Reghedmen The Reghedmen were the barbarian tribes of Icewind Dale , also known as the men of the tundra . They eked out a harsh and bitter life between the Reghed Glacier and the Sea of Moving Ice . The Reghedman were tall - taller than most southerners by a head . They were fair - haired ( blond , red , or light brown ) and blue - eyed . Like the majority of barbarians , they were suspicious of magic , equating it with both weakness and evil . The only power they recognized was the power of a man ' s weapon arm and their god Tempos . Each tribe was formally ruled by a king . Known tribes are the Tribe of the Elk , the Tribe of the Wolf , the Tribe of the Bear , the Tribe of the Tiger , the Tribe of the Seal and the Tribe of the Caribou . Spirituality . The Reghedmen worshipped tribal beast spirits and Tempos ( their name for Tempus ) , the god of war . Tempos was served by shaman s who revered their tribal beast totems highly . These beast totems were also great spirits , similar to the beast totems of the Uthgardt . Unlike the Uthgardt , reghedmen shamans could not call upon a beast power , however , extremely motivated or experienced shamans had been known to become possessed by the spirits of their totem animals . History . In the past , the reghedmen were hostile toward the Ten - Towns and raided them relatively frequently . In 1351 DR , the reghedmen sought to invade the Ten Towns , only to be repulsed by an unexpected alliance of the towns and the dwarves of Kelvin ' s Cairn . Heafstaag , the wily and powerful king of the Tribe of the Elk , allied the tribes with Akar Kessell for the evil wizard ' s help in taking revenge on the Ten - Towns . Wulfgar , a barbarian youth whose life was spared by the dwarf Bruenor Battlehammer , slew Heafstaag in a challenge and became king . He brought the barbarians to the Ten Towns , but as allies , not enemies . With their aid , the townsfolk repulsed Kessell ' s horde but barely fifty reghedmen warriors had survived the battle against Kessel ' s army - and the particularly harsh winter that followed killed many women and children - forcing them to realise that they did not have the numbers to survive . Relatively few reghedmen roamed the wilderness after that . The survivors dwelled in the Ten - Towns , mostly in Bremen and Caer - Konig while others went south to Settlestone , learning the ways of civilization and rebuilding their strength . Over the next couple of decades though , more and more tribesmen decided to return to their traditional ways , splitting along similar tribal lines . Two new tribes sprang up , the tribes of the Seal and Caribou but they were both eventually absorbed into the Tribe of the Elk which had again emerged as the strongest of the reghedmen tribes . Over a century later in 1485 DR the tribes of the Wolf and Tiger were barely managing to exist out on the tundra . The Tribe of the Tiger tried to gain entry to Bremen during the winter of that year but were refused by suspicious townsfolk , forcing them to make camp on the northwest shore of Maer Dualdon where they suffered repeated attacks from beasts . The Tribe of the Wolf took shelter against the wind in the lee of the Spine of the World near Ironmaster but lost its king in the journey . The Elk and Bear tribes were much more prosperous , although over the past year the Tribe of the Bear had come under Auril ' s sway and they had begun to exclusively worship the Frostmaiden in a makeshift temple in the lair of the dead dragon Icingdeath . The Elk tribe too was experiencing problems as the tribe ' s king Jarund Elkhardt was getting old and had no heir to follow him . Language . The Reghedmen spoke Reghedjic .