Lord Dread

" The old world dies, and with it the old ways. We will re-make it as it should be -must be! Immortal, mechanised..human minds in gleaming, undying metalloid bodies. Give me your blood, your trust, your minds and we shall build a new tomorrow, a new future, a NEW ORDER!"

- Lord Dread's speech to graduating Dread Youths

Lord Dread is the bad guy in the universe of Captain Power, and his character's evil is often comparable to that of Hitler. His empire is modelled very closely along the lines of the German Third Reich; from the style of uniforms, the use of banners,salutes and symbols, to the whole concept of Project New Order. The vision of Dread, to cleanse the world of all human emotions, is along the same lines as Hitler's Final Solution.

Dread believed fervantly that he was going to create a better world; by making it a perfect world. A perfect world in his mind was devoid of emotions, as they are the enemy of logic - and a perfect world had to rise up from the ashes of the old world, like the mythical phoenix.So Dread set about destroying all traces of humanity, burning away slowly the human world so that he could build in it's place, his vision. This becomes the objective of Project New Order.

Before his transition to Lord Dread, the man behind the vision of the New World Order was Lyman Taggart, scientist and friend of Stuart Gordon Power, father to Jonathan Power. Taggart's obsession with creating a mechanised, perfect world began when he allowed himself to be hooked up to Overmind,a computer of supreme intelligence and capability [See 'A Summoning of Thunder'].Overmind often appears as a gyrating sphere in the colours of the planet Jupiter. It's not clear whether Overmind simply strengthened ideas already present in Taggart's mind or brainwashed him into believing that it was his destiny to create a new world.

Taggart turned against Power and started his own battle to reform, remold the world. In a final confrontation with Power in Volcania, an explosion left him mortally wounded and killed Stuart Power. Taggart was saved from death, but only by extensive implantation of cyborg and machine parts, rendering him more machine than human. Accepting his new appearance, Taggart decides to cast off his human identity for good and assumes the title of 'Lord Dread'.

Both Power and Dread use the metaphors of the phoenix rising up from the ashes.Both see a new world rising up from the war torn battered earth - yet their visions could not be more different.

Dread rarely leaves Volcania and he runs his massive empire, which spans the globe, from his Throne Room in Volcania, where he sits on his massive revolving chair, looking evil and wrinkled, giving out orders to his various minions, from his human army of Overunits to his two Bio-Dreads, Soaron and Blastarr.

The character concept and appearance of Lord Dread bear some similarities to that of to Darth Vader in Star Wars . Vader is known as the Dark Lord in Star Wars and changes his name to Darth Vader when he completes his journey to the Dark Side.Taggart choses the feudal title of 'Lord' to precede his new name, which he changes to show that he is no longer Lyman Taggart and is now truly, one with the machine. Like Vader, Dread is also part machine, part human - and who sometimes finds it difficult to ignore the specks of humanity still left in him. Both Vader and Dread represent men who began with noble visions [ Taggart wanted to stop world war and bring peace and unity to mankind] but who were seduced by darkness and evil.