Shar the Nightsinger | D&D 5th Edition God Breakdown

[@clusterfox6143]

When Shadowheart explains her religion to you she makes it seem like they are misunderstood. That the pain they embrace is meant to make them stronger. When you learn that they are rewarded with the theft of their painful memories, the contradiction reveals that this is cycle of pain and memory loss is in fact a means of indoctrination that Shar's followers ignorantly engage in to earn the love of their abusive mother. Incredible worldbuilding.

[@manolispiperias7608]

Or ! They use the memory wipes for particular traumatic events and through their training they steel themselves against the pain. Kinda like working up an immunity with controlled doses.

[@ALJ9000]

@@manolispiperias7608 If you were constantly being subjected to poisoning by a friend or family member, sure

[@JoshuaRWorkman]

I like the idea that Shar isn't jealous and spiteful of Selune just because she's supposed to be the opposite, but rather they were supposed to work together, but as time went on, Selune began creating more on her own without Shar's input, causing the Lady of Loss to feel betrayed and abandoned. Puts a bit of perspective on why they fight so much.

[@itslegendlore]

Agreed! I feel it adds a bit more depth to their ideal of being reflections and opposites but eternally connected

[@JoshuaRWorkman]

@@vanguardoffreedom20 I didn't say her response to Selune's actions were justified or healthy. Indeed, they've been fighting so long that by modern D&D times, I don't think either of them have the ability to try to reconcile. You can have sympathy for a villain but they're still the villain.

[@brendandossey2383]

I must say, I really like the second interpretation of Shar you have. The concept of a Goddess of Loneliness and Shadow flows really well into the core of her worship being anti-Selune and anti-meaning. Because in Shar's eye, perhaps the meaning of existence and creation WAS collaboration and bonding with her sister, and now that so much of existence is not due to that, could explain why her and her worshippers abhore existence and it's joys.

[@itslegendlore]

Right? I feel like it gives so much more depth to their relationship :)

[@ivodijkman137]

I find the idea of Shar being a primordial deity interesting. Gods in D&D get power from worship, and Primodrials are just inherently powerful. Primodial AND a God, well, that sounds like an entity that has similar outside-the-universe vibes like Old Ones or even Ao himself. They could probably be considered both at the same time... Enter in a couple of key points of Shar: Hates the sun Is representative of the night Created the Plane of Shadow and embodies its Negative Energy It is my firm believe, that Shar either *is*, or as an avatar *in*, Dendar the Night Serpent. Couple of things to add to this theory; 1: Dendar is also known as Nidhoggr, the Serpent that Eats the World Tree. Shar is the mastermind of the Spellplague; an event that caused, among many other problems, the death of said Tree. 2: Nidhoggr lives in Niflheim, the second layer of Hades, which also houses Shar's Palace of Loss. 3: Dendar is said to eat the Sun whenever she is free, the issue that split Selune and Shar in the first place. 4: Destroying Yggdrasil, the World Tree, will plunge Ysgard into chaos and destruction; Ysgard is also the realm of Selune's divine realm. This connection is so solid in my mind, that I have gone and looked at other Primordial Deities and needless to say... I can link a lot of entities together- The biggest one that eludes me to this day is Selune. I cannot point towards an altar-ego for her... *yet*-

[@itslegendlore]

I love all of this :) cosmic and deity theory crafting is one of my favorite things to do

[@ivodijkman137]

@@itslegendlore Yeah, it drives the plot for my campaigns heavily. I, in the meantime, watched your video on Selune. Very good all around, and it even had one line that linked her vaguely to something else! (Finally xD, been at it for like, 4 years?) You meantioned her having were-dragon followers. There isn't a lot of known about them, or at least for what I could find, but they have two types of similar creatures; Drow-Dragons and Song Dragons. These are both true dragon and humanoid hybrids, having the traits of naturally born lycanthropes, but with their creature being a dragon. Drow-dragons have this whole thing of a noble house breeding with Shadow Dragons to gain enough power to overthrow Lolth's position in Drow culture. Considering Shadow Dragon's ties to Shar, this is interesting enough as it is. But Song Dragons, in particular, are interesting here. They are mainly found around the Moonshae Islands, but also in two spots around the Sea of Fallen Stars; the Galena Mountains north of the Moonsea, and the Yuirwoods of Algarond, on a peninsula that stretches almost to the middle of the in-land sea. Now, the locations of them are for a later point, but the Song Dragons have a specific patron deity that is exciting for this theorizing. The more good-aligned draconic death God, Chronepsis. I believe you have done a video of them in their collective name of both the good and evil; Null. Now, there is a thematic link between Null, the Two-Faced Goddess, the Raven Queen and many more that is taunting me heavily to work out; Chronepsis works for the Raven Queen. Shar's favorite birds are crows and ravens. Null is a God with a good and evil side, similar to what Shar and Selune could have been. Null is the brother of Tiamat and Bahamut, two other good and evil (dragon) Gods to be born out of a single, more powerful neutral God. The Raven Queen is possibly an aspect of the Queen of Air and Darkness, an entity who is possibly also a broken up evil/good deity-level ruler of the Feywild. And so forth- The Forgotten Realms is a grand tapestry of sibling-issues and the need to balance good and evil.

