Brutal Legend Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Lionwhyte
General of the Hair Metal Militia
Lionwhyte
Gender Male
Race Human
Faction Hair Metal Militia
Hair Color Blonde, body-length
Eye Color Blue
Skin Tone Light
Special Features Can use hair to fly, can use voice to knock away and damage enemies
Weapons Mic Stand, Voice
Voiced By Rob Halford
“He's amoral, delusional, ruthless, sadistic... and he won't stop 'till we're all his slaves.” — Ophelia


Lionwhyte is the leader and avatar of the Hair Metal Militia. He oversees the continued slavery of humanity under Emperor Doviculus and the Tainted Coil.

Story[]

Spoiler
The Season of Pain is upon us....
This article contains spoilers for Brütal Legend. Click here to reveal them.


“I try to show Emperor Doviculus that we humans aren't all dirty brutish animals. I show him that we can be refined, we can be beautiful, and that we can be profitable. I do it to protect you people from Doviculus, I am the only thing standing between you and him. And what do you give me in return? Grief!” — General Lionwhyte


Lionwhyte is first mentioned by Lars Halford as the person responsible for humanity's continued enslavement, sending young men to toil in the Crushing Pit mines and keeping the young women as dancers in his Pleasure Tower.

He makes his first actual appearance after Eddie Riggs has marshalled together several factions of humans into the Ironheade rebel army under the leadership of Lars. Lionwhyte questions Lars on poaching his 'employees' and then sends several Hair Metal Militia battlegroups in an attempt to wipe out the resistance movement. Ironheade repels the attacks however, and Lionwhyte retreats, warning them that they will regret what they have started.

When Ironheade reaches the fortified walls of Battersmith, Lionwhyte leads another force of Militia troops against them. Despite the cover-fire provided by a Bouncer mortar cannonier, Ironheade is successful in breaching the gates of Battersmith, forcing Lionwhyte and the Militia to fall back to the Pleasure Tower, but not before he fires the Bouncers for failing to hold the line.

After seeing that the Bouncers have summarily joined Ironheade, Lionwhyte attempts to sway them back to the Militia with offers of 'slimming new uniforms'. This is partially successful, as evidenced by his new Glitter Fist troops, but a large number of Bouncers choose to remain with Ironheade instead.

Lionwhyte makes his last stand at the Pleasure Dome when Ironheade manages to bypass The Cleave of the Impaler and launches an assault on his Pleasure Tower. Although the Pleasure Tower is protected by two Impaler Towers, it is not enough to stop Ironheade's advance, and the rebels finally bring down the Pleasure Tower, scattering the remaining Militia.

Angry at the lack of discipline shown by his troops, Lionwhyte attempts to rally them to no avail. When the crumbling Pleasure Tower dislodges a mirror held by a giant statue of himself, Lionwhyte tries to use his voice to knock it away; instead, the mirror shatters into several large shards. Lionwhyte's last expression is of disbelief before the shards impale him, bringing an end to the Hair Metal Militia's control of humanity.

Appearances[]

Characteristics[]

Lionwhyte is very haughty. He sees himself as genuinely righteous, and the only person stopping Doviculus from slaughtering the remaining humans. He believes he can show the Tainted Coil the beauty of humanity. He tends to ramble on and give lots of speeches.

Like the Tainted Coil, Lionwhyte does not understand the purpose of everything excavated from the Crushing Pit - at least not until Ironheade begins making vehicles for their army. Prior to that, he cared only for collecting leather and vinyl from unearthed car seats for his demon overlords, or rear and side-view mirrors to decorate his Pleasure Dome.

Lars seems to hold a personal grudge against Lionwhyte, probably because of Lionwhyte selling out humanity for his own benefit. Lionwhyte even made a banner that reads, "Welcome, Dirtbags" and shows Lars as a potbelly. Ophelia doesn't have much respect for him either, as she refers to him at one point as "General Poodlehair", telling him she would shove a sharp stripper pole in his ass and "wave you around like an old flag." Lita Halford also shares a hatred of Lionwhyte, and constantly trains with her halberd on a Lionwhyte dummy.

