Eye of Vecna

The Eye of Vecna is an artifact of great power in many campaign settings for the "Dungeons & Dragons" roleplaying game. Originating in the "World of Greyhawk" campaign setting, the Eye appears as a small red pebble or shriveled grape.

History

Once the left eye of the arch-lich, Vecna, the Eye, and its sister artifact, the Hand of Vecna, were all that remained of the lich-king after his battle with his renegade lieutenant, Kas the Bloody-Handed.

In the fifth century CY, both the Hand and the Eye fell into possession of a Shield Lands warlord known as Halmadar the Cruel, who terrorized the region from 420-455 CY. Halmadar was defeated only after being drugged and interred alive in a tomb in the Kron Hills.

In 581 CY, Halmadar escaped with the help of Vecna himself, who had by this time become a god, and sought to become even more powerful with the aid of the artifacts, which he reclaimed after destroying Halmadar. Vecna's plans were thwarted by adventurers, and the artifacts once more became separated from his body, vanishing into the Flanaess.

As of 596 CY, the Hand has resurfaced, but the Eye's whereabouts remain unknown.

Powers

The "Eye" is "used" by placing it into one's own empty eye socket—most would-be users must pluck out their own eye to "free up" the space. The Eye magically grafts itself into place and takes on the appearance of a shriveled eye, and glows with a foul crimson light. The user can see out of the Eye normally, and it grants an array of magical powers, such as the ability to see perfectly well in the dark or to see magical auras. Additional abilities become evident if the user also possesses the Hand of Vecna.

The abilities the Eye offered has varied with different editions of "Dungeons & Dragons". In AD&D 2nd Edition, the Eye gave the "wearer" the ability to see through all illusions, lay curses on others, dominate the will of those the user made eye contact with, and three other random divination abilities. In D&D 3E/3.5, the Eye granted the user the ability to see through illusions, see in any darkness, dominate the will of others, kill subjects with a gaze and disintegrate their remains, and unhallow areas.

In other media

In the CRPG "", the Eye makes an appearance in a curiosity shop in the city of Sigil.

In the television series "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy", the Eye of Vecna is one of the items Billy tosses out of Grim's trunk in the episode "The Crawling Niceness."

References

*Cook, David. "Book of Artifacts". (TSR, 1993).
**Cook, David. "Vecna Lives!" (TSR, 1990).

*Cook, Monte. "Vecna Reborn" (TSR, 1998).

*Cook, Monte, Skip Williams, and Jonathan Tweet. "Dungeon Master's Guide" (Wizards of the Coast, 1999).

*Cordell, Bruce, and Steve Miller. "Die, Vecna, Die!" (TSR, 2000).

*Gygax, Gary. "Dungeon Master's Guide" (TSR, 1979).

*Gygax, Gary, and Brian Blume. "Eldritch Wizardry" (TSR, 1976).

*Henson, Dale, and Doug Stewart, eds. ""Encyclopedia Magica] " Vol 2. (TSR, 1995).

*Holian, Gary, Erik Mona, Sean K Reynolds, and Frederick Weining. "Living Greyhawk Gazetteer" (Wizards of the Coast, 2000).

*Mona, Erik. "Ancient History: Vecna's Realm." [http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=220]

*Thorsson, Modi, and Kevin McCann. "" (Iron Hammer Graphics, 2002).

*Weiss, Samuel. "Grand Sheldomar Timeline, Part I." [http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=506]
**Weiss, Samuel. "The Yaheetes and Tyrus: The Wars Against the Hand and the Eye in the Sheldomar."
* [http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=733 The Yaheetes and Tyrus: The Wars Against the Hand and the Eye in the Sheldomar] from Canonfire.com
* [http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=398 "The Hand and Eye of Vecna"] by Samuel Weiss and Gary Holian