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175-548: In 1988, the character Drizzt Do'Urden was created by author R. A. Salvatore as a supporting character in the Icewind Dale Trilogy and referenced the character's "years in Menzoberranzan". The prequel series, The Dark Elf Trilogy , features the origin of Drizzt Do'Urden and the main setting is his home city of Menzoberranzan. Salvatore went through old Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules, such as Descent to

350-479: A miniature figure . Beginning in 2005, Devil's Due Publishing began releasing comic book adaptations of the Drizzt novels, covering each book in a three-issue mini-series along with a trade paperback collection. To date, Homeland , Exile , Sojourn , The Crystal Shard , Streams of Silver , The Halfling's Gem , The Legacy , and Starless Night have been released. The character has appeared in several video games. He

525-466: A 'safety valve'- extra aggression can be turned on the surface folk, rather than (completely) on the Drowish hierarchy. Their junior years are very harsh, but conditions improve as they grow older. Students in their 9th and final year serve as guards for Tier Breche, as well as participating in practice patrols within short distances outside of the city cavern. Each year, in order to establish a hierarchy within

700-584: A battle at the town of Shallows, Drizzt believes the other Companions of the Hall to have fallen in battle, and he sets off into the wilderness to fight all orcs in vengeance. The Lone Drow (2003) continues this storyline as the still-living Companions protect Mithril Hall from orc attacks without the aid of Drizzt. He is reunited with his friends in The Two Swords (2003). R. A. Salvatore's next series of Forgotten Realms books, The Sellswords Trilogy , focus on

875-420: A chance". Recalling Drizzt's creation in an interview, Salvatore said, "I don't know where it came from. I guess that Gary Gygax just did such an amazing job in creating the drow elves that something about them got stuck in the back of my head. Thank God!" Although many readers have assumed that Drizzt is based on one of the many Dungeons & Dragons role-playing campaigns that the author has played, this

1050-676: A conflict called the War of the Silver Marches which continues throughout the rest of the series, Rise of the King (2014) and Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf (2015). Salvatore said that "the War of the Silver Marches seems straightforward from afar - the orcs of Many Arrows, prodded by the drow, have decided to take on the alliance known as the Kingdoms of Luruar. Up close, however, it gets much more complicated, as

1225-616: A focus on the Archmage Gromph Baenre. The events of the book setup the Dungeons & Dragons "Rage of Demons" storyline and the adventure Out of the Abyss (2015) as at the end of the novel, Archmage Gromph Baenre accidentally summons Demogorgon , the Prince of Demons, to Menzoberranzan. The second book, Maestro , deals with the fallout of the "Rage of Demons" storyline in Menzoberranzan with

1400-402: A friendly or hostile version of Drizzt can be spawned with a cheat code . Drizzt also appears in the sequel Baldur's Gate II and will react negatively if the player has imported characters from the first game that killed Drizzt or has any of his unique items. He will also react negatively to any elven character with a low reputation with the same name, challenging them to a duel of honor. He

1575-579: A group known as the Knights of Myth Drannor in the Shadowdale region. Greenwood felt that his players' thirst for detail made the Realms what it is: "They want it to seem real, and work on 'honest jobs' and personal activities, until the whole thing grows into far more than a casual campaign. Roleplaying always governs over rules, and the adventures seem to develop themselves." Greenwood has stated that his own version of

1750-484: A large central hall. Female clerics will spend 50 years in study under the Mistresses of Arach-Tinilith, learning the deeper codes, beliefs, and dogma of Lolth's faith. Some of the most powerful holy artifacts of the drow are stored within the halls. It is here that students will undergo the graduation ceremony, often involving demon summoning and sexual orgies between the new clerics and male wizards or fighters, reinforcing

1925-429: A little depth to an otherwise straightforward hack-and-slash adventure. Publishers Weekly review of The Orc King According to PopMatters ' Andrew Welsh, Drizzt is Salvatore's attempt to create a multifaceted character who faces internal struggles, in hopes of standing out from the drow, and fantasy fiction in general. Welsh feels that Salvatore fails in this regard, saying "any blood Drizzt finds on his hands

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2100-508: A magic panther pal)". In his review of Homeland , Bricken explained that "when Salvatore introduced Drizzt in 1988's The Crystal Shard , players/readers who hadn't been bothered this by were forced to acknowledge the correlation because characters in the Forgotten Realms judged Drizzt by the color of his skin. He was distrusted, despised, and discriminated against, often even by those he helped." Mithral Hall Forgotten Realms

2275-499: A major location in the second and third novels, Starless Night (1993) and Siege of Darkness (1994). In The Legacy , this "is the first time Salvatore has 'gone home' so to speak since Drizzt left the Underdark at the end of Exile. [...] The chaotic city of Menzoberranzan hosts part of the story with the unexpected return of a member (or two) of the Do'Urden family. This is the catalyst for

2450-451: A means for houseless rogues to survive in Menzoberranzan, the group has thrived and expanded greatly since its inception. Due to its array of skilled soldiers and its many connections with the outside world, Bregan D'aerthe is a valued ally of many powerful drow houses. More than once in various novels, it has been remarked that Jarlaxle is one of the most protected drow in the Underdark due to

2625-584: A module based on the computer game Pool of Radiance , was also released in 1988. The boxed set Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms was released in 1988. It gives details of the lands of Kara-Tur , and was designed to be used with the 1986 book Oriental Adventures , which officially placed the book in the Forgotten Realms world. In 1989, DC Comics began publishing a series of Forgotten Realms comics written by Grubb. Each issue contains twenty-six pages, illustrated primarily by Rags Morales and Dave Simons . Twenty-five issues were published in total, with

2800-466: A new edition". Alex Lucard, for Diehard Gamefan , wrote that "all in all, if you even remotely interested in the Drow as a race, Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue is a book well worth picking up. It has a ton of helpful information, beautiful artwork and it strives to be friendly to all four versions of Dungeons & Dragons . [...] I'm not the least bit interested in the Drow as a race, but I have to admit I

2975-603: A new way for TSR to market its Battlesystem rules, which it had supported with the Bloodstone adventure sequence which started with Bloodstone Pass ; the last two adventures in the series, The Bloodstone Wars (1987) and The Throne of Bloodstone (1988), were unambiguously set in the Forgotten Realms. Some characters from Egg of the Phoenix (1987) by Frank Mentzer were incorporated into The Savage Frontier (1988). The compilation module Desert of Desolation reworked

3150-434: A once-civilized people gone feral under the debased rule of women". The 4th edition update to the Forgotten Realms brought massive lore changes which were "tied to a number of other design philosophies" and the Forgotten Realms "simultaneously had become a grittier setting, on the edge of collapse, while also becoming a more fantastic one, full of wonder and mystery". Jason Wilson, for VentureBeat , highlighted that unlike

3325-594: A particular focus on Drizzt Do'Urden returning to the city and the story concludes in Hero (2016). The Generations series by R. A. Salvatore follows the Homecoming trilogy. In the first novel, Timeless (2018), Menzoberranzan is one of the main locations and "it follows the tumultuous life of Drizzt's father, mentor figure, and idol Zaknafein, both in the past, when his friendship with the infamous mercenary captain Jarlaxle opened

3500-435: A patron deity to secure a good afterlife. A huge number of diverse deities exist within several polytheistic pantheons; a large number of supplements have documented many of them, some in more detail than others. Greenwood created a pantheon of gods for his home Dungeons & Dragons game, in his Forgotten Realms world, which were introduced in his article "Down-to-earth divinity" from Dragon #54 (October 1981). When

3675-524: A place of danger, as beautiful as a poisonous snake, and the rules of this society are chilling". Pornokitsch , in their review of Homeland , wrote that "Menzoberranzan is a stunning metropolis - svelte architecture, omnipresent magic and an atmosphere of choking paranoia. [...] It is important to note that the Forgotten Realms are a place of extremely high fantasy [...]. Menzoberranzan is high fantasy to another order of magnitude. Every drow can use magic and their city glows with eldritch power". While at

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3850-574: A popular heroic character of the Forgotten Realms setting, and has been featured as the main character of a long series of books, starting chronologically with The Dark Elf Trilogy . As an atypical drow (dark elf), Drizzt has forsaken both the evil ways of his people and their home in the Underdark , in the drow city of Menzoberranzan . Drizzt's story is told in Salvatore's fantasy novels in The Icewind Dale Trilogy , The Dark Elf Trilogy ,

