< Forgotten Realms

Forgotten Realms/Characters


The Forgotten Realms campaign setting and shared fiction universe for Dungeons & Dragons has birthed a legion of popular characters, from Elminster and Drizzt to Arilyn Moonblade and Cadderly. Get the scoop on a whole mess of 'em here.

This is by no means a complete list. As one of the most detailed shared universes (if not the most) in literary history, there are always more characters in the Realms left to explore.

The Elminster Series

Elminster Aumar, Sage of Shadowdale

Race: Human
Class: Wizard
Alignment: Chaotic Good

Mirt the Moneylender

Race: Illuskan human
Class: Rogue/Fighter
Alignment: Chaotic Good

Storm Silverhand

Race: Human
Class: Fighter/Bard/Sorcerer
Alignment: Chaotic Good


The Dark Elf Series

Drizzt Do'Urden

Race: Drow
Class: Fighter/Ranger
Alignment: Chaotic Good

  • The Aloner: Spends nearly a decade in the Underdark with Guenhwyvar as his only companion. It almost drives him mad. He eventually surrenders himself to the svirfnebli, mortal enemies of the drow, out of desperation and loneliness.
  • Amplifier Artifact: His anklets (really wrist bands, but he wears them on his legs) give him a massive boost to his running speed.
  • Author Filibuster: Salvatore often uses Drizzt to deliver speeches about various morals, political stances, and viewpoints that are suspiciously relevant to things that happen in our world at the beginning of every part of a book.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: With Entreri. A few times.
  • Badass
  • Betty and Veronica: Veronica to Wulfgar's Betty.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: He is polite and trusting almost to a fault (even more so in the earlier books), but if you mess with the people he cares about he will end you.
  • Berserk Button: Threatening any of his friends will more than likely end with the ones doing the threatening dying horribly.
  • Black Sheep: He becomes this to House Do'Urden after he flees Menzoberranzan at the end of Homeland.
  • Blue Blood: Was a prince of a noble house before he went rogue.
  • Breakout Character: Wulfgar was originally going to be the main character of the series.
  • Chekhov's Skill: This could technically apply to all drow, but in this instance, it specifically applies to the counter of the double-thrust low maneuver.
  • Cool Horse: Andahar.
  • Cool Swords: Twinkle and Icingdeath.
  • Crusading Widower: During most of Gauntlgrym. Disturbingly, instead of drowning his sorrows with alcohol, he did it with blood.
  • Dual-Wielding: With scimitars.
  • Fantastic Racism: He was a victim of this during his earliest decades on the surface due to the notoriety of his race. In fact, a major part of the early series deals with his struggle against this trope.
  • Flash Step: The "Ghost Step" technique. Half Super Speed, half optical illusion. With perfect timing, Drizzt can step to the side in the split second his opponent's weapon passes through his own line of sight, blocking him from view and causing him to seemingly disappear. Done correctly, by the time the opponent figures out what happened, half of his more important organs will be out of place.
  • Full-Name Basis: Most people call Drizzt by his full name when addressing him.
    • This is lampshaded in Starless Night when Drizzt gets annoyed that Matron Baenre addresses him by his full name at the end of almost every sentence.
  • Hand Signals: The Drow hand cant is not used so much in later novels because he's not usually around any other drow to use it with, but he attempts to teach it to his companions with limited success.
  • Heroic BSOD: After the events at Shallows during the Hunter's Blades trilogy, and a more recent one near the end of The Ghost King.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: On account of his race. In later novels, however, his reputation is what allows him to be accepted in most places.
  • In-Series Nickname: Due to most people's inability to speak Drow Undercommon properly, most people (usually vermin) who have only heard of Drizzt call him "Drizzit" upon first meeting.
  • Like Father, Like Son: Zaknafein absolutely hated everything to do with Menzoberranzan and the ideals instilled into drow from birth by Lolth's clergy. To say Drizzt adopted his mindset is an understatement.
  • Master Swordsman: He was supposed to replace Zaknafein as House Do'Urden's weaponsmaster before he fled from Menzoberranzan. In later books, many drow warriors and even the weaponsmasters of rival households, to their ultimate doom, have sought the chance to fight "Zaknafein's equal".
  • Mind Rape: During Starless Night, involving an illithid
  • My Species Doth Protest Too Much
  • Nay Theist: Drizzt doesn't so much worship Mielikki as he looks to her as a symbol of the values he holds dear.
  • Non-Human Sidekick: Guenhwyvar.
  • No One Gets Left Behind: Drizzt attempts to outrun a drow raiding party sent to recapture him, avoid Artemis Entreri, who is pursuing him in the tunnels, and tries to find a way back up to his friends while physically dragging the injured Regis along with him in The Legacy.
  • No Pronunciation Guide: Officially, his first name is pronounced "Drist", but a lot of people also say "Driz-et" or other pronunciations.
    • Author R.A. Salvatore seems to pronounce it as "Dritz" in interviews.
    • The Demon Stone video game has it pronounced "Drid-st".
  • Our Elves Are Better
  • Prophetic Name: "Drizzt" can mean both "Dawnfinder" and "Unyielding Hunter" in the drow language.
  • Purple Eyes: Considered his most recognizable feature.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Against the orcs in the Hunter's Blades trilogy when he thinks all of the other Companions were killed.
  • Super-Powered Evil Side: The Hunter.
  • Think Nothing of It
  • Try to Fit That on A Business Card: Drizzt Do'Urden of D'aermon Na'shez'baernon, Ninth House of Menzoberranzan.
  • The Unfettered: Spent most of Gauntlgrym being one until Jarlaxle pinned him against the wall to give him a Reason You Suck Speech.
  • Unstoppable Rage: When Drizzt gives himself up to his Hunter personality, there's almost no stopping him.
    • During the almost century-long Time Skip in Gauntlgrym, while he and Bruenor are seeking out the titular Dwarven kingdom, Drizzt constantly goes out of his way for an excuse to kill something. When coming across other travelers in need, he would jump at the chance to clear out a goblin lair or three or hire himself out as a bodyguard escort, ostensibly for needed money but in honesty hoping for a few random encounters.
  • Victorious Childhood Friend: With Cattie-Brie.
  • What Is This Feeling?: Innovindil made him consider the more pleasurable side of life in The Lone Drow.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: He's this in the earlier books of the series, with Homeland being one of the most obvious examples. However, as of the current storyline he has lost most of this.
  • White-Haired Pretty Boy: Notably, the more popular he got, the prettier he got.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: Explored in depth. Drizzt was definitely worried about the idea of outliving his friends for his first few decades on the surface until he struck up a friendship with Innovindil, a surface elf. She advised him to live a series of shorter, segmented lifetimes, taking each as they come, rather than dwelling on the looming centuries. Her advice came into play after the events of Gauntlgrym, when Bruenor, the last of his original friends, died in battle. Drizzt mourned his loss, then picked himself up and began traveling with Dahlia Sin'felle.

Montolio Debrouchee

Race: Human
Class: Ranger
Alignment: Chaotic Good

Roddy McGristle

Race: Human
Class: Fighter
Alignment Chaotic Neutral

  • Butt Monkey: Thanks mostly in part to Drizzt, he never fails to make an ass out of himself.
  • Harmless Villain: Inverted. Roddy initially comes off as somewhat of a joke villain and isn't really much of a threat. But then he murders two characters and threatens to rape the then-seven-year-old Catti-brie.
  • Moral Event Horizon: His morals were always certainly ambiguous, but his villainy isn't clearly established until he strangles Kellindil with his bare hands.

