Lolth Lolth ( pronounced " LOALTH " ) , or Lloth in Menzoberranzan , was the major goddess the Queen of Spiders or Queen of the Demonweb Pits was the major goddess of the drow and the leader of the Dark Seldarine . She drove the drow under the pretense of culling the weak into heavy infighting . All for the sake of having fun , while at the same time limiting the growth of drow power and influence to ensure that she remained the only accessible power source to them . Her sacred animals were arachnids . She considered them valuable enough to kill those who mistreated them . Worshipers . Lolth ’ s follower base was very varied . Primarily it consisted of drow but also of aranea , chitin s draegloth s and deep dragon s . She also attracted some surface elves . She tried to get more of them by assuming the aspect of Moander , a deity of rot , who was more attractive to elves than herself . Cleric s . Lolth ’ s clerics normally wore spider motifs . Her rituals required them to wear darker clothes or no clothing at all . Her clergy sacrificed the living and treasure to her glory . Relationships . Dark Seldarine . Lolth was the leader of the Dark Seldarine , but was opposed to varying degrees by all other members of it . Vhaeraun . On one hand , she encouraged her son ’ s rivalry with her , for it appealed to her love of chaos . On the other hand , her son having actual success at swaying the drow to his cause of destroying her , her supporters and beneficiaries , and her version of society was a real source of fear for her . He amassed the second largest following among drow overall and largest on the surface , and was an ever expanding force , to the point that Lolth considered Vhaeraun her real enemy and rival . The two had no common ground . Lolth promoted favoritism towards females , Vhaeraun promoted gender equality , the Spider Queen wanted surface elves as sacrifice from her worshippers , the Masked Lord urged his followers to cooperate with surface elves , Lolth ordered her followers to keep drow society stagnant in every regard , Vhaeraun attracted those who wanted change in the societal progress , economic growth , territorial expansion , etc . Lolth wanted to extinguish the drow race ’ s desire to return to the surface , Vhaeraun called for settling the surface , and so on . Lolth couldn ’ t compete with her son on the field of trickery . His masked traitor s , clerical spies of his , whom Lolth mistakingly believed to be her clerics , weren ’ t only the stuff of horror stories in her church . They cost her the courage to trust those of male gender in general - the majority of the spies were female - and she considered finding and warning her clergy about their existence a matter important enough for her personal attention . All in all , it led Lolth , who normally gave worshippers of other drow gods a second chance on being found out , to make an exception with Vhaeraun ’ s followers , they were killed right away . Other Enemies in the Dark Seldarine . The other members of the Dark Seldarine were generally of minor importance and Lolth ’ s behavior towards them could most easily be described as derisive . She thought of Eilistraee , her daughter , as an inconsequential fool whose actions were first and foremost of aimless nature , but which also could be easily manipulated into serving her ends . Eilistraee ’ s followers ’ insult to describe Lolth was " the Tyrant Poisoner " . Ghaunadaur was a different matter . She did fear the possibility of him swaying drow towards his cause , but he didn ’ t care enough for drow matters to attract many of them . Allies - Dark Seldarine . Kiaransalee and Selvetarm were her allies and the only ones in the drow pantheon , who acted as her servants . The former did so out of the big power gap between her and Lolth , but she got a level of freedom after she killed Orcus and took Thanatos , the demon lord ’ s realm . The latter was Lolth ’ s grandchild and her champion . The latter position was self - appointed . Selvetarm was practically enslaved to her , but was quite comfortable under her rule . Enough to botch his chance for freedom when his father , Vhaeraun , was about to kill Lolth . Others . Seldarine . Lolth was an enemy of the Seldarine , especially of Corellon Larethian , her former husband , Sehanine Moonbow , for the part she played in foiling her scheme to overthrow Corellon and Fenmarel Mestarine , who was her partner in adultery but ultimately didn ’ t join her betrayal . This enmity wasn ’ t very important to her . Having fun at urging and seeing the killing themselves was a higher priority to her than putting