Legacy of the Drow
Encyclopedia
The Legacy of the Drow is a New York Times best selling fantasy
series
. It is the third series by R. A. Salvatore following the adventures of the Forgotten Realms
character Drizzt Do'Urden
.
This series is followed up by the Paths of Darkness
series.
, with Wulfgar
and Catti-brie preparing for their marriage and Drizzt returning from the first of many visits to Lady Alustriel of Silverymoon
. Drizzt returns to a disturbed Catti-brie and eccentric Regis, who has returned to Mithril Hall after a stint as master of Pasha Pook’s thieves’ guild.
While Bruenor plans the wedding, Wulfgar's tribe settles the appropriately-named Settlestone and begins to prosper. Wulfgar, on the other hand, is straining his relationship with Catti-brie, who feels his possessiveness is excessive and unwise. When Wulfgar unexpectedly attacks Drizzt and appears to have lethal motives, the tension builds, despite the drow’s diffusion of the situation.
Newly introduced is the dwarf battlerager, Thibbledorf Pwent. The dwarf, knocked unconscious during the invasion of Mithral Hall, pledges fealty to Bruenor. Among his personality quirks are a disgusting smell, and ungreased, ridged armor, which also serves as Pwent’s primary weapon.
Meanwhile, in Menzoberranzan
, Drizzt's sister Vierna (Taken in by Matron Baenre after the fall of House Do’Urden) is preparing to recapture her brother. Vierna believes that this quest, if successful, will gain her the full favor of Lloth, the chief drow goddess. Vierna enlists the help of Bregan D'aerthe, the most prominent mercenary band in Menzoberranzan. Jarlaxle
, Bregan D'aerthe’s leader, briefly doubts Vierna’s sanity and designs, but is convinced when Vierna turns her brother Dinin into a drider.
The story returns to Mithral Hall, with Bruenor preparing a detachment to investigate a goblin disturbance in Mithral Hall’s unexplored lower tunnels. After the goblins are routed, tension builds between Wulfgar and Catti-brie. Wulfgar had wanted his fiancée to stay out of the fight, for reasons that didn’t satisfy the woman.
A patrol goes missing soon afterward, and Drizzt prepares to investigate. Oddly, Bruenor suggests that Regis accompany the drow. Drizzt, with a few second thoughts, allows the halfling to join him. The pair discover the patrol, slaughtered; Drizzt identifies the murderers as dark elves and leads a pursuit. After the battle with the drow, Drizzt questions Regis on his new-found combat abilities, and discovers that the halfling is actually Artemis Entreri, wearing a familiar magical mask. Drizzt had previously used the item to pass as a surface elf, and had not realized its capabilities. Entreri then turns Drizzt over to the dark elves, who escape to the Underdark.
Entreri then challenges Drizzt, attempting to settle their feud from The Halfling’s Gem. Apparently, this was Entreri’s price in the operation to recover the wayward drow. The assassin is informed that he cannot kill Drizzt in the duel, because Vierna intends to sacrifice her brother to Lolth.
Meanwhile, Bruenor and Wulfgar realize Regis’ deception and manipulation: Bruenor was charmed to allow Regis to follow the ranger on his expedition; and Wulfgar was persuaded that Drizzt had kissed Catti-brie. Catti-brie, Bruenor, and Wulfgar, together with Cobble (Mithral Hall’s High Priest) and Pwent, move to rescue Drizzt.
The duel between Drizzt and Entreri begins slowly, Drizzt not wanting to give the assassin satisfaction. Entreri counters by successfully taunting the drow with the whereabouts and well-being of Regis. Jarlaxle and Vierna are impressed with the battle, allowing it to continue until Wulfgar and company arrive. In the meleé, Vierna crushes Cobble beneath a steel wall and Drizzt escapes, but violates his vow to never take a dark elf’s life. The moral struggle inherently ends with a repudiation of the vow, if necessary to save the lives of those for whom Drizzt cares.
Bruenor and his entourage also escape, and Entreri asks for an opportunity to pursue his nemesis. He kills his appointed escorts when alone and fails to find a hidden Drizzt. Drizzt’s friends are also searching for him, as are Vierna and Bregan D’aerthe.