Artemis Entreri/Barrabus The Gray

Race: Calishite human
Class: Fighter/Rogue/Assassin
Alignment: Lawful Evil

  • Arch Nemesis: To Drizzt.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: With Drizzt more than a few times over the years, most recently in Neverwinter.
  • Blue Oni: To Jarlaxle's red.
  • Can't Stand Them Can't Live Without Them: With Jarlaxle until Road of the Patriarch.
  • Close to Home: When attempting to enter Castle Perilous, Athrogate called a stuck gate a "son of a bar whore". Artemis didn't take it well.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Played straight for the most part, he'll pull every dirty trick in the book during a fight. Of course, its kind of subverted in that he lacks pragmatism on a grander scale; he prefers to fight, period, meaning he'll avoid less hazardous ways of dealing with his enemies.
    • At one point, while fighting Drizzt, he held a mouthful of sewer water in his mouth for several pages until the perfect time to spit it in Drizzt's face.
  • The Comically Serious: Road of the Patriarch gives us this glorious exchange:

Athrogate: Well now, I'd say that's better, but it'd be a lie. Any elf's but a girl making ready to cry.
Entreri: And if you keep rhyming, you're going to die. [Athrogate laughs] No. There is no joke in my words. And the rhyme was coincidental.

  • Dark and Troubled Past: It is revealed in the short story The Third Level and later in Road of the Patriarch that Entreri was physically and sexually abused as a child and was sold to a pedophile merchant who later intended to sell him into slavery.
  • Deadpan Snarker: In spades in the Sellswords trilogy and in the short stories that are set during that timeline.
  • Death Glare: Most people on the receiving end on this usually don't end up living too much longer afterwards.
  • Dual-Wielding: Noteably, Artemis actually does it right, using a sword in his main hand and a dagger in his left.
  • Empathic Weapon: Charon's Claw
    • See also Evil Weapon. Doesn't have a personality aside from vague impulses, but will burn its owner alive from the inside out the minute he drops his guard. Recently, it has been revealed that the weapon has enslaved him and is keeping him alive to torture him.
  • Enemy Mine: Teams up with Drizzt in an early appearance, and a few subsequent ones as well.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: He has a special kind of hate for parents who sell out or abandon their kids in an effort to save themselves.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Drizzt. Drizzt even states himself on more than one occasion that if things had gone differently in Menzoberranzan he had no doubt that they would have turned out the same.
  • First-Name Basis: Only with Jarlaxle.
    • Dhawvel also refers to him as Artemis once in Servant of the Shard, but not to him directly.
  • Friendless Background: He considers relationships as a vulnerability and mocks Drizzt's loyalty to his friends on several occasions.
  • Full-Name Basis: People sometimes address him as this, even if they're talking directly to him. Jarlaxle is the most frequent offender.
  • Gender Blender Name
  • Heel Not-Quite-As-Heel Turn
  • In Name Only: Game-stat example. In every appearance, he is universally described as an assassin. But when the Time of Troubles rolled around, R.A. Salvatore got a phone call saying that the writing team planned to have all assassins die as part of a massive ritual. Not wanting to lose a beloved character, Salvatore replied, "He's not really an assassin; just a fighter with a few levels of thief who specializes in killing people."
  • Lack of Empathy
  • Last-Name Basis: To everyone else.
  • Mangst: In Road of the Patriarch.
  • Master Swordsman
  • Meaningful Rename: Took on the mantle of Barrabus the Gray as of Gauntlgrym.
  • Menacing Stroll
  • Older Than They Look: Specifically stated to be over 40, but looks like he's in his late-20s to early-30s.
    • Played even straighter as Barrabus the Gray. Due to Entreri/Barrabus being infused with a Shade, he would now be over 100 years old and still looking about 30.
  • Perpetual Frowner: And how.
  • Professional Killer: Rose to fame in Calimport as a ruthless assassin.
  • Rape as Backstory
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: At the end of Road of the Patriarch.
  • Servile Snarker: To Alegni.
  • Son of a Whore: His mother Shanali was a prostitute.
  • Start of Darkness: Road of the Patriarch showed Artemis's childhood via flashback, wherein it was shown that he was molested, beaten, and sold into slavery.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Whenever he's forced to fight alongside Drizzt against more immediate enemies.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: With Drizzt to an extent. He is perfectly willing to let Drizzt become a sacrifice to Lolth, but only if he is allowed the chance to defeat him in a fair battle first.
  • The Stoic: Is known for his cold, emotionless personality until he started partnering with Jarlaxle, and, thanks to Idalia's Flute, he became...
  • That Man Is Dead: Literally said word for word at the end of Road of the Patriarch.
  • Villain Protagonist: In his later appearances alongside Jarlaxle.
  • Villainous Rescue: Entreri frees and teams up with Catti-Brie in Starless Night to free the captured Drizzt in the hopes that Drizzt will help lead him to the surface and away from Menzoberranzan.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Type II with Jarlaxle.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: Thanks to Charon's Claw, he literally can't die. Not that he likes this at all, especially since said sword makes it a living hell for him.

Athrogate

Race: Shield Dwarf
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

  • The Atoner: In Gauntlgrym, he's shown to be deeply remorseful for his part in destroying the legendary dwarven kingdom, and vows to make it right.
  • Boisterous Bruiser
  • Cool Horse: His demonic hell pig.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: In Gauntlgrym, before becoming the atoner.
  • Epic Flail: Dual wields them. When activated, one causes anything metallic it hits to rust, the other causes an explosion on impact.
  • He Cleans Up Nicely: Originally introduced wearing the ale-and-sweat stained furs and leathers that come to dwarves standard issue. By Gauntlgrym, almost a century later, Jarlaxle has him wearing a downright stylish purple-and-black outfit, convinced him to bathe at least twice a year, and has even managed to groom his beard. By Jarlaxle's own reckoning, he's worked miracles.
  • Honor Before Reason: Had two golden opportunities to kill Drizzt during their fight. Passed up both of them because it would have been un-sportsmanlike.
  • Large Ham: The rhyming helps a lot.
  • Lightning Bruiser: While not a particularly fast runner, Athrogate is incredibly agile, able to keep pace with Drizzt in hand to hand combat, and casually doing backflips while curb-stomping mooks, for no other reason than to show off.
  • No One Should Survive That: Got completely curbstomped by a pit fiend and fell from a bridge, but (barely) lived to tell the tale.
  • Rhymes on a Dime: Much to everyone's annoyance. He thinks it's funny as hell.
  • Unskilled but Strong: While he's nothing to really scoff at, Dahlia noted that Athrogate makes up for his lack of precision with brute strength.
  • Warrior Poet: Literally. Generally agreed to not be very good, though.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: While not immortal, he was cursed by a wizard to have an unnaturally long life span.

Bruenor Battlehammer

Race: Shield Dwarf
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Neutral Good

Catti-brie Battlehammer

Race: Illuskan human
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Chaotic Good

Dahlia Sin'felle

Race: Elf
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Neutral Evil, later Chaotic Neutral

Ellifain Tuuserail/Le'lorinel Tel'e'brenequiette

Race: Moon Elf
Class: Warrior
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Jarlaxle Baenre

Race: Drow
Class: Rogue/Fighter/Duelist (3E); Skirmisher (4E)
Alignment: Neutral Evil, later Chaotic Neutral

