| “ | Look around you, drow. This is my home now. My kingdom! When you fly on your pet, you see the greatness of Obould. You see the Kingdom of Dark Arrows. Remember that name for the last minutes of your life. You die in Dark Arrows, Drizzt Do'Urden, and will be eaten by birds on a mountain side in the home of King Obould. | „ |
| ~ Obould about his new kingdom. |
| “ | If all this land becomes and orc stronghold, will the peoples of the region band together to fight us? How many thousands will they sacrifice? How long will their resolve holdout when their kin die by score? By the hundred, or thousand? How long will they hold their resolve with the option of peace honestly offered to them? | „ |
| ~ Obould explaining his plan to eventually make peace with his enemies. |
Obould I Many-Arrows is a major antagonist of R.A Salvatore's The Legend of Drizzt, serving as the main antagonist of the Hunter's Blades trilogy, the titular tritagonist of The Orc King, and a minor character in The Pirate King. He is the exceptionally Inteligent and strong leader of the Broken Arrow orc tribe. With the help of a small group of drow and a frost giant queen named Gerti Orrelsdottr, Obould created an army of goblinoids the likes of which the world had rarely seen, and waged war on the surrounding kingdoms, including Mithral Hall, Nesme, and Silverymoon amongst others. However, unlike most orc conquerors, Obould wanted to create a functioning nation for his people and advance his species. He was the founder of Many-Arrows and the father of Urlgen.
Appearance[]
Obould was tall and muscular, even for an orc. He always wore an ornate and effective suit of amor that was completely unbreakable.
Personality[]
| “ | There is beside Mithral Hall now a burgeoning kingdom of unusual composition. For this land, the Kingdom of Many-Arrows, is ruled by a single orc. Obould is his name, and he has crawled free of every cupboard of expectation that I, or Bruenor, or any other have tried to construct about him. Nay, not crawled, but has shattered the walls to kindling. | „ |
| ~ Drizzt Do'Urden on Obould. |
Obould was incredibly intelligent for an orc, and for a sentient being in general. He was easily able to outwit his enemies and allies because they constantly underestimate him because of species. During the war, Obould was easily to prevent his drow allies from manipulating him, much to their surprise. He also proved himself to be a brilliant strategist and was able to defeat any army and conquer massive amounts of land.
Obould was gifted with more foresight than any other orc before him. Because of this, he was able to tell that the orcs on whole could never advance if they dedicated their entire culture to wage their constant war all other creatures. Obould was one of the only orcs who understood that the best thing for his people to create their own functioning nation and make peace with their enemies.
Obould was above all things a pragmatist. He never let distractions or personal grudges get in the way of his main goal, which he did everything in his power to achieve. Despite hating dwarves and humans, and having traditional orc bloodlust, Obould knew that the best thing for everyone was to stop the fighting once he had enough land and orcs to form his kingdom.
Biography[]
Before the War[]
Obould originally rules the Citadel of Many-Arrows, before it was attacked by a different orc horde led by king Greneire. Although Obould killed Greneire, the citadel was taken dwarf clan Warcrown and troops from Silverymoon when the orcs were weak from fighting each other.
After the loss of the citadel, Obould retreated to Dark-Arrow Keep, where he began to grow a new horde and plot his return. However, many of his people began to think that he was weak, and three of his sons began to plot against him openly. In retaliation, Obould put his plans into motion, killed the sons, and with the help of a small group of four drow, formed an alliance with Gerti Orrelsdottr, the leader of a group of frost giants. Still building up forces, Obould and Gerti began to invade the lands around the Spine of the World, including Mithral Hall, Nesme, and Silverymoon.
During the War[]
Obould began the invasion by having his son Urlgen lead troops to completely wipe out town and villages near the Spine of the World. He eventually started the war in full, by conquering the town of Shallows. At this point, the dwarves of Mithral Hall began to fight back.
