Forge Fitzwilliam

Forge Fitzwilliam was a human rogue and confidence trickster in the late 15 century DR and later Lord of Neverwinter. He was a former partner-in-crime of Edgin Darvis, Holga Kilgore, and Simon Aumar before he betrayed them to aid Sofina, a Red Wizard of Thay. "Never put your trust in a conman."

- Forge Fitzwilliam

Description
"He has those soulful eyes and that face that's a little bit swoony, but at the same time I kind of want to punch him. You ever know anyone like that?"

- Edgin Darvis on Forge

Even as an older man, Forge was handsome and had a bright smile. In his former days as a thief and confidence trickster, he made do with well-worn and unremarkable clothing. But as Lord of Neverwinter, he favored finer and elegant attire, typically loose white shirts, flowing capes, waistcoats or vests, and neckerchiefs, under a gold-brocaded coat, with an ornate belt and rings and a gold amulet set with an emerald gem on a chain about his neck.

Personality
"Oh, look how you glow. I can see the envy that claws at your heart, though you try to hide it. Such lovely flaws and weaknesses and hidden truths..."

- Drueena the green hag to Forge

His morality was malleable, if not absent altogether, and he used a charming smile, flattery, and lies to manipulate people—and backstab them given the opportunity. Even when caught lying, he would keep on lying to disorient and divide people. He had a taste for wealth and its trappings, especially that which he'd won himself, and would complain extravagantly if things were not just how he preferred them, such as if his tea was too hot. He was audacious in his schemes and never satisfied, instead growing ever more ambitious.

Abilities
With his charm, Forge could disarm his foes, appearing less of a threat in combat, and he could also easily dodge attacks and evade harmful effects. He would cunningly escape to advantageous locations from which to strike back. However, he was most deadly to his own former allies whom he'd double-crossed and taken by surprise. His weapons were coated with poison.

Skilled in the arts of the thief, he was agile and stealthy, persuasive and deceptive, and also skilled in investigation and sleight of hand. Appropriately for a man of his name, Forge was an expert at forging documents, signatures, and hand-written invitations. He carried all necessary tools for that task with him.

Possessions
He fought with a dagger and heavy crossbow. During Edgin, Forge, and the group's heist of the West Caraway Acres, a wizard's manse outside of Neverwinter, Forge appropriated a pair of boots of spider climbing from one of the musicians working the grand masquerade at the time.

Early Life
Forge would later blame his crooked ways on his mother's strictness and temper, such as berating him when he broke a jug. It is arguable if this is true or not, however.

Over decades in the latter 1400s DR, Forge had carried on his dishonest trade in cities up and down the Sword Coast, pulling a variety of heists and scams under many false identities, and leaving as broken promises and thefts in his wake.

Thief
In the early 1490s DR, Forge had a chance meeting with two other thieves, the bard Edgin and barbarian Holga, at the Trip and Shuffle tavern in Targos in Icewind Dale. With Holga's encouragement, the out-of-practice bard Edgin attempted to sing for the audience, but consumed too much liquid courage, leading to his performance being a public failure. This was when Forge pranced in, seeing an easy mark. The thieves played Three-Dragon Ante, but Edgin was better at noticing cheating while drunk, and Forge quickly recognized a fellow hustler. The competition between two cheats was cut short by a raiding party of gnolls, who started a fight but got away with the thieves' gold. Edgin, Holga, and Forge pursued the raiders to retrieve their stolen coin. The group ended up saving a Targossan child, Sief Talvick, Edgin's neighbor's kid, who'd been taken by the gnolls. This rescue made the trio heroes in the eyes of the locals.

Soon after, Forge waltzed into Edgin's life once again, having found two villagers whose drinking buddy had gone missing, along with several other people. The villagers were offering a hefty donation for the rescue, and Forge thought the job to be easy money. Forge convinced Edgin to travel to a "haunted" island just off the Sword Coast. There, Edgin, Holga, and Forge found a single survivor: the sorcerer Simon, who'd been hired by the villagers but had gone missing. The young half-elf convinced the thieves to rescue him in exchange for intel that would lead them to a greater mark: the estate of the wealthy and eccentric dragonborn wizard Torlinn Shrake. Subsequently, a green hag named Drueena was revealed to be responsible for the disappearances. With the sorcerer's help, the group ended the creature's life but received no reward. Following Simon's lead, the band later infiltrated the Shrake estate during a party with the intent to rob the place. They were also caught in a town threatened by the Bandit King on one Feast of the Moon. Throughout their schemes and heists together, Forge was always urging them to set their sights on higher targets and greater riches. Nevertheless, Edgin retained something of his old Harper sensibilities and saw to it that they never hurt anyone and only stole from those who wouldn't suffer for the loss.