  • Abusive Parents
  • Affably Evil
  • Badass Crew: Bregan D'aerthe.* Bare Your Midriff: Besides his eyepatch, cape, and hat, Jarlaxle's other iconic piece of clothing is a short vest that exposes his stomach muscles.
  • Beware the Nice Ones
  • Bishounen: Has been complemented on his handsomeness by a dragon. She also said looks even more handsome with hair. Not to mention the narration itself, which mentions several times how ridiculously attractive he is.
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: Despite his quirks, he has been extremely successful as a houseless drow male for centuries and as the leader of Bregan D'aerthe.
  • The Casanova: Has loved and left more than his fair share in the past. Including dragons, much to Entreri's horror.
  • The Charmer
  • The Chosen One: He was blessed by Lolth just as he was to be sacrificed to her by his mother.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Of course.
  • First-Name Basis: Most people call him by his first name (since it's the only one he gives), but notably, he's the only person to ever call Entreri by his first name in universe.
  • Hand Signals: The Drow hand cant. He uses it frequently with his lieutenants and sometimes with Entreri, whom he taught it to.
  • Hidden Heart of Gold
  • Important Haircut / Bald of Awesome: Notably, Jarlaxle's shaved head is actually significant; hairstyle indicates station in drow society. By shaving his head, Jarlaxle removes himself from this system.
  • Karma Houdini: Manipulated various parties into starting a war in Luskan so that he could take control of the city and use it as a free port to trade Underdark goods with the surface world. Thousands died in the ensuing conflict, including noncombatants that died due to lack of food and shelter during the harsh winter that followed. Not only does Jarlaxle succeed in becoming the Man Behind the Man in Luskan, but he convinces Drizzt of his relative innocence and suffers no consequences for it.
    • Not to mention that it directly resulted in the death of Drizzt's good friend Deudermont, which happened when Athrogate engaged Drizzt in combat and prevented him from rescuing the poor guy. And yet when Jarlaxle teams up with Drizzt again in the following book, there (astonishingly) don't appear to be any hard feelings.
  • Knife Nut: He has a bracer that produces an unlimited amount of throwing knives. He puts them to good use.
  • Lovable Rogue
  • Meaningful Name: Jarlaxle means "charmed ally" in Deep Drow.
  • Minored in Asskicking
  • Motor Mouth: According to Artemis.
  • Multi Melee Master
  • Nay Theist: Jarlaxle knows as a matter of fact that Lady Lolth exists. He refuses to worship her, though.
  • Nice Hat: Roughly described as a sombrero with a giant peacock feather. Both the hat and the feather are magical.
  • No Honor Among Thieves: Completely abandoned Entreri in the battle against Urshula at the end and made very little apology about it afterward.
  • No One Could Survive That: The amount of times he's pulled this is staggering.
  • One-Man Army
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Zig Zagged. While Jarlaxle is certainly morally ambiguous and is usually working with the bad guys, he is never considered an outright villain himself. This is actually averted in The Ghost King and Gauntlgrym, when his role is actually as one of the good guys.
  • Red Oni: To Entreri's blue.
  • Refuge in Audacity: Jarlaxle's flamboyancy tends to either enrage or shock people too much for them to actually try to do anything to him. It was lampshaded after Jarlaxle's "Who I Am" monologue to Queen Christine in Road of the Patriarch.
    • The acceptance in a public tavern that Drizzt labored for decades to earn? Jarlaxle got it in five minutes when he walked in, took a seat at another man's table, got him kicked out for drawing steel, and bought everyone a round.
  • Refusal of the Call: He was chosen by Lolth to be one of her agents and flat-out refused. Then again, Lolth's most favored servants are bringers of chaos, and he certainly is that, almost singlehandedly making things more interesting in Menzoberranzan than they've been in centuries.
  • Self-Proclaimed Liar: To Entreri.
  • Sharp Dressed Drow: He encourages Entreri to be a Sharp-Dressed Man by playing dress-up with him during their adventures.
  • Ten-Minute Retirement: Played with. Stepped away from Bregan D'aerthe after the events of Servant of the Shard, but was shown to be back in control as of The Pirate King. Treated in later installments to be more of a sabbatical, putting his mercenaries in Kimmuriel's command so that there'd be an opposing voice of reason and business to counteract Jarlaxle's often-whimsical orders.
  • Those Two Bad Guys: With Entreri, then later with Kimmuriel.
  • Villainous Rescue: The amount of times he's saved The Companions or simply let them escape, on purpose, is staggering.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Type II with Entreri.
  • Walking the Earth: 10% for finding new business opportunities for Bregan D'aerthe, 90% just for the hell of it.
  • Wands Akimbo: Has been shown a few times wielding two wands (one that fires Lightning and Viscid Globs) in long-range combat.
  • Wasn't That Fun?: This is practically Jarlaxle's catch-phrase during the Sellswords Trilogy and the various short stories featuring him and Entreri. Entreri is never impressed.
  • Wild Card: During his tenure in Menzoberranzan so very, very much.

Kimmuriel Oblodra

Race: Drow
Class: Psionicist
Alignment: Neutral Evil

  • Badass Bookworm
  • Barrier Warrior: The kinetic barrier. Used as a Chekhov's Gun through Entreri on Drizzt in The Silent Blade.
  • Commander Contrarian: His arrangement with Jarlaxle after taking over Bregan D'aerthe while Jarlaxle is Walking the Earth. Jarlaxle is still in nominal command of the group, and occasionally calls in the troops for his latest projects, but Kimmuriel has the power to refuse or modify Jarlaxle's orders if he feels that what Jarlaxle wants isn't in the group's best interests. Despite the possibility of conflict (especially between drow), so far the arrangement has worked out swimmingly for both.
  • Conflicting Loyalty: In Servant of The Shard between Jarlaxle and Rai-guy. He didn't want to betray Jarlaxle, out of loyalty to him for saving his life after the fall of House Oblodra, but he eventually sided with Rai-guy because he believed that Jarlaxle's behaviour would destroy Bregan D'aerthe.
  • Creature of Habit: He would rather serve as lieutenant and focus on improving his abilities than serve as leader of Bregan D'aerthe.
  • Deadpan Snarker: And he doesn't hesistate to use it on anyone, including Jarlaxle.
  • Dragon Ascendant: Kimmuriel is more or less forced into this after Jarlaxle leaves him in charge of Bregan D'aerthe to go travelling on The Surface.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: With Rai-guy.
  • Jedi Mind Trick
  • Mind Probe: He is a psionicist, after all.
  • Only in It For the Money
  • Our Elves Are Better
  • Psychic Powers: Easily one of the most powerful character in the series because of this.
  • Puss in Boots
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning
  • The Spock: He is calm, stoic, rarely emotes, and takes the time to logically point out the flaws and consequences of Jarlaxle's plans if he needs to.
  • The Stoic: Expresses less and less emotion as the series progresses.
  • Those Two Bad Guys: With Jarlaxle.
  • White-Haired Pretty Boy

Obould Many-Arrows

Race: Mountain Orc
Class: Barbarian
Alignment: Chaotic Evil, later Chaotic Neutral

  • Arch Enemy: After Artemis, Obould is top ringer for Drizzt's arch rival. Obould's war is responsible for the death's of several of Drizzt's friends, the crippling of his love interest, and shaking the very foundations of his reality. Drizzt, on the other hand, is was the single biggest thorn in Obould's side during the war, causing no end of problems for the orc king by killing hundreds of his soldiers and spreading fear through the rest. Obould is one of the few people to force Drizzt to flee from combat, and despite two vicious battles, neither was able to achieve a decisive victory over the other.
  • A Man Is Always Eager: Averted; while he is a sexually active character, he made a habbit of surrounding himself with the most beautiful female orcs in his kingdom, letting them grind against him during feasts and warcouncils, and showing absolutely no interests in them as a way of showing off to his men how much more disciplined and controlled he was compared to them.
  • Anti-Villain: His methods are brutal, but his goal is noble; create a stable orc state and put an end to his people's self-destructive ways.
  • Armour Is Useless: Averted hard. His armour saves his life again and again.
  • Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: After his death, he was made a demigod by the orc deity Gruumsh.
  • Badass: Oh yeah.
  • Badass Boast: To Drizzt;

Obould: Look around you, drow. This is my home now. My kingdom! When you fly on your pet, you see the greatness of Obould. You see the Kingdom of Dark Arrows. Remember that name for the last minutes of your life. You die in Dark Arrows, Drizzt Do'Urden, and will be eaten by birds on a mountain side in the home of King Obould.

