Bruenor Battlehammer

Bruenor Battlehammer was the eighth, tenth, and thirteenth king of Mithral Hall from 1356 DR to 1362 DR and 1370 DR to 1409 DR. He was the dwarven adoptive father of Catti-brie and Wulfgar, friend to Drizzt Do'Urden and Regis, crafter of Aegis-fang, and a member of the Companions of the Hall. He was reincarnated in 1463 DR as Reginald Roundshield of Citadel Felbarr.
==Description==
Bruenor had wild red hair and beard. He had a large, hawk-like, pointy nose that had been broken several times. His eyes were blue and he stood tall.. In 1357 DR, he lost his right eye in battle and gained a great scar running from his forehead to his jaw.
After his reincarnation, Bruenor looked the same as in his previous life, only much younger.
==Personality==
Bruenor was gruff and stubborn, but he showed a tender side for his daughter, Catti-brie, and even Wulfgar at times. He was somewhat suspicious of magic. He was willing to put aside his prejudices for other races when needed, which helped him gain the friendship of Drizzt. He was a strong leader and equally strong fighter. His legacy of leadership still persisted decades after his death.
After his reincarnation, he struggled with his belief in his god and with the unfairness of the world in general, but he eventually gained a goal for his life, of returning as the 13 king of Mithral Hall and uniting the Silver Marches. Although he had initially agreed to help Drizzt, for several years, he had given up on that plan, until he met his cursed friend Thibbledorf Pwent, who reminded him of the importance of loyalty to his friends.
==History==
===Childhood===
In the 1100s DR, when Bruenor was just a boy, his people were run out of Mithral Hall by the shadow dragon Shimmergloom and his duergar minions.
===Icewind Dale===
Bruenor's clan took up residence in Icewind Dale under Kelvin's Cairn, close to the Ten-Towns. Clan Battlehammer supplied the towns with well-made dwarven weapons and armor. When Bruenor came of age, he took his rightful place as leader of the clan. Bruenor oversaw most of the construction of the place.
===Reclaiming Mithral Hall===
For all of his adult life, however, Bruenor dreamed of returning to Mithral Hall to reclaim his homeland. After the battle with the wizard Akar Kessel and the artifact Crenshinibon in the , Bruenor tricked his friend Drizzt Do'Urden into helping in the search for Mithral Hall by pretending to be dying after sustaining injuries during the battle.
Along with Drizzt and Wulfgar, Bruenor set off to find his homeland of Mithral Hall. But as they traveled across Icewind Dale, Regis joined them after fleeing from Pasha Pook's master assassin Artemis Entreri. Thus, the assassin kidnapped Bruenor's adoptive daughter Catti-brie and began a hunt across the North to track down Regis.
After many challenges on the way to Mithral Hall, including crossing of the Trollmoors after being refused entry by guards in Nesmé, the arrival of the Companions of the Hall was a short-lived joyous occasion. After a battle with Artemis and his cronies in the entry levels of Mithral Hall, Drizzt and Artemis were separated from the others by an ancient dwarven trap were presumed dead. Icingdeath, Drizzt's scimitar, was left behind with Bruenor, so he took it with him and stayed with Catti-brie, Regis, and Wulfgar on the upper levels as the brokenhearted band searched for their way out.
The Companions of the Hall later battled Shimmergloom, but Bruenor set the dragon on fire and became caught on it, riding it all the way to its doom, and his companions feared him dead too. In the meantime, Entreri took Regis at dagger point to return him to Calimport. The apparent death of Bruenor and the capture of Regis disheartened the companions, and they chose to leave Mithral Hall, having a running battle with the duergar that had served Shimmergloom. Drizzt and Wulfgar vowed to retrieve Regis, after getting Catti-brie to safety. Meanwhile, Bruenor climbed from the corpse of Shimmergloom, finding that the magic sword Icingdeath had kept him alive.
Over the next few weeks, Bruenor worked his way up from the lowest points of Mithral Hall, covering his beard and hair in ash to disguise its color from the duergar that now resided in Mithral Hall, and killing any who found him out. Eventually, he had to escape by climbing up a chimney shaft, during which he was attacked by a giant spider. Though he was bitten, Bruenor managed to kill the spider and find his way up to a vent to the outside. Finally overcome by the venom, Bruenor lost consciousness.
