Dragons
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"Abandon your gods, your paltry convictions. For now you have a new purpose: to serve me!" -Thordak after the assault on Emon to the survivors of the Chroma Conclave's attack.

Thordak was a male Red Dragon who served as the leader of the Chroma Conclave. One of the largest dragons in existence on the world of Exandria, Thordak is one of the most powerful chromatic dragons to have ever lived. He appears in the Dungeons & Dragons campaign Critical Role, and its animated rendition, The Legend of Vox Machina.

Personality[]

As a Red Dragon, Thordak was evil, and desired to conquer and enslave Tal'Dorei and Marquet. He was tyrannical and believed himself superior to his enemies, as all Red Dragons do. He was cunning, clever, and calculating, but his arrogance was often his weakness and eventually proved his downfall. His cunning was such that he and Raishan were able to create an alliance between Chromatic Dragons to create the Chroma Conclave. However, he also became prone to bouts of insanity as a result of the soul anchor in his chest, which he drew power from to become stronger and larger. As a result, his insanity also led to his demise, as it led Raishan to realize he would forget his promises to her.

History[]

During his youth, before maturing into an ancient dragon, Thordak tyrannically lorded over half of the desert continent of Marquet from this base in the Scanldwind Sands. Thordak, with his feral armies of kobolds and other serpentine followers, attacked the city of Ank'Harel when it was perhaps 100 or 150 years old, but after a two-week battle, his armies were defeated and Thordak was wounded in battle by the brass dragon, Devo'ssa and as he fled north over the ocean he was struck down and fell into the sea. He was presumed to have died shortly thereafter from his wounds.

Thordak would not be not seen again for centuries, until about 794 or 795 PD. Rumors of a powerful red dragon storming the beaches and seas had been whispered for a long time while ships would be lost at sea. Thordak had survived but was near dead from his fight with Devo'ssa when he was captured by a necromancer named Opash who experimented on him in his laboratory on the Island of Viscan in the south of the Lucidian Ocean. These experiments made Thordak more powerful and eventually he destroyed the necromancer that once enslaved him. Thordak became interested in Opash's notes and began to make his own additions to them, growing interested in the research into Guuthal the Ever-Fed, an ancient black dragon who evaded death by becoming a dracolich. After generations of secretly ruling the Island of Viscan, the dragon (now self-crowned as "the Cinder King") grew greedier than the island's limited resources could satisfy. He then began razing the Mornset Countryside, south of the Verdant Expanse and the Stormcrest Mountains.

Reports of a red dragon—more massive than any on record—eventually hit the country of Tal'Dorei. At the time, Lady Allura wasn't a part of the Council of Tal'Dorei; she was a member of an adventuring party, much like Vox Machina. Allura's party traveled to investigate, but arrived to find this creature destroying everything surrounding the Gladepools, including Port Udall and Byroden. (Vax'ildan and Vex'ahlia's mother was killed during Thordak's destruction of their hometown, Byroden.) Gathering a small army of mercenaries, Allura's party hunted the creature back to its new den in the Stormcrest Mountains. They encountered resistance from a large number of lizardfolk, but eventually Allura's forces were overcome by the sheer might of the dragon himself.

Knowing they could not kill Thordak, Allura called upon the Arcana Pansophical, a circle of arcane practitioners that agreed to work together across the lands to keep them safe. They devised a trap that could, they believed, permanently seal Thordak within the Elemental Plane of Fire, preventing him from ever returning to Exandria. They bound Thordak's essence to the Fountains of Creation and thought he would stay there forever. To bind him, they crafted an artifact called a "soul anchor" from the salvaged heart crystal of a primordial fire titan. The heart crystal was an immense gem of pure crystallized ruby and elemental power and energy, fifteen to twenty feet in diameter. The soul anchor crafted from this heart crystal could not be removed from the Elemental Plane of Fire, and Thordak could not escape without the anchor. Although Allura's group succeeded in trapping Thordak, many lives were lost, including three of Allura's companions: Sirus, Dohla, and Ghenn.

During his imprisonment in the Elemental Plane of Fire, Thordak was approached by another dragon; Raishan. The ancient green dragon had been cursed by a druid and was slowly dying of a horrific disease she could find no counters for. Thordak claimed to know of a cure (while in reality he knew a way for her to avoid the disease killing her, by becoming a dracolich like Guuthal the Ever-Fed), but refused to share this knowledge with her until she found a way to release him. Raishan proposed a conclave of powerful dragons to aid them and left to prepare - forming the Chroma Conclave. To this end, she gathered three other dragons into their alliance, the white dragon Vorugal, the black dragon Umbrasyl, and the blue dragon Brimscythe.

Brimscythe and Thordak were both interested in ruling Emon, but Thordak planned to kill the younger Blue Dragon and hide his death from his fellow members of the Chroma Conclave. However, Brimscythe's death at the hands of Vox Machina meant that Thordak never needed to lift a finger to deal with his rival.

Raishan's initial plan after infiltrating the Fire Ashari disguised as a human girl, was to release Thordak during the celestial solstice. However, the power he was drawing from the heart crystal was making Thordak insane and increasingly powerful. Fearing Thordak would forget the deal in his madness should she wait any longer, Raishan instead initiated the plan during the Winter's Crest Festival.

Vox Machina saw Thordak in the Elemental Plane of Fire while Keyleth progressed in her Aramente with the Fire Ashari. Thordak later escaped to the Material Plane after those events, helped by the ancient green dragon Raishan disguised as a young girl, an outcast whom the Fire Ashari adopted.

Once he was free, Thordak led the Chroma Conclave on an assault against the cities of Emon, Westruun, and (presumably) other parts of Tal'Dorei. They also attacked and destroyed the floating cities of Draconia on Thordak's orders given that they were the most immediate threat. Later, Lady Allura and Keyleth revealed through a scrying ritual that Thordak had returned to the Material Plane through Pyrah, devastating the area and killing druids of the Fire Ashari in the process.

After Vox Machina killed Umbrasyl and Vorugal, They set out to kill Thordak, aided by the manipulative Raishan. To that end, Vox Machina and their allies entered the ruined Cloudtop District of Emon, where Thordak sensed their presence and emerged from his burrow. Thordak then attacked Vox Machina and a grueling battle ensued. During the battle, Raishan revealed herself and turned on Thordak, joining the assault against him. After several attacks, the scales on Thordak's chest were chipped away, revealing the crystal within. The Vestiges of Divergence, powerful divine weapons wielded by Vox Machina—the last hit being an arrow of dragon slaying loosed by Vex'ahlia—cracked and shattered the crystal, causing Thordak to shrink down to Raishan's size—still a very large dragon, but much smaller than he was before. Realizing the danger he was in, Thordak turned and dove down into his burrow. However, Vax'ildan swiftly chased the dragon into the hole and dealt the killing blow with Whisper, his dagger.

After his death, Thordak's body was taken by Raishan so that she could use his knowledge to become a Dracolich and stave off the disease that was killing her.

Trivia[]

  • Thordak is male, but due to his mutation, can reproduce asexually.
  • Thordak underwent a redesign for The Legend of Vox Machina, in which he was rendered more lion-like with a crown of horns, and a mace-like tail.
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