Hawk the Slayer 1980

Voltan, Jack Palance, infiltrates his father’s castle and demands the key to the ancient power, but he is denied. In a brutal turn, the elder is mortally wounded when his refusal to surrender the magic of the “last elven mind stone” seals Voltan’s fate. As the old man lies dying, another son, Hawk, John Terry, enters the castle and is entrusted with a great sword whose pommel is shaped like a human hand that fuses with the mind stone, birthing the mighty Mindsword. The weapon hums with magic and can respond to Hawk’s thoughts, and he swears to avenge his father by killing Voltan.

Voltan’s oppression of the countryside continues to grow, casting a shadow over the land. A warrior named Ranulf, William Morgan Sheppard, is fleeing Voltan’s forces when he stumbles upon a remote convent. Severely wounded and missing a hand, Ranulf is cared for by the nuns, and his tale of Voltan’s brutality—especially the brutal deaths of women and children—spreads through their cloistered walls.

A turning point comes when Voltan summons a wizard to mend his disfigured face. The enigmatic figure’s dark magic is accompanied by ominous warnings, including vows that paint a clearer path to victory:

your face will not pain you for a while

there is one who stands between us and the final victory; you will prepare the way to his death.

The threat escalates as Voltan rides to the convent, interrupting Mass and kidnapping the Abbess, demanding a ransom in gold. The nuns urge Ranulf to seek the High Abbot at the Fortress of Daneford, and he hands Hawk a token to guide him.

Hawk, wandering the land, comes to Ranulf’s aid when the latter is captured by brigands. With Ranulf’s encouragement, Hawk resolves to rescue the Abbess and the others taken by Voltan. Reuniting with old allies—Gort, the giant [Bernard Bresslaw], who wields a war hammer; Crow, the elf archer [Warren Clarke]; and Baldin, the whip-wielding dwarf [Ferdy Mayne]—the quintet steals gold from a slave trader to fund the ransom.

Voltan’s son Drogo, a fierce leader, leads men to the convent to seize the gold. Hawk and his companions fend off the assault and later press on Voltan’s camp, taking down more of his men. A nun urges paying the ransom, but Hawk remains skeptical, haunted by the knowledge that Voltan murdered his wife, Eliane, [Catriona MacColl]. A nun makes a dangerous deal with Voltan to drug Hawk’s team, enabling Voltan to capture them. A sorceress, [Patricia Quinn], a friend of Hawk, helps the heroes escape, but Baldin is mortally wounded in the chaos.

The assault on the convent resumes for a final confrontation. Crow is wounded again, and Ranulf is killed, but Hawk presses forward, cutting a swath through Voltan’s men to reach Voltan himself. He confronts Voltan, who has held Gort and the Abbess’s sisters prisoner. Hawk offers to surrender if they’re freed, but Voltan agrees only to forego his own prisoners while Hawk frees Gort. In a brutal, decisive fight, Hawk and Gort destroy Voltan and his remaining henchmen.

With Voltan defeated, Hawk and Gort set off toward new adventures, while Crow is tended by the nuns. An ominous end arrives when an evil wizard drags away Voltan’s body, leaving the world to wonder what currents of power will rise next.