Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves might be playing a sneaky game

Dungeons & Dragons fans may be impatient over the delay of the D&D movie Honor among Thieves until March 31, 2023, since they’ve been waiting for it ever since the plot leaked in a 2021, in a filing with the U.S. copyright office. The first official look at the film didn’t come until 2022’s San Diego Comic-Con, though: Paramount screened a trailer filled with identifiable D&D elements that finally confirmed many details about the story.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among ThievesIt takes place within the Forgotten Realms. Since the launch of 5th Edition in 2014, it has become a standard campaign setting. It is an iconic setting for high fantasy and has a wealth of legends that can be used in the film. The trailer shows glimpses of Neverwinter’s city, the Harpers and the Red Wizards of Thay.

But one of the movie’s most interesting elements might be Hugh Grant’s character — both who he is and who he isn’t. According to IMDB, he’s “The Rogue.” According to promotional materials for the film, he’s Forge Fitzwilliam, the human Lord of Neverwinter. But Realms lore already It has a Lord of Neverwinter, who isn’t named Forge Fitzwilliam. A character known for his rich, long history is the Lord of Neverwinter. So why isn’t Hugh Grant playing Dagult Neverember?

Dagult Neverember: Who are you?

First, here’s what we know about Forge Fitzwilliam. He used to be a member of an adventuring party, along with the movie’s other characters, but a botched job saw his comrades sent to prison, while Forge made off with all the loot and used the wealth to install himself as Lord of the city of Neverwinter.

In established Forgotten Realms lore, the Lord Protector of Neverwinter is a human named Dagult Neverember, and he’s been a big part of the story of the Sword Coast region since he was introduced as one of a number of new characters for Dungeons & Dragons’ fourth edition, which moved the Forgotten Realms story forward a century. This time jump was made to make the setting easier for novice players.

At the same time, it also provided Wizards of the Coast with the opportunity to revise the setting to suit the design goals of the game’s fourth edition. Neverember was first introduced in 2008. Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide as the new Open Lord of the major city of Waterdeep — a position he was appointed to by the Masked Lords of the city, who, in contrast to the Open Lord, hide their identities from the public. This character joined the Neverwinter transmedia campaign in 2011, which also included novels. Neverwinter Campaign Setting game book, and the Cryptic Studios’ Neverwinter MMORPG. Erik Scott de Bie was both a Realms author and game designer who contributed a lot to this character’s creation.

So here’s what we know about Dagult Neverember from existing Forgotten Realms lore: He grew up in the city of Neverwinter and was once an adventurer, a fighter. He claimed he was descended from an illegitimate branch of Neverwinter’s royal family, which had otherwise died out. As an adventurer, he amassed wealth and then married into a Waterdeep noble family. The Masked Lords of that city chose him as Open Lord of that city because his heroic past made him “look the part.”

Once he had secured that position, he returned to Neverwinter after it was destroyed by a volcano. To help rebuild the city, his power and wealth were used. He also presented his royal heritage in order to be able to declare himself Lord Protector. Over the next 20 years, he dedicated himself to restoring Neverwinter — often by appropriating funds from Waterdeep, letting one city fall into neglect in order to rebuild the other. The adventure ended in success. Tiamat’s RiseHe was removed as Open Lord, and replaced. First, though, he embezzled a large amount of Waterdeep’s wealth and hid it away, as revealed in the adventure Dragon Heist.

Are Honor Among Thieves’ villains Lord Neverember and Lady Neverember?

Image by David Rapoza/Wizards of the Coast

Neverember’s moral ambiguity is what makes him a fascinating character. He’s been presented both as a patron for heroic adventurers looking to create stability in the Neverwinter region, and as an egocentric tyrant opposed by underground rebel groups. It is possible for him to come off as selfish depending on which point of view you are looking at.

This is not inconsistent writing. This reflects the complexity of Neverember, who is depicted in many different ways. Many see Neverwinter’s hero as someone who restores the city to its glory days. Many others see him more as an interloper, who assumed power without being asked. In Waterdeep, he’s remembered as a corrupt imperialist and thief who crippled city services to benefit his home city. Because he’s never been presented as a viewpoint character in a way that would give fans access to his inner thoughts, Neverember defies the easy moral categorization common in a game where creatures can be sorted into one of nine different alignments.

A view of the city of Neverwinter as seen in Honor among ThievesAnyone who’s played in the city since 2011 in any tabletop or MMO game, will instantly recognize the trailer. Lord Neverember is a character who has been inextricably part of the city’s story for 11 years now. So why set the movie there, then replace one of the setting’s core characters with someone else? Neverember and Fitzwilliam have a lot in common, particularly since both are ex-adventurers with dark pasts and who used their wealth to get into power. It is better to start over with a familiar character that has been around for over a decade than it is to begin from scratch.

Is WOTC concerned about canon?

Image: Wizards of the Coast

In 2021, Wizards of the Coast posted an article about Dungeons & Dragons canon on its D&D Studio Blog clarifying that Wizards does not regard material produced for the Forgotten Realms and other settings outside of fifth edition source books as canon for the game. This is why? The answer may lie in the blog post’s comparison of D&D to Marvel. What happens in the Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t canon for the versions of the characters in Marvel Comics. They’re different expressions of the same characters. With the new D&D movie on the way, this could be Wizards’ way of saying, “Don’t expect this movie to perfectly match the books’ lore.”

With that in mind, the answer to the Forge Fitzwilliam versus Dagult Neverember question could be easy: Neverember doesn’t exist in the version of the Realms shown in the movie. Fitzwilliam has in effect replaced him.

But what if it’s not that simple?

What if Forge Fitzwilliam It is Dagult Neverember?

Image: Esteban Santos

In big-franchise filmmaking, there has been a bizarre trend over the years: pretending that a movie character who is obviously from the canon, is some kind of new character. Even though it’s very clear who they are, Filmmakers behind blockbusters such as Star Trek Into DarknessAnd SpectreHe and others also claimed that Khan and Blofeld characters were falsely identified as such. These movies were not meant to have big surprises. The movie’s moments were unearned and hollow. Audiences were told to laugh at the reveals months before they happened and that also were meaningless to the characters.

As cinematic storytelling becomes increasingly dominated by creators working in established universes with heavily invested audiences, it’s become harder to create meaningful twists that hit fans and general audiences in the same way. One method that’s become common is trying to fake out audiences about what characters are even appearing in a given movie.

How would it be if Forge fitzwilliam had not just bought himself into politics but also a brand new identity. We know Dagult Neverember puts a lot of weight on his image, and it’s also been hinted in the past that his claimed connections to the royal line of Neverwinter are false. It is possible that Dagult has created an identity entirely to conceal his past life as Forge. Maybe Dagult Neverember might be his true identity, while Forge Fitzwilliam may have been the false. Forge’s name is actually a Little on the nose, isn’t it? Either way, this would fit Forge’s description as a con man and provide the movie with a nice little plot twist.

One problem with this theory is the timeline: Neverember was lord of his cities for decades in the game, but based on the trailer, it doesn’t seem like so much time passes between Forge’s past as an adventurer and his emergence as a politician. This is why they changed: Although Forge could have been inspired by Neverember’s storyline and the ability to change his character, it allows the filmmakers to adjust details to meet the requirements of the audience. Their story.

The truth of who Hugh Grant’s character really is, and how Honor among ThievesThe film will conform to the Forgotten Realms lore and will be released in theatres March 31, 2023.