Line #34 Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The-Legend-of-Drizzt-Book-IV-R-A-Sa18-med_1192.jpg]]
2
3	A massively huge epic by Creator/RASalvatore with a main character you may have heard of if you have ever played a TabletopRPG.
4
5	The Legend of Drizzt revolves around the title hero Drizzt, a renegade dark elf that left his homeland to live in the world above. There are over 30 books in the series, chronologically starting with Homeland.
6
7	The 1st trilogy of the series, ''Literature/TheDarkElfTrilogy'', revolves around Drizzt's upbringing and his escape from the Underdark; it is a {{prequel}}, written after Salvatore wrote ''Literature/TheIcewindDaleTrilogy'' which took place afterwards. The Icewind Dale trilogy revolves around Drizzt's adventures with the Companions of the Hall and conquering of Mithral Hall. It is followed by the four-book ''Literature/LegacyOfTheDrowSeries''. The series after that continue their adventures.
8
9	This story helped build up much of the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' world and caused many to follow in its footsteps.
10
11	----
12
13	The books, in publication order, go as following:
14
15	[[index]]
16	[[folder:The Legend of Drizzt]]
17	* ''Literature/TheIcewindDaleTrilogy''
18	** ''The Crystal Shard'' (1988)
19	** ''Streams of Silver'' (1989)
20	** ''The Halfling's Gem'' (1990)
21
22	* ''Literature/TheDarkElfTrilogy''
23	** ''Homeland'' (1990)
24	** ''Exile'' (1990)
25	** ''Sojourn'' (1991)
26
27	* ''Literature/LegacyOfTheDrowSeries''
28	** ''The Legacy'' (1992)
29	** ''Starless Night'' (1993)
30	** ''Siege Of Darkness'' (1994)
31	** ''Passage To Dawn'' (1996)
32
33	* ''Literature/PathsOfDarkness''
34	** ''The Silent Blade'' (1998)
35	** ''The Spine of the World'' (1999)
36	** ''Sea of Swords'' (2001)
37
38	* ''Literature/TheHuntersBladesTrilogy''
39	** ''The Thousand Orcs'' (2002)
40	** ''The Lone Drow'' (2003)
41	** ''The Two Swords'' (2004)
42
43	* ''Literature/{{Transitions}}''
44	** ''The Orc King'' (2007)
45	** ''The Pirate King'' (2008)
46	** ''The Ghost King'' (2009)
47
48	* ''Literature/TheNeverwinterSaga''
49	** ''Gauntlgrym'' (2010)
50	** ''Neverwinter'' (2011)
51	** ''Charon's Claw'' (2012)
52	** ''The Last Threshold'' (2013)
53
54	* ''Literature/CompanionsCodex''
55	** ''The Companions'' (2013) [[note]]wich technically belongs to a different Forgotten Realms series called ''The Sundering'', but it concerns the Companions of the Hall, directly ties in to ''Companions Codex'' and is written by Salvatore himself.[[/note]]
56	** ''Night of the Hunter'' (2014)
57	** ''Rise of the King'' (2014)
58	** ''Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf'' (2015)
59
60	* ''[[Literature/HomecomingDrizzt Homecoming]]''
61	** ''Archmage'' (2015)
62	** ''Maestro'' (2016)
63	** ''Hero'' (2016)
64
65	* ''[[Literature/GenerationsDrizzt Generations]]''
66	** ''Timeless'' (2018)
67	** ''Boundless'' (2019)
68	** ''Relentless'' (2020)
69
70	* ''Literature/TheWayOfTheDrow''
71	** ''Starlight Enclave'' (2022)
72	[[/folder]]
73
74	Spin-offs include:
75
76	* ''Literature/TheSellswords'': Stars Drizzt's ArchEnemy Artemis Entreri and the drow mercenary Jarlaxle Baenre.
