Kezef
Marc Ribot Lyrics

rakbel316

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.

Sam the Actual Kenku

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

CloudyDaze

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

Jerome Dowling

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!

Can you do Atropus in your next video? I’m planning on doing a campaign with Atropus as the apocalyptic threat, and I would love some information on it.

Jorphdan

Literally writing it right now :)

Norea el Vago

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

A Disfigurement Where My Head Is The Sun

@Norea el Vago Sure! ...knowing me though, it'll be years. I'm a perfectionist, have way too high ambitions, too many simultanous projects and so on.

So... hopefully you'll hear from it one day, I'd plan to make it commercial.

In the meantime: I can't recommend the first book from the Southern Reach Trilogy, "Annihilation" by Jeff Vandermeer enough. The film's okay, but the book really portraits the feeling I'm striving for.

And then layer an indonesian/mezzoamerican occultism on top of that. Humans are a persecuted minority, every race is way more "exotically" exaggerated, the world has a postapocalyptic feeling, building ruins upon ruins, overgrown by wild jungles and reclaimed by fire... and so on, won't go into spoilers, but that's a very short summary of what I am building^^

Norea el Vago

@A Disfigurement Where My Head Is The Sun I would love to give it a look when you finish, maybe I can take something from you

A Disfigurement Where My Head Is The Sun

You'd love the homebrew campaign I'm working on, most of the world is are those two planes intersecting!
...I have no point to make, just hoped to see someone as excited about this as I am ^^

Biteso

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!

Rockethero

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?”

Natsirt666

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

HanRon93

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.

Justin Brown

The dislikes are from elves.

FerreusVir

The dislikes are ALWAYS from Elves.

TurtleRollover

*Elf. There's only one dislike

Benjamin Barney

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!

Branden Loera

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.

Micah Lord

That quote at the beginning is so good.

Cameron Gunn

Dendar, just another reason why everyone should have a Gate spell on hand. Just in case you might have to "Nope" the frell out.

[MATADORS] PVFC- Coma Berenices

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.

Filipe Aguiar

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

Jon Mack

According to 4chan an elf eater would be the living embodiment of goodness

James Johnson

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

moonringXD

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

civilwildman

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.

Rudofaux

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

Oscar V

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

Doc Baker

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

MoonChild

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

Jorphdan

yo yur aunty so snakey she done worship DENDAR! :P

Andrew Beauman

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.

Andrew

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

Frost Dragon King

Thank you Jorphdan for the video! i loved those Eternal Elder Evils! and can't wait for your next video.

Jorphdan

Awesome! :)

BK

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

Jorphdan

Here ya go :) https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/15352105-flat-mars-society

Green Starr

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

Marshall Waters

Amazing how Dendar sounds like Bakunawa. Amazing work!!

Cameron Pearce

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

TheFrownyMan

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

Jock's Strapped

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.

Jorphdan

That's great! Happy to have helped 🙂

Deathven

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

Deathven

@Jorphdan Of course! Love all your stuff! Makes me want to learn more and more about the Forgotten Realms!

Jorphdan

Glad you enjoyed!

Zero Tempest

Nice I've been waiting for this !!

Best around

Considering my party consists of no elves and is level 16 with a lot of magic swag, they have a good chance against the elf eater, sadly would need to convert the stats to 5e.

misomiso

The Elder Evil book of 3.5 edition is one of my favourite DnD books of all time.

It had so much fantastic content.

Jorphdan

Truth!

Draenal

The talking head has really taken your content up a level. When you show images I know they have some significance to what youre saying as opposed to just having something to fill space. Plus just generally listening to a someone talk is a bit more pleasing than listening to a voice.

Jorphdan

Thanks! Trying new things and it does seem to be working ;)

Scott Johnson

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

Jorphdan

Yep!

catoblepasomega

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!

Jacq buckley

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

John Gleeman

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!

Sonic Halo

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.

pbr-streetgang

That, ph is silent, never gets old.

G Nk

Elf eater vs a party with Sun Elf, Drow (not a good one), Halfelf, etc would be interesting.

Vince Gray

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

drkblde

My only full level 20 campaign (3.5) ended with the party fighting to prevent Zargon (Elder Evils source book) from retuning to unravel the multiverse into pure chaos.

Kyle Stark

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.

Gabriel F. D. Sedrez

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

Harehn Kaundun

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?

Pascal Kretschmann

Knowing the story of fenrir that second story sounded very familiar

justBinia

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.

Blaink

@varun As far as I know it is because their cultures and ways of thinking are totally opposite, elves live for almost a millennium they can see a problem and think "just leave it there that in a few decades it will resolved it self" they think in a more relaxed way while the dwarves think more about the problems that will happen and they are resentful a saying in forgotten kingdoms is "a dwarf never forgets" that because they tend to live in cities and stone structures and because they live more or less for half a millennium they will see the structures deteriorating and they have to fix a human wouldn’t come a castle made of stone to break with time but dwarfs are why they are so "grumpy" and "petty". At least that's how I see it

Draeckon

@varun I mean, as far as I'm aware, that trope started with LotR. I think it mostly arose from elves and dwarves having very different mindsets, coupled with a rivalry when it comes to the skill of their artisans that kind of got twisted over time.

