Legacy of the Drow Series

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The Legacy Of The Drow series is the third series of books set in the Forgotten Realms world of Toril, written by R.A. Salvatore. As the title suggests, it features a drow (dark elf). His name is Drizzt Do'Urden and the story of him and his friends has previously been told in The Dark Elf Trilogy and The Icewind Dale Trilogy.

The series consists of the following books:

  • The Legacy (1992)
  • Starless Night (1993)
  • Siege Of Darkness (1994)
  • Passage To Dawn (1996)

The first book picks up right where The Icewind Dale Trilogy ended, with Regis showing up for the wedding of Wulfgar and Catti-Brie. But some bad shit's about to go down, since Drizzt has some enemies who haven't forgotten about him and are willing to pursue him all the way to Mithral Hall: his sister Vierna, his old nemesis Artemis Entreri, and the mercenary Jarlaxle (who has been hired by Vierna, along with his band of Mooks). His friends are there to defend him and save him from capture and a Fate Worse Than Death, but when it's finally over the heroes have paid a terrible price.

In the second book, Drizzt feels that his very presence is putting his friends in danger of future attacks, and decides that he should turn himself in to the drow of Menzoberranzan so that they will be safe. Catti-Brie discovers his plan after he's long gone, and sets off after him. In Menzoberranzan, Drizzt learns that the drow are planning to attack Mithral Hall whether he is there or not...

In the third book, The Time Of Troubles has arrived, and magic has ceased to work properly. This causes all sorts of chaos in Menzoberranzan, delaying the planned invasion of Mithral Hall...but eventually things return to normal, at which point the dwarves of Mithral Hall and their allies must turn back the numerically superior drow armies.

In the fourth and final book of the series, Drizzt and Catti-Brie have been sailing the seas with the pirate-hunter Captain Deudermont and doing what they can to make the world safer for honest folk. However, the demon Errtu (whom Drizzt fought and banished to the Abyss in The Crystal Shard) contacts Drizzt and lets him know that he, Errtu, has the soul of somebody Drizzt cares about in his possession, and that he will continue to torment his hostage until Drizzt releases him from his banishment. Worse, when Errtu finally does return to the world of mortals, he acquires Crenshinibon, The Crystal Shard, which makes him more powerful than ever.

See Forgotten Realms, The Icewind Dale Trilogy, and The Dark Elf Trilogy.

