Dendar

In Shar's domain of night I rest,
So dreams may show me how I'm bless'd.
If screams of terror break my sleep,
Then Dendar's sunk her fangs too deep.
”
— Gwydion recalls a childish rhyme about the Night Serpent.

Dream of freedom. But remember, where there are dreams, there are always nightmares.
— Dendar the Night Serpent

Dendar is a primordial, elder evil serpent who spends her time devouring the nightmares and fears of both mortals and immortals in hopes of bringing about the end of the world.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is an Ubtao-worshiping cult in the jungles of Chult, who called her "Eater of the World." They believe she lives beneath the Peaks of Flame and would one day emerge through a gigantic, iron door to devour the sun if Ubtao failed his duty when the end times came. They also believe it is their sacred duty to battle her. Another group of Kelemvor worshipers see it as their sacred duty to take the battle to her on the Fugue Plane in order to siphon off the nightmares she has devoured; thus keeping her power in check and earning a certain, if well-earned, death.

Worshippers

Cults to worship or battle Dendar have existed almost as long as she has. Those who worship her often kidnap victims and feed them poisons to cause them to dream. The most notable of these cults, known as the Sacred Order of Akabar, exists in Calimport, where she is dubbed the "Serpent Mother" and thought to have brought about the Night Parade and the Demiplane of Nightmares.

The Night Serpent is able to use her enormous size to crush victims below her bulk or to swallow them whole. Her forked tongue can be used to trip and entangle victims whom she could then inject with a sleep poison so she could absorb their nightmares.

Although she can slither across the Barrens of Doom and Despair or any of the lower planes at will, the Night Serpent is almost always found in her lair. Dendar lives in a vast cave near the oozing river that surrounds much of the Fugue Plane. The hiss of the Night Serpent’s breathing echoes through the plane as she sleeps, contentedly gorged on the world’s unremembered nightmares. Anyone who approaches her cave finds her awake and awaiting them with anticipatory delight as she savors and relives their worst unremembered nightmares. Her cavernous maw is large enough to swallow a giant, and her tongue can knock an armored man to the ground with a single flick. Beneath her tongue is a foul mire of greasy spittle and half-devoured bones -- the corporeal manifestations of her dream diet’s remnants.

Dendar is thought to have been created when the first mortal dream occurred, and she has devoured the nightmares of the living ever since. Even the gods are not immune to her ravenous appetite for their dreams.

It was the Night Serpent who was thought to bring about the end of the Blue Age and usher in the Shadow Epoch by devouring the sun and plunging Toril into darkness and freezing temperatures.

When a revolt against Cyric was underway in the City of Strife, Gwydion the Quick challenged Dendar and managed to injure her with a legendary blade that had belonged to Alban Onire. In concession to this defeat, she unleashed the night-terrors of the Bone Castle's residents and thereby allowed the revolutionaries to storm the structure.

To the ancient Rus, Dendar was known as Nidhogg, the serpent who gnaws at the roots of the world tree that connects all things. In Calimport, she is known (incorrectly) as the Mother of the Night Parade. In the Jungles of Chult, Dendar is known as the Eater of the World. Legends tell of how Ubtao, Creator of Chult, will battle the Night Serpent when she emerges through a gigantic iron door located beneath one of the Peaks of Flame and attempts to eat the sun. If Ubtao fails in his duty, the stories say Dendar will readily devour the sun and the doom of the world will finally arrive.