Mordred Hood/Pre-SGW

Mordred Hood, also known as Lord Hood, is a Mobian Cobra and Grandmaster of the Mercia Dark Egg Legion. Previously he served as an adviser to the royal O'Hedge family of Mercia.

Early Life
Prior to becoming Dr. Eggman's Grandmaster over the Mercia Dark Egg Legion, Lord Hood was the adviser of Rob o' the Hedge's father. However, after two generations of kings ignored his advice and refused to put the populace in their "proper place", Hood took matters into his own hands, joining up with the Eggman Empire to impose his own idea of order on the land. As a result, he earned the ire of both Rob and Rob's loyal lieutenant, Bow Sparrow, who would try to hit Mordred with one of his arrows and fail at least seven times in their early engagements. (CSE, SU: #47)

Meeting of the Grandmasters
Lord Hood was in his base of operations, Snottingham Castle, when he (like all other Grandmasters) received a falsified message from Eggman's nephew Snively, stating that Sonic the Hedgehog had finished off Eggman as the Death Egg Mark 2 plummeted into the ocean. Falling for Snively's fib that all D.E.L. chapters to disband, Lord Hood decided to "celebrate" the doctor's demise and his new-found freedom with punishments for his prisoners. While in the midst of having one of his men dictate this order, he was teleported away and found himself seated at a table in the Death Egg's conference room, along with ten other equally-surprised Grandmasters. Eggman himself appeared in the room, confirming that he was neither dead nor had his Empire fallen. After cruelly reasserting his control over the Grandmasters, he set a new task before them, instructing them to search for and recover his missing Blue Chaos Emerald while also continuing to expand their own territories. Lord Hood and the other Grandmasters were then dismissed and forcefully returned to their posts to resume their duties. (SU: #37)

Chaotix Visits
Lord Hood became obsessed with locating Hideaway, the village-hideout of the Mercian Freedom Fighters. His various methods included using his hypnotic abilities on prisoners he took from among Mercia's citizenry-many of whom were easy prey to his Legion due to living out in the open-and various assaults on Deerwood Forest in which he attempted to locate the haven. One such attempt-in which the Legion tried to burn the forest-was thwarted by the Freedom Fighters and their allies, Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. Afterwards, Mordred was attempting to learn the location of Hideaway by hypnotizing a prisoner when he was alerted to the presence of the Freedom Fighters and several of Mighty and Ray's Chaotix teammates in the castle. However, Mordred was aware of their route of infiltration, and had purposefully left it open in order to trap the heroes. (SU: #46)

Despite his springing a trap to capture his enemies, Hood was unable to stop their advance, and the Chaotix caused considerable havoc with Bow and the Freedom Fighters nowhere in sight. Hood was then informed that they had used a Warp Ring to depart, and realized that they must have gone to the dungeons to free his prisoners. Making his way there with several guards, he made his entrance, thanking Bow for giving him the opportunity to "crush an idiot archer" following Rob's departure, which he described as cowardice. Enraged by the insults to his king, Bow denounced the Cobra for a previous attempt to kill Rob's son Jon. Amused by Bow's false kingly accent, he reminded him of his previous failures to dispatch him with an arrow, and dodged Bow's eighth attempt with ease. However, Bow's arrow carried an explosive, which knocked Hood off balance, allowing Bow to direct Friar Buck lead an escape through the Warp Ring. A Legionnaire shut the portal by seizing the ring, and threw it to Lord Hood, only for it to be intercepted by Thorn the Lop.

Dazed both by the explosion and by a rock that had hit him in the head, Lord Hood regained his senses as two of his men attempted to carry him out. Refusing to be defeated, he employed his hypnotic abilities, bringing the Freedom Fighters to their knees. After citing his attempts to "bring order to" Mercia, he taunted Bow's inability to save his king, his people, and even himself. Bow responded that he wouldn't need to do so, and Hood's inquiry as to how he expected to escape was cut short by an attack from behind by Vector the Crocodile. Knocked senseless again, Lord Hood recovered to find his enemies and prisoners gone, and led his men in the chase. Finding the door to the inner wall shut, he ordered his men to lift it, and got through just in time to see Bow disappear through the Warp Ring. (SU: #47)

Personality
Lord Hood appears to be a remarkably cruel individual, taking sadistic delight in abuse of prisoners without any purpose in mind other than personal amusement. When he believed Eggman had been defeated he rejoiced at his temporary freedom, showing that, like most of the other Grandmasters, he has no desire to serve the Eggman Empire, only accepting Legionization as a means of claiming power. Despite his brash personality he was deathly afraid of his master Eggman, keeping completely silent as he was lectured and put back to work. (SU: #37)

He is also very clever when it comes to knowing his enemies, as he left a secret passage leading to his Castle unguarded as a means to lure them in and trap them. Arrogant and boastful, he holds himself superior to the common people of Mercia, and is quick to become overconfident-to his undoing. (SU: #46, #47)

Abilities
Lord Hood's cybernetics equip him with a pair of legs, enabling him to move in ways that he would be unable to as an ordinary snake. It is unknown whether Hood possessed legs prior to his legionazation. Additionally, he is capable of using his cobra hood to hypnotize others, even at a distance. He is also able to extend his neck out of his armor and possesses incredible agility, enough to dodge a speeding arrow with ease.

Appearance
Lord Hood is a green Mobian snake with yellow markings on his head. He wears a black and red cybernetic-enhanced outfit through which his snake body is threaded through, outfitted with a mechanical torso and legs.

Later on, his Grandmaster attire was changed to look similar to that of Dr. Eggman's, now sporting two orange triangle-shaped metal buttons on both sides of his torso colored yellow on the outside with white stripes circling around the back. His tail also sticks out of the bottom of the suit.

In an unedited version of SU 37's cover, Lord Hood's color scheme was originally supposed to be purple, a possible reference to another Mobian snake: Trey Scales.

Background Information

 * Mordred Hood's name is presumed to come from the legend of King Arthur, specifically the son of Arthur who became his nemesis.
 * Mordred Hood's first name wasn't revealed in-story, but rather it was printed on a piece of concept art in his debut issue's editorial column. That name is most likely taken from the villain of the King Arthur legends. This makes Mordred Hood one of the only prominent Mercians whose name and character are not based upon Robin Hood folklore, although his name still comes from British literature.
 * Mordred Hood's hypnotic abilities are stereotypical of snakes, particularly cobras, in fiction. Ironically, the animated film Robin Hood produced by Walt Disney Animation, which also featured anthropomorphic animals who approximated characters from the Robin Hood legends, also featured a snake character with hypnotic powers known as Sir Hiss, who served as an adviser to the wicked Prince John. However, Sir Hiss appeared to be an ordinary, non-Cobra snake whose only anthropomorphic qualities were some clothing and the ability to speak.
 * Mordred Hood's original role as a royal adviser turned would-be tyrant is also reminiscent of Disney's Jafar, a villain with a cobra-shaped staff which he uses to hypnotize others and later takes on the form of a giant cobra.