77	** ''Servant Of The Shard'' (2000)
78	** ''Promise of the Witch King'' (2005)
79	** ''Road of the Patriarch'' (2006)
80
81	* ''Literature/TheClericQuintet'': Stars Cadderly Bonaduce, the Chosen of Deneir.
82	** ''Canticle'' (1991)
83	** ''In Sylvan Shadows'' (1992)
84	** ''Night Masks'' (1992)
85	** ''The Fallen Fortress'' (1993)
86	** ''The Chaos Curse'' (1994)
87
88	* ''ComicBook/NeverwinterTales'' - A comic book set during ''Literature/TheNeverwinterSaga.''
89	[[/index]]
90	----
91	!!Tropes occurring in multiple entries in the series include:
92
93	* TheAce: Drizzt was this growing up in Menzoberrazan, much like his father. Wulfgar is also this, being a barbarian educated by dwarves and a Drow Ranger.
94	** Wulfgar eventually becomes a BrokenAce, however, due to being imprisoned in the abyss for years.
95	** Zaknafein was the greatest warrior in Menzoberrazan.
96	* ActionGirl: Catti-brie does ''massive'' damage with her bow and sword against all manner of foes.
97	* ActionPet: Drizzt's sidekick Guenhwyvar, a black panther summoned with a magical figurine.
98	* AffablyEvil: Jarlaxle is fairly charming and affable able to charm dragons, humans, drow whomever. He's still an incredibly self-interested mercenary and war-profiteer and he casually accepts Drow cruelty (he once jokes about Drow females raping Enteri, who by then is almost a friend and ally).
99	* AllThereInTheManual: A lot of very-very strange stuff happens in-between books and during book's background, which can only be contextualized by knowing about the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
100	* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Zigzagged in general.
101	** Played with for Drizzt himself; he comes from such a race but is good, and although he initially has difficulty seeing other humanoids as people, eventually he gets better.
102	** Demons from the Abyss like Errtu play this straight.
103	** There are many characters who avert general species character Alignments. Obould Many-Arrows (orc) mellows out of his previous Chaotic Evil self, Jarlaxe (drow) is a pragmatic villain that evolves into an antihero, Dahila Sin'felle (elf) waffles between pragmatic antihero and Ax-Crazy etc.
104	** Played distressingly straight in the "Companions Codex", where not only do the Orcs of Many-Arrows go on the warpath once again, in the first novel, Catti-Brie claims to have received a message from Mielikki that goblinkin essentially ''don't have souls'' and can't ''ever'' hope for redemption, making the founding of Many-Arrows a great mistake on Drizzt's part. Slightly subverted, though; Drizzt cannot bring himself to believe that this is true (and it's subtly implied that it just may be a lie sent to Catti-Brie by Lolth to corrupt Drizzt), and it's noted that the Orcs only went on the warpath when a "traditionalist", named Hartusk, usurped the throne from Obould's descendent Lorgru.
105	*** Lorgru himself is an aversion; like Obould, he believes that peace is better for the orcs than war was, he has an honorable side that compelled him to spare the life of an elven warrior (something that Hartusk used to help muster the support to overthrow him), and once helped back to the throne, he immediately forces the orcs to call off their war and return to peace.
106	*** Lorgru is an aversion, but he's also an exception. The vast majority of the orcs support Hartusk, and it can be inferred that Gruumsh himself, the highest god of the orcs, prefers war over peace and wants the orcs to be slaughtering and looting their neighbors instead of living peacefully with them. In the end, Obould's dream turns out to be exactly that-an ultimately futile dream.
107	*** Out of story, the reason why the Orcs pull a FaceHeelTurn is likely due to mandates from Wizard as 5e destroyed Many-Arrows and forced Orcs back into AlwaysChaoticEvil. Salvatore has generally ignored AlwaysChaoticEvil in his stories and writes characters who defy species stereotypes. Thus painting all Orcs as evil has overtones of ExecutiveMeddling.