Obould formed an alliance with a troll king named Proffit and had the army of trolls Nesme, sending two of the drow, who he was beginning to stop trusting with him. The attack was a success and Nesme fell. During this time, Obould went through a religous ceremony, during which he grew more intelligent and stronger. A few days after the ceremony, Obould murdered an elf named Tarathiel and took his Pegasus.
At this point, Obould attacked Mithral Hall, personally fighting in the battle and killing Shoudra Stargleam. The dwarf forces fought long and hard, with Urlgen dying in the fight, but were eventually pushed back into their mines. The orc and giant forces began to lay siege to Mithral Hall. Directly after the battle, Gerti attempted to kill Obould and take over his army. However, in an unprecedented show of strength, Obould beat Gerti in single combat, despite her being a frost giant three times taller than him.
Obould then began to reveal his true goal to his subordinates; creating a functioning nation of orcs. During this time, a drow ally of Mithral hall named Drizzt Do'Urden attempted the kill Obould, but failed due to Obould's armor and generally not being prepared. A few days later he confronted Obould again. Obould attempted to make a truce with Drizzt, because he had all the land he wanted or needed. Drizzt refused and attacked, and the two fought for a while with no clear winner. During the battle, Kaer'lic Sunn Wett, one of Obould's drow allies who was tired of the war and of orcs in general, caused an avalanche, ending the battle.
The avalanche trapped Obould under some rocks, but he was able to dig himself out and was not worse for wear. He then saw Kaer'lic, who didn't see him, talking to her ally Tos'un about how tired she was of orcs. Upon seeing Obould, Tos'un ran, and Obould picked up Kaer'lic and ripped out her throat with his teeth. He then began to regroup his scattered armies so that he could start his kingdom.
After the War[]
With Nesme in ruins, the dwarves of Mithral Hall suffering grave losses, and Obould having all of the land he needed to create a new kingdom, the fighting stopped. However, as Obould started his kingdom and made plans to make a truce with the dwarves, a small group of his chieftains who were unhappy with the peace began to plot against him. In order to dethrone Obould, they recruited a triibe of orgrillons from the Underdark, and eventually staged a rebellion. However, Obould, with the help of a reluctant Bruenor Battlehammer, king of Mithral Hall, managed to defeat the chieftain of Karuck and crush the rebellion. Afterwards, Obould and Bruenor signed the treaty of Garumn's Gorge, that stated that Mithral Hall and Many-Arrows would not attack one another or interfere in the other's business.
Obould followed the treaty for the rest of his days, trying to make Many-Arrows a better kingdom and fostering peace with the dwarves, occasionally even allying with them. He lived a long and successful life, and died peacefully and happily of old age, having changed Faerun forever by creating the first nation of orcs. Upon his death, Gruumsh ascended him to godhood.
Obould's legacy never died, and the kingdom of Many-Arrows was a major power in the North for hundreds of years.
Powers and Abilities[]
Obould was an incredibly formidable opponent in more ways than one. He was strong enough to flip over a bull with his bare hands and defeat a frost giant in a one-on-one battle. He was even stronger than Wulfgar, a legendarily strong barbarian. In addition to this, he had a magical sword that lit on fire when he wanted it to, and unbreakable armor, making him virtually unkillable. He was an incredibly skilled swordsman as well.
Obould's most useful skill was his intelligence. He was capable of thinking far in advance was very skilled with tactics.
Trivia[]
- The Wizards of the Coast originally just wanted to create the kingdom of Many-Arrows in order to have an evil monster kingdom where the heroes can massacre enemies without there being any explanation for what the monsters are doing there. However, when RA Salvatore wrote the Hunter's Blades about the kingdom's founding, it became a much more complex story, with Many-Arrows being a symbol of orc advancement and centering around the idea that there are no purely evil species. Obould's development from a one-dimensional evil orc king to a visionary extremist was largely responsible for this change.
External Links[]
- Obould on the Forgotten Realms wiki
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The Legend of Drizzt Villains | ||
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