What do we really know about the big guy?

A: He was especially made by Venger - he did call the thing his creation - to attack Tardos Keep and force the queen into using the prized herb Dragonbane, which he wanted to take out Tiamat once and for all.

B: Demodragon is the only dragon except for Tiamat and that yellow-green job from The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow that sported more than one head. One of them could blast the opponent with ice, the other with fire. DemoDragon was smart enough to alternate these breath-weapon blasts to destroy the gate of Tardos Keep.

C: DemoDragon had hooves, probably because of his mixed ancestry; half demon, half dragon, all horror. Another side-effect of this jolly fact was his fine crest of purple tentacles, which he used to snatch away the kids´ weapons. The third side-effect is DemoDragon´s horns - two on each head. I don´t recall seeing any other dragons that had horns.

D: DemoDragon didn´t like Venger any better than anyone else; as soon as he snagged the kids´ weapons, he used their power to break the spell of loyalty that bound him to Venger, and pulled a Tiamat on him. Venger once again had to run from an angry dragon with his name on its breath weapons.

E: Whereas Venger is a tyrant and Tiamat is like unto a force of nature, DemoDragon was fully committed to destruction. In Venger´s own words: 'If I do not find some way to stop him, he will destroy the whole Realm.' And old two-header was making a fine start of it when the kids attacked him... Not to mention the damage he did on his way to Tardos Keep.

DemoDragon´s sole appearance was in Treasure of Tardos, which I personally think is a shame. Venger created DemoDragon, as stated above, with the hopes of forcing the last Tardos defenders into using the treasure that he´d laid siege on them for in the first place.

We can only wonder how Venger managed to make a functional hybrid out of a Demon and a Dragon - we know from Dungeon at the Heart of Dawn that Venger is familiar with the underworld, possibly several underworlds, but Demons, according to folklore and myth, tend to be intractable to the extreme.

(We have Dungeon Master´s word for it that DemoDragon is a hybrid, if we couldn´t guess from his appearance and name.)

Still, perhaps Venger could use his connections with the Unnameable One to get what he needed. I think - I hope - that he used some sort of mix of genetic materials in a breeding vat or somesuch, and did not actually attempt to cross-breed. If he had tried, he´d probably have had a lot more trouble.

I´m still assuming here, but old hornhead probably used only the best materials he could get his hands on, both where Dragon and Demon are concerned, although he probably had to do a lot of work to get that Dragon sample. We all know how much luck he´s had with them...

Genetic experiments take a lot of time, so it´d no great surprise that it took Venger centuries to actually make his beastie, and that after he had to work up the plan, which probably didn´t surface until he finally got it into his stubborn head that neither his Orcs nor his spells could get into Tardos Keep.

I personally applaud Venger´s efforts to keep DemoDragon under control with a magical chain, and probably several other spells of obedience. Judging from Demo´s first appearance, Venger exerted the strictest control at all possible times.

And yet carting DemoDragon in from wherever he was spawned doesn´t seem to have helped his temper. Unless what happened to the forest and the river was a planned demonstration of power, or a test of DemoDragon´s control of his powers, I´m guessing the big boy had a temper tantrum on the way. He certainly seemed to be in a bad mood when he was finally released from the cart.

Of course the final proof of DemoDragon´s bad temper and dislike for his creator´s measures came when he did what none of Venger´s other servants ever fully succeeded in: he grabbed the Weapons of Power when the kids weren´t looking.

Adding their power to DemoDragon´s own - already a very volatile mix of primal natural force from the dragon side, and underworld evil from the demon side - gave two-head the edge he needed. He rebelled and attacked his creator, driving him away without too much difficulty and then proceeding to step on the Orcs.

True to his dual nature, as an evil and destructive force, DemoDragon proceeded to kill and destroy anything that came in sight, even mountains. With all of his powers enhanced, he had an easy go of it until the kids exploited his weak eyes - maybe an underworld trait? - and then polluting his body with dragonbane, destroying him utterly.

Once more, I think it´s a shame that DemoDragon made only one appearance in the series. It would have been interesting to see what happened as DemoDragon - without the Weapons of Power, of course - trumped his merry way through the Realm.

Would some sort of reason have finally settled into those two heads? What would have happened if DemoDragon had met Tiamat? Would even Venger have possibly felt guilt or remorse, or anything else, at the damage that the enraged monster wrought?

All such questions, however, are never to be answered except in fanfic. Just because a little unicorn got a wreath of pretty leaves and flowers to wear...