The fat dragon Themberchaud from the D&D movie has a massive in-game backstory

As the first trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves When it was released at the end of July, a friend DMed me almost immediately asking, “Is there any lore about the fat dragon?” D&D Monsters Guide are quite rare, which made this burly boy stand out.

I had a theory, but it has only just been confirmed Toys for the film were requested – the red dragon in honor among thieves Is Themberchaud, which has quite a significant story in the Dungeons & Dragons game. That gave me a pretty good feeling about the chances that the film would really delve into the D&D lore. If writers and directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein were willing to delve into a profound character like Themberchaud, what else could I expect from the sourcebooks they would delve into?

The film itself doesn’t go into the dragon’s backstory, but here’s what we know about the underdark’s weighty threat.

Who is the fat dragon in Dungeons & Dragons movie?

Image: Paramount Pictures

Themberchaud is a red dragon that resides in it Gracklstugh, a Duergar city in the Underdark of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. If that’s too many fantasy nouns in one sentence for you, we can break it down. The Forgotten Realms is the most popular campaign world for the Dungeons & Dragons RPG, and Underdark is a vast subterranean cave system beneath the surface that is home to all manner of monsters and subterranean species, including the ever-popular drow, or dark elves. Also known as the gray dwarves, the duergar are like the drow of the dwarves: cold, fierce, and obsessed with work, they have all the crafting skills of the more familiar fantasy dwarf archetype without the high-spirited fun.

The dragon Themberchaud first appeared in Drizzt Do’Urden’s Guide to the Underdark, an accessory for the 2nd edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons published in 1999 by TSR. In this early source, the dragon plays an intriguing role in the town of Gracklstugh. As a young dragon, just under 100 years old, he is described as the Wyrmsmith of Gracklstugh and a descendant of earlier dragons in the same role. His fiery breath ignites the forges and tempers the steel produced by the city, and the monastic keepers of the flame tend to his every whim.

The next mention of the dragon was in a pair of accessories for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons by Wizards of the Coast: subdark 2003 and Dragons of Faerûn in 2006. These sources largely repeated the 2nd Edition information, updating Themberchaud’s age to be over 100, and stating that he is kept happy not only by the duergar expanding his hoard, but also by a constant diet of unruly slaves.

A monstrous backstory stretching back decades

The story of Themberchaud was significantly expanded, pun intended, for the Rage of Demons storyline from Wizards of the Coast for D&D Edition 5. He appeared in the tabletop adventure From the Abyss and the computer role-playing game Legends of the Sword Coast in 2015 and the Endless Quest playbook Escape the Underdark in 2018. In this story, much more attention was paid to the dragon’s appearance, personality, and backstory.

Conceptual artist Richard Whitters designed Themberchaud’s new appearance, giving him the unique trait of being overweight. The extended backstory for Themberchaud in Rage of Demons drew on the lore from previous editions as well as one Online lore article from the 3rd edition about the inclusion of psionics in the Forgotten Realms, published by Wizards in 2007.

Each Wyrmsmith of Gracklstugh is hatched from eggs and raised by the keepers of the flame to fill the role of keeping the town’s forges running. These dragons are very spoiled, to the point that Themberchaud often doesn’t have to leave his chambers, which contributes to his massive size. Hatched and raised all underground in the city, Themberchaud has never been outdoors. He rarely flies and has known no other existence than to serve the duergar. Escape the Underdark even makes it clear that he has grown too big to ever leave Gracklstugh:

“And now I’m way too big to ever walk. Even if I demolished everything around me, I couldn’t fight my way to the surface from here. Instead, I remain buried in my parents’ prison, deep under a sky I’ve never seen.”

What the dragon doesn’t know is that the keepers of the flame ultimately plan to kill him before he becomes too powerful to control and seeks to rule the city, since red dragons naturally tend to tyranny as they age tend. Keepers have always followed this pattern, killing a Wyrmsmith once it reached a certain age and then replacing it with a newly hatched Wyrmling. But the red dragon egg that would succeed Themberchaud was stolen by the Gray Ghosts, Gracklstugh’s thieves’ guild. This sparked a war between the psykers and the thieves, leaving Themberchaud increasingly paranoid and suspicious of his lifelong guardians.

From the Abyss Players can travel to Gracklstugh as they explore the Underdark, where they can be persuaded to become agents of the Keepers of the Flame, the Gray Spirits, or Themberchaud himself as the three powerful factions vie for control of the Wyrmsmith’s fate. Meanwhile the King of Gracklstugh has lost his mind, a plot that follows Legends of the Sword Coast.

In this poorly regarded CRPG, now listed as a notable piece of abandonware in the D&D Edition 5 Catalog, players journey to Gracklstugh, the source of Moontear, the magical McGuffin of the game’s single-player campaign. They find out that the city has been taken over by a mind flayer who took advantage of the king’s insanity. The same Mind Flayer has entered Themberchaud’s brain as well. Players must defeat the Mind Flayer to save the king and dragon, who kindly reward the heroes by forgoing eating them.

The plot of Themberchaud from Rage of Demons is vain and proud, like most red dragons. He is described as spoiled and restless. In Legends of the Sword Coast, he has the deep and booming voice one would expect from such a massive monster. Like all dragons in D&D, he can talk and is a character to interact with, not just a monster to fight and kill.

While the dragon’s bulk makes it unforgettable, it also makes it tragic. He is a victim of manipulation and abuse at the hands of his evil gray dwarf guardians. Unfortunately, he is evil himself, and the consequence of freeing Themberchaud from the keepers of the flame, or replacing him with a new wyrmsmith, would likely be the submission of the entire city to the dragon’s dominion. But these are the dilemmas of choice faced by TTRPG players.

Why is the Underdark deserted?

Image: Paramount Pictures

Once it was confirmed that Themberchaud would star in it honor among thievesmany elements from the trailers began to come together. The bald statues, the caves, the underdark, the rune-covered relics – the movie has to go to Gracklstugh! As such, it was a huge surprise to discover that the film removes the dragon from the longtime home that has always shaped him and his story.

Instead, the heroes of the film find Themberchaud in it Dolblunde, another Underdark settlement. This was once home to gnomes who abandoned it centuries ago. In the lore of previous editions of D&D, Dolblunde was the home of Daurgothoth, a black dracolich greatwyrm of immense power. But The Creeping Doom hasn’t been referenced in an official product since the 4th Edition supplement Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons. Perhaps the filmmakers felt that the Dracolich had too high a challenge rating for the film’s heroes?

But while I love seeing Themberchaud come to life, his presence raises questions. How was he finally able to free himself from Gracklstugh, and why – assuming one of the existing lore in the film is true – is he hanging around in the lair of another, much more powerful dragon? Unfortunately, the dragon itself gives no clues – like many Hollywood dragons, Themberchaud just roars and makes other animal noises in the film, robbing the audience of his unique character and personality.

During the film, the heroes comment that Themberchaud appears to have found a new hiding place, suggesting his arrival in Dolblunde was recent. And the movie appears to be set a few years after the Rage of Demons storyline. Perhaps Wizards of the Coast – which has been shown to be experimenting with new rules and adding elements to the game’s canon based on the film – will eventually tell the story of how the Wyrmsmith of Gracklstugh finally escaped from his prison. It definitely sounds like a great idea for an epic campaign.