Tyr (TEER)

Tyr was the lawful good greater god of law and justice in the Faerûnian pantheon. He was the leader of the coalition of deities known as the Triad.

Tyr was particularly popular in the lands of Calimshan (where he was worshiped as Anachtyr), Cormyr, the Dalelands, the Moonsea, Sembia, Tethyr, and the Vilhon Reach.

An interloper deity, Tyr was the same power as the god of the same name in the Norse pantheon, although in the Realms he was worshiped only as a god of justice and not as a god of war. As the only Norse power worshiped in Faerûn, if a cleric of the Norse pantheon came to Toril from another world, he or she would be granted spells through Tyr.

Personality

Tyr was strong-spirited and noble. He was considered the bravest and the most honourable of all the Aesir of the Norse pantheon. He was primarily concerned with the punishment of wrong-doers and the general furthering of law and good in the world. Tyr hated duplicity, trickery, rule-breaking, and wanton destruction. He likewise hated lies and the breaking of oaths and was disgusted by persons who earned from such things. For his own part, he never would break a promise.

Tyr urged the establishment of moral and ethical codes for sentient beings in all lands.

Tyr was a fair judge, but he was hard to understand to those outside his faith, as they more readily perceived him as a stern and rigid punisher. On the other hand, he was seen as a brave father-figure to his followers. In truth, he was well aware that a lawful utopia would never be possible in the imperfect Material Plane, yet this did not stop him from trying to make the world a better place for his mortal followers. He wanted his followers to see themselves as a "perfect family", not made of perfect individuals but rather of members who tried and wanted to be perfect, who acted out of trust, courage, and love toward each other. His knowledge that such a dream would never be achieved among the mortal realm filled him with genuine sadness.

Tyr was at first more willing than many other gods to manifest in some form or other to his followers, because of his fierce feelings of fatherly protection toward them. By the late 14th century DR, however, Tyr had tired of appearing in the Realms and began limiting his appearances to cases with important repercussions that were not obvious to mortals.

Besides his avatar, Tyr might send an intelligent war dog as a representative, or he might use a resounding gong, a choir of male voices, or a floating warhammer to express his will. The colours blue, white, and purple were considered sacred to his followers.

Worshipers

Among Tyr's worshipers were judges, lawyers, magistrates, the oppressed, paladins, and police.

The highly organized church of Tyr was strong in the more civilized lands of the Realms. They were known for never refusing service or aid to the faithful when they were in distress. Followers of Tyr were expected to show fairness, wisdom, and kindness to the innocent. Tyrrans never enforced an unjust law.

After the Time of Troubles, an entire decade passed where Tyr forbid specialty priests within his church. The clergy believed that he wished to ensure that no members of the faith were treated with greater favor than others. After other churches mocked them for this, Tyr established special orders of priests beginning after the Feast of the Moon in 1369 DR.

Divine Domains

Order, War

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Physical Description

Special abilities

Tyr was said to be able to instantly perceive any thief coming near him and to see invisible objects and persons. He could create magical items that also bore such powers. He always knew anyone's moral and ethical viewpoint and could detect any lies. Tyr was immune to all illusions, fear, or magics affecting one's emotions.

If casting magic, Tyr never used damaging necromantic spells. His spells from the law sphere were three times as powerful as normal.

Tyr was powerful enough to grant his clerics their spells even if they travelled to another crystal sphere. However, not all deities were powerful enough to do this, and if one of his clerics found her- or himself in the presence of a cleric of one of these lesser powers, Tyr would only grant spells of the same power as those granted by the other weaker cleric. He did this out of a sense of fairness.

Specialized Equipment

Tyr's longsword was named Justicar. It was said to have been a gift either from Tyr's predecessor or from Lord Ao himself. It was crafted with the aid of Mystra. Tyr's warhammer was especially disrupting to undead.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Early History

As the only lawful member of the Norse pantheon, Tyr faded largely from prominence. For this reason, he sought a means of strengthening his power by obtaining worshipers from other worlds. He chose the crystal sphere of Realmspace and submitted himself to the authority of the overgod Ao.

