Tiamat Tiamat ( pronounced " TEE - a - maht " ) , was the lawful evil dragon goddess of greed , queen of evil dragon s and , for a time , a reluctant servant of the greater gods Bane and later Asmodeus . Before entering the Faerûnian pantheon , she was a member of the Draconic pantheon , and for some time she was also a member of the Untheric pantheon . Tiamat was also the eternal rival of her brother Bahamut , ruler of the good metallic dragon s . Appearance . Tiamat was a unique chromatic dragon , who had one head for each primary color of the most common species of chromatics ( black , blue , green , red , white ) . Each head was able to operate entirely independently of each other and had the powers of a member of the respective race of dragonkind . Her body also had traits in common with a wyvern , including a long tail tipped with a poisonous stinger . She also had three main avatars . " The Dark Lady " was a mulan female with long dark hair and completely black eyes . She always wore dark robes and frequently had a seductive smile on her face . " The Chromatic Dragon " was a dragon with stubby legs and five heads that could be any combination of head belonging to a chromatic dragon , the skin of each merged into three stripes - - blue - green , gray and purple before they merged again into brown skin that covered her tail . Sometimes , " The Chromatic Dragon " appeared in the form of Tchazzar when manifesting in Chessenta . " The Undying Queen " was a dracolich version of " The Chromatic Dragon " . Tiamat had three manifestations in Avernus as well . One of which never left the gate to Dis . Her manifestation as Azharul was her other ' public ' face used for when foes challenged her to combat , meanwhile her original body remained secluded in her lair . Realm . When she was part of the Untheric pantheon , Tiamat had a realm in Zigguraxus . She also had a lair in Avernus , on the Nine Hells , known as " Tiamat ' s Lair " . After the dissolution of the Untheric pantheon , her realm was the " Dragonspawn Pits of Azharul " ( a realm she obtained after having killed Azharul ) , that was located in the Dragon Eyrie lowest region , and she somehow connected it to her lair in Avernus . She was reputed to have a realm in Heliopolis but in fact that was a hoax Tiamat used in hopes of confusing her enemies . Personality . Tiamat was arrogant , greedy , hateful , spiteful and vain . She never forgave any kind of slight and was focused in obtain more power and wealth . She disdained mortals , regarding them as mere disposable tools in her schemes . When needed , she was charming and fey , but her self - serving and reptilian personality betrayed her sooner or later . After having experienced relative mortality as an archfiend , she became less reckless but also paranoid . Tiamat enjoyed the company of male dragons , and had many great wyrms consorts of the chromatic varieties . Some sages speculated that , after so many years of enmity toward Bahamut , she also lusted for her brother . She had an insatiable greed for treasures , but preferred that her followers brought it to her in the form of gifts instead of searching riches on her own . Activities . Tiamat wanted to take control of the Realms , and even as she was thwarted again and again by her enemies , she didn ' t give up . She had a particular interest in controlling Unther and Chessenta , and after the Spellplague , she also had interest in Murghôm , Tymanther , and the dragon empires of Returned Abeir . She didn ' t like to leave her lair , however , and usually acted to advance her agenda by using members of her Church or her agents in the Cult of the Dragon . Tiamat kept an active watch over evil dragonkind and always stirred them to further actions of avarice , pride and wickedness . As of 1491 DR , however , her primary goal was to break free from the Nine Hells . Powers . As a unique type of chromatic dragon with the traits of the five most common chromatic varieties , Tiamat was a foe to be reckoned with in battle . Along with all the standard powers and godly senses of a deity of her rank , those who saw her fight claimed that her heads were able to cooperate in battle , and that those heads had the ability to use the breath weapons and spell - like abilities common to their species . Although her sheer size prevented claw and kick attacks while on the ground , she was adept of its use while flying . She also had a stinger on her tail that injected a powerful venom on her foes , killing them in agonizing pain . History . For ages , sages debated whether if Tiamat actually was a deity or not . Many believed she was the archetype of evil dragonkind , a devil or demon , the avatar of another deity or even a mortal dragon so powerful that chromatic dragons revered her as their queen and creator . Whatever she was , sages knew for certainly that she was powerful and worshiped by evil dragons as a goddess . The fact is that Tiamat was actually a goddess . She came into existence alongside the rest of the draconic pantheon when the first dragons born . Her origins were highly conflicting , however , as there were many accounts about how she came into being . In the more commonly accepted traditions , she was the daughter of Asgorath and sister of Bahamut and Null ; while in the myths of the dragonborn of Abeir , Bahamut and Tiamat were born from the sundered corpse of Io ( the name by which dragonborn knew Asgorath ) instead , when Io was killed in the Dawn War . Whatever the truth , her cult grew rapidly in the communities of chromatic