108	* AlwaysSecondBest: Artemis Entreri is the second-greatest swordsman in the Realms, at least as the books treat him, and discovering he's not the first is a massive blow to his self-image. He spends a staggering amount of time and resources trying for a re-match with Drizzt.
109	* ApeShallNeverKillApe: Drizzt swears to never kill another Drow after leaving Menzoberranzan, and keeps that oath for decades, until the "Legacy of the Drow" series. However, it's noted that he only managed to do so by avoiding other Drow for most of that time (and that keeping a vow by having no opportunities to break it is hardly a sign of virtue), and Drizzt eventually comes to the conclusion that not killing his own kind - who frequently deserve it - when he's perfectly willing to kill enemies of other races is foolishness.
110	* {{Archenemy}}: It's a toss-up between Artemis Entreri and Lolth for Drizzt.
111	* {{Antihero}}: Jarlaxle and Artemis morph into these for the Sellswords trilogy after much-much CharacterDevelopment.
112	* ArtifactOfDoom: Several of these appear over the course of the series, most notably the Crystal Shard.
113	* AuthorTract: See DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything
114	* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Both Wulfgar and Bruenor get it. Ironically, neither of them particularly like being monarchs and would prefer to be adventuring.
115	* BarbarianHero: Wulfgar is an interesting example of the trope as he's implied to be like Conan in that he's ''more'' dangerous for his exposure to civilization and cosmopolitanism.
116	* TheBerserker: Drizzt used to be one of these as part of his mental damage from living in the Underdark for a long-long time. He gets over it, then doesn't.
117	* BigBad: Several of these with Matron Baenrae being one of the big ones. Others include Errtu the Balor, the Crystal Shard itself, and Shimmergloom.
118	** Subverted with King Obould, who proves to be something more than Drizzt expected.
119	* BigScrewedUpFamily: House Do'Urden is full of hate, murder, intrigue, incest, and betrayal. Which is how it should be in a proper Drow house.
120	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: First Dahlia, and then [[spoiler:'''Drizzt''']] at the hands of the drow.
121	* BreakTheCutie: What happens to poor idealistic Wulfgar is horrible...[[spoiler:and what happens to Drizzt at the end of ''Maestro'' is quite possibly '''worse'''.]]
122	* BreakTheHaughty: By contrast, Artemis getting exposed to Drow society where he can't become king of the hill teaches some basic empathy. Albeit, not much.
123	* BrokenAesop: Many of the books have a strong anti-racist theme despite the fact the Drow ''really are'' horrible people with the exception of Drizzt and sometimes take advantage of the fact people are less likely to judge them because of Drizzt's singular heroism. This is also the case with the orcs.
124	** Bob Salvatore is aware of this and breaks with D&D canon by indicating all the races could get along if they just were given a chance.
125	* TheCaptain: Captain Deudermont is one of Drizzt and Catti-Brie's consistent allies and closest friends.
126	* CelibateHero: Drizzt is this for almost a dozen books. [[spoiler: He's secretly in love with Catti-Brie.]]
127	* CharacterDevelopment: Artemis and Jarlaxle both go through this as repeated exposure to the outside world removes some of their sharper edged.
128	* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: The Drow are a society which has made this a literal way of life. Loyalty is not only little practiced but outright alien to them.
129	** Subverted with Jarlaxle and his mercenaries, who seem to comprehend it's better NOT to murder one another for petty differences.
130	* ClingyJealousGirl: Lloth claims to Errtu that she doesn't really care about Drizzt, although she would enjoy seeing him suffer and die. Later novels reveal this isn't really the case-her involvement with Drizzt in the later novels implies that she took his defying her ''extremely'' badly. The fact that he was an upstart ''male'' made it even worse.
131	* CoolSword: Twinkle and Icingdeath are Drizzt's scimitars, although they are not a matched set of identical weapons, as is often depicted. He found Icingdeath in a frost dragon's hoard, and Twinkle was gifted to him by the wizard Malchor Harpell.
132	* ColdBloodedTorture: Wulfgar was regularly subjected to this along with MindRape in the Abyss.
