The Sundering

Plot summary

The First Sundering took place in ancient times, around -17,600 DR, before humans arrived on Toril. Elven high mages united to create the Evermeet lands, and their powerful magic tore apart the supercontinent of Merrouroboros. This created the Trackless Sea and the continents of Faerûn, Maztica, and Katashaka, among other changes. The Second Sundering began in 1484 DR, about one hundred years after the Spellplague.

Natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, wars, droughts, and volcanic eruptions swept across Toril, and by 1489 DR the world had changed dramatically. The Second Sundering reversed most of the changes caused by the Spellplague. At the end of The Last Threshold, Drizzt Do'Urden is left mortally wounded. In The Companions, the Companions of the Hall are reincarnated by Mielikki to save Drizzt, but Catti-brie, Regis, Bruenor Battlehammer, and Wulfgar must first live through 21 years of their new lives before they can attempt the rescue in 1484 DR. The story continues in The Godborn and later in the Companions Codex.

Publication history

The First Sundering appears in two D&D v3.5 supplements, Lost Empires of Faerûn (2005) and The Grand History of the Realms (2007), and later in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide (2008) for D&D 4th Edition. The Second Sundering, often simply called the Sundering, was first revealed at Gen Con 2012 as a cataclysm tied to the upcoming D&D Next. Ed Greenwood described it as involving war, gods, and ordinary people trying to survive. At Gen Con 2013, Wizards of the Coast announced a multi-platform event: six novels, a 4th Edition D&D Encounters adventure series with a social network app called The Sundering Adventurer's Chronicle from Crown Social, the free mobile game Arena of War by DeNA, a planned comic series Thieves of Calimport, and a line of miniatures.

R.A. Salvatore’s The Companions, the first novel, launched the week before Gen Con 2013. The remaining novels, published from 2013 to 2014, became the Sundering series. The adventures and novels were released in a staggered, overlapping schedule and incorporated rules from the D&D Next public playtest. The announced comic book series was never produced.

Reception

The Sundering event was designed to reset the Forgotten Realms setting as the game moved into its fifth edition, reversing many of the changes introduced in the fourth edition. Curtis D. Jules-Pierre Malartre praised the collaborative writer series behind the event, comparing it favorably to the classic Thieves World anthologies. The first novel in the Sundering series, R.A. Salvatore's The Companions, earned a nomination for the 2013 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy. It spent one week on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list, peaking at number 68. Kelly Jensen described the book as absorbing, surprising, and wonderful, noting it contains layered narratives that connect past and future. She called it a tribute to Drizzt and the themes of friendship, honor, and loyalty, and said it delivers everything a longtime fan of Salvatore could want.