Finally, one night whilst they were celebrating a score at the Trip and Shuffle tavern in Targos, a mysterious hooded figure calling herself "Lady Sofina" met the team. She wanted to hire them to help her steal the treasures of Korinn's Keep, a Harper storehouse that only a Harper could enter—Edgin. He refused, however, still having some standards. But Forge promised they would find there a tablet of reawakening, a magical relic capable of resurrecting one deceased soul. Against his better judgement but with hopes of restoring his wife Zia to life, Edgin relented and acquiesced to Forge's and Sofina's scheme.

Donning his old Harper uniform, Edgin led the team to Korinn's Keep and gained admittance. While the thieves helped themselves to the treasures of the vault, and Sofina claimed a strange red horn, Edgin went for the tablet of reawakening. But the poor thief triggered an alarm, summoning Harper guards, whom Sofina struck with chain lightning, to Edgin's dismay. She then cast time stop, trapping the guards, Holga, and Edgin while she, Forge, and Simon made their escape. Edgin's last act was to throw the Tablet to Forge and beg him to take care of Kira. Forge gave his word, for what that was worth. In fact, he'd always planned to double-cross them, having thrown his lot in with Sofina. As Forge watched, Sofina tried to kill Simon, as they'd never intended for him to escape Korinn's Keep, and the sorcerer only just got away with his life.

Lord of Neverwinter
Afterward, Forge collected Kira from Targos and together they moved to Neverwinter. For two years, dear 'Uncle Forge' lied to the girl and turned her against her father, until Kira thought he'd just abandoned her to seek more riches, that is, the so-called "Tablet of Riches". Forge kept the real tablet of reawakening hidden and never shared Edgin's true reasons. He presented himself as having turned over a new leaf.

When Lord Dagult Neverember suddenly took ill and fell into a vegetative state, —a magical condition that was rumored to be the work of Sofina, and in fact was —Forge seized the opportunity. He waged a political campaign for lordship of Neverwinter financed with his ill-gotten gains, in which he described Neverwinter's leaders as "corrupt and inept". Successful, he became Lord of Neverwinter with Sofina as his chief advisor. They all moved into Castle Never.

However, not all were swayed. The wood elves of the Neverwinter Wood resisted his rule, so Forge painted them as enemies and traitors. He sent his forces to capture and execute them and dispatched loggers who cut ever deeper into the woods, abandoning sensible logging practices. Doric, a druid of the Emerald Enclave would lead the fightback.

But Forge and Sofina's real scheme was far larger and more terrible in scope. One of the Forge's main acts was to revive the High Sun Games, a monster-filled bloodsport that had been banned by Lord Neverember as he considered them too brutal. Forge also ordered the construction of the Neverwinter arena to host the Games. The first Games were to be held in the late 1490s DR, allegedly as a way of bringing the city together. It also brought many visitors from outside Neverwinter, including rich, powerful, and unscrupulous people—people like Din Caldwell and Porb Piiradost, two of the wealthiest men of Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep of the day, who wanted to bet big on the Games and brought their riches with them. To advertise the spectacle, Forge distributed fliers as far as Targos to announce them; these were magically animated to display Forge's winking face. He even raised a hot-air balloon over the city with his own grinning face on it.

Meanwhile, after two years imprisoned in Revel's End, Edgin and Holga escaped and came to Castle Never to retrieve Kira and the tablet of reawakening, but they had a less-than-warm reception. Lord Forge kept them waiting, spent more time complaining about his tea, and Kira was now eleven years old and estranged from her father. Kira didn't believe him when he gave his real reason, to resurrect her mother. Finally, Forge revealed a wanted poster with a bounty for Edgin and Holga, causing Kira to run away in tears. Forge refused to return Kira and threatened to sell the tablet of reawakening in Skullport for a "bundle", and when Holga and Edgin got angry and went to grab him, Sofina cast a spell to trap them in the floor. After taunting and mocking them, Forge ordered Blackwood of the Neverwinter Guard to take them back to Revel's End and collect the bounty. But Sofina told Blackwood to kill them in secret, though they would escape. Afterward, Forge met with Kira, pretending to console her, but lied to her still, cruelly claiming he'd given Edgin and Holga the 'Tablet of Riches' and they'd simply left without her.