133	* ConsummateProfessional: Artemis lived for killing people in the most efficient way possible before he met Drizzt. It requires a number of breaking events to get him to loosen up even the slightest bit.
134	** Also subverted in that Artemis often killed people he didn't have to because he was striking out at the world. He just deluded himself into thinking otherwise.
135	* DecadentCourt: The Drow are a matriarchal version of this taken up to the eleven. Wholesale elimination of families is just another day at the office.
136	* {{Deconstruction}}: The ''Literature/{{Transitions}}'' and ''Literature/TheNeverwinterSaga'' do a lot of this to Drizzt's own series. His heroic friends and attempts to make the Realms a better place gradually fall apart with racism as well as tyranny making a return despite the attempts to undo them. Drizzt also finds himselves in EvilVersusEvil conflicts where there's genuinely no right answer.
137	* DefectorFromDecadence: Drizzt is the archetypal non-evil Drow.
138	* DepravedBisexual: Several drow matron mothers are depicted this way, including Lloth herself.
139	* DoesNotLikeMen: Drow society is based on men being labeled inferior sex-objects, slaves, and victims to female aggression.
140	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Drizzt often makes monologues about the oddities of the Forgotten Realms, which somehow tie-in to real-life issues RA Salvatore wants to talk about like faith, racism, or justice.
141	* EvilWeapon: Crenshinibon and Khazid'hea are extremely powerful sentient objects who can ''control'' their wielder if he or she is not strong willed enough.
142	* ExpandedUniverse: Is a part of the Forgotten Realm's.
143	* FailureHero: The ''Literature/Transitions'' and ''Literature/TheNeverwinterSaga'' are six books of Drizzt trying and failing to do the right thing (or succeeding only in making the smallest of changes). He loses his InvincibleHero status as well, struggling against much weaker opponents that he used to be able to dominate.
144	* {{Expy}}: Bruenor Battlehammer starts as one for Thorin Oakenshield but gradually becomes his own character.
145	* FantasticRacism: A major theme in the books is Drizzt dealing with people judging him to be evil because of the color of his skin as well as funky-looking ears. Played with, almost to the point of subversion, in that nearly every Drow really ''is'' AlwaysChaoticEvil.
146	* FluffyTheTerrible: Twinkle is one of Drizzt's swords and a weapon of horrifying magical power (a +5 Defender, in technical terms).
147	* FreudianExcuse: Almost every Drow alive grows up in an environment designed to teach you backstabbing, murder, lying, cheating, and betrayal are good things. Drizzt's morals surviving, or even developing, requires insane willpower as well as unique circumstances.
148	** Artemis Entreri, it turns out, grew up in an environment almost every bit as horrific in its own way. This is what hardened him into the ruthless killer he is today.
149	* FriendlyEnemy: Jarlaxle, eventually, develops into this. Artemis and Drizzt never quite reach that level though they have bouts of TeethClenchedTeamwork.
150	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Drizzt was listed as a 16th level Ranger which in the extremely high-powered realms is impressive but not really "the greatest ever." Which is often how he's depicted in the novels. [[WordOfGod Ed Greenwood]] overruled the sourcebooks by listing Drizzt and Artemis as amongst the top ten best swordsmen in the realms, all of whom are Epic Level.
151	** Realistically speaking, there's no way by D&D rules Drizzt Do'Urden should have been able to solo a Balor (an EXPY of a Balrog) then DO IT AGAIN.
152	*** At least not in the [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons 3rd edition rules]]. PowerCreep occurred quite a bit with various monsters between editions, and in the 2nd edition era Drizzt's odds really aren't that terrible against a balor.
153	** Drizzt's power levels does vary between editions and later editions power creep him to make him the greatest swordsman ever. He is level 21 in 4th edition which would mark the beginning of epic destiny and level 19 in 5th edition which would make him legitimately one of the best.
