Such is the popularity of Dungeons and Dragons that a whole series of canon novelizations have been released – allowing those with a love of the genre to experience their favorite characters embarking on fantastical adventures.
What Is The Narrative Of D&D?
Much of the ‘Forgotten Realms’ campaigns associated with contemporary Dungeons and Dragons games/books are based in the fictional country of ‘Chondath’ – which in itself is surrounded by all manner of strange, dangerous lands full of monsters and enemies.
The Dungeons and Dragons world also consists of numerous races, which consist of:
Humans – Chondath’s version of medieval human beings
Dwarves – short, stocky, bearded humanoids with a penchant for smithing and mining
Elves – tall, slim, ethereal beings with pointed ears and delicate features
Gnomes – short creatures resembling dwarves, albeit generally beardless and with pointed ears
Half-Elves – the offspring of humans and elves, possessing traits of both races
Half-Orcs – the offspring of humans and orcs, possessing features and traits of both races
Halflings – short humanoids similar to the ‘Hobbits’ from the LOTR franchise
Tieflings – reportedly descended from ‘Fiends’, Tieflings possess horns, fangs, claws, cloven hooves, and tails, and generally resemble demons
Dragonborn – reptilian, sentient humanoids descended from dragons
Who Is Drizzt Do’Urden?
Created by R.A. Salvatore as a supporting character for the Icewind Dale Trilogy, Drizzt Do’Urden is a fictional character within the Dungeons and Dragons franchise.
Belonging to the ‘Drow’ – a race of dark elves – Drizzt is something of an outcast amongst his own people, due to his disownment of their own evil ways, and his pursuit of a ranger lifestyle roaming the lands of the realm.
It is this conflict – both within Drizzt himself, and with those he encounters – that forms many of the stories regarding his character, and which continues to make him such a fascinating character for both players of the game, and readers of Salvatore’s books – where he embodies something of a romantic hero, albeit in an atypical fashion.
The 36 Best Drizzt Do’Urden Stories
Now that you know a little more about the world of Dungeons and Dragons, and about the character of Drizzt himself, it is now time to explore some of the best stories featuring this much-loved character.
Starting any new series can be daunting, especially when there is so much material to explore. This is why we have put together a list of some of our favorite Drizzt Do’Urden stories to get you started.
Recounting the origins of the fan-favorite drow ranger, Homeland sees the events in Drizzt’s early life that lead to him becoming an exile amongst his people, and a lonesome wanderer across the plains of Chondath and beyond.
As the third child of his parents – mother Malice and the weapon master Zaknafein – Drizzt is destined to be sacrificed to the evil spider queen Lolth, as per drow tradition.
However, after the death of his elder brother, Drizzt is spared his sacrificial fate – something that further outcasts him amongst his family and his people.
As Drizzt grows older and develops his own ideals and skills, he realizes that his beliefs surrounding good and evil are different from those of his drow comrades – a realization that casts a further wedge between them, and decides the young dark elf’s ultimate choice to leave.
Following his exile from his home of Menzoberranzan, Drizzt has spent ten years wandering the dark and winding maze of the Underdark – attempting in vain to find a new place to call home away from his people.
However, the Underdark is no peaceful place, and the constant threats forge the young drow into the fearsome warrior he eventually becomes.
With every meal being a hunt, and every waking day and night requiring him to fight whatever monsters, beasts, and enemies come his way, Drizzt grows lonesome and hard.
However, when his former drow comrades decide to hunt him down for revenge, he finds himself pursued by warriors who can match even his hard-earned talents.
After many years of fighting to survive in the winding catacombs of Underdark, Drizzt finally sees the daylight his people have avoided for so long.
Accompanied by his trust pet panther, Drizzt embarks on the windswept plains of Faerun – a world that he soon finds has its own share of trials and tribulations.
However, in his efforts to better familiarize himself with the world outside his home, he soon finds that even amongst the various races and townships, a drow is still a drow – that is, something to be feared, shunned, and mistrusted.
Pros
Good character growth
Good tension and mystery
Some action-packed moments
Cons
A little dull at times
Themes: fish out of water, isolation, depression, loss
With the Underdark long behind him, Drizzt has formed a new life on the frozen plains of Icewind Dale – where the ten towns of the region find themselves on the constant brink of war and destruction.