coherent effort into making real on her enmity . Other enemies . She once helped Gruumsh to kill Corellon Larethian but later became an enemy . She also was the enemy of a long list of Underdark deities . Other allies . Lolth had occasional alliances with Loviatar and Malar . History . Dawn Age . Lolth was formerly Araushnee , the lesser elven goddess of destiny and artisans . She was Corellon Larethian ’ s consort , who handed her the dark elves over . The two had twins together , the elder Vhaeraun , the younger Eilistraee . War of the Seldarine . At some point , Araushnee grew ambitious and started to plot against Corellon . She aided Gruumsh in killing her husband by sabotaging his sword . She gave Corellon a scabbard of her making . It caused the destruction of his sword . It was foiled by Sehanine Moonbow . She knew about Araushnee ’ s tempering with the scabbard because the Weaver conducted this very first step of her betrayal in plain sight of Sehanine Moonbow . Later , Araushnee agitated Malar into attacking the wounded Corellon , after she witnessed the Beastlord killing the orc god Herne on Faerûn , he managed to chase the Beastlord away . Araushnee ’ s next plan was gather a host of gods on hostile footing with the Seldarine , forming them into an army . The army itself was so badly organized , that she was confident , that they would fail . Her true plan was to give Corellon another cursed scabbard , that drew arrows shot by Eilistraee to him , thus killing Corellon while turning Eilistraee into her scapegoat . Before the attack by the anti - Seldarine faction was ready , Sehanine confronted Araushnee about her betrayal , as mentioned above , she knew Araushnee to be a traitor . Araushnee detained Sehanine and her confident Vhaeraun , imprisoned Sehanine and organized things so Eilistraee was in the vicinity of her father while at the same time guaranteeing the sheath to be in possession of his father . The battle started , while a surprise entry by Ghaunadaur happened to help the Weaver , things went according to plan and Eilistraee shot Corellon , while the anti - Seldarine army lost and retreated . Corellon was almost killed and Araushnee tried to poison him with a dose of Eilistraee ’ s poison , pretending it to be water from Elysium with healing qualities . Sehanine , who managed to break out from Vhaeraun ’ s prison , albeit at immense cost to herself , managed to stop her . Angharradh was created and Corellon ’ s life was saved . A trial was called in , Vhaeraun and Eilistraee became members in exile of the Seldarine , in the case of Eilistraee willingly , while Araushnee was declared a tanar ’ ri and was also sentenced to banishment . She turned into a spider monster and attacked Corellon . The Protector was too weak of heart to kill her and she managed to escape . Aftermath . Araushnee took the name " Lolth “ . She conquered the 66th layer of the Abyss , the Demonweb Pits for herself . She had competition in the form of Kiaransalee , an elven goddess whom she swiftly subjugated , and Ghaunadaur with whom she had a longer confrontation . That which Lurks tried to subsume her but failed and in his rage robbed his followers their intelligence . It also downsized his follower base and with it his power thus allowing Lolth to win . After securing control over her layer , she got bored and came up with the idea to be worshipped as a goddess and bring misery to elves because she had no confidence at hurting Corellon Larethian directly . When the moon elf Kethryllia Amarillis came to retrieve her lover , she got interested in the world the elf came from . She sensed the presence of Vhaeraun in Ilythiir , at that time the major deity there , and took a look at that country . She saw the Ilythiiri under Ka ' Narlist preparing for war because Kethryllia unknowingly revealed their position to them . Lolth admired the old mage ’ s craftiness and he became her first worshipper and consort . Ilythiir , the southern empire , was much to her liking , not only because it was richer , more cosmopolitan and lively , but because its people had the capability to be ambitious and to act on their ambitions . First Flowering . Originally , Ilythiir and the other elven nations were on good footing , Lolth poisoned this relationship to the point of the elves coming up with the idea to create a dark elf - free piece of land . They caused the First Sundering and destroyed the continent with corresponding casualties . Among the casualties was a large part of the church of Vhaeraun . Vhaeraun ’ s efforts to make remedying to this were thwarted were undermined by the ongoing