As for other settings, it's going to vary on a case by case basis. In some, there is no such animosity.

varun

Do you know why dwarves and elves hate each other? I tried to google it but it gives kinda mixed answer not specific to the DnD universe as elves and dwarves are in many works of fantasy

Weis Wolf

Wow woweeee, loved it!

Dan Keehner

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.

Ikki

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?

Valo56

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.

BenJoe72

So much Norse mythology in this video :D

epiccthulu

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

Tim Bandelin

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

John Santos

An adventure through the Abyss...I hope you chose Drow for this fiasco, and even then your chance of survival is terrible

Pyre

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.

Raptors

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

Henry Lloyd.

You should do a video on the fugue plane!

Zoy Panagiotopoulos

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.

Bright Glory

Would hearing the PH cause madness?

Moon Witch

Why banish the Elf Eater? I would think that banding together and casting some Elven High Magic would be sufficient to destroy or permanently imprison the beast.

Sam W.

Atropus is my post ToA plan if my group survives

iamabigfatbutt

What if I want to summon the elf-eater?

ZoneofA

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

kaemon bonet

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

kaemon bonet

@Jorphdan if you want to play it I'd be happy to run.

Jorphdan

nice!

Reinaldo Rodrigues

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

Dale Bullock

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

Emperor Xander

mask face turn make his the best CN god

3dagalathor

hooray, my boy Cyric gets a mention

U-N-EYE-versal Library

Shars puppet boy... Sucker lol

U-N-EYE-versal Library

Shars puppet boy... Sucker lol

ashes hurricane

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

rjanssaft The III

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.

Samsamsamsam Samanilla

Jorphdan, have you and your husband ever done a video together?

damian struiken

Wouldn't the elf eater be a demon lord if he lives in the abyss

Caleb Kyle

Where you live doesn’t necessarily determine what you are since you are only a demon lord if you control a layer

Nikolas

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).

John Snow

Mage tower over gauntlegrim vs. Red wizards of Thay. Think about it for a sec b4 u answer.

Jacob Freeman

So Malar is the god killing for sport?

Pandaemonium93

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.

Ventus Astrea

Hi Jorphdan just wanted to let you know that you most likely misattributed Dendar's real life inspiration as Nidhogg instead of what it should be; The Jörmungandr. Nidhogg is a serpent/dragon who gnaws on the roots of Yggdrasil, the world tree and eats murderers, adulterers and oath-breakers. Jörmungandr is the world serpent, who coils around the world, so large in fact it's said to eat it's own tail/grasp it. When Jörmungandr releases the hold on its own tail Ragnarök, the end of the world will begin. Jörmungandr will be responsible for spitting poison over half the world; into to the seas and skies (while Fenrir burns the other half). Jörmungandr will be killed by Thor who in turn dies from Jörmungandr's poison.

Just wanted to quickly correct this, also do note that you're not the first nor the last one to mix up Nidhogg and Jörmungandr, from my experience people tend to mix those two a lot(happens to the best of us).
Cheers, ~Ventus

deamongimli

So Kazef is Fenris. Got it.

Robert Doom

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.

Notsogoodguitarguy

Honestly, these concepts of the Elder Evils, at least for those 3 that you presented, are quite lame. Elder Evils, at least in my headcanon, are creatures beyond the gods, beyond understanding, things that nobody wants to see, because if you see them, it's too late. They aren't "evil", you just can't really begin to comprehend their motivations. These 3 Elder Evils are just bad gods with a bit more power than some gods.

Far Realm Rollers

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?

Far Realm Rollers

@Robert Doom I have no idea. Possibly. Just that whatever relic it is revolves around Kezef and the brothers of Samular. I try to keep things canonical in my content so it was intriguing

Robert Doom

Are you thinking about the sword HoundsBane given to mask (by Mystra) to protect him from Kezef?

Jorphdan

Your answer might be in the book Thornhold? I haven't read it though so I'm not sure!

Jacob Jensen

Giant evil snake that eats the Sun.
Soooooo, Apophis?

Corey England

Will you be covering Hadar?

Jorphdan

I'll start researching 🙂

Matthew Cumbo

So Kezef is Fenrir?

too slow406

So Ao would just allow Dendar do destroy Toril? None of the gods, who fought the primordials before would do something? At least we can tell that Greenwood didnt create this. His stuff makes sense.

Russell Jackson

Nice recycling of Norse mythology.

Jordan Beasley

Repping the Jordan name well

Mister Joshua

ATROPUS HYPE

Mike Geyer

Love your channel

Jorphdan

Thanks!

Dungeon Hardware

Could you include hadar in a video like this?

Mark Crazeer

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