Tiamat (Dungeons & Dragons)

Tiamat is a powerful draconic goddess in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The name is taken from Tiamat, a goddess in ancient Mesopotamian mythology who is substantially different (and does not have multiple heads).

Tiamat is a queen of evil dragons and a member of the default pantheon of D&D gods.

Like most other draconic deities, she is the offspring of the dragon creator deity Io. She is the eternal rival of her brother Bahamut, the ruler of the good metallic dragons. She dwells in Avernus, the first layer of the Outer Plane of Baator (also known as the Nine Hells). The first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons named her as the ruler of Avernus; later editions reserved the rulership of the layers of Baator for powerful baatezu (devils).

In many campaign settings, the draconic pantheon of gods consists of Io, Aasterinian, Bahamut, Chronepsis, Faluzure, and Tiamat.

Description
In most Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings, Tiamat is the five-headed queen of the evil chromatic dragons. She has one head for each customary color of chromatic dragon (black, blue, green, red, white), and each head has the powers of a member of the respective race of dragonkind.

Tiamat was also one of the first deities to have Aspects, or lesser avatars. These Aspects may appear as powerful versions of her chromatic children or as versions of her own five-headed form. One such multiheaded Aspect was released in the Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures expansion set War of the Dragon Queen. A smaller Aspect of Tiamat appears in the Miniatures Handbook.

Tiamat in various campaign settings
It was the original intention of Gary Gygax, Ed Greenwood, and others that the various Tiamat incarnations were aspects of a single entity that happened to be active on more than one plane of existence, despite the apparent differences between the mythological Tiamat and her various campaign setting incarnations.

Dragonlance
In the Dragonlance campaign setting, Tiamat's counterpart is Takhisis, the Dark Queen.

Forgotten Realms
In the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, Tiamat is one of the few surviving gods of the Untheric pantheon (based on Sumerian mythology), battled Marduk in ages past, and is also a member of the draconic pantheon, daughter of Io, the slayer of Gilgeam the God-king of Unther, '"Nemesis of the Gods".

Tiamat in other games and media
Various monsters called Tiamat, patterned after the Dungeons & Dragons character, have appeared in other fantasy games, particularly computer role-playing games. A five-headed dragon, intended by Takhisis herself to become her physical incarnation, appears near the end of Dark Queen of Krynn. Takhisis is also the final boss of the Nintendo version of Dragon Strike.



In the Dungeons & Dragons TV series, Tiamat is the arch enemy of Venger.

Tiamat has appeared in many Final Fantasy games, usually taking the shape of a multiheaded dragon. In The Final Fantasy Legend, Tiamat is the most powerful dragon available as a playable character; a monster in a party may transform into Tiamat by eating the meat from certain boss characters. In Final Fantasy Tactics, Tiamat is a powerful Monster class that can be tamed by the player. Every other Final Fantasy incarnation of Tiamat has been a major boss.

In Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen, and Ogre Battle 64, Tiamat is the evolved form of the Black Dragon. This Tiamat is non-unique and may appear as both a playable character and an enemy.

In Diablo 2 Tiamat's Rebuke is a unique dragon shield which has fire, ice, and lightning properties.

In Arcana for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Tiamat appears as a recolored version of the game's hydra who distracts two of the main character's party members.

In NetHack, Caveman characters must defeat the Chromatic Dragon to complete their Quests. Asking the game to describe this monster produces the answer "Tiamat is said to be the mother of evil dragonkind. She is extremely vain." She has the properties of all of the game's nine colors of dragon.

Tiamat also appears as a summonable creature in Golden Sun for the Game Boy Advance. She descends in a storm of flames and then breathes a stream of flame on her foes.