Now I Have Themberchaud Brainworms

Now I have Themberchaud brainworms

I am telling you guys, it really is getting bad with me and my chubby dragon pall. Because the more I learn about him, the more I find him interesting as a character. Especially given that so far DnD has not done a lot with him. I have not found a proper scan of Out of the Abyss, but from all I can gather he does not have tons of dialogue in there or does really show up as much of a character. (Correct me, if I am wrong.)

And I love the DnD movie. I do. But Themberchaud is not so much a character in it, as he is a joke and a force of nature. He does not talk, he just eats.

Basically, Themberchaud most of the times really boils down to: "Haha, dragon fat!" Meanwhile I am sitting there and think about how his fatness is part of the abuse he went through. And how that is such an interesting thing to work with.

It is kinda funny. While plotting Wishing Well, I talked with my roomie and a friend of mine, who both have gone through forms of abuse that also used food and access to food within the abuse. And they both got so invested in the story of Themberchaud. Or, to quote my roommate, after I told her the backstory: "Well, shit, now you made the funny scene sad."

I think there is in general a lot of fatphobia going around. And yeah, if you - like me - saw the movie without any background, you probably just looked at Themberchaud and went like: "So, Themberchaud is a voracious dragon." But the thing is that... he did not have a lot of choice in it, right? In fact, some people suggest, that the duergar fattened him up on purpose, so that he could not escape them or, for that matter, fight back as effectively. So, they controlled his food as a form of abuse.

And I mean if you are just sitting there in your hord without getting to do anything but light the forges, you might also start to eat out of boredom.

Not to mention that a ton of people develop eating disorders through abuse - in one direction or another.

Of course, I know that in general it is the truth that in a lot of fantasy media the dragons tend to be framed more as a force of nature. While they are intelligent and can speak, they are also rarely something that shows up as actual characters and more as obstacles to overcome or maybe some sort of questgivers.

I already kinda expect that once I go in there and write Themberchaud as a character with trauma, someone will come in and go: "Well, Chromatic Dragons are canonically evil, greedy and tyrannical." But let me argue again this: We have now agreed upon the fact that it actually is a bad things that before orcs or drow were considered as "evil" just because. So... Why should it be true for dragons?

I am not going to argue that actually Themberchaud is a nice guy. But I am going to argue that in fact he is bad because of abuse, rather than because he is a dragon. And that just like Astarion (who starts out BG3 as evil), he should get a chance to have a character development from there. :)

And yes, fuck. I really got invested in this dragon now. Like, fuck. I want to write this story now and then start a fucking spin-off about Themberchaud. Because he does deserve to heal from his trauma, too!

Hollow is tested in the palace halls. Often

Some things are best left forgotten.

Empress.

I love drawing Salazzle as some kind of strange creature since lizards in real life are such silly little guys. They have no brain cells. And neither should she.