I’ve been meaning to ask. Does “Waterdeep” per chance, have anything to do with the Tolkien lyric “There lies his crown in *water deep*,
Till Durin wakes again from sleep” from Tolien’s Song of Durin? Because Tolkien did something similar with his naming of middle earth…I don’t know, but I suspect @TheEdVerse might know the answer to that question. #wotcstaff #dnd

— Christopher Perkins (@ChrisPerkinsDnD) May 9, 2019

1)
Hi, Anna. This has been asked a time or two. The derivation isn't from Tolkien (I never saw Waterdeep as a place that would have a king, or many dwarves, for that matter). The derivation is much simpler: as Mirt swindled his way south along the Sword Coast back in 1966, I…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 9, 2019

2)
…knew he was approaching the best harbor in the northern part of the Sword Coast. A really good harbor is sheltered from previaling storms (in this case, by a mountain), and has deep water right up close to shore, so large ships can dock and so sailors don't have to worry…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 9, 2019

3)
…about running aground on shoals or sandbars in foggy conditions (and shores have lots of fog, due to temp differences between land and sea). So as I was writing my Mirt tales (about a decade before D&D existed), I gave this place a "placeholder" name of Deepwater. Which…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 9, 2019

4)
…sounded more like a tidewater port in Maine than a place in a medieval-cum-Renaissance fantasy setting, so that name wouldn't do. but what if I just turned it around, from "Deepwater" to "Waterdeep"? YES. So, Waterdeep it became.
And there you have it. :}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 9, 2019

Awesome, I’m happy I got an official answer – I’ve been wondering that for a while (It would have been a neat tribute in my mind, but knowing the actual process is pretty cool too :D).Thank you very much! h, there are a few tiny tributes to Professor Tolkien hidden in the Realms; just not that one. ;} I got to see him (at a lecture he gave) once, when I was a young lad, and loved LOTR.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 9, 2019

Yes, there are bound to be a lot of them I imagine x) When I’m studying Old English in university, he comes up often because he borrowed so much from there. It must have been something special to meet him! He was a short, rumpled, soft-spoken old man, pipe in hand, bushy-eyebrowed, and kindly. A "quiet" academic with no trace of self-importance. But a twinkle in his eye. :}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 9, 2019

Wow. What a precious memory 🙂 Thank you for sharing that, too! A pleasure! The passing years take so many giants from us, and I miss them all. Terry Pratchett, Roger Zelazny, and SO many others I didn't get to meet or befriend. The memories of those I did become increasingly precious.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 9, 2019

@ChrisPerkinsDnD @JeremyECrawford does Waterdeep have a counterpart city in the Shadowfell, if so what's it's name? #DnD5e #Waterdeep

— Mik Calow (@Vobeskhan) May 9, 2019

We don’t have a canonical answer to that question. In my own campaign, I positioned the city of Gloomwrought as “Shadowdeep.” #wotcstaff #dnd https://t.co/VworZS6tJj

— Christopher Perkins (@ChrisPerkinsDnD) May 9, 2019

1)
Q: Is it appropriate to haggle over prices in a Waterdhavian shop?
Elminster: It really doth depend on the shop, but in general, Waterdhavians want to do business and are used to competition, so unless the shop is haughty…#AskElminster

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 3, 2019

2)
…(and such establishments are to be found in Sea Ward and a few mainstreet frontages in North Ward and Castle Ward), it hurts not to try. However, if this angers the proprietor, or he or she saith “The cobbles are firm”… 3)
…(short for: “I stand by this price, and the cobbles are firm beneath my feet,” which really means: I can’t go lower and make ANY profit at all), then NO, haggle not. Yet if ye make a habit of this, don’t expect to get… #AskElminster

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 3, 2019

4)
…waited on before a customer who’s an unknown, or looks to be an outlander, or who rushes to pay full price for something spotted in the shop window. The Deep is an expensive city to live in, so although competition is the… 5)
…great leveler, there ARE “floor minimums.” And if shop staff seem to enjoy haggling, but then say something like “The day DOES draw on,” or “My, but the sun races across the sky,” they are signalling that their patience…#AskElminster

