The D&D flick’s large boi dragon additionally has big duty in the game

Image: Paramount Pictures

When the first trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves went down late last July, a good friend of mine virtually quickly DMed me to ask, “Is there any lore about the fat dragon?” Dragons whose physique vary from those slim, snaky versions in the D&D Monster Manual are rather unusual, that made this chonky child attract attention.

I had a concept, however it wasn’t verified till the toys for the movie were solicited — the red dragon in Honor Among Thieves is Themberchaud, that has a quite substantial background in the Dungeons & Dragons game. That made me really feel respectable regarding the opportunities that the flick was actually mosting likely to go into D&D tradition. If writer-directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein agreed to go all-in on a deep-cut personality like Themberchaud, what else from the sourcebooks could I anticipate them to go into?

The flick itself doesn’t enter into the dragon’s backstory, however below’s what we understand regarding the Underdark’s substantial threat.

Who’s the fat dragon in the Dungeons & Dragons flick?

Image: Paramount Pictures

Themberchaud is a red dragon that stays in Gracklstugh, a city of duergar in the Underdark of the Forgotten Realms project setup. If that’s a lot of dream nouns for you in one sentence, we can damage that down. The Forgotten Realms is one of the most preferred project globe for the Dungeons & Dragons RPG, as well as the Underdark is a huge below ground cavern system listed below the surface area that’s house to all sort of beasts as well as below ground types, consisting of the ever-popular drow, or dark fairies. The duergar, additionally called grey dwarves, resemble the drow of dwarves: Cold, grim, as well as work-obsessed, they have all the crafting ability of the extra acquainted dream dwarf archetype, with none of the energetic enjoyable.

Themberchaud the dragon initially showed up in Drizzt Do’Urden’s Guide to the Underdark, a device for second version Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, released in 1999 by TSR. In this very early source, the dragon is offered an interesting duty in the city of Gracklstugh. As a young dragon simply under the age of 100, he is called the Wyrmsmith of Gracklstugh, as well as an offspring of previous dragons in the very same duty. His intense breath lights the forges as well as moods the steel created by the city, as well as his every impulse is taken care of by the reclusive Keepers of the Flame.

The dragon’s following discusses remained in a set of devices for Dungeons & Dragons’ third version from Wizards of the Coast: Underdark in 2003, as well as Dragons of Faerûn in 2006. These resources mostly stated the second version details, upgrading Themberchaud’s age to over 100 as well as discussing that he is maintained pleased not just by the duergar contributing to his prize heap, however additionally by being fed a consistent diet plan of rowdy servants.

A beast backstory returning years

Themberchaud’s tale was considerably bigger, word play here planned, for the Rage of Demons story from Wizards of the Coast for fifth version D&D. He showed up in the tabletop experience Out of the Abyss as well as the computer system RPG Sword Coast Legends in 2015, as well as the Endless Quest gamebook Escape the Underdark in 2018. In this story, the dragon’s look, character, as well as backstory were all offered much higher focus.

Concept musician Richard Whitters made Themberchaud’s brand-new look, offering him the distinct function of being obese. The increased backstory for Themberchaud in Rage of Demons made use of the tradition of previous versions, in addition to an online lore article from 3rd edition regarding including psionics in the Forgotten Realms, published by Wizards in 2007.

Excellent task! Here’s even more illustrations 🙂 pic.twitter.com/8YdwBhltvb

— Richard Whitters (@WhittersRichard) July 24, 2022

Each Wyrmsmith of Gracklstugh is hatched out from an egg by the Keepers of the Flame as well as increased to fill up the duty of maintaining the forges of the city going. These dragons are very spoiled, to the factor where Themberchaud typically has no requirement to leave his chambers, which adds to his cumbersome dimension. Hatched as well as increased totally below ground in the city, Themberchaud has actually never ever been outdoors. He hardly flies, as well as has actually recognized nothing else presence than offering the duergar. Escape the Underdark also makes it clear that he has actually ended up being also large to ever before leave Gracklstugh:

“And now I am far too large to ever leave. Even if I tore the entire place down around me, I could not claw my way to the surface from here. Instead, I remain buried in a prison of my parents’ making, far beneath a sky I’ve never seen.”