Tropes used in Legacy of the Drow Series include:
  • Action Girl: Catti-Brie has settled into this role completely when this series takes place. Every time there's an enemy to be fought, she's right in the thick of it along with the guys. She also confronts Artemis Entreri, who once terrorized her, and proves that she's no longer the least bit afraid of him.
  • Affably Evil: Jarlaxle.
  • All Webbed Up: Catti-Brie in Starless Night.
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The drow attempt this on Mithral Hall.
  • And I Must Scream: It turns out that this was the fate of Wulfgar. He was given to Errtu in the Abyss, who tortured him in every way imaginable for years. Thankfully, he has been freed by the end of the series.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Drizzt is one of the most notable examples of this trope. In Starless Night, Drizzt is ridiculed, beaten, and tortured by Vendes Baenre. When she tries to escape, he chases her down. Catti-Brie and Entreri, who are injured in another room, hear her screaming as Drizzt kills her without remorse.
  • Berserk Button: A drow elf in The Legacy makes the mistake of trying to force Drizzt into surrendering by threatening to kill Regis. He dies horribly.
  • Body Horror: Being turned into a drider.
  • Bound and Gagged: Drizzt manages to get himself into this situation quite often. As well as some of his friends, namely Regis and Deudermont.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Drizzt confiscates a hand-crossbow, along with arrows slipped with sleeping poison, from one of the drow soldiers. It comes in handy later on. The ruby pendant and the magical mask continue their functions as repeated Chekhov's guns, as they have already been in the previous series.
  • Death Equals Redemption: Vierna, albeit non-verbally.
  • Death of the Hypotenuse: Subverted in that Wulfgar got better later, but played straight by the fact that his temporary death nullified Wulfgar and Catti-Brie's engagement, freeing her up to potentially be Drizzt's love interest.
  • Disney Death: Turns out that Wulfgar wasn't actually dead. (Although death would have been more bearable.)
  • Disney Villain Death: Entreri manages to do an impressive three times in the same book. Subverted in that he doesn't stay dead any of those times.
    • Actually a trait of outsiders in general. They essentially have Resurrective Immortality, being banished to their home plane, unless killed there.
  • Double Entendre: "Wield me!", "Take me!"
  • Elves Versus Dwarves: Quite literally in Siege of Darkness.
  • Emotions vs. Stoicism: Entreri is determined to beat Drizzt in order to prove that having friends and emotional attachments is a weakness, that it makes you vulnerable.
  • Enemy Mine: First when Drizzt and Artemis Entreri briefly team up to fight some drow, then in the next book when Catti-Brie and Enteri team up to rescue Drizzt; Catti-Brie because she wants to save him and needs all the help she can get, and Entreri because he wants to get the hell out of Menzoberranzan and needs Drizzt to show him the way. Drizzt isn't pleased to see Entreri when they finally free him, but agrees to the temporary truce and proceeds to join them in fighting their way out of the city.
  • Executive Meddling / Franchise Zombie: Salvatore was quite content to leave the series at six books long and move on to other things, until his publishers threatened to hand his characters over to another author if he did not write more books.
  • Eye Scream: Subverted in The Legacy. When Bruenor is suffering from Unstoppable Rage after what happened to Wulfgar, one of the dark elves he attacks slashes him across the face and destroys his eye. Brunenor isn't fazed at all by it, and proceeds to brutally pay the elves back for what they did to his family, but he ends up blinded in one eye.
  • Fate Worse Than Death: What Matron Baenre has planned for Drizzt, having him tortured almost to death, then magically healed, and then tortured almost to death again, ad infinitum, for centuries. Made more horrifying when it's mentioned that the same fate has befallen others, who aren't lucky enough to get rescued. Then there's what happened to Dinin (see Body Horror).
  • Foe Yay: Entreri really seems to like to tease Drizzt and make lazy thrusts at him with his sword.
    • Entreri and the drow woman Jerlys act quite flirty toward each other too during their brief encounter. Despite the fact that she thinks he's excrement and wants to dominate him, and he ends up killing her.
  • Groin Attack: During their fight in The Legacy, Drizzt does this to Wulfgar. Wulfgar doesn't seem much affected.
  • Heroic BSOD: Bruenor is in this state during "Starless Night", devastated by the loss of his adopted son Wulfgar.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Wulfgar makes one in the first book to save his friends. Drizzt tries to make one in the second book, but eventually realizes that it would do no good.
  • Hope Spot: Drizzt gets one in The Legacy when he manages to get away from his drow captors only to realize a moment later that they have him completely surrounded. He is subsequently recaptured and viciously beaten for his efforts.
  • Hypnotized And Crazy: Early in the first book, Wulfgar is convinced that his fiancée, Catti-Brie, has been cheating on him with Drizzt. So he literally tries to kill Drizzt. Later in the book, it's revealed that he was hypnotized into thinking this and into feeling homicidally angry about it.
  • I Lied: Regis who is actually Entreri in disguise tells Drizzt that Entreri lost an eye and the use of one arm after their last fight. After Drizzt figures out something's up and Entreri finally reveals himself, Drizzt casually mentions this when it's made clear that Entreri very obviously still has use of both arms and eyes. Entreri's response is typical.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Artemis Entreri was a Karma Houdini in the trilogy before this, taking Regis captive and cutting off two of his fingers. In "The Legacy" he tortures Regis even more, to goad Drizzt into fighting for his friend's life. But when it's all said and done, Entreri ends up badly injured and hanging from a cliff by his torn cloak. He is stuck in that position for over a day before he is found...by Regis. Regis taunts the helpless Entreri, takes several of his possessions, wonders aloud if he should bring help for the assassin...then decides that he's not feeling too merciful, and cuts the last remaining strands of Entreri's cloak, causing him to fall. And while Entreri does survive this, he winds up stuck in Menzoberranzan, and he is absolutely miserable there.
