What Is Toril?
Discover Toril, the vast world of the Forgotten Realms, and the distant continents, ancient civilizations, and mysteries beyond Faerûn.
G.R. Vinces2 min read
Welcome to the Forgotten Realms · Reading 2 of 8
When people talk about the Forgotten Realms, they are usually talking about Faerûn.
But Faerûn isn’t the world.
It’s only one part of it.
The planet itself is called Toril, an enormous world of continents, oceans, kingdoms, ancient civilizations, and distant lands whose histories stretch far beyond the familiar cities of the Sword Coast.
Understanding that distinction makes the Forgotten Realms feel considerably bigger.
A World Beyond Faerûn
Faerûn is the continent where many of the most familiar stories of the Forgotten Realms take place. Waterdeep, Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter, Icewind Dale, Thay, and countless other famous locations can all be found there.
But travel far enough and the map keeps going.
To the east lies Kara-Tur, a vast region containing numerous kingdoms and cultures with histories of their own.
Far to the south lies Zakhara, sometimes called the Land of Fate, a region of deserts, powerful cities, ancient ruins, and maritime kingdoms.
Across the ocean to the west lies Maztica, another continent separated from Faerûn by an enormous expanse of water.
And these are only some of Toril’s known lands.
The Forgotten Realms are therefore much more than the Sword Coast, or even Faerûn itself.
They encompass an entire planet.
An Ancient World
Toril is also unimaginably old.
Long before many of its modern kingdoms existed, other civilizations ruled portions of the world. Empires expanded across continents. Elven nations fought wars lasting generations. Dwarves carved kingdoms beneath mountains. Powerful magical societies discovered ways of manipulating reality that later civilizations struggled to reproduce.
Their disappearance didn’t erase them.
Ruins remain.
Artifacts survive.
Ancient roads lead toward cities that no longer exist.
And sometimes the consequences of decisions made thousands of years ago are still shaping the lives of people who have no idea those civilizations ever existed.
History in Toril rarely stays buried.
There Are Other Worlds
Toril isn’t alone, either.
The cosmology of Dungeons & Dragons contains other worlds and planes of existence, and powerful magic can allow creatures to travel between them.
There are realms belonging to gods, domains inhabited by demons and devils, elemental planes, strange dimensions, and other mortal worlds beyond Toril itself.
That means the Forgotten Realms can tell stories that begin in an ordinary village and eventually cross the boundaries of reality.
But most adventurers don’t begin by traveling between worlds.
They begin somewhere much smaller.
Perhaps on a road.
Perhaps in a village.
Perhaps in a tavern.
And more often than not, that somewhere is on the continent at the heart of most Forgotten Realms stories.
Faerûn.
Bibliography
- Wizards of the Coast. Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2015. Chapter 1, “Welcome to the Realms,” especially “Toril and Its Lands.”
- Wizards of the Coast. Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2025. Introduction, “Welcome to Faerûn”; Chapter 2, “A Guide to the Realms”; Appendix, “Atlas of Faerûn.”
- Wizards of the Coast. Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2025. Introduction, “A World of Adventure”; Appendix, “Atlas of Faerûn.”
