Character from Curse of Strahd by Tracy & Laura Hickman, Chris Perkins / Wizards of the Coast
The delusional burgomaster of Vallaki who mandates weekly festivals of enforced happiness, believing he can drive away Strahd's darkness through sheer civic joy — and punishing anyone who fails to smile.
Baron Vargas Vallakovich is a small, pompous man who rules the town of Vallaki with a combination of forced optimism and casual brutality. He has convinced himself that the key to protecting Vallaki from Strahd is maintaining the town's happiness — so he mandates weekly festivals with names like 'The Festival of the Blazing Sun' and 'The Wolf's Head Jamboree.' Attendance is mandatory. Smiling is mandatory. Anyone caught being unhappy is arrested, put in the stocks, or worse. The baron is not evil in the way Strahd is evil — he is a small man overwhelmed by forces he cannot comprehend, and his response is to double down on the one thing he can control: appearances. His mansion is full of old weapons he can't use and portraits of ancestors who were probably just as mediocre. He suspects Lady Wachter of plotting against him, and he's right, but his response to every threat is more festivals, more forced cheer, more punishment for the insufficiently joyful. He genuinely believes he is protecting his people. This makes him pitiable and dangerous in equal measure.
Also known as: Baron Vallakovich, the Burgomaster of Vallaki, Baron Vargas, the Baron