Editing Drow (section)

=== 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}}