Description: A five headed dragon, with one head for each of the Chromatic Dragons (Red, Blue, Green, Black, White). Her tail ends in a stinger.
Myth: Tiamat is the daughter of Io, sister to Bahamut. The exact details vary from edition. In earlier versions Io made them both with the intention of them being mates. Tiamat, being evil, instead killed her elder sibling Vorel and tried to frame Bahamut for it.
Some stories place her as the originator of Kobolds, with the Kobold deity
Kurtulmak
hatching from one of her eggs.
In the 4e her origin was changed. Now she and Bahamut were born from the split corpse of Io, after the dragon God fell in battle.
Facts:
Tiamat is named for the
Mesopotamian
goddess, though she bears little to no similarities to this deity.
Takhisis is Tiamat’s counterpart in Dragonlance. Whether or not they are one in the same varies.
In Pathfinder the story more closely resembles Mesopotamian myth, with Tiamat and her mate Apsu being the parents of the gods and dragons. However in this version Tiamat plays little part as the antagonist, with instead her son Dahak acting as the antagonist. Apsu fills in for Bahamut/Paladine.
Tiamat’s domains are:
Destruction, Dragon, Evil, Greed, Hatred, Law, Scalykind, Trickery, Tyranny. Her portfolio includes evil reptiles and evil dragons.