[@Tea_Noire]

I always thought she was based off of Nyx from Greek mythology, esp with her void, starless space aesthetic, and her love of chaos.

[@ivodijkman137]

@@Tea_Noire Hahahaha, well- That ALSO plays into the lore-hunt, with Selune being Selene. It goes wild if you dig deep enough-

[@SuperJustin0229]

Best advice I have ever had about running a campaign is to not script the campaign, but to be familiar and understand the world the campaign is in. Your videos are incredibly helpful for this and allows me to improvise easily wherever the party may go

[@dazany9695]

I'm creating a Sharran cleric for my dnd campaign, and your explanation of lore was wonderful to listen to! Your art as well is gorgeous! I've never seen your videos before but you've certainly earned yourself my subscription and deserve to be seen by more people! keep up the amazing work

[@dougtheheavy]

Appreciate the time stamps and spoiler warnings. Great video as always.

[@reeces.8777]

This was an incredibly informative video and you offered so many amazing ideas. Thank you, thank you! 😊

[@itslegendlore]

Your welcome I’m glad that it was helpful! :)

[@JSandwich13]

I love d&d but never got tje chsnce to play a game. Just brushing up on my lore now until i can find a good group to play with. Forgotton realms has such deep lore. Im so excited to get stuck in

[@ZaaNayazu1981]

Im playing my first ever campaing and chose Warlock Fiend. I stumbled upon Shar when searching for a patron and knew right away i wanted to worship her. My DM was kind enough to help me homebrew a way to have a patron that is also aligned with her. I like her character very much.

[@Apillis124]

I'd put forward the Oath of Conquest for Paladins that are Sharrans that come from a more militant arm of the Church of Shar, like the Dark Justiciars for example. For my FR campaigns oft used two Sharran followers as BBEGs either working together or (secretly) against one another or just one or the other in a campaign. One being a dhampir (or true vampire) Oath of Conquest Paladin whose goal is to merge Neverwinter and its Shadowfell counterpart Evernight as one, so then the Prime Material Plane and the Shadowfell have a severe and intrinsic bridge into one another and thus the Shadowfell can directly feed off of and into the Prime Material Plane as well as granting its denizens direct access to the Prime Material Plane and all the horror that brings. All of which would be of great service to Shar, because Shar isn't simply the goddess of loss--that gets focused on a lot (and I think at times a bit too much) do to BG3, but most importantly she is the Goddess of Darkness and said darkness is darkness in its metaphorical and metaphysical sense and all their concepts (hence why Death is one of her domains, she is a Death goddess and arguably the Forgotten Realms' original in terms of its pantheon for she has been around since its beginning). The other NPC I utilize often is a character inspired in part by Morgana le Fey, and oft I even use the name, albeit their goals are quite a bit different, and she's usually some type of High Elf or Shadar-kai--though those mortal trappings (in spite of the elves' longevity) she had long since shed and become immortal in the sense she cannot die by age. Always a dark witch/mage type, oft I like to establish how terrifying she is by having had in the past not just usurped but obliterated and stole Vecna's power (not unlike how Shar (whom she reveres) in secret killed the god of the Underdark and stole his power without any ever knowing). This character I've often utilized as a "quest giver" and sort of mentor-ish Gandalf figure to the party, until at the point that the party eventually comes to realize they've been unwittingly been working for the BBEG all along. Her end goal typically being godhood, which is oft classic for conniving mage type BBEGs, but it's a bit more complicated than that as I always have her seeking and eventually attempting it to set right an imbalance in the world that was caused by a world-shaking catastrophe or holding off a greater looming threat like one of the Great Old Ones. And when confronted by the party that she's just seeking power for the sake of power, she'll outright state she absolutely she is, but does that not mean she's acting within a vacuum with that goal--she has much greater concerns than simply the party and their little aspirations--she's focused on far more terrifying realities that have gone unchecked.

