Editing Drow (section)

==Reception==
Made famous by [[R. A. Salvatore]]'s [[Drizzt]] novels, these dark elves from the game influenced subsequent works of fantasy.<ref name=Ash>{{cite book|author-first=Richard W.|author-last=Forest|editor1-first=Jeffrey|editor1-last=Weinstock|date=2014|title=The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters|publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]]|chapter=Dungeons & Dragons, Monsters in}}</ref> Drow have a gender-based caste system that one author claims says "a great deal about attitudes towards gender roles in the real world".<ref name=PJC>{{Cite thesis |last=Clements |first=Philip J. |date=December 2019 |title=Dungeons & Discourse: Intersectional Identities in Dungeons & Dragons |type=PhD |url=http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1573729920432102 |location=Bowling Green, Ohio |publisher=[[Bowling Green State University]] |access-date=September 22, 2020}}</ref>{{rp|34}}

The drow originally created by [[Gary Gygax]] are now "essentially the drow of fantasy fiction today", according to [[Ed Greenwood]], who believes them to be "arguably Gary Gygax's greatest, most influential fantasy creation" after the D&D game itself.<ref name="Dark Warrior Rising" /> Designer [[James Jacobs (game designer)|James Jacobs]] considers the drow to be a rare example of a D&D-invented monster becoming mainstream, with even non-gamers recognizing them.<ref name="PF13intro" /> Rob Bricken, for ''[[Io9]]'', named the drow as the eighth most memorable ''D&D'' monster.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-10-most-memorable-dungeons-dragons-monsters-1326074030/|title=The 10 Most Memorable Dungeons & Dragons Monsters|journal=Io9|last=Bricken|first=Rob|date=September 16, 2013|access-date=January 20, 2016|archive-date=January 31, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131172448/http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-10-most-memorable-dungeons-dragons-monsters-1326074030|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 1990s, products which featured drow produced higher sales.<ref name="PF13intro" /><ref name="Holmes on drow negative estrangement">{{Cite journal |last=Holmes |first=Steven |date=2023 |title=Negative Estrangement: Fantasy and Race in the Drow and Drizzt Do'Urden |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48747482 |journal=Mythlore |volume=42 |issue=1(143) |pages=121–146 |jstor=48747482 |issn=0146-9339}}</ref>{{rp|123}} While [[Paizo Publishing]] was printing ''[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]'' and ''[[Dungeon (magazine)|Dungeon]]'', covers featuring drow often sold better than other issues in the same year.<ref name="PF13intro" /> Academic Steven Holmes noted that drow "remain highly visible in successful media projects".<ref name="Holmes on drow negative estrangement" />{{rp|123}}

Holmes highlighted that Gygax created drow as "perfect villains—endpoints on a divide of good and evil".<ref name="Holmes on drow negative estrangement" />{{rp|page=129}} However, Holmes thought [[R. A. Salvatore]]'s depiction was more complicated than Gygax's and Salvatore's work "in many ways" ended up as the definitive portrayal of the drow.<ref name="Holmes on drow negative estrangement" />{{rp|page=128}} In the ''Io9'' series revisiting older ''Dungeons & Dragons'' novels, in his review of ''[[Homeland (Forgotten Realms novel)|Homeland]]'' by Salvatore, Bricken says that "its greatest strength is how it explores drow society, which up to that point was best summarized as 'very evil.' Prior to Drizzt, in the vein of orcs, trolls, and primary-colored dragons, the Drow were essentially categorized as more monsters for players to battle and defeat. Their skin was obsidian black, earning them the alternate name of dark elves, and marking them as the evil counterpart to the good and heroic lighter-skinned elves of the surface."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bricken |first=Rob |date=November 15, 2022 |title=Dungeons & Dragons & Novels: Revisiting Homeland |url=https://gizmodo.com/dungeons-dragons-novels-drizzt-homeland-rasalvatore-1849785575 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201202951/https://gizmodo.com/dungeons-dragons-novels-drizzt-homeland-rasalvatore-1849785575 |archive-date=2022-12-01 |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=io9 |language=en-us}}</ref>