conflict between him and Eilistraee , granting Lolth and Ghaunadaur the opportunity to fill the void . She started her machinations that lead to the Crown Wars . Crown Wars . For Lolth , the Crown Wars were an opportunity to have a lot of fun , it destroyed the majority of the elven nations . Lolth ’ s church grew in prominence during the Second Crown War . At that time , Aryvandaar , the sun elf nation , started what was believed to be a genocidal campaign against the dark elves of Ilythiir . Its coronal summoned Wendonai , a balor in service of Lolth , and bought power from it . He got special treatment because , Lolth took it as a golden opportunity to get an entire of subrace of elves under her . Other noble families of Ilythiir followed their royalty ’ s example and Vhaeraun , Kiaransalee and Ghaunadaur also had their followings by the Fourth Crown War , but they all couldn ’ t compete with Lolth . The Ilythiiri were clear on Lolth being a spider deity and that the other five gods and goddesses , who later comprised the Dark Seldarine , Selvetarm wasn ’ t born yet , were in some kind of relationship . What wasn ’ t clear to them was , in what kind of relationship they were . The Ilythiiri thus experimented with the iconography of these gods and showed them as spider gods , too . These efforts to put the drow deities in this relation in each other was considered so offensive by the depicted , that Lolth , Vhaeraun , Ghaundaur and Kiaransalee killed their high priests for it . During the Fourth Crown War , the elves ' wish for divine salvation was granted and the dark elves were turned into drow and then driven underground . Era of Upheaval . Once in the Underdark , the drow lived in a borderline animal state . Lolth gathered them together and urged them into the foundation of their first city , Telantiwar . It later destroyed itself through infighting , causing the drow to spread throughout the Underdark . A thorn in her side was a demon lord called Zanassu . That one called itself the demon lord of spiders . She got rid of him by sending Selvetarm , her grandchild who was born between Vhaeraun and Zandilar , when her followers attacked the Yuirwood . ( see here ) Lolth convinced Selvetarm that killing the demon would have made Eilistraee proud , so he fought and defeated Zanassu , but ended up absorbing his power and being bound to Lolth ’ s will . Lolth thus solved two problems of hers . Her rival over spiders was gone and she prevented her daughter from getting an ally . Time of Troubles . During the Time of Troubles , apart from appearing in Menzoberranzan and assuming the aspect of Moander to attract more surface elves , Lolth was spreading information on Zinzerena , a goddess from another world . That one appeared later on Toril and was killed by Lolth . Apart from gaining the portfolios of chaos and assassination , she also learned how the distribution and absorption of divine energy worked under Ao ’ s new rules . War of the Spider Queen . The War of the Spider Queen , a period during which Lolth transformed herself into a greater deity and turn the Demonweb Pits into an independent plane and then systematically got rid of her rivals was divided in two periods . Silence of Lolth . In 1372 DR , Lolth fell comatose . During this period , called the Silence of Lolth , cleric s of hers didn ’ t receive spells from her . Vhaeraun took advantage of this and tried to assassinate Lolth . She was seriously injured but saved by Selvetarm . When she finally awoke in 1373 DR , she called for three candidates to become her Chosen to finalize her transformation , Danifae Yauntyrr , Quenthel Baenre and Halisstra Melarn . The first two came on their own to the Demonweb Pits , the last one was sent by Eilistraee to kill Lolth . In the Demonweb Pits , Halisstra converted back to Lolth . Out of the three , Danifae was chosen to become a part of the Spider Queen , Quenthel was sent back home and Halisstra was made Lolth ’ s Lady Penitent , her Chosen . The Reckoning . In 1375 DR , Lolth and Eilistraee elected to play a game of " sava " with the future of the drow at stake . Lolth ’ s core win strategy involved the employment of only two powerful servants of hers Halisstra Melarn and Wendonai . Vhaeraun , her son , came up with a new plan to kill her . He wanted to kill his sister and unite their churches to increase his power and then go out to kill his mother . Halisstra Melarn managed to get her hands on Malvag , the organizer of Vhaeraun ’ s plot . Lolth ordered her Chosen to ensure his survival , thus she went as far as reviving him after he was killed by Cavatina