| “ | You speak like a priestess. Like your sniveling sister, my wife. When I enter Menzoberranzan with the head of Drizzt Do'Urden, none will deny the glory, and all will give praise to Lolth that her betrayer has fallen. | „ |
| ~ Tiago to Ravel Xorlarrin. |
| “ | Leap upon me, O great Drizzt Do'Urden! Let your hatred flow to your blades. Let me prove who is stronger. | „ |
| ~ Tiago to Drizzt during one of their confrontations. |
Tiago Baenre is a major antagonist in The Legend of Drizzt, serving as a major antagonist of The Neverwinter Saga, the main antagonist of The Companions Codex, and a major antagonist of Homecoming. He is a member of Drow House Baernre in the city of Menzoberranzan. Through his skill with a sword, he ascended the ranks to being one of the most powerful and feared people in the city. Because of this, he became a useful agent of Quenthel Baenre and Gromph Baenre, who put him in charge of controlling the city of Gauntlgrym, leading the second incarnation of House Do'Urden, and starting a war in the Silver Marshes. On his own, Tiago pursued an obsession with killing the famous Drizzt Do'Urden so he could become a legend. He was also the duke of Nesme, the husband of Saribel Xorlarrin, and the grandson of Dantrag Baenre.
Appearance[]
Tiago was described as a handsome drow, with a barely perceptible mustache, and who enjoyed wearing elaborate armor of various colors, usually either gold or deep black. He had stylish short hair which he later grew out.
Personality[]
| “ | I do find this enjoyable. Dear Arauthator, pray do not bite the life from him. Nay. swallow this proud one whole, that he can lay pressed in your belly, your juices melting him to nothingness. | „ |
| ~ Tiago feeding Franko to Arauthtor. |
Tiago was above all things proud. Etching his name in history and proving his skill was his primary motivation in most of his long-term projects. He very much wanted to be a legend and to be known for being superior to all others. The desire for glory drove him to almost impractical lengths, and he was willing to sacrifice anything to obtain it. Consequently, he had a massive ego. His supreme confidence and arrogance were apparent in every interaction he had, where he was always condescending and mocking, almost always feeling in control of every situation.
In addition to his arrogance, Tiago had a deep sense of bloodlust. He very much enjoyed the thrill of fighting and the chance to show his skill. He particularly enjoyed humiliating his enemies and took pleasure in killing them in the most painful ways he could manage. Although he did enjoy fighting skilled opponents, this was only when he was sure their skill did not exceed his own, and he also took pleasure in fighting those obviously inferior. He was extremely sadistic and enjoyed playing with and taunting his opponents, claiming to be honorable by giving them a fighting chance when he was confident, but always being sure there was no way they could defeat him. Along with fighting, torture was one of his favorite pastimes, and he often combined the two. All in all, he found it amusing to prove himself through the suffering of others.
Despite seeming to have a sort of "devil-may-care" attitude, Tiago very much valued his standing in Menzoberranzan, and held true to drow values, mainly xenophobia and loyalty to Lolth. He was disgusted by the thought of intercourse between a drow and a non-drow. Additionally, although he was generally confident, he feared and respected arcane and clerical power. When around his great aunt or uncle, who he knew were powerful in such areas, his confidence would decrease, and he could become petulant or whiny when not getting his way.
Biography[]
Dealings With House Xorlarrin[]
Tiago grew up a high-ranking member of House Baenre, which made him a high-ranking citizen of all of Menzoberranzan. He was considered one of the most promising youths in the city, along with the wizard Ravel Xorlarrin. Although he and Ravel were rivals for some time, Tiago eventually approached him and suggested they become allies, which Ravel agreed to.
One day House Baenre's rival House Xorlarrin began to set up troops in the ancient abandoned dwarven city of Gauntlgrym, where they hoped to create a new city where they were the only house. Matron Mother Quenthel Baenre was glad to be rid of her rival but feared House Xorlarrin getting too much power in their own city, and sent Tiago with them, to remind them of who the most powerful house really was. Tiago, for his part, wanted to spend time with the legendary Xorlarrin black smith, Gol'fanin, who would be there, so that he could have him build magical weapons that the young Baenre could use to supplant Andzrel Baenre from his position as Weapons Master of House Baenre. So, he accompanied the Xorlarrins.
Once in Gauntlgrym, which was now called Q'Xorlarrin Tiago tasked Gol'fanin with making him a new set of powerful weapons. He started to get to know the Xorlarrin siblings and made sure they understood that they aswered to House Baenre. One day, a group who claimed to be working for the drow mercenary company Bregan D'aerth arrived in the city. It was led by a drow who called himself Masoj Oblodra, along with an elf named Dahlia Sin'felle and a human named Artemis Entreri. Tiago let the group into the city, but they ended up murdering Brack'thal Xorlarrin. Tiago then learned from Gol'fanin that "Masoj" had in fact been Drizzt Do'Urden, the legendary traitor to the drow people. Tiago hoped to kill him for the glory, and left the city with Ravel Xorlarrin, Saribel Xorlarrin, and Jaerth Xorlarrin.