Quotes[]

Well, some sort of bath is definitely in order.
— Lionwhyte after Eddie Riggs says their upcoming battle will be a bloodbath
Don't worry, this won't take long. I know how to handle petty labor disputes.
— Lionwhyte after Lars Halford tells him he wants to get the battle over with
Nice wings, freakshow.
— Lionwhyte when fighting Eddie at Battersmith
Oh bravo! Goody! Someone's putting on a puppet show.
— Lionwhyte when Ironheade sets up their stage at the Pleasure Dome.
I should've known better than to hire guards who HANDS are bigger than their BRAINS. You're all fired, every fat worthless one of you!"
— Lionwhyte after the bouncers fail to defend the gate to the Cleave of the Impaler
Shouldn't you be digging a ditch somewhere?
— Lionwhyte

Trivia[]

Concept art for Lionwhyte.
  • Lionwhyte is the only avatar in the game that does not have his own vehicle.
  • His hair resembles much like Jareth the Goblin King from the film, Labyrinth.
  • Although a general in-game, Lionwhyte and his army are not accessable to play in multiplayer, likely because they are simple a reskin of Ironheade, and lack most units, featuring only palette-swaps of Ironheade's three basic units, a copy of the Headsplitter and Roadies, and a few rehired Bouncers, with the rest of his forces being Tainted Coil Hierarchy.
  • In the concept art for the game, there are designs for a Hair Metal version of the Roadies, known as the 'Watt-R Boys' (a pun on the term Water Boys) and a version of the Headsplitter called the 'Hair-Splitter'.
  • Occasionally, if the player doesn't undertake any "Ironheade Sneak Attack" or "Riding the Death Rack" missions around the Western Continent in the early game, they might end up ambushing Hair Metal Militia units, or defending against them, even though Lionwhyte himself is dead.
  • Before the mission "Sanctuary of Sin", if the player talks to the Kill Master before the stage battle, Eddie will ask for help concerning how to fight Lionwyhte, to which he replies, "Just don't let him sing, and you'll be fine," which is sound advice that is also humorous.
  • His microphone performs lightning attacks, similar to Eddie's Clementine.
  • His name is a reference to the 80s glam metal band 'White Lion'.
  • Lionwhyte looks like British glam rock singer David Bowie and dresses similarly to Van Halen's David Lee Roth.
  • His microphone is decorated with scarves like the microphones used by Aerosmith's Steven Tyler.
  • The police hat he wears is possibly a reference to British rock band, 'The Police', in particular, the main singer Sting, who's voice is very similar to Lionwhyte's.
  • After Lionwhyte is killed and if Eddie talks to one of the Razor Girls, Eddie says something about Lionwhyte's demise, but they respond "How do you know? Did you see the body?" Possibly hinting he may be alive, or that the Razor Girl is paranoid.
  • According to Jack, there were still people who firmly believed Lionwhyte would return, although he also mentioned they could just be scrounging for booze.
  • Although its unlikely he survived it should be noted his body is never seen outside of the cutscene where he is impaled by the mirrors, possibly meaning he escaped before Doviculus destroyed the Pleasure Tower.
  • When Doviculus appears at the beginning of 'It's Raining Death', he collectively refers to Lionwhyte and his operation as 'an abomination' indicating that he himself despised Lionwhyte and his 80s glam metal aesthetics. Doviculous then proceeds to say that Lionwhyte's gaudy regalia was only tolerated "to keep the human warlord obedient".
  • Game Informer issue #202 ranked Lionwhyte as #7 on their list of the Top 10 Dorks of 2009[1]. In it they said: "Here's all you need to know about General Lionwhyte: He flies with his hair. We're talking take-off from a standing position, carried on the wind by his flowing mane. If there's a cool way to do that, we haven't seen it. He works for demons--couldn't they give him some badass bat wings or something?"
  • Tim Schafer has stated the following in a GameSpot interview: "I would love to go back to that world or even just do a DLC pack... We're always trying to get Lionwhyte in there; a playable Lionwhyte Army." [1]

Gallery[]

References[]

Related Content[]

The characters of Brütal Legend
Allies

Eddie RiggsOpheliaLars HalfordLita HalfordMangusKill MasterThe BaronRimaKage the KannonierJack the Lift-OpKeeper of the Sacred Beer TreeSuzie

Antagonists

MittensLionwhyteDrowned OpheliaDoviculus

Neutral

Guardian of MetalThe HunterDadbatFletus

Historical

OrmagödenRiggnarokSuccoriaAetuliaFirst KingOphelia's Parents

Bosses

LampreyMittens Metal Queen Chrome RecluseBlack Tear TolluskBlack Tear MonsterDoviculus

Advertisement