Myrkul

Myrkul /ˈmɜrkuːl/ MUR-kool^[1] was the fictional Lord of the Dead in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting based upon the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Further aliases of Myrkul include the Reaper and Old Lord Skull. His symbol is a skull against a black field, known to occur in nightmares of many of the folk of Faerûn. His alignment is Neutral Evil

Publication history

Ed Greenwood created Myrkul for his home Dungeons & Dragons game, set in Greenwood's Forgotten Realms world.^[2]

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977-1988)

Myrkul first appeared within Dungeons & Dragons as one of the deities featured in Ed Greenwood's article "Down-to-earth Divinity" in Dragon #54 (October 1981). Myrkul was introduced as Lord of Bones, Old Lord Skull, god of the dead, wasting, decay, corruption, parasites, old age, dusk, fall, and exhaustion; he is a neutral evil greater god from the plane of Hades. The article states that Myrkul "usually appears as a cloaked, animated corpse — skeletal at its head, and changing slowly towards its feet, which are gangrenous, rotting flesh. Myrkul is said to have a cold, malignant intelligence and to speak in a high whisper." According to the article, his supernatural servants are known as “Deaths”, similar to those creatures which appear as part of the Deck of Many Things, as found in the Dungeon Master's Guide. The article also states that Myrkul "can animate and command the dead, but has no power over undead above the level of zombies and skeletons. He is said to live in a Castle of Bone located in a Moonless Land of Always Night (Hades)." Myrkul is described as one of “The Dark Gods” of evil alignment: "Bhaal and Myrkul have an unbreakable, symbiotic alliance. Shar is allied with Myrkul." Myrkul is commonly worshipped by neutral evil magic-users, assassins, thieves, and clerics, and characters working as alchemists when concocting harmful substances; Myrkul is placated by characters working as leeches, surgeons, and midwives.^[2]

Myrkul later officially appeared as one of the major deities for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set's "Cyclopedia of the Realms" booklet (1987).^[1]

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)

Myrkul was destroyed in the novel Waterdeep (1989), and its accompanying adventure module of the same name. Despite his death, Myrkul was still described in the hardback Forgotten Realms Adventures (1990),^[3] the revised Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (1993) in the "Running the Realms" booklet,^[4] and Faiths & Avatars (1996).^[5]

His role in the cosmology of the Planescape campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground (1996).^[6]

His relationships with the nonhuman deities in the Forgotten Realms was covered in Demihuman Deities (1998).^[7]

Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition (2003-2007)

Myrkul's worship was discussed in Lost Empires of Faerûn (2005).^[8]

Character history

In the Dead Three Myrkul was the second to choose from Jergal's powers. Since Bane, the first to choose, had chosen to rule over Strife, pain, etc., Myrkul tried to one-up him by choosing the Domain of the Dead, so that eventually Bane's subjects would become his. During the Time of Troubles, in which Lord Ao banished all the gods from the Planes, they were forced to take on mortal Avatars, Myrkul and Bane allied to seize a Celestial Stairway, an ever-changing stairway that grants access to the Planes from the Realms.

When Bane's avatar was destroyed during a fight with the legendary mage Elminster in the Temple Of Lathander in the city of Shadowdale, Myrkul had his temple's wizards locate the shards of his power. Three of his wizards died in the process due to the unstable nature of magic in the Realms, which is why Myrkul ventured into the Border Ethereal (since none of the gods had lived in the Border Ethereal before the Arrival, Lord Ao didn't see any reason to have Helm blockade it). This made it much easier to locate Bane's being and to reform them into a whole again.

Myrkul was killed in a duel with Mystra in the skies over the city of Waterdeep, during the Time of Troubles. However, Myrkul infused the sinister artifact called the Crown of Horns with the remnants of his essence, and teleported it away. The artifact was once in the possession of a yuan-ti from Skullport, but has since abandoned its user. Cyric briefly gained control of Myrkul's portfolio, but it was later granted to Kelemvor.

Other media

In the Expansion pack for Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, the protagonist will meet Myrkul, and is given the choice to destroy him with the power the Spirit Eater within them gives them. A fitting punishment, since the Spirit Eater was created by Myrkul from his rebellious High Priest, Akachi, as punishment for turning against him.

Sources

This information complied from the Avatar Trilogy from the Forgotten Realms series of books, as well as various other source books from the Dungeons & Dragons Pantheon. Most of the Information is not based on or approved by Wizards of the Coast (Owner of all D&D copyrights).

References