So Tasha's Cauldron of Everything releases next month... but do you know who Tasha is, and where she comes from in #dnd lore? Let's take a quick look at the woman responsible for causing hideous laughing across the multiverse.

First, it should be noted that Gary Gygax took inspiration from the Finnish epic "Kalevala", and specifically a character named Louhi, for Tasha.

Here's Louhi's wikipedia entry, and as you can see, she's influenced characters in Conan comic books, Final Fanstasy video games, and of course, D&D.

Louhi's kind of a nasty witch.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louhi 

Okay, so you'll see that she inspired a D&D character named Iggwilv, and not Tasha.

We'll get to that in a minute. But first, you should know that Tasha's Hideous Laughter was inspired by a letter Gygax received, written in crayon from a little girl asking for a laughing spell

Here's a transcript of Gygax telling the story in the old EnWorld forums.

Okay, so... let's go to 1982, and the campaign world of Greyhawk... Gygax releases a module named The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (ranked 22 best adventure of all time in 2004 by Dungeon).

In that module, the party can fight her daughter Dreinza, a "fighter/vampire" and guardian of Iggwilv's treasure.

Iggwilv is described as a "dead archmage".

Ok, so where's Tasha? Hold on.

Still in 1982... Dragon #67, Gygax published an article detailing new spells for AD&D. In it... Tasha's Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter appears for the first time.

That article, by the way, would introduce a TON of now iconic spells to the game.

It also didn't detail who Tasha was. Or Melf. Or Tenser. Or Evard.

Lets travel now to 1984 and Dragon Magazine and an article written by @Ambreville about magic books.

Bruce, maybe you can give us some Tasha insights?

There, we learn that Tasha is responsible for a few spells common to the game.

We get some fluff! She has a magic book :)

That was Dragon Mag 82, and in the next issue, 83, we get a "high level adventure" by venerable designer Roger Moore titled "The Dancing Hut". There, we meet "Natasha the Dark", an adopted human daughter of Baba Yaga who was influenced by the witch to take up her sorcery.

Now, there's nothing that links our Tasha to this Natasha, and it could very well be that it's just a Russian name that links back to Baba Yaga, and it's as simple as that. It's just worth mentioning as part of the deep dive into the character and a potential appearance.

I should add that I mean that there's nothing that links our Tasha to this Natasha as of that moment.

Anyway, 2e would include the hideous laughter spell as a core part of the game in the PHB. Tasha was here to stay.

Okay... so.... let's move on to 3e and tie this all together because it's getting late.

So toward the tail end of 3e, WOTC publishes an adventure titled Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk. It pits the PCs against the demigod Iuz the evil, who is....... the son of..... ....the demon lord Graz'zt and the evil archmage Iggwilv.

And this adventure basically specifically connects Iggwilv and Tasha as one and the same.

4e further cemented that connection... Dungeon 196 updated the Dancing Hut adventure and explicitely made Natasha and Iggwilv one and the same.

In 4e's Manual of the Planes she is briefly described as Graz'zt's sometimes ally and former lover.

So there you have it. Tasha... Natasha... Iggwilv.... all the same... mother of a half-fiend (and of a fighter-vampire).... lover of a demon lord, , and now an iconic villain in D&D.

Hope you enjoyed this thread. Good night!