Drizzt Do'Urden () is a fictional character appearing in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Drizzt was created by author R. A. Salvatore as a supporting character in the Icewind Dale Trilogy. Salvatore created him on a whim when his publisher needed him to replace one of the characters in an early version of the first book, The Crystal Shard. Drizzt has since become a popular heroic character of the Forgotten Realms setting, and has been featured as the main character of a long series of books, starting chronologically with The Dark Elf Trilogy. As an atypical drow (dark elf), Drizzt has forsaken both the evil ways of his people and their home in the Underdark, in the drow city of Menzoberranzan.
Drizzt's story is told in Salvatore's fantasy novels in The Icewind Dale Trilogy, The Dark Elf Trilogy, the Legacy of the Drow series, the Paths of Darkness series, The Hunter's Blades Trilogy, the Transitions series, and the Neverwinter Saga, as well as in the short stories "The Dowry", "Dark Mirror", and "Comrades at Odds". All of the novels featuring Drizzt have made The New York Times Best Seller list. A number of the novels have been adapted into graphic novels by Devil's Due Publishing. Drizzt has also been featured in D&D-based role-playing video games, including the Baldur's Gate series and Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone.
Concept and creation Drizzt Do'Urden's stories are set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons. The character has been a mainstay for author R. A. Salvatore, appearing in his novels for over 30 years. Drizzt is a drow who acts against the drow stereotype, favoring friendship and peace over hatred and violence. His unusual personality creates the conflict that allows Salvatore to create so many novels with stories about courage and friendship. Drizzt therefore fights the dark traits that are inherent in the drow.
Salvatore uses Drizzt to represent issues of racial prejudice, particularly in The Dark Elf Trilogy. For instance, Drizzt is concerned that if he and his love Cattie-Brie (a human) have children, their offspring will face hostility from both races. Drizzt is also troubled by the lifespan discrepancy between himself and Cattie-Brie.
Drizzt was created by happenstance. In 1987 R. A. Salvatore sent Mary Kirchoff, then managing editor of TSR's book department, a manuscript for what would become his 1990 novel Echoes of the Fourth Magic. She liked it, but asked if he could rewrite it to take place in the Forgotten Realms. She sent him Darkwalker on Moonshae by Douglas Niles, the only novel at the time set in the Forgotten Realms. Salvatore sent her a proposal for a sequel to Darkwalker, but Kirchoff sent back a large map of the Forgotten Realms and told him she wanted a new story set in a different part of the Realms. After two weeks of phone calls, Salvatore found a spot on the map that was not already designated for another project, and he located Icewind Dale there. According to Salvatore, the book was "set on the Moonshae Isles, because at the time I thought that was the Realms. When I found out how big the Realms were, I moved the story a thousand miles to the north."
Salvatore created Drizzt on the spur of the moment. He was under pressure to create a sidekick for Wulfgar in the Icewind Dale series. Salvatore had sent an early version of The Crystal Shard (what would become his first published novel) to TSR, and one day Kirchoff called him. She was on her way to a marketing meeting concerning the book, and informed him that they could not use one of the characters. He asked for time to think, but she was already late for the meeting. Off the top of his head, Salvatore said he had a Dark Elf. Kirchoff was skeptical, but Salvatore convinced her it would be fine because he was just a sidekick. She asked his name, and he replied Drizzt Do'Urden. She asked if he could spell it, and he said "not a chance". Recalling Drizzt's creation in an interview, Salvatore said, "I don't know where it came from. I guess that Gary Gygax just did such an amazing job in creating the drow elves that something about them got stuck in the back of my head. Thank God!" Although many readers have assumed that Drizzt is based on one of the many Dungeons & Dragons role-playing campaigns that the author has played, this is not the case. Salvatore's main influences were classical literature and works of J. R. R. Tolkien. "I like to think of Drizzt as a cross between Daryth from Darkwalker on Moonshae and Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings." Salvatore calls Drizzt "the classic romantic hero—misunderstood, holding to a code of ideals even when the going gets tough, and getting no appreciation for it most of the time."
Publication history
Drizzt's story begins in the novel Homeland, the start of The Dark Elf Trilogy and published in 1990 as a prequel to The Icewind Dale Trilogy, which was published between 1988 and 1990. In the book, Drizzt is born in Menzoberranzan as the third son to Matron Malice, the leader of House Do'Urden (a type of family akin to a Scottish clan). His father is Zaknafein, a weapons master who secretly hates drow society and teaches Drizzt his martial skills as he reinforces Drizzt's innate moral code. The 1996 short story "The Fires of Narbondel", in the Realms of the Underdark anthology, describes unrelated events involving Zaknafein as the main character, and a young Drizzt plays a supporting role.
