This essay offers a comprehensive exploration of alignment in Dungeons & Dragons. It examines what alignment is, its purpose in the game, its meaning, and how it shapes both characters and monsters on individual and social levels.

Roger Zelazny’s First Chronicles of Amber weaves intrigue, family rivalries, and multiversal adventure through five fast-paced novels. Though their direct influence on Dungeons & Dragons is minimal, the series’ mix of myth, modernity, and moral ambiguity shows how bold characters and imaginative settings can elevate fantasy storytelling—offering lasting inspiration for both players and game masters.

Most of the classic undead monsters in Dungeons & Dragons originate in mythology and folklore. Novice players, encountering the game for the first time, usually possess at least some knowledge of zombies, skeletons, ghosts, spectres, vampires, mummies, and other horrors drawn from countless books and films. But not every creature in the game has a folkloric basis.

This article explores the original sources that inspired one of the game's greatest antiheroes.