154	** It should also be noted that there's no indication Salvatore had anything to do with the official game stats of Drizzt or any other characters he writes. Drizzt's scimitar Twinkle is repeatedly characterized as a "defending" scimitar in the stats even though Salvatore has never alluded to this in any novel.
155	* HiddenAgendaVillain: Lolth is constantly playing the long game and weaving threads and plots that don't bear fruit until a full book series at least. Multiple characters discuss how no one, not even Matron Mothers and high priestesses in Lolth's favor actually knows what her plans are.
156	* {{Hypocrite}}: Drizzt has trouble treating monsters as people despite the fact he's considered one himself.
157	* IllegalReligion: Drow cities (at least Lolthite ones) ban worship of other gods. For non-Drow, the first offense means paying a heavy fine, the second death. Drow doing so is punishable by death no matter what.
158	* ItemCaddy: One of the skills Regis develops in the new Companions Codex series. His new incarnation is a skilled alchemist, brewing potions for the party to use.
159	* InvincibleHero: What Drizzt is for much of the series. It doesn't make him less entertaining but even Artemis Entreri, one of the most dangerous foes they ever face, is just ''not as good'' as Drizzt. It's what makes [[spoiler: King Obould]] and Drizzt fight to a standstill so shocking as no one has done that yet after a dozen books. It gradually starts disappearing until ''Literature/TheNeverwinterSaga'' when Drizzt struggles against many opponents and now is simply just an exceptionally good swordsman.
160	* JokerImmunity: Entreri suffers multiple {{Disney Death}}s only to come back one way or another. [[spoiler: After a 100 year time skip, he's one of the few people Drizzt knows who's still alive. Despite being a human.]]
161	* KarmaHoudini: Played with regarding Artemis Entreri. Catti-brie, certainly, thinks he's one but he goes through several terrible periods of torture and imprisonment.
162	* KilledOffForReal: In the lead-up to and during the timeskip, most of the Companions meet this.
163	** Catti-brie dies from a wild magic surge caused by the Spellplague, irrevocably losing her sanity and essence over several weeks. Regis meets the same fate after attempting to use his hypnotic ruby to bring her back to herself and ends up pulled into her magic disruption.
164	** Bruenor and Thibbledorf Pwent die while reactivating Gauntlgrym's trap mechanism to recapture the loosened fire primordial. This takes place several decades into the timeskip, and both dwarves were already near the limit of their natural lives.
165	** Wulfgar's ultimate fate is never shown after he returns to Icewind Dale with his clan, but he would have died naturally of old age long before the timeskip concluded.
166	** Cadderly dies after sacrificing himself to eternally imprison the spirit of an immortal dracolich.
167	* KlingonPromotion: It might as well be called 'Drow promotion.' Drow society more or less functions on seeking promotion, which is achieved by creating a space directly above you.
168	%%* LadyLand: Menzoberrazan is a cartoonishly over-the-top evil one, made palatable by being just one of the ways they're incredibly evil. They're just so much ''fun.''
169	* TheLegendOfX
170	* TheLoad: Regis, both in-universe and out. He's a fairly medium-skilled rogue in a party of awesome. Averted in later novels when he becomes more of a CombatPragmatist, and in his second life actively works to develop his fighting skills so he can keep up with the rest of the group.
171	* MadScientist: The Harpells combine this with absent minded professor. They use magic instead of science, though.
172	* MacGuffin: Crenshinibon for much of the series, as its abilities make it very attractive for power-hungry individuals.
173	* MagnificentBastard: There are several, but Lloth is arguably the greatest of them all. [[spoiler:Her ultimate plan in the last set of novels is to trick the mortal drow into weakening the "faerzress" of the Underdark and allowing her rival demon princes to run amuck on Toril. While they're doing this, Lloth will consolidate her power so that she becomes the single most powerful demon lord in the entire Abyss.]]
174	* MasterSwordsman: Artemis and Drizzt are both. So much so that WordOfGod by Ed Greenwood on Candlekeep says they're two of the best in the Realms.