During a raid against a group of surface elves, Drizzt finds himself unable to participate in the slaughter with his fellow drow. He pretends to kill an elf child, but actually helps her to escape. When the deception is discovered, Zaknafein is sacrificed in Drizzt's stead to appease Lolth, the drow's goddess. Following a war against another House, Drizzt curses his family and the evil drow ways and escapes Menzoberranzan into the Underdark. At this time he also acquires the statuette that allows him to summon the magical panther Guenhwyvar. Guenhwyvar travels by Drizzt's side as he makes his way across the Realms.
Drizzt fights off the resurrected spirit-wraith of his father in Exile, the second book in the Dark Elf Trilogy and also published in 1990. SojournSojourn reached 13 on The New York Times bestseller list on May 26, 1991. picks up the story when Drizzt leaves the Underdark for the surface, where he meets a blind human ranger named Montolio Debrouchee. When Montolio begins teaching him the ways of the ranger, Drizzt realizes that, unknowingly, he had been following those very principles his entire life. From then on Drizzt's patron goddess is Mielikki, the Faerûnian goddess of the forest and of rangers. Montolio eventually dies, and Drizzt travels the Realms in search of a new home. He eventually finds himself in Icewind Dale where he meets dwarven king Bruenor Battlehammer, and Bruenor's adopted human daughter, Catti-brie.
The fourth book chronologically in the series, although the first published, is The Crystal Shard (1988), the first in The Icewind Dale Trilogy. It describes Drizzt's meeting with the barbarian Wulfgar and the halfling Regis, and their adventures as they stop Akar Kessel, a mage possessed by the sentient artifact Crenshinibon (the book's eponymous Crystal Shard), from gaining control of the region. Streams of Silver (1989), tells the story of the group as they journey to Mithral Hall, Bruenor's boyhood home. Artemis Entreri, a recurring character in the series, also makes his first appearance. In later books, Artemis is Drizzt's equal in combat, and they clash often due to their conflicting views and goals. In the 1990 book The Halfling's Gem,The Halfling's Gem reached 12 on The New York Times bestseller list on March 4, 1990. Artemis kidnaps Regis while in the employ of a powerful crime lord. Drizzt and Wulfgar chase the assassin by sea, with the help of Captain Deudermont, to recover Regis. Drizzt ends up in combat with Artemis Entreri, who leaves the battle wounded. At the end of the book the group finds Regis, and Guenhwyvar kills Artemis's employer.
Legacy of the Drow is a tetralogy, unlike the previous two trilogies. The 1993 short story, Dark Mirror, in the Realms of Valor anthology, describes events just prior to the series. The first three books, The Legacy,The Legacy reached 10 on The New York Times bestseller list on October 4, 1992. Starless Night,Starless Night reached 12 on The New York Times bestseller list on September 19, 1993. and Siege of Darkness,Siege of Darkness reached 13 on The New York Times bestseller list on September 18, 1994. describe a drow attack on Mithril Hall. Wulfgar is seemingly slain by a yochlol, and Drizzt returns to Menzoberranzan to prevent his friends from being further attacked by dark elves. The drow launch a second attack against Mithril Hall during the Time of Troubles. It is eventually repelled and Drizzt returns to his friends.
Passage to Dawn,Passage to Dawn reached 15 on The New York Times bestseller list on September 8, 1996. the final book in the Legacy of the Drow series and published two years after Siege of Darkness, picks up the story six years after the drow attack. Drizzt and Catti-Brie work with Captain Deudermont on his pirate-hunting ship, with the Companions of the Hall ultimately fighting the powerful demon Errtu who is aided by the Crystal Shard, which had previously been buried under a mountain of snow. Wulfgar, never truly dead, returns to life from the Abyss as the demon who had held his soul was destroyed.
Drizzt is the main character in only two books of the Paths of Darkness series. The Silent Blade (1998) describes the group's journey to permanently destroy the Crystal Shard. Sea of Swords (2001)Sea of Swords reached 14 on The New York Times bestseller list on November 18, 2001. continues Drizzt's story after the events of The Spine of the World (1999), which focuses on Wulfgar, and Servant of the Shard (2000), which has Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle as the main characters. Sea of Swords covers the companions' search for Wulfgar's lost magical warhammer, Aegis-fang, and the reunion of the group after an extended separation.
Drizzt returns as the main character throughout The Hunter's Blades Trilogy. In The Thousand Orcs (2002),The Thousand Orcs reached 11 on The New York Times bestseller list on November 3, 2002. Drizzt and his friends encounter the powerful orc Obould Many-Arrows, who has employed frost giants to aid him in gaining control of the region. After a battle at the town of Shallows, Drizzt believes the other Companions of the Hall to have fallen in battle, and he sets off into the wilderness to fight all orcs in vengeance. The Lone Drow (2003)The Lone Drow reached 7 on The New York Times bestseller list on November 16, 2003. continues this storyline as the still-living Companions protect Mithril Hall from orc attacks without the aid of Drizzt. He is reunited with his friends in The Two Swords (2003).The Two Swords reached 9 on The New York Times bestseller list on November 14, 2004.