  • BFS: And it's on fire.
  • Canon Immigrant: Reversed, depending on whether you consider the novels or gamebooks more canon; Obould was originally featured in a sourcebook for the RPG before making it into the novels.
  • The Chosen One: Blessed and Chosen by Gruumsh to lead the orc people into a new age.
  • Cool Horse: Averted; he tried breaking a captured Pegasus, but when the horse refused to yield to hem even after he made it clear he could kill the thing with a swift punch, he relented, having a respect for the creature's wild nature.
  • Cool Sword: His flaming BFS.
  • Diagonal Cut: Does it twice.
  • Deity of Orcish Origin: Post Spellplague.
  • Evil Overlord
  • Full-Frontal Assault: During his last fight with Drizzt, a cleric's spell forces him to remove all his armor or get eaten alive by metal spiders. He's even more dangerous naked.
  • Genius Bruiser: Really only compared to other orcs, but is still very intelligent by other race's standards.
  • Heel Face Turn: Though never truly good, Obould slided into neutrality after he was blessed by Gruumsh.
  • Hero-Killer
  • Karma Houdini: A lot of innocent people die in the war he starts. A lot of innocent people die by his hand. In the end, he forces a stalemate, establishes a lasting kingdom, and rules for decades before dying in his sleep of old age.
  • Know When to Fold'Em
  • Lightning Bruiser: He's stronger than Wulfgar and as fast as Drizzt.
  • Master Swordsman: He's as good with his greatsword as Drizzt is with his scimitars or Artemis is with his saber.
  • My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Though not in the same way as Drizzt. Obould is every bit as evil as you would expect an orc to be, it's just that he's also bright, extremely motivated, capable of diplomacy, and far more civilised than any member of his species has a right to be.
  • No One Could Survive That: Everyone is sure he died of his Disney Villain Death even though Drizzt survived the exact same fall. It is very quickly revealed that he's Not Quite Dead.
  • Offing the Offspring: Obould originally had eight sons. Seven of them plotted against him, three did so openly. By the time he comes into the books, Obould only has one living son, the implication being he killed the others. He would have killed that one too (for incompetence rather than treason), but someone else beat him to it.
  • Orc Bites Drow: He bite's a drow priestess' throat out and spits it back into her face as she bleeds to death; he did this both as insult and to prevent her from casting a spell.
  • Our Orcs Are Different: Are they ever.
  • Pet the Dog: He treats his prisoners fairly well. He threatened death to any of his men who harmed a captured pegasus or a dwarven prisoner, and even had his shamans heal Regis before returning him to the Companions. This is more about the pragmatic villainy than actual sympathy, but still.
  • Pragmatic Villainy
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something
  • Shadow Archetype: To Drizzt. They're both exceptional members of Exclusively Evil races who see the obvious flaws in their respective cultures, rejecting said culture in favor of their own moral codes. Where as Drizzt used his martial skill to escape and evade his people, living apart from them, Obould used his cunning and political savvy(backed by martial skill) to force a fundamental change in the way his people lived. It's interesting to note that the parallels between them are never drawn explicitly in the text, and Drizzt never compares himself to Obould. He does, however, compare Obould to Artemis twice, the first time noting that the orc king apparently felt he needed to prove something by insisting on fighting Drizzt one on one, and the second time as a note towards his prowess in combat.
  • Spikes of Villainy
  • Super Empowering: He was "blessed" in a public ritual, and became a semidivine being—the Chosen of Gruumsh One-Eye.
  • Tin Tyrant: Something of a plot point was that Drizzt couldn't cut through his armor. Came complete with Spikes of Villainy.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Before being blessed by Gruumsh, he was at best, an Elite Mook. Afterwards he becomes a Hero-Killer.
  • Uberorc : Obould rejected the traditions and morals of orcish society, rising above them and forcing a fundamental change in his people and their way of life, and by extension, the way of life for their neighbors.
  • Underestimating Badassery: The very idea that an orc could be as badass as Obould is is utterly incomprehensible to the Companions of the Hall. This both serves him well and bites him in the ass; in battle he has the edge(not that he really needs it) because they think he'll far less formidable than he is. On the other hand, when he seeks to try and force negotiations, that same underestimation leads them to think that fighting him is the better option.
  • Villainous Valor: Sees fit to fight Drizzt in one on one combat not once, but twice. Somewhat subverted in that he's not outmatched; the first time he forces Drizzt to run away, and the second time it's Drizzt who has to pull out all the dirty tricks to stand up to him.
  • You No Take Candle: Has shades of this speech pattern in his early appearances, giving the rogue drow band the impression that he was an easily manipulated pushover. Eventually, after being made into Grummsh's Chosen, he becomes much more articulate.

Regis Rumblebelly

Race: Lightfoot halfling
Class: Rogue
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Thibbledorf Pwent

Race: Shield Dwarf
Class: Barbarian/Battlerager
Alignment: Chaotic Good

  • Badass Beard
  • The Berserker
  • A Good Way to Die: His final act was placing Bruenor on the crankshaft that would let the king reseal the primordial that powers Gauntlgrym.
  • The Last Dance: Helping Bruenor fight the pit fiend in Gauntlgrym proved to be his.
  • The Pig Pen: Covered in dirt and grim. Hair's greasy as all hell. Was actually forced to take a bath in The Orc King, for the first time in years, and likely tried to kill the person who forced it on him.
  • Power Fist: Uses his armored gauntlets to punch the hell out of enemies. Some art depicts them with wolverine...spikes.
  • Rule of Cool: The only reason his fighting style actually works.
  • Spikes of Villainy: Averted; his armor is covered with spikes, but he's very much a good guy.
  • Undying Loyalty: Would follow Bruenor to hell and back.
  • Use Your Head: Primary mode of attack. It helps that he has a ridiculously large spike on his helmet.
  • Wild Hair: All. Over. His. Body.


Wulfgar

Race: Illuskan human
Class: Barbarian
Alignment: Chaotic Good

  • Back from the Dead: In Passage to Dawn.
  • Barbarian Hero
  • Defeat Means Friendship: When Wulfgar was young, Bruenor defeated him in battle, then took him on as a slave. He eventually grew into the adopted son and apprentice roles over the period of five years.
  • Drop the Hammer: His signature weapon is Aegis-fang, a massive warhammer that returns when he throws it.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: Fell deep into the bottle to try and deal with his post-traumatic stress from being trapped in the Abyss.
  • Executive Meddling: Wulfgar was supposed to stay dead, but a combination of fan request and editor input brought him back in Passage to Dawn.
  • Forging Scene: Gets one after the Time Skip in the first book as something of an Establishing Character Moment for how the years of service have changed him.
  • Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: To a mild degree. While in Luskan, he was recruited by Morik the Rogue to be the muscle for his extortion racket for the promise of good money, a few laughs, and the chance to beat up unscrupulous smugglers and the like. Looked at through the bottom of a whiskey bottle, it didn't seem like that bad an idea.
  • He's Back: Finally managed to break out of his alcoholism in The Spine of the World.
  • Heroic BSOD: Somewhere during his time in the Abyss.
  • I Am Wulfgar, Son of Beornegar
  • Made of Iron: Something of a Charles Atlas Superpower, Wulfgar's amazing durability is the result of long hours of working alongside dwarves every day for five years straight.
  • Put on a Bus: Got in a fight with a yochlol and nearly won...only to be crushed to death, then got taken to the Abyss to be a balor's plaything for seven years. While the effects were felt by the other characters, the manner in which Wulfgar was removed was abrupt, to say the least.
    • Was Put on a Bus in The Orc King after the events of The Two Swords, and made a brief appearance in The Pirate King before disappearing from the main narrative completely. He gets a send off in a short story in an anthology book later on, though.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Played with, since he didn't fight in a war, so much as survive being tortured by a demon for seven years.
  • The First Cut Is the Deepest: Before he was killed at Mithril Hall, he and Catti-Brie were set to be married. But after being recovered from the Abyss and all the torture he was made to endure, they couldn't quite make it work anymore.
  • Unlucky Childhood Friend: To Catti-brie, who ended up with Drizzt.