The first recorded instance of Tyr on Toril was in the Lake of Steam region, circa −2600 DR. A warrior known as Belaros and a group of priests were said to have met with Tyr in person in the mountains near the northern border of Turmish. In response, Belaros crafted the mighty artefact, the Balance of Belaros.

For at least 5,000 years of Faerûnian history, Tyr also seemed to appear under other names—Achanatyr, Iltyr the Blind but All-Seeing Eye, Arrtyr Judge of All, and Anachtyr, among others. Under one of these names, he was a member of Jhaamdathi pantheon before that empire's fall.

In Calimshan, Anachtyr had been worshiped for far longer than Tyr had been in other parts of Faerûn. For example, Anachtyr's followers were known to have slain the Great Wyrm Rivenaurlgoth the Darkly Pious in the Marching Mountains in −284 DR. Among the Calishites, religious legends suggested that the god who was Tyr passed on his portfolio to another at the end of each millennium, and that Anachtyr was actually an earlier Tyr who passed his portfolio on to the Norse newcomer.

Rise to Prominence

Tyr, in his most recent form, first made a major historical impact on the world of Toril in a campaign to pacify the remnants of the fallen empire of Jhaamdath in the Year of the Striking Lance, −247 DR. This was known as the Procession of Justice, in which the god himself appeared on Toril by portal near future Alaghôn in Turmish to lead a host of ten scores of archons against the chaotic and evil forces arrayed in the Vilhon Reach, in the remains of the fallen empire.

Ilmater aligned himself with Tyr in −243 DR, being impressed by the sacrifices made by Tyr, and the conflict continued until −238 DR. At the end of the great Procession, most of Tyr's archon warriors had been slain or banished, but he was successful in destroying Valigan, a god of anarchy, and by this time, Tyr was committed to inspiring justice on Toril as a whole. Torm joined them to complete the Triad some years later.

However, the faith of Tyr did not become a dominant one in Faerûn until shortly before the establishment of the Standing Stone, when most of the other members of the pantheon were already well-established in their roles, but after some 1,600 years since the Procession of Justice, Tyr successfully had become known over all of Faerûn.

Tyr lost his right hand to Kezef the Chaos Hound, in a test of his honour and strength of will. The Circle of Greater Powers had previously banned all mortals and powers from any contact with Kezef, but he was still free to consume souls, and a coalition of gods joined together to stop the Chaos Hound once and for all. This alliance included Tyr. They pursued the primordial beast to the Barrens of Doom and Despair, where they offered him a deal. They would lift the ban on him if he could escape from chains forged for him by Gond. Kezef insisted that if this were truly a fair challenge than Tyr must be willing to place his right hand into the elder evil's mouth. Tyr agreed. Kezef was enchained, the chain was anchored deep in Cocytus in Pandemonium, and Mystra placed an enchantment to prevent the chain from ever being severed. Furious, Kezef bit off Tyr's hand. It was said that he feasted on the gods hand, drawing power from it, for centuries. (Among the Asgardians, the story of the loss of Tyr's hand was similar but involved the members of the Aesir and the entity Fenris Wolf instead.

At some point, the conman Conner made a deal with Tyr: he promised to bring the god the Claw of Malar, (which was then in the possession of the tyrannical crime-lord Pasha Abon Duum,) in exchange for some unknown service, debt, or crime. Finally, in the Year of the Prince, 1357 DR, emboldened by Conner's apparent death, Abon Duum used the power of the Catlord to travel to Tyr's realm in Gladsheim to confront Tyr with the Claw of Malar, apparently seeking to seize the power of the gods. However, "Tyr" was revealed to be Conner in a cloak, having faked his death and been spirited to Gladsheim. The Catlord stole the Claw of Malar and passed it to Conner, before the real Tyr appeared and took the artefact. With a warning that he would keep an eye on Conner and the scales of justice, he sent the heroes home, while Duum was left to face Justice himself.

