Shar (Forgotten Realms)
| Game background | |
|---|---|
| Title(s) | Mistress of the Night, Nightsinger, Lady of Loss |
| Home plane | 2E: Palace of Loss (Gray Waste) 3E: Palace of Loss (Plane of Shadow) 4E:Towers of Night |
| Power level | Greater |
| Alignment | Neutral Evil |
| Portfolio | Dark, night, loss, forgetfulness, unrevealed secrets, caverns, dungeons, and the Underdark |
| Domains | Cavern, Darkness, Evil, Knowledge, Envy, Pride, Night |
| Superior | Lord Ao |
| Design details | |
Shar (/ˈʃɑːr/ SHAHR), also known as Mistress of the Night, Nightsinger, Lady of Loss, or The Darkness, is a fictional deity in the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms campaign setting. She is the evil counterpart to her twin sister Selûne, and presides over caverns, dark, dungeons, forgetfulness, loss, night, secrets, and the Underdark. Shar is an ancient goddess, formed together with her sister at the beginning of time, out of the empty nothingness that existed before gods or mortals. Among her array of twisted powers is the ability to see everything that lies or happens in the dark.
Shar is a Neutral Evil Greater Power whose symbol is a black disk with a deep purple border. Her divine realm in 2nd edition was the Palace of Loss on the Gray Waste; in 3rd edition the Palace of Loss was in the Plane of Shadow, and in 4th edition her realm is the Towers of Night.
Ed Greenwood created Shar for his home Dungeons & Dragons game, set in Greenwood's Forgotten Realms world.
Shar first appeared within Dungeons & Dragons as one of the deities featured in Ed Greenwood's article "Down-to-earth Divinity" in Dragon #54 (October 1981). Shar was introduced as Mistress of the Night, The Lady of Loss, goddess of darkness, night, loss, and forgetfulness; she is a neutral evil greater goddess from the plane of Hades. According to this article, Shar "is said to be darkly beautiful. She is often worshipped by those made bitter by the loss of a loved one; in her dark embrace all forget, and although they forever feel loss, they become used to such pain until they consider it the usual and natural state of existence. Shar battles continually with Selune, slaying her often (i.e., every new moon), and is worshipped (or paid lip service by) all surface-dwelling beings who dislike light. Those who make or take disguises worship Leira, but those who seek only to hide or bury something pay homage to Shar." Shar is described as one of “The Dark Gods” of evil alignment: "Shar is allied with Myrkul." Shar is commonly worshipped by neutral evil thieves and clerics.
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