I defintely don't believe that he was actually nicknamed the "Lord of Darkness" as one site said, but I'm aware of the background for his demonic reputation - the razing of Mt. Hiei, Enryaku-ji, his ridiculous lack of anger management and his presonal grudge against Akechi Mitsuhide. However, how bad overall of a human being was Oda Nobunaga, really, even if he doesn't compare to "El Supremo" of Paraguay?

P.S. Also, could anyone answer definitively if Nobunaga and Mori Ranmaru had a ... *ahem* little something going on?

Anyone? :(

cant say anything cause i know very little about him.

Here's a quick eval, I guess ...

http://www.samurai-archives.com/nobunaga.html

Oda Nobunaga was also called the Great Idiot in his early years.

Oda Nobunaga was also called the Great Idiot in his early years.He pretended to be an idiot, to survive the early years. ;) I can't recall offhand, but apparently early on, he was under heavy pressure fr his neighbours.

On-topic, I wouldn't give an opinion, w/o taking into consideration the circumstances of the Sengoku era.

Samurai Warriors agrees with alex994; his Rank 1 title is the "Fool of Owari", and Masamune's Okehazama Campaign stage opens with an advisor saying that Nobunaga is said to be a fool. Similarly, his wife Noh says that Okehazama will show whether he is a fool, or something else entirely.

I do recall though that reportedly his "foolishness" stemmed from being rowdy and eccentric.

On topic, was he really that bad, and was he really screwing Ranmaru? :D

(Yes, I know about what he did to Akechi Mitsuhide, and the pressure wasn't so concentrated AFAIK but certainly continuous; first the Iwakura Oda, then the Imagawa invasion, then his war on the Saito, and having to make a rushed peace deal with the Asai, warred against the Asai next, then fought the Takeda for the next couple of years, with only "pinprick" strikes to his west against the Mori until his death.)

Warned, language. No screws, pls. - XIII

In Inindo, Way of the Ninja for the Super NES, he was the arch-enemy...

(of course the game had ninja magic, so I am sure that doesn't help much)

Lol - thanks. ;)

Any takers, again, on the questions? And I mean according to the history, un-cleaned up, not according to Samurai Warriors or anime and video games ...

I'd advise you to read some books... ;)

As I remembered it, he's ruthless definitely, but so were the other warlords. And successful enough to come out atop.

The idiot portion came fr his years of pretending to be a harmless eccentric and oddball, so as not to catch unwanted attention fr dangerous enemies.

But Nobunaga was considered to be particularly ruthless even for his time; that's what I'm wondering about.