175	* {{Matriarchy}}: Drow society is usually a strict matriarchy, with every House headed by a Matron Mother who rules them. Males are taught to believe themselves inferior in relation with females, a gender hierarchy harshly reinforced. Their cities are run by councils made up of Matron Mothers, with males having no voice in the government.
176	* MergerOfSouls: Crenshinibon, an ArtifactOfDoom taking the form of a crystal shard (from whence the first book of ''Literature/TheIcewindDaleTrilogy'' gets its name), was formed from a ritual that merged the souls of seven liches. [[spoiler:Upon its destruction in ''[[Literature/TheSellswords Servant of the Shard]]'' the souls are apparently separated and pass on.]]
177	* MoreThanMindControl: Regis's magic ruby allows its bearer to make the ''Suggestion'' spell an unlimited number of times, which more or less makes anything the bearer says sound like a ''really good idea'' but it needs to have some basis in reality.
178	* NayTheist: Artemis lives in a world where gods routinely walk the Earth but adamantly refuses to believe in them (he acknowledges they exist but doesn't worship them). We later discover this is because of his Freudian excuse.
179	* NiceJobFixingItVillain:
180	** King Obould establishes an Orcish Empire on behalf of Gruumsh, their Chaotic Evil God of War and Evil. Within a century, the orcs have become civilized traders and farmers who intermarry with the surrounding humans. Played with as this is actually what Obould intended all along. Gruumsh apparently later changes his mind about the merits of Obould's vision, since the dissenting orc general Hartusk overthrows Obould's lineage and brings the orcs right back to their old ways of killing and looting. Hartusk even calls himself Warlord rather than King, in keeping with the orcs returning to their original heritage. In the end, Obould Many-Arrows' dream proves to be just that-an ultimately futile dream.
181	** The Drow are constantly self-sabotaging with their ambition, cruelty and ChronicBackstabbingDisorder coming back to bite them at the worst possible opportunity. A good example: Drizzt's brother kills his older brother inadvertently ''saving Drizzt's life'' just as he was about to be sacrificed.
182	* OneManArmy: Drizzt is, more or less, the greatest swordsman in D&D fiction history. He carves an EPIC swath of enemies across the series. This element gradually becomes a DownplayedTrope after the Spellplague with even hints of Drizzt becoming a FailureHero.
183	* OnlySaneMan: Jarlaxle, at times, seems like the only villain in the whole of the Forgotten Realms more interested in power and influence rather than mayhem. It's doubly apparent in Menzoberrazan where he's quite literally the only sane man. This is reflected in his alignment since he's Neutral Evil (selfish) rather than Chaotic Evil (ax crazy) like most Drow.
184	* OvershadowedByAwesome: All of the original companions were extremely good warriors but Drizzt is implied to be leagues better than all of them.
185	** The series was originally meant to center around Wulfgar before Drizzt's EnsembleDarkhorse status shifted focus to him.
186	* PantheraAwesome: Guenhwyvar of course.
187	* TheParagonAlwaysRebels: While stretching it as [[LadyLand no man can be the Paragon in Drow society,]] Drizzt is the greatest swordsman they've produced in centuries as well as likely to rise as high as a man can go.
188	* PragmaticVillainy: Jarlaxle's hat. Jarlaxle doesn't engage in the usual EvilIsPetty of the Drow but only does as part of his business dealings.
189	* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Bregan Daer'the is a bunch of for-pay soldiers who work in Menzoberrazan society. They're also the place's closest thing to reliable professionals.
190	* RealMenLoveJesus: Drizzt is incredibly religious. It's just he had to rebel against his own culture and seek out a new god in order to find one he liked.
191	* ReligionOfEvil: Lolth worship is, appropriately enough, treated like this because she is an evil deity.
192	* TheRival: Artemis Entreri is one of the few human beings on the planet who can match Drizzt sword-for-sword, even if he's never quite able to conclusively beat him.