=== As player characters ===
The drow, especially when used as [[player character]]s, are surrounded by much controversy, especially after the release of Salvatore's novel, ''[[The Crystal Shard]]''.<ref name="PF13intro">{{cite book|last1=Vaughan|first1=Greg A.|first2=James|last2=Jacobs|author-link2=James Jacobs (game designer)|title=Pathfinder #13: Shadow in the Sky|publisher=[[Paizo Publishing]]|location=[[Bellevue, Washington]], United States|year=2008|series=Pathfinder Adventure Path|pages=4–5|chapter=Foreword: ... And I Feel Fine|isbn=978-1-60125-115-2}}</ref> Game designer James Jacobs has said that the drow player characters often spark arguments, with some players refusing to play in a campaign that allows drow PCs. Jacobs says that "even the name" is controversial, having at least two pronunciations.<ref name="PF13intro" /> Rob Bricken, for ''[[Kotaku]]'', wrote that there "has been one good Drow in the history of D&D, and that's Drizzt Do'Urden, who is one of the [[Mary Sue]]-iest characters in all of fiction—and he's been the star of countless novels and is the only reason any D&D player has even been interested in the Drow, of which now there is a terrifying amount of material".<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-03-28|title=The 13 Strangest Deities In Dungeons & Dragons|url=https://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/03/the-13-strangest-deities-in-dungeons-dragons/|access-date=2021-05-21|website=Kotaku Australia|language=en-AU|archive-date=2021-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210521165919/https://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/03/the-13-strangest-deities-in-dungeons-dragons/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Matthew Beilman, for [[Comic Book Resources|''CBR'']], highlighted multiple reasons to play as a drow character: <blockquote>You will love playing a drow if you enjoy making others uncomfortable. In most ''D&D'' settings, the drow civilization is evil. [...] This makes them excellent campaign villains but also gives them great potential as antiheroes who lack traditional heroic attributes [...]. Playing a drow can also present an opportunity to play against traditional gender norms. [...] The drow are outsiders, even in settings that do not include Lolth and her corruptive influence. These campaigns might not have evil societies of dark elves, but they still tend to make them into foreigners with strange customs [...]. Playing a misunderstood, feared yet potentially heroic character can be great fun.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-03-30|title=Queens of Darkness: Why Your Next D&D Character Should Be a Drow|url=https://www.cbr.com/dungeons-dragons-next-character-drow/|access-date=2021-05-21|website=CBR|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210521171153/https://www.cbr.com/dungeons-dragons-next-character-drow/|url-status=live}}</ref> </blockquote>In contrast, in his review of ''[[Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue]]'' for ''[[DieHard GameFan]]'', Alex Lucard wrote, "I'll be honest: I've never understood the appeal of the Drow at all. They just seemed overly angsty and dark for the sake of being dark. I've been bored by the novels where they are the featured race and I've generally avoided them unless someone is making fun of them".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lucard|first=Alex|date=August 29, 2012|title=Tabletop Review: Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue (Dungeons & Dragons)|url=http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/08/27/tabletop-review-menzoberranzan-city-of-intrigue-dungeons-dragons/|access-date=2021-05-21|website=Diehard GameFAN|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210521165917/http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/08/27/tabletop-review-menzoberranzan-city-of-intrigue-dungeons-dragons/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Inherent characteristics ===
{{See also|Dungeons & Dragons controversies#Humanoids and monsters}}
Some critics have highlighted that the drow<ref name=":18">{{Cite web|last=Parrish|first=Ash|date=June 23, 2020|title=Wizards Of The Coast Will Finally Address Racist Stereotypes In Dungeons And Dragons|url=https://kotaku.com/wizards-of-the-coast-will-finally-address-racist-stereo-1844133956|access-date=2020-07-26|website=Kotaku|language=en-us|archive-date=2020-08-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806005513/https://kotaku.com/wizards-of-the-coast-will-finally-address-racist-stereo-1844133956|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Marshall|first=Cass|date=2020-06-23|title=Wizards of the Coast is addressing racist stereotypes in Dungeons & Dragons|url=https://www.polygon.com/2020/6/23/21300653/dungeons-dragons-racial-stereotypes-wizards-of-the-coast-drow-orcs-curse-of-strahd|access-date=2021-05-21|website=Polygon|language=en|archive-date=2021-05-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518175228/https://www.polygon.com/2020/6/23/21300653/dungeons-dragons-racial-stereotypes-wizards-of-the-coast-drow-orcs-curse-of-strahd|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Blum|first=Jeremy|date=2020-06-28|title='Dungeons & Dragons' Race Issues Have Deep Roots In The World Of Fantasy|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dungeons-and-dragons-diversity-evil-races_n_5ef3b7cac5b643f5b22eb22a|access-date=2021-05-21|website=HuffPost|language=en|archive-date=2022-09-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904031940/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dungeons-and-dragons-diversity-evil-races_n_5ef3b7cac5b643f5b22eb22a|url-status=live}}</ref> are "dark skinned and inherently evil"<ref>{{Cite news|title='Dungeons & Dragons' Tries To Banish Racist Stereotypes|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/06/29/884824236/dungeons-dragons-tries-to-banish-racist-stereotypes|access-date=2021-05-21|website=NPR.org|language=en|archive-date=2020-07-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730061246/https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/06/29/884824236/dungeons-dragons-tries-to-banish-racist-stereotypes|url-status=live}}</ref> and are connected to the "racist idea that non-white people are inherently bad".<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Kaufman|first1=Amy S.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1137372767|title=The devil's historians : how modern extremists abuse the medieval past|last2=Sturtevant|first2=Paul B.|date= 2020|isbn=978-1-4875-8785-7|location=Toronto|page=157|oclc=1137372767|access-date=May 21, 2021|archive-date=September 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904032020/https://www.worldcat.org/title/1137372767|url-status=live}}</ref> In the academic journal ''[[Mythlore]]'', Holmes argued that the depiction of drow was an example of various creators using "negative estrangement" within the narrative "to create a 'more evil' antagonist to serve as a foil for narrative protagonists"<ref name="Holmes on drow negative estrangement" />{{rp|page=121}} and this narrative process "warps" and "strips" stereotypes "of their context in order to use them like ingredients in a recipe for a compelling villain".<ref name="Holmes on drow negative estrangement" />{{rp|page=129}} Holmes also highlighted the inconsistent artistic portrayal over time as "the black skin of the drow is not" consistently used across all products—this meant that when "some saw the drow as a fantastical race of spider-themed elves, others saw them as one of the very few depictions of black-skinned people in ''Dungeons & Dragons''" and the inconsistent "visual representation" then "further compounds the complexity of discussing the relationship of the drow to real world race, given that some players may see the drow as obviously modeled on real world black bodies, and others seeing them as a fantasy race with no realworld analogue".<ref name="Holmes on drow negative estrangement" />{{rp||page=126}}

