So Kezef is Fenrir, Dendar is the Nidhogg and then the Elf-Eater is just horrifying

As soon as I heard the hand biting I was like, “Why did you not just call him Fenrir and just give them this random name?”

Shout out to whoever edits these videos. You’re nailing it.

I still can’t get over the fact of how well these videos are made!!! They are all amazing!

The Elder Evil book of 3.5 edition is one of my favourite DnD books of all time. It had so much fantastic content.

Playing a game now where 2 of the party members have become beholden to Dendar. They are trying to free her her celestial shackles and release her upon the world. This is definitely a help in the lore side of things! Amazing video as always Jorphdan. Thanks!

Elf Eater made Lolth and Malar flee for their lives when It turned on them after elven high magic was used to briefly change their appearances into elves. Ityak-Ortheel was that serious a threat!

Loving these dives into the far realms, as a DM who has been working out potential Warlock Patrons, or just potential new and unique deities, these videos get me inspired to come up with lots of lore.

I would love to hear something about Zhudun the Corpse Star! I have a warlock in my campaign sworn to him and he is by far the most intriguing Elder Evil in my opinion.

My favorite planes are the Feywild and the Far Realms, and I love you're making a video about one of them now

This is exactly what I wanted to see in order to inspire my DM

I've DM'd for over 30 years, starting on the red box set and i thoroughly enjoy your videos. You have inspired me to change the direction of my campaign more than once and i thank you.

3:28 "So, can I roll a constitution check?"

That quote at the beginning is so good.

when he said "Yuan-ti worship Dendar" at 2:36, I thought he said "your aunty worshipped Dendar" O_O XD

Great video Jordan! Was excited for this one and you didn’t disappoint!

I can now envision a party that has an elf and a dwarf in it, whenever the dwarf goes to sleep he feigns nightmares about the "Elf Eater" to freak out his elven companion.

Who's out there eating knife-ears and where can I find my nearest sacrificial altar? Heh Also I love all of the lore about the Far Realm! Also keeping with the abomination theme, a Daelkyr video could be cool!

I have been obsessed about the Far Realm for a long time. I converted Shardminds (and their intent on eradicating the aberrations from the Far Realm) from 4e to 5e and I can never get enough.

Dendar was the penultimate boss fight of my last campaign. One of my PCs (a Yuan-ti Pureblood) was the reincarnated Yuan-ti priestess of Dendar who succumbed to her influence. The rest of the party went to save them, including a new character by the same player, and they had to fight Dendar. It was an 8 on 1 fight and Dendar still was a struggle, despite all of them being 17th level or higher. Though it wasn't a canonical adaptation of the Dendar from 3.5 but one from Ulraunt's Guide to the Planes: Shadowfell from the DMs Guild. Hell of an encounter loved all of it. Needless to say they were quite ready for the final boss after it.

I played a cleric of Dendar for a while and it was SO fun to figure out how I would rationalize being a follower and how to evangelize others. It was one of my favorite player experiences.

Both Dendar and Kezef are characters in the last two books of the Avatar Series, which covers the Time of Troubles.

Definitely interesting to learn about these elder evils as a relatively newer member to the hobby. Though I have utilized Malar before as a driving force in a Homebrew campaign setting called Fare'n Field. Malar essentially weaseled his way into a massive cult, worshipping a regime of Rakshasa who had established themselves as a major power out in a desert setting called the Erassi Solharan. The Rakshasa having garnered enough followers, hoped to perform a ritual to release their diety the Ravana from the Abyss ..but unbeknownst to them on the day the portal was opened, Malar had already converted ranks of their followers into worshipping him, leading them in a grand hunt against the Rakshasa and into the abyss where the mortal cultists slew the stirring Ravana (Irony being the diety could only be slain by a mortal). High on the power of a legendary hunt, Malar overextended his stay in the abyss, detouring into the personal hunting grounds of Yeenoghu. This lead to a clash of the 2 beings with both sustaining major injuries, and Malar hastily retreating out from the abyss ..in the process leaving his followers behind. A single low cast Rakshasa named Avar (primary antagonist of the campaign) survived the massacre of the Regime, & vowed vengeance against Malar. Tracking the minor diety down to the countryside of Fare'n Field where he lied in hiding within a injured state, Avar hatched his plan. The Rakshasa took notice of a small werewolf tribe that resided in a nearby forest called the Fey'gone Woods. Removing the chieftain, and taking his form the Rakshasa infiltrated the tribe, and slowly over months converted it to the worship of Malar, along with brokering peaceful relations with a nearby logging community called Oakenlodge. Game was becoming scarce to find in the nearby woods due to the logging activity, and so through promises of providing food from hunts, and sharing the werewolve's gift to a select few, Avar was able to spread the religious worship of Malar into the settlement. His hope was to draw in the weakened Malar, by revitalizing his number of followers, and then give the diety a taste of his own medicine by having the followers hunt him down

