D&D General Everything we Know about Vecna in Fifth Edition

[Parmandur]

Putting this bit out here that I pulled from the FR Wiki, from an old Ecology of the Spell Weavers" Dragon article by Erik Mona, interesting to consider thar the nodes mentioned may ne the obelisks thar Vecna is involved with:

"Others believed that the spellweavers discovered that at the beginning of things, all planes and worlds were united in a single, balanced reality—before being broken by the whims of the gods. Proponents of this theory thought that the weavers tried to return reality in this balanced state, by building nodes as "anchors" of sorts to bring the planes back together. But the power of "infinite infinities" being merged back together was too great, and the procedure failed with terrible consequences."

 

[Shardstone]

Sure. But people are suggesting it is part of a grand plan that started in 2014, when that is obviously not the case.

NOt a grand plan, but now he is firmly 5E's big antagonist.

 

[Reynard]

NOt a grand plan, but now he is firmly 5E's big antagonist.

Of course. But some folks seem to be adamant that this all intentionally started in 2014 and there is no evidence for that.

 

[Parmandur]

NOt a grand plan, but now he is firmly 5E's big antagonist.

I blame Critical Role and Stranger Things.

 

[Shardstone]

Of course. But some folks seem to be adamant that this all intentionally started in 2014 and there is no evidence for that.

In certain temporal models of our reality, it's possible that retroactively Vecna as 5E's bbeg was always the intention.

 

[Nikosandros]

I blame Critical Role and Stranger Things.

2024 Vecna traveled back in time and made Mercer and the Duffers brothers foreshadow his future self. He's a subtle and sneaky bastard...

 

[Clint_L]

2024 Vecna traveled back in time and made Mercer and the Duffers brothers foreshadow his future self. He's a subtle and sneaky bastard...

Classic Vecna.

 

[vecna00]

Just as a side point about this, the multiverse ideas of the First World and Echo variants of characters introduced and expanded in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons and Bigby's Giants probsvly applies to Vecna as well: just as the Great Wyrms are muktiverse aware beings that tie in variants of themselves, I would expect the same of Vecna and his echoes across the Multiverse.

To piggy back onto this, that's a possible reason as to why there are differences in some of the stories. Each echo of Vecna may have come about differently.

Another possibility is his use of the Obelisks and other time magic to change things up in the hopes of having a much better final outcome for his plans.

An idea I had, the whispers that Vecna heard are just other echoes of himself or even his future self trying to nudge him along a particular path. Doctor Strange saw 14 million possible timelines and only one had Thanos defeated. I would not be surprised if Vecna is just taking his time exploring all of the possibilities in order to cultivate everything to perfection.

This isn't the first time he's done this, and it probably won't be his last!

 

[Echohawk]

An idea I had, the whispers that Vecna heard are just other echoes of himself or even his future self trying to nudge him along a particular path. Doctor Strange saw 14 million possible timelines and only one had Thanos defeated. I would not be surprised if Vecna is just taking his time exploring all of the possibilities in order to cultivate everything to perfection.

I think the mention of the voice in Vecna's head in The Vecna Dossier was probably intended to be a call-back to his relationship with the Serpent in second edition.

I do like your theory of it instead being future Vecna, but that requires some consideration of why future Vecna would persuade Kas to betray past Vecna. Perhaps future Vecna knows that past Vecna can only ascend to godhood if sufficiently motivated by Kas's betrayal?

Of course, in general, any discrepancies in Vecna's known history are easily explained away by the fact that Vecna is the god of secrets. He's unlikely to want his true history known to the world at large and quite capable of spreading numerous incorrect stories about his own past.

 

[vecna00]

I think the mention of the voice in Vecna's head in The Vecna Dossier was probably intended to be a call-back to his relationship with the Serpent in second edition.

I do like your theory of it instead being future Vecna, but that requires some consideration of why future Vecna would persuade Kas to betray past Vecna. Perhaps future Vecna knows that past Vecna can only ascend to godhood if sufficiently motivated by Kas's betrayal?

Of course, in general, any discrepancies in Vecna's known history are easily explained away by the fact that Vecna is the god of secrets. He's unlikely to want his true history known to the world at large and quite capable of spreading numerous incorrect stories about his own past.

I'm of two minds of future Vecna persuading Kas to betray past Vecna.

The first being that it's the catalyst that moves things forward. It's their version of Thanos "winning" at the end of Infinity War in order for the Avengers to get the win in Endgame. It may not be the best comparison, but it's the first one that comes to mind.

The second is the idea that the betrayal is like a fixed point in time that can't be adjusted. That betrayal always happens and it needs to happen. Some outside force may actually be preventing it from not happening, but I wouldn't be surprised if Vecna is always ensuring that it happens because he becomes greater because of it.