[@itslegendlore]

That all is super cool! :)

[@KayTelleHoel]

Wow - what a lore trip! So, so good.

[@itslegendlore]

thanks!

[@TheDarkCrownRecords]

Love your channel. Great stuff for worldbuilding

[@draco949]

Just found your channel. Great content. Thank you.

[@itslegendlore]

Thank you so much! :)

[@voryndagothDL]

Hell yeah, probably my favorite FR deity

[@itslegendlore]

I second this notion xD

[@tyrannicaltypomichaeltester]

Shar is the mightiest God of her world

[@oniemployee3437]

Ah Shar, the ultimate goth mommy. Too bad my heart belongs to the light.

[@sentor98]

Very well made video. Thank you, dude.

[@itslegendlore]

Your very welcome :)

[@matthewmartinez9835]

I’m playing baldurs gate and decided to look up some lore for it and holy shit am I ever more confused 😂

[@itslegendlore]

@@matthewmartinez9835 yeah the lore of the forgotten realms is very very long and intricate xD

[@IdiotinGlans]

One thing worth mentioning with Shar is that until recently (1487, while current Realms is 1489-1492) Shar had whole nation if worhippers in form of Shade Encoave, a flying city of ancient Netherese who survived fall if their empire by jumping to Shadowfell. Whole empire of dark uberwizards lead by 13 undead wizard princes. They were destroyed when their flying city crashed on Myth Drannor, but a good retcon could fix that

[@itslegendlore]

Oh man that’s super dope

[@IdiotinGlans]

@@itslegendlore Now I think about it, there was a trilogy of novels where one of these guys try to put back in motion a time-frozen event where Shar manifests on a planet and kills everything, something she apparently does, which imo fits very well with the more "eldritch cosmic void, uncaring and all consuming" aspect of her you describe in the video. I really need to find a way to get these guys as villains in my next campaign, even if I have to use time travel to do it.

[@jeremygilbert7989]

Currently playing a Hexblade warlock whose patron is a shade in service to Shar who was linked to an old sword left in his father's treasure vault. He grasped it while fleeing a group of Drow assassins hired to slaughter his whole family due to a business deal gone wrong by his greedy dad. The shade offered to spare him by bringing him to the Shadowfell until the assassins left and grant him her power to protect him from then on provided he never interfere with the works of Shar and her worshippers and seek the most valuable possession of all, immortality. Immortality granted by becoming a shade himself. We're playing in a Curse of Strahd campaign and I'm going into the module completely blind so I'm curious to see where the DM might take my character. He's lawful neutral aligned since we don't really want any evil pc's(yet, at least) so he's mostly just obsessed with achieving his goal after seeing the Drow massacre his entire house(he hates Drow, naturally, but my DM's young daughter chose one for her character so that's made things interesting) and doing so through "fair" trades and accords. We just finished the intro haunted house bit and I simply cannot wait until our next session to see where things go from here! :D

[@itslegendlore]

That’s awesome! Love the concept and CoS is a great module for dark deals and such

[@jeremygilbert7989]

@@itslegendlore Thanks! Yeah, it's apparently quite a dangerous setting as well, our artificer already died and that was on session 3 I think lol.

[@LucaPasceri-k1k]

If you read the Sundering series set in the Forgotten Realms, which I HIGHLY recommend, it is canonically stated that Shar is a goddess of extreme nihilism. Shar has destroyed countless universes through the Cycle of Night. Shar is the Void, she exists to end existence. Shar has Thirteen truths and a 14th secret truth: “All is meaningless, and nothing endures.” I think that quote embodies what Shar represents: utter nihilism, some people want to watch the world burn, Shar wants to watch the universe end. I dislike the argument that Shar is misunderstood. I think of Shar as a tired deity, who just wants to reduce everything to a Void where she can finally be alone, yet still not content. Shar is emptiness, nothing can fulfill her

[@Wilsontripplets]

Shar reminds me of Kreia a lot from from Kotor, use tact and forethought before you act that every action has repercussions beyond what you might think. She is definitely a sadist but to me it seems like she does to at least a very tiny amount care about her worshipers.

[@snowdragon1234]

Is Shar like Nocturnal from TES? The way BG3 and DND describe her, Shar is way more evil than Nocturnal. I thought Nocturnal was more about being stealthy, and Shar more about killing people, taking memories, and fighting with her sister than Nocturnal. I was also once told Azura was Nocturnal's sister, and I thought they got along... ok-ish... as well as daedric princes can. I would think Shar was more like Boethia than any of the Daedric gods.

