Welcome to Candlekeep: A Beginner's Guide to the Realm's Greatest Library

A majestic, many-spired fortress towering over the Sea of Swords, packed with hundreds of thousands of ancient books. This is Candlekeep, the titular hub of the latest D&D adventure anthology, Candlekeep Mysteries.

First introduced in 1987’s Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting sourcebook, Candlekeep was initially given a relatively brief description by Elminster Aumar. The esteemed mage called it “one of the finest libraries in the Realms,” and a resting place for “the predictions of Alaundo the Seer, the singular sage whose prophecies have proved correct over the years.” 

Since then, Candlekeep has evolved in majestic description with every edition of D&D, prominently featured as the opening area in the first Baldur’s Gate computer game in 1998, and is today detailed in the opening chapter of Candlekeep Mysteries as “the largest repository of written lore in Faerûn.”

In other words, this is a place brimming with history, magic, and very important personages, where one might unearth a treatise containing a portal to the Feywild one day, and then bump into the Sage of Shadowdale himself the next. Whether you’re merely visiting the Realms equivalent of the Library of Alexandria for a brief time, or an ambitious DM wishing to make the setting an integral part of a long-running campaign, consider the following tidbits:

  • Candlekeep visitors are known as seekers and must present a written work to gain entrance. The only prerequisite is that the work needs to be a valuable addition to the library’s substantial archive, but don’t think that you’re limited to donating expensive grimoires. Value is subjective, and Candlekeep staff - known as the Avowed - have accepted plenty of seemingly everyday stuff, ranging from ballads to journals to maybe even recipe books. If you’re a player entering the library, brainstorm what your character might have to offer up, and consider using your background or even previous campaigns for inspiration. Maybe your fighter has a collection of tactical writings passed down to him by his father that is worthless at first glance, but actually contains a useful account of an expedition in the Lost Mine of Phandelver, everyone’s favorite D&D starter set adventure!
  • The Avowed who maintain Candlekeep are a religious bunch, typically worshipping gods like Deneir, the deity of art. They’re organized into a hierarchy with the Keeper of Tomes at the top, while the individuals underneath known as Readers. In order of rank, they include the First Reader, the Great Readers, and the Master Readers. Other personnel includes the Chanter, who leads the recitations of Alaundo, the Gatewarden, who maintains Candlekeep’s safety, and various Avowed Adjutants, who serve as guides for adventuring groups. Candlekeep Mysteries lists descriptions for all of these Avowed as per the current year in the Forgotten Realms, 1492 DR, and one of them - tiefling archmage Sylvira Savikas - played a role in Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus. If you’re playing a game set in another year of the Realms or ignoring official lore, each of the Avowed ranks offers the chance to develop a unique NPC who can relate intel to a party, just like how Sylvira offered players a map to the first layer of the Nine Hells. 
  • The catacombs beneath Candlekeep are not only a stellar setting for a Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage-style crawl through sea-level caves, but they’re haunted by a spectral dragon named Miirym, who tried to make Candlekeep her hoard over 1,500 years ago. She was defeated and bound to protect the library as penance, and while her corpse has disintegrated over time, her spirit remains. As a ghostly sentinel wyrm, Miirym can pass through walls and appear at a moment’s notice to bring undead draconic wrath to intruders. She’s a fascinating NPC, and could be an incredible foe for players in the rare evil campaign. (Imagine a story a la Suicide Squad where the party is a task force assigned to infiltrate Candlekeep and copy or desecrate the library’s precious tomes, facing off against Miirym in the finale. Someone take this idea and run with it, please!)

Miirym, a ghostly sentinel wyrm, guards the Catacombs of Candlekeep...

Alaundo, the eternal seer and provider of a dozen plot hooks...

It’s impossible to talk about Candlekeep and not mention the Nostradamus of the Forgotten Realms who once made the library his home. Alaundo, who was born in -22 DR and died in 76 DR, wrote prophecies that have proven true with each passing age. He not only predicted the arrival of the mortal offspring of deceased god Bhaal - the major plot point of the Baldur’s Gate games - but also issued a portent regarding a “Horn of Doom” that may signal the end of the world in 2163 DR. 

