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Overlord (オーバーロード Ōbārōdo) is a light novel series written by Kugane Maruyama and illustrated by so-bin. It began serialization online in 2010, before later being acquired by Enterbrain. Presently, sixteen volumes have been published in Japanese since July 30, 2012.

On the other hand, the light novel series is also licensed in North America by Yen On. Currently, sixteen volumes have already been published in English since May 24, 2016.

For the chronological timeline of the progress of the Overlord series until now, including related events, visit this page.

Plot[]

Main article: List of Overlord Characters

In the year 2126, a Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game or DMMO-RPG called YGGDRASIL was released. It stands out among all other DMMORPG's due to its unusually high ability for the player to interact with the game. After an intense 12-year run, the game servers are about to be shut down. Within the game exist a Guild, Ainz Ooal Gown, once consisting of 41 members and credited as one of the strongest guilds in the game. Now only four of the members remain, the other 37 having quit the game. Of those four only one actually continues to play; his name is Momonga and he remains the guild leader, maintaining their headquarters, the Great Tomb of Nazarick. He invites the remaining guild members, but of those only one appears and only for a short while before leaving. Though Momonga is saddened by this, he accepts the reality that his friends have their real lives to take care of. And so, he stays in the guild alone until the servers shut down.

Upon waking up, Momonga realizes that the game may not have shut down properly as he is still in his avatar form and he cannot seem to use the normal player function, such as Message, or even quit. Then when the NPC's of Ainz Ooal Gown starts talking to him, he decides to take things seriously and find out if anyone from World of 2138 is also in this New World with him. Taking on the name of Ainz Ooal Gown for the sake of his guild, Ainz wanted to send a message to any other players out there facing the same circumstance as he have. Henceforth, he begins exploring the world that is supposedly different from YGGDRASIL. He tries to figure out what has happened while trying to find anyone, or anything, that could help him solve this mystery.

Light Novels[]

Volume Number Cover Title Release Date ISBN
1
Overlord Volume 01
The Undead King
不死者の王
July 30, 2012 ISBN 4047281522
ISBN 978-4047281523
2
Overlord Volume 2
The Dark Warrior
漆黒の戦士
November 30, 2012 ISBN 4047284513
ISBN 978-4047284517
3
Overlord Volume 3
The Bloody Valkyrie
鮮血の戦乙女
March 30, 2013 ISBN 4047286893
ISBN 978-4047286894
4
Overlord Volume 4
The Lizard Man Heroes
蜥蜴人の勇者たち
July 31, 2013 ISBN 404728954X
ISBN 978-4047289543
5
Overlord Volume 5
The Men in the Kingdom I
王国の漢たち [上]
December 28, 2013 ISBN 4047292591
ISBN 978-4047292598
6
Overlord Volume 6
The Men in the Kingdom II
王国の漢たち [下]
January 31, 2014 ISBN 4047293571
ISBN 978-4047293571
7
Overlord Volume 7
The Invaders of the Large Tomb
大墳墓の侵入者
August 30, 2014 ISBN 4047298093
ISBN 978-4047298095
8
Overlord Volume 08
The Two Leaders
二人の指導者
December 26, 2014 ISBN 4047300845
ISBN 978-4047300842
9
Overlord Volume 09
The Magic Caster of Destroy
破軍の魔法詠唱者
June 29, 2015 ISBN 4047304735
ISBN 978-4047304734
10
Overlord Volume 10
The Ruler of Conspiracy
謀略の統治者
May 30, 2016 ISBN 4047340898
ISBN 978-4047340893
11
Overlord Volume 11
The Craftsman of Dwarf
山小人の工匠
September 30, 2016 ISBN 4047342300
ISBN 978-4047342309
12
Overlord Volume 12
The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom I
聖王国の聖騎士 [上]
September 30, 2017 ISBN 4047348457
ISBN 978-4047348455
13
Overlord Volume 13
The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom II
聖王国の聖騎士 [下]
April 27, 2018 ISBN 404734947X
ISBN 978-4047349476
14
Overlord Volume 14
The Witch of the Falling Kingdom
滅国の魔女
March 12, 2020 ISBN 4047358851
ISBN 978-4047358850
15
Overlord Volume 15
The Half Elf God-kin I
半森妖精の神人[上]
June 30, 2022 ISBN 4047365556
ISBN 978-4047365551
16
Overlord Volume 16
The Half Elf God-kin II
半森妖精の神人[下]
July 29, 2022 ISBN 978-4047365544

Bonus Novels[]

Volume Number Cover Title Release Date
1
Overlord Bonus Volume
The Vampire Princess of the Lost Country
亡国の吸血姫
April 27, 2019

Other Media[]

Web Novel[]

  • An online novel, that the Overlord series is based on until the eighth volume deviates from its Light Novel counterpart.

Drama CD[]

  • Special side stories of events that took place in the Overlord series, and were mentioned and spoken of in the Light Novel.

Manga[]

  • It is drawn and written based on the Overlord series' Light Novel plot. A manga adaptation with art illustrated formerly by Hugin Miyama began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's seinen manga magazine. And later the second adaption on the webcomic webpage Comp Ace Comic Connect by Matsuki.

Anime[]

  • Based on the Light Novels, the Overlord series had its own anime television adaptation done by Madhouse for four seasons.

Specials[]

  • Bundled with the Overlord series, it has inspired an anime special based on the Pleiades, aptly titled, Pure Pure Pleiades, featuring super chibi characters.

Music[]

Trivia[]

  • According to Maruyama, one of the reasons why he started writing the Overlord series is because his TRPG group of buddies stopped gathering and that they were too busy to play "Dungeon and Dragons" with him. Even within the settings of Overlord, TRPG plays a big part in it.
  • Also, Maruyama stated that the world of the Overlord series operates on the law of the jungle, so he writes as if the strong are good and the weak are bad. While some may view their actions as evil, they act on their perception of good.
  • According to Maruyama, he builds/hype up enemy characters to seem strong and then having Ainz defeating them in an instant is kind of a running gag of the Overlord series.[1]
  • Overlord is ranked #1 among the best selling light novels in Japan, 2018.
  • According to the author Maruyama, once the Overlord Light Novel series is entirely over, he plans to someday release detailed class levels for all characters.[2]

References[]

  1. Kono Sugoi Interview, April 14th, 2017
  2. Kugane Maruyama's Tweet: October 30, 2017

Gallery[]

Click on the images to enlargen them.
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