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crazedventurers
Posted - 02 Feb 2008

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Originally posted by Kenzuki Shinku

Dear Mr. Greenwood.

First time poster here. I've a very important question that I've been wanting to ask, it's always nagged me and I would like an answer concering the Dead Three.

Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul. Were these their mortal names or did they change names on becoming deities? And what year did they ascend to godhood? If it's NDA I understand.

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Have you read Faiths and Avatars? - the 'Rolling the Bones' side piece?

Something else that might help date their route to ascension is here, placing their ascension shortly after -350 DR.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20071107a&pf=true

debate has taken place that the 3 figures are Bane, Myrkul and Bhaal - there is a thread here that discusses this theory further

http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10224&SearchTerms=ironfang,keep

Hope this helps

Damian

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The Sage
Posted - 02 Feb 2008

While Ed may have more to add... I have a few points I can add to this in the meantime.

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Originally posted by Kenzuki Shinku

Dear Mr. Greenwood.

First time poster here. I've a very important question that I've been wanting to ask, it's always nagged me and I would like an answer concering the Dead Three.

Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul. Were these their mortal names or did they change names on becoming deities?

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Ed, in Stormlight, suggested that Bane, who used to be a mortal before he ascended to godhood, might have been born on another world far different and far removed from Toril. "Bane" may have been his mortal name as well. So given Bane's "mortal" origins, it's definitely an intriguing possibility.

On the other hand, Bane... or possibly a world-specific derivative, could've been a common name on the world from which Bane came from. After all, we do have plenty of examples of gods, in the Realms, who have retained their mortal names upon ascending to godhood -- Kelemvor and Cyric being the more obvious examples, and Velsharoon being another.

The ascension details, in Faiths & Avatars, surrounding Bane's rise as a god also seems to suggest that Bane was his name prior to becoming a god. Or, perhaps, this was merely the name Bane adopted upon arriving in the Realms... an indication, possibly, of seeing himself as the "ultimate tyrant" and "bane of all that is lawfully just."

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And what year did they ascend to godhood? If it's NDA I understand.

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The year of the Ascension of the Dark Three has never been specifically referenced.

We can't really provide a "rough" year either. Initial estimates suggest between 267 DR and 700 DR as the time of ascension for Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul.

Though... Lands of Intrigue notes that a young noble of Clan Fyrson, in -88 DR, was charged with worshipping the dark gods Bane and Myrkul. This tends to throw the above estimates out and suggests that Bane and Myrkul ascended earlier than 267 DR and after -339 DR which marks the Fall of Netheril.

Specifically, we can probably assume that this event occured sometime between -339 DR and -88 DR.

We also know that Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul likely slew Borem -- one of the Seven Lost Gods -- each seizing a portion of Borem's divine essence for themselves. This was, perhaps, shortly before they entered the Castle of Bone and confronted Jergal.

Faiths & Pantheons places the possible location of the Lake of Boiling Mud, which may have been the "avatar" of Borem, on Mezeketh Isle -- two miles SW of Saerloon's harbor.

It's also said that the Lake may have existed, during pre-Dale Reckoning, somewhere in Jhaamdath -- possibly in the vicinity of what would become Sembia. No specific dates are offered.

Jhaamdath "falls" in -255 DR. And Chondathan, which will eventually become Saerloon, was "properly" established between the 360's and 380's DR. 'Tis likely founded some time before that... given that Chondathan migrations across the Inner Sea to the lands of what will become Sembia, occur around the -200s DR.

Given the -339 DR starting point, and the details about the Lake possibly being located in pre-Dale Reckoning Jhaamdath, that could possibly narrow the period of Bane's ascension to between Netheril's Fall in -339 DR and the Fall of Jhaamdath in -255 DR.

Additionally, Eric offers this little tidbit...

"Implicit in your assumption is that the Lake of Boiling Mud is a "real lake". I'd suggest that maybe it's a moveable lake (in other words, the lake is the "avatar" of Borem).

Alternatively, it could be the lake is created by opening a blood-spewing portal. When the portal closes/moves, the lake drains away.

--Eric"

There's a few tidbits in Grand History as well but, again, nothing definitive.

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