Editor’s Note: The following contains full spoilers for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.InDungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, our heroes come face-to-face with many fearsome foes, but none are quite as fear-inducing as the dreadedRed Wizards of Thayand their shadowy undead leader, Szass Tam (Ian Hanmore).
Every blockbuster franchise has its “big bad,” a final boss of sorts that is the one villain that all the other villains below them fear.Star Warshas Emperor Palpatine,The Lord of the Ringshas Sauron,Harry Potterhas Voldemort, and so on and so forth. In the case of theDungeons & Dragonsfranchise, there have been many sinister and powerful forces who’ve tormented the Forgotten Realms over the years, but easily one of the most iconic is Szass Tam, the lich master of the undead. A man who looks like he’s died more times than he’s lived, Szass Tam is a master manipulator and has legendary prowess over the dark arts.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thievesoffers only the briefest of glimpses of Szass Tam, but he certainly makes the most out of his limited screen time. Within only minutes, we see Tam turn his horde of disciples into his unwilling undead slaves, as well as literally work from the shadows to conquer the kingdom of Neverwinter through his disciple, Sofina (Daisy Head). The film’s unlikely heroes are ultimately able to thwart Sofina and save the realm, going back to live their lives and prepare their next adventure. At least, that’s the case for now, as Sofina’s master is still out there, likely plotting his next move to turn the innocent citizens of the Forgotten Realms into his fiercely loyal undead thralls.
ShouldDungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thievesget a sequel, it’s likely that we have not seen the last of Szass Tam and his Thayan followers. To make sure you’re totally prepared for the lich lord’s potential return, here is everything you need to know about Szass Tam.
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Who Is Szass Tam in ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Lore?
For as long as we’ve known Szass Tam inDungeons & Dragonslore, he’s always had an obsession with the occult. In many ways, he’s the perfect villain for the protagonists ofHonor Among Thieves, as his early days involved the hiring of rogues and adventurers to procure all manner of magical artifacts, using every single one of them to further his knowledge of unspeakable forms of magic. He hopes to procure this vast array of knowledge at any cost, even if it means testing his arcane abilities on his various allies. Tam even went as far as to murder his own mentor just so he could steal an artifact from him. In one of the earliest examples of Tam’s proclivity to turn both his allies and foes into his undead minions, Tam turned his now-deceased mentor into his private butler of sorts, roaming the halls of the dark wizard’s humble abode and carrying out various mundane tasks.
Though he may not have been a founding member, Szass Tam’s dark deeds quickly garnered the attention of the Red Wizards of Thay — the reclusive sect of dark sorcerers who have quickly generated a solid level of infamy among the various kingdoms of theDungeons & Dragonsuniverse. The Red Wizards were historically led by the Council of Zulkirs, made up of eight immensely powerful sorcerers that specialize in one of the eight major forms of magic. The forms include Invocation, Alteration, Divination, Illusion, Enchantment, Abjuration, Conjuration, and most feared of all, Necromancy. As you’ve probably already guessed, the position of Zulkir of Necromancy very much interested Szass Tam. The only problem was that the position was already occupied by a vampiric Zulkir by the name of Nyressa Flass. This proved to be a minor speed bump as Tam came up with the simple solution of murdering Flass, and thus became the new Zulkir of Necromancy.
Shortly after his ascension to the highest position of the Red Wizards of Thay, Szass Tam willingly became a lich. A lich is arguably the most powerful form of undead in theDungeons & Dragonsuniverse, maintaining all the sentience and intelligence of their host with the durability and immortality of the undead. From that point on, Tam maintained his position for much ofDungeons & Dragonshistory, being the ultimate authority on all things outside the living. Under his rule, the Red Wizards spread chaos throughout the Forgotten Realms, but that chaos also trickled into the organization itself. Various members of the Red Wizards felt that they should have complete power over the group, and Szass Tam was one of them. Thus, a game of manipulation and unlikely alliances began, until Tam was able to betray his fellow Zulkirs and become the High Regent of the Red Wizards. Since seizing power, Tam has become one of the tabletop role-playing game’s most legendary foes. There’s even an entire campaign dedicated to Tam’s demise titledDungeons & Dragons:The Death of Szass Tam, but killing a lich is much easier said than done.
What is Szass Tam’s Role in ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’?
We get to see Szass Tam’s historic betrayal in live-action during a few flashback sequences inDungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and it’s even more horrifying than fans could have possibly imagined. As explained by Paladin Xenk (Regé-Jean Page), Szass Tam interrupted a routine ritual and used an ancient artifact to summon an extremely powerful spell known as “The Beckoning Death.” The Beckoning Death manifests itself as a cloud of red smoke, suffocating and killing everyone it touches before transforming them into an undead army.
We also see Tam having a meeting with Sofina, who keeps her identity as an undead Red Wizard hidden through magic, but Tam clearly has no need to hide his true form, though his decrepit zombified appearance still remains cloaked in shadow in his meeting with Sofina. Presumably, Sofina is killed by Doric (Sophia Lillis), but Szass Tam never faces the heroes, though most definitely has learned of this ragtag band of thieves.
At the time of this writing, no sequel has been confirmed yet forDungeons & Dragons: Among Thieves. That being said, Szass Tam’s survival is an almost direct tease that we haven’t seen the last of him or the Red Wizards of Thay. Should this storyline continue, we will almost certainly see Szass Tam again.
