Do Tiamat's different heads have different personalities?

[OrganicGolem]

I can't find a whole lot of info on Tiamat in general.
I ask because I was thinking about making a custom creature (not a deity) that is a dragon with 5 heads of all 5 metallic colors, but then I was trying to decide on if it would have the personalities of 5 metallic dragons merged, or if it was one creature that just happened to look like it was the various metallic dragons.

[Gamer Girl]

Officially, I've never seen anything.

But I'd say they all have parts of the same personality. Like it's one brain, split into five parts. All five together make one mind, so they are not separate at all.


It's just me, but I hate the 'argue with yourself' thing they often do for multi head creatures.

[cfalcon]

While one would expect multiheaded creatures to have different personalities and be different entities (Ettins, two headed ogres), Tiamat is a goddess, and pretty clearly that's just the form she takes. AKA, I doubt she is multipartite, and is never discussed as being such.

[HalfDragonCube]

Ahh.. The well-loved 'Multiple Head Case' trope.

No. Just no. Five evil personalities stuck together with godlike powers is a bad idea.

[Tokuhara]

It would be fun however for her separate heads to have the separate personalities, since you could bargain with one of the heads, thus making a decent roleplay application

[Toofey]

The best would be the one head that in and of itself was neurotic and spent the whole time arguing with itself.

[HalfDragonCube]

The best would be the one head that in and of itself was neurotic and spent the whole time arguing with itself.

Surely they would all be like that to a certain extent?

[FMArthur]

Beats the hell out of talking to your bonded-for-life evil sisters.

[Lord Vampyre]

Hmm. I think I would suggest you watch the D&D cartoon series, they tend to show Tiamat quite a bit. For the most part though, she is more intent on killing Venger, the other evil god-like being in the series, than anything else.

[nyarlathotep]

I would recommend them being different in personality but not extremely so. They are all different facets of the same soul as it were and if they argue it would be a discussion rather than petty squabling, an outward manifestation of the decision making process.

[Bhaakon]

Just because the heads project different personalities doesn't mean that they're actually separate; just a ploy to keep whomever she's speaking to off balance (and possibly to entertain herself).

[AslanCross]

Tiamat is a single deity; it's never really been explained anywhere that her heads have different personalities. The five-headedness is likely just a representation of how evil usually thinks of itself, but here they're forced to work together. (As opposed to the single-headed Bahamut; wherein good, despite having its differences among its members, still tends to work together.) But all that may be reading into the fluff too much. That's just my interpretation.

I don't think Tiamat was represented as a multi-headed dragon in the original Babylonian myth, anyway, and she was originally the personification of chaos, not of lawful evil. I'm pretty sure the multi-headed dragon appearance was a purely D&D invention.

[lightningcat]

I've always thought of each of her heads having different facets of her personality, rather then actually having different personalities.

[Thurbane]

I know in the old D&D cartoon all her voices usually spoke in concert, implying that they were all of "one mind" so to speak...

[Blisstake]

Wait, wait, wait.

...There was a D&D cartoon?

[olentu]

Wait, wait, wait.

...There was a D&D cartoon?

Yes, they even made a rule book about it.

[NineThePuma]

I've always had Tiamat as one entity, but with some different bits of personality between each head. More in line with different preferences than differing personas, tho. They might argue, or debate, or discuss, but it rarely got venomous, and it was very... interesting, to me.

[AslanCross]

Wait, wait, wait.

...There was a D&D cartoon?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JjhQ1Oi_3k

It even has little references that appear in Baldur's Gate II---in the Adventurer's Mart in Athkatla, there are a couple of "paintings" at the back that show the characters. IIRC the caption says something like the paintings depicting an old story about a group of young adventurers who were taken from their world and ended up being eaten by Tiamat.

[Tiki Snakes]

I'm going to agree with the 'Tiamat is of one-mind' crowd. Though, I do like the idea of her playing along if some interesting morsel tries to out-wit her by playing one head off against the other.

Aside from the slightly ungainly animation, I do tend to take at least part of my mental image of Tiamat from the cartoon, too. :smallsmile:

[OrganicGolem]

Hmm. I think I would suggest you watch the D&D cartoon series, they tend to show Tiamat quite a bit. For the most part though, she is more intent on killing Venger, the other evil god-like being in the series, than anything else.

I watched that cartoon when it was on TV, loved every minute of it... but yeah, they portray Tiamat more as a monster than a goddess in that.

Getting back to the task at hand then, in making a non-deity five headed dragon, should the personalities be different (IE a prankster copper, a wise sage-like gold, etc) or just different incarnations of a single dragon?

[Caliphbubba]

I watched that cartoon when it was on TV, loved every minute of it... but yeah, they portray Tiamat more as a monster than a goddess in that.

Getting back to the task at hand then, in making a non-deity five headed dragon, should the personalities be different (IE a prankster copper, a wise sage-like gold, etc) or just different incarnations of a single dragon?

In my opinion it would depend on the origin of the creature. Was it born that way? If so, then one personality.

If 5 seperate dragons were somehow melded into one, then 5 personalities.

in my opinion the second one would be more fun :-)

[Axinian]

If 5 seperate dragons were somehow melded into one, then 5 personalities.

I smell SITCOM!

[OrganicGolem]

In my opinion it would depend on the origin of the creature. Was it born that way? If so, then one personality.

If 5 seperate dragons were somehow melded into one, then 5 personalities.

in my opinion the second one would be more fun :-)

I'm willing to go either way, I'm wondering which would be a better idea in people's opinions... I was inclined towards the second as well, mostly because I love the personalities of some of the metallic dragons

[Lord Vampyre]

I'm willing to go either way, I'm wondering which would be a better idea in people's opinions... I was inclined towards the second as well, mostly because I love the personalities of some of the metallic dragons

Separate personalities suits good-aligned dragons better than it does evil ones. Mainly because they are more likely to get along and not kill each other. Evil dragons however are more likely to eventually try to kill one another, unless they believe their own survival would be in question when doing so.

[Thurbane]

I smell SITCOM!
I'd watch, but only if the heads were Gary Busey, Randy Quaid, Andy ****, Tom Green and bobcat Goldthwait. I suppose they should be female, though...:smallbiggrin:

[Grommen]

Neither Tiamat or Takahahis <---spelled wrong I know) suffer from multipal personality disorders. Though that would be a hoot.

Now Demogorgon
This cat - His two heads are planning on offing each other even though they are pretty sure if they manage to kill the other; they both will die. Not that they don't keep trying :smallbiggrin: Demons.....gata love them.

They actually beat ole Tiamat down in the D&D cartoon. I think it was the the end of season 2 or something the like. Ended up letting her live though. I the Ranger said "If we kill her we'll be just like her. Were not like that."

Personally.....I would have stuffed that flamen bow up her tail and let fly.