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“ | Know me and fear me. My embrace is for all and is patient but sure. The dead can always find you. My hand is everywhere - there is no door I cannot pass, nor guardian who can withstand me. | „ |
~ Myrkull's Dogma |
Myrkul, also known as the Lord of Bones, is one of the main antagonists of Forgotten Realms, a segment of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise, as well as one of the overarching antagonists of the Baldur's Gate series. He is also the overarching antagonist of the 2006 video game Neverwinter Nights 2.
Myrkul is the God of Death, Decay, and Exhaustion, who's noted for his malevolence, cruelty, and sadism involving death. He is also a member of the Dead Three, alongside Bane and Bhaal.
Overview[]
Myrkul was one of the Dead Three and the god of the dead, as opposed to the god of death, which was the province of Bhaal. His portfolio, and his home, the Bone Castle, were both usurped by Cyric after the Lord of Bones was destroyed atop Blackstaff Tower in Waterdeep during the Time of Troubles by Midnight.
Later Myrkul's portfolio passed to Kelemvor when Cyric was driven from the City of Strife by an alliance of deities and denizens.
Personality[]
Myrkul had a cold, malignant intelligence, and spoke in a high whisper. He was always alert, never slept, and was never surprised. He was never known to lose his temper or be anything other than coldly amused when a mortal succeeded in avoiding his directives or chosen fates.
His influence in Faerûn was imposed through fear, and he was a master of making mortals terrified of him through his words and deeds. At times, just to remain unpredictable, he seemed almost kind and caring. His cowled skull head was known in nightmares all over Faerûn, and he was the one deity that almost all human mortals could picture clearly.
Myrkul took care that all mortals thought of him often - he was even known to materialize beside open graves, scythe in his hands, just to gaze around at gathering mourners for a few silent seconds before fading away, in order to remind everyone that he was waiting for them all.
History[]
Neverwinter Nights 2[]

Myrkul in Mask of the Betrayer
Myrkul is largely responsible for the events in the Mask of the Betrayer expansion. One of his Chosen was Akachi, a powerful and influential high priest from Mulsantir. Akachi's lover was a faithless wizard, simply known as the Founder, who died in an accident, and Myrkul refused Akachi's request to exempt her from being imprisoned in the Wall of the Faithless. Myrkul had constructed the Wall to dispose of unclaimed, faithless souls of people who didn't worship any particular god.
Angered by his god's refusal to spare her the torment of the Wall, he rebelled and launched a crusade into the Fugue Plane to tear down the Wall and retrieve the Founder's soul. Myrkul soon stopped the crusade, though not before the Founder was freed, and judged his high priest as False. As a punishment, Myrkul had Akachi put into the wall where the Founder's soul was placed, but tore him out just before he was fully consumed by the wall, reducing him to a spectral abomination of hunger and emptiness. This entity was the Spirit Eater curse.
Myrkul's ulterior plan was to let the Spirit Eater loose in the wilds of Rashemen, a land rich in spirits. The spirit eater would take control of another mortal as a "mask," slowly devouring that person's identity and soul (transferring it to his spot on the Wall), and then moves on to the next. This being became a fearful creature of Rashemi folklore, ensuring Myrkul would not be forgotten and his consciousness lives, even after his death and replacement as God of the Dead in the Time of Troubles.
Akachi's younger brother, Eveshi, also known as Araman, was another involved in the Crusade. Myrkul gave Araman a choice: Suffer the same fate as Akachi, or bring the Founder back to the Wall. Araman chose the latter, believing he finally once made a choice for himself and wanted to correct his brother's mess, and was made ageless by Myrkul with his soul bound in the Fugue Plane.
The Founder, in search of a way to end Akachi's suffering, eventually went to Myrkul's god-isle in the Astral Plane, and tortured him to gain information on ending the curse. Myrkul stated that if the one cursed by the spirit eater were to retrieve his/her soul from the Wall, this would end Akachi's hunger. Though the Founder believed him, this was a lie; only the accursed would be restored. Restoring Akachi required gathering fragments of his identity, something Myrkul incorrectly believed was destroyed.
Eventually, the Player Character, having been dragged into Rashemen after the defeat of the King of Shadows, was afflicted by the curse and soon retraced the Founder's footsteps to Myrkul. Myrkul, still cruel and manipulative even as a dead god, mocked the plight of the player and his/her companions. He revealed that the curse was Akachi's punishment, and the Player Character is just the latest host. He revealed that an "ally and enemy" was waiting for him/her beyond a second portal, with the Silver Sword of Gith. This portal led to the Founder's Sanctum, where she revealed everything.
At the end of the meeting, the player has the option of turning the Spirit Eater curse against Myrkul. The player can use Devour Spirit to devour the dead god. This only absorbs him, and his presence is still felt while the curse is in effect. The player can also administer poetic justice with Eternal Rest, which gives Myrkul a more permanent retirement. If the player does this, Myrkul's final thoughts are of the irony of being undone by the monster he unleashed upon the Realms.
Devouring (not exorcising) Myrkul grants you the Ravenous Incarnation ability. His wrath lingers within your soul, marking the first step to mastering your hunger and becoming an abomination of unimaginable power, capable of devouring even gods.
It is normally impossible to devour the Founder using Devour Soul. If, however, you have devoured Myrkul, his hatred of her overpowers Akachi's love for her, forcing what remains of him to devour her. This will result in a horrified Safiya betraying the PC.
Baldur's Gate 3[]

The avatar of Myrkul in BG3
“ | I am the smile of the worm-cleansed skull. I am the regrets of those who remain, and the restlessness of those who are gone. I am the haunt of mausoleums, the god of graves and age, of dust and dusk. I am Myrkul, Lord of Bones, and you have slain my Chosen. But it is no matter, for I am Death. And I am not the end—I am a beginning. | „ |
~ Myrkul's avatar |
While many were converted to the worship of Cyric, and later Kelemvor, there were several minor cults of Myrkul that survived through the Spellplague and past the Second Sundering. Following these cataclysmic events, the Lord of the Dead was restored as quasi-deity, sharing aspects of his domain ironically enough with Jergal, in service of Kelemvor, much to Myrkul's annoyance and despite the opposing viewpoints of their faithful.
During the events of Baldur's Gate 3, in the year 1492 DR, Myrkul's chosen Ketheric Thorm sacrificed himself as a last-ditch effort to eliminate the heroes who pursued him below the Moonrise Towers, resulting in Ketheric being transformed into the avatar of Myrkul, a giant winged skeleton armed with a scythe. The heroes engaged the avatar in a boss battle.
External Links[]
- https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Myrkul on Forgotten Realms Wiki.
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Recruitable Party Members Gods Demons Devils The Iron Throne The Shinning Crusade Bhaalists & Bhaalspawns Dark Alliance Cult of the Absolute The Sharrans Shadow Druids Vampires Others |