Fen'Harel: The Dread Wolf

Fen'Harel, the Dalish anti-god who represents betrayal, is also known as the Dread Wolf, He Who Hunts Alone, Lord of Tricksters, Prowler of the Beyond, and Bringer of Nightmares. He was known as kin to both the Creators and the Forgotten Ones. He supposedly betrayed both sides and sealed them all away in their respective realms, making it such that they could never again interact with the mortal world. Indeed, Fen'Harel has never loved the Dalish people and has spent centuries in a far corner of the earth after his great deception, greedily content with himself.

Divine Goals & Aspirations

Fen'Harel is reputed by the Dalish to continue to interact with elves in their dreams, sporting with them or dispensing dark knowledge at his whim. He is also said to gleefully patrol the Beyond, feasting on the souls of the dead.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

"There is precious little we know about Fen'Harel, for they say he did not care for our people. Elgar'nan and Mythal created the world, Andruil taught us the Ways of the Hunter, Ioun gave us fire and crafting, but Fen'Harel kept to himself and plotted the betrayal of all the gods. And after the destruction of Arlathan, when the gods could no longer hear our prayers, it is said that Fen'Harel spent centuries in a far corner of the earth, giggling madly and hugging himself in glee.
The legend says that before the fall of Elvhenan, the gods we know and revere fought an endless war with others of their kind. There is not a single Dalish among us who remembers these others: Only in dreams do we hear whispered the names, for they are the Forgotten Ones, beings of terror and malice, spite and pestilence. In ancient times, only Fen'Harel could walk without fear among both our gods and the Forgotten Ones, for although he was accepted amongst the gods of the People, the Forgotten Ones knew of his cunning ways, and saw him as one of their own.
And that is how Fen'Harel tricked them. Our gods allowed him too close, and they trusted him when he said that they must keep to the heavens while he arranged a truce. And the Forgotten Ones trusted him also when he said he would arrange for the defeat of our gods, if only the Forgotten Ones would return to the abyss for a time. Both sides trusted Fen'Harel, and they were all betrayed. Fen'Harel sealed them all away so they could never again walk among the People."
— A story commonly shared by Keepers

Fables of the Dread Wolf

The Courser and the Wolf

"You know what the Dalish say to their dogs? 'Take the Dread Wolf by the ear if he comes'. Long ago, a clan lived on the Silent Plains. It was a terrible, lonely place where the sun was forbidden to shine. Their Keeper had a coursing hound. They had run down deer and hares and wolves together when they were young. But they had grown old together, Keeper and hound, and now only dozed before the campfire, dreaming of hunts.
But then the Dread Wolf came, for the Keeper was wise and kind—the things Fen’Harel hates above all else. At night, he tried to steal into the Keeper’s dreams, to twist his mind and turn him against the People. But even in dreams, the courser guarded his master. He caught the Dread Wolf’s scent and gave chase across the Fade.
Fen’Harel tried to shake his pursuer, but the hound ran as coursers can only run in their dreams. Even the wind couldn’t have fled that hound. He ran the Dread Wolf down and grabbed him by the tail! Fen’Harel howled, so loud that the world shook and even the stars scattered in fear. But the hound wouldn’t let go. Neither hound nor Wolf gave in. Finally, Fen’Harel bit off his own tail to escape, and away he fled. Ever since, the Dread Wolf thinks twice about playing his tricks when dogs are on guard."

The Slow Arrow

"The god Fen'Harel was asked by a village to kill a great beast. He came to the beast at dawn, and saw its strength, and knew it would slay him if he fought it. So instead, he shot an arrow up into the sky. The villagers asked Fen'Harel how he would save them, and he said to them, 'When did I say that I would save you?' And he left, and the great beast came into the village that night and killed the warriors, and the women, and the elders. It came to the children and opened its great maw, but then the arrow that Fen'Harel had loosed fell from the sky into the great beast's mouth, and killed it. The children of the village wept for their parents and elders, but still they made an offering to Fen'Harel of thanks, for he had done what the villagers had asked. He had killed the beast, with his cunning, and a slow arrow that the beast never noticed."

Fen'Harel and the Tree

"In the story, Fen'Harel was captured by the hunting goddess, Andruil. Fen'Harel had angered her and Ghilan'nain by hunting the halla without either of their blessings, and so Andruil tied Fen'Harel to a tree and declared that he would have to be stuck to the tree for a year and a day without moving. But as she made camp that night, a Forgotten One found them and it swore that it would kill Fen'Harel for crimes against the Forgotten Ones. Andruil and the Forgotten One decided that they would duel for the right to claim Fen'Harel.
Fen'Harel called out to the Forgotten One during the fight and told him of a flaw in Andruil's abyssal armor just above the hip, and the Forgotten One stabbed Andruil in the side, and she fell. Then Fen'Harel told the Forgotten One that it owed the Dread Wolf for the victory and that he ought to get his freedom. The Forgotten One was so affronted by Fen'Harel's audacity that it turned and shouted insults at the prisoner, and so it did not see Andruil, injured but alive, rise behind and attack with her great bow. The Forgotten One fell with a golden arrow in his back, badly injured, and while both entities slumbered to heal their wounds, Fen'Harel chewed through his ropes and escaped."

Church/Cult

Dalish Pantheon