In 2010, scholar Cory Lowell Grewell found that in the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' video game series, "issues of contemporary race relations are brought to the fore in the player-Character's interactions with the dark-skinned Drow Elves."<ref>{{cite book |last=Grewell |first=Cory Lowell |editor-last=Fugelso |editor-first=Karl |date=2010 |title=Studies in Medievalism XIX: Defining Neomedievalism(s) |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[D. S. Brewer]] |page=39 |chapter=Neomedivealims: An Eleventh Little Middle Ages? |isbn=978-1-84384-228-6}}</ref> In the book ''Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy'' (2012), author James Rocha states that the difference between drow and dark elves in the Forgotten Realms setting is rooted in racist stereotypes: "an acceptable lighter skinned dark race side by side with only the most rare exceptions in the darker race, which is thought to be inherently evil, mirrors American history in a very uncomfortable fashion".<ref name=":25">{{Cite book|last1=Rocha|first1=James|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/781678837|title=Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy: Raiding the Temple of Wisdom|last2=Rocha|first2=Mona|date=2012|publisher=Open Court Pub|isbn=978-0-8126-9796-4|location=Chicago|chapter=Elf Stereotypes|oclc=781678837|access-date=2021-05-21|archive-date=2022-09-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904032026/https://www.worldcat.org/title/781678837|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|98}} In a retrospective on the legacy of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', academic Daniel Heath Justice also 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, a once-civilized people gone feral under the debased rule of women".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Justice |first=Daniel Heath |title=Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |year=2024 |isbn=9780262547604 |publication-date=May 10, 2024 |chapter=Hack The Orcs, Loot The Tomb, And Take The Land |chapter-url=https://www.rascal.news/hack-the-orcs-loot-the-tomb-and-take-the-land/}}</ref> 

In response to this criticism in 2020, Wizards of the Coast stated: "we present orcs and drow in a new light in two of our most recent books, ''[[Eberron: Rising from the Last War]]'' and ''[[Explorer's Guide to Wildemount]]''. In those books, orcs and drow are just as morally and culturally complex as other peoples. We will continue that approach in future books, portraying all the peoples of D&D in relatable ways and making it clear that they are as free as humans to decide who they are and what they do".<ref name=":0" /> Christian Hoffer, for ''ComicBook.com'', highlighted a 2021 ''Forgotten Realms'' lore update on the Wizards of the Coast website: <blockquote>While Drizzt himself is proof that all drow aren't inherently evil, many fans still think that ''Dungeons & Dragons'' lore needs major updates when it comes to the drow. The main issue is that the drow (like other 'evil' races) are presented as a large monolithic society dedicated to evil instead of a group with multiple competing interests and beliefs. It's not that some drow, or even a city or country of drow, are seen as evil—it's that ''Dungeons & Dragons'' lore has traditionally considered evil drow to be the default. [...] By bringing in two entirely new cultures of drow that have rejected Lolth, it seems that the lore will show that drow are just as complex and multi-faceted as the many other elven subraces in the game.<ref name=":1" /> </blockquote>Holmes commented that "to some extent, the current revisions being applied to race, half races, and the drow specifically reflect longstanding tensions in gaming spaces" and how audience views around "narrative subjects change over time".<ref name="Holmes on drow negative estrangement" />{{rp|124}} Holmes thought Wizards of the Coast appears to be aiming for a "middle ground" where "drow are not intrinsically evil" by allowing players to decide if they want to play as an evil drow who adheres to Lolth or play as a "good drow" who deals with "overcoming the racism of the world based on the violence of Lolth-sworn drow. This allows Wizards of the Coast to retain the brand identity of the drow that drove sales of drow-related products for thirty years, while shifting emphasis away from an implied endorsement of naturalized racism".<ref name="Holmes on drow negative estrangement" />{{rp|143}}