Difference between revisions of "Elvenking"

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==Origin==
 
==Origin==
The fact that Elvenkings can rarely generate with a crystal ball are derived from the ''[[Palantir|palantír]]'', a magical artifact from the setting of [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s Middle-earth novels - ''palantíri'' are indestructible crystal balls used for communicating and viewing past and future events in other parts of the realm, and were made by the Elves of Valinor in the First Age. Elves are the only player-usable race in the game that can ''naturally'' reach an [[Intelligence]] of 20, which allows crystal balls to be [[applied]] without any chance of failure.
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The rare possibility of Elvenkings generating with a crystal ball is an allusion to the ''[[Palantir|palantír]]'', a magical artifact from [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s Middle-earth novels. ''Palantíri'' are indestructible crystal balls used for communicating and viewing past and future events in other parts of the realm, and were made by the Elves of Valinor in the First Age. Elves are the only player-usable race in the game that can ''naturally'' reach an [[Intelligence]] of 20, which allows them to [[apply]] crystal balls with no chance of failure.
  
 
==Messages==
 
==Messages==

Revision as of 08:41, 22 November 2022

An Elvenking, @, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is the strongest of the elves, and like all elves have intrinsic sleep resistance. The Elvenking shares a colored glyph with the Wizard of Yendor.

Eating an Elvenking's corpse or tin have a 60% chance to grant sleep resistance, which is the second-most among elves.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

The Elvenking has been renamed to the elven monarch; female elven monarchs are called Elvenqueens.

Generation

Elvenkings can be generated with any type of elven equipment, and are eligible for offensive, defensive and miscellaneous items. They have a 23 chance to be generated with a pick-axe, and have a 150 chance of generating with a crystal ball.[1] Randomly generated Elvenkings may appear as peaceful towards chaotic human and elven players. Elf-lords can grow up into Elvenkings.

Outside of normal generation, Elvenkings can be found in throne rooms occupying the throne itself, and are more likely to be found in much deeper throne rooms within the dungeon; an Elvenking is guaranteed to appear on the Plane of Earth. Elvenkings are also eligible for the summon nasties monster spell.

Strategy

Elvenkings represent a nasty threat for an early game player that stumbles upon a throne room with one presiding over it - such a room can rarely appear as early as the fifth dungeon level, and throne room Elvenkings can deal surprising amounts of damage with the mace they are given. Furthermore, they will ignore Elbereth like most elves, requiring players to maintain a distance and pick them off with projectiles, spells or wands. In the latter half of the dungeon where Elvenkings are more typically encountered, you are more likely to be more prepared for one - the threat of later Elvenkings lies in the fact that monster spellcasters can summon them, and it is common to employ Elbereth to avoid being surrounded.

Elvenkings are solidly strong polyforms for non-elven players - they can wear all armor and have two weapon attacks that add +2d4 damage, thus allowing for a form of twoweaponing, and also set the player's strength to 18/** due to being strong. [2]

When dealing with the Wizard of Yendor, if he summons nasties, far look any @ that appear to ensure you are targeting Rodney himself and not an Elvenking; as it is common practice to zap the Wizard with a death ray at the first opportunity, it especially helps to make sure you don't squander a valuable charge on the wrong target.

The pick-axe from the Elvenking on the Plane of Earth can be used to navigate through the plane, but only consider this if there are little to no other options available; most players should have several wands of digging handy alongside a pick-axe or mattock of their own by the time they reach the Elemental Planes, and the minotaur that also appears will provide another wand.

History

The Elvenking first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.

Origin

The rare possibility of Elvenkings generating with a crystal ball is an allusion to the palantír, a magical artifact from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth novels. Palantíri are indestructible crystal balls used for communicating and viewing past and future events in other parts of the realm, and were made by the Elves of Valinor in the First Age. Elves are the only player-usable race in the game that can naturally reach an Intelligence of 20, which allows them to apply crystal balls with no chance of failure.

Messages

You feel very comfortable here.
You sat on a throne while polymorphed into an Elvenking or other "royal" monster.

Variants

GruntHack

In GruntHack, Elvenkings are replaced by the racial king and queen monsters, which can be elven.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, the monster is renamed to an elven monarch, with male monarchs called "elven kings" and female monarchs called "elven queens".

References