4025-539: A prisoner, means by which the mighty demon could gain his revenge on Drizzt. She then opened a portal for Errtu and his host of demons to lay siege to House Oblodra. By the time the Time of Troubles had passed, Lolth was restored to full power and single-handedly crushed House Oblodra, the remains of their stronghold being pushed into a deep chasm known as the Clawrift, and Matron Oblodra's spirit went to Errtu for eternal torment. Thus

4200-509: A recurring character in the series, also makes his first appearance. In later books, Artemis is Drizzt's equal in combat, and they clash often due to their conflicting views and goals. In the 1990 book The Halfling's Gem , Artemis kidnaps Regis while in the employ of a powerful crime lord. Drizzt and Wulfgar chase the assassin by sea, with the help of Captain Deudermont , to recover Regis. Drizzt ends up in combat with Artemis Entreri, who leaves

4375-568: A series of six books per year – consisting of three core rulebooks as well as three setting books – beginning with the Forgotten Realms. The company started the cycle with the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide (2008), the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide (2008), and Scepter Tower of Spellgard . These books updated the Forgotten Realms to the newest rules system which altered the setting drastically to make it fit with

4550-426: A serious role-playing enthusiast with the first Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ( AD&D ) game releases in 1978. Greenwood brought his fantasy world into the new medium of role-playing games when a university student named September invited him to play AD&D with her. The setting became the home of Greenwood's personal campaign . Greenwood began a Realms campaign in the city of Waterdeep before creating

4725-501: A signing he attended in the early 1990s "with my hard-earned and very limited money I also bought the Menzoberranzan boxed set (ahh, back when they still made boxed sets regularly), which detailed the city of Drizzt’s origin. Now Dungeon Masters and players alike could fill their campaigns with feuding noble houses, evil matron mothers, and vile plots, but this time with actual maps of the city and ready-made NPCs. [...] Never mind that I

4900-610: A timeline advance were introduced to the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition in 2001 with the release of the hardcover book the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting , which won the Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game Supplement of 2001 in 2002. The timeline was officially advanced from 1358 DR to 1372 DR. The adventure City of the Spider Queen (2002) did not meet its projected sales targets, so Wizards of

5075-518: Is Mielikki , the Faerûnian goddess of the forest and of rangers. Montolio eventually dies, and Drizzt travels the Realms in search of a new home. He eventually finds himself in Icewind Dale where he meets dwarven king Bruenor Battlehammer , and Bruenor's adopted human daughter, Catti-brie . The fourth book chronologically in the series, although the first published, is The Crystal Shard (1988),

5250-432: Is Menzoberranzan, the 1992 boxed set from TSR that drew liberally from R. A. Salvatore's best-selling Drizzt Do'Urden novels. [...] Packed with 20,000 drow inhabitants, hundreds of thousands of humanoid slaves, and countless secrets and simmering rivalries, the home of the drow was an ideal adventure site for intrepid (and suitably high level) players". Author Jeff LaSala, on the influence of Salvatore's novels, wrote that at

5425-568: Is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons ( D&D ) fantasy role-playing game . Commonly referred to by players and game designers as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories. Several years later, it was published for the D&;D game as a series of magazine articles, and the first Realms game products were released in 1987. Role-playing game products have been produced for

Menzoberranzan - Misplaced Pages Continue

5600-434: Is a familiar, almost traditional, medieval-styled fantasy setting, it boasted unprecedented scope". "It is, quite simply, Dungeons & Dragons at its very core." Aubrey Sitterson, for PC Magazine , included the Forgotten Realms in a 2015 roundup of the "11 Best Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Settings" and wrote that "for most people, Forgotten Realms is synonymous with Dungeons & Dragons , and with good reason: it's

5775-490: Is a fictional character appearing 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 him to replace one of the characters in an early version of the first book, The Crystal Shard . Drizzt has since become

5950-531: Is also an unlockable playable character in Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II . Drizzt is also included in the Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures game, in the Legend of Drizzt Scenario Pack that also includes Wulfgar and the dragon Icingdeath. An enclosed booklet lets players recreate the battle between Drizzt, Wulfgar, and the dragon. The boxed set was nominated for Best Miniature Product at

6125-494: Is also troubled by the lifespan discrepancy between himself and Cattie-Brie. Drizzt was created by happenstance. In 1987 R. A. Salvatore sent Mary Kirchoff , then managing editor of TSR 's book department, a manuscript for what would become his 1990 novel Echoes of the Fourth Magic . She liked it, but asked if he could rewrite it to take place in the Forgotten Realms. She sent him Darkwalker on Moonshae by Douglas Niles ,

6300-499: Is just the resource you need to run a campaign in the city or to inspire you to create your own evil city". In September 2015, Menzoberranzan received a dedicated chapter in the 5th edition book Out of the Abyss (2015). Henry Glasheen, for SLUG Magazine , wrote that the adventure "leads through some of the most famous locations in The Underdark—if such places can be said to be famous. Many players will remember Menzoberranzan,

6475-452: Is not the case. Salvatore's main influences were classical literature and works of J. R. R. Tolkien . "I like to think of Drizzt as a cross between Daryth from Darkwalker on Moonshae and Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings ." Salvatore calls Drizzt "the classic romantic hero —misunderstood, holding to a code of ideals even when the going gets tough, and getting no appreciation for it most of

6650-444: Is part of the fictional world of Abeir-Toril (usually just called Toril ), an Earth-like planet with many real-world influences and consists of several large continents. It was first detailed in the original Forgotten Realms Campaign Set , published in 1987 by TSR . The other continents of Toril include Kara-Tur , Zakhara , Maztica , and other yet unspecified landmasses. Kara-Tur, roughly corresponding to ancient East Asia ,

6825-408: Is part of the story and a party member in the 1994 SSI game for PC Menzoberranzan . In Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone he is a playable character in the game's seventh stage, described by a writer for Imagine Games Network ( IGN ) as "cool but utterly ineffective." Drizzt appears in Baldur's Gate fighting some gnolls; it is possible for a skilled player to kill him or pickpocket his items, and

7000-457: Is prevalent, and the city has the clerical academy Arach-Tinilith, a spider-shaped building where priestesses are trained. Arach-Tinilith is one of the three branches of the city's Academy in the Tier Breche section of the city. Arach-Tinilith is neighbored by the warrior school Melee-Magthere, and Sorcere tower where arcane spellcasters are sent to study. These academies are the quarters of some of

7175-441: Is quickly justified and most 'internal' conflict is superficial at best." A review for Pyramid refers to Drizzt as the "most famous denizen" of Menzoberranzan, identifying him and the city as "some of the most famous pieces of the Realms", while chroniclers of the game Witwer et al. in the book Art & Arcana: A Visual History counted him among the "iconic D&D characters". Rob Bricken of Kotaku called Drizzt "one of

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7350-401: Is retroactively considered to be a part of the Forgotten Realms, although it was not until the module The Bloodstone Wars was released that it became the official setting for the module series. Douglas Niles had worked on a novel trilogy with a Celtic theme, which were then altered to become the first novels set in the Forgotten Realms, starting with Darkwalker on Moonshae (1987). It

7525-404: Is sacrificed in Drizzt's stead to appease Lolth, the drow's goddess. Following a war against another House, Drizzt curses his family and the evil drow ways and escapes Menzoberranzan into the Underdark . At this time he also acquires the statuette that allows him to summon the magical panther Guenhwyvar . Guenhwyvar travels by Drizzt's side as he makes his way across the Realms. Drizzt fights off

7700-510: Is seemingly slain by a yochlol , and Drizzt returns to Menzoberranzan to prevent his friends from being further attacked by dark elves. The drow launch a second attack against Mithril Hall during the Time of Troubles . It is eventually repelled and Drizzt returns to his friends. Passage to Dawn , the final book in the Legacy of the Drow series and published two years after Siege of Darkness , picks up