dragons , especially among blue , green , and red dragons . Once dragons as a race had established themselves during the Time of Dragons , the various religious factions of dragons began to battle one another over their different ideologies . Over time , religious fervor waned and draconic philosophers came to the conclusion that gods who allowed such behavior were not worthy of their worship . This started the draconic apathy toward their gods which lasted for thousands of years . However , the hatred that had developed between Tiamat , Bahamut and their followers was so intense that they refused to stop fighting . Their conflict came to be known as the Dragonfall War . During the first years of the war , Tiamat breed horrific and aberrant draconic creatures known as the Spawn of Tiamat , in an attempt to wipe out the followers of Bahamut . The war waxed and waned in intensity , with the last era of intense fighting occurring between - 2087 and - 1071 DR . It was during this time that the Unther ic empire began and with it , their pantheon became prominent . Tiamat became one of their deities by using a three - headed aspect , and her purpose in the Untheric pantheon was to balance the " order " represented by the other Untheric gods with her " chaos " . However , the plane of Zigguraxus increased the worst traits of her nature , making her something too powerful to be balanced by the other Untheric gods alone . < ref name = " TDYK / Hardcover - p266 " > < / ref > Now that both , Bahamut ( who had become a member of the Untheric pantheon under the alias of Marduk ) and Tiamat had humanoid worshipers , the Dragonfall War entered into a new period of intensity . The two siblings fought each other personally , with neither being able to gain the upper hand . Tiamat also worked against the other Untheric gods , with the result of the church of Enlil naming her the " Nemesis of the Gods " and blaming her for every problem the nation had . Then , in - 1071 DR , in a fight of the Orcgate Wars known as the Battle of the Gods , Tiamat saw an opportunity to slay Gilgeam while he was battling Ilneval . However , Marduk intercepted her and in the ensuing battle they killed each other . With both of their Untheric aspects dead , Tiamat and Bahamut were both stripped of their divine power . Tiamat was reduced to the status of an archfiend , her last few followers in Unther not enough even to allow her to remain as a lesser deity . However , as Gilgeam became a tyrannical God - King , the people of Unther never forgot the Nemesis of the Gods and they increasingly turned to her in secret for succor . As an archfiend , she was given rulership of Avernus by Asmodeus . Her job was to prevent outcast devils on that layer of Hell from becoming a threat but performed so poorly that Asmodeus demoted her . Knowing her failure was not deliberate ( by reading her thoughts ) , Asmodeus deigned to allow Tiamat to remain in Avernus unpunished , and even gave her a chance to regain her position if she impressed him in her new role as the guardian of the main gate to Dis . This state of affairs lasted until 1346 DR when some Untherite cultists managed to summon another aspect of Tiamat to Toril . This aspect , known as " the Dark Lady " , formented rebellion all over Unther against the church of Gilgeam . Gilgeam was so hated that the membership in her own church swelled , and Tiamat was elevated to status of a demigod dess . She also took the opportunity to influence the lich Sammaster and his Cult of the Dragon into tracking down the " Dracorage mythal " . During the Time of Troubles , after Ao banished the gods from the Upper planes , the " Dark Lady " was transformed back into her three - headed Untheric avatar , which was promptly slain by Gilgeam ' s . Her divine essence though was somehow divided into three and came to inhabit Tchazzar , Gestaniius and Skuthosiin , three powerful chromatic dragons . Tchazzar devoured the other two , combining the three essences and ushering in the reappearance of Tiamat ' s more powerful five - headed form , which she used to kill Gilgeam and therefore cause Ao to dissolve the Untheric pantheon completely . Having attained the status of a lesser deity once again , she was able to manifest avatars once more , until one of them was destroyed in 1359 DR by King Gareth Dragonsbane who had been tasked by Bahamut to destroy the Wand of Orcus in her heartsblood . Having done so , the king of Damara also brought the worship of Bahamut back to his people , elevating Bahamut to the status of lesser deity and re - kindling the Dragonfall War once more . In response , Tiamat unleashed her aberrant dragonspawn and many of her followers to Vaasa to make trouble for the Church of Bahamut in Damara , while gaining some followers among disaffected members of the Cult of the Dragon in the process . This time , however , the Platinum Dragon countered them by reviving the ancient race known as the dragonborn of Bahamut . She projected her wishes through the transformed primordial Entropy and in this guise , expanded her base of humanoid worshipers , and she joined the Faerûnian pantheon in 1371 DR after gaining the worship of a cult in Luthcheq . Tiamat ' s body had been suffering from aches and pains that had been growing worse over time but her elevation back to deity - hood reinvigorated her . However the relative mortality she had experienced as an archfiend had made her less reckless and more paranoid . She misinformed her clergy that she no longer resided in Avernus , but instead maintained a grand