Hey i just wanted to let you know that I found your channel completely by random, but it is content i have wanted for a very long time. Thank you so much for making these videos and please tell us more about ancient unknowables like the elder things in this vid!

Jorphdan, your videos have single handedly improved my world. Thank you.

Thanks to you I managed to acquire the scenario for Dendar. I needed that. Warlock stuff.

hooray, my boy Cyric gets a mention

Nice I've been waiting for this !!

Great video, love the topic. Also, I need that Flat Mars shirt, got a link? :D

"If they stat it, you can kill it." -Spoony

Amazing how Dendar sounds like Bakunawa. Amazing work!!

Wow woweeee, loved it!

Those lore videos give me so much ideas that I'll probably never use!

Thank you for the information on Dendar and the module in Adventurers League! I have a Dendar Warlock in my campaign and I wanted her to be the final BBEG.

That's the first time I've seen a "Game Over" in D&D. Epic.

Ahh dude that thing is a turtle wearing a morbol! Lol

*ATROPUS HYPE*

My introduction to Kezef was when I was researching Princes of the Apocalypse and was trying to find any information on the "siege engine" known as Kezefbane that the ancient Tyrran paladin Samular Caradoon used in conjunction with the immensely powerful Rings of Samular about 500 years ago to win the Second Troll War. I still don't know what the writers intended when they put the name "Kezef" in that weapon's name other than Samular and Amphail being paladins of Tyr thus giving them a reason to know the story, but I found it fascinating that the book Champions of Ruin says Mask got a sword called Houndsbane which somehow "temporarily frustrated" Kezef's hunt for the Lord of Shadows. So in my game, I decided to merge the two concepts, making Kezefbane a divine artifact in the form of a longsword which, through the use of the immensely powerful Rings of Samular, (crafted by the wizard and fellow Caradoon brother Renwick, who would come to be known as Snowcloak after his death & subsequent lichdom) could be utilized in a limited capacity by a mortal. Since the rings aren't described from what I can tell, I designed them to effectively just allow you to wield Kezefbane and provide no other magical benefit, but each one has a specific requirement to attune to it. One requires you be Lawful, one requires you be Good, and the last one requires you to be a true follower of Tyr. In order to make the sword somehow equal the power to be called a "siege engine" and also be powerful enough to stave off Kezef, I looked into epic spells from 3.5e to use and settled on the following being the two sets of powers: "This weapon can only be wielded by a creature with divine ranks, or a mortal who has attuned to all three Rings of Samular. If attuned in this way, the wielder gains the following benefits: -You gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic longsword. -You have resistance to all non-force damage. -When you hit an enemy with an attack using Kezefbane, you may cast the spell Greater Ruin from this weapon. Once you've used this effect, you cannot use it again until the next dawn. If wielded to by a being with divine ranks, the wielder gains the following benefits: -You gain a +5 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic longsword. -You have immunity to all non-force damage. -When you hit an enemy with an attack using Kezefbane, you may cast the spell Vengeful Gaze of God from this weapon. Once you've used this effect, you cannot use it again until the next dawn. If not a being with divine ranks, not attuned to the Rings of Samular, or not attuned to all three, the sword will only function as a magical longsword with no bonus to attack or damage."