7875-508: Is seen in a splash page amongst many other Hasbro-owned characters (including characters from G.I. Joe , Transformers , M.A.S.K. , Jem and the Holograms , Micronauts , Action Man , Battleship Galaxies , and even Candy Land ), as summoned for Micronauts characters Biotron and Acroyear by the alien AI Synergy (a reimagined version of the AI from Jem ). Drizzt features prominently in

8050-403: Is that, long ago, planet Earth and the world of the Forgotten Realms were more closely connected. As time passed, the inhabitants of Earth had mostly forgotten about the existence of that other world – hence the name Forgotten Realms. The original Forgotten Realms logo, which was used until 2000, had small runic letters that read "Herein lie the lost lands" as an allusion to the connection between

8225-582: Is the first book in The Moonshae Trilogy , which predates the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set by one month. The Forgotten Realms Campaign Set was later released in 1987 as a boxed set of two source books ( Cyclopedia of the Realms and DM's Sourcebook of the Realms ) and four large color maps, designed by Greenwood in collaboration with Grubb. It sold ca. one hundred fifty thousand times in its first two years. The set introduced

8400-472: Is the last of a series of ground-shaking events. It really affects the whole world of the Forgotten Realms in a major way. You may remember when the Spell Plagues began, the two worlds of the Forgotten Realms, Abeir and Toril, crashed together. That created both geographic changes (the map of the Forgotten Realms and Faerûn actually changed due to that collision), and also changed the way magic works. It changed

8575-631: Is the main character in only two books of the Paths of Darkness series. The Silent Blade (1998) describes the group's journey to permanently destroy the Crystal Shard. Sea of Swords (2001) continues Drizzt's story after the events of The Spine of the World (1999), which focuses on Wulfgar, and Servant of the Shard (2000), which has Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle as the main characters. Sea of Swords covers

8750-425: The Baldur's Gate series and Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone . Drizzt Do'Urden's stories are set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons . The character has been a mainstay for author R. A. Salvatore, appearing in his novels for over 30 years. Drizzt is a drow who acts against the drow stereotype, favoring friendship and peace over hatred and violence. His unusual personality creates

8925-664: The Legacy of the Drow series, the Paths of Darkness series, The Hunter's Blades Trilogy , the Transitions series, and the Neverwinter Saga , as well as in the short stories "The Dowry", "Dark Mirror", and "Comrades at Odds". All of the novels featuring Drizzt have made The New York Times Best Seller list . A number of the novels have been adapted into graphic novels by Devil's Due Publishing . Drizzt has also been featured in D&D -based role-playing video games , including

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9100-611: The Neverwinter Campaign Setting was released which launched the 4th edition's first major multimedia release. The Forgotten Realms city setting spawned four novels by R. A. Salvatore called the Neverwinter Saga , a comic book, and a board game called The Legend of Drizzt , as well as two video games – the Facebook game Heroes of Neverwinter (2011–2012) and a MMORPG called Neverwinter (2013). Laura Tommervik, from

9275-448: The War of the Spider Queen series, particularly as the setting of the first novel in the series Dissolution (2002), as well as Condemnation (2003), Extinction (2004), Annihilation (2004), and Resurrection (2005). The War of the Spider Queen series is written by six authors with two editors; Philip Athans and R. A. Salvatore. The series "returns to Drizzt Do'Urden's homeland,

9450-611: The Adventures in the Forgotten Realms line from the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game. Sleep Sound (2021) is a poem by R. A. Salvatore which received an animated short to promote the "Summer Of Drizzt" marketing campaign. The short features scenes from the story of Drizzt; it was narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch and animated by The Sequence Group. Salvatore mixes neatly choreographed battles with philosophical musings from self-styled "renegade soul" Drizzt, lending

9625-637: The Companions Codex series by R. A. Salvatore, particularly in the first novel in the series Night of the Hunter (2014). The Drow of Menzoberranzan and Q'Xorlarrin, a settlement in Gauntylgyrm founded by the Menzoberranzan Drow from House Xorlarrin, are plotting war against the surface world because Menzoberranzan is on the brink of civil war and the Drow goddess Lolth is angry at the city. This leads to

9800-452: The Mary Sue -iest characters in all of fiction". The Drizzt Do'Urden books are popular with fantasy fans, and the Drizzt character is author R. A. Salvatore's best known creation. All 34 novels featuring Drizzt by Salvatore have made The New York Times Best Seller list , starting with The Crystal Shard . The Orc King , which marked the 20th anniversary of the character, made it to #7 on

9975-450: The Realms of the Underdark anthology , describes unrelated events involving Zaknafein as the main character, and a young Drizzt plays a supporting role. During a raid against a group of surface elves, Drizzt finds himself unable to participate in the slaughter with his fellow drow. He pretends to kill an elf child, but actually helps her to escape. When the deception is discovered, Zaknafein

10150-567: The Time of Troubles , House Oblodra, the Third House, aspired to be the First House of Menzoberranzan. Menzoberranzan was caught in a magic dead zone, so magic did not work there. House Oblodra, however, was gifted in the rare art of psionics and seized upon this opportunity to strike at the other Houses. The matron of House Oblodra nearly reached her goal, but an avatar of Lolth answered Matron Baenre's pleas for help and came to Menzoberranzan after

10325-554: The Wizards of the Coast marketing team, explained the approach: "We use Neverwinter as the connective tissue across multiple product categories. The transmedia campaign is an opportunity for fans to experience the brand however they choose to". In 2013, Wizards of the Coast announced a year-long event called the Sundering which acted as a multimedia project to transition the Forgotten Realms to

10500-530: The drow character Drizzt Do'Urden . Drizzt has since appeared in more than seventeen subsequent novels, many of which have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list . In 1988, the first in a line of Forgotten Realms role-playing video games, Pool of Radiance , was released by Strategic Simulations, Inc . The game was popular and won the Origins Award for "Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1988". Several supplements to

10675-617: The rothé . An island in the center is used to as an outlook post to help defend the city. Menzoberranzan was founded by a priestess of Lolth named Menzoberra the Kinless in −3917 DR. It is ruled by a council of matrons from the eight greatest noble houses; the most powerful House in the city is House Baenre , until recently led by Matron Yvonnel Baenre—a drow cleric who was the single most powerful political figure in Menzoberranzan for about two thousand years. She has been succeeded by her daughter Triel. A separate council of mages deals with affairs of

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10850-418: The second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons , published in 1989, features a four-page description and game statistics for Drizzt and Guenhwyvar, written by R. A. Salvatore. The Heroes' Lorebook accessory, published in 1996 and written by Dale Donovan and Paul Culotta , features an update and revision of Drizzt's information from Hall of Heroes . The 1999 accessory Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to

11025-468: The 1990s, which led to the setting being hailed as one of the most successful shared fantasy universes of the 1990s. By the first quarter of 1996, TSR had published sixty-four novels set in the Forgotten Realms out of the 242 novels set in AD&;D worlds. These novels in turn sparked interest in role-playing by new gamers. Numerous Forgotten Realms video games were released between 1990 and 2000. Eye of

11200-518: The 2008 ENnies . A special adventure set in Icewind Dale was featured as the centerpiece at the November 3, 2007, Worldwide Dungeons and Dragons Game Day event, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the debut of Drizzt that was upcoming. Drizzt made a brief cameo in the 2011 one-off comic Unit:E , produced by Hasbro as a potential concept for crossing over many of the franchises they owned; he

11375-470: The 4th edition changes to the Forgotten Realms: [B]asically, we authors were handed a document and told how things were going to be. We were asked our opinions, but they mattered very little – the changes were being driven from a different direction. [...] To have characters that have built such a strong history, then have that upset on the orders of someone else was very disconcerting. I will admit that

11550-467: The 4th edition concept of "Points of Light". The main lore change centered around an event called the Spellplague in 1385 DR. This cataclysm was unleashed when the goddess of magic Mystra was killed, "transforming whole nations and altering creatures. In addition, parts of Toril have fused with its long-lost twin world Abeir, whisking away some countries and adding new ones. The Underdark is more open to

11725-458: The Beholder for MS-DOS was released in 1990, which was followed by two sequels: the first in 1991, and the second in 1992. All three games were re-released for MS-DOS compatible operating systems on a single disk in 1995. Another 1991 release was Neverwinter Nights on America Online , the first graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game ( MMORPG ). In 1998, Baldur's Gate ,

