Angharradh
| Angharradh | ||
|---|---|---|
| Three intelocking circles, or three interlocking circles in an inverted triangle | ||
| Aliases | The One and the Three, Queen of Arvandor, the Triune Goddess, the Union of the Three | |
| Alignment | Chaotic Good | |
| Divine Rank | Greater Goddess | |
| Pantheon | Faerûn, Seldarine (Elf) | |
| Portfolio | 3E: Birth, defense, fertility, planting, spring, wisdom 4E: Wisdom 5E: Growth, protection, wisdom |
|
| Domains | 3E: Chaos, Elf, Good, Hope, Knowledge, Plant, Protection, Renewal 4E: Hope, Protection 5E: Knowledge, Life, Peace, War |
|
| Home Plane | Great Wheel: Arvandor (Arborea) World Tree/World Axis: Arvandor |
|
| Worshippers | Elven worshippers of Aerdrie Faenya, Hanali Celanil, and Sehanine Moonbow | |
| Favoured Weapon | Duskshaft (Spear) | |
Angharradh is the combination of the three goddess' of the Seldarine, with portfolio over growth, protection, and wisdom.
History[edit | edit source]
In the Forgotten Realms setting, Angharradh first appeared when the three goddess' combined to heal Corellon of the arrow wound accidentally given to him by Eilistraee during Araushnee's uprising. She would then take her place at Corellon's side and has ruled alongside him ever since.
In other settings, Angharradh (along with Eilistraee) never existed, leaving Sehanine to heal him when he was wounded under different circumstances (usually during his battles with Gruumsh) and she became his queen instead. Even within the FR universe, some Elves don't entirely agree on their gods origins and prefer the core D&D story; so some Elves accept Angharradh as their mother goddess and Queen of Arvandor, while others don't; Elven mythology is complicated like that.
Worshippers[edit | edit source]
Amongst Elves, opinion is mostly divided as to what to make of her: Moon Elves worship the three individual goddesses as separate aspects of Angharradh and place her on equal footing to Corellon Larethian, sometimes even labeling Corellon as her consort. On the other hand Sun Elves consider Angharradh to be either a separate (but minor) deity in her own right and that her status is exaggerated; or they believe that she is a Moon Elf misinterpretation of Sehanine and generally do not venerate her the same way. This diversion goes as far as failing to depict Angharradh in the religious illustrations in the temples of Evermeet, which caused some controversy, but considering the Sun Elves maintain the temples there, the Moon Elves just had to accept it. Wood and Wild Elves don't have any special affection for her at all.
In any case, Angharradh had few exclusive worshippers, as most of them choose worship one the gods that she is comprised of and then make the personal decision of whether to acknowledge Angharradh or not. Clerics most often serve as devotees of one of her aspects.
Of course, when the Spellplague rolled around, Angharradh gained a surge in popularity, as the goddess' making her up were aspects of other gods (which was stupid and got soft retconned), so presumably the separate priesthoods finally just picked a god and stuck with it, rather than attempting to justify praying to overlapping sources.
Dogma[edit | edit source]
Unity and diversity bring strength. Be ever vigilant against She Who Was Banished and work together in defending the lands of the Fair Folk from those who would work evil. Celebrate the One and the Three for their collective purpose and individual expressions of life. Through the melding of widely different skills and interests, creativity, life, and artistry are nurtured and new ideas are discovered.