Lolth
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Lolth (once called Araushnee in the Forgotten Realms, and Lloth in the drow dialect), the Spider Queen, is the fictional goddess of drow elves in the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing game in many derived campaign settings, including the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk settings.
- The following information covers Lolth's representations in those two campaign settings.
Lolth is a tanar'ri demon and a goddess of formidable power and great cruelty with an affection for arachnids. Goddess of darkness, drow, evil, and spiders (and assassins and chaos in the Forgotten Realms), Lolth has, through deceit and domination, garnered the ears of the dark elves and eventually established herself as their one true deity, keeping them under her thumb by creating a society in which only the strong survive and her priestesses are strongest. Most servants who fail her (and there are many ways to fail the whimsical goddess) are either slain or transformed into creatures called driders: centaur-like creatures that have spider-like bodies below their waists instead of a centaur's equine features. Lolth is also served by a race of shapeshifting tanar'ri called the yochlol. In their natural form, yochlol resemble molten blobs of wax.
Lolth is a Chaotic Evil Intermediate Power. Her symbol is a black spider with the head of a female drow (and in the Fogotten Realms) hanging from a spider web. Lolth dwells in her divine realm in the Demonweb Pits, a demonic realm formed entirely of a single great fractal web, where she is served by legions of powerful mystical slaves. Lolth's residence in this realm is a mobile iron spider-shaped stronghold. In the default Dungeons & Dragons cosmology, the Demonweb Pit is located in the 66th layer of the Outer Plane called the Abyss. In the current iteration of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, the Demonweb Pit is a plane to itself. However, there appears to be some controversy regarding the status of the Demonweb Pits in that particular campaign: the 3rd edition campaign setting says that the Demonweb Pits are a separate plane, but in the novel Extinction by Lisa Smedman they are explicitly referred to as part of the Abyss, namely the 66th layer (as in the "default" cosmology). Lolth's Third Edition domains are Chaos, Destruction, Evil, and Trickery (and Drow, Darkness, and Spider in the Forgotten Realms).
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History
Lolth was banished to the Abyss by Corellon Larethian, who has forevermore been her enemy.
Forgotten Realms
Lolth began, in the days before Faerūn existed, as a minor elven goddess named Araushnee, in the Seldarine. Araushnee, known as the Weaver of Destiny, was the goddess of weavers and a spinner of fate, yet despite her small role she came to be loved by the head of the elven pantheon—Corellon Larethian. Their union bore them children in the form of the deities Eilistraee and Vhaeraun. However, Araushnee was a jealous schemer and her influence over Corellon was not enough. She planned to overthrow her consort and take control of Arvandor. In order to do this she made a tentative alliance with Corellon's arch-nemesis Gruumsh, god of the orcs, and attempted to have Corellon assassinated by him through use of her position as Corellon's loved one. These attempts to destroy the First of the Seldarine failed, and worse, the most powerful goddess of the Seldarine—Sehanine Moonbow, who had long been suspicious of Araushnee, discovered these plots and confronted her. Araushnee managed to imprison the other deity though, and roused to action she, Gruumsh, and her son Vhaeraun eventually brought to her cause a great alliance of many great and minor deities of the orcs, goblins and other goblinoids, kobolds, giants, giant kin, ogres, and other such creatures. This army of deities, joined also by the savage deity Malar, the ice queen Auril and the primordial evil Ghaunadaur, marched on Arvandor, to be met in battle by Corellon and the rest of the Seldarine, including Araushnee's other child Eilistraee.
Araushnee and Vhaeraun attempted to help the attackers whilst maintaining a pretence of fighting for the Seldarine, even redirecting an arrow of her daughter to hit Corellon, but Sehanine Moonbow escaped her imprisonment and revealed to Corellon the treachery and betrayal of his consort. As the attacking deities were driven off by the might of the assembled Seldarine and fey deities of Arvandor, Corellon faced Araushnee. Araushnee tried again to kill the god, but this time Sehanine, Hanali Celanil and Aerdrie Faenya all came to battle Araushnee, merging their powers together and forming Corellon's new consort Angharradh. Angarradh easily defeated Araushnee, whom Corellon broken-heartedly transformed into a disgusting spider-bodied demon, naming her "Lolth" and banishing her to the Abyss. He also banished Vhaeraun, and Eilistraee followed, though Corellon knew her innocence.
