Pronoun for Demogorgon?

Loremaster

Demogorgon makes a short appearance in ToB. What would be a proper pronoun to use for Demogorgon?

He (him)? … She (her)?... It?... They?

Demogorgon is called the “prince of demons”, so that points to him. But this is a title and not really related to the one posessing it. Demogorgon is a dual-personality creature, so is a pronoun in the singular then the best?

By the way, what's the story behind Demogorgons twin heads?

jmerry

All creatures have a gender field in these games. For Demogorgon, that's NIETHER. So I'll go with "they", as an appropriate pronoun for a sapient being of indeterminate gender.

Khyron

As you said.. Prince of Demons, not Princess.
I realize that "Prince" could be a genderless title, but in my head it points to him as pronoun because there is nothing to indicate that it is a genderless title in this particular case.

Maybe I'm simple like that, but I call things as I see them. He is titled with a predominantly male title - it is reasonable to assume he is male.

Acifer

In all D&D sourcebooks Demogorgon is referred to as male = He/ him.
His heads are named Aameul (left head) and Hethradiah (right head) and seem to be the cause of his madness since both heads are constantly struggling with each other.

Loremaster

Thanks!
So, according to D&D lore it's he/him. But what's the story behind his heads? Is there a story by the way, or is he just that way?

Zaxares

According to the Hordes of the Abyss 3.5 supplement, Demogorgon is supposedly the very first tanar'ri to have ever been incarnated in the Abyss from a mortal soul. Even back then he had two heads, so it's something that was with him from the very beginning. (Why exactly still remains a mystery; perhaps in his mortal life, Demogorgon had a split personality. Or perhaps he was a conjoined twin? Or maybe he was a lycanthrope or some other shapeshifter and his dual personalities represent his human and animalistic aspects. This was probably kept intentionally vague to allow individual DMs to come up with their own explanation.)

As to whether he truly has a gender, it's unclear. If you've ever interacted with him, Demogorgon is mad, barking insane by any definition of the term, so we don't really know for certain if he truly identifies as male. (Compare this to Graz'zt, one of his demon lord archrivals, who most definitely identifies as male.) He HAS spawned offspring with various creatures (with mortals, and with other demons and outsiders) over the long millennia that he has existed, but like other Outsiders, tanar'ri can spawn with practically any creature or gender they wish; it is of little consequence for them (especially one of Demogorgon's power) to just spawn whatever genitals they want for the deed and vanish them afterwards when they are no longer needed.

Traditionally though, yes, in D&D sources Demogorgon is typically referred to with male pronouns.

Loremaster

Thanks @Zaxares

So, the story about his heads has been left vague in D&D lore. I've heard he was the first tanari to sprung forth from the abyss, but I've not heard anything about his heads; now I know. I assume, then that he has always been that way. Thanks!

sarevok57

Loremaster wrote: »

Thanks @Zaxares

So, the story about his heads has been left vague in D&D lore. I've heard he was the first tanari to sprung forth from the abyss, but I've not heard anything about his heads; now I know. I assume, then that he has always been that way. Thanks!

not only that, but the heads hate each other and are even trying to destroy one another, but the reason why they do not is because if one head destroys the other, then the other head dies with them, so demogorgon is always trying to find a way to become a single "entity" if you will

in fact, the two heads are always plotting against each other and foiling each others plans as well