The parties of Bruenor and Vierna collide, with another raucous combat. Bruenor attacks the Drider Dinin. Pwent is separated from the group, falling down a pit after overcoming dark elf poison. Vierna summons a Yochlol
, a demonic handmaiden of Lolth, which attacks Wulfgar. Wulfgar had hurled his war hammer in an attempt to assist Catti-brie. Unarmed, Wulfgar succumbs to the demon and his friends look on in horror as the ceiling collapses and destroys both the barbarian and the demon.
In Starless Night Drizzt decides to return to Menzoberranzan to keep the drow from going after his friends. He gives Guenhwyvar to Regis and tells him not to tell anyone where he went. When Cattie-brie later questioned Regis, she was skeptical and decided to follow Drizzt.
Drizzt goes first to Blingdenstone and stays for a short while. Then in Menzoberranzan, Drizzt is able to disguise himself for a little while as a guard, but is later found out. He is captured and taken to Matron Baenre's dungeon and tortured by Vendes, the chief torturer who earned the nickname duk'tak.
Meanwhile, Cattie-brie uses the magical mask to disguise herself as a drow priestess. She teams up with Artemis Entreri and frees Drizzt. Drizzt kills Vendes, then later fights Dantrag Baenre, who was considered the second-best to Zaknafein, so he wanted to kill Drizzt because he was Zaknafein's son and protege, to come out of Zak's shadow. Drizzt defeated him and obtained the speed bracers that he wore, while Cattie-brie took the sword Khazid'hea.
Siege of Darkness tells the story of how the Time of Troubles
, in which all magic is temporarily disrupted and many gods and goddesses are forced to take the forms of their avatars and walk the material plane, affects the drow and Drizzt and company. The Spider Queen, Lolth, plots to keep Matron Baenre in power and to ultimately take Mithril Hall. In-house fighting results in the 3rd house, House Oblodra, destroyed, with the exception of their kobold/ goblin army and the 4th house, House Faen Tlabbar, left leaderless. Matron Baenre, along with the favor of Lolth, forms a loose house alliance to attack Mithril Hall. Realizing that they can not possibly stop a drow army, the svirfnebli, the deep gnomes, are forced to abandon Blingdenstone. The battle for Mithral Hall takes place on the surface as well as in the Underdark. The drow were defeated with a little help from an unlikely source, the balor, Errtu. Through trickery, all Baenre wizardry and spells are temporarily interrupted and the heroes take advantage of the opening, killing Matron Baenre and defeating the drow offensive. Lolth's plan all along was to bring about chaos and to rid herself of Matron Baenre.
The Legacy debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at number 9.
Starless Night debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at number 12.
"Starless Night is good sword-and-sorcery fare and keeps a lively pace throughout." -- Adam Paul Hunt of the Library Journal
.
Siege of Darkness debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at number 13.
Passage to Dawn debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at number 13.
"The Legacy of the Drow accomplishes what it sets out to do: to provide high magic fantasy entertainment. While the quartet has its share of hiccups, they are far from ruining the book." -- Jake de Oude of RPGnet.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
series
Book series
A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publisher....
. It is the third series by R. A. Salvatore following the adventures of the Forgotten Realms
Forgotten Realms
The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories...
character Drizzt Do'Urden
Drizzt Do'Urden
Drizzt Do'Urden is a fictional character in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Drizzt was created by author R. A. Salvatore as a supporting character in the Icewind Dale Trilogy. Salvatore created him on a whim when his publisher needed to...
.
This series is followed up by the Paths of Darkness
Paths of Darkness
Paths of Darkness is the New York Times best-selling series of novels chronicling adventures of the renegade drow elf character Drizzt Do'Urden written by R. A. Salvatore...
series.
Works included
- The Legacy (1992)
- Starless Night (1993)
- Siege of Darkness (1994)
- Passage to Dawn (1996)
Plot summary
The Legacy continues the plot-line of The Icewind Dale TrilogyThe Icewind Dale Trilogy
The Icewind Dale Trilogy is a trilogy of novels written by R.A. Salvatore, a SciFi and fantasy author. The events depicted in the trilogy follow the events of The Dark Elf Trilogy, although the former was written beforehand. It then continues from the Halfling's Gem onto the next series, Legacy of...
