Gruumsh - also known as Gruumsh One-Eye - is the fictional chief deity of orcs in the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing game in many derived campaign settings, including the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk settings.

The following information covers Gruumsh's representations in those two campaign settings.

A figurehead of fury and driven cruelty, Gruumsh rules his pantheon out of sheer brute power. God of orcs, conquest, survival, strength, and territory, Gruumsh is the husband of Luthic and father of Bahgtru . As orcs that are not clerics or adepts are forbidden to speak his name, he is also known as "One-Eye" or "The One-Eyed God", "He-Who-Never-Sleeps", and "He-Who-Watches".

Gruumsh is a Chaotic Evil Greater Power . His symbol is an empty eye socket, or (in the Forgotten Realms) his missing unwinking eye. Gruumsh's divine realm is in Acheron in the Greyhawk and Planescape cosmologies, and is the Iron Fortress in Nishrek in the Forgotten Realms cosmology; his Third Edition D&D domains are Chaos, Evil, Strength, and War (and Cavern, Hatred, and Orc in the Forgotten Realms); and his favored weapon is the spear.

History

In the time before the worlds of Dungeons and Dragons (Oerth or Toril) began, Gruumsh had two eyes but lost one in a fight with the chief elf god Corellon Larethian. Gruumsh meant to paralyze Corellon with his magical spear, this attack failed and initiated an epic battle. During the course of this battle Gruush injured Corellon and from the blood shed the elven people were created. Corellon ended the fight by putting out Gruumsh's left eye. This is how Gruumsh earned his moniker "One-Eye". Some Orcish clerics deny this tale, dismissing it as elven propaganda, and claim that Gruumsh always had one eye.

Gruumsh created the orcs in his image to be his servants in the world but was cheated out of a land for his people by the other gods as creator Gary Gygax told in Unearthed Arcana :

In the beginning all the gods met and drew lots for the parts of the world in which their representative races would dwell. The human gods drew the lot that allowed humans to dwell where they pleased, in any environment. The elven gods drew the green forests, the dwarven deities drew the high mountains, the gnomish gods the rocky, sunlit hills, and the halfling gods picked the lot that gave them the fields and meadows. Then the assembled gods turned to the orcish gods and laughed loud and long. "All the lots are taken!" they said tauntingly. "Where will your people dwell, One-Eye? There is no place left!"

There was silence upon the world then, as Gruumsh One-Eye lifted his great iron spear and stretched it over the world. The shaft blotted the sun over a great part of the lands as he spoke: "No! You Lie! You have rigged the drawing of the lots, hoping to cheat me and my followers. But One-Eye never sleeps. One-Eye sees all. there is a place for orcs to dwell... here!", he bellowed, and his spear pierced the mountains, opening a mighty rift and chasms. "And here!", and the spearhead split the hills and made them shake and covered them in dust. "And here!", and the black spear gouged the meadows and made them bare.

"There!" roared He-Who-Watches triumphantly, and his voice carried to the ends of the world. "There is where the orcs shall dwell! There they will survive, and multiply, and grow stronger, and a day will come when they cover the world, and they will slay all of your collective peoples! Orcs shall inherit the world you sought to cheat me of!"

Relationships

Gruumsh considers himself supreme, and considers every non-orc his enemy, holding special enmity for some. Gruumsh hates Corellon with a passion of otherworldly proportions. He spreads this hatred to all the elven pantheon, especially Sehanine Moonbow , who fooled the orc god many times to protect Corellon and her other family. Gruumsh also loathes Moradin and the dwarf pantheon.

In his own pantheon, Gruumsh rules over all the other gods (although Shargaas and Yurtrus bear him little real loyalty beside that made from fear), and has his orders carried out through his lieutenant Ilneval .

Forgotten Realms

Gruumsh once had an alliance with the conniving elven goddess Araushnee, to bring down the gods of the elves once and for all. His plan failed though, despite a divine force brought against the elven gods consisting of the Seldarine 's enemies in all the goblinoid and elf-hating pantheons, and Araushnee was transformed into Lolth. The two deities have ever since been great foes, though Gruumsh's alliance with another assisting deity - Malar - has not been so badly corrupted.

Gruumsh shares his home in the Iron Fortress with his son Bahgtru and his lieutenant Ilneval.