What the dragon doesn’t recognize is that inevitably, the Keepers of the Flame intend on eliminating him prior to he ends up being also effective to regulate as well as looks for to control the city, as red dragons normally often tend towards tyranny as they age. The Keepers have actually constantly complied with that pattern, slaying a Wyrmsmith once it gets to a particular age, after that changing it with a recently hatched out wyrmling. But the red dragon egg implied to end up being Themberchaud’s follower was taken by the Gray Ghosts, Gracklstugh’s burglars guild. That triggered a battle in between the psionicists as well as the burglars, as well as left Themberchaud progressively paranoid as well as distrustful of his long-lasting caretakers.

Out of the Abyss gamers can trip to Gracklstugh as they discover the Underdark, where they might be encouraged to end up being representatives of the Keepers of the Flame, the Gray Ghosts, or Themberchaud himself, as the 3 power intrigues try control of the Wyrmsmith’s destiny. Meanwhile, the king of Gracklstugh has actually shed his mind, a story that attaches to Sword Coast Legends.

In this improperly concerned CRPG, which currently stands as a remarkable item of abandonware in the fifth version D&D magazine, gamers trip to Gracklstugh in source of the Moontear, the enchanting McGuffin of the game’s single-player project. They discover that the city has actually been taken control of by a mind flayer, which made the most of the king’s mental disease. The very same mind flayer has actually additionally attacked Themberchaud’s mind. The gamers have to beat the mind flayer to conserve the king as well as the dragon, that kindly compensates the heroes by avoiding consuming them.

The Themberchaud of the Rage of Demons story is vain as well as pleased, like a lot of red dragons. He’s called spoiled as well as agitated. In Sword Coast Legends, he has the deep as well as flourishing voice you’d get out of such a huge beast. Like all dragons in D&D, he can talk, as well as is a personality that can be communicated with, instead of simply a beast to eliminate as well as eliminate.

While the dragon’s mass makes him unforgettable, it additionally makes him unfortunate. He’s a target of adjustment as well as misuse from his bad grey dwarf caretakers. Unfortunately, he’s evil himself, as well as the effect of releasing Themberchaud from the Keepers of the Flame, or conserving him from being changed by a brand-new Wyrmsmith, would likely be the subjugation of the whole city under the dragon’s policy. But such are the problems of option dealt with by TTRPG gamers.

Why is the Underdark deserted?

Image: Paramount Pictures

Once it was verified that Themberchaud would certainly be included in Honor Among Thieves, a great deal of aspects from the trailers started to drop in line. The bald-headed sculptures, the caverns, the Underdark, the antiques covered in runes — the flick should be mosting likely to Gracklstugh! So it was a terrific shock to find that the flick gets rid of the dragon from his long time house, which has actually constantly specified him as well as his tale.

Instead, the flick’s heroes discover Themberchaud in Dolblunde, one more Underdark negotiation. This one was when the house of gnomes, that deserted it centuries earlier. In the tradition of previous versions of D&D, Dolblunde was the house of Daurgothoth, a black greatwyrm dracolich of enormous power. But “the Creeping Doom” hasn’t been discussed in a main item given that the fourth version supplement Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons. Perhaps the filmmakers really felt that the dracolich had expensive of an obstacle ranking for the flick’s heroes?

But while I like seeing Themberchaud gave birth to, his visibility does question. How could he ultimately cost-free himself of Gracklstugh, as well as why — presuming any one of the existing tradition pertains in the flick — is he socializing in the burrow of one more, far more effective dragon? Unfortunately, the dragon himself doesn’t expose any type of ideas — like several Hollywood dragons, Themberchaud just barks as well as makes various other sensual sounds in the flick, robbing target markets of his distinct personality as well as character.

During the flick, the heroes do comment that Themberchaud appears to have actually located a brand-new burrow, recommending that his arrival in Dolblunde is current. And the flick does show up to occur a variety of years after the Rage of Demons story. So maybe Wizards of the Coast — which is demonstrably experimenting with new rules as well as adding elements to the game’s canon based upon the flick — will at some point inform the tale of exactly how the Wyrmsmith of Gracklstugh ultimately left his jail. It absolutely seems like a terrific suggestion for an impressive project.

 

Source: Polygon