193	* SelfMadeOrphan: Averted with Drizzt, if only by technicality. His actions do, however, lead to the downfall of House Do'Urden.
194	* SnakeWhip: Many Drow priestesses have whips made out of magical snakes with multiple heads, fitting their [[WhipOfDominance domineering matriarchial culture]].
195	* TheSocialDarwinist: Most Drow culture and morality is entirely Social Darwinist. They [[BuryYourDisabled kill all disabled babies at birth]], practice eugenic selective breeding, believe themselves a SuperiorSpecies with the goals to enslave all Underdark races and exterminate their elven cousins while seizing their wealth. To that end, they are constantly struggling with each other, and Drow noble Houses frequently exterminate others (or attempt it). It's permitted so long as a House is ''completely'' wiped out. Failures, with surviving accusers, result in the government wiping out the attacking House. It extends to their laws in general, where though punishments do exist the real crime is getting caught by the authorities. They have a strict class society with commoners oppressed servants of nobles, and many non-Drow slaves as well. Males are also deemed inferior to females, kept in a subordinate position. All this is meant to make them fierce and strong, but in fact it's self-destructive, preventing them from ever fulfilling their supposed greater goals. Lolth, the evil god they worship who commands this, doesn't really care about the greater goals as them constantly fighting each other is what she finds pleasing. Drow are mostly a cruel, suspicious, treacherous people as a result, constantly prone to back-stabbing even family when it serves them and [[VirtueIsWeakness disdaining compassion or love as weakness]]. Because of this, they're unable to achieve organization larger than [[LandOfOneCity city-states]], thus an empire capable of their supposed goals is beyond reach anyway.
196	* SpidersAreScary: Drow society worships spiders and use them as a frequent motif.
197	* StrawFeminist: Averted with the Drow as they do not seek to promote women in any way but naturally assume their superiority (or enforce it with violence). They are also racist to any non-Drow as to consider females of other species equally inferior to their men.
198	* TheTheocracy: In most Drow cities, females rule and this includes the priestesses (males are barred from clergy positions), so there are strong theocratic elements (which includes outlawing worship of any other gods but Lolth).
199	* TookALevelInBadass: After being TheLoad for much of the series, Regis does this during the new Companions Codex series. He becomes an accomplished swordsman who can pull his weight in a fight, carries some very useful magical items, and also becomes a skilled alchemist, brewing potions that heal and strengthen the party.
200	%% * TooDumbToLive: The Harpells are the wizard version of this, though they often border on Crazy Awesome.
201	* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Drizzt often wonders about this with Goblins and Orcs. Which bothers him because he's aware it makes him a {{Hypocrite}}.
202	* WholePlotReference: The quest to recover Mithral Hall is a dwarf king gathering a small band of friends, including a halfling, to retake his ancestral homeland from a dragon.
203	* WorthyOpponent: What Drizzt and Artemis start to think of one another. Subverted, at the beginning, given both of them genuinely hated the other due to their difference in lifestyles.
204	** Drizzt develops these feelings toward King Obould, the Chosen of Gruumsh.
205	** ''The Drow race as a whole'', or at least Menzoberrazan, start thinking Drizzt as blessed by Lolth due to the amount of chaos he causes their species.
206	%%* VillainProtagonist: Jarlaxle and Artemis for the Sellswords trilogy.
207	* VisionaryVillain: King Obould desires for the orcs to become a civilized settled people rather than remain savage raiders. [[spoiler: He succeeds.]]
208	* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler:Yvonnel the Eternal in ''Maestro'' not only orchestrates the defeat of Demogorgon by using Drizzt as her puppet, she ''corrupts him back to the worship of Lloth'' - or at least, drives him quite insane, unsure of whether or not what he sees is real. She forces him to work for her in killing Demogorgon, but cannot break his spirit, and sends him back to the surface in the hope that his lingering madness will drive him over the edge.]]

Context Literature / TheLegendOfDrizzt