Why do you love/hate Drizzt?

[Aaron L]

He's an interesting character. I neither love him nor hate him. I have no problems with lots of stories about him, as he's an elf with a long lifespan, but I'd prefer that the stories were actually interesting ones rather than what I've read.

Plus, I have this 19th level gold elven Fighter/Wizard/Bladesinger/Eldritch Knight who's just itching to meet this dark elven Ranger that he's heard rumors of who is supposedly the "greatest swordsman in the Realms" ...

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I need to go play more D&D. I have yet to meet a single person who wanted to play a Drizzt-clone. (Or a clone of any character out there).

 

[Kae'Yoss]

He's an interesting character. I neither love him nor hate him. I have no problems with lots of stories about him, as he's an elf with a long lifespan, but I'd prefer that the stories were actually interesting ones rather than what I've read.

Plus, I have this 19th level gold elven Fighter/Wizard/Bladesinger/Eldritch Knight who's just itching to meet this dark elven Ranger that he's heard rumors of who is supposedly the "greatest swordsman in the Realms" ...

When they meet, they can band together and let themselves be thrashed by my old 30th level moon elven Fighter/Wizard/Bladesinger/Divine Champion (Corellon), although he was not one to spank fellow elves for no reason. He did like to show those annoying tyrrans who the real masters with the long sword were. (One of my favourite campaign moments were when I beat a high priest of Tyr unconscious with the flat of Veluuthra during a sparring match )

 

[Aaron L]

When they meet, they can band together and let themselves be thrashed by my old 30th level moon elven Fighter/Wizard/Bladesinger/Divine Champion (Corellon), although he was not one to spank fellow elves for no reason. He did like to show those annoying tyrrans who the real masters with the long sword were. (One of my favourite campaign moments were when I beat a high priest of Tyr unconscious with the flat of Veluuthra during a sparring match )

Rhaethiir's always up for a good sparring match, especially if it's against someone who can teach him something new!

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I like him. There are annoying aspects (too uber and falls into the "might makes right" problem, big ego, too much angst) but that's not necessarily a huge deal; there are lots of worse FR novel characters. (*Koff* Mystra and her Chosen. *Koff*) I'm so glad Eberron has some quality novels; I can read about heroes being challenged again

Having said that, I don't like his clones (even though they're not uber - drow are not mechanically sound, and swashbuckler archetypes are weak by RAW), and I absolutely despise Eilistraee. There's a special layer of hell reserved for her, one even Mal wouldn't fall into.

I felt very bad when I read Eilistraee's name in one of the more recent Drizzt novels; suddenly I think Drizzt is going to meet an Eilistraeen, get her as a new girlfriend after three-and-a-half novels worth of failed dates and "damsels in distress" situation and then dump Catti-Brie. Having an Eilistraeen would make the series much less enjoyable, and I wouldn't touch any books that mentioned her unless I'm told by a trustworthy source that she dies painfully in it.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

I think that they're semi-good pulp but that RA has quite a bit to go before becoming a good writer.

As far as the novels go, I think the early ones are pretty bad; the writing is poor. The writing improved over time, though; the Dark Elf trilogy was better than the initial stuff.

Oddly, I feel the exact opposite. I thought the Crystal Shard trilogy (in particular, the Crystal Shard) were very well written, well plotted books. The Dark Elf trilogy was okay- Salvatore started to get a little too hung up on his elaborate (and, to me, hard to visualize and often somewhat ludicrous when visualized) fight scenes.

I kind of gave up at some point with the later novels- I think the last one I read was the one where Wulfgar got resurrected, and I barely recall that one. His works just got blah, to me. The lowpoint, for me, was the near product placement perfect inclusion of the dwarven battlerager (Pwiddledorf or something) in one of the later novels.

I'm tempted to try his Artemis Entreri/Jarlaxle novels, but I'm also leery.

Like others, I think I just got burned out on the whole thing. It seemed like he was recycling the same Drizzt tales time and again.

