D&D 5E Grand Master of Flowers: Speculation on James Wyatt's October Book

[Paul Farquhar]

A search of FR wiki mentions "served by seven gold wyrms", which presumably can be identified with the seven yellow birds. This seems to first appear in the 2nd edition Draconomicon.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Even if, the card art itself doesn't show all seven canaries.

I count seven.

 

[Weiley31]

I count seven.

Checks again.....then again...th-oh wait: NOW I SEE IT!!

 

[Bolares]

Grandmaster of Flowers is also a Monk Epic Destiny in D&D Online, so the title is also part of Eberron.

I don't know if everything in DDO is an auto-include in Eberron's canon, Eberron's canon being more focused on sourcebooks and all that...

 

[Stormonu]

I'm looking for the image in question, does it seem like the mini in this Tweet is based off of what you are remembering?

That's close, but the artwork had him sitting, and if I remember correctly, laughing. And having a cane.

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

Well, his wandering persona is mentioned in thenPHB, MM, and DMG, I believe.

I vaguely recall seeing something in the 5e books, but it must not have seemed that important.

I've seen some mention of Bahamut taking on human form in the Forgotten Realms wiki, but I didn't recall a specific identity other than "old dude with seven canaries"... but to be fair I probably just didn't pay enough attention to that.

I only recall the Dragonlance one so vividly because I loved the original three Dragonlance books and had read them relatively early on in my D&D career. The earlier settings lore sunk in a lot more with me. I didn't actually even engage with Forgotten Realms stuff beyond what was covered in the SSI Gold Box games until much later on. I don't know why it just never caught on as much with me.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I was just doing a little reading and never realized that both D&D and the Final Fantasy video game series appropriated the name of Bahamut from Arabian mythology. Not the description, though, just the name, as it appears it is D&D that originates Bahamut as a dragon.

 

[Charlaquin]

A search of FR wiki mentions "served by seven gold wyrms", which presumably can be identified with the seven yellow birds. This seems to first appear in the 2nd edition Draconomicon.

Yes, the canaries are indeed polymorphed gold dragons.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I was just doing a little reading and never realized that both D&D and the Final Fantasy video game series appropriated the name of Bahamut from Arabian mythology. Not the description, though, just the name, as it appears it is D&D that originates Bahamut as a dragon.

Yeah, I believe Bahamut is a sea monster in Arabian mythology. I believe D&D is the first property to pick it up and use it as a Dragon God, and then Final Fantasy and other properties like Granblue picked it up from D&D that Bahamut is a Dragon God.

 

[Magister Ludorum]

"There are seven huge ancient gold dragons of highest abilities and loyalty who serve as guards, companions, and advisors to Bahamut. He seldom (10%) is without them. (A sage tells of encountering Bahamut in the guise of an old hermit, with seven canaries singing sweetly as they flitted nearby. The sage relates that he would never have known that he was anything other than what he appeared to be except that a group of ogres and trolls happened by much to their sorrow. . .)"

1e MM had him accompanied by sparrows.