Luckily for Drizzt, he is used to harsh living, and he has forged the skills necessary to survive almost anything the world can throw at him.
However, when an old ally – the grizzled dwarf Bruenor – takes on a young barbarian named Wulfgar as his ward, it is down to the pair of hardened warriors to mold the young man into a warrior worthy of their company.
Despite traveling with his newfound companions – Wulfgar, Bruenor, and Regis – Drizzt still finds himself enslaved to the dark voices in his head, the same ones that urge him to return to his shadowy home of Underdark, and back to the clutches of those who turned their back on him all those years ago.
Thankfully, life with his new friends comes with its fair share of distractions – with the most recent one being a quest to Bruenor’s ancient home in the Mithril Hills – a place the dwarves were driven from ages ago by an ancient evil, the shadow dragon of the Underdark.
As the group sets out to reclaim Bruenor’s ancestral home, all manner of things come to light, and their sense of companionship is tested more than ever.
After their halfling friend ‘Regis’ is kidnapped by the assassin ‘Artemis Entreri’, who seeks to return him to his former master Pasha Pook, Drizzt and Wulfgar find themselves hot on their trail.
With both sides imbued with magical artifacts – Drizzt possessing the enchanted sword ‘Twinkle’ and an artifact that helps mask his true identity, and the assassin possessing a stolen gem that keeps him one step ahead – they embark on a dangerous game of cat and mouse that tests both their friendships and their tried and tested skills.
After discovering some degree of contentment with the dwarves at Mithral Hall, Drizzt finally begins to realize that the outside world does have a home for him after all.
Bruenor has his throne back, Regis has his freedom from his corrupt master, and Wulfgar is destined to be wed, and for the first time in a long time, things finally seem like they’re coming together.
However, just as things seem peaceful, Drizzt finds himself pursued by the spider queen Lolth herself – who has amassed an army of dark followers to capture and reclaim the only drow soul that had managed to elude her clutches throughout the years: Drizzt Do’urden.
Realizing that peace can never last forever, especially not for a wayward soul like him, Drizzt embarks to defeat Lolth and put the past to bed for good.
After losing his friend Wulfgar to the spider queen’s assault, Drizzt still doesn’t have time to grieve.
Besieged on all sides by massing drow forces hell-bent on taking revenge for their fallen queen, Drizzt and the other inhabitants of Mithral Hall must give everything they have, and fight for the lives they have worked so hard to get for themselves.
However, to keep his friends and new home safe, Drizzt knows he must venture back to the place of his birth, the city of Menzoberranzan, where his long-estranged family and comrades wait in desperate pursuit of his blood.
Sometimes to find some modicum of peace, you need to confront your past demons – a lesson that Drizzt experiences tenfold during this final ferocious battle.
Pros
Tense
Suspenseful
Good action
Well written
Cons
Some repetitive moments
Themes: war, desperation, teamwork, the past, revenge
The dwarves of Mithral Hall find themselves besieged on all sides, as unfathomable conflict breaks out both above and below.
On the plains of Faerun, the Time of Troubles has come upon them, forcing deities to assume their human forms and gather.
While below the Hall, Drizzt finally confronts the spider queen, and her acolyte Errtu – the only drow who still has his magical abilities.
Pushed to their limits, and confronted by threats new and old, Drizzt and Bruenor must band together and fight for their newfound lives – something the pair of grizzled warriors are more than prepared to do.
To survive this siege of darkness, the pair must remember what they are fighting for, the friends they have lost along the way, and the peaceful future they both long for with all their hearts.
Then and only then can they defeat the overwhelming odds at their door for good.
Following the harsh battle at Mithral Hall, Drizzt, and Catti-Brie have spent 6 years trying to forget – trying to forget the weight of their losses, the death of their friends, and the abandonment of the brief period of peace that they had come to cherish.
However, they have managed to find work on Captain Deudermont’s ship – a vessel designed for hunting pirates across the oceans surrounding the continent.
However, when a mysterious castaway falls into their midst with a startling message from home, the pair must return to their former adopted home, and confront a demonic entity with a thirst for revenge.
To overcome their grief they will need to revisit the past and put their ghosts to bed – then and only then can they find the escape they truly yearn for.
After the return of the infamous Crystal Shard, Drizzt and his remaining allies must race against the clock to defeat their most fearsome enemies and stop the shard from its goal of destroying the world.
