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ARTICLEMONSTER MYTHOLOGY

Though monsters have worshiped many gods over the years, Tiamat wasthe 揜\rst.

Tiamat has made a big return in Tyranny of Dragons, but monstrous deities have been acentral element of D&D since its earliest days. There were three great sources ofmonstrous deities in the 1970s and '80s: the dragons, the demons and devils, and theworld of Greyhawk. Since then, monstrous deities have proliferated.

THE PRIMAL DRAGON DEITIES: 1975–1987You won’t 揜\nd any references to deities in either Chainmail (1971) or OD&D (1974).Instead, they quietly slipped into the game in Supplement I: Greyhawk (1975). There, thedragons acquired two rulers. The platinum dragon, “king of lawful (and neutral)dragons,” is said to live in “a great palace behind the east wind”; while the chromaticdragon, “queen of the chaotic dragons,” receives no geographic detail, but gets plentyof description—revealing her as a 揜\ve-headed creature, striped in the colors of the 揜\vechaotic dragons, with the tail of a wyvern.

These two draconic rulers returned in the AD&D Monster Manual (1977), which givesmore description including their names: Bahamut and Tiamat. Though they continuedto be described as monsters, it became obvious that these two rulers were actuallydraconic deities, as Tiamat is reported to rule the 揜\rst layer of the Nine Hells. Bahamuthad to wait until the Manual of the Planes (1987) to get a de揜\nitive and dei揜\c extraplanarhome, but it was worth the wait because he got two: one in the Seven Heavens and onein the Plane of Air.

Both of these draconic deities received good attention throughout the ’80s. Tiamatappeared as a recurring villain in the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon (1983–1985).Meanwhile, both Bahamut and Tiamat appeared prominently in the DragonlanceChronicles adventures (1984–1986) under the new names of Paladine and Takhisis. The

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Chronicles adventures (1984–1986) under the new names of Paladine and Takhisis. Thelast two Chronicles adventures even spotlighted the deities: in DL13 Dragons of Truth(1986) the Companions journey to the Glitterpalace of Paladine, while in DL14 Dragonsof Triumph (1986) they invade the temple of Takhisis.

After the ’80s, Bahamut and Tiamat continued to appear in a variety of deity andmonster books, but they’d never again reach the prominence they’d seen in the ’80s . . .until now.

In the meantime, many other monstrous deities arose.

FIENDISH LORDS: 1976–1997The demon princes were the second set of monstrous deities to appear in D&D. They揜\rst were revealed in Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry (1976), which detailedDemogorgon and Orcus. The AD&D Monster Manual (1977) supplemented the demonprinces’ numbers with Juiblex and Yeenoghu and also premiered the arch-devils:Asmodeus, Baalzebul, Dispater, and Geryon. Many more have appeared over the years,such as the demons Baphomet, Fraz-Urb'luu, Graz’zt, and Pazuzu and the devils Belial,Mammon, and Moloch—all of whom were found in Monster Manual II (1983).

Just as the draconic deities got to play a major role in Dragonlance, the demon lordOrcus got his 揜\rst chance to shine in another of AD&D’s classic adventures. Thoughthe Bloodstone Pass (1985–1988) series began as a military adventure that highlightedBattlesystem (1985), it ended with the PCs 揜\ghting Orcus and stealing his wand!

Unfortunately for those who enjoyed these monsters, demons, devils, and their deitiesall faced a major setback with the publication of AD&D second edition (1989). Theydidn’t appear until MC8: Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix (1991) and thentheir names were changed: the demons had become tanar’ri and the devils hadbecome baatezu.

In later second edition days, they got to play a larger role thanks to the Planescape

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In later second edition days, they got to play a larger role thanks to the PlanescapeCampaign Setting (1994). Hellbound: The Blood War (1996) revealed an ancient enmitybetween the 揜\endish races, while Faces of Evil: The Fiends (1997) provided even moredetails on devils, demons, and their lords alike. Then Dead Gods (1997) shook things upwhen the drow goddess Kiaransalee killed Orcus, who was reborn as Tenebrous!

Dead Gods was a delightful mash-up of multiple monstrous deities that showed howimportant they had become to the D&D mythology following two decades of detailedevolution. As for Kiaransalee, this wasn’t her 揜\rst appearance: we’ll return to that aftera short digression through the World of Greyhawk.

THE EVIL GODS OF GREYHAWK: 1976–2000The world of Greyhawk was the third major source of monstrous deities for the D&Dgame. That setting’s a䆐�nity for evil deities dates back to the earliest days of GaryGygax’s Castle Greyhawk campaign, where players accidently set free the malevolentdemigod Iuz—who had been imprisoned by the mad wizard Zagig. Similarly, many ofthe demon lords in Monster Manual II (1983) came from Gary Gygax’s The ForgottenTemple of Tharizdun (1982).

At least a half-dozen other important evil or monstrous deities appeared in Greyhawksupplements of the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s; today, they continue to be some of the mostevocative entities in D&D lore.

Lolth, the spidery goddess of the drow, was the 揜\rst major evil deity to appear in printGreyhawk supplements. She was 揜\rst mentioned in the Descent adventure series(1978) and then came fully onstage in Queen of the Demonweb Pits (1980). She’s sincebecome one of D&D’s best-known monster deities—especially in the stories of theForgotten Realms’ Underdark. Ironically, Lolth wasn’t supposed to be the major villainof the GDQ series at all: it appears that the Elder Elemental God was intended for therole, but things changed when Dave Sutherland took over the writing of Q1.

