Venger is a main character in the 1983 Marvel Productions Ltd., D&D Enterprises and TSR nonlinear animated series, Dungeons & Dragons. Venger is voice acted by Peter Cullen.
Venger is the central villain in the series. He chases after the children, trying desperately to kill them so that he can at last lay his hands on their magic weapons. Venger hopes to use the weapons to defeat Tiamat, the only creature more powerful than himself in the Realm.
It is difficult to say exactly what type of creature Venger is supposed to be. His general appearance is of a tall figure with one horn, wings, a pale complexion and wearing a Victorian dress. He might possibly be some sort of demon. However, Venger has the power to polymorph himself. He uses this power in a number of episodes to trick the children and it is therefore possible that the tall undead is not his true form at all. He can also change himself into a variety of powerful monsters, some of vast size as in the episodes Servant of Evil and The Girl Who Dreamed Tommorrow.
In terms of background the following is known: In the episode The Treasure of Tardos Dungeon Master morosely mumbles that everyone makes mistakes, and Venger was his. This implies that perhaps Venger was once a student of Dungeon Master's. In the episode The Dragon's Graveyard, Dungeon Master addresses Venger as "my son." He is either speaking figuratively, like a parish priest might, or literally. If he means what he says literally then Venger's true form might also be that of a mischievous gnome, as he at one point voluntarily assumes in the episode The Hall of Bones.
In the episode Citadel of Shadow, the children meet Venger's sister, Karina. Karina and Venger don't get along very well, with Venger having imprisoned her in a chamber in a lonely cave. When Sheila joins hands with Karina the spell is broken and she is freed. Karina is of an evil alignment, like Venger, and when they meet and fight the battle runs fairly equally. In terms of appearance, Karina looks very much like Venger, wearing the same red dress, and also bearing a pair of wings. Dungeon Master does not refer to her as a daughter, indicating she might have been sired by another or adopted by the mother. Karina's evil is eventually consumed within the Ring of the Heart during the episode, while Venger is trapped within the ring, although apparently he isn't imprisoned very well, as it only takes him until the next episode to get free.
Venger is governed by a code of honor. In the episode The Treasure of Tardos, Venger pulls back his army without attacking the children after they correct a mistake he has made. This mirrors a scene in The Return of Optimus Prime where Galvatron tells Optimus, "there will be no war today, Optimus Prime. You have earned Galvatron's respect." This is ironic, because Peter Cullen (Venger's voice actor) does Optimus Prime's voice acting in Transformers.
Venger doesn't seem to actually demand the children's deaths, and in one episode is even prepared to let go of their weapons. In The Girl Who Dreamed Tommorrow he seems to value Terri and her clairvoyant powers above even the chance to defeat Tiamat, saying "You are free to enter the portal and return to your home world. But first you might bring her to me..." In the episode Valley of the Unicorns, Venger even comes to the children's aid at Presto's request, and uses an imprisonment spell to trap the wizard Kellek deep beneath the earth. That he can cast this spell makes Venger at least a level nine spellcaster.
In The Dragon's Graveyard Venger is defeated by the children in combat. Pinned to a rockface he faces his own death, something only prevented by Hank's weakness. The experience does little to change him and he goes on to pursue the children later in the series. In the Box Venger enters the real world and begins to destroy the amusement park, but is tempted by the children back into the Realm.
In the episode In Search of the Dungeon Master, Dungeon Master casts a spell which causes Venger to lose his shape and vanish - so that perhaps Venger is amorphous, merely assuming shape for the benefit of his audience.
Venger's age is hard to estimate. He is at least a thousand years old, since it was he who attacked the town of Helix and led to the death of Merlin in the episode The Night of no Tommorrow. In The Dungeon at the Heart of Dawn Venger commands his Duergar allies to join him against the children, with Drogar complaining that "it's been a long time, Venger. Maybe you aren't strong enough anymore to enslave us."
Venger commands vast armies and these seem to consist of a great many varying species, among them orcs, lizard men, simian bats, golems, duergar, salamandars, and of course dragons. He also makes use of specific powerful allies on occassion such as Warduke, Lloth, Queen of Spiders and Kellek.
Venger's trusted companion and spy is Shadow Demon, who serves him faithfully even when all seems lost in The Dungeon at the Heart of Dawn, and warns him of approaching danger throughout the series. Venger also rides around on a flying black horse that appears to be a Nightmare. Venger usually attacks by firing bolts of energy from his hands, which he uses to mortally wound Uni in the episode The Dragon's Graveyard.
Venger's motivation seems unclear. It is also unclear why this apparent undead who has lived at least a thousand years can't simply wait for the children to die of old age and collect their weapons then.