D&D: An Adventurer’s Guide to Demogorgon
The Prince of Demons, the Imprisoned One, or the Deep Father. Whatever name you know him as, Demogorgon is a fearsome foe.
In all the multiverse, no creatures are as feared or loathed as the demon princes. These powerful lords are bastions of destruction and misery. And towering over many of them is Demogorgon. Demon prince, lesser deity, and proof that two heads aren’t always better than one.
Demogorgon’s Appearance & Power
Demogorgon was unique among the demon princes. He towered over many, standing at 18 feet tall with a body “sinuous like that of a snake, yet powerful like that of a great ape.” Two baleful baboon heads, like those of mandrills with red and blue faces, rested atop his lumbering shoulders. And in place of arms, Demogorgon had two long sets of writhing tentacles.
Though his stature was apelike, his lower body was saurian, and Demogorgon possesses an immense, forked tail capable of visiting untold destruction.
In many ways, Demogorgon was proof that evil contains the seeds of its own destruction. And not just in an inevitable betrayal kind of way. But the demon lord’s two heads constantly conflicted with one another. His left head, Aameul, was more charismatic and calculating and sought ever to be free from Hethradiah. Hethradiah was the right head, known for being more impulsive and feral, and destructive.
Though internal conflict gripped the demon lord, he was an unmitigated force of destruction. Those who met his terrible gaze could be hypnotized or compelled with fear. His thrashing tail could drain the life from those it struck, while his tentacles inflicted a withering disease that rots the living away.
Origins of the Prince of Demons
But where did he come from? As with most great mythical, cosmic figures, Demogorgon’s origins were shrouded in mystery and conflicting legends. One account claimed he was the first of the tanar’ri. That he crawled out of the consolidated fear of mortal souls after the Obyrith known as Obox-ob was defeated by the Queen of Chaos.
Others maintain that he was originally a primordial, in fact, the first to set foot in the Abyss after the plane was formed. He fought with Dagon for control of the realm, but the obyrith Obox-ob attempted to become Prince of Demons seizing the Abyss for itself.
In the ensuing battle, Demogorgon is said to have been struck by the primordial Amoth, who split his head in two. Other legends say that Demogorgon rose from the ranks of the Tanar’ri to drive off the Queen of Chaos, returning from an unspecified exile, forcing even Orcus and Graz’zt to kneel and acknowledge his might.
Whatever legend you believe, Demorgorgon, at one point, becomes the Prince of Demons, and rules over the Abyss. At least until he was imprisoned in Faerun by foolish adventurers during the Era of Upheaval, there he dwelt in captivity until the magic maintaining his prison began to fail. Before Demogorgon could escape, an order of the Knights of Helm sacrificed their lives to restore a magical seal.
Though this too was only temporary. Eventually, Demogorgon returned to the Abyss, cutting a swath through the Underdark on his way down. Now he dwells on the lower planes. Watching, waiting, and ready to visit destruction upon all who would oppose him.
Happy adventuring!
