There’s absolutely an amazing story of a chaotic court drama around the power vacuum from the missing Oberon and Titania. Each of the children you mentioned today have a claim but also have clear motivations that are good or bad for the Feywild and the material plane. I think it would be fun to have each be open to having the party as their vassals essentially, trying to claim the throne while they also work to uncover what happened and if the proper rulers can be uncovered. What is the lesser evil the party may choose as a temporary benefactor?

That Raven Queen/Prince of Frost detail; in one of the wikis for the Raven Queen, it was stated that during his Sun Prince time, he was courting the RQ and it didn't pan out because she was still then betrothed/married to the OG god of death (sometimes it's Kelemvor sometimes Nerul sometimes a different god of death). So like... that could have been the first step down the path to his heart becoming cooler and frigid.

For Hyrsam specifically, I could see him hating this larger kingdom because it not only took a large chunk of wilderness, but also a region that was thought to be untameable, maybe because there was this powerful artifact or important symbol that made it beautiful and overgrowing, but absolutely unyielding to any outside intervention, and the rulers of this kingdom somehow stole that item and with it either out of play or in their possession, were able to build a civilization. Another facet of that could be that because of it, they're harming the surrounding environment, and for the Feywild being affected by material plane intervention and Hyrsam specifically, I could see that as a huge subplot

Loved this, thanks for sharing! I needed ideas for an archfey and I really like what you've described about Hyrsam. Cheers! :)

I know others have mentioned the Dresden Files - but this series does a good job with "beautiful" characters like Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness - she's supernaturally beautiful, but also commands the uttermost respect from the other powerful groups like human wizards, vampire courts, and other fey creatures. Major characters show actual fear when Mab arrives. Like if a mobster, warlord, or royal, happens to be handsome. Their appearance is a feature, but it isn't what most folks are thinking about and it's never used to diminish.

I agree, Varanestra's story/persona could use a bit of revamping/updating and exploring. I too am running a wilds beyond the witchlight that will one day continue on into the wider feywild

Varanestra's height might just be a sign that people back then and there were shorter. Where I live, five feet tall is average for women. And I mean adult women.

2:10 Man, I just had a burried memory where a D&D camp i was in had her as an ancient 14 year old. Im going to go back to never thinking about that.

My Varanestra actually saved the feywild with her wisdom! She used her beauty to have the party help her when she couldn't stop Titania (lore is that no fae could harm the king and queen, but the archfey could help party be bolstered.)

Do you think the Ring of Winter (seen in Tomb of Annihilation) was made by Prince of Frost as tool for mortals to freeze their own realm, and that's why it can only be melt by Titania?

A deep dive into the topic of 'Key figures' in Feywild. You presented some interesting insights from previous editions of DnD and other sources. Great inspiration for worldbuilding, but I am personally go for myths, tales and stories from folklore of various cultures (a mix of Lathin America and East Europe folk creatures as an example) and adapt them into version of Feywild. It provides the material to weave 'real' folk stories into campaign without additional effort to create them from zero. However, some cultures present fae creatures as 'spirits of the dead and ancestors' so it is crossing territory with the Shadowfell. P.S.: Cat is chilling in the background. Scared me a little when chair started to move withot 'reason' for first time.

one of my players wants to make a deal with hyrsam and im so scared LMAO

I referenced Puck in another of your videos, sorry, running a fey campaign and found your videos so binge day, but I'm now debating blending Puck and Hyrsam in some fashion. Great series, by the way, I'm running a similar extension and have been peppering in future stuff throughout with the group nearing the end of Yon. One of them played The Rogue from the Deck of Many and my hastily constructed table drew Oberon, so I'm about to commence the Wild Hunt. Debating Hyrsam polymorphing the players for a few sessions.

I've just stumbled upon this channel, and I'm really digging your particular focus on the details because the plane of færie and/or Arborea have always been some of my favorite things in DnD. I don't know much about the lore for anything past 3.5 but I do really like the Raven Queen and thought I'd share my little homebrew involving her and the demiplane of Dread. Two books I highly recommend for a slightly different take on the Fey in DnD are "Van Richtens guide to the Shadow Fey" and also the 2e adventure "The Shadow Rift" for both do an excellent job of presenting the culture and history of these particular fey. Without loresplatting too much, the Shadow Fey in Ravenloft are basically trapped in a place known as the Shadow Rift (after the grand conjunction) and follow the children of one called Arak the Erlking who lead his people out of bondage to a lovecraftian nightmare being called "The Shadow Fiend". They are Queen Mæve and prince Loht. They occupy the typical Seelie Unseelie dynamic, and follow a strict law that no shadow Fey may kill another for any reason. The Shadow Fiend was trapped in a gate which lead from the plane of Shadow to Ravenloft (although at the time they did not know this of course) and in my homebrew I use the history of the Raven Queen where she is involved with the Elven court of deities and winds up on the shadowfell, but after that point she is the force which creates Ravenloft as a prison demiplane, for the purpose of containing the Shadow Fiend and preserving her followers. She might even BE Ravenloft itself, which is more complicated but I digress, this leaves the Shadar Kai behind within her realm of the shadowfell in her absence and they basically try to keep the secret that they don't really know where their goddess is, and perpetuate the notion she can be found within the tower which I forget the name of. I hope this isn't a jumble of gibberish😅 and maybe you can steal a little bit of inspiration from it or the books that I've mentioned.

Hyrsam is my guy!

You can use the Ring of Winter really well in this story I used a similar setup for my campaign going from Tomb of Annihilation into Icewind dale.. in my head the ring was and engagement ring that froze when the prince did.. hasn't been found since my players let it get away in Chult.

Where did you find your sources im interested in these kind of things?

Yes, you're reading too much into the height thing. Look at the average height of Elves. Saying a 4ft women is the height of a young girl ignores the fact that we think of Jesus or Buddha as 'human' sized. Average female height in India is about 5 ft, same in Peru and Mozambique.

Oh... So she's the Oak Princess. If Oberon is her father, it seems to follow that he would be the Oak King. Or, it could be a realm thing, and her father could be the Oak King who is a different entity or a different aspect of the same entity. I'm going to stop babbling now. Oh, and yes, the Lolita vibe seems present, and not unlike Goldberry relative to Tom Bombadil.

The average Roman soldier was 5'7" tall, and women were 5'2" tall. Modern Americans are much taller than Europeans from the Iron and Dark Ages.