D&D General RA Salvatore Wants To Correct Drizzt’s Racist Tropes

In an interview with Polygon, the author talks about how the drow are currently being redefined in D&D, and how he wants to be part of that process.

”But on the other hand, if the drow are being portrayed as evil, that’s a trope that has to go away, be buried under the deepest pit, and never brought out again. I was unaware of that. I admit it. I was oblivious.

Drow are now split into (at least) three types — the familiar Udadrow of Menzoberranzan, the arctic-themed Aevendrow, and the jungle-themed Lorendrow. Salvatore's new novel, Starlight Enclave, helps to expand the drows' role in the narrative.

D&D’s Drizzt books were built on racist tropes. R.A. Salvatore wants to change that

‘If the drow are being portrayed as evil, that’s a trope that has to go away’

www.polygon.com

In 2020 WotC made a public statement about how they would be treating drow and orcs going forward -- "Throughout the 50-year history of D&D, some of the peoples in the game—orcs and drow being two of the prime examples—have been characterized as monstrous and evil, using descriptions that are painfully reminiscent of how real-world ethnic groups have been and continue to be denigrated. That’s just not right, and it’s not something we believe in. "

Commitment to Diversity | Dungeons & Dragons

D&D continues to be made as diverse as possible with the reminder that only a diverse group of adventurers can overcome obstacles.

dnd.wizards.com

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Maybe everyone commenting here should read the entire article, and all of his quotes, before getting so judgy.

 

[Scribe]

Okay... I'm glad he thinks it should be buried in the deepest pit and never shown again.

But he WROTE about Menzoberranzan. About the Drow. For DECADES. And he was "Oblivious" to the fact that they were presented as an evil race?

Oblivious to the allegorical dark skin=evil and women in power=evil I -might- accept he didn't really think too hard on. But not knowing they were "Portrayed as Evil"?

Don't buy that for a heartbeat.

No kidding. That statement makes absolutely no sense, to the point it feels out of context.

 

[DEFCON 1]

There's a difference between not knowing what you've done, and not knowing how your work is being perceived by some people.

He (like I'm sure most of us who grew up with these characters and books) probably never really put any sort of real life allegory to these fictional races. The drow were evil elves. Okay. Interesting idea. We know what elves are... the books say these are all evil. Fine, we'll go with that. They were also described as having actual true black skin, which does not align itself to any skin coloring of humans on our planet. So as a Caucasian person, I would imagine he probably just never thought there would be a connection made between drow and actual humans. And if there was the occasional comment of "Hmm..." regarding these books and the portrayal of drow... they were never brought up in the larger circles of fandom as something wrong or a real issue. Yes, I'm sure there were a few voices decrying it at the time... but we can find people who decry anything and everything, so most of the rest of us probably just didn't think about how big of an issue it really could be. Progressive voices in the early '90s were majorly focused on gay-rights at the time, and those were the kinds of issues that seemed to take precedence... so making connections to the drow and racial injustice was just not something many of us put much time and thought into.

Did we all have our head in the sand about this? Absolutely. We can go down the line and find issues that are currently being discussed and talked about that were summarily ignored or not seen as that important 10, 25, 50 years ago. Heck, here we all are in the middle of the #metoo movement, and discussions of trans-rights issues, racial injustice and fiscal disparity... but there are plenty of other groups and issues out there right now that are being relatively ignored because our focus is elsewhere. But come say 2050 we will all look back and wonder just what we were doing that we couldn't push harder to work on things such as mental health, the environment, multi-partner marriage, ableist privilege, or any number of other issues that some people are working tirelessly to finally get onto the agenda and that the rest of our society has back-burnered for now.

We humans only have the capacity to focus on and hopefully change our thoughts and actions on a certain number of things at a time. And thus we are going to miss or skip out on a lot. All we can do is try to do as much as we can, and if it is pointed out to us that we missed something... apologize for the oversight and try to make it right going forward.

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

Now, now, let us not pout about canon.

Said the person who dislikes continuity, got exactly what they wanted and isn't losing something they like

 

[Sacrosanct]

Ehhhhhh...

"If you'd been a -white- man who grew up in the 60s it -might- not have been obvious to you" would be a better thing to write, there.

Black people have -long- known about the connection. And women have long known that Women in Power = Evil is really rough, too. And he's been confronted about it, many times, over the years. On and offline. This isn't new. This isn't "We realized this in 2020".

Having followed him for a while, I think he's legitimately wanting to be a better person in this context, and yeah, even growing up in the 80s and 90s as white male, the connection between drow=black people never once occurred to me until I started seeing others make that connection. So I'm sure he truly didn't know the full connection. the important thing is that he's wanting to be better, and that's what we should be encouraging, right?

I'm also shocked by the number of people who are like "He's gonna change it to be less racist? I'm out!" that's... I mean go for it, friends, but that's tellin' all on yourselves.

Agreed. But not shocked. Not after seeing the responses to the other changes WoTC has made over the past year or so.

 

[Guest 7025638]

Maybe everyone commenting here should read the entire article, and all of his quotes, before getting so judgy.

I, for one, have and I don't agree with all this and related BS, not only in this instance but applies nonetheless.

 

[Nefermandias]

I don't think he was ignorant and oblivious to drows being depicted (by him amongst others) as irrevocably evil, but rather that he was oblivious to the fact that this was damageable.

I've got to admit that I was the same. Drows had black skin. Drows were evil. This was fully assumed but for me, they were two different and unrelated statements that just happened to be both true for the drows. What never occurred to me is that people with black skin would see a correlation and be hurt by it (not to mention the ethical implications of an always-evil society, regardless of their appearance).

I have a hard time believing black people would be actually offended by the mere existence of the drow elves.

 

[Stormonu]

Eh, I’ll never forgive him for making “good” drow. I got sick of all the 2E requests to play drow in my game in the 90’s. “Just play a damn elf, you emo! Drow are the bad guys in my campaign, and I don’t want them as PCs!” (And just because I’ll have to say it, they weren’t the bad guys because of the color, they were the bad guys because the did horrible and despicable things).

 

[Guest 7025638]

I suggest reading the article. That's not what he's saying when you read the entire context of his answers. Of course he knew drow are evil. He's saying he was oblivious to connection between drow/dark skinned and black people. And in fairness, many people were until recently. His other quote:

“This is something I hope more younger people can understand,” Salvatore, who is 62 years old and white, continued. “You’re seeing all this stuff and it’s obvious to you. If you grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s, it wouldn’t have been obvious. Some things are obvious, but it’s the subtle things that you learn about as you continue to grow and learn. And now, finally, we’re seeing it being played out there in the correct way with people saying, ‘This is naughty word.’ And I love it, and I feel like I’m growing.”

Meaning when people started making connections between drow and black people, and the problems with how D&D has portrayed them in that context, he learned and is growing.

"He's saying he was oblivious to connection between drow/dark skinned and black people."

As there is no connection, he was and still is right to ignore this.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Have you ever spoken with him, or followed him on social media? This is an unfair characterization. He's been pretty progressive about this for years.

You're right, I haven't done the research. The listed statements seemed disingenuous to me, but I dont actually know his deal. I apologize.