In the Abyss, Lolth spent many millennia stewing bitterly over her failed plans, along the way rejecting the advances of Ghaunadaur and sending him into a rage that made him destroy the sentience of many of his worshipers. However in her goal to wreak horrible vengeance on Corellon and the Seldarine, it was through Ghaunadaur's example of regaining power through the worship of mortals, that Lolth returned herself to her former power and beyond it, regaining her divinity due to the following she gained from the dark-skinned elves on various world, especially Abeir-Toril. Lolth led her people into their split with the other elven races in the Crown Wars and the Descent into the Underdark, again breaking Corellon's heart, and gaining some of her desired vengeance.
Lolth's worship became absolute with the drow, who infiltrated and dominated their subterranean environment, building temple cities like Menzonberranzan, founded by Menzoberra the Kinless, a priestess of Lolth. The Spider Queen became the leader of the Dark Seldarine, who included her wayward son Vhaeraun, who hated her; Ghaunadaur, who also loathed her; Eilistraee, who had by then returned mostly to her father and Arvandor but also claimed the worship of the few good drow; Kiaransalee, who had once been a drow of another world, a necromancer, who rose as a deity of the undead and then came to Faerūn, slaying Orcus and claiming his worship in the process; and Selvetarm, the son of Vhaeraun, who would become Lolth's one (grudgingly) loyal divine servant and her Champion, after she tricked and corrupted him.
Lolth's recent activities included:
- During the Time of Troubles, manifesting in Menzoberranzan where she found and slew the minor drow goddess of assassins Zinzerena, assuming her portfolio. She also paid a visit to the old Matron Baenre to help her get rid of the heretic psionicist Matron Oblodra.
- In 1371 DR, Lolth allied herself once again with Malar in order to invade the homeland of Corellon's people on Toril, Evermeet, by releasing the villainous elf Kymil Nimesin from his extraplanar prison, and unleashing Ityak-Ortheel, the Elf-Eater. Her plots were again foiled by the might of Amlaruil, queen of Evermeet, and the goddess Angharradh, and she was driven off with Malar by Ityak-Ortheel.
- In 1372 DR, Lolth fell silent, not answering the prayers of her priestesses, and causing chaos amongst the drow, particularly the drow of Menzoberranzan—led by House Baenre, whose own High Priestess of Lolth, Triel, commanded her sister Quenthel to investigate—and Ched Nasad—which was destroyed.
Relationships
Lolth has sworn vengeance against Corellon and his people.
Forgotten Realms
Lolth opposes at every opportunity the deities of the surface elves, and loathes Corellon with an unparalleled passion. She also considers amongst her major foes Ghaunadaur, Eilistraee, Vhaeraun, Gruumsh and Ilsensine. On occasions she allies with Malar and Loviatar, but these are hardly stable friendships. She is served by Selvetarm, who is too weak to oppose her, and nominally by Kiaransalee, though she and Lolth hate each other and recently this rift has deepened when Kiaransalee stole many of Lolth's worshipers, especially in the case of the city of Maerimydra.
Greyhawk
Lolth rules over almost all the drow beneath the Flanaess, led by her High Priestess Eclavadra, a drow of mighty power.
Lolth was, along with Iuz and the demon Zuggtmoy, one of the deities involved in the plots centred around the Temple of Elemental Evil, where she was slain by a band of heroes.
Possible origins
The qualities of Lolth were most likely inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien. In his book, The Silmarillion, he describes an ancient spider-like being that he called Ungoliant (the mother of Shelob from Lord of the Rings). Ungoliant was an ally of Melkor, a.k.a. Morgoth, the "fallen angel" of Tolkien's mythology. It is never stated that Ungoliant had any dealings with elves or men, although she was wounded in a struggle with the Balrogs.