30 years of Drizzt Do’Urden

30 years ago, the novel The Crystal Shard was published, the first book in the Icewind Dale trilogy and the first novel by the since prolific fantasy author R. A. Salvatore.  Set in the D&D world Forgotten Realms it introduced a character that has grown into one of the most recognizable icons of D&D, namely the drow Drizzt Do’Urden.

The latest issue of Dragon+ feature an article about the famed drow and that got me thinking about my own experiences with Drizzt. The Icewind Dale books were the first D&D books I read (somewhere

Drizzt Do’Urden as he appeared in the 3rd edition books of Forgotten Realms

around 1990) and to be frank I haven’t  read that many D&D fictions book since. Drizzt certainly made an impression on me. A good aligned drow it was unheard off! It’s odd to think that such a vibrant character that has gone on to become a legendary D&D character came to be due to a whim by Salvatore when his publishers urged him to come up with a sidekick to the Wulfgar-character. All 31 novels by Salvatore featuring Drizzt have made it to the New York Times Best Seller list (the book  The Orc King which marked the 20th anniversary of the character reached as high as #7)

When I have been a DM in D&D my preferred setting has always been the Forgotten Realms, but Drizzt hasn’t make any guest appearances  in my campaigns. The closest we come was when one of my fellow players played a good-aligned drow princess for most part of a rather long Planescape-campaign (a place where unusual characters became the norm). The character has of course made appearances outside of pure RPG-materials;

In the video-game Baldur’s Gate from 1998 you could encounter several of the iconic Forgotten Realms characters, like Elminster and of course Drizzt.

In Baldur’s Gate you first found Drizzt fighting a pack of gnolls, and you could either help him or sit back and see him dispatch the beats with his two scimitars. Being a game trying for a sandbox approach you could of course attack and even loot a defeated Drizzt.

Drizzt also made an appearance in Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn and could be unlocked as a character in Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II.

The Drizzt Do’Urden character also became the focal point of the third D&D board game by Wizard of the Coasts, after Castle Ravenloft (2010) and Wrath of Ashardalon (2011) with the aptly named The Legend of Drizzt from 2011.

The game box of The Legend of Drizzt.

In this exploration-based game you could play all of the most memorable characters from his past. Drizzt himself of course, but also his love-interest Cattie-Brie, his companions in the Icewind Dale trilogy, Wulfgar and Bruenor and people like Artemis Entreri.

So even if you haven’t encountered Drizzt directly he has made his lasting mark on the D&D community. Who knows, maybe next time when you’re planning a new PC you’ll make him a good-aligned duel-wielding drow?