Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is officially a hit, as the movie surpassed expectations to claim the No. spot. More than box office gold, however, is the acclaim that Honor Among Thieves is getting from fans who ventured out to see it. Audiences (including D&D hardcore fans and casual moviegoers alike) have enjoyed the movie for a wide variety of reasons, but one breakout star of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is no doubt Jarnathan the bird man!
OH, JARNATHAN!@LegacyEffects #DungeonsAndDragonsMovie pic.twitter.com/1vhgczPdyN
— John Francis Daley (@JohnFDaley) April 2, 2023
If you click the link on the tweet you can check out even more great looks at what went into creating the character of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves!
Videos by ComicBook.com
(SPOILERS FOLLOW!)
The opening sequence of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves sees the bard Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) and his barbarian friend Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez) are making their latest appeal to be pardoned and released from the hellish Revel’s End arctic prison. The appeal speech by Edgin also serves as the obligatory backstory exposition for both main characters – a flashback that is repeatedly interrupted by Edgin’s agitation that a particular member of the prison’s ruling Absolution Council – Jarnathan – is late for the appeal hearing.
When Jarnathan finally does arrive at the hearing, we quickly learn why Edgin and Holga wanted him there so badly: as an aarakocra Jarnathan is essentially an Eagle-man – a being perfectly suited to serving as a living hang glider for Edgin and Holga to push out of a high-rise window and ride to the frozen ground below as an escape route. Poor Jarnathan ends up knocked out and freaked – only to have the relive the same dire experience all over again at the end of the film. When Hugh Grant’s Forge Fitzwilliam ends up in the same prison that he put his former friends in at the end of the movie, he tries the exact same escape plan Edgin and Holga did, using Jarnathan – only to find out that Revel’s End prison has learned from its mistakes and boarded up the high-rise window to prevent any further escapes. Not that it does poor Jarnathan any good: he ends up with yet another injury from being slammed into a wall instead of a window.
As you can see in the video above, directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley worked with a top-notch team of visual and practical effects artists to truly make the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms world come alive onscreen in an immersive and real way. Jarnathan was just one example of a character whose “realness” really did translate better through practical effects and also helped create a kitschy ’80s/90s fantasy-adventure movie feel.
OH JARNATHAN!
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is now in theaters everywhere.
