Toede (September 17, 321 AC - ? AC) is a cunning and cowardly hobgoblin who rose as the son of a local hobgoblin tribe leader in Taman Busuk to become a Dragon Highlord during the War of the Lance, and the ruler of Flotsam. He survived numerous deaths, having been rejected from the Abyss several times and the undying Lord of Flotsam still rules the town during the Age of Mortals. Toede has been described as a short and obese little fellow with grayish skin, numerous chins and white wispy hair.
Early Life[]
The young Toede was born as part of the ruling family of a small hobgoblin tribe in the Abanasinian region. His mother ruled the tribe fiercely as the chief cook, although this didn't stop a number of rivals from trying to kill him off and become the next successor of the tribe. However Toede was always intelligent for a hobgoblin, and used a number of different means to kill off each of his rivals until he was the only natural successor to his mother when she died. Before she died though, Toede murdered several hobgoblin children and he blamed them on his mother. He took power from her following this event. Toede caroused with his hobgoblin friends in the tribal caves, until the day that the tribe was approached by an officer of the Dragonarmies.
Toede's mother believed the tribe would become cannon-fodder for the dark armies (which was exactly the intention of the Dragonarmies), and refused to pledge the tribe's support, however the officer allowed them time to think it over. Seeing opportunity within the grand armies, Toede murdered his mother, assumed the mantle of tribal leader and then pledged the tribe to the Dragonarmies, in return for being granted a leadership position in the army.
War of the Lance[]
As Toede's tribe was committed to some fight in the early days of the war and was wiped out, Toede himself was elevated to the role of Fewmaster, a group leader within the Dragonarmies. The hobgoblin continued to orchestrate the assassinations of his rivals, and true to his name, toadied up to his superiors. Before long, he was a key advisor and Fewmaster under Highlord Verminaard of the Red Dragonarmy. Toede served as a spy and enslaving the enemies of the Dragonarmies in the Abanasinian region, where he encountered the Heroes of the Lance.
The death of Highlord Verminaard ended Toede's tenure as Fewmaster in the Red Dragonarmy, and he was reposted to the role of Highmaster in the Black Dragonarmy. In this position, he served as military governor of Flotsam, although he was briefly requested in 352 AC to serve as temporary Highlord of the White Dragonarmy following the death of Highlord Feal-Thas. As a Dragon Highlord in the field, he proved to be an inept commander and left his own army at the first sign of danger. Toede returned to Flotsam and resumed his role as Highmaster later in 352 AC, and one of the first things he decided to do on his return was go on a hunting trip. On the hunting trip, Toede and his fellow hobgoblins chased two kender, who led the hobgoblin lord into the cave of a Green Dragon. The chromatic beast was awoken by Toede and in a rage, killed him where he stood.
The Resurrection of Toede[]
Six months after his death, Toede was returned to life, following a bet between two Abishai of the Abyss, Abbots of Misrule and Castellan of the Condemned, to determine whether an evil person could ever live nobly. The resurrected Toede was captured by kender and forced into kender rehabilitation by Taywin Kroninsdau, the daughter of Kronin Thistleknot (the kender who led him to his death in the green dragon's cave). Escaping with his old companion Groag, Toede returned to Flotsam, only to find his former Aurak Draconian advisor, Gildentongue, was the ruler of Flotsam, along with Toede's former Amphidragon mount Hopsloth.
Whilst Toede managed to destroy Gildentongue, he was eaten by Hopsloth and sent back to Abyss once more. A further bet by demons of the Abyss brought Toede back to life again in 353 AC. His later resurrection dropped him into gnoll territory where he befriended a band of gnolls and also a group of human scholars who were trying to translate writing on ancient irda ruins, which he later learnt was actually ogre pornography. On one misadventure out of the scholars' camp, Toede fell through the hidden entrance of an old building, in which he discovered a demon known as a Juggernaut named Crystityckol'k'kq'q or 'Jugger'. Toede offered to help Jugger and the two escaped the ancient structure and charged through Flotsam on a killing spree. The killings ended with Jugger killing Toede and then Hopsloth, before the demon returned to the Abyss from whence he came.
Several months later, the denizens of the Abyss again returned Toede to life in order to continue their wager. The hobgoblin ran into the human scholars who tell him that they published the ogre pornography as a book under Toede's name and it became a massive hit. He was hailed as something of a hero by the kender and was asked to lead an army of kender, gnolls, and undead to depose Groag, who claimed the seat of power in Flotsam following the absence of a leader.
Once in Flotsam, Toede and Groag confronted one another and became friends once more; only to find the undead followers of the necromancer Bob besieged the town. A Hell-maiden named Judith appears to take Toede back to the Abyss after hearing of the bet by the demons, however his friends testify on his behalf that he has truly become noble. Toede offers himself to Judith in exchange for sparing the lives of his comrades, and Judith instead agreed to spare both Toede and his comrades. She then destroyed the undead army and took Toede's resume with her, agreeing to show it to the Dark Queen and put in a good word for Toede in any good roles came up. Toede then became the Lord of Flotsam once more, and elevated each of his friends to positions of power.
Toedaic Knight[]
During this time a young assassin named Rogate, who failed in killing Toede, claimed to become the first Toedaic Knight and vowed to protect the hobgoblin. It was unknown if Toede continued to knight people or not.
The Lord of Flotsam[]
Over the years from 353 AC through to the War of Souls, Toede was killed a number of times and always resurrected, even suffering being blasted by the dragon Malystryx and having his manor destroyed. Whilst the hobgoblin did attain eternal life, his body continued to age and in the post War of Souls period he has become considerably aged and continued to look for means to restore his youth.
From this continued search for rejuvenation and healing, he becomes one of the self-proclaimed experts on the matter on all of Ansalon. The city of Flotsam is rife with his spies, so that if someone were in the city for a matter of a few hours, Toede would know information about that person.
Other Names[]
Toede took many titles while being alive, some real, some imagined. A few them were as follows:
Lord Toede the Wise, Saint Toede the Protector, Master of All Noble were all titles that Toede might have taken in the future, and were ones he was pondering about. Mr. Underhill was an alias Toede takes when he was a prisoner to Taywin Kroninsdau. Duke of Flotsam, Evil Slayer, and Earl of Flotsam were imaginary titles that Toede might have taken. Frog-face and hob-gob were two that Human guards in Flotsam called him. Gnolls referred to him as King of Little Dry Frogs and Master of Few when he was called Fewmaster Toede.
The author of his story referred to him as Our Protagonist in the beginning of his story and Our Hero by the end of it.
References[]
- DL1: Dragons of Despair, p.
- DL2: Dragons of Flame, p.
- DL12: Dragons of Faith, p.
- DL13: Dragons of Truth, p.
- DL14: Dragons of Triumph, p.
- The Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles, Autumn Twilight, p. 27-28, 293, 302, 308, 312
- The Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles, Winter Night, p. 572
- The Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles, Spring Dawning, p. 1180, 1186, 1229
- Kender, Gully Dwarves and Gnomes, "Lord Toede's Disastrous Hunt", p.120-147
- Lord Toede (Novel), p. 11-16, 25, 32, 52-53, 63, 106, 112, 116, 124, 166, 173, 175, 208, 223, 228, 256, 258, 290, 308, 312
- The Search for Power, "Special Delivery", p.197-222
- Age of Mortals (Sourcebook), p.110-111
- War of the Lance (Sourcebook), p. 208, 213, 252-253
- Spectre of Sorrows, p. 35-45
- Tales of the Lance "Card"