, with Wulfgar
Wulfgar
Wulfgar can refer to:*Wulfgar, the herald of Hroðgar, a character in Beowulf*Wulfgar, the villain in the 1981 Sylvester Stallone film Nighthawks*Wulfgar, one of the Companions of the Hall from the Icewind Dale Trilogy...
and Catti-brie preparing for their marriage and Drizzt returning from the first of many visits to Lady Alustriel of Silverymoon
Silverymoon
In the fictional world of the Forgotten Realms, Silverymoon is the prime signatory state of the Confederation of the Silver Marches...
. Drizzt returns to a disturbed Catti-brie and eccentric Regis, who has returned to Mithril Hall after a stint as master of Pasha Pook’s thieves’ guild.
While Bruenor plans the wedding, Wulfgar's tribe settles the appropriately-named Settlestone and begins to prosper. Wulfgar, on the other hand, is straining his relationship with Catti-brie, who feels his possessiveness is excessive and unwise. When Wulfgar unexpectedly attacks Drizzt and appears to have lethal motives, the tension builds, despite the drow’s diffusion of the situation.
Newly introduced is the dwarf battlerager, Thibbledorf Pwent. The dwarf, knocked unconscious during the invasion of Mithral Hall, pledges fealty to Bruenor. Among his personality quirks are a disgusting smell, and ungreased, ridged armor, which also serves as Pwent’s primary weapon.
Meanwhile, in Menzoberranzan
Menzoberranzan
Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders, is a fictional city-state in the world of the Forgotten Realms, a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. It is located in the Upper Northdark, about two miles below the Surbrin Vale, between the Moonwood and the Frost Hills...
, Drizzt's sister Vierna (Taken in by Matron Baenre after the fall of House Do’Urden) is preparing to recapture her brother. Vierna believes that this quest, if successful, will gain her the full favor of Lloth, the chief drow goddess. Vierna enlists the help of Bregan D'aerthe, the most prominent mercenary band in Menzoberranzan. Jarlaxle
Jarlaxle
Jarlaxle is a fictional character in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting based on the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. He first appeared in the 1990 novel, Exile, by R. A. Salvatore as the charismatic and opportunistic drow leader of the mercenary band, Bregan D'aerthe...
, Bregan D'aerthe’s leader, briefly doubts Vierna’s sanity and designs, but is convinced when Vierna turns her brother Dinin into a drider.
The story returns to Mithral Hall, with Bruenor preparing a detachment to investigate a goblin disturbance in Mithral Hall’s unexplored lower tunnels. After the goblins are routed, tension builds between Wulfgar and Catti-brie. Wulfgar had wanted his fiancée to stay out of the fight, for reasons that didn’t satisfy the woman.
A patrol goes missing soon afterward, and Drizzt prepares to investigate. Oddly, Bruenor suggests that Regis accompany the drow. Drizzt, with a few second thoughts, allows the halfling to join him. The pair discover the patrol, slaughtered; Drizzt identifies the murderers as dark elves and leads a pursuit. After the battle with the drow, Drizzt questions Regis on his new-found combat abilities, and discovers that the halfling is actually Artemis Entreri, wearing a familiar magical mask. Drizzt had previously used the item to pass as a surface elf, and had not realized its capabilities. Entreri then turns Drizzt over to the dark elves, who escape to the Underdark.
Entreri then challenges Drizzt, attempting to settle their feud from The Halfling’s Gem. Apparently, this was Entreri’s price in the operation to recover the wayward drow. The assassin is informed that he cannot kill Drizzt in the duel, because Vierna intends to sacrifice her brother to Lolth.
Meanwhile, Bruenor and Wulfgar realize Regis’ deception and manipulation: Bruenor was charmed to allow Regis to follow the ranger on his expedition; and Wulfgar was persuaded that Drizzt had kissed Catti-brie. Catti-brie, Bruenor, and Wulfgar, together with Cobble (Mithral Hall’s High Priest) and Pwent, move to rescue Drizzt.
