Editing Ivan the Terrible (section)

==Acts of Villainy==
His sadistic and sociopathic tendencies were noticeable even from his childhood, given that he took delight in torturing adults and even childrens.

He is known for killing large amounts of people, including his own son, often in extremely brutal, sadistic, and destructive ways. Despite his actions, he was initially a good ruler according to some, but went mad with grief and anger when his first wife, whom he deeply loved, died. Also, despite his sadism, he truly believed that he was doing what God wanted him to do.

At some point during his reign, he founded the ''Oprichniki'', a secret police force devoted to carrying out his will. These fiendish men, many of whom were criminals, instilled complete fear of Ivan in the hearts of his subjects. So as to symbolize their role as enforcers of Ivan's will, they rode black horses, dressed in black robes, and wore the heads of dogs on their saddles and carried brooms, claiming they would "sniff out opposition to Ivan and sweep it away." It was with their help that Ivan was able to carry out his brutal methods of [[torture]] and execution, though despite this, he became less trusting of them in his later years.