History Literature / TheLegendOfDrizzt

* HeroesWantRedheads: Catti-brie, the love interest of both Wulfgar and Drizzt is stated to have auburn hair.

* ActionGirl: Cattie Brie does ''massive'' damage with her bow and sword against all manner of foes.

** Played distressingly straight in the "Companions Codex", where not only do the Orcs of Many-Arrows go on the warpath once again, in the first novel, Cattie-Brie claims to have received a message from Mielikki that goblinkin essentially ''don't have souls'' and can't ''ever'' hope for redemption, making the founding of Many-Arrows a great mistake on Drizzt's part. Slightly subverted, though; Drizzt cannot bring himself to believe that this is true (and it's subtly implied that it just may be a lie sent to Cattie-Brie by Lolth to corrupt Drizzt), and it's noted that the Orcs only went on the warpath when a "traditionalist", named Hartusk, usurped the throne from Obould's descendent Lorgru.

* TheCaptain: Captain Deudermont is one of Drizzt and Cattie-Brie's consistent allies and closest friends.
* CelibateHero: Drizzt is this for almost a dozen books. [[spoiler: He's secretly in love with Cattie-Brie.]]

* HeroesWantRedheads: Cattie-brie, the love interest of both Wulfgar and Drizzt is stated to have auburn hair.

* KarmaHoudini: Played with regarding Artemis Entreri. Cattie Brie, certainly, thinks he's one but he goes through several terrible periods of torture and imprisonment.

** Cattie-brie dies from a wild magic surge caused by the Spellplague, irrevocably losing her sanity and essence over several weeks. Regis meets the same fate after attempting to use his hypnotic ruby to bring her back to herself and ends up pulled into her magic disruption.

* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler:Yvonnel The Eternal in ''Maestro'' not only orchestrates the defeat of Demogorgon by using Drizzt as her puppet, she ''corrupts him back to the worship of Lloth'' - or at least, drives him quite insane, unsure of whether or not what he sees is real. She forces him to work for her in killing Demogorgon, but cannot break his spirit, and sends him back to the surface in the hope that his lingering madness will drive him over the edge.]]

* WhipItGood: Many Drow priestesses have whips made out of magical snakes with multiple heads.

* PragmaticVillainy: Jarlaxle's hat (and a NiceHat it is). Jarlaxle doesn't engage in the usual EvilIsPetty of the Drow but only does as part of his business dealings.

* [[Literature/GenerationsDrizzt Generations]]''

* ''ComicBook/NeverwinterTales'' - A comic book set during ''Literature/TheNeverwinterTrilogy.''

* {{Deconstruction}}: The ''Literature/Transitions'' and ''Literature/TheNeverwinterSaga'' do a lot of this to Drizzt's own series. His heroic friends and attempts to make the Realms a better place gradually fall apart with racism as well as tyranny making a return despite the attempts to undo them. Drizzt also finds himselves in EvilVersusEvil conflicts where there's genuinely no right answer.

* InvincibleHero: What Drizzt is for much of the series. It doesn't make him less entertaining but even Artemis Entreri, one of the most dangerous foes they ever face, is just ''not as good'' as Drizzt. It's what makes [[spoiler: King Obould]] and Drizzt fight to a standstill so shocking as no one has done that yet after a dozen books.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: King Obould establishes an Orcish Empire on behalf of Gruumsh, their Chaotic Evil God of War and Evil. Within a century, the orcs have become civilized traders and farmers who intermarry with the surrounding humans. Played with as this is actually what Obould intended all along.
** Gruumsh apparently later changes his mind about the merits of Obould's vision, since the dissenting orc general Hartusk overthrows Obould's lineage and brings the orcs right back to their old ways of killing and looting. Hartusk even calls himself Warlord rather than King, in keeping with the orcs returning to their original heritage. In the end, Obould Many-Arrows' dream proves to be just that-an ultimately futile dream.

* OneManArmy: Drizzt is, more or less, the greatest swordsman in D&D fiction history. He carves an EPIC swath of enemies across the series.