divine realm in Heliopolis . When members of the Twisted Rune discovered that her only asset in Heliopolis was a disturbed lichnee netherese archwizard , known as the Listener , and attempted to steal his magic , she manifested an aspect that defeated the intruders and forced them to kill the minor draconic deity Azharul in his home in Dragon Eyrie . With the Listener and the Twisted Rune ' s forced help , Tiamat subsumed Azharul , taking his body and divine realm , completely unbeknownst to anyone but herself . All the while , she had already begun creating her real divine realm in the mountains of Avernus . In 1373 DR , Sammaster managed to alter the Dracorage mythal to cause permanent insanity in all dragons , unless they allowed themselves to become dracoliches . In one of the worst dracorages ever seen on Toril , Tiamat resurrected Tchazzar , Gestaniius and Skuthosiin to act as emissaries which she would use to solidify and expand her power base in Chessenta , Mulhorand , Threskel and Unther . After the destruction of Sammaster and the end of the High Magic that sustained the " Dracorage mythal " , she had to withstand an invasion Bahamut launched to her demesne in Dragon Eyrie . The destruction of the " Dracorage mythal " also heralded the prophesied " Turning of the Great Cycle " which sparked off the religious fervor lacking in dragons since the beginning of the Dragonfall War , and Tiamat gained new draconic converts . In 1374 DR , lightning and meteor showers pounded Faerûn , and Bahamut and Tiamat instructed their respective followers to seek out such sites as they would each contain some form of dragon egg . Unfortunately for Bahamut , Tiamat ' s followers were much more effective in retrieving the eggs than his own . Tiamat ' s followers brought the eggs they collected to Unthalass in preparation for a new battle of the Dragonfall War . Tiamat spent her new forces mostly in her efforts to conquer the east but that task proved more difficult than she envisioned . Only Tchazzar met with success , cementing his rule in Chessenta while Unther was conquered by Mulhorand . Her tentative ally Alasklerbanbastos also ruled Threskel and allowed Tiamat ' s church to establish a stronghold there . A short - lived but powerful cult of humanoid fanatics was also lost to her in the Wyrmbones . Her losses outweighed her gains however : during the Spellplague , Entropy ceased being a simple vessel for communication and spells , taking away her power base in Luthcheq . The dissolution of her subsumed realm in Dragon Eyrie during the Spellplague also saw the badly - wounded body of Azharul fall into the hands of Bane . Tymanchebar ' s transplantation from Abeir to Toril saw some of the strongest bastions of her faith disappear overnight to be replaced with people who would become staunch enemies . In 1479 , Tchazzar managed to conquer Threskel for himself but this just drew him into a war with the Abeiran nation of Tymanther in which he was killed . With her most powerful servant dead , her forces beginning to crumble and Bahamut ' s power increasing after he became the subservient god of Torm , the Dragonfall War stalled . In Banehold , Bane discovered that Azharul was merely a vessel for Tiamat and enslaved it . Furious but overwhelmed by other events , Tiamat did not immediately retaliate against her enemy , instead serving Bane loyally despite his harassment all the while , discovering his secrets and passing them on to Asmodeus . Some time in the next decade , Tiamat saw an opportunity and took it , wrenching Azharul out of Banehold , along with much of Bane ' s divine energy , which she used to mend Azharul ' s broken body and increase her own divine power . Delighted , Asmodeus offered her the rulership of Avernus once more but to avoid disappointing Asmodeus again and to prevent a conflict with Bel , Tiamat refused , instead offering to be Asmodeus ' champion , devouring all who opposed him ( and offering covert aid to Zariel to prevent Bel from becoming too powerful ) . Agreements in the Hells are binding however , and Tiamat ' s placed her under the direct compulsion of Bel . Her brief attempt at resistance allowed her to see into Bel ' s mind and the directions Asmodeus had given him to imprison her in her divine realm and prevent her from becoming ambitious . Betrayed and angry , Tiamat instructed her followers in the Cult of the Dragon to assemble the " Mask of the Dragon Queen " that would allow her to finally escape Avernus and enter Toril . Relationships . Tiamat was the antithesis of her brother Bahamut , as both of them represented opposing values , and this enmity was reflected in the attitude of each deity ' s worshipers as well . She was also at odds with her brother Null for some slight lost to history . The god of the kobold s , Kurtulmak , was also his servant . Being a member of certain pantheons made her some other enemies . She conflicted with Iyachtu Xvim as he was the only significant opposition to her joining the Faerûnian pantheon , then later with his father , Bane . She also counted Ilmater among her enemies . Tiamat had some kind of contract with the githyanki race after their leader Gith treated with her . Having once been an archfiend living on Avernus , Tiamat was loosely allied with Bel and lent him many Abishai to fight in the Blood War . She resented Mammon for converting some evil dragons away from her . She helped Asmodeus forge his " Ruby Rod " . She developed an enmity with Asmodeus and the archdevil Bel after they betrayed her . She maintained a male consort