D&D General Drow as in Cow or Drow as in Snow: Where did the Dark Elves Come From?

[Voadam]

I was never a huge fan anyway, and it got worse when I married someone with arachnophobia, so no spiders in my games.

That being said, I really like this shiny chitin idea.

Last fourteen years with an arachnophobe in my face to face game so no drow as well.

 

[Bohandas]

It's pronounced "Drew" and they're all named "Drew" ;p

 

[Marc Radle]

I met Frank Mentzer back when I was a kid and heard him speak in person over many days, and he pronounced it drow (as in grow) on many occasions, so that’s how I have always, and will always pronounce the word.

In fact, it’s only been in the last few years that I’ve started hearing it pronounced like cow, and it still sounds extremely odd to me.

 

[dave2008]

I met Frank Mentzer back when I was a kid and heard him speak in person over many days, and he pronounced it drow (as in grow) on many occasions, so that’s how I have always, and will always pronounce the word.

In fact, it’s only been in the last few years that I’ve started hearing it pronounced like cow, and it still sounds extremely odd to me.

Well that is about the best authority I have heard on this subject. I always said like "cow," but not any more!

 

[Clint_L]

We've always pronounced it Drow as in Cow - I've never heard it pronounced as in grow!

Google says to pronounce it to sound like cow. But Forgotten Realms wiki gives both options. The official 2e handbook said to rhyme it with cow, as well.

Apparently Gygax Gygax said it as rhyming with "wow," but also said to pronounce it however you want, which seems like good advice.

 

[lall]

Gygax: “I pronounce it to rhyme with ‘cow,’ but if you prefer to pronounce it differently, that’s perfectly okay. Whatever works for your campaign.”
I’ve always gone with the non-cow version, because it sounds cooler, everyone uses the cow version, and cows are lame.

 

[MGibster]

Apparently Gygax Gygax said it as rhyming with "wow," but also said to pronounce it however you want, which seems like good advice.

Why not both in the same setting? Kind of like how we in the United States know how to pronounce schedule, aluminum, and vitamin but our friends across the Atlantic pronounce it in an odd manner. Maybe people from the Yeomanry rhyme with cow when they saw drow and the sophisticated socialites of the Free City of Greyhawk pronounce it like it rhymes with grow.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I’ve always gone with the non-cow version, because it sounds cooler, everyone uses the cow version, and cows are lame.

 

[Dire Bare]

I’ve always assumed the drow have a cruel matriarchal society because of the spider thing.

I acknowledge that there are problematic associations between spiders and women – and yes, Gygax openly admitted to being sexist, so while I would like to think that the drow being matriarchal was an innocent, well-intentioned choice, it’s entirely possible it was not.

I think . . . that Gygax didn't create the drow to embody sexist and racist tropes intentionally, but rather pulled those tropes from the literature and mythology he was familiar with . . . and yes, his own sexism shone through . . .

But when called out on it later in life, he doubled down (on the sexism, not the racism).

But to be fair to Gygax, the "rehabilitation" of the drow didn't start until relatively recently and has been doled out in dribs and drabs by the current D&D team.

The drow in Salvatore's novels slowly went through the "Klingon Effect" where Drizzt (and his dad) were the only good drow, the rest consummate villains. Over time, Salvatore's drow characters grew in nuance, helped along by the "War of the Spider Queen" novel series (by other authors than Salvatore). But until recently, the drow were still a pretty "always-evil-race" (except Drizzt), just with more depth than the initial cardboard. In Salvatore's latest novels, there is a civil war being fought in Menzoberranzan, between Lolth loyalists and those who now reject the Demon Queen of Spiders and her evil ways. And the hero team discovered a "lost" civilization of goodly drow living under a glacier in the far, far north, the aevendrow. Web articles from WotC also introduce the lorendrow who live in a jungle down south somewhere. But these changes haven't been introduced to the game itself yet, and we really haven't learned much about the lorendrow since they were announced something like four years ago . . .

 

[Zardnaar]

I think . . . that Gygax didn't create the drow to embody sexist and racist tropes intentionally, but rather pulled those tropes from the literature and mythology he was familiar with . . . and yes, his own sexism shone through . . .

But when called out on it later in life, he doubled down (on the sexism, not the racism).

But to be fair to Gygax, the "rehabilitation" of the drow didn't start until relatively recently and has been doled out in dribs and drabs by the current D&D team.

The drow in Salvatore's novels slowly went through the "Klingon Effect" where Drizzt (and his dad) were the only good drow, the rest consummate villains. Over time, Salvatore's drow characters grew in nuance, helped along by the "War of the Spider Queen" novel series (by other authors than Salvatore). But until recently, the drow were still a pretty "always-evil-race" (except Drizzt), just with more depth than the initial cardboard. In Salvatore's latest novels, there is a civil war being fought in Menzoberranzan, between Lolth loyalists and those who now reject the Demon Queen of Spiders and her evil ways. And the hero team discovered a "lost" civilization of goodly drow living under a glacier in the far, far north, the aevendrow. Web articles from WotC also introduce the lorendrow who live in a jungle down south somewhere. But these changes haven't been introduced to the game itself yet, and we really haven't learned much about the lorendrow since they were announced something like four years ago . . .

Erm Elistraee in the 90s?