TDL’s Sports, Wrestling, & Otherwise

Why don’t Randy and Simon just get down on their knees and blow Archuleta? If anyone else had sung two awful, schmaltzy ballads in the final four they would have been blasted us unmemorable and boring. This kid gets “you blew away the competition tonight.”

Die.

I considered writing a review for each of these books individually but later decided it was pointless. The TSR trilogies are meant to be taken as one whole. Each book CAN be taken individually but it makes more sense to think about them as a whole rather than three parts. The Dark Elf Trilogy is the prequel to the Icewind Dale trilogy. I read it first as I wanted to do the chronological thing. The Dark Elf Trilogy deals with Drizzt’s birth in Menzoberranzan and how he manages to become a “good guy” while surrounded by nothing but evil.

In the Icewind Dale Trilogy, Drizzt was a supporting character… but it turned out that he a more interesting character than any of the book’s other characters. You can’t just drop a neutral good drow elf on people and expect them not to ask questions. As it happens, the character was popular enough to warrant an entire prequel trilogy. I’d give credit to TSR for realizing that except TSR was apparently one of the crappiest run companies ever.

As it turned out, it went pretty well and Salvatore knocked out three of my favorite books ever. Reading them through, they’ve not only held up but have actually become more relevant in the 20 years since it’s been written.

How? Well, drow society is a strict theocracy. The city’s ruling council is made up of the high priestesses of the top eight houses in the city. Each priestess is very careful to exactly follow the tenets of their goddess Lloth or risk losing her favor. The loss of her favor means the eradication of the house. As such, the followers of Lloth find themselves justified in anything they do. Any mercy is frowned upon. The drow believe that Lloth saved them after the surface elves drove them underground and gave them the gifts needed to survive in underground caves. We even get a taste of the propaganda delivered to young students in school that ensures the hatred of the surface world continues through generations. To Salvatore’s credit, it probably took some work to take creatures that are just handy bad guys and flesh out WHY they’re bad.

What he also gives you is a fictionalization of a theocracy based on hatred of all others who don’t believe like they do. It has everything: the scapegoating of the surface elves, the belief that they are right and everyone else is wrong, a ruler who is believed to be the very voice of their god, “surface raids” that are pretty much terrorist attacks, and the fanatical following of everything deemed proper by their goddess lest they fall out of favor and be sacrificed. 17 years later and this is more relevant now than it was then. Not necessarily because of terrorism abroad, but as a strong cautionary exaggeration of what happens when ANY society is raised with an “us vs. them” mentality.

The best part of this book is that it actually presents a believable chain of events that led to the rearing of a good guy in a world of bad guys. Two characters, his father Zaknafein Do’Urden and his sister Vierna are the two people who have the strongest hand in raising Drizzt. Vierna is described as the least evil of Drizzt’s three sisters and the only other child of Zaknafein and Malice Do’Urden. In drow society, there is no concept of marriage. The matron mother has a normal consort, but she can use whoever she desires in her house when the mood strikes her. The child is raised as she sees fit. Male children are frowned upon and the third living male is sacrificed at birth. Had Drizzt’s eldest brother not been killed by his 2nd eldest brother on the night of his birth, Drizzt would have been killed to appease Lloth. Vierna raises Drizzt for his first ten years and is not as cruel as his other sisters would be given the same job. In fact, she’s often described as the only female in the household who doesn’t exactly accept all of Lloth’s teachings. After the first ten years, Zaknafein takes over to teach Drizzt how to fight. Zaknafein is described as the best fighter in Menzoberranzan and of high moral character in a world where morals are seen as a weakness. Zaknafein instills this strong moral character in Drizzt before he goes into the drow schools. Drizzt, armed with morals from his first twenty years, does not fall for the propaganda machines and quickly learns he can’t live amongst these people. After finding himself unable to kill a surface elf child in a drow raid (and this ultimately brings down his entire family) he runs from Menzoberranzan and tries to find his own way.

Leaving the city he finds other people who help guide him on his path. He meets up with a svirfneblin (the gnome version of the drow) who he spared years before who gives him aid. When he gets to the surface he finds a blind ranger who teaches him the ways of the forest.

Altogether, this story is one of the more uplifting stories I’ve ever read. Drizzt rises above the evil teachings of his homeland to strike out on his own. Outside of Menzoberranzan, he faces nothing but racism because of the terrible reputation of his people but rises above it based on his morals and his actions. It leaves you with a tremendous feeling of hope.

If these books were about people instead of elves, they’d probably be considered a classic study in theology and racism in the modern world. As they are, they’re just tremendous reads.

Strong recommendation.