by Richard Winterton

Created on: February 02, 2010

If Dungeons and Dragons is Satanic, then so is Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, the King Arthur Legends, and the Bible because Dungeons and Dragons takes from all of those sources. Although some demonic imagery is used in the construction of the D & D universe, it is only a portion. Anyone who denounces the rich pastiche of the D & D universe over an accusation of demonism is obviously not keeping a proper perspective, especially when D & D takes from such a rich history.

We will starts with Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. Known as perhaps the greatest unfinished epic poem in the English language, The Faerie Queene was meant as an extended allegory as well as a tribute to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.  The 6 completed books tell the stories of young knights embarking on quests, defeating monsters, rescuing maidens, and generally resisting the temptation of evil, all of which should sound incredibly familiar to anyone who is remotely familiar with Dungeons & Dragons. Much of this story’s themes, such as temperance, chastity and justice, are taken from Christianity. Yet D & D also borrow from Spenser’s poem in the idea of the Paladin, a holy warrior who strikes and evil and defend the innocent while taking strength from his faith.

The Arthur legends are another example of D & D’s pastiche. The idea of Knights as romance originated from these types of stories, as well as the idea of Wizard’s in medieval fantasy. Merlin of course fits this archetype; the solitary sage bestowing wisdom and magical aid to the knights of Arthur’s court. Other factors, such as the Quest for the Grail and the slaying of monsters, also show up in D & D in various forms, such an in Epic Tier quests and the like.

The Biblical connection to Dungeons and Dragons is actually the very subject many scorn D & D for: Demons. In the epic plot that the Bible chronicles, the subject of Fallen Angels and demonic forces tie in heavily.  The key to this, however, is that it is an overarching plot of good versus evil, chronicling thousands of years of a kind of holy and ideological war between two omnipotent forces. The evil side of this is, of course, Satan and the demons under his command. While a D & D campaign is not necessarily on the same scale as this, the system does provide a number of set pieces allowing for epic tales of good versus. evil as well. The various sourcebooks provide the history and backstory for Dungeons and Dragon’s, a backstory in which various omnipotent forces clash.

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