Vangerdahast Aeiulvana

Vangerdahast is the former Royal Court Wizard of Cormyr who was responsible for the awakening of Nalavara and the returning of the goblins of Grodd.

Vangerdahast is perhaps the greatest mage to have ever taken up the mantle of Mage Royal. For decades he controlled the Kingdom of Cormyr, in fact if not in title. While the king would fight the wars and sit on the throne, Vangerdahast would keep the court in order and keep control of the various factions who wished to dethrone the King. He was the overall leader of the defenses of Cormyr and only the king could command him. His title of Mage Royal allowed him control over the two main military factions of Cormyr, the knights known as the Purple Dragons and the mages and wizards of the War Wizards. He could also to a large extent control the Harpers who reside in the kingdom. He was trained by Elminster and therefore knows spells and magics far beyond the average wizard.

He is called "Vangey" for short by some.

Appearance
Vangerdahast usually wears reddish brown robes. He is average height and slightly overweight, with dark brown eyes that become red when he is angry. His hair and beard are white with a few remaining reddish brown streaks, although he has also been described as bald-headed (see Discrepancy below). He has a slightly protruding belly.

Relatives
Vangerdahast is descended from Baerauble Etharr.

Possessions
Vangerdahast possesses the staff of the High Wizard of Cormyr and the blade Symylazarr, both of which he is able to summon into his hand at will. He also carries a small silver whistle in his belt pouch, that makes a loud shrill noise for gaining attention. There are several glowstones in Vangerdahast's belt which he can use as sources of light. There is also a hollow metal sphere that, upon spoken command, can transform into a key to unlock a secret vault in the depths of the royal palace. It is one of only five, the others possessed by the king, queen and princesses.

Personality
Vangerdahast was a shrewd, yet paranoid man, he simply *had* to know everything that was going on in the realm, all the time-and influence it, often using the War Wizards as a servant force in this regard. He influenced them too, removing the hierarchy that may have promoted internal competition and instead assigned them all to various taskforces, all of which reported directly to him. His legacy lives on, even though he has retired, with many of the War Wizards remaining as capable spies.

Vangerdahast's favourite chair is in his private library in Castle Obarskyr in Suzail. It is upholstered in the flesh of a sahuagin. He sometimes attends The Laughing Lass, a tavern and festhall in Suzail, although he is careful to disguise himself.

Discrepancy
On p. 109 of the mass market paperback, first edition of Cormyr: A Novel, it is stated: "a close-trimmed beard . . . white, and his hair, too" although p. 237 describes him as "the paunchy, bareheaded man" – an apparent discrepancy. This, however, may not be in error, as "bareheaded" can simply refer to one who is not wearing any headgear, possibly noteworthy as wizards are often known to wear hats.

Elminster's Daughter
In the book Elminster's Daughter, Vangerdahast had retired from being Mage Royal and has retreated into a hidden Sanctum so that he could devise a new ultimate defense for the kingdom (The demise of the previous ultimate defense taking place during the events of the novel "Beyond the High Road"), for he wanted the kingdom to be truly safe long after he had passed away. The only practical solution was to insure that the protection would not be a purely magical defense, (which might draw arcanists eager to learn the Mage Royal's secrets) by the binding of Dragons who would slumber in stasis until they were needed, at which point they could be summoned using key words/phrases and certain gestures using certain objects that only the reigning monarchs and Elminster would know.

When a song dragon named Joysil Ambrur found out about the dragon binding spell being made, she considered it too risky to allow anyone to develop the spell on the off chance that it be stolen and used to enslave the whole of the dragon race. She confronted Vangerdahast who swiftly defeated her and could have killed her but chose not to since he felt he had done too much killing in his life already. When a rogue War Wizard blasted Vangerdahast with a powerful spell it momentarily shook Vangerdahast, allowing the dragon to break free. Joysil proceeded to ask why the wizard had not slain her and when he explained why her heart softened. But still realizing the risk she chose to flee to gather fully a dozen other dragons to kill the wizard.

At the same time, word had leaked of his experimentation and a Master Red Wizard of Thay named Darkspells had gathered a small army of other Red Wizards and had launched an attack on the kingdom in hopes of distracting the War Wizards and Purple Dragons while he stole the spells of binding. Hearing about Vangerdahast's plan, a group of revolutionaries had launched an assault on the Castle Cormyr and the Royal family in the hopes of slaying them, further adding to the confusion.

When the dragon host arrived and saw the Red Wizards they realized that those Wizards might be able to figure out the spells and proceeded to eat, burn and crush the Red Wizards who, after losing most of their force, proceeded to run screaming from the battlefield that was Cormyr.

The dragons then went to Vangerdahast's Sanctum and confronted him, who informed them that he had realized the risk involved in the binding spell and had chained the spells to himself so that when he died the spells and all his notes would be instantly destroyed. Seeing this Joysil told the other dragons to go off and divide her hoard amongst them and that she would take care of the problem. She revealed that she had talked to Vangerdahast's old mentor Elminster and he had a solution. That Vangerdahast become a dragon himself to help defend the realm and then Joysil proceeded to say that she would be his Consort and that they would wait in stasis together. Through Elminster's magic (with the aid of Mystra of course) Vangerdahast was turned into a dragon (unknown type) and the two dragons were bound to the kingdom, awaiting in stasis to be called back to defend the Kingdom of Cormyr.