Hephaestus wasn’t always the master tinkerer we know today. He started life as a young tadpole —a slippery, barely-formed creature lurking in dark dank shadowed ruined caves. He was called slurs like Snagglebit and Scavdrik, scavenging, swiping, and scrapping for whatever he could find.

As he grew into a teenage frog-faced gobbo, he hardened. He fought. He brawled. He endured. He became known by the harsher names Grimbleclaw and Guldratch, always battling, always surviving. The world was insatiable, and he was determined not to be swallowed by it.

But that life couldn’t last forever. Deep in the wreckage of a forgotten forge, he discovered tools—not weapons, but tools meant for creation. Something inside him shifted. He saw potential not in destruction, but in building. He shed his violent ways. His once-smooth skin grew rough, a beard sprouted, and with it came a new sense of purpose.

He became a recluse. A rumor. Tales of a blacksmith who took the
name of the master blacksmith: Hephaestus —a name that
reflected not who he was, but who he could be. Who he was destined
to embody. No longer a scrappy tadpole fighting to survive, but a
builder, a craftsman, a creator of new possibilities.

As J’s Armory’s blacksmith, Hephaestus is always tinkering on new ideas and brainstorming new techniques. His journey from the pits to creator is possible when you embrace your creativity and forge your own path.