Time of Troubles

At the onset of the Time of Troubles, Tyr's eyes were put out by Lord Ao for failing to notice the theft of the Tablets of Fate and for questioning the justice of Ao's response. Ilmater, true to his ethos, worked to teach Tyr to live with these disabilities, though in truth they were not a great hindrance in view of his power as a greater god. Torm, being a god aware of his own past humanity, also aided Tyr by tempering the god's zeal for justice with the gift of mercy.

The Spellplague

In the Year of Three Streams Blooded, 1384 DR, shortly before the catastrophic events of the Spellplague, Tyr and Siamorphe, who then dwelt in the House of the Triad, had a great disagreement over a battle between Tethyrian and Calishite forces. The argument was so severe that Siamorphe left the House of the Triad to make her realm with Sune in Brightwater. Tyr sent Helm as a messenger to Sune to explain his position, and Sune tried to act as a peacemaker. As the goddess of love, she proposed a marriage between Tyr and Tymora as a way to restore balance to the Celestial Planes. Tyr agreed and began a formal courtship with the goddess of good fortune.

It was suspected that Cyric plotted to corrupt the arrangement, for rumours came to Tyr that Helm, who had been delivering messages from the House of the Triad to Brightwater for Tyr, had been having a secret affair with Tymora and that she loved the god of guardians instead of the god of justice. Tyr believed that the only way to reach the truth of the matter was to challenge Helm to a duel, and Helm felt that it was the honourable act to accept the challenge.

In the duel that followed, Helm was slain, leading to more chaos in the Celestial realms. Heartbroken, Tymora left Brightwater to be with Tyr out of duty, but Ilmater left the Triad and accepted Sune's invitation to Brightwater.

More tragedy among the gods shortly followed. In the next year, 1385 DR, Cyric teamed with Shar to bring about the death of Mystra and the resulting Spellplague. At least this event brought Sune and Tyr onto the same side again, and the two of them, with Lanthander's aid, pursued and captured Cyric, imprisoning him for a sentence of one thousand years.

After imprisoning Cyric, Tyr abdicated his godhood and granted Torm all his deific power, because the Even-Handed had lost faith in himself and in his ability to lead and judge. Tyr counselled all of his followers to offer their allegiance to Torm. Tyr's portfolio of justice was subsequently absorbed by Bahamut, who later became a subservient deity of Torm.

At some point, Tyr sent the deva Ayrx into Undermountain to try and talk sense into Fazrian. Unfortunately, Halaster was able to capture Ayrx, and trapped her in a shield in his Lair.

Death

At some point between 1385 DR and 1479 DR, Tyr died fighting off a demonic invasion of the upper realms in an act of heroic sacrifice. Tyr's absence reinforced the role of Torm as the new master of Celestia.

Resurrection

Tyr managed to return to life during the event known as the Second Sundering, in the 1480s DR.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Tyr was said to be the son of the god Odin and his wife Frigga.

Tyr was the head of the group of deities known as the Triad. The two other gods who made up the Triad were Ilmater and Torm. Torm served as Tyr's war commander and was known as the "good right hand of Tyr."

Along with the Triad, Tyr was close to Lathander. He opposed the deities Bane, Bhaal, Cyric, Mask, Talona, and Talos.

Tyr gave great respect to Zaphkiel and the archons of Mount Celestia, but it was not believed that he had authority over them.

Divine Classification

Intermediate deity

Religions

• Faerûnian pantheon

Alignment

Lawful good

Honorary & Occupational Titles

God of Justice
The Even-Handed
Grimjaws
The Maimed God
The Evenhanded
God of Justice
Blind, Blind Tyr
Wounded Tyr
The Lord of Justice
The Just God
The Blind Overlord
The Wounded One
The One-Handed
Blind One
The Eyeless One