Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thievesdebuted itstrailer at SDCC, and it contains plenty of treats forD&Dfans. From monsters to classes to locations, there’s lots to get excited about before the movie’s release. As expected from such a nerd-beloved property, there are a lot of interesting details to pick out and notice in this trailer. Additionally, the film’sofficial poster and synopsishave also been revealed.
As the firstDungeons and Dragonsmovie in almost 20 years to get a theatrical release,Honor Among Thievespromises to bring big-budget spectacle to the monsters and classes thatD&Dfans haven’t seen in live-action. This article will go through those sorts of creatures, like the Owlbear and the various flavors of dragons, to point out what you may have missed if you’re a fan, or explain things you may not understand as aD&Dnewcomer.
A Mix of Creatures
The trailer forHonor Among Thieveshad a wealth of magical creatures of almost all kinds. For one, they have various kinds of dragons. They had the traditional Red Dragon, which is one of the evil chromatic types of dragons in theDungeons and Dragonsmythos, that conforms to your typical expectations of dragonkind in that it spits fire. However, less traditionally, they have the Black Dragon, which spits corrosive acid. Unlike the mountain cave-dwelling red dragons, black dragons prefer marshes or bogs. We also get what appears to be a Stone Golem in the form of a Dragon.
One of the other creatures featured in this trailer is the displacer beast. The Displacer Beast looks like a big cat, a jaguar or a black lion, with several tentacled appendages sprouting from its back, which have spikes that are capable of punching through metal. This terrifying beast is capable of creating a strange illusion that makes it appear several feet away from its true position, making it nearly immune to aimed ranged attacks. This stealthy killer will hunt for fun, not just food, and is generally considered very dangerous.
Two of the other creatures featured in theHonor Among Thievestrailer are the Mimic and Gelatinous Cube, which both are dungeon dwellers. The Gelatinous Cube is an ooze capable of engulfing creatures and then devouring them slowly with acid. The Mimic is every adventurer’s nightmare because it is capable of disguising itself as a treasure chest. Only when you open up the treasure chest does the mimic reveal itself, showing its terrible maw of sharp teeth. The mimic can also mimic other items to attract attention, but the most iconic mimic form is one that mimics the form of a treasure chest.
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The Forgotten Realms Locations
We also know thatHonor Among Thievesis in the Forgotten Realms setting ofDungeons and Dragons. There are also a few key locations from the Forgotten Realms lore that one could notice in the trailer. For one, there is the mysterious and sinister Underdark, an underground network of massive caves and tunnels home to many underground peoples like the Drow or the Duergar. We see glimpses of the cosmopolitan city of Waterdeep, a place where many adventures are set or start in the Forgotten Realms.
It also seems that the main villain, or at least one of them, is a lich. PerThe Gamer, Liches are powerful spellcasters who, as part of the process of becoming a Lich, place their souls entirely within a type of artifact called a phylactery. Doing this grants the spellcaster incredible power and immortality, but also invariable costs them more and more of their sanity. Liches are, almost invariably, evil and often megalomaniacal. The movie also appears to involve the Red Wizards of Thay. This organization are the ruling body of the nation of Thay and are all undead spellcasters, their ultimate ambition being to turn their nation into a fully undead nation, effectively killing and resurrecting all their living citizens. They have a large interest in the darker side of magic, as they consort with fiends (devils and demons) and perform unethical magical experiments.
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Character and Classes
We’ve been introduced to a few characters, and we’ve seen enough of their abilities to have a pretty good idea of what their class would be in theDungeons and Dragonssystem.Chris Pine playsa Bard named Edgin, given that we’re shown he plays a lute. Bards typically play instruments or sing in order to cast their magic spells, though in this case we haven’t necessarily seen any magic from Pine’s character. Bards usually play a supporting role in the party, though they are capable of using their magic to put enemies into a stupor or effect their minds. Michelle Rodriguez is playing a Barbarian called Holga. InD&D, Barbarians are a class that specializes in physical might and beating things up with hammers, axes and any amount of heavy weaponry. Their main feature is their barbarian rage, during which they greatly increase their strength and damage resistance. She also has the Flame Tongue ax, a fiery magical weapon.
Justice Smith plays a Sorcerer called Simon, as outlined byComicbook.com. There are many different magic classes inD&D, but a sorcerer is distinguished from your classic wizard because their abilities are often more based on innate magical power while a wizard is more of a magical bookworm. Sorcerers often get magic from bloodlines or fate, such as being the descendant of a dragon or be named as the hero in an important divine prophecy. Justice’s character also appears to have the pointed ears of an elf, though whether he’s a high elf, wood elf or half-elf remains to be seen. Regé-Jean Page is playing a Paladin named Xenk. Paladins are similar to the archetypical image of courageous and honorable knights, except they also gain magical powers for adhering to their oaths of virtue. Often they are dedicated to a particular god and serve as the foot soldiers in that god’s armies in the mortal world.
Then, there’s Sophia Lillis whose character, Doric, perhaps requires the most explanation. She is playing a Druid, who typically get their magical powers by communing with the natural world. Druids, notably, often have the power to shape-shift into an animal form, which she displays when she transforms into an Owlbear. Owlbears are combinations of bear and owl and are somehow even more formidable than that combination suggests. However, Lillis' character is notably also a Tiefling, who are very interesting as they are descendants of demons or devils and humans. Tieflings are usually shunned and scorned in the Forgotten Realms due to their ancestry, though they are not necessarily doomed to the same evil as their fiendish ancestors.
