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

[Ds Da Man]

Is this the Kane that had the demon rings, in the evil city, who follows his fathers plans, intending to invite the evil god into himself?

 

[mmadsen]

It just gets to me how Drizzt became as popular as he did. I guess mass marketing did it but people have no taste and don't read other fantasy books to know what a good character is.

I think that's the real issue -- with Drizzt and with gaming novels in general. I'm always surprised by D&D fanatics who haven't read Tolkien, Moorcock, Leiber, Howard, etc. How can you pick up the latest novel with a pretty cover that may or may not be any good and not pick up the classics that are guaranteed to be great? (Granted, they're not guaranteed to fit your personal taste, but they didn't become classics because they were "pretty good".)

 

[Numion]

My biggest gripe about Drizzt is that he never scored with Katti-Brie

(Sorry if I said this already, I had problems posting anything for a while.)

 

[Henry]

Only one problem with the "classics" - I never read Lord of the Rings while growing up - I started it, read a while, got tired of what I saw as the very long-winded prose, and never got past page 75 or so.

When the FotR movie came out, I watched it, and fell into it enraptured. It was easily the best fantasy movie EVER, to date. So, figuring that I was missing out on a classic, I returned to the Fellowship of the Ring, and read again. I read diligently, digesting 10 or 15 pages a day or so, so as not to burn myself out.

I finished the first 150 or so pages, and gradually lost interest. I think I got as far as the Prancing Pony. I still have to wonder, how Peter Jackson got THAT out of that book is amazing to me.

So the problem with these classics of the genre, is that we have been colored with them while growing up. To us, they are classics. To others, they are stale of writing style and do not live up to expectations of the current genre, which is a much more visual medium.

 

[kreynolds]

It just gets to me how Drizzt became as popular as he did.

I think this is the root of the problem and why most people openly dislike the character but privately dig him and think he's alright. Inferiority Complex.

Let's face it. Drizzt is cooler than 90% of the people replying to this thread ever will be, and that tends to tick people off, as is very evident by many of the posts. I'm quite surpised actually. I figured most people would have legitimate reasons for disliking the character. A few do, but the majority don't like the character simply because he's "too good". LOL *shrug*

Dunno. Maybe I'm wrong. Doubt it. But maybe.

Interesting responses. Keep 'em coming.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Dunno. Maybe I'm wrong. Doubt it. But maybe.

You're wrong.

I hate Drizzt--and R.A. Salvatore--publically and privately, thank you very much. I don't find Drizzt cool at all. I find him one-dimensional and boring.

And BTW, being "too good" is a legitimate reason for hating a character. (Granted, it's not really one of mine, but that doesn't make it less viable.) If a character is too perfect, he needs to be extremely well written to be either believable and interesting. Drizzt is neither.

Drizzt is cooler than 90% of the people replying to this thread ever will be,

Anybody who feels inferior because a ficitonal character in a heroic fantasy setting might be coller than they are has some serious psychiatric problems.

 

[kreynolds]

You're wrong.

Maybe. But I wasn't speaking in regards to everyone.

I hate Drizzt--and R.A. Salvatore--publically and privately, thank you very much. I don't find Drizzt cool at all. I find him one-dimensional and boring.

See? You have a legitimate reason. Thus you're not in the 90 percentile.

Anybody who feels inferior because a ficitonal character in a heroic fantasy setting might be coller than they are has some serious psychiatric problems.

I agree.

Anyways, personally, I think Psion hit it dead on.

 

[Leopold]

I think this is the root of the problem and why most people openly dislike the character but privately dig him and think he's alright. Inferiority Complex.

nope hate him with a passion online and offline. Ask my players my feelings on him..

Let's face it. Drizzt is cooler than 90% of the people replying to this thread ever will be, and that tends to tick people off, as is very evident by many of the posts.

nope sorry wrong..I am down like whoa and i know it. The only 'kool' thing that drizzt does is kill lots of things and survive. Hell i wish he was on a special forces team, just send in drizzt and he'll destroy anything and come out unharmed! Who could ask for a kooler hero! I can for one. I like to see my heros fail, fall, and rise up and come back at it stronger. Drizzt does not do this, he does not fail, he does not falter, and he ALWAYS wins. Winning all the time in my book is bad, defeat is good and healthy and a learning experience. RAS should take drizzt out and get a A$Z kickin' and write about it, i would then be able to 'feel' more for him being 'real' rather than a one man wrecking crew.


Sorry drizzt is not 'cool' in my book, he's boring, done to death, and downright dull.

 

[Leopold]

Maybe. But I wasn't speaking in regards to everyone.

90% is 9 out of every 10 people. that is basically everyone.

 

[kreynolds]

90% is 9 out of every 10 people. that is basically everyone.

No. That "basically" isn't everyone. An elementary education is enough to teach you that. Are you gonna argue semantics now? Come on.

Well, seeing how upset you are, I guess we know what percentage you fall into. Just kidding.

Look, all I'm sayin' is that less than half of the responses I've seen are worth reading a second time. More than half of them are meaningless and essentially convey the following, "I love him but I'd never tell", "I hate him because I could never be that cool", "I hate him because I'm not allowed to play a character like him", "blah, blah, blah".

However, some of the truly legitimate responses are the ones that convey the following, "I don't like him because there have been so many people that try to play him in my games that I'm sick of him", "It's not that I don't like him, I just think there are better characters in other books", "I like him well enough, I just don't worship him", "blah, blah, blah".

By the way, just in case you're curious, part of my first post was just to get some people all riled up (the best and strongest opinions come out when people are emotional), and I'm sure you can figure out what part that was.

I was hoping that by being specific with the question, I would get more specific responses instead of just "Cause he's stupid.", and it worked. There's a lot of really intelligent feedback coming through, but there's even more garbage. Basically, the thread is an experiment to see how much garbage opinions are out there in relation to intelligent ones.

Anyways, this is the whole point of the thread; I've seen dozens upon dozens of Drizzt bashing threads, and that's just about all they were too, Drizzt bashing. The WotC boards are terrible about that, as most people find it extremely difficult to actually post a coherent and mature thought over there, which is why I asked here. Largely, from what I can tell, most people bash the character simply because they wanna be part of the bandwagon or the in-crowd, however you wanna look at it. But no matter which way you cut it, at least half the people that don't like the character don't even have a reason.

Now, there have been 3 different types of responses on this thread, and they are:
1) useless and meaningless
2) legitimate complaints, such as the lack of depth or evolution with the character, and/or RAS's writing style, etc.
3) funny replies.

I dig the second and third types, but mostly, I was just curious how many of the first type would actually come through, and surprisingly enough, there were more than I expected. But like I said, there's some really intelligent feedback coming through, so keep it comin' folks.