Yvonnel Baenre

Race: Drow
Class: Cleric
Alignment: Chaotic Evil


Rai-guy Bondalek

Race: Drow
Class: Cleric/Wizard
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

  • Heterosexual Life Partners: With Kimmuriel
  • Oh Crap: In Servant of the Shard.
  • Our Elves Are Better
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning
  • The Starscream: When Jarlaxle is swayed by the Crystal Shard's personality, he convinces Kimmuriel to join him in a coup, deliberately sabotaging Bregan D'aerthe's surface operations before moving against Jarlaxle himself. Note that he only did so out of fear that Jarlaxle's greed had gotten the best of him and put the group at risk, but being a drow, it's not as though he needed much of an excuse.

Zaknafein Do'Urden

Race: Drow
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Neutral Good

Dinin Do'Urden

Race: Drow
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Errtu

Race: Balor (demon)
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Innovindil

Race: Moon elf
Class: Warrior
Alignment: Neutral Good

  • Death of the Hypotenuse
  • Love Triangle: Drizzt and Innovindil seem to express some amount of feelings for each other, while Drizzt also has strong feelings for Catti-brie. However, Innovindil seems happy to encourage Drizzt to find love with Catti-brie.

Herzgo Alegni

Race: Tiefling
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Sylora Salm

Race: Human
Class: Red Wizard
Alignment: Lawful Evil

War of the Spider Queen Series

Pharaun Mizzrym

Race: Drow
Class: Wizard
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Ryld: You've had relations with a goblin?
Pharaun: A true scholar always seeks out new experiences.

Ryld Argith

Race: Drow
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Quenthel Baenre

Race: Drow
Class: Cleric
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Jeggred Baenre

Race: Draegloth
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Valas Hune

Race: Drow
Class: Rogue/Scout
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Faeryl Zauvirr

Race: Drow
Class: Cleric
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Halisstra Melarn

Race: Drow
Class: Cleric/Bard/Seeker of the Song
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Danifae Yauntyrr

Race: Drow
Class: Cleric
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Gromph Baenre

Race: Drow
Class: Wizard/Archmage
Alignment: Neutral Evil


Aliisza

Race: Alu-fiend
Class: Sorcerer
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Kaanyr Vhok

Race: Cambion
Class: Fighter/Rogue/Sorcerer
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Nimor Imphraezl

Race: Drow/Shadow Dragon
Class: Rogue/Fighter/Assassin
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

The Empyrean Odyssey

Kael

Race: Half-drow/half-fiend
Class: Paladin
Alignment: Lawful Good

Tauran

Race: Astral deva
Class: Cleric
Alignment: Lawful Good, later Neutral Good

  • Break the Cutie: The fall of Helm and Tyr's disgrace nearly forced him into Heroic BSOD territory.
    • Happened again after the death of Mystra, since the group ultimately failed and he thought he had been completely betrayed by Aliisza.
  • Carry a Big Stick: Wielded an enchanted mace in combat.
  • Fallen Angel: Was stripped of his divinity and immortality as punishment for his crimes against the House of the Triad.
  • Good Wings
  • Guardian Angel: Both in normal and literal sense for Kael.
  • Guile Hero
  • Hair of Gold
  • Half Truth: His mastery of this and lying by withholding information would make many a devil proud.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Had a feeling something was amiss with the gods and went rogue when no one would listen to him.
  • Ship Tease: Had a scene where he was feeling particularly heart-broken about what was happening with the gods and got head-on-lap action with Aliisza...
    • Ship Sinking: ...and then they both died at the end of The Crystal Mountain.

Zasian Menz

Race: Human
Class: Cleric
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Swords and Songs

Arilyn Moonblade

Race: Half-elf (Moon)
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Neutral Good

  • Action Girl
  • Battle Couple / Sword and Sorcerer: With Danilo Thann.
  • Blue Eyes, flecked with gold. Her elven eyes are a minor plot point in that they allow her to pass as an elf more easily, which is important in the third book of the series.
  • Deadpan Snarker: most of the time, usually directed at Danilo.
  • Hot Chick with a Sword
  • Kuudere
  • Lady of War: Given an opportunity, she can do quasi-official "dignified Moonwarrior ambassador" role as easily as "sewers-climbing adventurer".
  • Secret Legacy: Wonder why such important people suddenly chose to attend the burial ceremonies of her mother? And why they didn't expect her to keep the sword?
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: With Danilo Thann, though it works out for them in the end.
  • Tall, Dark and Bishoujo, thanks to her elven mother, she's pretty and pale like a moon elf and thanks to rather big father and training in a forceful fighting style from childhood, tall like a human. Other aspects of this trope also apply.

Danilo Thann

Race: Human
Class: Bard or Aristocrat/Wizard/Spellsinger
Alignment: Chaotic Good

Elaith Craulnober

Race: Elf (Moon)
Class: Fighter/Wizard
Alignment: Neutral Evil

  • Anti-Hero / Anti-Villain: Mostly. He tried to be a full-on hero, then full-on villain, but didn't fit in either role.
  • Broken Bird: The haughty, though innocent back then, variant. From the prince, Captain of the King's guard, betrothed to a princess and heir to an almost sacred artifact to self-exile and soon enough grave robber.
  • Evil Parents Want Good Kids: He knows he's badly messed up and wants his daughter to be a proper elf.
  • I Am Not Left-Handed: He doesn't advertise his wizardry expertise and it frequently makes a nasty surprise.
  • Knife Nut: He's a skilled fencer and more, but daggers tend to jump into his hand first unless he's against something big.
  • Last of His Kind: Deconstructed - it works very much not in a "romantic story" way. He was the last in his clan, which is why the moonblade he expected to take for granted didn't kill an unworthy claimant. Of course, that's also part of the reason why he failed. Trying too hard to uphold a tradition without proper access to it may lead into all sorts of pitfalls, who knew?

Elaine Cunningham: Elves can elect to pass on this inheritance if their particular talents, strengths, and personalities are not well suited for the family moonblade. As as Elaith's history demonstrated, his were not. He might have "grown into" the sword, had he waited a few decades and faced a few uncomfortable truths. But his particular history fostered neither patience nor perspective.


The Cleric Quintet

Cadderly Bonaduce

Race: Human
Class: Cleric
Alignment: Neutral Good

  • Badass Preacher
    • Badass Bookworm: Spent the better part of his life building a Cathedral/Library, Spirit Soaring.
  • The Chosen One: Chosen of Deneir
  • Flat Earth Agnostic: For a long time he questioned whether or not the gods actually existed, even though he was a priest and recieved magic from one; somewhat justified in that Deneir actually encourages his followers to question dogma and think for themselves.
  • Hot Dad
  • Heroic Sacrifice: In The Ghost King, against the title monster.
  • Killer Yoyo: His weapons of choice
  • Older Than They Look: Over sixty, but looks to be in his mid twenties due to reverse aging for a few years; he actually looks younger than his own son.
  • Sealed Evil in a Duel: See Heroic Sacrifice above.

Danica Bonaduce

Race: Human
Class: Monk
Alignment: Lawful Good

Ivan Bouldershoulder

Race: Dwarf
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Neutral Good

Pikel Bouldershoulder

Race: Dwarf
Class: Druid
Alignment: Neutral Good

Other Characters

Lauzoril

Race: Mulan human
Class: Wizard (Enchanter)
Alignment: Neutral Evil

  • Affably Evil: Zulkir of Enchantment is an infernally charismatic bastard, whether dealing with weaker ("people he has ordered slain in their presence have gone to the executioner smiling") or stronger (his encounter with The Simbul was awesome, as normally she kills Red Wizards on sight, and they both knows he won't get away if she tried to). He also essentially first entered a separate peace treaty, extolling oncoming trade competition on the same breath.
  • Evil Parents Want Good Kids
  • Noble Demon: He really cares about his kid, renounced undeath and comes across as a bit too honest for zulkir or master of Charm school.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful / Screw the Rules, I'm Talented / Screw the Rules, I Make Them
    • Important Haircut: You did notice that all Red Wizards shave their heads clean, even women? Well, Lauzoril doesn't. This still didn't preclude him from being a charismatic leader of a party.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Lauzoril began with rejecting his career with leaving his family's tradition of specializing in Necromancy in favour of Enchantment to which he obviously got a talent... and possibly out of general disgust with what The Undead tend to become - such as some of his elders. Later after he learned how the war only makes things worse for Thay, chose to throw his weight around and change the policy.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist / Necessarily Evil / Knight in Sour Armor: Lauzoril managed to cover all three. He started as an ardent patriot of Thay and opposition to Szass Tam. And even kept his convictions on both points, but got very disillusioned in process about Thay, his colleagues and himself.

