Ludo

Ludo is a major antagonist of the Disney XD series Star vs. the Forces of Evil. He is a villainous Kappa with many henchmen at his disposal, and is Star Butterfly's first major enemy. He was the main antagonist for most of season one, where he sought to claim Star's magic wand as his own to rule the universe, and briefly allied with Toffee to do so. By season two, he gains his own wand, but gets possessed by Toffee.

Background
Ludo comes from a clan of bird-like creatures led by Lord Brudo and Lady Avarius in Mewni. He was considered the runt of fifty offspring and did not grow properly like the rest of his siblings; due to his abnormality, his family treated him severely in hopes of toughening him up for most of his childhood. When he was younger, Ludo became frightened of beards from a traumatic experience involving a beard during a birthday party.

One day, when the family went on a vacation, Ludo seized the opportunity to lock them outside and took over their castle, forcing his family to vacate to the Forest of Certain Death. Ludo then built an army of monsters over time and began organizing plans to steal the wand of Mewni's royal family.

Personality
Ludo is defined by his maliciousness and selfishness, bent on obtaining the magic wand to rule the entire universe out of pride without any qualms against who gets hurt in the way, even his allies. He has no empathy towards his own minions, punishing them for failure and is intolerant of tardiness, and will put his own safety and needs above them. Despite his ruthless nature, Ludo is weak and cowardly, having his minions do the fighting for him and quickly retreating after his army is defeated. However, he possesses tenacity, refusing to give up on obtaining the magic wand even after countless defeats.

Although Ludo is evil, he is shown to have a childish and naive side, presumably due to his upbringing which fueled his ambition for power. According to himself, Ludo's father was distant and lacked parental guidance growing up, resulting in Ludo becoming self-serving but also left him childlike and feeling bereft. As a result, he quickly grew attached to Glossaryck over time due to the strong patience and respect Glossaryck put up with him, which was something he received little of from his family. However, Ludo can also be easily manipulated by more evil entities into doing their work under the guise of them supporting Ludo.

After he was stranded in the wilderness, Ludo developed greater determination, strength and cunning in his competition against the wildlife for food, to the point of gaining authority over the more aggressive animals. He soon loses his former cowardice, as he gains more minions over time with the power of his new wand and confronted Star with greater success compared to his previous encounters.

Physical appearance
Ludo is a short, dull green bird-like monster with yellow eyes, a dark beak with teeth in it, and a large round head with warts on it. Unlike the rest of his family, Ludo lacks wings, or at least feathers, on his arms. When he was first introduced, he wore a green cloak with a dark fur collar and skulls, a creature's skull on his head, and flip-flops on his feet. During the events of "Ludo in the Wild", Ludo's appearance changed drastically: he no longer wears his skull cap and now has a long gray beard braided into three tails while wearing a chip bag over his body.

Trivia

 * Ludo is the fourth Disney character voiced by Alan Tudyk. The first three are King Candy from Wreck-It Ralph, the Duke of Weselton from Frozen, and Alistair Krei from Big Hero 6.
 * Tudyk also provides the voice of King Butterfly in the series.
 * Ludo appears to be a Kappa, an aquatic yokai from Japanese mythology which is often said to resemble a turtle with a beaked mouth full of sharp teeth and a water bowl on its head. In the episode "Quest Buy", what appears to be Ludo's water bowl can be seen briefly on his head.

Ludo