[As an aside, I was a bit disappointed when he changed Drizzt in the post-Crystal Shard novels to only around a century or so old, as opposed to the much older age he was in CS. I guess it doesn't make a huge difference, and character development wise, it probably helped for the backstory he told, but I think the idea of the loneliness that must have developed for him over centuries away from his people and others makes a much more tragic figure than just decades. Being nitpicky, though.]

 

[Prince of Happiness]

Oddly, I feel the exact opposite. I thought the Crystal Shard trilogy (in particular, the Crystal Shard) were very well written, well plotted books. The Dark Elf trilogy was okay- Salvatore started to get a little too hung up on his elaborate (and, to me, hard to visualize and often somewhat ludicrous when visualized) fight scenes.

That's the point when I threw in the towel. They started to read like: "He did what now? He jumped up on the ogre's knee, hit him twice in the head with scimitars, jumped off the ogre, towards a cliff face, jumped off that towards another ogre, somersaulting off the ogre's shoulder onto his back, driving both scimitars into the ogre's neck but OH NOES!!! the ogre has more hit points left, so Drizzt rolls under the ogre, drives Icytwinkletoes in the ogre's nuts, somersaults between the ogre's legs, backflips off of Gwyhwyvwywhwyhwywvvvyhwvywvwywyvyyvwwwar's head onto the top of the last ogre (one hp left!) and then drives both swords in his ears? Did I read that right? WTF?"

 

[Drowbane]

I've never seen a Drizzt clone at the table. I've personally had five Drow PCs, none of which fought with scimitars or dualwielded. Only was was good.

If its cool to dislike something on the net, you'll see alot of smack about the subject.

 

[Oryan77]

That's the point when I threw in the towel. They started to read like: "He did what now? He jumped up on the ogre's knee, hit him twice in the head with scimitars, jumped off the ogre, towards a cliff face, jumped off that towards another ogre, somersaulting off the ogre's shoulder onto his back, driving both scimitars into the ogre's neck but OH NOES!!! the ogre has more hit points left, so Drizzt rolls under the ogre, drives Icytwinkletoes in the ogre's nuts, somersaults between the ogre's legs, backflips off of Gwyhwyvwywhwyhwywvvvyhwvywvwywyvyyvwwwar's head onto the top of the last ogre (one hp left!) and then drives both swords in his ears? Did I read that right? WTF?"

Hmm, I enjoyed reading detailed fight scenes like that. It was better to imagine that happening than all the other novels I read that just gloss over a fight (like LotR).

Besides, it must not be that lame because WotC has a billion different feats (and now tricks) to simulated that exact same type of fighting in D&D

 

[humble minion]

I'm pretty sure that the target audience for TSR novels when Salvatore wrote the 'core' Drizzt canon (Icewind Dale, Homeland/ExileSojourn, Legacy etc) was about 14-15. They're young adult books, and as a young adult I really liked them, and I'd still recommend them to a kid just getting into fantasy. They were the original reason I got involved in D&D, after all! And I think that TSR's demands were a big contributor to some of the sillier aspects of the books (none of the good guys - except Zaknafien - ever dies for good, despite no hint of Raise Dead or similar magic ever being used). And I'd argue that the whole 'outcast hero hated by all' thing was undercut nicely in Exile and Starless Night when Drizzt gets all angsty and tries to go it alone in typical Mary-Sue fashion only to get his butt kicked and need rescuing by his friends. You're 16th level, Do'Urden. Haven't you ever learnt never to split the party?!

The reason I don't really enjoy reading the books any more is that Salvatore's writing style really seems to be stuck in a rut. I can live with his plotting and characterisation, but when it comes to the actual mechanics of putting words together he seems to be going nowhere fast. I never, ever again want to read about Cattie-Brie's 'silver-streaking' arrows. Or about how Wulfgar's 'fury redoubled'. Or about Drizzt's 'whirring' scimitars. Whirring? Does he have them attached to an electric egg-beater or something? Seriously, the bloke really should invest in a thesaurus.

Oh, and the whole 'dark mirror' theme and motif is completely and utterly used up, exhausted and done with at this stage. Move on, please.