I have spent like 15 years, off and on, on a Neverwinter Nights server which had in like 2013 saw Dendar actually escape and the denizens of the underdark invade the surface. Ysinode, a Mind Flayer city in the Lowerdark was helped months prior to Dendar's defeat when players destroyed a rival Beholder hive, giving the Illithid uncontested rule over their region. So Ysinode was able to enthrall and unleash vast armies of mutated soldiers, including an entire drow city, on a darkened and slowly freezing surface. Lots of good memories. It was a lowish level (5-9 average, very few 10's) server so while fighting a Beholder was daunting it was not completely impossible if you prepared and were willing to accept losses. I optimized a druid just right so that I could survive and fight alone in the Lowerdark and try to hunt down the Illithid. Spent a long time wandering the ruined tunnels of the Beholder Hive and fighting its now undead denizens. Lots of other great stories, especially as when Dendar was released - it was a group of players, myself among them, that were the cultists in service to a vampire that did it. We fought Ubtao's fire giant champion outside the Peaks of Flame and created an artifact over the course of months capable of rousing Dendar when shattered on her hide.

Woooow! I was going to ask you on instagram to make a video about Dendar the night serpent eating the sun and dooming everything

Love the idea of the inevitable release of one of these creatures. The party's quest being to find powerful artifacts to bind the creature, and thwart attempts to empower and summon it.

Lure Ityak-Ortheel into the demon-web pits, and have him devour all of those evil drow souls. A fitting punishment for Lolth and her legendary betrayal!

The 11 through 20 content in chult was tonnes of fun to play and run. Highly recommend.

First read of Dendar and Kezef in, "Prince of Lies"

ah finally a source the explains why Kezef felt betrayed by Mask... Kinda.. I mean if you read into it it probably had to do with him releasing him as the Godsbane then trapping him again.

So much Norse mythology in this video :D

I've personally played the DDAL adventure against Dendar, definitely worthwhile. You should certai my play the 2 previous adventures to get the rest of the story though

The Elf-Eater is just a story to scary little elf children to not eat too many mushrooms

IE - Hounds endlessly pursue thieves. James Lowder rules.

Fun story, currently running Tomb of Annihilation... so yep, Dendar is a thing for my group

Please post Ragnorra next she is one of my favorite Elder evils because of how wonderfully Cronenbergian she is.

Excellent video as always Jorphdan! Will you do a video on the elder evils Zargon and Pandorym btw?

These stories are completely lifted from Norse lore. Names have been changed to protect the individuals...

kezef's first imprisoning is a retelling of fenrir's imprisoning in norse mythology

I was just about to comment that a post-game adventure featuring trying to stop Dendar the Night Serpent from entering the world would be perfect...and wouldn't you know it, WoTC was fifteen steps ahead of me!

My party is very likely to try and liberate the Elf Eater.

This is literally the story of tyr losing his hand to fenrir

D&D writers: Hey can I copy your homework? Norse Mythology: Yeah, just change it a bit so it isn't obvious.

You should do a video on the fugue plane!

If you have been going through elder evils I can't wait till you get to the undead planet.

By chance, does this mean you might cover Atropus, the World Born Dead?

I miss these types of videos from Jorphdan

That, ph is silent, never gets old.

Damn.....didn't she already eat the sun once before??? B!tch is a one verse song.😆

I’m currently using the Elf Eater. My PCs are chasing a NPC that has located an ancient netheril scroll that contains the ritual to summon the elf eater. The NPC plans to sell the scroll to the highest bidder. Of course others are interested in the scroll. The elves from Evermeet have agents on the trail. The Harpers and the Lords Alliance are chasing. Banes church wants the scroll. Even Szam Tam has agents looking.

i once had a campaign that was about repelling atropus. we ended up releasing dendar for that she devour atropus. then sceal her back using my own char ascenscion as an anathema for use her as a sceal

Atropus is my post ToA plan if my group survives

So I was really interested in the blood queen(who created the aboleths) and the great mother(Created the beholders) since they created these abberations. How would they compare to the 3 mentioned here?

