Eshowdow

Eshowdow is a fictional god in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

Publication history

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

This entity is first described as a "shadow giant" in the 2nd edition book Jungles of Chult (1993).^[2] Eshowdow is named and further detailed in Powers & Pantheons (1997).^[1]

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition (2000-2007)

It was revealed in the book Races of Faerûn (2003), that Eshowdow was killed and his guise taken up by the dark goddess Shar in uncertain circumstances.^[3]

Description

The dark god Eshowdow was born out of a fragment of the consciousness and being of Ubtao when he created the myriad nature spirits of Chult from such pieces of himself. His name came from the Eshowe tribe, who freed the entity they called the Shadow Giant, hoping to destroy the city of Mezro. When the Shadow Giant was repelled from the city by the Tabaxi People, he turned on his summoners, nearly wiping them out. Thus, the victorious Tabaxi named him Eshowdow, "the Shadow of the Eshowe".

Despite his fury at the defeat, and his realization that the elder god was incapable of perceiving him, as Eshowdow was, in essence, Ubtao's shadow, he remained in the shadows, brooding and plotting against the Chultans. To mortals, Eshowdow appeared as a huge, roughly humanoid shadow with taloned hands.

References