| “ | I always said the cult's greatest enemy was itself... Fools leading fools. | „ |
| ~ Deniak's disdain towards Cult of the Dragon. |
Deniak is a character featured in Minsc-centered Forgotten Realms comic book series set between the events of Baldur's Gate II and Baldur's Gate III as well as part of Tyranny of Dragons storyline. He serves as the main antagonist in the series' first installment, Legends of Baldur's Gate.
Personality[]
In his youth, Deniak was a cocky and playful yet studious young man. Unfortunately, he changed to the worse after Delina awakened her Wild Magic, envious and bitter, willing to do anything to prove that he's better than his twin sister, even joining Cult of the Dragon in order to access its secret rituals for that goal. Due to unspecified incident which made him hate hearing Elvish, it's rather easy for anyone, even his own family member, to struck his nerve by speaking such language.
History[]
Background[]
Deniak, alongside his twin sister Delina, shared a magical bond that allowed the two to sense each other's presence and emotional states from the moment they were born. The two would study magic together, though Delina frequently skipped her lessons unlike Deniak who diligently honed his skills as a wizard by contrast.
One day, the lives of the twins changed when Delina manifested her Wild Magic powers. While playfully chasing his sister in the woods and then teasing her by boasting his talent and dedication she lacked, Deniak didn't expect Delina's attempt to angrily push him away from her saw the latter unwittingly conjured a blast of lightning at the same time, leaving the siblings astonished.
Things didn't go any better for Deniak as Delina's Wild Magic, which unveiled her high magical aptitude, allowed her to surpass him without any training. Deniak himself by contrast, had to spent considerable amount of time studying and practicing before he could similarly cast magic. Having enough, during Delina's demonstration of Prestidigitation spell in which their instructor acknowledged her potential to become a powerful sorceress and considered to find a suitable teacher for her, Deniak erroneously accused her for cheating. However, anger and resentments he felt coursed to Delina who hurt by this, lowering her guard to the point of losing control over her Wold Magic. The sight of Delina's Wild Magic surge surprised Deniak, setting a dark path he would follow later on unknown to them.
Legends of Baldur's Gate[]
Affair with Cult of the Dragon[]
Deniak would depart to further his magical studies years later. In his lust for power, he decided to join Cult of the Dragon and became one of its high-ranking members. A week before the events of Legends of Baldur's Gate however, he decided to pursue his own agenda, forming his very own splinter group and stealing a number of spells and other rituals known to the cult's main branch along the way. Rather than answering to dragons and dracoliches, he sought to become a powerful being equal to dragonkind and surpass Delina. Around this time, an unspecified incident resulted him to hate hearing Elvish (Elven language).
Meanwhile, Delina, upon sensing the darkness in Deniak's heart, set out to track him down. Her search brought her to Baldur's Gate during which two animated gargoyeles ambushed her and even slaughtered a group of The Watch members before being destroyed by Minsc and Boo whom she restored to life via. Wild Magic surge (the beloved ranger and the alleged miniature space hamster were cursed into a statue which claimed to be made with their likeness to honor him decades back). It became evident to Delina that she had gotten more than what he had bargained for in her quest despite finding new friends in addition of Minsc and Boo themselves (Krydle and Shandie); not only The Watch erroneously assumed her to be responsible for the death of some of its members, but also the group survived an ambush by three Cult of the Dragon members shortly after a meeting with Osgur Hallorn aka. The Fetcher.
The Reunion[]
Deniak eventually revealed himself to Delina by blasting three members of Cult of the Dragon who kidnapped her with Lightning Bolt spell. Bringing her to his group's secret base near the docks at Brampton, the lower city part of Baldur's Gate, Deniak revealed about the looming awakening of Tiamat and current plan which did little to assuage his sister's worries. Delina tried to talk him out of his ambitions only to unwittingly anger him by doing so while speaking Elvish despite his discouragement earlier.
Incapacitating Delina with Hold Person spell and then having two of his followers carefully placed her at the center of the red magic circle he just made, Deniak confessed how much he envied his sister for the tremendous power she possessed — the same Wild Magic he required to fuel a certain ritual of Cult of the Dragon he currently worked on in order to imbue his body with draconic might. Adding a finishing touch for the ritual's preparation (painting a marking on Delina's forehead), Deniak gloated that Delina's distress would only make things easier for him thus there's nothing she could do to stop him.
Mutation into Red Dragon and death[]
Fortunately for Delina, Minsc, Boo, Krydle, and Shandie barged into Deniak's secret base to save her, prompting Deniak to order his men to deal the group. Although Deniak's subordinates, which consisted of formidable hobgoblin fighters, could barely match the group's strength, they nonetheless managed to buy their leader enough time to complete the ritual in a blast of fiery red magic.
However, things went horribly wrong for Deniak; rather than a powerful wizard on par with dragons in physical and magical might, the ritual instead mutated him into a feral, out of control Red Dragon who proceeded to take flight with the horrified Delina in his clutches and both the beloved ranger and the alleged miniature space hamster held onto Deniak's dorsal fins with their dear lives. As it happened, his subordinates failed to see something off in their leader's transformed state and celebrated before being finished off by Krydle and Shandie. A wild chase over the lower city of Baldur's Gate ensued as Krydle and Shandie set out for the nearest tower so the latter could set loose some arrows upon Red Dragon!Deniak while Minsc and Boo struggled to maintaining their grip onto the beast. Shandie's two arrows could only infuriated Red Dragon!Deniak who retaliated with his fire breath, though in process he moved close enough for Krydle to hurl a grappling hook onto his left wing thus allowing both him and Shandie to swing away for the safety and forcing the beast to crash into one of dilapidated buildings below simultaneously.
But the fight was far from over. As Delina and co. recovered, Red Dragon!Deniak popped out of the rubble, angrier than ever. Shrugging off Delina's Magic Missile spell, Krydle's thrown knives, Shandie's arrows, and Minsc's sword strike, Red Dragon!Deniak chomped onto Minsc, which ironically allowed the beloved ranger to hurl the alleged miniature space hamster onto his right eye, forcing him to let go of them. Simultaneously, Shandie blinded Red Dragon!Deniak's remaining eye with an arrow, allowing Delina and Minsc to put Deniak out of his misery with a blast of lightning and sword stab at the base of the lower jaw respectively.
Gallery[]
External Links[]
- Deniak on the Forgotten Realms Wiki
- Deniak on the Antagonists Wiki