Thanks.

Love your channel

I remember reading the stat block on these guys in Champions of Ruin. Dendar is absolutely insane, that is not an encounter a 20th level party survives easily. You would need an entire campaign to bring her down.

I've been questioning for some time if the "Elder Evils" 3.5 Edition core sourcebook would be ideal for handle a campaign story arc involving these 3.

Knowing the story of fenrir that second story sounded very familiar

The elf eater looks like that monster in the old Dungeon module Thunder Under Needlespire. Not entirely the same as I think that one was elemental in nature but pretty close with all the tentacles.

A slight problem I’ve always had with dnd is how they handle sizes. Dendar is 300 feet long but shatters a planet by constricting it....and swallows the sun. I get that it’s a super big creature but some consistency would be nice.

mask face turn make his the best CN god

may i inquire about where you got that shirt? it's beautiful

In my current campaign the DM threw Kezef the Chaos Hound at us at level 12, and we're now most likely gonna have to beat Dendar in the near future. That's been a prediction since the beginning of the campaign, but man it's been a couple years and I'm looking forwards to trying to stop the sun from being snuffed out. It hasn't been mentioned yet, but I expect he'll be throwing Ithyak at us one Dendar is stopped. Could be very fun

I find the elemental evil eye interesting, featured in the princess of apocalypse 5e campaign, but I'd be interested to know more about the history if that, if there is any that does pertain to. Or other quirky primordials/elementals ... I don't know a lot a bout earlier DnD. And also sorry if I mixed up primordials and elementals there. What is the difference actually?

Elf-Eater looks much like a giant flumph. Coincidence? I think not!

As an elf i also dread this lol

Could you include hadar in a video like this?

What about the less tangible, more lovecraftian elder evils? Like the great cosmic horrors they are told to be, like hadar or the great old one?

I wish artists and writers would think through what they come up with. How exactly does a three legged creature walk? The only thing that seems remotely possible, would be something like a three legged horse gallop.

Toothless Maw

Wasn't the elfeater along with malar in the book elves of evermeet?

So... Dendar is also like Apophis in the Egypt Panteon

I just had a weird through about like a reverse Thanos type character. Some epic level adventurer who's whole goal is to systematically hunt down liches and elder evils and mad gods. Some crazy strong mortal that even the gods fear and is relentlessly hunting down any threats to mortal life. Could be an interesting position to be filled by a party of level 20+ adventurers

I enjoyed it. But I thought that Kezef was also bound by a sword called Kezefbane ? Cryic removing the sword was part of one instance of his being freed. The sword Kezefbane, when used in conjunction with the rings of Samular would power a siege engine. Am I wrong in regard to that or was Kezefbane and the godsword used by cyric one and the same?

I was wondering, in the book Die Vecna Die p122, Vecna is referred to as "a student of the Serpent". Is Dendar the mentioned Serpent?( which by the way the serpent is supposed to be equal to the Lady of Pain).

I want to know more about the wilden

What if I want to summon the elf-eater?

I am using a modified version of the Dawn War Pantheon, and have Dendar replace Zehir as the god of darkness and snakes. I have a bard/cleric in my game who worships her.

So niddhog/jormundgander, fenrir ANd some wierd tentacle elephant turtle anteater thing.

Seems like we don't have a choice, fight or die...FML

Will you be covering Hadar?

The elf eater looks like the plant boss in ff9 ( i think)

Would hearing the PH cause madness?

On the one hand, videos like this are fantastic. It's always fun to learn lore from people who can communicate it well. On the other hand, just...this is one of the reasons I can't stand much of Forgotten Realms. "There's this TERRIBLE FAR REALM ENTITY that will DESTROY EXISTENCE!" "Oh no, what's it look like?" "A BIG SNAKE!" "Ah. And it...eats the sun?" "Yes! It's so super-scary!" "So it's Apophos. You made a shittier version of Apophos from Egyption mythology. Good job." EDIT: And Fenrir.

So Malar is the god killing for sport?