So I naively posted this challenge on one of the FF.net HP forums labeled "Challenges" before actually reading the crap that people were challenging each other to write there and came to the conclusion that, if I want this done right, with style, and proper grammar, I'd have to come to DLP. Sad, isn't it?

Alright, I just got to thinking about all the "Harry goes to his ancestral home and is raised by the House Elves" fics out there, and I just happened to be starting a new game in Overlord II while thinking this and it got me wondering. What if the Dark Tower in the Netherworld was the Potter's ancestral home? How awesome would it be for the "Power he knows not" to be a bunch of sycophantic minions that will do literally anything for their master, including jumping into a pot of boiling metal in order to imbue something with magic? How's that for loyalty?

So here's the challenge, the Minions (or his Paternal Grandparents) start to wonder where the Master and Mistress have gone, and Gnarl sends out some Greens to find him. It takes a couple years, but they eventually track him to the cupboard under the stairs, where he's had enough time to become a bit bitter at the world, but keep most of his good nature. So he's going to be Harry still, the same boy that would go save Hermoine from the troll, but with a large dose of realism in how the world really works. So Harry grows up with the Minions and Gnarl as his family, and any magical paintings or anything that you want to put into the Dark Tower, it is, after all, the Potter's ancestral home.

So Harry grows up thinking Riddle is a bit of a joke, what with all the information on the previous Overlords that his family has produced at his fingertips, and a new kind of hellion arrives at Hogwarts. Dobby can be an undercover Green that is less ferocious smelling than the others, in fact there can be a few Green spies playing that roll throughout the old families. Harry will be sorted into a house preferably other than Gryffindor (more specifically, Hufflepuff, because nothing makes you appreciate loyalty better than the Minions), he is straight, I can't stress that enough, and he does not end up with Ginny. I'll say this again, he is in a relationship with a woman/girl/female/doubleXchromosome other than Ginny. It can be a Harem fic if you want, but I want it limited to a max of four people total, including Harry, because some of that crap is just out of hand and horribly convoluted plot-wise with how many women he has in his life.

The Potter breed of Overlord is a lot more insidious than Voldemort, what with them never having been implicated before and no calling cards such as a skull firework hanging over the crime scene. Oh, and if he by chance does acquire a sword somewhere in the course of the story it will not be a Katana, I repeat it will not be a Katana, there is nothing that annoys me more than an English bred and raised Wizard picking up a Katana for no obvious reason other than the author thinks it is the end all be all of edged weaponry. Other than the guidelines I've laid out anyone who takes up this challenge has free reign with plot and story line, do what you will with He of the Padded Feet and Remus, just don't bring in any Mary Sues or Gary Stues and we'll get along just fine.

Oh, one more thing, if you use the nicknames Dumbles, Fumbles, Voldyshorts, Mouldyshorts or any variation thereof I will crucify you. Its childish, if you want to disrespect someone there are much more mature ways of doing it, like calling Voldemort Tom or Dumbledor Albus.

If you haven't played the Overlord games (and you should), go here for useful information.

 

Okay, first of all, anyone who's played Overlord will immediately see the problem with the "has never been implicated" bit. It is rather difficult to sneak around with a giant horde of little goblin-y things following you and beating the shit out of everything you point at. I suppose you could make a point about how the helmet would hide his identity, but really.

Also, if it does become a harem fic, you would need a lot more than 4 girls whose only job would be to stand around the throne and get in your way while you are walking around your tower.

The idea that house elves are undercover minions is interesting, but also seems to indicate that Dumbledore would be aware of all this. Unless you think it's possible that the greatest wizard alive would employ over a hundred undercover agents without noticing.

Also, you'd have to come up with an original way to harvest life-force in order to make new minions. Unless you want his first work as an Overlord to be a cross-country sheep slaughter.

 

True, the Overlord is very obvious when he's committing acts of mayhem and general slaughter but, like you said, you really can't see under the helmet/face scarf, so you got no idea who the guy is "behind the mask", so to speak. But I'm talking about a less overt Overlord, one that doesn't really announce to the entire world "Here I am! Come bring me down!", at least not until he has a sufficient power base.

On the House Elf thing, I wasn't talking about all house elves being spies, just one out of ever however many, it can be a ridiculously small number, as long as they're there. Because I agree, a large number of them spying would be quite suspicious, not to mention foul smelling.

On the Harem thing, that's mainly why I limited it, and would really prefer it not being one, a couple characters is easy to write for, but with the shit that gets passed around as a "Harem fic" is mainly an excuse for Harry to get as much ass as possible, while at the same time denying any to anyone else in his generation, and really they have to be badly executed jokes because none of them are amusing/entertaining in any way. Suspension of disbelief is a wonderful thing, but there is only so far I'm willing to suspend my disbelief.

As for Life Force? I'd like to see some authors come up with a creative way to do this, since I haven't been able to other than he only takes a little bit at a time from each person, without out right going on a genocidal killing spree. That or the Potter "estate" has a farm for those purposes. Another would be that the Minions are actually demons, whose Nests are a kind of portal and have been bound to the Potter family, and thus eliminating Life Force all together. This doesn't have to be a complete universe merge, the beauty of Crossovers is that you can take what you want from some IPs and just leave out the stuff you don't.

 

This is a Harry Potter/Overlord crossover, though the Overlord part is more of a subplot than anything.

That said, Overlord has no place being crossed over with anything contemporary. Stick this Overlad in Middle Earth and we'll talk.

 

Meh, it was just an idea, if anyone wants to do it, cool, if not then that's no skin off my nose. Its out there if anyone wants to tackle it.

 

There is actually a pretty good Naruto/Overlord crossover on ff.net

Might be harder to pull off with HP though.