Szass Tam

Race: Mulan human lich
Class: Wizard (Necromancer)
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Volothamp Geddarm

Race: human
Class: Wizard (mage)
Alignment: Chaotic Good

The author of "Volo's Guides", infamous travelogues in which he spills too much, and as such earns coin and ire alike.

Ed Greenwood: Heh. Volo's a SATIRE of the "Great White Explorer" of the British Empire, and has been from the start. We needed an 'idiot narrator.' Jeff Grubb named him; I already had the character (Elminster kept turning him into water-spouting frog fountains and the like.)


Yamun Khahan

Race: Tuigan human
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Lawful Evil

The Gods

Good Deities

Amaunator, God of the Sun

  • Back from the Dead: Died after the fall fo Netheril, when his worshippers either died or abandoned him. Was reborn as Lathander, and reborn again after the Spellplague.
  • Badass Beard
  • Lawful Stupid: Allowed most of his followers to die in the fall of Netheril as he was contractually prohibited from interfering in matters of magic, which were Mystryl's domain.
  • Light Is Good: Currently straight: Lathander was Neutral Good and Amaunator is Lawful Good. In Netherese times however, he was Lawful Neutral.
  • Solar and Lunar: Oddly doesn't have a strong connection to the moon diety.

Angharradh, Queen of Arvandor

  • Fusion Dance: The whole religion is built upon single incident - albeit critical point in the history of Seldarine and Dark Seldarine - when Hanali Celanil, Sehanine Moonbow and Aerdrie Faenya merged during Araushnee/Lolth's coup.
  • Our Elves Are Better

Bahamut, The Platinum Dragon

Berronar Truesilver, The Mother of Safety

Chauntea, the Great Mother

Corellon Larethian, The Creator of the Elves

Eilistraee, the Dark Maiden.

Drow goddess of dance, song and beauty. Eilistraee chose to share the exile of her mother, and the punishment of her people, to bring them the hope of a new life, free from Lolth's tyranny. She fights to make them flourish and prosper once again in the surface world, in harmony with all other races.

  • Anti Mutiny: An odd case in that she was tricked by her mother Aurushnee / Lloth into helping with the coup, then turned back, atoned and began to convert the dark elves (now turned into drow) back to the old path as she saw it. [And succeed with a lot of them].
  • Back From The Dead: Restored to life in the 5th edition version of the setting, alongside her brother Vhaeraun, after the event known as The Sundering--not the elven one, but the one happened during the 1480s DR--(Questions for Ed Greenwood (2015)). She is also mentioned as a currently active deity in Ed Greenwood's novels Spellstorm and Death Masks, and in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.
  • Dance Battler: It's a form of worship as well as combat.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: She's the only non-evil member of the drow pantheon.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: After Vhaeraun was defeated by her, and after their return to life, they have become allied.
  • Godiva Hair: She's usually depicted tall and dancing naked, with ankle-long silver hair flowing around. Because she tend to appear like this.
  • Good Shepherd: Willingly took exile and punishment, because she had foreseen that the drow would have needed her light in the times to come. Known to help her people in practical matters, or to manifest to them (in various ways) when they need her confort.
  • Hot God: Goddess of beauty. Also described as the answer to that question which every soul felt, but no words could frame.
  • Magic Music: The Spellsong, practiced by her priestesses. Eilistraee's own song is described as so beautiful as to drive to tears, and to elicit deep emotions even in creatures that are normally immune to such effects.
  • Matriarchy : Communities where the faith of Eilistraee is predominant tend to be matriarchies. Her clergy used to be restricted to females until the 1490s DR, when it fully opened up to both genders.
    • A neat case of DependingOnTheWriter, in Lisa Smedman's books about the drow, the morality of the actions of the priestesses of Eilistraee is dubious, and the Matriarchy devolves into LadyLand. They are supposed to be the good guys, but they, as a whole, are associated with misandrism and dictation of faith. This is however in contrast with all the previously established lore about Eilistraee, that portrays her priestesses, as a whole, in a definitely positive light.
  • Nude Nature Dance: The main veneration ritual and one of her manifestations.
  • Only Mostly Dead: Supposedly slain by Lolth's BrainwashedAndCrazy TheDragon during the War of the Spider Queen. The novels never show the goddess' dying to the reader or to one of the characters, leaving uncertainty and room for fates different from death. Instead Qilué Veladorn -Eilistraee's and Mystra's shared chosen- is killed while used by the Dark Maiden as an Avatar (a physical manifestation on the material plane). However, since in the Forgotten Realms deities can only be actually killed while on their Divine Realm (the only exception being the Time of Troubles, when deities were forced to walk on Toril and could be slain there), Eilistraee may have very well survived, even if taking quite a blow/being reduced to a powerless status/etc... Ed Greenwood embraced this hypothesis in his version of what happened.
  • Plucky Girl: Suffered many defeats and setbacks (including the collapse of her power and influence, with the death of the vast majority of her people during the Crown Wars), fights an uphill battle against deities much more powerful than her, but doesn't give up on her cause. She can be moody and melancholic (acting recklessly and lashing out when her people are harmed), but remains a lover of beauty and life, enjoying and teaching to spread joy whenever possible.
  • Retcon : In the "Lady Penitent" series all of her Drow worshippers have been turned to the original Dark Elves. In 5e it's stated that her followers are drow. Although this could also mean that not all her followers were transformed, since the characters who make that statement in the Lady Penitent trilogy are definitely not an absolute source of info, and since the stated number of transformed followers is far smaller than the number of followers than she--as a lesser power--has.
  • Solar And Lunar: Again, no clean-cut counterparts.

Eldath, Goddess of Singing Waters.

  • Actual Pacifist: She's also the goddess of peace. And gives a sanctuary to those who think they fed up with violence, such as a certain Gold Elf vampire, and collected the whole colony of disillusioned Malenti.
    • This doesn't mean she's not decisive or strategically savvy. At least two novels did show her at active and well-timed work on expansion and conversion—Eldath is non-violent, and smoothly subversive, so her acquisitions go quietly.
  • Ghibli Hills: The terrain of preference is quiet glades, pools, springs and waterfalls.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni / Tomboy and Girly Girl: She's in almost sisterly relationship with Mielikki—they generally divide jobs at "nurturing" vs. "protection".

Garl Glittergold, The Watchful Protector

Ilmater, The One Who Endures

Mielikki, The Forest Queen

Moradin, The Soul Forger

Selûne, The Moonmaiden

Sune, Lady Firehair

Torm, The Loyal Fury

  • Arch Enemy: With Bane and Cyric.
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: The greatsword is the favored weapon of his clergy.
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Is rumored to have a romantic relationship with The Red Knight, a minor goddess of strategy.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: Supposed to "end and rebirth" Toril after a battle to the death with Cyric, god of various nasty things. His worshipers seem to think this is an GREAT goal, however. Apparently, Cyric's death is better is worth ending the world as we know it.
  • The Paladin: Actually the god of paladins.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Twice; was originally a fairly minor demigod who managed to take out Bane during the Time of Troubles; this got him upped to intermediate god. When Tyr decided he was no longer cut out for the job, he passed his power and duties onto Torm, promoting him to greater god.

Tymora, The Lady Who Smiles

  • Alternate Character Interpretation: In-Universe, Halflings consider her a halfling Goddess who has tricked other races into worshiping her too.
  • Badass Boast: "Fortune Favors the Bold!!" used to encourage worshipers and others to trust in Tymora's luck and take high risks in return for high rewards in the pursuit of what they want.
  • Cool but Inefficient: Her favored weapon is the shuriken, one of the weakest weapons that exists.
  • Split At Birth: Tymora and Beshaba were both literally formed when Tyche the Goddess of Luck, was split in half by Selûne after being corrupted by Moander. The myth goes that Beshaba got all of Tyche's beauty and frivolousness, while Tymora got all of the heart and kindness.

Yondalla, The Protector and Provider

Neutral Deities

Gond, The Wonderbringer

Kelemvor (Lyonsbane), Lord of the Dead

  • Alternate Character Interpretation: A large part of the plot of the first expansion for Neverwinter Nights 2 is a war against him because he is holding mortals souls hostage for power.
  • Arch Enemy: With Cyric
  • Dark Is Not Evil: He is not evil, but neutral.
  • Deity of Human Origin
  • Don't Fear the Reaper: While not nice or friendly, Kelemvor goes a long way to minimize fear of death.
  • Jerkass Facade / Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As a mortal, Kelemvor wanted to be a hero and wanted to help people. However, he had a curse that turned him into a panther and forced him to kill someone if he ever did anything for reasons other than personal gain.
  • Necessary Evil: He maintains a wall of souls to keep the gods in power. This is a motivation for one of the party members in Mask of The Betrayer renouncing her faith in him. However, what most who bring this up fail to mention is that he actually tried taking it down soon after becoming a god, and, well... Let's just say it didn't work out.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In his first years after becoming God of Death, he took the moral judgment of souls upon himself, whereas previous death gods only judged on whether a soul has been true to his patron god. He constructed places of reward and punishment for the faithless souls in his realm. As a result, good and heroic mortals stopped worshiping their own gods because they could count on Kelemvor's judgment, while more evil types were terrified of dying for fear of being condemned (you know, even more so). This screwed with the Balance Between Good and Evil on Faerun and resulted in a pantheon of seriously disgruntled deities on both sides.

Oghma, The Lord of Knowledge

Red Knight, The Lady of Strategy

Silvanus, The Forest Father

Tempus, Lord of Battles

Supreme god of war in the Faerûnian Pantheon.

  • An Axe to Grind: His church's favored weapon is the battle axe; odd, considering one of his titles is the Foehammer and his holy symbol is a sword on a shield; though being the god of war, it would make sense for him to be a Multi Melee Master.
  • Asskicking Equals Authority: Tempus became and maintains his position as god of war by defeating all others who would claim the title.
  • Blood Knight: About halfway. Tempus does enjoy fights the most, but the warfare should be about honour and glory—he opposes meaningless carnage and destruction, or endless blood feuds. Conversely, cowardice and other dishonorable behaviour is punished, as are attacks on what belongs to Eldath: his followers are supposed to search for a tough opponent, not push pacifists around.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: His style—honest, feasting, active, not holding grudges, but eager for the next fight. He even gave the Strategy part of the portfolio to Red Knight and left Destruction to Garagos.
  • Dating Catwoman: Has romantic ties to Beshaba, evil goddess of bad luck. While Tempus is a neutral god, he's one of the only non-evil gods to have an affair with a blatantly evil one.
  • Due to the Dead: Those who fought well are praised and remembered. Indeed, followers of Tempus frequently hang all around the worship site collected shields of fallen warriors, whether allies or foes.
  • Gods Need Prayer Badly: The fact that gods in the Forgotten Realms are empowered by worship means that Tempus, to whom practically every combatant on the planet says a prayer on the eve of battle, is one of the most powerful deities in the entire pantheon.
  • War God: His dogma (as illustrated by "object lessons" of The Trail of Tears):
  1. "War is fair in that it oppresses all sides equally and in any given battle a mortal may be slain or become a great leader among his or her companions."
  2. "Acquit yourself honorably and tirelessly in battle, but do not fear to retreat from hopeless fights."
  3. "War should not be feared, but be seen as a natural force that civilization brings by its very existence. Pestilence and famine are the true scourges of civilization, for they too afflict all equally yet without the opportunity for valor."
  4. "Defend what you believe in, lest it be swept away, and remember the dead who fell fighting before. Disparage no foe and respect all, for valor blazes in all, regardless of age, gender, or race."

Evil Deities

Asmodeus, Supreme of the Nine Hells

Auril, The Cold Goddess

Bane, The Black Hand.

  • Arch Enemy: With Torm
  • Back from the Dead: Not from the first attempt, at that. Talk about Crazy Prepared.
  • Big Bad: Top contender for Big Bad of the Realms.
  • Dark Is Evil
  • Deity of Human Origin: Is one of the earliest examples in the Forgotten Realms mythos, having been part of an adventuring trio known as the Dead Three, along with Bhaal and Myrkul. The three sought out Jergal, Lord of the End of Everything, the previous god of death, fear, and murder, hoping to kill him and divide his power. Luckily for them, Jergal was bored with his power, and gave it up willingly, making Bane the god of fear, Bhaal the god of murder, and Myrkul the god of the dead. All three were later killed, and thus far only Bane has returned.
  • Evil vs. Evil: Though Torm is his Arch Enemy, he is currently focusing his forces on Cyric.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast
  • Pragmatic Villainy: Bane commands order in his church, and his followers are as likely to solve disputes through reasonable debate as through violence.
  • Power Fist: His church favors the use of spiked gauntlets called The Black Hands of Bane as their Weapon of Choice.