He awoke to discover himself in the care of Alustriel Silverhand, ruler of Silverymoon. The lady had divined Bruenor's predicament and went to help. With her aid and that of the Harpells of Longsaddle, Bruenor was able to give chase to Drizzt and Wulfgar, who were, in turn, pursuing Entreri. Covering the hundreds of miles in a flaming chariot provided by Alustriel, Bruenor and Catti-brie arrived in time to aid Drizzt and Wulfgar in a battle with pirates on Captain Deudermont's ship, Sea Sprite.
===Calimshan===
Afterward, in the , the reunited Companions went to Calimshan, disembarked at the coastal city of Memnon, and traveled across the Calim Desert to Calimport. There, they tangled with Artemis Entreri on the assassin's home turf and the thieves' guild led by Pasha Pook, Regis's previous employer. After being banished to the plane of Tarterus through the Taros Hoop, a magical artifact held by Pasha Pook, Bruenor thought he had lost his beloved daughter, and after escaping the plane, became enraged and began fighting like a dwarf possessed. After Drizzt and the very much alive Catti-brie returned to the Prime Material Plane, they rescued Regis and caused the downfall of one of the most dominant thieves' guilds in the city.
===Defending Mithral Hall===
After leaving Regis in Calimport as the new guildmaster of the thieves' guild, the other Companions went back to their home in the north, and spent the winter gathering forces to take back Mithral Hall, as was Bruenor's long-held dream. In the , Bruenor and his armies drove out the duergar, and Bruenor set himself up as King of Mithral Hall, with a few thousand settlers from other dwarven kingdoms, such as Citadel Felbarr, swearing their allegiance to him. The peace was short-lived, however, as a small party of drow, led by Drizzt's now-deranged sister Vierna Do'Urden and brother Dinin Do'Urden traveled the Underdark in search of Drizzt and killed a party of innocent Mithral Hall prospectors. Bruenor and the companions went to investigate and rooted out the drow. Bruenor group came across Vierna, Dinin who was now a drider, Jaraxle, and small group of additional members of Jaraxle band.  During the ensuing battle, Bruenor fought with Dinin while Jaraxle was throwing daggers at him from the shadows. During the battle, he defeated and ultimately killed Drizzt's brother Dinin Do'Urden R.A Salvatore. The Legacy of the Drow. Book One. The Legacy. (wizard of the Coast), pp 175-181. ISBN 0-7869-1800-4. As the battle ensured Vierna summoned a servant of Lolth, a yochlol, and during the battle Wulfgar caused the ceiling to cave in, crushing himself and the yochlol to death. The companions mourned his loss deeply, most of all Bruenor. In the following skirmishes, Bruenor lost an eye.
The death of his adoptive son sent Bruenor into a profound depression. When Drizzt left to go to Menzoberranzan to settle accounts with his people, Catti-brie saw Bruenor as being too engrossed in his own grief to be a useful companion when she followed Drizzt. When she and Drizzt came back, weeks later, their news of a planned drow war on Mithral Hall forced Bruenor out of his depression.
===Drow Assault and Abdication===
In the , with aid from neighboring kingdoms and heroes, Bruenor and his kingdom survived a drow assault on Mithral Hall. Bruenor and his friends even sought out the leaders of the drow army: the matron mothers of the most powerful houses. In the battle, Bruenor, with much difficulty, cleaved Yvonnel Baenre in half, killing her and ending her millennium-long domination of the drow city. After the battle, they found Gandalug Battlehammer—the original founder of Mithral Hall and Bruenor's ancestor—who had been Matron Baenre's magically held prisoner for almost two millennia. The discovery of another legitimate king allowed Bruenor to abdicate to his ancestor in the , and pursue his own ambitions in Icewind Dale and the mines Clan Battlehammer had made there.
During Drizzt's and Catti-brie's six-year absence from his side, Bruenor became closer friends with Regis.
===Reunion with Wulfgar===
When the balor Errtu gained the Crystal Shard in the , Bruenor joined his friends in defeating the tanar'ri on the Sea of Moving Ice. As it turned out, Wulfgar had not been killed six years before; rather, he had been taken to the court of the drow goddess Lolth, who traded him to Errtu in exchange for Errtu's services to her. Errtu then spent years torturing Wulfgar, killing him and reviving him, tearing apart false images of his friends to break his spirit, and seeking a chance to cause Drizzt to release Errtu's banishment. After Drizzt accidentally released the banishment, Errtu brought Wulfgar back to the Prime Material Plane to witness his friends' destruction. However, with the aid of Aegis-fang, Wulfgar escaped and the companions destroyed the demon, again banishing it for a hundred years.