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 3, 2019

7)
6)
…for the bargaining game is drawing to an end.
And unless ye’re ordering something by the thousands, haggle not in a guild headquarters, unless ye’re TRYING to be insulting.
Get too ripe a reputation for haggling, and ye’ll……earn the rebuff: a hard stare whilst a single copper coin (often tarnished, bent or battered, or of an outland minting) is dropped into a bowl, then retrieved and dropped again, repeatedly.#AskElminster

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 3, 2019

What happens when the #Wafflecrew tries to steal Jarlaxle’s submarine? Guess we’ll find out in #DiceCameraAction episode 138 (“The Scarlet Marpenoth”). Tuesday at 4 pm PT on https://t.co/a7tnK8T8AN. #wotcstaff #OnePingOnly pic.twitter.com/Ev1Wu3wUAK

— Christopher Perkins (@ChrisPerkinsDnD) April 13, 2019

What?

— R.A. Salvatore (@r_a_salvatore) April 13, 2019

@TheEdVerse can a noble house/family be cast out of nobility by the rest of the nobility in Waterdeep?

— DJ Tigon (@djtigon) March 18, 2019

Oh, yes. Not officially, but a firm-majority-shunning would be recognized by the Masked Lords and formalized by the Open Lord. It’s very rare, though, because unless a noble house is trying to poison the water supply or destroy the ancient elven magic that keeps… 2)
…the city from collapsing into Undermountain, or otherwise endanger the entire city, getting a majority of the nobles to agree on much of anything (beyond "we nobles are special, and should be treated as such") is nigh-impossible.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 18, 2019

What then might be the penalty if it came to light that a noble house wound up having a tainted bloodline and not truly being human after all No likely legal or official penalty at all, just a loss of prestige and influence ("standing," they'd call it in the Realms) within the ranks of nobles, because some of the oldest, wealthiest, haughtiest Deep houses have some "humans first, humans pure" attitudes.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 18, 2019

It would only be exile from Waterdeep, or a refusal to accord members of thnat family with the "rights" (privileges) of noble status, NOT a "stripping of ennoblement" that the Heralds would recognize.
Would the Heralds recognize such a verdict? If so, would it only be in Waterdeep? When two noble families were famously outcast from the Deep, …#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 19, 2019

Would the Heralds recognize such a verdict? If so, would it only be in Waterdeep? 2)
…centuries ago, that WAS a formal, recognized-by-the-Heralds loss of noble status.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 19, 2019

Hmm, this might be 4e stuff that's been swept under the pelt, but I think that Dagult Neverember was forced out of waterdhavian nobility for his "excessive" involvement in Neverwinter and lack of presence in Waterdeep. Is that right? #Realmslore

— Zac (@zac_stelling) March 18, 2019

1)
In the eyes of Waterdeep’s nobles, Dagult Neverember was never IN their ranks. The Open Lord and Masked Lords need not be of the Deep’s nobility (and the Open Lord hasn’t really ever been), and often function more as a check/rival to the nobles (though the…#Realmslore2)
…nobles usually have some representation among the Masked Lords, both to be a part of/informed about the governing debates and rule-making, and because there are always some nobles who personally like wielding power.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 19, 2019

Is Dagult generally disliked in Waterdeep or does he still have supporters? Both. As in: he's generally disliked (as in, by the city at large; among the current Masked Lords and Palace staff, he's remembered with loathing, as are many individuals who stir things up), but still has a few supporters.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 19, 2019

I don’t know why… but I think it’d be funny if Elminster and Mirt swapped places for a day. At least by appearances—I wonder what shenanigans they’d get into Don't think I haven't toyed with this idea. It evoked much mirth back in 1989–followed by a firm NO.
I can't IMAGINE what they were worried I might do. ;}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 14, 2019

This response just makes me want it more. That would be so funny. Perhaps I should write a little tale just for fun, and await permission to publish it for charity, or read it aloud at a convention, or something of the sort. Hmmm…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 14, 2019

Oooh! Consider it DONE!
Or, well…give me a few days (taxes and the day job and a short story to get finished and a podcast to do tomorrow night, and this Sunday appearing at the Ad Astra booth at Toronto Comicon…and THEN I'll get tucked into it!

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 14, 2019