i cant believe i havent asked you this yet but tell me your thoughts on Drizzt Do'urden (unless you're just not into the forgotten realms setting, in which case, what IS your fav dnd canon setting?)
Of pre-established D&D settings I don’t know that I have a favourite, tbh. I’m more than passing familiar with Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Golarion, and Arcanis and think each of them has their strong and weak points. FR in particular is exceptional at a more bombastic high-fantasy than Greyhawk, more tightly focused on fantasy than Golarion and Eberron, and more black and white than Arcanis. And those are all good things if and only if that’s the sort of thing you’re in the mood for - and a bad thing if not, you know? So I definitely don’t have any real fave canon setting, just ones that I like more for some things than others.
As for Drizz’t . . . I have a lot of complicated feelings, but most of the ones I have about him specifically are positive. It’s only when you get into the weeds of setting elements around him and the fandom surrounding them that negativity starts to creep in. Under a cut because it got Long. I apparently have way more to say than I thought and may need to reread some of these books and possibly get more.
The thing is, R.A. Salvatore writes two things particularly well - fight choreography and complex/compelling spiritual journeys. His writing is at his best when it focuses on the latter interspersed with the former. Note that The Crystal Shard - the first Drizz’t book written - is all about those kinds of conflicts. We get more than just Drizz’t’s conflict over trying to cast off the (justified) hatred of his evil kind and live a free and wholesome life on the surface. We also get Burenor and Cattie-Brie struggling with the cultural difficulties of a dwarf raising a human child, Wulfgar seeking a way to honor the principles of his people and ancestors without falling into cruelty, and even Akar Kessel struggling both for dominance over Crenshinnibon and with his own inferiority complex as a mage.
Salvatore writes all of these narratives well both in isolation and weaving them together, having each character’s journey in proximity to each other impact their perspectives and influence the way they think about their own struggles. Drizz’t is a very compelling character for the Companions of the Hall (and their enemies - Artemis Entreri in particular) to revolve around. The problem is that these sorts of conflicts can become stale if they go on perpetually and never resolve, but if they do resolve the character must necessarily change with their resolutions or else they fall flat.
Now bearing in mind that I have only read up through the Sea of Swords before my childhood money ran out, but for my money at least up to that point Salvatore does a good job resolving old conflicts and creating new ones. But by the end I was getting the sense that, because those internal conflicts are what he is best at, he was hitting a point where he’d have to either keep messing up his characters internal lives in new and increasingly contrived ways or else let them resolve conflicts for a while and have to hang his books purely on fight choreography and his weaker external conflicts for narrative development, which would not be nearly as compelling.
I wish, dearly and deeply, that “Legend of Drizz’t” could be allowed to end, not because I don’t like it, but because I found the Cleric Quintet to be an order of magnitude more powerful and satisfying an experience than any Drizz’t series because of the finality and closure Cadderly was able to reach in his spiritual journey. And it isn’t as if closing the book on Drizz’t’s series would mean the end of him - Cadderly shows up as a supporting cast member in at least one or two Drizz’t novels where he is able to use his completed character journey to provide advice and wisdom to Drizz’t and others still on theirs. Moving the focus away from Drizz’t’s story would still allow him to be around, but would also enable him to become a more mysterious and mentor-like figure to other protagonists, which we know from earlier Drizz’t books is a role he fits well into.
I feel like this is part of the frustration some elements of the fanbase have with him. His internal arcs are what draw people to him, but after a certain point that becomes impossible to sustain and keep a character recognizable. Like I said, I haven’t read far enough to know if Salvatore manages to walk that line or if he falls into exhausting character arcs or empty external conflicts as things go on, but even in the best case scenario of him nailing it and having Drizz’t continue to grow and change as a person as time goes by . . . this means a ton of fans are going to eventually lose the character they fell in love with because he has grown into an entirely different person. And if Salvatore didn’t nail it, well then it’s easy to flanderize and dismiss him due to the botched development and as a result tarnish memories of the past.
I think there’s also an issue where, because Salvatore is so good at writing those internal conflicts, you get people wanting to play that sort of thing in games. And it’s really hard to write that in a fun and compelling way if you have absolute narrative control and a way to peek inside a character’s head. In a tabletop game where the dice can dictate narrative beats and you can’t share internal conflict easily without rambling to people about your character it becomes even more difficult to land that kind of story without being at least a little grating to your friends.
