D&D 5E Tasha's Drow Art and the Future of Their Depictions in D&D

[doctorbadwolf]

I think it's really messed up that in the "You can be good drow, too, see?" artwork all of the good drow are pale-skinned to the point of being almost white.

Making the visual change happen right as they make it explicit that no race is wholly evil? It's very blatant "Dark = Evil, Light = Good" imagery.

As to the "Albinism makes more sense, anyhow" brigade: Drow didn't "Evolve" to be obsidian skinned. It's an ancient curse from Correllon which was laid upon Lolth and all who followed her, as well as Eilistraee.

Feel free to have albino elves in your games and settings, of course. Or Stone-Grey or anything in between. Should probably also make them Blind, honestly, if they evolved as cave-dwellers... But the default setting for 5e is FR and alllll of it's baggage! We can't ignore that when looking at new art from WoTC in a core rulebook.

Also worth noting: Even if a hundred different artists submitted work for the book, the Art Department had total editorial purview over what gets used. So this whole "Since drow can be good let's make them not black in our artwork, anymore" angle is something that hit a -lot- of desks and was approved by a whole bunch of people before release.

Bit of a stretch.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think it's really messed up that in the "You can be good drow, too, see?" artwork all of the good drow are pale-skinned to the point of being almost white.

Making the visual change happen right as they make it explicit that no race is wholly evil? It's very blatant "Dark = Evil, Light = Good" imagery.

As to the "Albinism makes more sense, anyhow" brigade: Drow didn't "Evolve" to be obsidian skinned. It's an ancient curse from Correllon which was laid upon Lolth and all who followed her, as well as Eilistraee.

Feel free to have albino elves in your games and settings, of course. Or Stone-Grey or anything in between. Should probably also make them Blind, honestly, if they evolved as cave-dwellers... But the default setting for 5e is FR and alllll of it's baggage! We can't ignore that when looking at new art from WoTC in a core rulebook.

Also worth noting: Even if a hundred different artists submitted work for the book, the Art Department had total editorial purview over what gets used. So this whole "Since drow can be good let's make them not black in our artwork, anymore" angle is something that hit a -lot- of desks and was approved by a whole bunch of people before release.

I tend to suspect this is a hilariously unfortunate accident of the very corporate kind rather than any kind of intention.

It's like, strategy/marketing had decreed two things - Drow shouldn't be portrayed just as dark-skinned anymore, and Drow shouldn't be portrayed as evil any more, and both things had to be included in the new book.

And whoops, that's not a great look lol. As for the art department, I think you may be overstating that this was "approved by a whole bunch of people", but what it does show is that it probably wasn't approved by a very diverse group of people.

 

[Alzrius]

Drow shouldn't be portrayed just as dark-skinned anymore

So there's going to be a whole lot more szarkai from now on, in other words.

Szarkai

Szarkai (pronounced: /ˈzɑːrkaɪ/ ZAHRK-eye[2]), meaning "ghost spiders", were albino drow. Although extremely rare and a subject of mystery, they could easily pass as normal elves, making them ideal spies for the drow noble houses, able to operate freely in the surface world.[2] As albinos, they...

forgottenrealms.fandom.com

 

[Steampunkette]

I tend to suspect this is a hilariously unfortunate accident of the very corporate kind rather than any kind of intention.

It's like, strategy/marketing had decreed two things - Drow shouldn't be portrayed just as dark-skinned anymore, and Drow shouldn't be portrayed as evil any more, and both things had to be included in the new book.

And whoops, that's not a great look lol. As for the art department, I think you may be overstating that this was "approved by a whole bunch of people", but what it does show is that it probably wasn't approved by a very diverse group of people.

Oh, absolutely. I'm not saying "WotC's Art Department and Production are a bunch of Evil Racists!" I'm saying they were all blissfully unaware of how bad a look they were putting out.

Like... all of them. One after the other after the other, approving different pieces of artwork, rejecting others, completely aware of whatever unconscious bias lead them to ultimately making it turn out like it did.

It also wouldn't shock me if there were at least a few times where someone went "Heeey... guys..? This might be a little uncomfortable to hear, but..." and then the others went "Nooo... it won't come across like that, right? I mean... c'mon! Right?" And then the concerns were ignored and off it went to print.

 

[Charlaquin]

Blame Pathfinder. Or anime. Whichever you prefer. I for one like this stylistic choice as it helps to better differentiate elves from humans and half-elves.

I love the alien-looking elves of Dragon Age 2!

 

[Mirtek]

But until recently, dark elves in D&D, specifically, were the drows; evil looking, underground dwelling, black skin, white hair, matriarchal, spider-worshiping elves.

How do you define "until recently" the drow pantheon with Ellistrae, Vhaerun and the others has been around for decades. So not all were evil and not all worshipped spiders (even though most non-spider worshippers were still evil)

 

[Steampunkette]

How do you define "until recently" the drow pantheon with Ellistrae, Vhaerun and the others has been around for decades. So not all were evil and not all worshipped spiders (even though most non-spider worshippers were still evil)

See... I wanted SO BADLY to be like "HAH! Eilistraee was created recently!" and then I remembered 1991 was 30 years ago and now I feel old.

... so thanks for that.

Though I will note that until recently, the canon was that she was the protector and primary deity of the "Rare" Drow who wanted to leave the Underdark and stop being evil.

Even through 4e they're described as: "Drow are the most evil race in existence; they are cruel, devious and treacherous." even when it later acknowledged "Rarely, however, the harsh childhood may have the opposite effect, turning the child into a Lolth-hating hero."

The Vast Majority of Drow have always been considered Evil. And even now under the 5e banner, it's still gonna be the "Rare Hero" who overcomes their race's natural evil nature and tendencies to be better.

It's getting better, but good lord is it going slowly.

 

[Zardnaar]

The curse was a 3E innovation iirc. Wasn't there iirc in 2E or Gygaxian Drow. Tasha's art in general is bad or at least to cartoon like IMHO.

 

[billd91]

How do you define "until recently" the drow pantheon with Ellistrae, Vhaerun and the others has been around for decades. So not all were evil and not all worshipped spiders (even though most non-spider worshippers were still evil)

Yeah, they've been around but their impact has probably been minimal in drow-oriented mindshare among gamers. I can't even remember who all of them are and I've used drow in many adventures. The non-Lolth drow gods are bit parts, not headliners.
Even Paizo, who can use drow but can't use Lolth with Pathfinder, had to take a slightly different line on them but to limited success. They featured prominently in one early AP (which I appreciated) and then.... what? Drow minus Lolth and her spiders just aren't as interesting.

 

[Steampunkette]

Yeah, they've been around but their impact has probably been minimal in drow-oriented mindshare among gamers. I can't even remember who all of them are and I've used drow in many adventures. The non-Lolth drow gods are bit parts, not headliners.
Even Paizo, who can use drow but can't use Lolth with Pathfinder, had to take a slightly different line on them but to limited success. They featured prominently in one early AP (which I appreciated) and then.... what? Drow minus Lolth and her spiders just aren't as interesting.

I liked the Eberron Scorpion-Drow?

They had all kinds of good strong haughtiness and antagonistic positioning to players exploring Xen'drik without being an "Evil" Race.