Tiago's group hunted Drizzt for several months, eventually tracking him to the desolate Icewind Dale. They entered the city of Brynn Shander while it was being attacked by a demon named Errtu, who was looking for Drizzt. The demon mistook Tiago for the traitor and attacked. The two fought and Tiago won, killing the demon and consequently being rewarded by the people of Brynn Shander with a statue in his likeness. Tiago and his group spent the next few years searching for Drizzt, but he seemed to have vanished off the face of the Earth, and they never found him.
The War of the Silver Marshes[]
Ten years later, Tiago discovered that some of Drizzt's companions were in the city of Port Llast and attacked with some Baenre and Xorlarrin soldiers. Tiago's group defeated them and had them imprisoned in Q'Xorlarrin, but they gave no useful information. At this point, Tiago returned to Menzoberranzan.
Around this time, Quenthel Baenre decided to resurrect House Do'Urden, a drow house which had been dead for hundreds of years. She made a now insane Dahlia Sin'felle the matron mother as a joke, and put Ravel and Saribel in it, along with Tos'un Armgo and his half-drow daughter Doum'wielle Armgo. She had Tiago marry Saribel so that he could join the house and become its Weapons Master and defacto leader due to being the most powerful mentally stable person in it.
Gromph and Quenthel ordered House Do'Urden to work through their carefully constructed plan to start a war in the Silver Marshes. Tiago and his friends made an alliance with Hartusk, a high-ranking orc of the Kingdom of Many-Arrows who wanted hated that and orc kingdom was at peace with the kingdom around it. The drow staged a coup against the peace-loving King Lorgru and had him banished, putting Hartusk and the throne. Hartusk immediately went to war with all the dwarf, human, and elf nations around him, with Tiago and the other drow supporting and advising him, by finding him allies, such as the Frost Giants.
In order to ensure a bloody war, Gromph managed to obtain the service of two ice dragons named Arauthator and Aurbangras. Tiago was able to ride Arauthator and became skilled at it, helping the orcs lay siege to various orc strongholds. During the attack on the city of Sundabar, Tiago supported the orc army and lay waste to the city with his dragon, before personally beheading the king and taking the city in the name of Hartusk. He later helped take Nesme, a city that was inhabited by Drizzt Do'Urden, who he still hunted. Nesme fell to the orcs and Tiago made himself duke, having many citizens tortured and murdered for information about the whereabouts of Drizzt, who had once again disappeared.
During his reign as duke, Tiago hunted the citizens for fun, and his sadistic rule led to many trying to flee the city, usually without success. He finally learned that Drizzt was hiding in the mountains and hunted him on Arauthator. However, Drizzt tricked the dragon into knocking Tiago off and survived Arauthator's subsequent chase. Neither Tiago nor his dragon were injured severely, and Tiago was not disheartened by his failure.
After over a year of war, the dwarves of Mithral Hall broke free of the orc siege, prompting battle between orcs and dwarves. Tiago quickly set out to stop the dwarven rebellion on Arauthator, along with Tos'un who rode Aurbangras. However, they were surprised to discover a pair of copper dragon working with the dwarves, one of which was ridden by Drizzt Do'Urden. This prompted an ariel battle, during which Tiago once again tried to kill Drizzt, and once again failed, being abandoned injured in the mountain by Arauthator. Hartusk's army was defeated shortly thereafter
The Final Hunt for Drizzt[]
Tiago went into hiding, and chose not to return to Menzoberranzan until he had Drizzt's head. He was joined by Doum'wielle Armgo, who offered to help. He accepted, and the two tracked Drizzt all around the Silver Marshes. During this time, Tiago frequently forced Doum'wielle to have sex with him to make himself feel powerful.
Tiago and Doum'wielle entered the upper level of Q'Xorlarrin, which Drizzt and an army of dwarves were trying to take back from the drow. The pair fought their way through some kobolds, and eventually found a place to camp out and wait for their opportunity to kill Drizzt. This opportunity eventually came when Drizzt went out scouting alone, and Tiago challenged him. The two were both exceptional sword fighters, but Tiago was betrayed by Doum'wielle during the battle and severely injured. Luckily for him, he was saved by Gromph, who arrived in the cavern and took him back to Menzoberranzan to heal.
Powers and Abilities[]
Tiago was widely considered one of the best swordfighters in Menzoberranzan, having slain almost every rival. This reputation was proven correct, as he rarely had difficulty with any opponent, holding his own against the legendary Drizzt Do'Urden and Artemis Entreri. He even defeated a balor, a rare feat considered impossible by some.
Tiago's skills were amplified by weapons forged by the legendary smith Gol'fanin. This included a very strong sword and shield forged with glassteel (a mineral as strong as steal and as transparent as glass) and diamonds that could stop some magical energy. The sword, Vidrinath, was imbued with sleeping poison. The shield, Orrbcress, could magically enlarged, and had weapons stick to it as if it were a spider web.
Trivia[]
- Tiago was one of the few male drow who used his influence to sleep with female drow, as it was usually the other way around.
- Tiago was the fourth drow to grow obsessed with killing Drizzt, after Masoj Hun'ett, Malice Do'Urden, and Vierna Do'Urden.
External Links[]
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The Legend of Drizzt Villains | ||
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Pirates of Luskan Calimport Underworld Sentient Artifacts Demons Dragons Drows Many-Arrows Shadowvar Red Wizards of Thay Others | ||