""Bring me...the Black Cauldron"" ― Horned King
The Horned King is the main antagonist of Disney's The Black Cauldron. An undead skeleton king, he presides within his keep, seeking to conquer all of Caer Dullban with the help of a powerful Cauldron, lost to time.
Background[]
Years ago, the Horned King was a human, who served under the command of the Dark Lord Arawn. With his army of Gwythaints and skeletons, he ravaged the land of Caer and threatened to conquer it all, until he was stopped by a ragtag group of misfit rebels, and killed when they uttered his secret name. In the present, the King has been revived as an undead lich, and raised a new army of monsters to find a mystical artifact called the Black Cauldron, which unlocks the power of the Cauldron-born, seemingly unkillable warriors with the power to assimilate the living. He almost succeeded in his goal, but the meddling of a young boy named Taran caused him to disintegrate at the hands of his own cauldron
Stats[]
Attack Potency: Street Level, possibly Wall Level (Able to pick up children and choke them, crushed a goblet in his hands. Potentially scales to Taran with Dyrnwyn, which reduced stone axes and metal swords to rubble, cut a chain in half, and sliced at least three dozen pots to pieces) | Building Level (The Black Cauldron overloading brought down an entire castle, but it was over a small period of time. Cauldron should be comparable to the three witches, who created a miniature tornado, a small fissure in the ground and a large cloud in the sky)
Speed: Peak Human, possibly Subsonic (Scales to Gwythaints, who can fly at rather fast speeds and are possibly comparable to peregrine falcons in speed)
Durability: Street Level, possibly Wall Level (Should be equal to his attack potency. Scales to Hen Wen, who survived a hundred foot drop into a moat)
Hax: Minor Life Manipulation and Summoning (can give life to the dead and make undead soldiers), Death Manipulation (Anyone living who willingly climbs inside the Cauldron is immediately killed, but the Cauldron's power is reversed), Wide-Scale Possession (The Cauldron-born created from the Cauldron can turn any living being into part of their hoard simply by touch).
Intelligence: High (The King was able to craft a cunning plot to retrieve the Cauldron using Hen Wen's power, and was a skilled military general when he was alive)
'Stamina: 'Average (Was capable of fighting enemies for at least a few minutes at a time)
Powers, Techniques, and Equipment[]
Powers[]
- Fire Manipulation
- Electricity Manipulation
- Wind Manipulation
- Teleportation
- Life Manipulation
- Summoning
Equipment[]
- The Black Cauldron: The source of many of the Horned King's more deadly powers. Its abilities are powerful, but they come at a cost: If a living being climbs inside, the Cauldron overloads and anyone who touches it, including the King himself, dies almost instantly.
- Sword: Self-explanatory
- Horse: Used for riding into battle
- Army: Consists of human mercenaries, wyverns who can rip wooden posts out of the ground, hell hounds, a midget goblin assistant, and summonable skeleton warriors
Key[]
Normal | With the Black Cauldron
Minor Feats[]
Attack Potency/Strength[]
- Crushed a goblet with his hands
- Lifted his midget goblin assistant by the throat with one hand
Speed/Reactions[]
- Scales to Taran, who:
- Dodged a sword swipe at close range
- Dodged 8 thrown weapons in rapid succession
- Outran soldiers and Gwythaints
Durability/Endurance[]
- Scales to Taran, who:
- Got his hand burned by a boiling pot with no injury
- Was in the middle of a vortex that sucked up an entire cottage
Skill/Intelligence[]
- Figured out how to get the Black Cauldron
- Successfully commands his army to victory over most of Caer Dullban
- Knows how to use the Black Cauldron immediately
Powerscaling[]
With the Black Cauldron, the King is essentially the strongest character in the verse. Without it, he should still scale to characters like Taran, as he is easily able to overpower the boy. Very few of the other characters have feats to scale to, though, and the Horned King seems generally above pretty much everyone else even by himself
Weaknesses[]
- Isn't really that strong in terms of feats or physicality
- Army is somewhat limited and also rather weak
- Black Cauldron can be negated by sacrificing a living being to it
- Cauldron can kill the King as well, if he's not careful
- Rather limited in terms of abilities and equipment
- Cauldron-born require a skeleton to be placed inside the Cauldron
Sources[]
- Disney Wiki/Black Cauldron Movie
- The Chronicles of Prydain: Book of Three
- Reddit respect thread
Versus Compendium's Conclusions[]
Notable Wins:
Notable Losses:
Inconclusive Matches: