Why do you love/hate Drizzt?

[iwatt]

I still enjoy the new books for a popcorn read but he's quickly approaching the "best of everything, nothing in the world can stop him, which is why he's so awesome" characteristics which make me disinterested in and loathe Wolverine, Boba Fett and Jack Bauer.

Add Honor Harrington to that list. Of course she keeps loosing body parts...

 

[Ranes]

I do, however, have some minor issues with Salvatore's writing but that's just the editor in me talking.

As you're an editor, do you know the meaning of the word 'minor'?

Ranes
of the impending ban

 

[eris404]

I have to say I'm a bit puzzled with the love/hate of Drizzt. I've never read the books and we have never had anyone in our group (to my knowledge) that wanted to play a "Drizzt clone." In fact, we've had very few drow (actually, I can't think of a single instance) in any of campaigns in the last seven years or so. I think this is because the other DMs in our group did get so burned out on the drow in general in the 80s that they haven't used them since. I'm almost curious enough to check out the books to see what all the fuss is about, but the opinions are so different on the books that I wouldn't even know which ones to try!

(As an aside, my only experience with the drow up to this point was a brief time spent running Vault of the Drow et al. for my childhood gaming group about a thousand years ago. I was not a victim of the drow overexposure that many people in my current group and on ENWorld suffered through.)

Also, I wonder how the character appears to non-gamers (or former gamers whose sole connection to D&D now is reading their line of fantasy novels); I mean, I wonder how much of the love/hate comes from the gaming experience and how much comes from the quality of the writing. I think it would be interesting to find that out somehow.

 

[Nightfall]

*is just getting the set for the White dragon.*

 

[Owldragon]

I think the reason people love Drizzt is that he represents the epitome of the shunned outsider who, despite being hated by everybody, kicks ass and is generally really cool. In other words, he calls out to the hearts of angsty teenagers everywhere.

Seriously, the figure of the mighty hero who can kick everybody's ass but is doomed to be an outsider is a powerful one. I think people have a problem with Drizzt because:

1) He's been overdone to the point of being a cliche (see the comment of a previous poster about being the "Stairway to Heaven" of D&D ) and seems to be a sort of one-note character.

2) The only thing worse than a bunch of clones is a bunch of clones who are all saying "I'm so alone and misunderstood! No one knows what it's like to be a rebel like me!" The whole shunned loner / rebel / "I'm so unique" thing starts getting a bit ridiculous when there are droves of people all claiming the same background.

I think #2 is why someone else posted about their hatred of the Goddess of Good Drow up above. Part of the original appeal of the character of Drizzt was someone who was different and alone; drow hated him because he didn't conform to their society, and surface people hated him because of the way he looked. Those were great aspects to the character - and the less unique he became, the more disgusted many people came. How many people have tried to be like him in their own games? And now there's enough of these characters around to have their own goddess? Few things can annoy people more than something "rebellious" that becomes mainstream.

 

[William drake]

You've obviously never read the books as RA goes into this a lot. They've sent legions against Drizzt and his companions before and have been defeated. That's the whole crux of Siege of Darkness and that Salvatore deals with really well. Because the drow priestesses have suffered so many defeats and lost so many of their kind by Drizzt's blades they found it better to leave him alone and rightfully so.

You’re right, all I know is what a friend of mine has told me, and he's read all the books. So thank you on that, now I know that attempts have been made to kill the one drow that's making a bad name for all other drow.

But to what someone else has said, Drizzt fails all the time, its like R.A has his Drizzt’s charter sheet out, and is playing a game with him; so, whatever he rolls is the outcome of the day for that book’s chapter. That's why he can fight giants in one book, but gets seen by low level orcs in another. And I’ve wonder the same thing, how could he have gotten seen. Unless R.A is boosting the population number of F.R so that more orcs are high enough level to be able to keep up with his slick drow.

Some one else said, that after running a character for so long, you have to raise the stakes. Well, that’s true, but if you don’t do it right, you end up with this. Where he kills giants or whatnot in one book, but fails to take down orcs in another. His failures don’t account for bad luck, they are speaking of bad writing, and the lack in R.A's ability to manage his world so that there is a steady progression in both creativity and danger.