11900-635: The City of Spiders, but even lesser-known areas such as Blingdenstone and Gracklstugh are fully developed and ready to be explored". Menzoberranzan is an underground city populated by the drow , and ruled over by the priestesses of Lolth . The city has 20,000 drow inhabitants and hundreds of thousands of humanoid slaves such as goblins , kobolds , bugbears, duergar , svirfnebli , orcs, ogres , minotaurs , and giants , as well as herds of rothé kept as livestock. The city trades poisons, mushrooms, riding lizards, spell scrolls, wine, and water. The worship of Lolth

12075-502: The Coast took over publication of Dungeons & Dragons after purchasing TSR in 1997, they trimmed production down from six campaign settings to Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance , and completed AD&D 2nd edition production sometime between 1998 and 1999. They later hired Rob Heinsoo as a member of the D&;D Worlds team to focus on Forgotten Realms in the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons . An official material update and

12250-410: The Coast cut back on production of new adventures. In 2002, BioWare released Neverwinter Nights , set in the northern reaches of Faerûn and operating on the revised 3.0 rules for D&D. It was followed by two expansion packs : Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark . A sequel using version 3.5 of the rules was produced by Obsidian Entertainment in 2006, and was followed by

12425-406: The Coast's 5th edition publishing strategy, which focuses on the Forgotten Realms and newer intellectual property for campaign settings, has created a rift in the fan base where some "feel that this push for new players has come at the cost of keeping the game's current players sated" by not updating campaign settings that "predate the Forgotten Realms". Hoffer highlighted that Wizards of the Coast has

12600-479: The D&D Adventure System Cooperative Play board game The Legend of Drizzt , released October 18, 2011. Drizzt has also been seen in the game Neverwinter by Cryptic Studios . He appears as part of the Neverwinter: Underdark expansion that allows players to travel to the drow city of Menzoberranzan and play several quests written by R. A. Salvatore. In 2021, Drizzt was featured on two cards in

12775-671: The Depths of the Earth , Vault of the Drow , and Queen of the Demon Web Pits , for references on the Drow but the Drow were not defined outside of a matriarchal society in the Underdark . Salvatore was given carte blanche to create the entire society within the city. Mario Puzo 's The Godfather and the Five Families of New York greatly influenced Salvatore when he created the "super-structure" of

12950-476: The Drow was released and it is set 21 years after Salvatore's novel Sojurn . Unlike Drizzt Do'Urden, the main character Liriel Baenre is prized member of the top house in Menzoberranzan. Similarly to Homeland , it follows Liriel Baenre's early life and her process of escaping the city. Menzoberranzan continues to be a secondary location in the rest of the trilogy, Tangled Webs (April 1996) and Windwalker (April 2003). Menzoberranzan appears prominently in

13125-399: The Forgotten Realms as a child , starting at the age of eight. He came up with the name from the notion of a multiverse of parallel worlds; Earth is one such world, and the Realms another. In Greenwood's original conception, the fantastic legends of Earth derive from a fantasy world that can no longer be accessed. Greenwood discovered the Dungeons & Dragons game in 1975, and became

13300-461: The Forgotten Realms as "a classic fantasy backdrop" and highlighted that "at one time in our history, our world and this one were connected, but over time this magical realm was, well, forgotten. It is an ideal place for any D&D adventure, inspiring limitless possibilities for any smirking dungeon master". In 2019, academic Philip J. Clements called the "highly popular" Forgotten Realms "an unusually well-developed D&D setting" and "more-or-less

13475-439: The Forgotten Realms was published as a setting in 1987, the pantheon added Waukeen, the goddess of trade, money, and wealth, who was created by one of Jeff Grubb 's players, and added to the Forgotten Realms by Grubb. Tyche was replaced with Tymora, and the elemental lords from Melniboné were replaced by Akadi, Grumbar, Istishia, and Kossuth. Much of the history of the Forgotten Realms detailed in novels and source books concerns

13650-517: The Forgotten Realms were briefly supported in the early 1990s. Three more modules were produced for the Kara-Tur setting. The Horde boxed set , released in 1990, detailed the Hordelands, which featured a series of three modules. The Maztica Campaign Set , released in 1991, detailed the continent of Maztica . The original gray boxed set was revised in 1993 to update it to AD&D 2nd edition, with

13825-416: The Forgotten Realms would be a more open-ended setting than its epic fantasy counterpart Dragonlance , and chose the Realms as a ready-made campaign setting upon deciding to publish AD&D 2nd edition . Greenwood agreed to work on the project and began working to get Forgotten Realms officially published. He sent TSR a few dozen cardboard boxes stuffed with pencil notes and maps, and sold all rights to

14000-534: The Forgotten Realms, as run in his personal campaign, is much darker than published versions. Starting in 1979, Greenwood published a series of articles that detailed the setting in The Dragon (now Dragon ) magazine, the first of which was about a monster known as the curst . Greenwood wrote voluminous entries to Dragon , and used the Realms as a setting for his descriptions of magic items , monsters, and spells . When Gary Gygax "lost control of TSR in 1985,

14175-475: The Forgotten Realms. The focus of the Forgotten Realms setting is the continent of Faerûn, the western part of a continent that was roughly modeled after the Eurasian continent on Earth. The lands of the Forgotten Realms are not all ruled by the human race, with populations of many humanoid races and creatures ubiquitous in fantasy fiction works such as dwarves , elves , goblins , and orcs . Technologically,

14350-555: The Forgotten Realms. In July 1990, the RPGA Network's Polyhedron Newszine began publishing a monthly column by Greenwood entitled "The Everwinking Eye" detailing various locations and personalities in the Realms. The Network used the Forgotten Realms city of Ravens Bluff as the setting for their first living campaign . Official RPGA support for this product line included the Living City module series. A number of sub-settings of

14525-543: The Matron Mistress of the Academy, all drow both common and noble are required to attend the academy. Students' length of education is dependent on their sex and occupation. Male Fighters will spend 10 years, male wizards will spend 30, and female priestesses will spend 50 years learning their profession. The majority of time is spent within their specific school, but each student will spend a portion of their last year at each of

14700-430: The Realms". Menzoberranzan is briefly described in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (2001). In the 4th edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide (2008), Menzoberranzan is described as a key settlement in the Underdark and features an updated map. In August 2012, Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue (2012), by Brian R. James and Eric Menge, was published. This was an edition-neutral campaign setting book and

14875-500: The Spell Plague. Markings that marked spell-plagued people and animals will fade and go away. It's really about moving the Forgotten Realms forward, but also about bringing it around to the most beloved and most fondly remembered Forgotten Realms. The result of The Second Sundering, in game terms, was the transition from 4th edition rules to 5th edition rules of Dungeons & Dragons , published in 2014. When D&D 5th edition

15050-492: The Spellplague. The result turns the system-neutral Menzoberranzan supplement into an era-neutral supplement that allows players to run Menzoberranzan in any era, from its 2e origins to the 4e present-day". Ed Grabianowski, for Io9 , wrote that "the most famous of drow cities hasn't received the splatbook treatment since 2nd Edition. [...] Plus, physically, Menzoberranzan is one of the coolest, most unique fantasy cities ever". John ONeill, for Black Gate , wrote that after it

15225-852: The Tenth House to the Ninth House by destroying the Fourth House, House DeVir. It then ascended to the Eighth House with the much-needed help of Jarlaxle 's mercenary band Bregan D'aerthe by destroying the Fifth House, House Hun'ett. House Do'Urden lost the favor of Lolth, however, when Matron Malice Do'Urden turned Zaknafein into a spirit-wraith by using Lolth's dread Zin-Carla ritual and failed to kill Drizzt Do'Urden with him. This resulted in House Baenre utterly destroying House Do'Urden. In 1359 DR, during

15400-664: The Time of Troubles cataclysm, the 4th edition Spellplague cataclysm was "one players never embraced in the same manner as the earlier disaster". Shannon Appelcline, author of Designers & Dragons , wrote: [The 4th edition] Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide may be the most controversial D&D book ever produced by Wizards. That's entirely due to the large-scale destruction of the Realms. Similar updates have been tried by other companies — to reinvigorate settings, to make them more accessible to new players, or to make them more adventuresome. [...] It never seems to go well, because old fans feel left behind. With that said, some folks did love

