold you could have picked up instead.
  • 2%The Elves are singing for joy at the return of the Mother Goddess statue.
    Once you capture Jewel, and return the Mother Goddess statue from the Ruborian Desert, you chose to return it to the elves.
  • 2%You were merciful to your traitors.
    After freeing Spree from Kahn, you chose to simply do nothing to the traitors near the inn, thus showing mercy.
  • 2% You have recovered the health upgrade without damaging the Sacred Grove
    Before facing Oberon, go in the evernight swamp gate and continue to the right of the arcane blood altar and retrieve the health upgrade from the grove, without using fire spells to burn it, without using reds, because they'll attack the unicorns on sight, and without using fire enchanted weapons on unicorns.
-12% Corruption total. Note you will never have a negative Corruption value.

Equivalent[]

Even if the Overlord in Overlord 2 has full Destruction or Domination, his appearance will never change, but concept art shows the Overlord with blue horns and a glowing body, indicating that he was supposed to change as he did in Overlord.


Endings[]

The Corruption value determines whether you get the Lawful Evil ending or the Chaotic Evil ending. You get the Lawful Evil ending for having the Corruption value at 0-50%, and the Chaotic Evil ending at Corruption of 51% or higher.

100% Corruption Lecture

Overlord corruption copy

Side by side comparison of the Third Overlord in Arcanium armour at 100 and 0 % corruption.

And so the Evil Overlord defeated the other Evil Overlord. And the land rejoiced...

His domain flourished.

The very land itself bore the mark of his Corruption!

The people lived in fear. They spoke his name in whispers!

He killed, pillaged, and destroyed without mercy. He became Evil incarnate!

He, his Mistress, and all their little Minions lived happily ever after...

But Evil will always find a way...


0% Corruption Lecture

And so the Evil Overlord defeated the other Evil Overlord. And the land rejoiced...

His domain flourished.

Evil became a part of everyday life!

His Minions went forth and multiplied!

The people were in awe of their great leader!

He, his Mistress, and all their little Minions lived happily ever after...

But Evil will always find a way...

Trivia[]

Third Overlord 100% Corruption Close-up

The Third Overlord Fully Corrupted, note the red armor and spikes

  • It looks like it was intended for a 'good' Overlord to also have servants without having to kidnap them, with peasants voluntarily going to the dark tower after the overlord helped them out. Some audio dialogue is still left in the game files, but it was probably dummied out because it seemed too evil for a 'good' Overlord.
  • Like the Jester, you could probably hit Gnarl for amusement. Dialogue like 'Ah like the old times'  'I've said something wrong?' and 'Why are you hitting Gnarl?' still exist in the game files, hinting that this was also dummied out. 
  • You might have been able to destroy the Temple of the Mother Goddess in Evernight. The audio files have an additional line of dialogue spoken by the Jester, who gives you the title 'Destroyer of the Mother Goddess Temple'.
  • It should be noted that if one was to only commit normal corrupt acts, and not ones that have to do with the seven sins, then the added negative corruption will cause the player to have exactly 50% corruption value.
  • If you have Velvet the minimum corruption you can get is 2%.
  • Gnarl mentions that the corruption forms not only in the overlord, but in all evil creatures such as the minions and the Halflings over time, so it's inevitable to become evil.|


  • The amount of corruption can affect which spells you get at tier 3 see spells for a bit more info on them.


The Third Overlord Fully Corrupt
Overlord 95 % Corruption
Overlord 90% Corruption
Overlord 80% corruption

The Third Overlord Fully Corrupt

note the red stains on the armor and helmet and spikes

The Third Overlord Fully Corrupt
Overlord 95 % Corruption
Overlord 90% Corruption
Overlord 80% corruption
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