The duel between Drizzt and Entreri begins slowly, Drizzt not wanting to give the assassin satisfaction. Entreri counters by successfully taunting the drow with the whereabouts and well-being of Regis. Jarlaxle and Vierna are impressed with the battle, allowing it to continue until Wulfgar and company arrive. In the meleé, Vierna crushes Cobble beneath a steel wall and Drizzt escapes, but violates his vow to never take a dark elf’s life. The moral struggle inherently ends with a repudiation of the vow, if necessary to save the lives of those for whom Drizzt cares.
Bruenor and his entourage also escape, and Entreri asks for an opportunity to pursue his nemesis. He kills his appointed escorts when alone and fails to find a hidden Drizzt. Drizzt’s friends are also searching for him, as are Vierna and Bregan D’aerthe.
The parties of Bruenor and Vierna collide, with another raucous combat. Bruenor attacks the Drider Dinin. Pwent is separated from the group, falling down a pit after overcoming dark elf poison. Vierna summons a Yochlol
Yochlol
Yochlols are fictional demonic creatures in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. These lesser tanar'ri are handmaidens of Lolth, the drow goddess of Spiders, dwelling amongst the outer planes and being regularly summoned by the Queen of Spider's priestesses to witness sacrifices in the name of...
, a demonic handmaiden of Lolth, which attacks Wulfgar. Wulfgar had hurled his war hammer in an attempt to assist Catti-brie. Unarmed, Wulfgar succumbs to the demon and his friends look on in horror as the ceiling collapses and destroys both the barbarian and the demon.
In Starless Night Drizzt decides to return to Menzoberranzan to keep the drow from going after his friends. He gives Guenhwyvar to Regis and tells him not to tell anyone where he went. When Cattie-brie later questioned Regis, she was skeptical and decided to follow Drizzt.
Drizzt goes first to Blingdenstone and stays for a short while. Then in Menzoberranzan, Drizzt is able to disguise himself for a little while as a guard, but is later found out. He is captured and taken to Matron Baenre's dungeon and tortured by Vendes, the chief torturer who earned the nickname duk'tak.
Meanwhile, Cattie-brie uses the magical mask to disguise herself as a drow priestess. She teams up with Artemis Entreri and frees Drizzt. Drizzt kills Vendes, then later fights Dantrag Baenre, who was considered the second-best to Zaknafein, so he wanted to kill Drizzt because he was Zaknafein's son and protege, to come out of Zak's shadow. Drizzt defeated him and obtained the speed bracers that he wore, while Cattie-brie took the sword Khazid'hea.
Siege of Darkness tells the story of how the Time of Troubles
Time of Troubles (Forgotten Realms)
The Time of Troubles, also known as the Arrival, Godswar, and Avatar Crisis, is a fictional time period in the chronology of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role playing game...
, in which all magic is temporarily disrupted and many gods and goddesses are forced to take the forms of their avatars and walk the material plane, affects the drow and Drizzt and company. The Spider Queen, Lolth, plots to keep Matron Baenre in power and to ultimately take Mithril Hall. In-house fighting results in the 3rd house, House Oblodra, destroyed, with the exception of their kobold/ goblin army and the 4th house, House Faen Tlabbar, left leaderless. Matron Baenre, along with the favor of Lolth, forms a loose house alliance to attack Mithril Hall. Realizing that they can not possibly stop a drow army, the svirfnebli, the deep gnomes, are forced to abandon Blingdenstone. The battle for Mithral Hall takes place on the surface as well as in the Underdark. The drow were defeated with a little help from an unlikely source, the balor, Errtu. Through trickery, all Baenre wizardry and spells are temporarily interrupted and the heroes take advantage of the opening, killing Matron Baenre and defeating the drow offensive. Lolth's plan all along was to bring about chaos and to rid herself of Matron Baenre.
Literary significance and reception
The Legacy, TSR's first hardcover novel, leapt to the top of the New York Times bestseller list within weeks of its release.The Legacy debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at number 9.
Starless Night debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at number 12.
"Starless Night is good sword-and-sorcery fare and keeps a lively pace throughout." -- Adam Paul Hunt of the Library Journal
Library Journal
Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
.
Siege of Darkness debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at number 13.
Passage to Dawn debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at number 13.
"The Legacy of the Drow accomplishes what it sets out to do: to provide high magic fantasy entertainment. While the quartet has its share of hiccups, they are far from ruining the book." -- Jake de Oude of RPGnet.