15575-434: The Time of Troubles had ended (the drow thought that she herself had restored all magic, but that is not true). Although she loved chaos, she did not wish to see a House that did not whisper prayer to her to rule the city. Foreseeing her temporary loss of power due to the Time of Troubles, Lolth had asked the demon Errtu to protect her worshippers, should she herself fail to do it. In return, Lolth gave Wulfgar over to Errtu as

15750-576: The Time of Troubles, or Godswar, as seen in The Avatar Trilogy . The setting is home to several noteworthy recurring characters that have gained wider reception, including: In his book The Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer's Bible , Sean Patrick Fannon describes the Forgotten Realms as being "the most ambitious fantasy game setting published since Tekumel ", and that it "may be the most widely played-in game setting in RPG history". Similarly, in literature,

15925-492: The Underdark by Eric L. Boyd , details the cities and civilizations of Faerûn's Underdark through the perspective of the title character. The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting hardcover for the game's third edition features a brief description and game statistics for Drizzt for this edition, under the section on the Sword Coast North. Drizzt has also appeared in a number of graphic novels and video games, and as

16100-449: The Underdark, to spin a tale of a ragged band of four dark elves on a desperate quest to find Lloth [ sic ], drow goddess and the demon Queen of Spiders, and save their subterranean city of Menzoberranzan and the entire dark elf race". Menzoberranzan appears as a secondary location in Charon's Claw (2012), the third novel of the Neverwinter Saga , where "at the beginning of

16275-416: The abrupt changes forced me into an uncomfortable place, and from that place came some of the better things I've written, but I very much preferred the way it was done this time, with 5th Edition and the changes, where we, the authors, were told what was happening to the game and asked how we could make the world and the lore live and breathe it. Christian Hoffer, for ComicBook.com , reported that Wizards of

16450-512: The actions of various deities and The Chosen (mortal representatives with a portion of their deities' power) such as Elminster , Fzoul Chembryl, Midnight (who later became the new embodiment of the goddess of magic, Mystra ), and the Seven Sisters. Above all other deities is Ao, the Overlord, who does not sanction worshipers and distances himself from mortals. He is single-handedly responsible for

16625-482: The arcane—but as its members are all male, it is wholly within the grip of the matrons. Menzoberra the Kinless, a powerful priestess of Lolth, founded the city that bears her name in −3917 DR. By the wishes of Lady Lolth, she led seven drow families into the Northdark from the southerly drow holdings of Great Bhaerynden. The drow families, having no immediate external enemy, fell to attacking and undermining one another, as

16800-435: The battle wounded. At the end of the book the group finds Regis, and Guenhwyvar kills Artemis's employer. Legacy of the Drow is a tetralogy , unlike the previous two trilogies. The 1993 short story, Dark Mirror , in the Realms of Valor anthology, describes events just prior to the series. The first three books, The Legacy , Starless Night , and Siege of Darkness , describe a drow attack on Mithril Hall. Wulfgar

16975-449: The book deals with what happens before the dwarfs reach Gauntlgrym, and the second half deals with what occurs when the two sides come into conflict. Weaving throughout this tale are a number of disaffected drow, of particular note are Jaraxle, of the Bregan D'aerthe mercenary company, and the eponymous Archmage, Gromph of House Baenre". Archmage highlights the politics of Menzoberranzan with

17150-541: The book was "set on the Moonshae Isles , because at the time I thought that was the Realms. When I found out how big the Realms were, I moved the story a thousand miles to the north." Salvatore created Drizzt on the spur of the moment. He was under pressure to create a sidekick for Wulfgar in the Icewind Dale series . Salvatore had sent an early version of The Crystal Shard (what would become his first published novel) to TSR, and one day Kirchoff called him. She

17325-476: The book, the Drow from Menzoberranzan are plotting to take Gauntylgyrm and the ancient fire being under their own power and have sent out forces to do just that". The release of this book was part of the Wizards of the Coast coordinated marketing campaign called "Rise of the Underdark". A few weeks after Charon's Claw was published, a Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook on the city ( Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue )

17500-476: The campaign setting and explained how to use it, and reserved space on the map for SSI 's Gold Box computer role-playing games set in the Forgotten Realms. TSR began incorporating elements by other designers into the Forgotten Realms, including the Moonshae Isles by Douglas Niles , the "Desert of Desolation" by Tracy Hickman and Laura Hickman , and Kara-Tur by Zeb Cook . The setting also provided

17675-416: The changes, because the setting was now more playable, more accessible, more fantastic, and more PC centered. [...] Meanwhile, a series of adventures and novels called The Sundering (2013–2014) reversed many of the 4e changes to the Realms, but without rebooting the timeline. Instead, the Realms continues to evolve and advance, as it has since its earlier days. R. A. Salvatore was also publicly unhappy with

17850-438: The city and helped him create a "logical consistency" for the society. In 2018, Salvatore said: Look, I grew up in a sexist, racist society. I grew up in an Italian neighborhood. Have you ever watched The Sopranos ? That was my neighborhood. Only without the mob, but that was my neighborhood. It had the same attitudes about life. I grew up with five older sisters, and I saw what they had to endure. And they're also where I got

18025-485: The city as only the top eight Houses are part of the Ruling Council. The Houses all follow the same loose leadership structure: "the house matron mother (the dictatorial ruling female head of the house), first priestess (typically the matron mother's eldest daughter, who supervises the day-to-day operations of the house), house wizard (the leader of the house's arcane spellcasters), house weapon master (who trains and leads

18200-562: The class, the Grand Melee is held. During this event the students are set loose in a maze chamber outside the city cavern, wielding simple wooden poles as imitation weapons. The last male standing wins. In the tenth and final year, fighters will spend their first six months in Sorcere studying magic, and the final six months within Arach-Tinilith learning the precepts of Lolth - most importantly,

18375-401: The companions' search for Wulfgar's lost magical warhammer, Aegis-fang, and the reunion of the group after an extended separation. Drizzt returns as the main character throughout The Hunter's Blades Trilogy . In The Thousand Orcs (2002), Drizzt and his friends encounter the powerful orc Obould Many-Arrows, who has employed frost giants to aid him in gaining control of the region. After

18550-533: The company saw an opportunity to move beyond Greyhawk and introduce a new default setting". In 1986, TSR began looking for a new campaign setting for AD&D , and assigned Jeff Grubb to find out more about the setting used by Greenwood as portrayed in his articles in Dragon . Greenwood states that Grubb asked him "Do you just make this stuff up as you go, or do you really have a huge campaign world?", and Greenwood answered "yes" to both questions. TSR felt that

18725-553: The competent soldiers he surrounds himself with. This band of societal malcontents consists of approximately 150 members (though at times known to employ many more, having nearly one thousand agents at work with the Calimport initiative), mainly houseless males. Bregan D'aerthe has been very influential in the chaotic happenings of Menzoberranzan and has connections with Blingdenstone and has agents in Ched Nasad as well as major cities on

18900-500: The conflict that allows Salvatore to create so many novels with stories about courage and friendship. Drizzt therefore fights the dark traits that are inherent in the drow. Salvatore uses Drizzt to represent issues of racial prejudice, particularly in The Dark Elf Trilogy . For instance, Drizzt is concerned that if he and his love Cattie-Brie (a human) have children, their offspring will face hostility from both races. Drizzt

19075-522: The door for his heresy, and in the present, after he is resurrected and reunited with his son". The series continues in Boundless (2019) and is concluded in Relentless (2020). Salvatore said: "I can tell you that for many years, and a lot of readers have agreed with me, I've said I really wanted to write a book about Zaknafein and Jarlaxle, but before Drizzt was born. How did they get to know each other? What

19250-495: The drow tease the frost giants to the side of the orcs, then throw in a couple of dragons (who have their own ulterior motives) for good measure. And of course, at a higher level, we've got a feud between a pair of goddesses, Lolth and Mielikki , kicking up the dust as well". Menzoberranzan appears prominently in the Homecoming series by R. A. Salvatore, particularly in the first two novels Archmage (2015) and Maestro (2016). At