Zuggtmoy, the fungus goddess, is best known for being the Big Bad of The Temple ofElemental Evil (1985), though once more Gary Gygax had apparently intended the Elder

Elemental God to be the boss monster. However, things changed when he passed his

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Elemental God to be the boss monster. However, things changed when he passed hisadventure o䏱� to another designer—this time Frank Mentzer. Zuggtmoy has never hadanother starring role, but she’s appeared in various articles and codexes over the year.

Tharizdun, a Lovecraftian god of nothingness, premiered in The Forgotten Temple ofTharizdun (1982). He would not return to prominence until after the AD&D secondedition era.

Iuz, the cambion demigod, made his 揜\rst major appearance in Dragon 67 (November1982), which detailed his stats and background. Though he was mentioned in Temple ofElemental Evil (1985) and the Gord the Rogue novels (1985–1988), he only came into hisown in Greyhawk’s From the Ashes era (1992–1993). That’s when he got his own country,as detailed in the eponymous Iuz the Evil (1993).

Iggwilv, Iuz’s witchy mom, was 揜\rst mentioned in The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (1982)where another of her children appears: the vampiric Drelzna. Iggwilv stayed mostly inthe background for decades but was still a name players would recognize.

Vecna, the one-eyed, one-handed lich, was 揜\rst alluded to in Supplement III: EldritchWizardry (1976). However, he 揜\nally got to appear in some adventures in AD&D’ssecond edition days: Vecna Lives (1990), Vecna Reborn (1998), and Die Vecna Die! (2000).The last was a notable adventure because it was a grand 揜\nale for AD&D secondedition that featured both Iuz and Vecna as villains—making it another of the biggestmonstrous deity mash-ups in D&D history.

CODIFYING THE MYTHOLOGY: 1980–1992The monstrous deities that appeared during the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s were scattered:demonic, devilish, and draconic deities could be found in various monster manuals,while the male揜\cent gods of Greyhawk were spread across numerous adventures.However, a few more concerted attempts to detail monstrous deities appeared overthe years.It began with AD&D’s Deities &

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It began with AD&D’s Deities &Demigods (1980). Though thebook mainly focused onhistorical pantheons, LawrenceSchick detailed a number ofmonstrous deities. Lolthreappeared, and severalhumanoid deities wererevealed for the 揜\rst time ever,including Vaprak the god ofogres and Gruumsh the god oforcs.

Roger E. Moore then wrote aseries of articles for Dragon 58–63 (February–July 1982) thatfocused on humanoid anddemihuman deities. New godsappeared for the kobolds, orcs,goblins, hobgoblins, andgnolls.

The biggest sourcebook everfor monstrous deities was CarlSargent’s aptly named Monster Mythology (1992). Though it didn’t feature 揜\endishdeities or the evil gods of Greyhawk, almost everyone else was there. Among thenames that appeared were Bahamut, Tiamat, Kiaransalee (the future assassin ofOrcus), Gruumsh, Vaprak, and many more.

If you were to pick out the monstrous deity highlights during the age of AD&D, thedei揜\c battles found in Dead Gods and Die Vecna Die! would be two of them, but MonsterMythology with its collection of about one hundred monstrous deities would clearly bethe third.

LATTER-DAY DEITIES: 2000–PRESENTDuring AD&D’s second edition era (1989–2000), a mythology that dated back to the ’70s揜\nally came together into a rich and expansive whole. Since then, the monstrousdeities of D&D have been extensively referenced and occasionally used in adventures.

In D&D third edition days, monstrous deities mainly appeared in major sourcebooks,including Deities and Demigods (2002), Faiths and Pantheons (2002), Book of Vile Darkness(2002), Libris Mortis (2004), Complete Divine (2004), Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss(2006) and Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells (2006). Meanwhile Elder Evils (2007)presented new alien monstrosities to expand the world of monstrous deities, while“The Demonomicon of Iggwilv” (2005–2009) extensively described many 揜\endish deitiesin Dragon and Dungeon magazines.Monstrous deities also appeared in D&D third edition in a series of nostalgic

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FEATURED ARTICLE

Monstrous deities also appeared in D&D third edition in a series of nostalgicadventures. Expedition to the Demonweb Pits (2007) featured Lolth, while Expedition to theRuins of Greyhawk (2007) included both Iuz and Iggwilv. The most interesting dei揜\cadventure of the third edition era might have been Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil(2001), which now starred Tharizdun. In that adventure, the Elder Elemental God 揜\nallyturned up... but he was revealed as a mask for Tharizdun, not an entity of his own.

D&D fourth edition included one of the biggest monster deity campaigns ever. Orcuswas back and he was the ultimate enemy of Wizards’ mammoth 9-book “HPE”adventure path (2008–2009), which ended with Prince of Death (2009).

Finally with 揜\fth edition, it’s back to the basics: Tiamat was the 揜\rst monstrous deity toever appear, in Supplement I: Greyhawk, and now she’s the most recent monstrosity aswell, thanks to her starring role in the Tyranny of Dragons adventure series (2014).

With the classic feel of 揜\fth edition, could other monstrous deities be around thecorner? Only time will tell.

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