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My noble half-brother whose throne I usurped will be killed, not kept anonymously imprisoned in a forgotten cell of my dungeon.

A tale we all know, even if we haven't directly heard it before. Two brothers, one sickeningly noble and pure, the other appropriately ambitious and evil. Their father sees that the noble son has qualities he desires, despite the abilities of the evil brother; so he is chosen to be the heir. After the father dies and the title passes on, the noble one, like the gullible fool he is, allows himself to be taken advantage of by the brilliance of the evil brother. The evil brother, being clever, but not clever enough, allows his brother to live in his dungeon, to let him live "a fate worse than death".

Naturally at some point, this brother escapes, typically with the aid of a hero of some sort. Together they use such useless things as "righteousness" and "honor" to rally supporters to their cause, and jeopardize, and likely eventually defeat the brother who should be ruling, but for his carelessness in letting his half-brother live on. To make matters worse, our evil brother in this example is usually killed in single combat by his own gullible and weak brother, further cementing his foolishness in letting the noble brother live.

It's a tale everyone knows, and yet these villains make the same mistake time and again. When you have a noble sibling who has a rightful claim to the throne, you kill them. Period. No questions asked. The only exception is if you can control this sibling through their vices - likely greed, ambition beyond their abilities, or pleasures of the flesh. Even that is dangerous, since if they were weak-willed enough to be seduced (literally or metaphorically) by you, it's likely appeals to be good by the hero can have the same effect, and flip them from your control.

So just play it safe and have all your siblings killed. It's the smartest play available to you as an evil overlord.

PS: I realize I'm a few days late. I would apologize, but evil overlords don't apologize.

> My noble half-brother whose throne I usurped will be killed, not kept anonymously imprisoned in a forgotten cell of my dungeon. A tale we all know, even if we haven't directly heard it before. Two brothers, one sickeningly noble and pure, the other appropriately ambitious and evil. Their father sees that the noble son has qualities he desires, despite the abilities of the evil brother; so he is chosen to be the heir. After the father dies and the title passes on, the noble one, like the gullible fool he is, allows himself to be taken advantage of by the brilliance of the evil brother. The evil brother, being clever, but not clever enough, allows his brother to live in his dungeon, to let him live "a fate worse than death". Naturally at some point, this brother escapes, typically with the aid of a hero of some sort. Together they use such useless things as "righteousness" and "honor" to rally supporters to their cause, and jeopardize, and likely eventually defeat the brother who _should_ be ruling, but for his carelessness in letting his half-brother live on. To make matters worse, our evil brother in this example is usually killed in single combat by his own gullible and weak brother, further cementing his foolishness in letting the noble brother live. It's a tale everyone knows, and yet these villains make the same mistake time and again. When you have a noble sibling who has a rightful claim to the throne, **you kill them**. Period. No questions asked. The only exception is if you can control this sibling through their vices - likely greed, ambition beyond their abilities, or pleasures of the flesh. Even that is dangerous, since if they were weak-willed enough to be seduced (literally or metaphorically) by you, it's likely appeals to be good by the hero can have the same effect, and flip them from your control. So just play it safe and have all your siblings killed. It's the smartest play available to you as an evil overlord. PS: I realize I'm a few days late. I would apologize, but evil overlords don't apologize.

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