19425-474: The eight greatest houses forming the Ruling Council of Menzoberranzan; "the council determines the fate of the city, from the ranking of each house to whether an errant house must be destroyed. Drow factions that more or less uphold the social order of Menzoberranzan are the second category. These include the academy of Tier Breche and the mercenary company of Bregan D'aerthe. [...] The third group of factions consists of various internal and external forces opposed to

19600-451: The end of Homeland Drizzt leaves Menzoberranzan, the city continues to be a secondary location in the trilogy and follows other characters still in the city. The Legacy of the Drow series, by R. A. Salvatore, was written after the Dark Elf trilogy but chronologically it follows the Icewind Dale trilogy. Menzoberranzan is a secondary location in the first novel, The Legacy (1992) and

19775-575: The expansion sets Mask of the Betrayer and Storm of Zehir . The Forgotten Realms Deluxe Edition compilation was released in 2006, containing the Baldur's Gate series (excluding the Dark Alliance games), Icewind Dale series, and all Neverwinter Nights games before Neverwinter Nights 2 . With the release of Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition in 2008, Wizards opted for a publishing plan featuring

19950-450: The first in The Icewind Dale Trilogy . It describes Drizzt's meeting with the barbarian Wulfgar and the halfling Regis , and their adventures as they stop Akar Kessel , a mage possessed by the sentient artifact Crenshinibon (the book's eponymous Crystal Shard), from gaining control of the region. Streams of Silver (1989), tells the story of the group as they journey to Mithral Hall , Bruenor's boyhood home. Artemis Entreri ,

20125-562: The first in a line of popular role-playing video games developed by BioWare and "considered by most pundits as the hands-down best PC roleplaying game ever", was released. The game was followed by a sequel, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn , in 2000 and Icewind Dale , a separate game that utilized the same game engine as Baldur's Gate . Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor was released in 2001. Several popular Forgotten Realms characters such as Drizzt Do'Urden and Elminster made minor appearances in these games. When Wizards of

20300-483: The flagship setting for D&D". He also noted that it has received the greatest number of supplements. In a retrospective on the legacy of Dungeons & Dragons , academic Daniel Heath Justice commented that the " Forgotten Realms was explicitly based on the civilized-versus-savage binary and leaned in hard on racial essentialism in its sadistic black-skinned drow led by vicious matriarchs and their terrible spider goddess, firmly melding anti-Blackness with misogyny,

20475-404: The folks at TSR did. Naturally when TSR was shopping for new campaign worlds as part of their cross-media strategy, they had to get the Forgotten Realms. R. A. Salvatore took Greenwood's world and created characters and stories for it that made him a bestselling author and sustained TSR as a major fantasy book publisher". In 1985, the AD&D module Bloodstone Pass was released by TSR and

20650-435: The further adventures of Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle, with Drizzt only being mentioned in them. However, Drizzt is once again the main character in the Transitions trilogy, consisting of The Orc King , The Pirate King , and The Ghost King . Drizzt is the main character, along with Bruenor, in R. A. Salvatore's next series in the Forgotten Realms, Neverwinter Saga ; the first book in this series, Gauntlgrym ,

20825-428: The gods being cast down was planned by TSR management from the top-down and started with Hall of Heroes (1989) and continued with a three-adventure Avatar series (1989) and a three-novel Avatar series (1989), and some stories in the comic book. TSR adjusted the timeline of the Forgotten Realms by advancing the calendar one year forward to 1358 DR, referring to the gap as the Time of Troubles. In early 1990,

21000-410: The hardcover Forgotten Realms Adventures by Grubb and Greenwood was released, which introduced the setting to AD&D 2nd edition; the book also detailed how the Time of Troubles had changed the setting. The Ruins of Undermountain (1991) was one of the first published mega-dungeons. The Al-Qadim setting by Jeff Grubb was released in 1992, and the setting was added to the southern part of

21175-459: The highest standard. Meeting one of the most iconic figures in D&D could help make players feel important in their campaign." In the Io9 series revisiting older Dungeons & Dragons novels, in his review of The Crystal Shard , Rob Bricken referred to Drizzt as "arguably the most famous and beloved D&D character of all time" and noted that Wizards of the Coast had finally begun combatting

21350-534: The house warriors), and patron (the favored consort of the matron mother, who holds the highest rank possible for a male drow)". The following are the topmost houses of Menzoberranzan: Unknown ranking Tier Breche , the famed academy of the dark elves, sits on a high plateau at the western end of the city, protected by guardians and fell magics, the Academy consist of three structures, Arach-Tinilith (The School of Lolth) Sorcere (The School of Wizards) and Melee Magthere (The School of Fighters). Presided over by

21525-444: The hunt for the blasphemous Ranger who turned his back on his family, race and the Spider Queen". In Starless Night , Drizzt returns to Menzoberranzan to try to prevent an attack on Mithral Hall . In Siege of Darkness , while Menzoberranzan is heavily impacted by the Time of Troubles and magic going awry, the Drow still plan and then launch an attack on Mithral Hall. In September 1995, Elaine Cunningham 's novel Daughter of

21700-486: The idea for the bad matriarchal society of Menzoberranzan. [...] I love my sisters dearly. It's funny, because they'll always come up to me and say, "I'm Vierna, right?" Menzoberranzan was introduced in The Crystal Shard (1988) as part of the background for Drizzt Do'Urden. Shannon Appelcline (author of Designers & Dragons ) wrote that "from the time of that first book of Salvatore's Icewind Dale trilogy, Drizzt

21875-463: The inferiority of males in her eyes. The School of Wizards is housed in a many spired stalagmite tower on the west of Tier Breche. Males will spend 30 years in study of the arcane arts, learning to channel the strange and unique magic of the drow that emanates from the Underdark. Acceptance as a student at Sorcere is highly coveted by young males as magic is the only path to any kind of real power in their matriarchal world. Masters of Sorcere are arguably

22050-463: The last being released in 1991. A fifty-six page annual Forgotten Realms Comic Annual #1: Waterdhavian Nights , illustrated by various artists, was released in 1990. Curse of the Azure Bonds , a module based on the role-playing video game of the same name , was released in 1989. To transition the Forgotten Realms from first edition AD&D to the ruleset's second edition, a story involving

22225-790: The list, as well as #9 on The Wall Street Journal list, #6 on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list, and #36 on the USA Today list of top sellers. The Two Swords peaked at #4 on The New York Times Best Seller list in 2004. It reached the top of The Wall Street Journal' s hardcover bestseller list after only two weeks, a record for its publisher Wizards of the Coast. It also debuted at #4 on The New York Times's bestseller list and #2 on Publishers Weekly bestseller list. The Lone Drow debuted at #7 on The New York Times Best Seller list in October 2003. Publishers Weekly felt that The Lone Drow

22400-454: The many nooks and crannies of the wide cavern. The company's reputation was widespread, though, tolerated by the ruling houses, and most in the city would name Jarlaxle among the most powerful of Menzoberranzan's males". - Starless Night "...in Menzoberranzan, Jarlaxle and his spying network, Bregan D'aerthe, had no equal". - Starless Night Drizzt Do%27Urden Drizzt Do'Urden ( / ˈ d r ɪ t s t d oʊ ˈ ɜːr d ɪ n / )

22575-401: The most powerful clerics , fighters and wizards , respectively, and the title of master of an academy is coveted, since being the master of Sorcere or Melee-Magthere is as high as the power ladder goes for some houseless drow or even noble males. On one edge of the city the family houses are located in their glory, while the edge near the lower level Drow houses there is a lake used to water

22750-441: The most powerful group of males within Menzoberranzan, headed by the city's Archmage. Not only are they responsible for the training of future mages but also for regulating the use of arcane magic for all drow within Menzoberranzan. The School of Lolth is one of, if not the most important, holy sites within the church of Lolth. Standing at the center of Tier Breche, the school resembles a giant obsidian spider, sporting eight legs and

22925-525: The new edition, the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (2015), was released on November 3, 2015, and only covered a fraction of the Forgotten Realms. It describes the 2013 Sundering event, referred to as the Second Sundering in the book, and its consequences in game terms and lore. The video game Sword Coast Legends (2015) published by Digital Extremes was also released in the same month as