This is where the whole “the entire race of drow are made up of chaotic good loners trying to escape the reputation of their universally evil kin” snark comes from - frustration with players who earnestly want to tell what could be a very compelling arc but are not great at doing so, at least within the complex narrative confines of a collaborative dice-based game and so default to doing it with more traditional narrative trappings that make things all about them and bog down play time.
I feel like a lot of (though definitely not all) the criticism thrown at Drizz’t is projected frustration with players who want to play that story but wind up frustrating their fellows. More of it is usually some frustration with some aspect or another of the drow as a concept and society, which I could talk about for probably as long as this post so I am gonna say anyone who wants that can send another ask because this is long enough.
So yeah, that’s . . . most of my rambling thoughts on Drizz’t, which were way more fun to talk about than I would have guessed, so thanks! Apparently I can infodump about all kinds of tabletop minutia if prompted.
Sidenote, if anyone reading this liked aspects of Drizz’t novels but wished for a final conclusion like I have for so long I cannot recommend the Cleric Quintet highly enough. Cadderly has a different path trying to find and move away from his ancestral evil and come to terms with his spirituality, but it is still one of the most powerful journeys in fiction I have ever read. And even if you haven’t read Drizz’t anything, if you are someone religious or spiritual struggling with any aspect of your faith or spirituality and can tolerate high fantasy tropes, again you really should give it a look. I can’t say it’s likely to solve any of your own internal conflicts, but I all but guarantee it will make you feel heard and less alone by the epilogue.
Honestly why I even picked up the Legend of Drizz’t books again I’ll never understand.
My last trek into this series ended with “Starless Nights” because the trend of promising drow characters being killed effortlessly got so annoying. And especially because of Dinin’s fate. A character I’d have loved to see elaborated on a bit, maybe if he’d gone to the surface alongside Jarlaxle at some point which I guess will be what the mercenary ends up doing?
‘Cause what I wanna see is drow having to deal with the surface, learning more about their options and the realizations and conflcts along the way.
But hey, we need to tie that cardboard tasting Entreri to Jarlaxle, so let’s just offhand kill this kinda interesting drow so Entreri can be his right-hand man instead.
But I crave more knowledge about my favorite race so two years after the rage quit we continue with Siege of Darkness that introduces this kinda cool a bit different weaponsmaster who is built up to be amazingly strong.
Still kinda one-sided though, so his death wasn’t unexpected. But the lame way it was done was such an anticlimax. Just near effortlessly killed by a joke character? For fuck’s sake Salvatore, why can’t you do this well? You build the drow up to be so dangerous, but the moment they’re faced by even the smallest goodly character they might as well be made of paper.
So I kind of end up hoping for this other drow character who’s been in the series for a long time and who is actually alive at the end of the book. But knowing what’s likely to come, I decide to look this up because I’m seriously doubting if I should hold even the slightest glimmer of hope for this series.
Nope. Dies later on. By the cardboard-tasting human no less.
Why is every drow not named Drizz’t so fucking expendable? Salvatore’s got a race of potentially interesting individuals who could have all sorts of depth if they were given a chance by the writer. But no, Drizz’t is the only one who can have more than one dimension. Well, him and Jarlaxle I guess but his connection to Entreri is eating away what interest I have in him too.
And the worst part is there’s nothing else to turn to. No books about less than saintly Drizz’t, about drow that aren’t just born goodly, no redemption, no growth, no shades of anything between white and black as far as the drow are concerned.
I really wish I could find a book or two about Eilistraeeans and/or Vhaeraunites, at least then I’d get different flavors of drow.
... sorry about the rant, but this has been burning in my system for a long time.
He thought of Catti-Brie and Bruenor, of Belwar and of Clacker, of Zaknafein and of Regis and Wulfgar, of lost friends and those who had given him his identity. This intruder would steal all of his memories, he told himself repeatedly, strengthening that wall of anger.
For without those memories, Drizz't Do'Urden had nothing.
Drizz't Do'Urden is just a badass. But I kind of hate Dahlia. I know she's had a lot of shit to deal with, but she's SUCH a bitch. Seriously. And poor Drizz't is just so wonderfully noble and just, and Artemis and Dahlia are just like,"Fuck it. Kill everyone." And Drizz't is just too perfect. So much FEELZ.
They live with the belief that anything is acceptable if you can get away with it, that self-gratification is the most important aspect of existence, and that power comes only to she or he who is strong enough and cunning enough to snatch it from the failing hands of those who no longer deserve it.
So, I found out that the next two seasons will involve... drow! Just like this season. Too much drow crap. I feel like I'm hanging with the Drizz't fanclub. NOOOOOOOO!