Xarann . Lolth ’ s children clashed and Eilistraee survived and Vhaeraun supposedly died . Lolth ’ s plan to get rid of Selvetarm was planned more throughly . Her Chosen , Halisstra was sent to the church of Eilistraee and told them about the whereabouts of the " Crescent Blade " ( which Wendonai had made into a vessel for himself ) and led Cavatina Xarann , a priestess of Eilistraee , to the Demonweb Pits . There the priestess killed Selvetarm with the " Crescent Blade " , as planned by Loth . It allowed her to absorb Selvetarm ’ s church almost in its entirety . Eilistraee came behind being used by her mother only in 1378 DR . Meanwhile Qilué Veladorn took the the " Crescent Blade " for herself . The sword was possessed by Wendonai . The demon successfully convinced Qilué to not banish him , for it would have destroyed the blade . He remained at Qilué ' s side for the next years , although the High Priestess of Eilistraee also started to hatch a plan to actually kill the balor by taking him into herself and using her Silver Fire to destroy him . . Kiaransalee joined the game in 1377 DR . The ensuring battle was between Eilistraee and the Revenancer . Lolth ' s servant Wendonai let himself seemingly killed by Cavatina . Naturally , it put the balor above suspicion to be active at all . His influence as a mutterer could be felt when Qilué ordered the death of the defenseless clerics of the Revenancer in the Acropolis after that goddess ' death . Ghaunadaur joined in 1378 DR . Qilué agreed to a risky plan to protect the Promenade of the Dark Maiden from the followers of Ghaunadaur : it failed ( intentinally botched by former Vhaeraunites ) and the temple was lost . Through its portal network the slime god ’ s followers managed to kill many members of the church of Eilistraee . Lolth also unleashed Halisstra on her daughter ’ s worshippers , inflicting great losses that culminated in the following year . In fact , in 1379 DR , Eilistraee - - while inhabiting the body of Qilué Veladorn - - tried to free Halisstra from Lolth ' s clutches and convince her to kill the Spider Queen . However , Wendonai successfully nudged Halisstra into slaying Qilué alongside the Masked Lady . Lolth then abandoned Halisstra after she fulfilled her purpose for which she was turned into a Chosen . During the Reckoning , Lolth miscalculated twice . The first time was Q ' arlynd Melarn ’ s success at casting elven high magic . The intent was to turn all drow of the church of Eilistraee into dark elves , only few hundreds were changed . Eilistraee ’ s worshippers ’ souls thus stayed in Arvandor but under Corellon Larethian . The second miscalculation was Ghaunadaur . After getting rid of Eilistraee , Lolth tried to kill the ooze god but failed because that one proved to be stronger than expected , which didn ’ t mean that he wasn ’ t strong enough to repel her , but strong enough to run away from her . Post - Spellplague . Lolth enjoyed a position of supremacy among the drow . She did suffer opposition from the Jaezred Chaulssin , the skulkers of Vhaeraun , at that time the term to describe the church of Vhaeraun who retained divine magic despite their god ’ s death , and the followers of Ghaunadaur . The last group was a dying force , at least among drow , for Lolth successfully extinguished the knowledge about that god . At some point in the years leading up to 1479 DR , Lolth ordered her servants to begin collecting blue fire items and relics important to Mystra . Her ultimate goal was to become the new goddess of magic , but she ended up failing with the return of Mystra . Post - Sundering . After the event known as the Second Sundering , Lolth was no longer unrivaled as the goddess of the drow ( even if she still retained her position of dominance ) , for the dead members of the Dark Seldarine were revived . A further disadvantage for the Spider Queen , after their return , Eilistraee and Vhaeraun reached a truce and even reciprocal friendship ( although their followers still skirmished often ) . Rites . Like all religions , the worship of Lolth involved a number of rituals and rites . Many of them included sacrifice . The following was a secret sacrificial prayer in Abyssal known only to high priestesses : " Great Goddess , Mother of the Dark , grant me the blood of my enemies for drink and their living hearts for meat . Grant me the screams of their young for song , grant me the helplessness of their males for my satisfaction , grant me the wealth of their houses for my bed . By this unworthy sacrifice I honor you , Queen of Spiders , and beseech of you the strength to destroy my foes . "