23100-586: The next edition of the game. This release included a weekly D&D Encounters in-store play event, a free-to-play mobile game Arena of War (2013), and a collaborative novel series: The Companions (2013) by R. A. Salvatore, The Godborn (2013) by Paul S. Kemp , The Adversary (2013) by Erin Evans , The Reaver (2014) by Richard Lee Byers , The Sentinel (2014) by Troy Denning , and The Herald (2014) by Ed Greenwood. Liz Schuh, Head of Publishing and Licensing for Dungeons & Dragons , said: The Sundering

23275-408: The novels have been among the most requested books by fans of the fantasy genre. D&D chroniclers Michael Witwer et al. , in the book Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana , noted that the "level of Tolkienesque history and detail that Greenwood had infused in his creation - and almost "real world" quality - granted the Realms an irresistible allure [...]. While at its core the Forgotten Realms

23450-530: The novels written in the Forgotten Realms setting have formed one of "the industry's leading fantasy series". Over time these novels have gained "unprecedented popularity", which led, as Marc Oxoby noted in his book, The 1990s , to the novels having an "extraordinary shelf life", remaining in print for many years. This popular reception has also been reflected in public libraries; for example, Joyce Saricks states in The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction that

23625-430: The only novel at the time set in the Forgotten Realms. Salvatore sent her a proposal for a sequel to Darkwalker , but Kirchoff sent back a large map of the Forgotten Realms and told him she wanted a new story set in a different part of the Realms. After two weeks of phone calls, Salvatore found a spot on the map that was not already designated for another project, and he located Icewind Dale there. According to Salvatore,

23800-582: The original boxed set were released under the first edition rules, beginning with Waterdeep and the North , which was followed by Moonshae in 1987, and Empires of the Sands , The Magister , The Savage Frontier , Dreams of the Red Wizards , and Lords of Darkness in 1988. The City System boxed set was released in 1988, and it contained several maps of the city of Waterdeep. Ruins of Adventure ,

23975-470: The other schools, gaining a basic understanding of the strengths and weakness of the other classes. The School of Fighters is a pyramidal structure located on the east side of Tier Breche. Here males learn the art of swordplay, and individual and group fighting tactics. Beginning students spend their first sixty days unarmed under the instruction of The Master of Lore. Here they are indoctrinated against surface elves and non-drow. This racist propaganda provides

24150-404: The pantheon of the gods. The Sundering is all about those two worlds separating—coming apart—and the process of that separation is really the story that we're telling over the next year. At the end of this story arc, Abeir and Toril will be separate again, and many of the things that happened when they crashed together will go back to the way they were before. So magic will be much like it was before

24325-526: The previous adventures to fit as part of the Forgotten Realms. The module Under Illefarn published in 1987 is set in the Forgotten Realms, as is the module released in 1988, Swords of the Iron Legion . R. A. Salvatore wrote his first novel for the Forgotten Realms, The Crystal Shard (1988), which was originally set in the Moonshae Islands before being moved to a new location and introduced

24500-450: The ranks of the ruling Houses changed once again. All this she said was done for her greatest high priestess (although it was really done for herself), the two-thousand-year-old Matron Baenre. All Houses in the city witnessed this great miracle and knew that House Baenre was the most favored House of the goddess. There are three types of factions in Menzoberranzan. At the top are the Houses with

24675-583: The realms of the Underdark that lie beneath the Sword Coast . It talks about the major peoples of the Underworld and details dozens of cities, including Menzoberranzan" and that "Boyd's extensive research results in Underdark being full of tiny references. For example, drow cities are drawn from the list in Drow of the Underdark and from obscure references in Menzoberranzan ". A review for Pyramid identifies Menzoberranzan as one of "the most famous pieces of

24850-452: The release of a new Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting boxed set containing three books ( A Grand Tour of the Realms , Running the Realms , and Shadowdale ) and various "monster supplements". Additional material for the setting was released steadily throughout the 1990s. Forgotten Realms novels, such as the Legacy of the Drow series, the first three books of The Elminster Series , and numerous anthologies were also released throughout

25025-513: The release of the 2001 Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting , the setting was given its own distinct and separate cosmological arrangement, with unique planes not explicitly connected to those of the other settings. Religion plays a large part in the Forgotten Realms, with deities and their followers being an integral part of the world. Deities interact directly in mortal affairs, answer prayers, and have their own personal agendas. All deities must have worshipers to survive, and all mortals must worship

25200-571: The resurrected spirit-wraith of his father in Exile , the second book in the Dark Elf Trilogy and also published in 1990. Sojourn picks up the story when Drizzt leaves the Underdark for the surface, where he meets a blind human ranger named Montolio Debrouchee . When Montolio begins teaching him the ways of the ranger, Drizzt realizes that, unknowingly, he had been following those very principles his entire life. From then on Drizzt's patron goddess

25375-439: The rise of House Baenre as the First House of Menzoberranzan. The city's internal machinations have continued unabated for millennia. The Houses that grow weak are destroyed, and newer Houses rise up to find Lolth's favor. The full history of each House would constitute a nearly endless logbook of treachery, spite, and unceasing ambition. Within the last century, this pattern seems to have accelerated. House Do'Urden ascended from

25550-444: The setting ever since, in addition to novels , role-playing video game adaptations (including the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game to use graphics), comic books, and the film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves . Forgotten Realms is a fantasy world setting, described as a world of strange lands, dangerous creatures, and mighty deities, where magic and supernatural phenomena are quite real. The premise

25725-480: The setting for a token fee. He noted that TSR altered his original conception of the Realms being a place that could be accessed from Earth, as "[c]oncerns over possible lawsuits (kids getting hurt while trying to 'find a gate') led TSR to de-emphasize this meaning". Jon Peterson, author of Dungeons and Dragons Art and Arcana: A Visual History , said that Greenwood "was that rare obsessive DM who just seemed to have more ideas and energy to pour into his world than even

25900-503: The setting that played home to the massively popular Baldur's Gate video game, as well as R. A. Salvatore's Drizzt books. Currently, it's the only campaign setting actively supported by D&D makers Wizards of the Coast, which would be restrictive if Forgotten Realms wasn't such an incredibly diverse place, housing classic European middle ages tropes, as well as a heroic fantasy take on African, Middle Eastern, and other real-world cultures". Brian Silliman, for SYFY Wire in 2017, described

26075-411: The social order of Menzoberranzan". The Houses "control all aspects of the city, from enforcing its few laws to dominating trade. Menzoberranzan has no standing army. Instead, the house guard of each of the noble houses provides the military might of the city. Their compounds are heavily fortified castles". Menzoberranzan has about 50 Houses which are all vying to increase their power and their ranking in

26250-469: The start of the series the War of the Silver Marches is over but the fate of Gauntylgyrm, a satellite settlement of Menzoberranzan, has yet to be decided and "the dwarven kings and their allies are marching to reclaim Gauntlgrym, a dwarven stronghold lost some decades past. [...] Meanwhile, the drow of Menzoberranzan, led by their scheming Matron Mother, Quenthel Baenre, are planning the defence of Gauntlgrym, which they've claimed for their own. The first half of

26425-400: The stereotype of the drow as a "super-evil, subterranean race", which Drizzt forsakes "to become a noble Ranger on the surface world". Bricken noted that "Drizzt ends up overshadowing almost everyone and everything" but comments that "Drizzt and Wulfgar are so preternaturally badass they beat 25 giants by themselves (well, with help from Drizzt's magic panther Guenhwyvar, because of course he has

26600-511: The story six years after the drow attack. Drizzt and Catti-Brie work with Captain Deudermont on his pirate-hunting ship, with the Companions of the Hall ultimately fighting the powerful demon Errtu who is aided by the Crystal Shard, which had previously been buried under a mountain of snow. Wulfgar, never truly dead, returns to life from the Abyss as the demon who had held his soul was destroyed. Drizzt

26775-474: The subservient role of drow males. The Matron Mistress of the Academy resides here and serves both as head instructor as well as the leader of the academy. Currently the Academy is presided over by Matron Mistress Quenthel Baenre, who succeeded her sister Matron Triel after the death of their mother. Bregan D'aerthe is a drow mercenary band based in the drow stronghold of Menzoberranzan and appears in many R. A. Salvatore novels. Founded by Jarlaxle Baenre as