Beshaba, Lady Doom

Cyric, The Prince of Lies

  • Adaptational Attractiveness: Depending on the Writer really. In some books, he is described as classically handsome and extremely charismatic, such as by the Succubus in The Fractured Sky and throughout most of James Lowder's works, and as hideous and twisted in most other works. Wo TC Canon has him pictured mostly as a normal-looking guy. Cyric has more appearances than perhaps any god/goddess except Mystra, who seems to change appearance after each "death/reincarnation" cycle.
  • Arch Enemy: Formerly with Mystra; currently with Kelemvor and Bane.
  • A God Am I: Even when human, this was all he could think of.
  • At Least I Admit It: Admits his lies and murders very easily, since he is the god of such things and he is not at all going against his specific "code of honor" if he has one. Even the Overgod agreed with Cyric on the case of murdering other gods. Except, it seems, when he murdered Mystra, Azuth, Helm, and Tyr. That seemed to be even more than Ao could handle (if Ao exists in 4E anyway).
  • Axe Crazy: Most of the time, though his lucid moments are far scarier than his crazy moments.
  • Believing Their Own Lies: Cyrinishad. Nuff said.
  • Blessed with Suck: During his trial, a mortal worshiper managed to steal a reversed copy of the Cyrinishad away from the middle of Candlekeep and a pair of guardians a hell of a lot more skilled and violent than he was. While under Mystra's (lifelong, as it turns out) enchantment to speak the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth, he read the book aloud at Cyric's trial, curing him of the original Cyrinishad's curse and restoring him to sanity. As a reward, Cyric promoted him to be his Seraph of Lies. When the man protested that he couldn't lie, Cyric told him that made him perfect for the job.
  • Career Killers: A major part of his worship comes from this profession.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: All the time.
  • Consummate Liar: Note title, of course, even though he doesn't HAVE to lie most of the time.
  • Dark Is Evil: One of his titles is the Black Sun.
  • Deity of Human Origin
  • Depending on the Writer: His sanity, appearance, and relationships with the other gods. In the Avatar series, he seems to have unrequited love for Mystra and seems to resent brawny, handsome Kelemvor for winning her heart. In Denning's works, he is just a megalomaniac who wants everyone to worship him. In WOTC timeline, he's actually a brilliant Trickster and ends up proving himself Not So Harmless after all, and NOT too insane to be effective. He causes Shar to lose a massive amount of power, her own Weave AND Mystra's Weave, the deaths of Helm, Tyr and Azuth, and the Spellplague. Sure he gets locked up for a thousand years, but thats a small price to pay for causing all that chaos that Cyric loves so much. Besides, as master of lies and illusion its only a matter of time before he's out of his prison.
  • Dirty Coward: Runs away when he knows he can't win at all, turns to stealing and lying instead of fighting to get what he wants.
  • Eldritch Abomination: Binds one of these to him after freeing it from its fetters. Kezef the Chaos Hound still seems loyal to Cyric even while being imprisoned again by Mask.
  • Evil vs. Evil: Is commanding his church into a holy war against the church of Bane. Was also commanding his church to war against EACH OTHER when he was "insane".
  • Fate Worse Than Death: His punishment for the deaths of Helm and Mystra and the Spellplague? Eternal banishment to a pocket plane, doomed to forever be trapped and hated and feared by all.
    • Not quite so. He can still grant spells to his worshippers and such, just not communicate with anyone or anything. Cyric is already insane. Imagine when he gets out of his little prison. He is already hated and feared by all, also. That isn't something new to Cyric and that seems to almost be his entire goal.
  • It's All About Me: Had his followers create a tome that convinced anyone who read it that Cyric was the only true god. Then he read it himself.
  • Mad God
  • Moral Event Horizon: When he slashed the tendons in a fleeing soldier's ankles and when he ruthlessly killed Midnight's halfling friend. The first could be forgiven by simply saying he had to do it to keep his cover, but the second is unforgivable.
  • Not So Harmless: For a while, he was considered something of a harmless villain because he was too crazy to be effective. Then he killed Mystra and set off the Spellplague.
    • Don't forget how he orchestrated the death of Helm, and subsequently Tyr's fall from grace. Although Helm managed to survive buy hiding part of his essence, and same did Mystra
    • And Shar's loss of BOTH her own Shadow Weave and Mystra's Weave. A massive loss of power for the Lady of Loss. Oh, he also indirectly killed Azuth, which most people forget. Making his total of murdered gods (directly or indirectly) in 4E...well...four. There's also a chance, with Helm's death, that the Rainbow Bridge was damaged. This troper read a fanfic where Helm's death resulted in the total destruction of the Rainbow Bridge, which leads to all the other realms, hindering travel for all the other gods. Which would be a PRETTY BIG DEAL to them, lending more credence to this troper's theory that Mystra's death was NOT the only reason Cyric was imprisoned. He is, after all, god of Murder. Its his JOB to murder. There had to be another reason.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Was banished to his realm The Supreme Throne(he's a very humble god ) for the aformentioned killing of Mystra.
  • Self-Made Orphan: Murders both his adoptive and biological fathers. In the original story (possibly a lie, possibly just different writers not getting the story straight) he simply ran away from his adoptive parents and then murdered his biological father. In Prince of Lies, its made clear by Oghma, God of Knowledge, that he murdered BOTH sets of parents. Self-Made Orphan indeed.
  • Self-Proclaimed Liar: Note his title.
  • Start of Darkness: In Shadowdale (the book), its made clear that he absolutely LOVES watching gods kill each other. This is possibly the start of his future God of Murder status. Then he gets rejected by Midnight in favor of Kelemvor and that is what really pushes him over the edge toward evil.
  • That Liar Lies: Pretty much called by Torm "nothing but lies" when he claims he didn't kill the former goddess of Illusion. (He was technically NOT lying, since it was MASK who killed her, in the guise of Cyric's sword, Godsbane.)
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to an entire council of murderous greater gods in the Trial of Cyric...and gets away with it. He also gives Mystra and Kelemvor various speeches throughout the book. Cyric is also on the receiving end of such a speech in the same book, but it isn't near as epic as his chewing out an entire pantheon of angry battle gods, some who absolutely HATE him, such as Kelemvor and Tempus.
  • Trickster Archetype: Sort of. He makes it very clear that he prefers trickery and lies over such petty things as judging the dead, but he isn't a funny jokester at all. More like an Evil!Trickster.
  • Villains Never Lie: Despite his title, he doesn't have to, most of the time. Like with Malik, the best lie is the most unbelievable truth.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Kelemvor (and Midnight/Mystra), as a mortal. He was brains to Kel's brawn. After Kel slept with Midnight...their relationship went out the window. After he crossed the Moral Event Horizon by killing one of Midnight's friends, that relationship also went down the drain. He really has No Social Skills.
  • Xanatos Speed Chess: Cyric is a master of this. Just read the novels he's in and see how he turns every situation to his advantage, even if it looks like its going to pot. The Trial for example. His plot to have the Cyrinishad read at the Trial gets squashed quite quickly, but Cyric had another way to win the Trial. He had planned for the eventuality of the trial failing, even though he is about as arrogant as it gets and doesn't believe he could possibly fail. Of course, in the end, we realize the trial was ALL CYRIC'S DOING IN THE FIRST PLACE! At the start, he had planned it to expose the other gods to the Cyrinishad, but when that failed, immediately decided ending Mystra and Kelemvor's love would also serve his evil just as well.

Ghaunadaur, That Which Lurks

Gruumsh, The One-Eyed God

  • Arch Enemy: With Corellon.
  • Ax Crazy
  • Blade on a Stick: Carries an iron spear, though some art shows him with a spiked mace instead.
  • Blood Knight
  • Dragon-in-Chief: Was this when part of Lolth's Legion of Doom. While she was the mastermind behind it, Gruumsh was by far the most powerful deity in the group, and the only one who could hold his own against Corellon.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Tempus. While the two have little in the way of interaction, Gruumsh's realm is described as a dark reflection of Tempus' Warrior's Rest.
  • Eye Scream: On Lolth's advice, Gruumsh ambushed Corellon, who cut out one of his eyes. Gruumsh now despises both deities.
  • Hero-Killer: The first description of diecide in the Realms was Gruumsh killing Re, Big Good of the Mulhorandi pantheon.
  • Our Orcs Are Different: Gruumsh himself is the epitome of the older, more savage orcs, though lately has been guiding his people to a more neutral stance, if only because getting them out of caves will make them stronger as a whole.
  • The Man Behind the Man / Hijacked by Ganon: Was revealed that Talos, a more human-centric deity of storms, natural disasters, rebellion, and destruction, and the leader of a group of evil gods known as the Deities of Fury, was in fact Gruumsh in disguise, getting some non-orc worshipers.
  • The Social Darwinist

Lolth, (Demon) Queen of Spiders

Patron goddess of the drows, also associated with spiders and deceit. Lolth spent a long time as a DemonLordsAndArchDevils demon princess/queen before ascending to godhood.

  • Ambition Is Evil: Lead to her FaceHeelTurn.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Betrayed Corellon, then betrayed the evil deities she had gathered to fight him.
  • Dark Is Evil: The most influent dark-skinned elven deity is a ChaoticEvil demoness.
  • Evil Matriarch: Each of her children hates her passionately. And the feeling is mutual.
  • Face Heel Turn: Was originally allied with Corellon, but gathered an LegionOfDoom alliance of evil deities against him.
  • Giant Spider: Her true form.
  • Offing The Offspring: Her BrainwashedAndCrazy servitor supposedly managed to kill her daughter, Eilistraee. Unluckily for Lolth, both Eilistraee and Vhaeraun (her son) would later return to life, allied against her.
  • Our Elves Are Different: In fact, she's the reason why drow elves are different than other elves.
  • Whip It Good: Her favored weapon and the WeaponOfChoice for her priestesses.

Loviatar, The Maiden of Pain

Luthic, The Blood Moon Witch

Malar, The Beastlord

Shar, Mistress of the Night

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