D&D Movie/TV Polygon: Who is Hugh Grant playing in the D&D movie, and is it secretly Dagult Neverember?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Who is Hugh Grant playing in the D&D movie, and is it secretly Dagult Neverember?​

One of the movie’s most interesting elements might be Hugh Grant’s character — both who he is and who he isn’t. According to IMDB, he’s “The Rogue.” According to promotional materials for the film, he’s Forge Fitzwilliam, the human Lord of Neverwinter. But Realms lore already has a Lord of Neverwinter, who isn’t named Forge Fitzwilliam. The Lord of Neverwinter is a character with a long, rich history. So why isn’t Hugh Grant playing Dagult Neverember?

The city of Neverwinter glimpsed in the Honor Among Thieves trailer is instantly recognizable to anyone who has been playing in the city at any point since 2011, whether in the tabletop game or the MMO. Lord Neverember is a character who has been inextricably part of the city’s story for 11 years now. So why set the movie there, then replace one of the setting’s core characters with someone else? Especially when Fitzwilliam and Neverember are so similar: Both are former adventurers with shady pasts who amassed great wealth and used it to buy their way into positions of power. Why start from scratch when there is a character who has been familiar to players for more than a decade?

What if Forge Fitzwilliam not only bought his way into politics, but into a whole new identity? We know Dagult Neverember puts a lot of weight on his image, and it’s also been hinted in the past that his claimed connections to the royal line of Neverwinter are false. What if Dagult is an entirely invented identity to cover up his past as Forge? Or perhaps Dagult Neverember is his real self, and Forge Fitzwilliam was the fake. I mean, the name Forge is a little on the nose, isn’t it? Either way, this would fit Forge’s description as a con man and provide the movie with a nice little plot twist.

I've got no dog in this fight, but it does seem interesting that the movie would great a character so similar to an existing one, especially when the existing one doesn't have any obvious radioactive elements that WotC would rather bury somewhere.

 

[Stormonu]

What timeframe is the movie set in? I mean, stretching back to the Spellplague it's been what, a hundred years?

My guess is he's actually Mirt

 

[Umbran]

Yeah, presumably the Lord of Neverwinter isn't immortal - several people have held the position over time.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Guess we will have to wait for details.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Whoever it is will be charmingly befuddled and accidentally fall in love with a woman who is quirky in a milquetoast kind of way.

 

[pukunui]

Perhaps Neverember got deposed after the Dragon Heist scandal was exposed and Hugh Grant's character is his replacement.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

The Alagondar line who held the crown for most of the city's modern history disappeared in 1451 when the city was destroyed by Mageara the Hot-Pocket Titan.

Neverember came under the pretense to pacify and rebuild the city who was the shadow of itself in 1467.

The city in the trailer does not look like a ravaged city.

So it would seem he's a new lord from the most up-to-date lore, or he's a lord from way before the Alagondar, somewhen around the Orcgate and the whole magic war between Thay and Neverwinter.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Whoever it is will be charmingly befuddled and accidentally fall in love with a woman who is quirky in a milquetoast kind of way.

It would be amazing if there was a secret Julia Roberts cameo as the charming shopowner who wins his heart.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Mageara the Hot-Pocket Titan.

Is Mageara a ham and Swiss Hot Pocket? Those things are like lava when they come out of the microwave.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Is Mageara a ham and Swiss Hot Pocket? Those things are like lava when they come out of the microwave.

It burnt the palate of thousands of civilians on that tragic day!