What is it about Drizzt that you just can't stand?

[RyanL]

He's pretentious.

No kidding. Those first-person "Drizzt Diary" sections that Salvatore started putting in the books like Starless Night are just plain vomit-inducing. But I suppose I kind of liked them when I was a teenager, which just about sums up Drizzt's appeal.

 

[The Sigil]

I think the biggest reason I loathe Drizzt is that I can't seem to tell him apart from Sergio Aragone's Groo the Wanderer. Both fight with paired swords. Both are invincible. Both are outcasts everywhere they go.

The difference? Groo is in a comic book - a HUMOROUS comic book - and is an attempt to poke fun at the stereotype and the genre. After this, I'm supposed to be able to take Drizz't seriously?

Also, there is the little matter that EVERY NPC in FR seems to have this "I must be invincible" thing.

--The Sigil

 

[Squire James]

The Short Answer: He got popular. That's enough for a lot of people to start hating him.

The Long Answer: I'm simply tired of him. Books #1-3 were great, books #4-6 were okay, but book #7 and beyond just starts wearing on me. Realizations made in earlier books seem to be thrown out the window at the start of the next book, only to be made anew by the end of that book. Good stories feature conflict and change, and while Salvatore has the conflict part down pat, the change element is lacking in his later books. Drizzt is the Eternal Angst-Ridden Teenager, and I'd like to see him mature a bit. Settle down, have half-elves, get them killed, become revenge-crazed middle-aged man like those guys Bruce Willis always plays...

 

[Limper]

I wouldn't say its about him being popular for me its about having to hear about him... so my beef isn't realy with ole Drizzy but with his fans.

 

[Mouseferatu]

so my beef isn't realy with ole Drizzy but with his fans.

Whereas mine isn't really with Drizzy (well, not entirely) but with his author.

I've read the Icewind Dale trilogy, the Dark Elf trilogy, the novelization of Attack of the Clones, and I tried to read the Demon trilogy (non-D&D fantasy). And I can't for the life of me figure out why this man's a best-selling author. I find his characters boring and one-dimensional (inlcuding Drizzt), his plots slow and tedious, and his prose flip-flops from pedestrian and dull to overwrought and purple.

Not trying to start flame wars. If you like Slavatore, hey, that's fine. But opinions were requested, so I provide.

(And yes, I know the characters and plots of AotC weren't his. That doesn't change anything.)

 

[Tom Cashel]

He always wins.

Annoying.

 

[Xarlen]

I've read every book up to the Sea of Swords or whatever, since I'm waiting for the paperback.

Yes, I read every one. That doesn't mean I like every one of his characters.

Drizzt is quite preachy. The way he's written, it's like a hammer smacking into your head. As many have said, he's untouchable. He's a curvy-bladed lawnmower of humanoids. He doesn't even have to be greatly wounded, but a broken bone, *anything* would safice.

He's angst-ridden, and never changes. 'Woe is me, I am a dark elf on the surface, and the only people who like me are my friends'. Wulfgar is just as bad. In the book about him, around every friggin' corner, he'd be lamenting about the abyss. Bla bla bla.

Now, as for Entrari, I like him, but I'm sure that he's up for being flamed, aswell. But, I respect some villains much more then I can most heros.

 

[Viking Bastard]

I think the biggest reason I loathe Drizzt is that I can't seem to tell him apart from Sergio Aragone's Groo the Wanderer. Both fight with paired swords. Both are invincible. Both are outcasts everywhere they go.

The difference? Groo is in a comic book - a HUMOROUS comic book - and is an attempt to poke fun at the stereotype and the genre. After this, I'm supposed to be able to take Drizz't seriously?

I'm a big fan of Groo and... well... what can I say? You're absolutely right!

 

[scadgrad]

yet another predictable rip off

Yawn...ok well you asked for opinions...

First and foremost he is a patent rip off of Moorcock's Elric & Corum and not a very good one at that.

Add to that the stumblebum literary abilities of Salvatore and you've got one flat, predictable cliche.

How anyone could actually move on to read his other novels after the Icewind Dale Drivel is beyond me. With all the great books out there to read, why bother?

Very sad...

 

[Teflon Billy]

Scadgrad sums it up nicely for me there from a literary perspective.

From a gaming perspective, I'd have to add that I hate is how inspirational he is to people with very little imagination during character generation.

feh.

ON a more positive note, I quite like the picture of him on that recent cover of Dragon magaizine.

but that's about the best thing I can think to say about the character.

Nice picture.