Black Desert Online's lore is...there. It exists. The game just doesn't make a habit of presenting it in a digestible or presentable manner. That's a shame since players are usually left out of the loop when it comes to who's who in the power hierarchy, at least lore-wise. There are quite a few notable power players in Black Desert.
Some of these are playable characters or classes themselves, complete with some dark and worrying backstories about untold and uncontrollable powers. Others are the very NPCs mentioned in passing in the game's dialog. Regardless, if players want more context to their grinding and MMO sandboxing, these characters offer that much-needed background.
10 Lahn
Lahn was introduced to the game a bit later (four years after the game's release), but she was quite the notorious figure compared to other characters. Her backstory presents her in a psychotic light since before she joined the ranks of the playable classes, she razed whole towns and went on murder sprees.
It wasn't of her own volition, of course. Lahn was possessed by her Crimson Glaives, which were her awakening weapon. She was so fearsome and unstoppable back in her homeland that her name was uttered with terror and renown. At least that's how the rumors went.
9 Wizard
The playable Wizard class in Black Desert Online was aptly ambitious and was once the most powerful among his peers. His hubris was once immeasurable and he once tried to overtake the very institution from which he learned. Along with the Witch class, he's one of the few classes in the game capable of bending reality and metaphysics to his will.
So as punishment and for fear of his future actions, the other wizards imprisoned him in a pocket dimension. Eventually, he made his way to the game's dimension, which he considered backward and a regression of his original place.
8 Valkyrie
The Valkyrie appear as humans in the game but they're actually godly beings who have ascended long ago. The playable Valkyrie in Black Desert Online trained to follow in the footsteps of Enslar, the chief Valkyrie who sacrificed herself to seal Kzarka, one of the most powerful monsters in the game.
However, some lore bits claimed that the playable Valkyrie was supposed to be the most powerful of her kind, meaning she could be more powerful than Enslar once she had her Awakening form. Granted, all Valkyries have godly powers.
7 Dark Knight
The Dark Knight was the edgy and more disturbed mirror image of the Elves of Kamasylvia in Black Desert Online. Their powers, however, were notably more destructive since they seem to have borrowed some of their abilities from the Black Spirits, which are nihilistic and catastrophic beings from eons ago.
Through her weapon, the Dark Knight was able to control the powers of the Black Spirit and keep it at bay, tapping into it to her advantage. Her lore is vague, but there were some implications that she might have wiped out her homeland accidentally through her powers, which is both impressive and worrisome.
6 Cartian
Like most other magic users in the game, the Sorceress was among the most powerful. And out of all the Sorceresses in Black Desert Online, Cartian was the role model they all aspired to be. She was the oldest among them and even lived for more than 300 years.
During her heyday, Cartian managed to stop a war between the Cyclops and humans (a conflict in which the latter was losing). She did that all by herself. Before she disappeared, she sealed her powers in a scythe and even the best Sorceress couldn't handle the scythe, so it had to be sealed.
5 Caphras
The Black Sun was an event that plunged the world of Black Desert Online into darkness and introduced apocalyptic shadow monsters or the Black Spirits. A few people knew how to introduce or stop it, and one of them was Caphras, an immortal scholarly alchemist whose knowledge was unmatched.
He didn't have the destructive capabilities of the other powerful characters here nor the means to fight armies single-handedly, but Caphras had the knowledge on how to trigger the Black Sun and use it to destroy kingdoms and realms.
4 Igor Bartali
Igor Bartali seemed like a harmless quest-giver in Calpheon but beneath that old and withered skin was a powerful adventurer who achieved some legendary feats. He defeated many ancient and venerable foes, including Quint, the First Troll back in his youth.
Apart from that, he also drove the sandstorm dragon, Nouver, back into the desert and sealed a Black Spirit and its immense powers into a necklace. Seeing his old and retired appearance, it's hard to imagine that Igor was the same person who did all of that.
3 Illezra
Like Caphras, Illezra was one of the few people with extensive knowledge of the Black Sun and how to conjure it. She was a witch clothed in white which the players are introduced to during the Succession questline for just about any class or character.
Her allegiance, however, is murky and she tends to sacrifice whole kingdoms for her experiments and summoning rituals. In the in-game timeline, she even absorbed the soul of Kzarka, the Lord of Corruption just to reignite the Black Sun once again for three days.
2 Black Spirit
The Black Spirit is one of the most familiar characters in the game since they literally cling to players from the start. It's a cosmic creature that came from a different realm and generally, Black Spirits are the worst since they have immense power and can possess other beings.
It's likely the player characters are just in an early stage of possession. And without the Black Spirit lending its powers, the players wouldn't have unlocked their Awakening form. Whichever the case, the Black Spirit and its kind were once responsible for past apocalyptic events in the game.
1 The Players
Since players get to pick just about any of the classes or characters in the game, they can be considered among the most powerful, especially if they picked the aforementioned classes that are on top of the lore. Coupled with the Black Spirit's powers, the player character is on track to become the next legend lore-wise.
One can surmise that the Black Spirit is merely gathering strength mostly from the souls that the players kill in legions. In turn, the Black Spirit lends much of its powers to the player's characters. So regardless of whether the players pick the lowly Warrior or the esteemed Wizard, they're among the mightiest characters in the game's lore.
Black Desert Online is out now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Android, Xbox Cloud Gaming, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and S, and iPadOS.