  • This bygone sage is worshipped at Candlekeep via the Endless Chant and the Echoes of Alaundo. The Endless Chant is led by the Chanter and consists of a procession of Avowed who travel the keep day and night, reciting Alaundo’s prophecies. The Echoes, on the other hand, are fragments of Alaundo’s actual words recorded onto gems that are interred in Candlekeep’s vaults and only accessible by the First Reader and the Keeper of Tomes. Both of these can serve as foreshadowing hooks at different points in a campaign. For instance, maybe a group of level 1 Candlekeep explorers gains a hint about an upcoming disaster that will strike Faerûn this year as they overhear the Endless Chant. At level 12, they return to Candlekeep, gain an audience with the First Reader and translate one of the echoes together to determine that this disaster is bound to come from the Abyss. 
  • The skull of Alaundo is an interesting plot device in Realms lore. According to the 1999 sourcebook Drizzt Do’Urden’s Guide to the Underdark, Alaundo’s skull was stolen after his death and sold on black markets, prompting attention from not only the Avowed but also the illithids of Oryndoll, one of the largest mind flayer cities in the Underdark and home to esoteric lore stored within the Undervaults of Ilsensine, essentially an illithid version of Candlekeep. Locating the skull, battling mind flayers who come after it and maybe even chatting with Alaundo himself via a Speak With Dead spell could easily be the subject of a level 1 - 20 campaign.
  • Forgotten Realms father Ed Greenwood has dropped clues on social media regarding “Deep Chambers' within Candlekeep which lead to hidden rooms containing the most precious knowledge. Perhaps one of these areas holds secret prophecies of Alaundo that have been squirreled away by the Keeper of Tomes for close study? The Chamber of Lost Lore, located beneath the library’s catacombs where Miirym dwells, can serve a similar function since it’s there that the spirits of long-departed sages share knowledge with a select few. Maybe the ghost of Alaundo himself awaits adventurers worthy enough to find him...

The imposing towers of Candlekeep against a stormy sky...

Tie the many mysteries of Candlekeep together...

Candlekeep Mysteries contains seventeen adventures ranging from levels 1 to 16, and they’re not designed to be run as a campaign. But if there’s one thing I love, it’s finding ways to link disparate modules together, and with a little homebrew elbow grease, it can certainly be done! Very minor spoilers ahead, so beware.

  • There are several potential “big bads” scattered throughout Candlekeep Mysteries, including Bak Mei, head of the Order of the Immortal Lotus, Xanthoria, an eerie druid-turned-lichen lich, and Nintra Siotta, an exiled archfey from the Gloaming Court. Perhaps these villains were once members of a collective (if you’re a DC Comics fan, think the Legion of Doom) that caused much evil in the world only to eventually split up and be driven into exile, with the only hints to their whereabouts left behind in various Candlekeep books. Suddenly, the players are not just tackling unrelated one-shots - they’re unearthing the locations of major villains and bringing them to justice. 
  • Let’s say all of the books that comprise the plot hooks in Candlekeep Mysteries were donated to the library by a deceased adventurer who once served as a benefactor for the player characters. The players now have a personal reason to enter Candlekeep, and as they delve into their former teacher’s rare texts, going on the missions contained within and battling the villains he never got a chance to fight, they’ll learn new facts about their dearly departed mentor. If you really want to play fast and loose with D&D lore, you could even have the benefactor be someone like Volothamp Geddarm or Rudolph Van Richten!
  • Picking up on the plot hooks about Alaundo that I mentioned above, maybe the Avowed have narrowed down the location of the eternal seer’s skull, but need assistance from powerful heroes to seek it out. The quests in Candlekeep Mysteries could serve as rites of passage to test the players’ capabilities, and enterprising Dungeon Masters could easily hack one of the higher-level adventures to feature the skull as a final reward. Maybe this DM could throw in illithid rivals who are also after the skull and are more than willing to consume the brains of any heroes in their path...

These are only some of the possibilities that lie buried within Candlekeep’s rich history. Candlekeep Mysteries is a fantastic start to your explorations of the greatest library in the Realms!

Jeremy Blum (@PixelGrotto) is a journalist, gaming blogger, comic book aficionado, and fan of all forms of storytelling who rolled his first polyhedral dice while living in Hong Kong in 2017. Since then, he's never looked back and loves roleplaying games for the chance to tell the tales that have been swirling in his head since childhood.

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