Lolth's appearance

[Dausuul]

Actually I really truly cannot take the 1e Lolth seriously, because it brings ~ link removed ~ to mind.

OW OW OW MY EYES.

*pokes eyes out with a fork, then goes stumbling blindly around apartment in search of brain-bleach*

Seriously, put some kind of warning on that link. Not just the standard "You must be 18 to enter" stuff. More along the lines of "You will never want sex again."

 

[Chainsaw]

Lolth by Jeff Russell - Fantasy art galleries at Epilogue.net - Fantasy and Sci-fi at their best

Kinda cool. You can do an unfunny human head on a spider, but it has to be some sort of distorted, twisted shape that is merely suggestive of a human head - it can't be something you'd see in women's shampoo commercial.

 

[Klaus]

Although the first pic is definitely a good render, driders were considered a punishment for failed worshipers thus it seems ignorant to depict Her as such - therefore I always pictured her natural form to be a shapely six-armed female drow with eight spider eyes set above a pair of fanged mandibles; creating an overall emotional response that seems "wrong" to mortal minds, driving lesser beings insane from the juxtaposition.

Reports of her "attractive" form are merely individuals who failed to notice the extra features hidden within her robe/hair when she choose to appear a normal mortal.

The "driders are failures" thing was reversed in 4E, where "driders are blessed".

 

[RangerWickett]

The full MM3 Lolth in humanoid form:

(Lolth clearly has an excellent personal trainer.)

As for her monstrous form, I'm glad the_orc_within posted the Sam Wood sketch of Lolth, because I'd forgotten how much I liked it.

 

[Alzrius]

I always preferred the spider-body-human-head Lolth because that form was supposed to be monstrous, and it was. Whether you accepted the interpretation that she was always a demon who became a goddess, or was originally a goddess who was banished and became a demon, that form is hideous enough that it makes perfect sense as her "natural" form.

Taking that stance, beautiful-drow-woman-Lolth was an illusion or alternate form she liked to adopt; it was how she wanted to appear, even though it wasn't her real appearance.

By contrast, I never liked drider-Lolth because (prior to 4E) driders were the failures among the drow, so it made no sense to picture their goddess having that form.

 

[Orius]

People heads on bugs just don't look cool in general, original 1e FF Lolth, the Fly, etc.

Taurics are generally much cooler images (drider, lamia, marilith, etc.)

Also, it lets her use weapons. Gives her more options in a fight.

I'm sure having more of a female body in the image influences preferences a bunch.

Translation: D&D nerds like Lolth with breasts.

I'll stick with drider-Lolth, because spider-boobs are hawt.

See what I mean?

Personally, I think I'd like to present her as having a natural drider form, but with the ability to change shape at will into spider and drow forms. She's a goddess, so that's not unreasonable.

 

[Tewligan]

Actually I really truly cannot take the 1e Lolth seriously, because it brings ~link removed~ to mind.

Dude, seriously?

 

[Hand of Evil]

Humanoid drow form but find the drider form cooler, it is just that driders are drow that fail in her eyes and I just don't see her making them more like her, so, why would she be one? No, she is a hot drow female that stands for everything the drow build their culture around.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Drider-isation as a punishment for failure doesn't make sense to me.

1) Spiders are sacred to Lolth. Becoming more like a spider would be seen as a boon.
2) Lolth is often depicted as part elf/part spider, like a drider.
3) Driders are more powerful than the average drow. In 3e, a drider gets a +4 or +6 bonus to every stat, which is pretty awesome.

 

[Dragonbait]

I always assumed that as a god her form was malleable.