Bahamut (Dungeons & Dragons)
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This a Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game-related article or section describes a fictional character in a primarily in-universe style. Please rewrite this article or section to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. |
| Dungeons & Dragons Deity | |
|---|---|
| Bahamut | |
| Title(s) | The Platinum Dragon, King of the Good Dragons, Lord of the North Wind, Wyrmking |
| Home Plane | Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia |
| Power Level | Intermediate |
| Alignment | Lawful Good |
| Portfolio | Good dragons, wisdom |
| Domains | Air, Cold, Dragon, Good, Law, Luck, Nobility, Protection, Storm |
| Alias(es) | Paladine (possibly); Xymor (dragons of Abeir-Toril); Marduk the Justice Bringer (humans of the Old Empires region of Abeir-Toril) |
| Superior | Io |
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Bahamut is a powerful draconic deity, derived from the Bahamut of Arabic mythology[citation needed].
Introduced in the 1st Edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and continuing into 2004's release of Complete Divine, Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, is the King of the Good Dragons. He is a deity of good dragonkind and a member of the default pantheon of D&D gods. His counterpart in Dragonlance is Paladine (though many regard the two as separate beings). Bahamut is a child of the dragon god Io. He is also referred to as the God of Dragons or the Lord of the North Wind.
In many campaign settings, the draconic pantheon of gods consists of the leader Io, and his children Aasterinian, Bahamut, Chronepsis, Faluzure, and Tiamat. Other draconic gods may be present in different campaign settings. For example, the Forgotten Realms draconic pantheon also includes Astilabor, Garyx, Hlal, Lendys, and Tamara (among others); these five deities have expanded their influence to become venerated in many other campaign settings as well.
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[edit] Description
Bahamut is depicted as a massive, long and sinuous dragon with silver-white scales and blue, catlike eyes. According to Complete Divine and Races of the Dragon, the exact color is hard to specify and may depend on Bahamut's mood, ranging from sky-blue to frosty indigo.
About a quarter of the time, Bahamut wanders the Oerth in the shape of a human or some other guise. He is said to have been encountered as a frail old hermit, with the seven great golden wyrms that accompany him disguised as seven canaries singing sweetly nearby.
[edit] Tiamat & Bahamut
The same edition of Dungeons & Dragons that introduced Bahamut also introduced his antithesis. This opposite was named Tiamat, the Chromatic Dragon and Queen of Evil Dragons, as well as the mother and deity of all evil dragons. This pairing features prominently in the deity lore of the game, with Tiamat even being featured in the television cartoon adaptation of the game.
This pairing of Tiamat and Bahamut as the antithesis of each other has since recurred in other fantasy settings. In Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy VIII Bahamut[1] is portrayed as benevolent, while Tiamat is portrayed as malevolent, keeping close to their origins in D&D [2].
Both also occur in Three Dragon Ante [3], a card game and Aspects of them have been created as plastic miniatures[4].
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Gary Gygax Interview. Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
- ^ Mythological Accuracy.
- ^ rpgnet review of Three Dragon Ante.
- ^ hobbieandgames.com.
[edit] References
- Assyro-Babylonian Mythology FAQ
- Colins, Andy, Skip Williams, and James Wyatt. Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons (Wizards of the Coast, 2003).
- Dargoth of Bahamut in Cormyr and the Stonelands
- Grubb, Jeff. Manual of the Planes (TSR, 1987).
- Grubb, Jeff, Bruce R Cordell, and David Noonan. Manual of the Planes (Wizards of the Coast, 2001).
- Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual (TSR, 1977).
- Hickman, Tracy, and Margaret Weis. Dragonlance Adventures (TSR, 1987).
- McComb, Colin. On Hallowed Ground (TSR, 1996).
- Noonan, David. Complete Divine (Wizards of the Coast, 2004).
- Redman, Rich and James Wyatt. Defenders of the Faith (Wizards of the Coast, 2000).
- Redman, Rich, Skip Williams, and James Wyatt. Deities and Demigods (Wizards of the Coast, 2002).
- Sargent, Carl. Monster Mythology (TSR, 1992).
- Williams, Skip. "Bahamut and Tiamat." Dragon #272 (Paizo Publishing, 2000).
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