* BadassDecay: Drizzt is an individual who has defeated a Balor twice, multiple dragons, and the greatest swordsmen in the land. ''Literature/TheNeverwinterSaga'' has him struggling against much less powerful opponents as well as being much more realistically balanced against other opponents. This seems to have been done deliberately to make the stakes higher for the protagonists.

* Generations

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Wulfgar appeared to be this, but was eventually subverted.]]
** Most of the [[spoiler: Companions of the Hall]] die before or during the hundred-year-time-skip. Justified since none of their races have lifespans to match Drizzt's, and they would have died during the time skip even if it was just from sickness or age.

* TheSocialDarwinist: Most Drow culture and morality is entirely Social Darwinist. They [[BuryYourDisabled kill all disabled babies at birth]], practice eugenic selective breeding, believe themselves a SuperiorSpecies with the goals to enslave all Underdark races and exterminate their elves cousins while seizing their wealth. To that end, they are constantly struggling with each other, and Drow noble Houses frequently exterminate each other (or attempt it). It's permitted so long as a House is ''completely'' wiped out. Failures, with surviving accusers, result in the government wiping out the attacking House. It extends to their laws in general, where though punishments do exist the real crime is getting caught by the authorities. They have a strict class society with commoners oppressed servants of nobles, and many non-Drow slaves as well. Males are also deemed inferior to females, kept in a subordinate position. All this is meant to make them fierce and strong, but in fact it's self-destructive, preventing them from ever fulfilling their supposed greater goals. Lolth, the evil god they worship who commands this, doesn't really care about the greater goals as them constantly fighting each other is what she finds pleasing. Drow are mostly a cruel suspicious, treacherous people as a result, constantly prone to back-stabbing even family when it serves them and [[VirtueIsWeakness disdaining compassion or love as weakness]]. Because of this, they're unable to achieve organization larger than [[LandOfOneCity city-states]], thus an empire capable of their supposed goals is beyond reach anyway.

* {{Matriarchy}}: Drow society is a strict matriarchy, with every House headed by a Matron Mother who rules them. Males are taught to believe themselves inferior in relation with females, a gender hierarchy harshly reinforced. Their cities are run by councils made up of Matron Mothers, with males having no voice in the government.

* TheSocialDarwinist: Drow culture and morality is entirely Social Darwinist. They [[BuryYourDisabled kill all disabled babies at birth]], practice eugenic selective breeding, believe themselves a SuperiorSpecies with the goals to enslave all Underdark races and exterminate their elves cousins while seizing their wealth. To that end, they are constantly struggling with each other, and Drow noble Houses frequently exterminate each other (or attempt it). It's permitted so long as a House is ''completely'' wiped out. Failures, with surviving accusers, result in the government wiping out the attacking House. It extends to their laws in general, where though punishments do exist the real crime is getting caught by the authorities. They have a strict class society with commoners oppressed servants of nobles, and many non-Drow slaves as well. Males are also deemed inferior to females, kept in a subordinate position. All this is meant to make them fierce and strong, but in fact it's self-destructive, preventing them from ever fulfilling their supposed greater goals. Lolth, the evil god they worship who commands this, doesn't really care about the greater goals as them constantly fighting each other is what she finds pleasing. Drow are mostly a cruel suspicious, treacherous people as a result, constantly prone to back-stabbing even family when it serves them and [[VirtueIsWeakness disdaining compassion or love as weakness]]. Because of this, they're unable to achieve organization larger than [[LandOfOneCity city-states]], thus an empire capable of their supposed goals is beyond reach anyway.

* LadyLand: Menzoberrazan is a cartoonishly over-the-top evil one, made palatable by being just one of the ways they're incredibly evil. They're just so much ''fun.''

* RealityEnsues: The Kingdom of Many Arrows, once established is powerful enough that the Northern Nations have to bring it to the negotiating table despite being a kingdom of AlwaysChaoticEvil orcs.

* TooDumbToLive: The Harpells are the wizard version of this, though they often border on CrazyAwesome.

* VillainProtagonist: Jarlaxle and Artemis for the Sellswords trilogy.

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: The Drow are a matriarchal version of this taken up to the eleven. Wholesale elimination of families is just another day at the office.

* BiggerBad: Lolth represents this to Drizzt, being indirectly responsible for more or less every problem in his life.