  • Life Drain: Entreri's dagger.
  • Mind Rape: When Matron Baenre has Drizzt as her captive she commands her pet illithid to perform this on Drizzt to get him to reveal defensive information of Mithral Hall.
  • Mugged for Disguise: Regis in The Legacy, being impersonated by Entreri. And later, in Passage to Dawn, a doppelganger does it to Deudermont, albeit only briefly.
  • Nice Hat: Jarlaxle.
  • Nice Job Breaking it, Heroes: Preceding this series, Drizzt and his friends spent a whole book chasing down Entreri to save Regis from his clutches. Then they leave him in charge of the thieves' guild, in a position right where Artemis Entreri can recapture him and put him through hell all over again.
    • They may have thought that Pasha Pook's former guards would be able to protect Regis, making it not so much a case of stupidity as of underestimating Entreri.
  • Not What It Sounds Like: After she loots Khazid'hea, the blade takes over Catti-Brie's mind and body temporarily to try to convince Drizzt that he should have the sword instead, since this is what the sword wants. This results in a partly hilarious/partly creepy scene where its psychic hold over Catti-Brie causes her to say to Drizzt the words that the sword wants to say to him: "Take me!" (Artist's rendering here.) Since the two of them are only friends at the time, Drizzt is pretty shocked. Fortunately, she follows that up with "Wield me!", making it clear to Drizzt that she isn't talking about sex and is possessed by the sword.
  • No One Gets Left Behind: Drizzt attempts to outrun a drow raiding party sent to recapture him, tries to avoid a confrontation with Artemis Entreri, who is pursuing him in the tunnels, and attempts to join up with his friends while physically dragging the injured Regis along with him.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Wulfgar gets rid of his jerkish sexist attitude moments before he dies.
  • Save the Villain: Averted in The Legacy when Drizzt and Entreri are both hanging off the side of a cliff. Drizzt has a hold on the side of the cliff, but the only thing keeping Entreri from falling is his grip on his sword, which is through Drizzt's foot and slowly slipping out. Entreri shouts that Drizzt's honour would not let him fall, but Drizzt, too fed up with the entire situation, lets him fall. Not that that stopped Entreri.
  • Suicide Mission: In Starless Night Drizzt attempts this when he leaves Mithral Hall on his own to go back to Menzoberranzan to turn himself over to his kin for sacrifice in the hopes that the drow will leave his friends alone.
  • The Siege: In Siege of Darkness when the drow attack Mithral Hall.
  • Too Dumb to Live: The drow forces are split into two groups: one attacking Mithral Hall from underground, and the other attacking from the surface. During the planning stages, everybody seemingly forgot that drow eyes cannot tolerate sunlight unless they've become used to it. Or perhaps none of them thought that the battle would last the entire night and that they would still be fighting the good guys when the sun came up. In any case, when the dawn comes, the drow on the surface are blinded and pretty well screwed.
    • It has been made pretty clear in both the book and other material that the Drow are almost incapable of viewing surface races as equals. They certainly imagined that their superior training and advantage in the night would overwhelm the surfacer armies without any difficulty long before dawn became an issue.
  • Talking Weapon: Khazid'hea, which is looted by Catti-Brie. It's a sword that can cut through anything, which also speaks telepathically to its current wielder. Initially it wants Drizzt to take it, since the sword wishes to be wielded by the best warrior in the world, so it changes the shape of its pommel to a unicorn--symbol of Drizzt's chosen goddess, Mielikki--to make itself more appealing him. However, Drizzt prefers scimitars, so he tells Catti-Brie that she should take the sword instead. Originally this frustrates the sword, and it tries to change Drizzt's mind. Eventually, Catti-Brie fights a battle of wills with the blade as soon as she figures out what it is, and in doing so not only asserts herself as the more dominant mind but also causes the sword to decide that it would rather be wielded by her than by Drizzt.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Drizzt has this attitude early on in The Legacy towards other Drow. However, he drops it pretty quickly once he realizes that it is likely to get him and all his friends killed.
  • Throwing Your Axe Always Works: Although he didn't do this in the Icewind Dale novels themselves, The Legacy and Passage To Dawn both feature Bruenor throwing his battleaxe like a missile weapon. And it works.
  • Tomato Surprise: Errtu's prisoner is not Zaknafein, but Wulfgar! (And plus, he's here to stay.)
  • Unstoppable Rage: Bruenor flies into one after the loss of Wulfgar.
  • Victory-Guided Amnesia: In Passage to Dawn, Harkle Harpell uses "The Fog of Fate" to help the heroes solve a riddle. He ends up giving them too many hints, straining the limits of the spell, and as a result, is catapulted back home, having lost all memory of his participation in the quest.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Entreri has a mini-one near the end of the first book.

"No!" he wailed...."Damn you! Damn you, Drizzt Do'Urden!"

  • Villainous Rescue: Entreri frees Catti-Brie and then teams up with her to rescue Drizzt, who is being held prisoner by Matron Baenre, so that Drizzt will lead him back to the surface and away from the city of the drow.
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