Wulfgar, son of Beornegar, is the barbarian hero of Icewind Dale in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, and one of the Companions of the Hall along with Drizzt Do'Urden, Catti-brie, Regis the halfling, and Bruenor Battlehammer. He is the creation of R.A. Salvatore.
Wulfgar was originally planned to be the protagonist of Salvatore's first novel series, The Icewind Dale Trilogy, which was initially to be set in the Moonshae Isles. As soon as the background was changed to Icewind Dale, Drizzt Do'Urden was invented as Wulfgar's sidekick, and succeeded him as the protagonist in following novels. Wulfgar returned to the major role in the novel The Spine of the World.
Appearance
As described in The Crystal Shard in almost medical terms, Wulfgar is roughly , blond-haired and blue-eyed (common for the barbarian tribes he hails from), and developed his awesomely muscled physique when he was in servitude to the dwarf Bruenor Battlehammer for five years—working alongside dwarves, who are renowned for being tireless. Wulfgar is broad-shouldered and thick-chested with a wiry waist, and his arms have been described as thicker than a fat dwarf's thighs. Despite his bulk, he's moderately graceful. He's also relatively young and has a boyish face, and eventually grew a beard. Tanja Monique Bruske-Guth sees Wulfgar's description in the novel as how the abstract attributes of a game character can be visualized and explained.
Wulfgar has incredible strength for even his barbarian race. For instance, Wulfgar once pulled the prow of an entire ship out of the water, and once lifted a three-hundred-pound man with one arm, and then threw him through the tavern where the bar fight had begun. Also, when he challenged King Heafstaag, a mighty barbarian leader in Icewind Dale, Wulfgar literally crushed the King's head like a melon with his bare hands. Wulfgar managed to resist Heaftaag's spine shattering bear hug as he did so. He also used a large, irritable camel as a projectile weapon to defeat a gang of bandits in The Halfling's Gem, and escaped a flesh golem, Bok, that was slowly bear-hugging him to death by tearing off its head with his bare hands. Wulfgar would routinely take on foes much bigger than he and defeat them with his strength and mighty warhammer.
Biography
Early years
As a youth, Wulfgar was the flag bearer for Heafstaag, king of the Elk Tribe. He participated in barbarian invasion of Ten-Towns, where Bruenor Battlehammer, a dwarf, knocked Wulfgar out by sweeping his legs out from under him. After the battle, when the people of Ten-towns were slitting throats of the barbarians not quite dead, Bruenor spared Wulfgar. Instead of death, Bruenor sentenced Wulfgar to five years and a day of service to Bruenor. Wulfgar took to the forge and, over time, changed his opinion of Bruenor from a slaver to a father. Bruenor crafted the legendary warhammer Aegis-fang as a gift for Wulfgar. When Wulfgar's sentence was almost up, Bruenor bade Drizzt Do'Urden, a drow, to teach Wulfgar how to fight.
Wulfgar took up the task of killing the white dragon Icingdeath (Ingeloakastimizilian) in order to gain credibility, take leadership of his tribe and restore their glory. With the help of Drizzt, Wulfgar challenged and killed the dragon, earning the title Dragonsbane. It was in the Dragon's lair that Drizzt found his scimitar named Icingdeath, with the power to repel flames. The dragon killing scene was criticized by some Dungeons & Dragons fans for violating the game rules, as both characters were of supposedly low level. Salvatore was quoted replying: "I'll let the poor game designers fret about the proper levels for characters. I just write stories."
With this deed to his credit, he was able to challenge King Heafstaag to combat for leadership of the tribes. Wulfgar defeated Heafstaag, gaining rulership of the Tribe of the Elk, and led the tribes to the aid of the people of Ten-Towns. He also fell in love with Catti-brie, Bruenor's adopted human daughter.