However, the joyous reunion was short-lived. When Drizzt and Catti-brie tried to get Wulfgar to open up about his experiences, he struck Catti-brie and left the companions again in shame. Learning of the incident, Bruenor was extremely angry with Wulfgar. Some time later, the companions learned Aegis-fang had been stolen from Wulfgar while working at the Cutlass Tavern in Luskan as a bouncer. After learning that a bloodthirsty pirate and her band had the weapon, Bruenor and his friends set off to find it. They reunited with Wulfgar, although a relieved but still angry Bruenor made sure to punch Wulfgar in the face for striking his daughter, and for having worried them. They finally retrieved Aegis-fang from the pirates before returning to Icewind Dale.
===Return to Mithral Hall and Many Arrows===
Bruenor's time in Icewind Dale was short-lived as Gandalug died a few years after resuming his reign. In the , Bruenor and an escort of battleragers under the command of Thibbledorf Pwent (Bruenor's friend, though Bruenor often displayed much disdain for his most outrageous battlerager) returned to Mithral Hall, along with Drizzt, Catti-brie, Regis, and Wulfgar, who brought his new partner Delly Curtie and their adopted daughter, Colson. On the journey, they came across two survivors of a dwarven caravan out of Mirabar. The caravan had been attacked by a group aligned with the horde of orcs led by King Obould. The journey led them to the town of Shallows, which Bruenor sought to defend against a force of orcs led by Obould's son Urlgen.
During the battle, Drizzt was separated from Bruenor and the companions, and believed Bruenor slain. In fact, Bruenor had suffered significant injuries during the battle and survived only because of the continued efforts of the dwarven priests. The remaining dwarves managed to take the injured dwarves back to Mithral Hall, where Bruenor lay on the verge of death until Regis managed to lure him back to consciousness with the ruby pendant. Bruenor's reputation increased with his return from Moradin's halls, but he led the dwarves in a nearly suicidal charge to reclaim the River Surbrin from the horde in typical stubborn dwarf fashion.
Drizzt returned near the end of the war and, after a very prolonged and high-casualty battle with Obould, Bruenor eventually made peace with the orc king, signing the Treaty of Garumn's Gorge and proving to all in the North that he was a revolutionary dwarf, although in truth he was always very skeptical of the whole affair. His dwarven instincts about the orcs made it hard for him to believe a treaty could be for the greater good. For many years, he remained King of Mithral Hall, grumbling about his orcish colleague all the while, though he grudgingly acknowledged the efforts Obould made at trying to keep the orcs under control. During this time, much to Bruenor's dismay, Wulfgar left Mithral Hall to return to Icewind Dale.
===Spellplague===
His daughter Catti-brie later married Drizzt, but was struck down by the Spellplague in the , along with Regis, who tried to break her out of it with his ruby pendant. The companions traveled to Spirit Soaring, home of the priest and Chosen of Deneir, Cadderly Bonaduce, in an effort to find a cure for the mysterious affliction. However, after a battle with the combined soul of the liches of the Crystal Shard, the illithid Yharaskrik, and the red dragon Hephaestus, and with the help of Jarlaxle they destroyed the abomination. However, Cadderly was killed, and the companions left for Mithral Hall, with Catti-brie and Regis still afflicted. Upon their return, Mielikki, the patron goddess of Catti-brie, came to claim her spirit, along with that of Regis, and Bruenor and Drizzt were devastated.
===Gauntlgrym===
Afterward, Bruenor once again faked his death so he could once again leave Mithral Hall in search of, this time, Gauntlgrym, the fabled home of the Delzoun dwarves. His search began in the , and, along with Drizzt, Thibbledorf Pwent, the gnome alchemist Nanfoodle, and the orc priestess of Gruumsh Jessa, they set out to find Gauntlgrym. After many years of searching, Nanfoodle and Jessa died of old age and Thibbledorf Pwent left to stay at the dwarven mines in Icewind Dale, owing to his knees finally giving out after years of violent abuse to them in his battleraging. It came down to the still relatively young Drizzt and an ageing Bruenor to continue searching for Gauntlgrym. They did eventually find Gauntlgrym, but they were not the first to rediscover the underground city and they ran into conflict that led to Bruenor's death.
