Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance was announced during The Game Awards this year, to the excitement of many fans (both of D&D and the old Dark Alliance games), and upon its reveal the game boasted a very recognizable playable character: Drizzt Do'Urden, drow skirmisher and longtime folk hero in the Forgotten Realms. That means anybody looking to play the new game who isn't familiar with Drizzt should probably read up on him--he's only one of the most iconic characters in D&D history.
The problem with doing a little light Drizzt research is that it's really hard to keep it light; there are so many novels and video game appearances at this point that it would take a long time to experience them all. So instead, here's a handy profile of Drizzt, his adventures, and his significance to Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance.
To a good, well-rounded look at Drizzt Do'Urden, let's go all the way back to his humble beginnings. Created by author R.A. Salvatore as a side character for his Icewind Dale book trilogy, Drizzt quickly grew in popularity and became the star of his own (many) novels. Being one of the drow elves, the evil elven subrace living far below Faerun's surface in the Underdark, Drizzt was born the third son of Matron Mother Malice of House Do’Urden.
He was raised in the city of Menzoberranzan to be a ruthless killer in the service of Lolth, though at heart he was always different. When Drizzt refused to kill a young moon elf captured and brought below, he was eventually forced to flee Menzoberranzan and seek the surface. The drow winds up in the northern town of Icewind Dale--and that's where Salvatore's first trilogy of novels, the Icewind Dale series, begins. With twin scimitars named Icingdeath and Twinkle, Drizzt becomes one of the only drow to voluntarily live on the surface in the history of the Forgotten Realms. Fun fact: he's also surprisingly short and slender, barely reaching 5 and a half feet in height, which is actually quite normal for the naturally smaller drow.
Drizzt's origins are actually revealed in a different series of books published after Icewind Dale; after the series' success and Drizzt's popularity, in particular, Salvatore completed The Dark Elf Trilogy. That's where Drizzt's troubled upbringing is revealed in full, along with a look into drow culture and the Underdark, which is the one part of Faerun that few people ever reach. Drizzt himself is a black sheep among his people, the opposite of everything they believe in; where they scheme and murder in the dark, serving their Spider Queen, Drizzt sought a lighter path. Where treachery is practically a sport in drow society, Drizzt will try to keep his word even if it endangers him.
Good-aligned and worshipper of Mielikki, the goddess of rangers, Drizzt is devoted to his friends and with their backing him, the group protects Faerun together, specifically Icewind Dale. Drizzt follows his own strict personal code of honor, significant because one of Drizzt's resolutions is to defend innocent people even as they fear or openly spurn him. He was uninterested in retaining the spite so commonly found in his people, and instead proved himself to be a valorous warrior and thoughtful person.
Thus, Drizzt became a staple in Dungeons & Dragons, his many ensuing series of adventures delighting readers for years. It'd be pointless to try and recap every single Drizzt book--that itself would probably take days--but at a glance, he's gone toe to toe with dragons and other legendary creatures, faced down assassins, explored long-forgotten locales across Faerun, and much more.
Drizzt's strange predicament sees him often shunned by both his underground home and many inhabitants of the surface world. Though Drizzt loves his found family, he's always thinking about how his presence affects them: how he will outlive them all, how any and all children he and his wife might have would be unwelcome wherever they went. Still, he does find his place in the world, and though he travels far, it always comes back to the frigid tundra and Icewind Dale.
And of course, with fame comes cameos. Though Drizzt began as a book character, he's so popular that he's shown up in other D&D-based video games, most notably as a potential ally in the beloved Baldur's Gate series. This will be the first time he's had a starring role in a game, however; previously, the makers of D&D left Drizzt's adventures to Salvatore and only brought him into other media briefly to delight his many fans. Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance isn't entirely out of Salvatore's hands, though--he gave input to the developers as they created this iteration of Drizzt.
For the purposes of Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance (and any other video games he might appear in), it's mainly important to know that Drizzt is a seasoned adventurer and paragon of good in the face of his origins. He's got a group of companions, each of whom he'd go to the Nine Hells and back for--and they're playable in Dark Alliance too, which is fun. To do a deep dive into the Drizzt fandom, there are over 20 books filled with his exploits. Prospective readers can start a few different ways: for the beginning of the story chronologically, go for Homeland. For the first Drizzt book ever written, go for The Crystal Shard. And for any who want to read Drizzt but don't really care about the order, Salvatore's most recent trilogy begins with Timeless.
Or, after this rundown of Drizzt's character and history, some might just wait for the game to release--another perfectly viable option. It's a brand new Drizzt story, penned by developer Toque Games:a fresh start for newcomers and a return to beloved lore for longtime fans.
Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance is planned for release on PCÂ and consoles in the fall of 2020.