Featuring artists Daarken and Olivier Bernard

The Forgotten Realms are home to monsters and miracles in equal measure. One moment your party might be staring down an impossibly horrifying amalgamation of seven liches. The next, they may be standing before a noble dragon that embodies the spirit of a lost civilization. The two artists featured in this article—Daarken and Olivier Bernard—brought those moments to life in Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn, crafting pieces that invite Dungeon Masters and players to feel the terror, awe, and wonder of Faerûn’s greatest threats and guardians.

• Zlan: An Undead Horror Stalking Icewind Dale
• Spirit Dragons: Guardians of the Past

A Trove of Monsters and Myth Awaits

Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn and Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn contain a combined 284 lovingly crafted pieces of new art that are ready to inspire your adventures.

If you want to see more of the contributions made by Daarken and Olivier Bernard to the Forgotten Realms books, check out the D&D Discord below!

• See More on the D&D Discord

Zlan: An Undead Horror Stalking Icewind Dale

Artist: Daarken

• See the Full Art

Zlan is the kind of monster that makes your players think "we're doomed" the moment you reveal it. This walking atrocity of twisted bone and writhing shapes is not only terrifying to look at, it's a mastermind plotter and wields an arsenal of psychic abilities on top of its physical attacks.

Fear, Horror, and Undying Hubris

Zlan is a monument to lichly hubris. This horrific amalgamation isn’t the result of endangered innocents or fallen adventurers. It was formed when seven liches sought to create even more evil—the insidious Crystal Shard—and these villains paid for it in the worst way possible.

“It’s a little hard to see a couple of them, but one makes up the arm, one makes up the other arm, one for his leg, and then there are two in the torso and the one up top,” Daarken explains.

Zlan is simply the foremost mind among the fused liches and controls the body. The other liches rage, scheme, and fight for prominence within the form and the art provides interesting visual as to how that may happen. Mechanically, if Zlan dies within 100 miles of a piece of chardalyn—a fragment of the Crystal Shard—it re-forms under the control of another of the lich's minds. 

From Concept Sketches to Lethal Encounters

Artist: Daarken

Behind the scenes, Daarken explored several variations before landing on the final design. “Originally, I was doing these sketches and I didn’t really have much to go off of other than it was these different liches that are combined into one creature. So originally I did some that are way more Giger-esque—these weird alien creatures with tons of arms and hands and things like that."

"But they ended up being a little bit too elegant and pretty. So when it came to doing the illustration, I decided to do something more along the lines of The Thing or the necromorphs from Dead Space—things where they’re just really horrific, kind of melted together."

Bringing Zlan to Your Table

If you decide to use Zlan as the final boss for your adventure or campaign, Daarken has the following advice to set the mood for the climactic encounter: "Just from the visual standpoint, it would be cool if the players come across this field that has dead bodies coming out of the snow a little bit. It just looks like a bunch of different disconnected corpses, but then it slowly rises up and you realize it’s all connected into one big creature."

Spirit Dragons: Guardians of the Past

Artist: Olivier Bernard

• See the Full Art

On the other end of the spectrum from Zlan’s towering horror stands the spirit dragon by Olivier Bernard, which was approached as the majestic avatar of a civilization’s memory.

“A spirit dragon embodies the place and civilization it belongs to,” he explains. “In the case of Myth Drannor, which is illustrated in the background, I really wanted players to feel the nobility and power of such a creature. That’s why I chose a low-angle composition and a very upright, dignified posture, as an echo of Myth Drannor’s past glory. I also looked for a way to link it visually to the vegetation that now surrounds the area, using natural tones like wood, stone, and foliage for its body.”

History Embodied

Bernard anchored the design firmly in the Realms’ visual language. “The other dragons of Faerûn were, of course, an obvious reference that I kept in mind throughout the entire creation process. My goal was to maintain visual consistency with the other dragons while introducing new design elements."

But, spirit dragons are unique in that no two are exactly alike; each individual bears features distinct to the empire from which it hails.

"For instance," explains Bernard, "I added runic symbols on its legs, shoulders, and horns; the same ones you can find carved into the walls of the nearby ruins, to strengthen its connection to the ancient structures of Myth Drannor.”

He also drew from real-world inspiration: “The great stag also served as a real-world inspiration. It’s a noble, mysterious creature that fit perfectly with the natural beauty of Myth Drannor in its golden age. That’s why I chose to shape the dragon's horns like antlers.”

Guide, Guardian, or Both?

Unlike Zlan, who is a Chaotic Evil creature hellbent on dastardly deeds, a spirit dragon's disposition is more neutral, and can be as helpful as it is dangerous.

“A Dungeon Master might use it as a guide, or as a way to introduce a quest directly connected to Myth Drannor’s past,” Olivier suggests. “It could also serve as a guardian, demanding certain conditions be met before it allows the characters to delve deeper into the ruins.”

This connection gives you the ability to play around with different types of spirit dragons. The guardian of Myth Drannor may be infused with natural magic and more inclined to help Good-aligned parties, whereas the guardian of a Thayan monument may share their propensity for tyranny and necromancy.

Ready to Forge Your Own Tale?

Daarken’s vision of Zlan and Olivier Bernard’s spirit dragon allow you to dive deeper into these unique creatures explore how they'll be used in your games. And, at the end of the day, a picture is worth a thousand words. You can describe the horrific appendages of Zlan or the regal poise of the spirit dragon, but revealing the art to your players will let them know exactly what they're in for.

Inspiration and storytelling await in Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn and Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn, where over 280 pieces of original artwork accompany character options, ready-to-play adventures, and lore abound to inspire your next great quest!