Theme

The Legend of Drizzt has several key themes. One of them is Drizzt's internal battle between moral and beliefs. The drow rely heavily on belief, they praise their goddess Lolth and will do whatever it takes to be in her favor. Being dark elves, the drow don't recognize evil as a bad thing. Most of them don't even have a conscience. However, Drizzt isn't like them in that aspect, he has morals. He wants to remain loyal to his family and what they've taught him but he doesn't want to be evil. In the end he decides to escape Menzoberranzan and face the surface world. This brings me to the second theme. Once Drizzt reaches the surface world he faces racism and hate. Drow aren't accepted among other races. This makes things hard for him as he's now on his own. Eventually he finds people to accept him as a friend. These friends would become like Drizzt's and would do anything for him. While it's hard to take away from this type of fantasy story with undertone, you can analyze the story and see that family isn't always going to be there but greater things can come your way if you believe in yourself.

Point-of-View and Setting

The story is told in the narrator's​ point of view but contains several monologues as Drizzt questions himself. When Drizzt escaped Menzoberranzan, he whispers to himself "How many others are there like me, I wonder", this is just one example of monologue. Salvatore made it a point to develop the setting well. It takes place in Menzoberranzan, an underground cavern blocked from the outside world. As you might imagine, Menzoberranzan is an evil and dark place, being home to dark elves and all. It is based on the D&D campaign called Forgotten Realms by Ed Greenwood. In the story of the Forgotten Realms, earth and the Under-dark are closer than they are now but no humans would visit the Under-dark. As time went on they grew farther apart and the humans forgot about the realm of darkness. Menzoberranzan is a city on the only continent called Faerûn.

Character and Conflict

Drizzt Do'Urden is the main character and protagonist. He is a young drow (dark elf) but unlike the others he is against the evil ways of normal drow. His mother, Malice, and antagonist, is the leader of the House Do'Urden and has several other children. She is very traditional when it comes to making decisions and highly respects their goddess Lolth (also known as the spider queen), another antagonist of the story. Zaknafein is the father of Drizzt and the weapons master of the House. Like Drizzt, he too has morals and doesn't agree with the evil way of his people. This book outlines conflict of a young drow, Drizzt, trying to leave the evil ways of his people. Things are difficult for him as he is a young male in a matriarchal society. Matron Malice has noticed that Drizzt is an unusual drow. He has purple eyes and  remarkable reflexes. Drizzt escaped death more than once due to pure luck and his remarkable fighting skills. In fact, his life began in the midst of conflict. When he was born House Do'Urden and House DeVir were fighting. He was to be sacrificed to Lolth but his eldest brother died in battle. This saved young Drizzt. Later in his life, his mother and sisters wanted him to be sacrificed to Lolth because the House fell out of her favor. When Zaknafein learned of the plan, he took Drizzt place and was sacrificed. Thanks to him Drizzt was able to escape the dark Menzoberranzan.

Book Summary and Review

Homeland by R.A. Salvatore is the first book of the Dark Elf trilogy set in the city of Menzoberranzan. This book follows the story of Drizzt Do'Urden from his birth to young adulthood among the drow (dark elves). Drizzt was an unusual drow with purple eyes and a conscience. He was born to the 10th House of Daermon Na'Shezbaeron, more commonly known as House Do'Urden. His mother was Malice, the matron mother, and his father was Zaknafein, the weapon master. Drizzt was the third male of the house, traditionally the third male would be sacrificed to their goddess Lolth, but by some miracle the first born was killed in battle at the time of Drizzt's birth. This is just the first time Drizzt would escape death. His first 10 years were spent in the care of his sister Vierna. Overtime they discovered Drizzt had amazing reflexes and coordination. His father decided he wouldn't be the replacement for the House wizard, instead he began weapons training at 16. At 20 he went to a warrior academy and excelled. At his graduation ceremony he shamed himself by refusing to participate in the traditional ritual and dammed Lolth. After he saved a child the House fell out of the Queen's favor. Matron Malice and her daughters planned to sacrifice Drizzt but Matron Malice warned Zaknafein. He decided to take Drizzt's place and be sacrificed. This was Matron Malice's plan all along, she thought that this would make Drizzt act normally. After Zaknafein's death Matron Malice told Drizzt he was to be the next weapons master but he refused. Using one of the weapons, he escaped to the Under-dark.

This book was loosely based on a pre-existing D&D theological matriarchal society that Salvatore developed. The story talks about the struggle of survival in a ruthless society that the main character stands out in. While some characters aren't well developed they still fit their role in the story. Salvatore developed the setting in more depth to make up for this. Overall the story fits together very well and it holds your attention throughout the whole book. The end doesn't leave it on a cliff hanger but it leaves you wondering what the next step in the character's story is.