And spelling errors aside, since I am writing this late at night and working at the same time, I can have my opinion about pulp that is setting a bad standard for fantasy and fiction alike. If it makes you feel better, I will type my responses out in WORD then post them, but my grammar aside, I’m not a published author who is losing his character’s potential and ability every few books. I’m not making him untouchable in one page, and spotted by a nobody on the next without good reason, and bad luck isn’t the reason. That’s the quick fix, the “damn, now I’ve got to fix it, but I can’t, so I’ll just leave it at that and no one can say anything to me because I’m the writer HAHAHA”

Bad luck you say, this isn’t a game, it’s a story. Bad luck is something that happens on a grand scale for someone like Drizzt, not he trips and falls at the wrong time. Bad luck is that he’s been working for his enemy the entire time, that he put a bad king into power, that’s Bad luck for a character at Drizzt’s level. Yes, rolls are rolls, but like I said, unless R.A is using a D&D book to figure out the ability of his creation, and not his own mind, then Bad luck doesn’t cut it.

And if bad luck is your argument for all of the out of place occurrences, than shouldn’t Drizzt have died already.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I think #2 is why someone else posted about their hatred of the Goddess of Good Drow up above. Part of the original appeal of the character of Drizzt was someone who was different and alone; drow hated him because he didn't conform to their society, and surface people hated him because of the way he looked. Those were great aspects to the character - and the less unique he became, the more disgusted many people came. How many people have tried to be like him in their own games? And now there's enough of these characters around to have their own goddess? Few things can annoy people more than something "rebellious" that becomes mainstream.

Or, there's a goddess who made redeeming drow her life's work. (a hen and egg situation if I ever saw one).

For me, it's only logical that deities like Eilistraee and Vhaeraun exist: Drow are still humanoids, evil is not in their blood, it's all cultural. It's not such a far shot that there are those who don't buy into that culture, and that they at one point band together. They're too smart and confident to be bullied into that one culture wholesale. They're not stupid, socially inept orcs who won't think for themselves, or, if they happen to have a different opinion, can't avoid being killed by the rest. (In fact, there should be more orcs that aren't murderous maniacs).

So along comes Eilistraee, who wants the drow to cease their evil ways and come back into the light (literally and figuratively). Her priestesses are instructed to give everyone a chance to abandon their evil ways (usually at swordpoint). Most of those who choose her over death do so for selfish reasons at first, until they see how nice life can be if people don't backstab each other all the tim. Her followers aren't universally accepted, mind you, and they don't mingle freely with the rest of the surface population, so it's not like an Eilistraeeean would never have problems (and they should not never have problems, either)

Vhaeraun's a different case: He doesn't preach that drow should stop being evil, underhanded bastards, but he tells them (mainly the males) that they don't have to let themselves be lorded over by the females. He tells them that all this "males are expendable" is so much manure. He, too, wants the drow to come to the surface, but mainly because it is their right to get a piece of the cake (the surface is a lot less lethal than the underdark). And he's not against backstabbing in general, but thinks that the stabbing should be directed at enemies, not at the own ranks.

 

[JVisgaitis]

But to what someone else has said, Drizzt fails all the time, its like R.A has his Drizzt’s charter sheet out, and is playing a game with him; so, whatever he rolls is the outcome of the day for that book’s chapter. That's why he can fight giants in one book, but gets seen by low level orcs in another. And I’ve wonder the same thing, how could he have gotten seen.

Here's the interesting rub. People complain that Drizzt is too perfect and he too easily takes down his foes. Sometimes when pressed in combat he doesn't do as good as he does other times, and people complain that he should of easily killed them all. You can't have it both ways people. And yeah, there are some power levels issues since the character has been around for so long, but I really don't think those could be rectified at this stage. I'll continue to read the series as I get enjoyment out of the books and that's really all I'm looking for.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I don't reallly know the character as written to say that I love or hate him. I've never read anything by Salvatore. But I know the concept and I AM NOT INTERESTED. Perhaps it's because I DO know so much about the character second-hand including the love/hate baggage that attends him that I JUST DON'T CARE. But because I am so studiously disinterested it annoys and bores me to a certain extent every time it comes up. If people would just ignore the character and stop mentiontiong him he would be gratefully forgotten so much easier and faster.

 

[Thad Enouf]

As you're an editor, do you know the meaning of the word 'minor'?

Ranes
of the impending ban

I know you're joking around but I just wanted to add that my issues are minor enough to keep me reading so far. In the first book of the ID trilogy, there were about four or five times that the errors made me stop in my tracks and say to myself, "I can't believe this was written and that no one caught it." Typos, bad grammar, whatever. They detract from the story enough to not want them in there, at least from a reader's point of view.

And I'm glad that Drizzt doesn't win every battle. After all, he's just a lowly drow.