Cover of The Lone Drow
The Hunter's Blades Trilogy is a trilogy written by science fiction and fantasy author R.A. Salvatore. The books are part of the The Legend of Drizzt saga, following the adventures of Drizzt Do'Urden. It is preceeded by the Paths of Darkness series and followed by Transitions.The books in the series are:
- The Thousand Orcs (2002)
- The Lone Drow (2003)
- The Two Swords (2004)
The Two Swords was Salvatore's 17th work concerning one of his most famous characters, Drizzt Do'Urden. In this series, Drizzt takes a stand to stop the spread of chaos and war by an overambitious orc king across Drizzt's adopted homeland. The series reached the New York Times bestseller list.
Returning from their latest journey, Drizzt and the Companions of the Hall are sought out by a curious dwarf named Thibbledorf Pwent, who informs them that the last king of Mithral Hall has died. Bruenor, being the next in line, now has to serve as King. And it seems that his reign will begin with a time of crisis: A powerful orc named Obould Many-Arrows has allied himself with a frost giant princess and plans to establish a kingdom of orcs right to the north of the Silver Marches. Obould is an extraordinary fighter and unusually intelligent for his race, and has allied himself with four drow advisors who do their level best to stoke the fires.
This series provides examples of the following tropes:
- Aesop: Evil hostile cultures can integrate with a larger whole if given a chance to do so.
- Always Chaotic Evil: Played with as R.A. Salvatore indicates part of the reasons the Orcs are this way is because of poverty and the treatment of other races.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: The Distant Finale of the book has the orcs being attacked by a Captain Ersatz of the KKK.
- The Bad Guy Wins: For the value of Obould being the Big Bad, the Silver Marches fails to stop him from seizing vast amounts of territory before setting himself up as ruler of a kingdom that lasts almost a century. The willingness to negotiate also destroys the Silver Marches as a polity given many believed they could have defeated Obould.
- Big Bad: King Obould appears to be this. He turns out to be something a bit more complicated.
- The Chosen One: King Obould receives Gruumsh's blessing that makes him stronger, more charismatic, and smarter than other orcs of his kind. It's implied that he's become the Chosen of said god the same way Elminster and others are of Mystra.
- Covers Always Lie: The first book looks like Drizzt is going to kill a thousand orcs by himself. Ironically, he doesn't face that many in the first book. The second book, however...
- May also qualify as a Fanservice Cover in the context it's meant to appeal to all those Lord of the Rings film fans out to see some orc killing action.
- Distant Finale: More like Distant Finale Prologue. We know, eventually, the orcs become civilized due to the way the books start.
- Doomed Hometown: Icewind Dale is threatened for the first time since the first books. Subverted in peace is achieved with negotiation.
- Fantastic Racism: A pretty nuanced example as things go. Orcs are considered to be little more than vermin by the other races of the North. The thing is, this is due to the fact orcs have been killing and raiding since forever. The Orcs are now demanding respect and equal rites but by murdering and conquering.
- Hope Spot: Drizzt is finally going to face King Obould in single-combat. Given Drizzt has defeated every opponent he's ever faced once he gets his blades in them, it seems like he's about to save the day and end Obould's threat. It...doesn't work out like that.
- Hypocrite: Drizzt deals with the fact that he's a dark elf who has treated orcs like vermin to be exterminated for the entirety of his life up to this point. He's already met a non-evil goblin before in a short story so his awareness of this is something that gives him pause.
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Like You Would Really Do It: Drizzt's "death" halfway through the series. - Mook Horror Show: Drizzt attempts to undermine King Obould's support by killing groups of orcs trying to join his army.
- Our Orcs Are Different: These are the same orcs you've seen in Dungeons and Dragons from the beginning but we get it from their perspective. Also, it turns out, like Drizzt, they're not as Always Chaotic Evil as they first appeared.
- Took a Level in Badass: Orcs as a whole. For most of the series, they've been nothing more than Cannon Fodder that never poses a serious threat to someone who has fought dragons as well as a Balor (twice). This applies to his companions as well who fought a much tougher seeming opponent in the armies of Menzoberrazan. Seeing the orcs win is something almost unprecedented too.
- What Measure Is a Mook?: After being treated like walking experience points by Drizzt for most of his life, Drizzt is confronted with the fact orcs just want a normal life like anyone else.
- The Worf Effect: Drizzt Do'Urden has slain dragons, drow weaponsmasters, and a balor (twice). So, it's a shocking upset when he proves unable to defeat King Obould in single combat. To be fair, it's implied that Obould has been made the Chosen of Gruumsh during this time.
- Worthy Opponent: Drizzt's reaction to Obould begins with hatred and disgust then gradually turns to something akin to respect and even admiration.
- Visionary Villain: King Obould dreams of orcs leaving their subsistence-level existence of raiding to a permanently-settled one.
