 This article is about a/an villain in Power Rangers in Space, the last installment in the Zordon Era.
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Darkonda is a psychotic agent in the service of the United Alliance of Evil and Ecliptor's rival.
Darkonda is a ruthless and violent bounty hunter who has been directly involved in roughly a hundred different wars, assassinations, and crimes throughout known space. Little is known about Darkonda's past before becoming the deceptive bounty hunter that he is today. Over the years Darkonda has acquired extensive knowledge about countless locales throughout the Milky Way galaxy along with connections in the criminal underworlds of various planets, even Earth.
History
Approximately 12 years before Power Rangers in Space, Darkonda was hired by Dark Specter to travel to the planet KO-35 in the Karova System to capture Karone, the sister of Andros the Red Space Ranger. In the years that followed Darkonda took an increasingly important role in KO-35 history. Although the specifics are still not known, Darkonda was a significant player in the events that led to the eventual evacuation of the planet including the Barillian Bug infestation that decimated much of the planet's population. After the complete evacuation of the planet, Darkonda used it as a base of his own. Unchallenged, he looted and pillaged all that the colonists left behind in their hurry to evacuate KO-35. At one point, Darkonda encountered Ecliptor. The two took an immense disliking for one another and became rivals.
Several years later Darkonda met up with Astronema, now the Princess of Evil, and won a place on her Dark Fortress as her second in command (co-ranking with Ecliptor) after he infected Carlos Vallerte, the Black Space Ranger, with the venom of a Barillian Bug. He also attempted to turn the Rebels of KO-35 against the Power Rangers by framing the Rangers for a mysterious ailment that was turning people into coral.
Secretly, Darkonda planned on killing both Astronema and Ecliptor and taking over her Dark Fortress. Although Ecliptor was aware of Darkonda's true intentions, Darkonda blackmailed Ecliptor into remaining silent by threatening to reveal the secrets behind Astronema's origin to her.
While in Astronema's service, Darkonda had many secret conversations with Dark Specter, in which he openly questioned Astronema's loyalties. After Astronema learned of her true past, Darkonda suggested that she be destroyed (along with Ecliptor). Dark Specter, however, was not (fully) persuaded despite Darkonda's insistence.
When Astronema briefly defected to the Power Rangers, Dark Specter gave Darkonda command over the Dark Fortress. Darkonda was also tasked with planting cybernetic implants on Ecliptor that would suppress any feelings he may have had for Astronema. After Astronema was captured, Darkonda altered her as well, turning her into a being of pure evil. To his surprise and anger, the newly reprogrammed Astronema promptly retook control of the Dark Fortress and threw him out despite his protests that she would have been destroyed without him. He teleported away, but not before reminding Astronema that he still had some lives left while she only had one.
Some time later, Darkonda was recruited again by Astronema, this time to lure the Rangers into a trap. It is unknown how or why she enlisted his aid, although Dark Specter may have ordered her to do so.
He later returned to aid the UAE in Dark Specter's Universal Conquest. He was with Astronema's army attacking the planet Earth. In a final act of betrayal, Darkonda commandeered a missile powerful enough to destroy the Earth and used it to destroy Dark Specter in an attempt to take power in controlling the universe for himself. However, he was destroyed in turn by the evil monarch before he fell. This was Darkonda's last life. Ironically, by hijacking the missiles and destroying Dark Specter, Darkonda unintentionally saved Earth from destruction.
Lives
Darkonda was granted 9 lives by Dark Specter, although only seven of his deaths are confirmed:
- 1. He was killed in battle once by the Mega Voyager;
- 2. Once by Zhane the Silver Ranger;
- 3. Once by accidentally walking into one of his own traps;
- 4. & 5. Twice in combat by Ecliptor;
- 6. Once by the Galactic Rover driven by Zhane
- 7. & 8. Unknown
- 9. For the final time by Dark Specter himself.
Powers
Darkonda is a superb fighter whose fighting skills match those of Ecliptor and the Red Space Ranger. He fights with a telescoping sword, as well as a set of chains that he carries on his side. He is able to fire energy bolts from both his hands and from his eyes, teleport incredible distances by warping space around him, and move at super speed. He can also make creatures grow to giant size.
Additionally, Darkonda can shapeshift to impersonate other people or merge with other beings, adding their strength to his own while suppressing the other being's conscience. Ecliptor was one of the few unlucky enough to get absorbed into Darkonda to create the being Darkliptor. After drinking a strength potion, he gained a brief power boost that made him faster and stronger; it also caused him to grow horns all over his body. This form was powerful enough to overpower the Astro Delta Megazord, though was subsequently destroyed by the Mega Voyager.
Personality
Darkonda is a gleefully psychopathic, malicious, cruel, manipulative, arrogant, obstreperous, and sadistic being who takes pleasure in playing mind games with his opponents - namely Andros the Red Space Ranger. He often taunts Andros about kidnapping his sister, mocking him that she doesn't even know her brother is still alive. He also treats Ecliptor with disdain, viewing him as soft and weak because of the way Ecliptor cares about Astronema. Darkonda shows deference to powerful beings such as Dark Specter, but his true loyalty is only to himself. Ultimately, his ambitions prove to be his undoing, as he loses his last life attempting to seize power from Dark Specter.
Yartu
Notes
- Aside from Guirail, aspects of Darkonda's character resemble that of Queen Ahames of Changeman as a warrior conscripted to work for evil but no loyalty. Working towards their own goals without regard for the greater empire.
- He had a cameo appearance in "Never Stop Searching".
- When he made a cameo in the Lost Galaxy episode "Facing the Past", his voice was different than how it was In Space.
- He was destroyed 9 times in the series, making him the villain with more deaths than any other villain in the series. His 9 lives is most likely a reference to a myth of how cats have nine lives.
- Back in early 2003, shortly after the series changed hands from Saban Entertainment to Disney, some of the monster costumes, including Darkonda's Super form, were auctioned off by ABC Auctions. It sold for $735.
Appearances
- File:Icon-is.png Power Rangers in Space
- Episode 5: Never Stop Searching (cameo)
- Episode 14: The Barillian Sting
- Episode 15: T.J.'s Identity Crisis
- Episode 16: Flashes of Darkonda
- Episode 17: The Rangers' Mega Voyage
- Episode 21: Red with Envy
- Episode 24: Zhane's Destiny
- Episode 26: The Secret of the Locket
- Episode 27: Astronema Thinks Twice
- Episode 28: The Rangers' Leap of Faith
- Episode 29: Dark Specter's Revenge (1)
- Episode 30: Dark Specter's Revenge (2)
- Episode 40: The Impenetrable Web
- Episode 42: Countdown to Destruction (1)
- File:Icon-prlg.png Power Rangers Lost Galaxy
- Episode 33: Facing the Past (flashack; archive footage only)
See Also
- Guirail - Super Sentai counterpart in Denji Sentai Megaranger. See comparison page.
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