[@itslegendlore]

Either prince can work as a good inspiration for Shar :)

[@snowdragon1234]

@@itslegendloreMy favorite Skyrim build was an Dark Elf Azura Follower, then I made that character and played them the first time I played DnD, a half-elf drow Eilistrae follower. Then transplanted him into BG3. Might go full circle and but him back into Skyrim.

[@itslegendlore]

@@snowdragon1234 do it! I’m currently on a Skyrim kick again so that’s super cool!

[@Firstgenamerican21]

I don’t care what characters I have in my party in BG3…except Shadowheart. Don’t care my character’s alignment. She is always there….andAstarion..for..reasons😂

[@itslegendlore]

Schweet, For me it’s Shadowheart and Lae’zel xP

[@Qwerty95ish]

Laughed out loud at the gym while listening to this when he claimed this was a long video. Don't get me wrong Iike him but I listen to the mighty glue stick...

[@itslegendlore]

Lol it’s a long video in terms of my content xP I haven’t graduated to hour long mini essays yet

[@Qwerty95ish]

@@itslegendlore All good your stuff is still fun to listen and enjoyable. Though since you are listening, would love to see a Cayden Cailean video. Either way your stuff is great to listen to.

[@itslegendlore]

@@Qwerty95ish thank you so much :) and cayden is absolutely on the list

[@astropond5081]

I often feel like shar is misunderstood. Like she only started fighting selune after she discarded her. Maybe her desire to heal by making others forget and bathing them in darkness is genuine. Like, she wants to give others the comfort she can’t have herself and her waring with her sister is her lashing out of sadness and pain.

[@josephgagliardi438]

No, she’s just evil. She was born of the void and is a void herself. She’s as evil and self serving as Orcus. Kind of pathetic all this moral superiority complex trying to rewrite lore to where baddies are good, and the heroes are now somehow villains, villains are just misunderstood and it’s really the fault of the lawful goody two shoes gods. Get outta here. For fucks sake let the bad guys be bad.

[@taylorbullard2118]

She isn't the goddess of thieves. That is Mask, Shars Shadow, Herald, Son, and bring of the Cycle of Night.

[@itslegendlore]

lol I know she’s not their patron god, but there’s no reason why shar can’t have thieves of her own, especially with the implication that mask is her demigod so xP

[@cyrussmith5242]

By the way, Worshipper has two ps

[@matiasluukkanen7718]

You are calling Shar misunderstood, but she would happily torment everyone in her power for all eternity, including her own son and daughter (which she indeed has done, plotting to kill and harvest both Chauntea and Mask and devoured other deities to gain their portfolios). It is okay to say that Shar is monstrously evil entity, and in many ways even worse than demons and devils in the setting. She is not misunderstood. She chose to become what she is.

[@itslegendlore]

lol I never said that was for sure the exact way she is, I said that’s merely an interpretation one can take with the character if they wish. If people want to play her as fulll on evil more power to them xP

[@spicydong317]

She's just a petty goddess who doesn't give a damn about her followers, and everything she does is just out of spite for her sister It will never stop being astonishing for me, how some can try to give nuance and excuses for entities that are clearly evil in nature

[@helliumballoons7546]

@@spicydong317 look, at the end of the day, it’s fantasy. Some people like to have more nuance in their games than others. For me, it’s more fun to see the world in shades of gray than pure black and white. If you want to have Shar be a totally evil goddess, cool, I hope you have a great time! But source material is made to be interpreted, and trying to dictate how people interpret it isn’t doing anyone any good.

[@PumpdaBrakes-ub8kp]

so Selune is the "bad guy".

[@itslegendlore]

Not necessarily xP both sides have their own perspectives on the issue

[@u1t1matr1x8]

ME as helmite wishing i could arrest Shadow heart cause helm Hates Sharites. **stares at shar clerics** time for a crusade@@itslegendlore

[@itslegendlore]

@@u1t1matr1x8 lol I did do a video on Helm as well xD

[@u1t1matr1x8]

I know i sent you my cleric of helm on instagram a while back

[@PumpdaBrakes-ub8kp]

@@itslegendloreyea, but she and Shar were doing together and she went solo behind shar's back. even the pack with the Asmodeus. He was the good guy. his job was to fight the demons and he did a great job and got punished for doing the job assigned to him. 😁