26950-472: The successful Homeland Trilogy by R. A. Salvatore, which featured the Drow city in great detail there, TSR sought to capitalize on it by providing far more detail to the actual city than they had before for GMs and players, and the Forgotten Realms setting". The first two books cover the history of the fictional setting, while the final book serves as an adventure module: John ONeill, for Black Gate , wrote that "one of my favorite RPG settings of all time

27125-401: The surface, most notably Luskan , Waterdeep , Calimport , and Heliogabalus . It was led by Jarlaxle Baenre , up until Servant of the Shard and is currently led by the drow psionicist Kimmuriel Oblodra . "...no house desired conflict with Bregan D’aerthe. It was the most secretive of bands, few in the city could even guess at the numbers in the group, and its bases were tucked away in

27300-618: The surface. Thay has become a nightmare land of death and the Elves, sensing the newfound connection to the Feywild, have returned to Faerûn in force". The event moved the fictional world's timeline 94 years into the future to 1479 DR. The Spellplague acted as "a narrative justification for design changes". In 2008, the Forgotten Realms also became the setting for the RPGA's sole living campaign, Living Forgotten Realms , replacing Living Greyhawk . In 2011,

27475-597: The tabletop campaign guide. 5th edition details on "the rest of Faerûn had been untouched until the Tomb of Annihilation (2017), an adventure that leaves the northern Sword Coast for the southern jungles of Chult". The official Dungeons & Dragons actual play web series Rivals of Waterdeep , which premiered in 2018, is set in the Forgotten Realms. It has adapted adventure modules such as Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (2018), Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (2019) and Candlekeep Mysteries (2021) which are also set in

27650-578: The time." Drizzt's story begins in the novel Homeland , the start of The Dark Elf Trilogy and published in 1990 as a prequel to The Icewind Dale Trilogy , which was published between 1988 and 1990. In the book, Drizzt is born in Menzoberranzan as the third son to Matron Malice, the leader of House Do'Urden (a type of family akin to a Scottish clan ). His father is Zaknafein , a weapons master who secretly hates drow society and teaches Drizzt his martial skills as he reinforces Drizzt's innate moral code. The 1996 short story "The Fires of Narbondel", in

27825-459: The two worlds. Forgotten Realms is one of the most popular D&D settings , largely due to the success of novels by authors such as R. A. Salvatore and numerous role-playing video games, including Pool of Radiance (1988), Eye of the Beholder (1991), Icewind Dale (2000), the Neverwinter Nights and the Baldur's Gate series. Ed Greenwood began writing stories about

28000-436: The world of the Forgotten Realms resembles the pre-industrial Earth in the 13th or 14th century. However, the presence of magic provides an additional element of power to the societies. There are several nation states and many independent cities, with loose alliances being formed for defense or conquest. Trade is performed by ship or horse-drawn vehicle , and manufacturing is based upon cottage industry . The Forgotten Realms

28175-524: Was Menzoberranzan like? [...] So half the book takes place back before Drizzt was born, so I can reintroduce people to the dark elf city, through different eyes. Slightly different perspective on the dark elf city". Ed Greenwood , Salvatore, and Douglas Niles collaborated to release a three-book box set in December 1992 called Menzoberranzan: The Famed City of the Drow . Ashe Collins, for Diehard Gamefan , wrote "originally published by TSR in 1992, following

28350-404: Was a breakout success, due in no small part to his mysterious origins and his 'years in Menzoberranzan, or in the wilds of the Underdark . . .' With that one sentence, Salvatore ensured that the Underdark would rise up to unseat Deepearth as the collective name for D&D's underground realms—and that fans would want to know more about those realms". In September 1990, Salvatore's novel Homeland

28525-414: Was also released as part of this campaign. Salvatore said he came to understand that Artemis Entreri , a main character in the book, "was who Drizzt might have become had he remained in Menzoberranzan. Entreri sees the surface world as wretched and evil as Drizzt viewed his homeland, except for Entreri, there was no escape. So he gave in to cynicism and hopelessness". Menzoberranzan appears prominently in

28700-492: Was announced as part of the Rise of the Underdark event. Appelcline wrote that the book includes reprinted material from earlier sources "covering the setting of Menzoberranzan, the houses of Menzoberranzan, and the drow of the Realms" and it "also advances the timeline of the city. This includes details on how the War of the Spider Queen (2002–2005) changed the city and totally new material on

28875-556: Was clichéd, but that some of the characters did achieve "some complexity". They singled out two characters for praise: Innovindel, an elf who talks "pensively" of her long life in contrast to the short lived humans, and Obould the orc king. Drizzt Do'Urden was #3 on Game Rant 's 2020 "10 Must-Have NPCs In Dungeons & Dragons Lore To Make Your Campaigns Awesome" list — the article states that "A skilled ranger in his own right, Drizzt remains equally-adept in conversation. He's always wary of danger, strives for perfection, and held himself to

29050-406: Was drow nature, to the greater glory of their evil goddess, who so loved chaos. Only fifty years after the city's founding, in −3864 DR, a great and terrible battle between the two most powerful Houses, House Nasadra and House S'sril, occurred. This battle led to the exile of House Nasadra (which later founded the city of Ched Nasad , and was the First House until the city's recent destruction) and to

29225-544: Was later the focus of its own source book Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms , published in 1988. There is also a vast subterranean world called the Underdark beneath the surface. In early editions of the setting, The Realms shared a unified cosmology with various other campaign settings called the Great Wheel. In this way each of the Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings were linked together to form one interwoven world connected by various planes of existence. With

29400-399: Was never able to use much of this stuff in my nerdy Stranger Things -but-in-the-90s D&D group. But that's okay—I still had innumerable hours of thinking up drow-based adventures ahead, whether I'd use them or not". In November 1999, Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark (1999), by Eric L. Boyd , was released. Appelcline wrote that it "is the single-most comprehensive sourcebook on

29575-453: Was on her way to a marketing meeting concerning the book, and informed him that they could not use one of the characters. He asked for time to think, but she was already late for the meeting. Off the top of his head, Salvatore said he had a Dark Elf. Kirchoff was skeptical, but Salvatore convinced her it would be fine because he was just a sidekick. She asked his name, and he replied Drizzt Do'Urden. She asked if he could spell it, and he said "not

29750-448: Was pretty impressed by this book. It may not be for me, but I can't deny how well written and designed this campaign supplement is". Wired included the book on a seasonal gift guide and wrote that "it's a wicked underground city packed full of scheming dark elves and their henchmen and slaves. The illustrations of the noble families are particularly excellent, and you really get a sense of the personalities of these houses. [...] This book

29925-404: Was published in 2014, Wizards of the Coast announced that the Forgotten Realms would continue to serve as the official campaign setting for its upcoming published adventure materials. The village of Phandalin in the Forgotten Realms acted as the primary setting for the new 5th edition Starter Set (2014) which was published before the release of three new core rulebooks. "Tyranny of Dragons"

30100-435: Was released "nearly 20 years ago for second edition AD&D , Menzoberranzan has not seen an update since and has been out of print for over 15 years. It was featured in the popular Menzoberranzan PC game from SSI/DreamForge, part of their Forgotten Realms product line, in 1994, and very prominently in the six volume War of the Spider Queen novels, but it's been far too long since my favorite underdark city-state appeared in

30275-509: Was released October 5, 2010. The second book in the series Neverwinter , was released October 4, 2011, with the third installment entitled Charon's Claw released August 7, 2012. The fourth book in the series " The Last Threshold ", was released March 5, 2013. Drizzt Do'Urden has been featured in several accessories and one book for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The Hall of Heroes accessory for

30450-516: Was released. This was the first novel in the prequel series and was followed by Exile , in December 1990, and then Sojurn , in May 1991. Homeland shows the life and society of Menzoberranzan as Drizzt Do'Urden grows up there. It explores the complex Drow house system in Menzoberranzan along with education system, called the Academy. Cindy Speer, for the SF Site , wrote that "the city is beautifully rendered,

30625-612: Was the first multimedia storyline for the new edition and included two adventure modules, Hoard of the Dragon Queen (2014) and The Rise of Tiamat (2014), and an update to the Neverwinter (2013) video game. The next two storylines, "Elemental Evil" which included Princes of the Apocalypse (2015) and "Rage of Demons" which included Out of the Abyss (2015), were also set in the Forgotten Realms. The first campaign guide for

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