Guild Wars 2

For me, they were one of the more iconic creatures of my GW1 experience. Particularly legendary Terrorweb Dryders, who fell many-a unprepared Underworld parties.

Weren’t Dryders from the Underworld? Since the UW is kind of closed off, I don’t think Dryders would be able to pass through the veil like Spectres and Aataxae since the seem to be corporeal.

I don’t think there’s anything in the lore that specifically states that Dryders were from the Underworld.

Alternatively, we could say they were from the Fissure of Woe, or the Northern Shiverpeaks for that matter.

250 years, may well have gone extinct in the few places they lived. Maybe the sudden changes of their homes brought them down because they could not adapt. Maybe norn went out and killed them all. You know… sort of the same reasons some real world creatures went extinct.
Can say they are at least extinct in the parts of the world we know about. There could still be some in other areas, getting by.

My guess is that they may have been uncomfortably close to the domain of a certain Wizard on the Coast.

Urthona.3198:

My guess is that they may have been uncomfortably close to the domain of a certain Wizard on the Coast.

…as in one letter away-close

1) Dryders are called demons and seem to originate from the Mists, though this isn’t outright said.

2) If you take note, we never actually go to where Dryders were in GW1. Who’s to say they aren’t still there? They were in the Far Shiverpeaks, around Anvil Rock, and on the Ring of Fire – as well as in the Mists (just about every place we could go – all Realms of the Gods, which we cannot access in GW2). Since the closest to these places we go to is Anvil Rock, which is still off the map, it’s not unlikely to believe they’re still in the world.

@Urthoa: If they originated with that company, you may hold something. But they didn’t. :P

Konig Des Todes.2086:

@Urthoa: If they originated with that company, you may hold something. But they didn’t. :P

Are you aware of some use of the term Drider for a spider monster that predates the 1980 Dungeons and Dragons module “Queen of the Demonweb Pits”, which apparently introduced the hybrid Drow (Dark Elf)/Spider Monsters to the world, and which is part of the overall D&D IP now owned by Wizards of the Coast?

Off the top of my head, no. But I’m fairly sure that dryders – like a vast majority of D&D lore – originates from an older mythos, even if not the exact same name or identity. Most Tolkien and D&D fantasy originates from norse mythos (incuding, yes, dark elves – though in the original norse mythology, dark elf and dwarf are one and the same), so my bet would be there.

Konig man, you need to chill out enjoy a joke now and then.

Even Anet gave props to Wizards in GW1. The boss ‘Selvetarm’ (who is a Dryder in GW1) is named after a Drow God.

I saw the Wizards comment as just that, a good natured joke for levity. Not everything on this board has to be super serial all the time.

To get back on topic, I do agree with you Konig when you say it’s really more a matter of we haven’t been to the places on the map where Dryders have been most populated. I’m sure they still exist in the Underworld considering how big a roll they played in that area, and I definitely wouldn’t be surprised to see if they were still on the Ring of Fire. But until such time, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Whoever said I wasn’t “chill”? I saw it as an intended joke too, doesn’t mean I cannot respond to it though.

Side note: I am now really wanting to see Icebrood Dryders, since the Shiverpeak ones seem to originate from the Far Shiverpeaks (those seen in the Northern Shiverpeaks were only in some of the northernmost reaches of said Northern Shiverpeaks, and would at best barely touch Frostgorge Sound’s western edge).

Then again, I feel as though the different kinds of Branded, Destroyers, and Icebrood are severely lacking (no Icebrood/Branded wurms? Or Icebrood/Branded grawl? Icebrood bats as seen in concept art? No branded harpies? And the branded elementals using normal elemental models is very saddening too. Not to mention how there’s only 3 destroyer models (excluding the one-use-only model for Destroyer of Worlds, couldn’t use that one instead of the Megadestroyer (aka big destroyer troll)?).

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Off the top of my head, no. But I’m fairly sure that dryders – like a vast majority of D&D lore – originates from an older mythos, even if not the exact same name or identity. Most Tolkien and D&D fantasy originates from norse mythos (incuding, yes, dark elves – though in the original norse mythology, dark elf and dwarf are one and the same), so my bet would be there.

Driders are pretty unique to DnD lore. If my inner nerd remembers correctly, each Drow has to pass some test by Lloth and those who fail are cursed to become half-Drow, half-spider monstrosities.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Off the top of my head, no. But I’m fairly sure that dryders – like a vast majority of D&D lore – originates from an older mythos, even if not the exact same name or identity. Most Tolkien and D&D fantasy originates from norse mythos (incuding, yes, dark elves – though in the original Norse mythology, dark elf and dwarf are one and the same), so my bet would be there.

You’re right about the heavy mythology influence in D&D as… Eh it’s mostly common knowledge among the great “nerd circle”.

While Drow are heavily inspired by the Norse mythology(While the name is an old Scottish dialect pronunciation of the the word Trow, or Troll). The Driders, as far as I can tell (Holding claims of originality with a grain of salt) are an original to the DND universe. The name Drider is obviously a combination of the words Drow and Spider.. which essentially is what they are.. Centaur like creatures. Drow from the waist up, spider from the waist down.

That aside, the spelling and the presented form of the Dryder are unique enough to avoid lawsuits. Besides, Wizards only gets mad when people copycat their Beholders or Mind Flayers which are generally renamed and changed up a bit into something stupid like Observer or Floating Eye to avoid threats(you know what I’m talking about). I’ve noticed that it only really occurs around these two creatures, as other Iconic DND beasties have been copy pasted into franchises with the same appearance and name, such as the Owlbear, without so much as a redesign or rename for years.