Ghaunadaur
[GONE-ah-door]

Known as: That Which Lurks, The Elder Eye, The Ancient One
The God of oozes, slimes, jellies, outcasts, ropers, rebels, all things subterranean

A fell deity that has plagued the darkest reaches of the Realms since the dawn of time. That Which Lurks appears as an amorphous, dark purple blob with many tentacles. It is venerated by the largest slimes, oozes, slugs, and other crawling things---some of which are said to possess intelligence, albeit alien. Once all such beings worshiped Ghaunadaur, but it struck most of them mad in a fit of fury for some transgression---said by some to involve its failure to defeat Lolth shortly after her banishment from the Seldarine---and stole their intellects. As a result, many of its worshipers, and most of its power, ceased to exist. That Which Lurks and its giant roper servents have been venerated for eons by various creatures of the Underdark, particularly lone or subintelligent monsters and other outcasts (whom it occasionally aids, in return for adulation), as well as the few intelligent amorphs that remain. Evil beings seeking an alternative to established deities---including drow dissatisfied with the rule of Lolth---have also begun to worship That Which Lurks. Most humans find the worship of Ghaunadaur disgusting, but there are secret, subterranean altars and cults to the Elder Eye all over Toril, particularly in the older and more degenerate lands of the southern Sword Coast, Thay, and Kara-Tur.

Although Ghaunadaur is a distinct entity unrelated to the tanar'ri lord Juiblex, the Faceless Lord, or the otherwise unnamed Elder Elemental God, neither of the latter two powers is active in the Realms, and Ghaunadaur has assumed both of their aspects within the crystal sphere of Realmspace. Gormauth Souldrinker may have once been the name of a separate power, but if so, it has long been totally subsumed by That Which Lurks. Some rumors hold that Ghaunadaur occasionally lurks on the Elemental Plane of Earth and the Paraelemental Plane of Smoke, while others place him in the Abyss.

Ghaunadaur is unpredictable by human standards. It may aid worshipers who merely pay lip service to its rituals---even expending great power to grant permanent magical boons---but may also devour or maim them, without warning. Ghaunadaur enjoys watching the hunting and devouring activities of large horrible monsters and the suffering they cause. Ghaunadaur is silent and terrible when outside the Inner Planes, but old records tell of gibbering, bestial language spoken in the deity's great court of mingled mud and gelatin pools. Ghaunadaur only communicates telepathically with blunt and simple communications (for example, "Approve," "No," "Not," "Slay," "Come to Me," "Go to [mental picture of desired place]," and so on).

Back to the main Drow Gods Page.