#xanathar

Why does he have sexily lounging elf boys?

I ask because I cannot imagine a beholder being attracted to anything other than itself. Does he just understand Sexily Lounging Elf Boys to be a status symbol, and he wants anyone who visits to know he can afford Sexily Lounging Elf Boys?

Maybe I'm the asshole here for assuming. Maybe these boyfriends are master tacticians here to advise Xanathar, they happen to like wearing leather pants and no shirts and I should be less quick to reduce them to sex objects.

I don't care, I love it, this is all I can think of every time I see it:

This is the dust jacket I made for my Waterdeep Dragon Heist campaign book that I bound a while ago. I was inspired by old storybook and art nouveau illustrations for this one and wanted to give it a warm color palette with mostly reds, browns, and greens - which I thought would be perfect for the city of splendors.

As a DM, I had an inner conflict in me when I was preparing my WDDH module. Xanathar is described as hysterical and paranoid, he's also an eyeball with eyeballs, in other words - he's laughable. I wanted him to be threatening, menacing, posing as a Mafia Boss that he is, maybe not the most competent one, but quite capable to form a criminal guild and kill five other beholders threatening his authority (therefore the teardrops tats).

I drew this picture, and it was a great middle ground for me - the tattoos balanced his goofy identity but still gave off menacing vibes. The book and the hookah are traditionally depicted with him as well.

Jarlaxle

Gale

Xanathar

Tiamat (only one head)

The incredible, the powerful, the majestic, the smartest, the unique, the Xanathar!! Welcomes you to the City of Splendors, Waterdeep ✨

Will you be foolish enough to brave him? 🔆

I love all the antagonists of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, but Xanathar is maybe a tiny bit my favorite.

Process: