Gargamel (Empath stories)

Gargamel was the main antagonist who, along with his cat Azrael and later with a young apprentice named Scruple, continued to plot against the Smurfs in order to capture and/or destroy them. He was responsible for the creation of Smurfette, who was changed into a real Smurf by Papa Smurf, though Gargamel only created her due to his observations that there were no female Smurfs among them to create a new generation of Smurfs with. Scruple became his apprentice after being found on the streets as a vagabond, though any possibility that he may be Gargamel's nephew is totally annulled in the story series.

Upon Empath's final return from Psychelia and his first encounter with the Smurf in question, Gargamel decided that his patience with dealing with the Smurfs has run out and sought the Great Book Of Spells for solving this dilemma; it gave him the Gauntlets Of Gantharros, which enabled him to create powerful magic armor that would grant the evil wizard incredible powers of an unprecedented scale. With the gauntlets, Gargamel overpowered Empath and captured up to half the Smurf population, threatening to destroy the rest of the Smurfs if they don't surrender themselves to him before sundown. Empath, however, learned of the weakness of the gauntlets from Brainy's studying and, using his mindlinking ability with his fellow Smurfs, caused the gauntlets and the armor created by them to be destroyed. With his protection gone, Gargamel was soundly bested by Empath and forced to surrender, promising to leave the Smurf forest forever with his cat and apprentice. Yet even as Gargamel left, he still vowed that he would get his revenge on the Smurfs someday when they least expect it.