Character from The Black Company by Glen Cook
The buried evil — the Lady's husband, the original dark lord, entombed in the Barrowland and spending centuries trying to claw his way back out.
The Dominator is the thing under the bed that the entire northern continent is built on. He and the Lady ruled together during the Domination — an era of magical tyranny so complete that centuries later, people still flinch at the name. The Lady betrayed him, buried him in the Barrowland, and spent the next few centuries making sure he stayed down. He hasn't stayed down. From the Barrowland, he reaches out through dreams, through corrupted sorcery, through agents who believe they can control what they're unleashing. He can't be killed by conventional means — he's been 'killed' before and keeps coming back. He represents the series' deepest fear: that the worst thing that ever happened is still alive under the ground, waiting. The Lady's entire political structure — the Taken, the empire, the war — exists partly to maintain the resources needed to keep him buried. Her cruelty has a strategic component: she needs an empire strong enough to guard a grave.
Rarely seen directly. His presence is felt through proxies, through the corruption that seeps from the Barrowland, through the dreams he sends to his followers. When described: a figure of overwhelming dread, more concept than person. He is what the Lady was before she developed nuance.
Also known as: The Dominator