Who Is Xenk Yendar in ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’?

While we often look at different fantasy-adventure storylines to be composed of characters that have seemingly figured life out already, you can’t say the same about the characters of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves because the questing party is as dysfunctional as it can get. Nevertheless, there is somewhat of an exception because Xenk Yendar seems to be the perfect ally. So, who is Xenk Yendar?

Xenk Yendar is a human paladin that comes from the mysterious land of Thay. He was a victim of the beckoning spell of Szass Tam over a century ago and could barely escape with his life. As such, he went on to live a long life and decided to become a paladin and a Harper to help the common people.

The thing about Xenk is that he seems a bit too perfect to be around a dysfunctional group that Edgin led. Of course, while he had a big role in the movie, he wasn’t exactly one of the main characters that ended up completing the heist of Castle Never and defeating Sofina. So, with that said, let’s take a look at who Xenk Yendar is.

Xenk Yendar’s Background Explained

It isn’t a secret that the storyline of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves involved a quest led by Edgin to steal from the vault of Forge, recover his daughter from him, and bring him down from his position of power after he betrayed him two years ago. Of course, Edgin needed the help of three other adventurers who also wanted to bring the Lord of Neverwinter down. These included Holga, Simon, and Doric. But one other adventurer joined them temporarily when they needed his help. We are talking about Xenk Yendar.

Before he joined the questing party of Edgin, Xenk spent his adult life as a paladin that helped the common people by healing them, giving them money, and serving them as a hero. In a sense, he was a selfless man who worked for the common good and was even a member of the Harpers Guild, a network of spies that worked to bring down evildoers. But he didn’t have the best background.

Xenk once lived in the mysterious country of Thay, which had become overrun by Red Wizards that used their dark and evil magic for nefarious purposes. More than a hundred years ago, the Red Wizards invited Xenk and the people of Thay for a celebration, only for them to be fooled by Szass Tam, who wanted to enslave the Thayans as undead soldiers. He casted a beckoning spell that turned almost everyone within its range into undead zombies.

However, thanks to a stroke of luck, Xenk was able to escape the effects of the magic but was still a victim of it in one way. He started aging slowly after losing a part of himself to the spell. As such, he went on to live the next century as a man that looked like he was still in his early 30s but was actually more than a hundred years old.

After surviving that event, Xenk dedicated his life to helping the common people and became a paladin that worked for the greater good of everyone in the land. That was why he joined the Harpers Guild, the same organization Edgin joined years before the events of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

What Happened to Xenk?

During the events of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Edgin, and his allies decided to go on a quest to search for the Helmet of Disjunction, which was the only artifact that could dispel the enchantment on Forge’s vault in Castle Never. They needed to talk to Holga’s deceased ancestors, who took part in the Battle of the Evermoors more than a hundred years ago because they were the last to see the legendary helm.

Edgin and his allies found out that Ven Salafin, the last Elk Tribe member to hold the helmet, gave it to a Thayan named Xenk Yendar, who found him when he was dying from his wounds. While Edgin didn’t believe that Xenk existed, the others told him they had heard tales of his legendary pursuits. And while Edgin had no love for Thayans because the Red Wizards that killed his wife were from Thay, he decided to search for Xenk because he was their only hope.

Xenk was operating in Mornbryn’s Shield on the River Surbrin when Edgin and the others found him. At first, he didn’t want to give them the Helmet of Disjunction due to how dangerous it could be in the hands of the wrong person. But when he learned that the Red Wizards were involved (due to Sofina being one) and after Edgin swore that he would give the riches from Forge’s vault to the people, he agreed to help the questing party.

After that, Xenk took Edgin and the others to the Underdark, a place that was so dangerous that it was the only place he deemed safe enough to hide the helm from the wrong people. Due to the dysfunctional nature of the questing party, the bridge that was supposed to take them to the helm got destroyed. Luckily, Simon redeemed himself by discovering that Holga’s walking stick was actually a Hither-Tither Staff that could create two connected portals. They used the staff to get to the location of the Helmet of Disjunction.

However, the Thayan assassins Sofina sent after them appeared out of nowhere. Xenk, in what was one of the coolest moments of the movie, took down all of the assassins on his own before telling Edgin and the others to leave right away because the Thayan assassins were going to reanimate as a result of being undead.

The situation changed when the red dragon and obese dragon, Themberchaud, appeared far from his natural home. He chased after the Thayans and the adventurers and successfully devoured the assassins before turning his attention to Edgin and his friends. Xenk stabbed the dragon on its head to rescue Edgin from being devoured by the obese reptile. However, the dragon survived the attack and cornered the heroes.

Edgin devised a plan that involved using Themberchaud’s ability to spark flames to get them out of the situation after he noticed that they were in a cavern that led to the sea. He told Simon to use his candle spell to light a spark that created a massive explosion that allowed Edgin and the others to leave the Underdark through the Sea of Swords.

After washing up on the beach together with his newfound friends, Xenk bid his farewells to Edgin and the others. Edgin had developed a newfound respect for this Thayan as he urged him to join them in their quest to bring Forge down because he was basically better than everyone else in the party at almost everything. Nevertheless, Xenk refused the offer because this quest was not his, and that was when he parted ways from Edgin, Holga, Simon, and Doric.

Near the movie’s end and after Forge and Sofina were defeated, the former Lord of Nevermore was seen running in the woods close to the city. He stumbled and started crawling, only for him to see Xenk approaching. Because Forge ended up in prison, we can make the assumption that Xenk was the one who made the arrest and gave him up to the authorities.