Tiamat

Did You Know?

• In the 1983–1985 Dungeons & Dragons TV series, Tiamat (voiced by Frank Welker) is a recurring threat, and the evil wizard Venger fears her.
• In the MMORPG Neverwinter, Tiamat is a main boss in the 2014 expansion Rise of Tiamat.
• Tiamat is the primary antagonist in the Stern Pinball machine Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant's Eye.

Publication history

The character was introduced in the first supplement, Greyhawk (1975), by Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz, where she was called only "the Dragon Queen" and "the Chromatic Dragon" without a personal name. In the first edition Monster Manual (1977), she received the name Tiamat and was described as ruling the first plane of the Nine Hells, where she spawns all evil dragonkind. Dragon #38 (1980) further described Tiamat, the Chromatic Dragon, Queen of Evil Dragonkind.

The first edition Deities & Demigods (1980) mentioned her under the entry for the Babylonian god Marduk, formally connecting her with the Babylonian Tiamat. Ed Greenwood's article "The Nine Hells Part I" in Dragon #75 (1983) detailed her role as ruler of Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells. The first edition Manual of the Planes (1987) detailed her role in the outer planes. In module H4 The Throne of Bloodstone (1988), Bahamut tells player characters that the Wand of Orcus can only be destroyed if steeped in the black and foul blood from the heart of Tiamat, the Queen of Darkness; if killed, Tiamat and the wand will be removed from the current plane for centuries but will eventually return.

Tiamat was detailed as a deity in Monster Mythology (1992), and later for the Forgotten Realms in the original Draconomicon (1990), expanded upon in Powers & Pantheons (1997), and revisited in Cult of the Dragon (1998). Her role in the Planescape cosmology was described in On Hallowed Ground (1996). Several draconic children of Tiamat were described in Dragon #260 (June 1999). Aardy R. DeVarque observed that while her description differs from the mythological counterpart, her portrayal as the evil mother of all dragons is partly why TSR's writers made her a prismatic conglomeration of all evil chromatic dragons.

Campaign settings

In the Dragonlance setting, Tiamat appears as Takhisis, the Dark Queen. Neo-pagan books by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, written as school texts for young wizards and witches, compare Takhisis to the Babylonian and Dungeons & Dragons Tiamat, focusing on her part in the struggle between good and evil. Dr. Stefan Ekman of Lund University compares Takhisis and other fantasy dark lords to the biblical Satan, noting that Takhisis, like Lord Foul and the Dark One, represents the ultimate source of evil and exists solely to be the final threat.

In the Forgotten Realms, Tiamat is a survivor of the Untheric pantheon, which draws from Sumerian and Babylonian myth. She once battled Marduk, is the daughter of Io, and slew Gilgeam, the God-king of Unther. She is also a member of the draconic pantheon. In the 4th edition, she is the last Untheric god left and serves mainly as the goddess of chromatic dragons.

Though Enlil, Gilgeam, and Nanna-Sin return in 5th edition, Tiamat has not reached out to them, preferring her draconic duties and ignoring Unther. In Eberron, Tiamat is a demon lord bound during the Age of Demons, when dragons and couatl imprisoned the children of Khyber. She remains trapped in the Pit of Sorrows on Argonnessen, where she spawns evil dragonspawn and corrupts the good dragons that guard her.

Fictional description

Tiamat sometimes appears as a dark-haired human sorceress, but in most Dungeons & Dragons worlds she is the five-headed queen of evil chromatic dragons. Each of her heads corresponds to a standard chromatic dragon color—black, blue, green, red, and white—and each head wields the powers of that dragon type. Her body is a mix of different chromatic dragon features, covered in a multicolored hide, and she also has wyvern-like traits, including a long tail tipped with a poisonous stinger.

She was one of the first deities to have aspects, or lesser avatars. These aspects can take the form of powerful versions of her chromatic offspring or appear as five-headed versions of herself. One such multiheaded aspect was released in the War of the Dragon Queen miniatures set, with full game statistics in Dragon Magic. A smaller aspect first appeared in the Miniatures Handbook.

Like most draconic gods, Tiamat is a child of the dragon creator Io. She is the eternal rival of her brother Bahamut, the ruler of good metallic dragons, and it is suggested that her hatred for him has, over a very long time, twisted into a kind of lust. She lives in Avernus, the first layer of the Outer Plane of Baator, also called the Nine Hells. In the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons she ruled Avernus; later editions gave rulership of the layers to powerful devils called baatezu.

In many campaign settings, the draconic pantheon includes Io, Aasterinian, Bahamut, Chronepsis, Faluzure, Sardior, and Tiamat. Three baatezu nobles given to her by Bel serve Tiamat and lead her armies on Avernus: Malphas commands 40 companies of abishai, Amduscias commands 29 companies of abishai, and Goap leads three companies of erinyes. Tiamat created the first abishai together with Pearza of the Dark Eight.

Reception

Tiamat is considered one of the most fearsome dragons in Dungeons & Dragons history, according to Forbes writer David M. Ewalt, and was named among the greatest villains in the game by Dragon #359, the magazine's final print issue. Game chroniclers Michael Witwer and others have noted her as an iconic character. Her depiction has been criticized as a stereotypical portrayal of evil female characters, emphasizing traits like shallowness, deceit, envy, and treachery.

In The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock explains that Tiamat is presented as the offspring of Io, the dragon creator deity, and describes her as greedy, vain, and arrogant, locked in a constant rivalry with her brother Bahamut, likely a reference to Behemoth. Screen Rant ranked her fifth on its list of the 15 most powerful D&D villains and fourth on its list of the 10 most powerful dragons. Matthew Guida notes that as the goddess of all evil dragons, she is the antithesis of her twin brother Bahamut, and even if defeated, she will eventually return to spread chaos.

Scott Baird points out that in the 5th edition, only the tarrasque matches Tiamat in combat prowess. CBR placed her eighth on a 2020 list of unique and powerful villains for high-level campaigns, stating that while she is not as powerful as some other gods, her dominion over dragons and her ability to command them makes her a threat. The article also notes that she has a stat block in Tyranny of Dragons and is a solid choice for parties that simply want to fight dragons.