Darkmaw the Wicked, also known as The Terror of Cloakwood, was a powerful and much-feared massive brown bear who lived on the Sword Coast sometime before the late 14th century DR.[1]
History[]
Darkmaw the Wicked earned its infamy by being a vicious and fearsome predator who claimed the territory between the Wood of Sharp Teeth and the Cloak Wood sometime before the late 14th century DR. The bear, seemingly, killed for fun and preyed on the weakest and the oldest. Stories claimed that he killed more children than any vampire on the Sword Coast; they also stated that the monstrous bear was at last slain in a battle against an army of five hundred.[1]
After the beast's demise, Darkmaw's body was stuffed, its limbs broken to be posed and eyes replaced by glass marbles, and put on display at the Last Light Inn in the town of Reithwin in the Chionthar Valley, sometime before the 1373 DR,[note 1] when a bitter war between General Ketheric Thorm consumed the town of Reithwin and an army of Harpers resulted in the region being swallowed by a dark Sharran curse. The inn remained empty until the Year of Three Ships Sailing, 1492 DR, when it was briefly freed from the curse by a group of Harpers. The stuffed body of Darkmaw the Wicked remained in the inn and the fearsome beast's legend was still remembered, as remarked on by some who saw the bear on display. Darkmaw's infamy was so grand that even the githyanki knew of the ferocious killer bear.[1]
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Notes[]
- ↑ In Baldur's Gate III, the timeline of Ketheric Thorm's story and Ketheric Thorm's war is unclear; however, it can be narrowed down through other canon sources. 986 DR is stated (Reithwin Necrology) as the year when a battle took place between Dark Justiciars and druids & Selûnites. The note only mentions Malus Thorm, not Ketheric. This suggests that the date could be an editorial oversight or simply mean that Reithwin had a cult of Shar active as early as 986 DR with Malus Thorm, an elf, as one of its members. The presence of the cult and a family member being a part of it would help explain Ketheric's quick fall from grace. Ketheric's family's deaths and his subsequent conversion to Shar would have taken place sometime around 1367 DR, as the Moonrise Towers was used by the High Heralds and Naernythra Thaloudyn as late as that year. With the High Heralds present, Ketheric's enforcement of Sharran religion and inquisition would not be possible, so this must happen after the Heralds leave; presumably, Ketheric ordered them out first. The destruction of Moonhaven is dated to 1371 DR (or possibly the following year)—this means Ketheric's fall and leading an army took place between these two dates. Lastly, Ketheric Thorm's war and its conclusion involved Khelben Arunsun, meaning the war took place before 1374 DR (the date of Khelben's death in Blackstaff (novel)). Notably, Khelben left the Harpers in 1370 DR, but his presence could be explained by the war's severity, forcing his involvement. All of these points indicate that Ketheric Thorm's war, his death, and the creation of the shadow-cursed lands took place circa 1372-1373 DR.
Appearances[]
Video Games
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Larian Studios (October 2020). Designed by Swen Vincke, et al. Baldur's Gate III. Larian Studios.