Bruenor finally, genuinely, died in the , along with Thibbledorf Pwent, as a result of injuries sustained while defending Gauntlgrym from the pit fiend Beealtimatuche, who had been summoned by the lich Valindra Shadowmantle. Before he died, he successfully saved Gauntlgrym from destruction by sealing the primordial of fire Maegera. Instead of going to the Halls of Moradin, however, he joined Catti-brie, Regis, and Wulfgar in Iruladoon, much to his dismay, though his reunion with them was joyful.
===Reincarnation===
In Iruladoon, Bruenor was given the chance to be reborn, becoming Reginald Roundshield of Citadel Felbarr. Later, he traveled to Gauntlgrym intended to pick up his beloved axe, helm, and shield emblazoned with a mug of foaming ale. He also found Pwent, who had been turned into a vampire and was protecting Gauntlgrym from the drow. He resolved to return to settle things with Pwent after aiding Drizzt. He joined up with Catti-brie, Regis, and Wulfgar in Icewind Dale to help Drizzt in the .
The reborn Companions of the Hall traveled to Gauntlgrym, where Bruenor retrieved his old helmet, shield, and axe. The vampire Pwent was inadvertently sealed inside a magical horn belonging to Wulfgar. Even after the Harpells of Longsaddle were able to release Pwent, his essence remained and could be summoned by blowing the horn.
==Possessions==
Bruenor strapped a single-bladed axe and a gold-colored shield with the foaming mug symbol of Clan Battlehammer to his back. He wore a one-horned helmet. but it was lost in the Battle of Shallows. Drizzt, thinking that Bruenor had died, took the one-horned helm and placed it on a stick in the cave he used as a shelter as a way to bring him back from being the Hunter.
In Gauntlgrym before his death, the dwarf gods enchanted his weapons. His many-notched axe became silver and the foam of the mug on his shield was perfect white silver that made it look almost like real silver. At that time, he could draw out mugs of ale from behind his shield that strengthened the drinker. He carried the items until his death. After he retrieved the items in 1484 DR, they were altered again inside Gauntlgrym's forge as a gift and request from the dwarven gods: the helm was enchanted with inner life and had two rubies set above each other in the front, and the axe was enchanted with fire, called flametongue. 
In 1484 DR, Bruenor also received from Wulfgar the horn of summoning that held the embodiment of the battlerager Thibbledorf Pwent. When blown, the horn summoned Pwent, who cried "Me king!"
==Relationships==
===Catti-brie===
Bruenor adopted Catti-brie as his own daughter when her parents were killed in a goblin attack. He raised her in Clan Battlehammer in Icewind Dale and had a tender spot for her. He considered the day he buried his daughter the worst day of his life.
===Wulfgar===
After Wulfgar's people were defeated in battle, Bruenor captured Wulfgar and had him placed under indentured service for five years. Despite that, a father–son relationship sprang up among the two.
===Regis===
Bruenor's long-time friend Regis often served as a trusted advisor to Bruenor.
===Drizzt Do'Urden===
Bruenor first met Drizzt Do'Urden after the drow watched out for his daughter on the slopes of Kelvin's Cairn in Icewind Dale. Although at first he was not pleased to have a dark elf as a neighbor, he overcame his prejudices and the two became great friends. The pair traveled together for the last fifty years of Bruenor's life.
===Allies===
Bruenor was a member of the Companions of the Hall and of the Council of 12 Peers.
==Appendix==
===Gallery===
Bruenor Battlehammer DA.jpg|Bruenor's appearance in Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance.
Bruenor 5e.png|Bruenor in Dungeonology.
Bruenor PHB 5e.jpg|Bruenor in Player's Handbook 5th edition.
===Appearances===
===References===
===Connections===
de:Bruenor Heldenhammer
fr:Bruenor Marteaudeguerre
pl:Bruenor Battlehammer
Category:Fighters
Category:Dwarves
Category:Shield dwarves
Category:Kings
Category:Councilors
Category:Members of Clan Battlehammer
Category:Members of the Companions of the Hall
Category:Members of the Council of the Marches
Category:Inhabitants of Icewind Dale
Category:Inhabitants of Mithral Hall
Category:Inhabitants of Fourthpeak
Category:Inhabitants of the Frost Hills
Category:Inhabitants of the Frozenfar
Category:Inhabitants of the Spine of the World
Category:Inhabitants of Citadel Felbarr
Category:Inhabitants of Northwest Faerûn
Category:Inhabitants of Faerûn
Category:Inhabitants of Toril
Category:Inhabitants of Iruladoon
Category:Inhabitants