Later, Forge and Sofina showed Din Caldwell and Porb Piiradost around Castle Never, boasting of its upgraded security and suitability for storing their wealth in its vault, which was protected with a powerful Mordenkainen's arcane seal. However, they were interrupted when Sofina sensed the presence of a wild shaped druid—Doric, now an ally of Edgin and Holga—spying on them, but she escaped Sofina and the castle guards. Forge was correct in his suspicion that this was Edgin's doing, but Sofina vowed to send her own forces to get rid of the gang.

Finally, Forge opened the High Sun Games at the Neverwinter arena from atop one of the moveable pillars, though he was not comfortable with the height of it. Addressing the crowd and announcing the rules of the competition, he asked that no one leave the arena until the very end, promising "a wonderful gift" to each of the spectators. However, at the same time, Edgin, Holga, Simon, and Doric had returned to Neverwinter with a plan to rob Forge of his fortune, retrieve the tablet of reawakening, and rescue Kira. They infiltrated Castle Never and broke into the vault, but found Forge had already stolen all the riches within, including those of his guests, having had it loaded aboard an armored ship. The would-be thieves were captured by guards and Sofina's Evard's black tentacles spell. Forge met the captive Edgin in Kira's room in the castle and taunted him and abandoned him to die, but Edgin pleaded for a fighting chance, that is, to compete in the High Sun Games. Though Forge was reluctant, perhaps to spare Edgin a fate worse than death, Sofina agreed that they should suffer for defeating her assassins and Forge's guards.

Betrayer of Neverwinter
Afterward, Forge took his place in the luxury balcony over the arena, with Sofina and Din Caldwell, Porb Piiradost, and the other wealthy gamblers. At last, their respective schemes had come to fruition: Forge had stolen the riches of the castle and his wealthy guests and had it all loaded aboard a ship for his getaway as he abandoned the city, and Sofina had all the people gathered together in the arena—a perfect target for the Beckoning Death, turning the whole city into undead, and bringing about Szass Tam's plan to seize control of Neverwinter. Though Forge tried an amiable farewell, Sofina coldly ordered him to get out of her city, in a hurry to be rid of him now their partnership was at an end.

Forge collected Kira and hastened with her to the city's docks to abscond on the treasure ship. But Edgin and his friends had escaped the arena and got there first, seized the treasure ship from the guards, and ambushed Forge. Edgin apologized to Kira and called her to him, which was when Forge showed his true colors and took her hostage, threatening the child with a knife. Fortunately, a well-thrown potato from Holga took care of him, smashing into Forge's face. Kira fled back into Edgin's care and the team sailed away on the boat. Simon cast control water to create a big wave to aid their escape aboard the ship, incidentally washing over the docks and Forge, leaving him soaked.

Once Forge recovered, he tried to get Harbormaster Jimn—or, as he called him, "harbormaster person"—to organize a boat to pursue. However, Jimn was distracted by the sight of Sofina invoking the horn of beckoning death above the Neverwinter arena and just then the treasure ship drifted out of control back into port, crashing into a boat. Looking inside, Forge saw all his precious treasure draining away into a portal, out of his hot-air balloon, and over the streets of Neverwinter, all part of Edgin's plan to save the people and thwart Sofina. All Forge could recover was an oversized gold chalice.

Prisoner
With the cumbersome chalice still under his arm, Forge fled the city. Stumbling through a forest one night, the fugitive lord was encountered by the paladin Xenk Yendar, who returned him to face justice. While Lord Dagult Neverember resumed his rule of Neverwinter, Forge was incarcerated in Revel's End. A year later, the Absolution Council considered him for pardon, but summarily rejected him after hearing only a part of his statement with all of his excuses. That was when Forge made a sudden escape attempt, grabbing the aarakocra councilor Jarnathan and trying to use him to fly out the window, just as Edgin and Holga had done over a year before, only to find the window now bricked up and leaving the pair of them stunned.

Background
Forge Fitzwilliam is played by actor Hugh Grant. The character was initially reported to be named Forge Fletcher. He was confirmed to be a rogue via a promotional video played at the San Diego Comic-Con 2022's Tavern Experience. Writer-director Jonathan Goldstein said that "He turns out to be one of the bad guys."