from each of the chromatic dragon races . She had children with each of them and they served her as mortal agents . Worshipers . Tiamat had a reputation amongst the people of the state of Unther for battling with the other members of their pantheon and was blamed for every one of the many setbacks Unther experienced . This later became an advantage when Gilgeam ' s behavior served to foment rebellion against him and those rebels began to worship her , eventually creating an organized church . Tiamat had made inroads into the Cult of the Dragon and claimed some members as her worshipers . Also , for fifteen years , the Karanok family of Luthcheq unwittingly served Tiamat while they were worshiping the primordial Entropy . Tiamat transformed Entropy into a conduit for her power and gained the Karanoks as pawns . Many evil dragons have worshiped Tiamat since their species first appeared on Toril , and kobolds believed she was their creator , and although they didn ' t worship her as god , they revered her as their creator . After the Spellplague , she also gained a few dragonborn followers . Clergy . Tiamat accepted only evil clerics . They , like Tiamat herself , sought to place the world under the domination of evil dragons . Church of Tiamat . The church of Tiamat was regimented by a strict hierarchy of ranks and titles . Her clerics were occupied by the twin tasks of acquiring an ever - increasing hoard of wealth for the faith and sabotaging the faiths of other deities . As a result , they occupied most of their time with an unending series of thefts , assassinations , acts of vandalism , and arson . In Unther and Chessenta they were primarily concerned with seizing as much power as possible , while in western Faerun , the cult ' s agents were focused on subverting the Cult of the Dragon . Orders . The Serpent Guards were a fellowship of Untherite warriors and crusaders fanatically devoted to her . They were charged with guarding Tiamat ' s cult in Unther . The Knights of the Five - Thorned Rose were her elite five ranking crusaders , tasked with the destruction of the followers of Bahamut , especially metallic dragons . Temples . Though most evil dragons honored Tiamat , few keep shrines dedicated to her in their lairs because they didn ' t want her gazing at their treasure hoards . Instead , they dedicate vast , gloomy caverns to their deity and kept them stocked with treasure and sacrifices . Tiamat had more temples among her non - dragon followers . The two most prominent sites of her faith were the Altar of the Scales in Unther , and ruins of Castle Perilous . Dogma . To Tiamat , deities of all creeds and from every pantheon are inherently tyrannical , and therefore her rivals . She considered herself the only being powerful enough to defy these gods and overthrow their despotic rule , as demonstrated by her overthrowing the other Untheric deities . Her followers worked tirelessly toward her agenda of world domination . When Tiamat assumed her throne as the only goddess of the Realms , her draconic children would served her as dukes , or so her followers believed , and her clergy struggled gain the position vassals when that moved came . Rites . Clerics of Tiamat prayed for their spells at dusk , in hopes she will return the sun the following morning , as part of a ritual known as Tithing . The Tithing required a small tithe , typically several gold coins or a small gem , which were hidden in the cleric ' s cupped hands while praying , then buried . Tiamat ' s clergy also performed various other daily ceremonies in homage to their mistress . The Rite of Respect was a complicated ritual of abasement and appeasement was performed while approaching any chromatic dragon . This ceremony didn ' t provide any special protection from the dragon ' s fury , but failure to perform it was a death sentence . In Unther , a sect of her followers known as the Dark Scaly Ones proclaimed the day of the first full moon after Midsummer a holy day dedicated to her . Known as the Festival of Vengeance , this day marked the defeat of Gilgeam at Tiamat hands . In Unthalass the day was celebrated by general anarchy , rioting , and widespread mayhem incited by the clergy and the faithful . During that day , clerics of other gods tried to contain the looting and destruction , and prominent officials were aware against assassination attempts executed by Tiamat ' s worshipers . Appendix . Inconsistencies . The adventure " The Throne of Bloodstone " depicts Tiamat being slain by Gareth Dragonsbane and his party on the instructions of Bahamut , as her heart was needed to destroy the Wand of Orcus . As originally written , this adventure took place in 1148 DR , too early for Dragonsbane to be included in the modern Forgotten Realms . The date was thus to 1359 DR in " Dragons of Faerûn " and " The Grand History of the Realms " . " Faiths and Avatars " suggested several theories for the survival of Tiamat : that the actual dragon slain was Takhisis ( a deity from a different Crystal sphere ) , that a deity can only truly be slain on their home plane ( unless they are stripped of their divinity , as happened during The Time of Troubles ) and so Tiamat simply reappeared later , or that Dragonsbane simply slew a different multi - headed dragon or even an imposter . " Dragons of Faerûn " ultimately clarified the Dragonsbane party merely destroyed an avatar . Although Tiamat ' s avatar was also slain by Gilgeam , this indicates the death of the avatar did not destroy the god it belongs to , merely slow its plans for a time .