Learning that the key to the Shard’s victory is a fellow dark elf named Jarlaxle, Drizzt sets out to destroy the Shard once and for all, as well as putting to bed his own dark past and harrowing experiences once and for all.
In the world of Dungeons and Dragons, death is never the end, and when Wulfgar escapes from the torture chambers of the Abyss, Drizzt and his companions learn that sometimes this has consequences.
Where most would be driven insane with the effects of the torture, Wulfgar has been hardened – changed in ways the group would never have thought imaginable, and certainly not for the better.
However, as Drizzt knows all too well, the road to redemption is one that a man has to walk alone, and it is down to Wulfgar himself to save what remains from his old life, and become the man he was always destined to be.
With his friend Wulfgar in the wind – wrestling with his demons, and the bottle, and trying to reclaim what was lost during his time in the Abyss – Drizzt, Catti-Brie, Regis, and Bruenor realize that their friend will come back when the time is right.
However, when the seal from Wulfgar’s warhammer is found in the possession of a pirate called Sheila Kree, Drizzt realizes that all is not as it seems and that his friend must be in dire need to help.
As the team set out to recover the warhammer Aegis-Fang, Wulfgar also sets out on the same quest – both groups encounter various hordes of monsters, from goblins to ogres, and the overwhelming personal demons of Wulfgar himself.
After so long apart, it is this strife that brings the companions together once more – a battle where they must fight together once more if they have any chance of saving what is left of their tortured friend.
With Wulfgar safe and things finally starting to look peaceful once more, the companions are once again threatened by the return of the Shard, which has furthered its corruption of drow leader Jarlaxle, the subservient drows remaining in the Underdark.
Meanwhile, the assassin Artemis Entreri finds himself under the employ of the dark elves, tasked with tightening his grip on the streets of Calimport.
Artemis Entreri and his companion Jarlaxle are one such party, finding themselves alone and vulnerable in the frozen north, torn between the ghostly influence of a power-hungry Lich, and the unrelenting fury of a knight with a sworn oath to find the book himself.
However, if they are going to survive the challenges of the Bloodstone Lands, they must put everything they have learned into practice – especially if they want to get their hands on the mythical book for their Dragon patron.
After their task to recover the witch king’s book from the Bloodstone lands – a task that nearly saw them both killed for their trouble – Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle try to make their best of their situation, setting up home in the Bloodstone Lands and making peace with their predicament.
While hiding from the ancient dragons who employed them, the pair begin to make their presence known in this new region.
However, people are seldom ready to trust an assassin and a mercenary – regardless of their intention.
If the pair want to stand a chance of making it out of the Bloodstone Lands in one piece, then they will need to put their trust in the untrustworthy, and test their own friendship well beyond the normal limits one could withstand.
In this edition of the Drizzt Do’Urden saga, we see the companions besieged by a band of fearsome enemies who want to see them dead for good.
The culprits are the leader of the united orc armies ‘Obould Many-Arrows’, and the frost giants led by Gerti Orrelsdottir – a pairing that would normally spell death for anyone who would dare stand against them.
However, the companions have never been ones to run from confrontation, nor from overwhelming enemies who would mean to do them and their friends harm.
As the battle draws closer to home, focusing on the Battle of Shallows, humans and dwarves must stand together and fight side by side if there are going to be any survivors.
And to break this unholy coalition of enemies, the team will have to dig deeper than ever before and throw everything they have just to stay alive.
Devastated and haunted by the loss of his long-time friends, Drizzt once again finds himself as the only survivor of a gruesome battle.
Now spurred by revenge and his need for closure, Drizzt embarks to destroy the orc armies for good, taking the fight directly to the King of the unified orcs – Obould Many-Arrows.
Becoming a ranger and a hunter once more, Drizzt is no longer fuelled by noble pursuits – nor the need to survive.
Now he is out for revenge – revenge for the friends that were stolen, revenge for the home that was destroyed, and a final bloody revenge for the death of his remaining innocence and peace.
Surrounded by the death he has dealt, and a horde of enemies that doesn’t seem to diminish, Drizzt finds himself alone and spent – that is until a pair of elves riding flying horses arrive with the promise of a solution, and the help he has been searching for.
Broken and defeated by the losses he has suffered, and the fighting he has already undertaken, Drizzt just wants to kill the Orc king and end things once and for all.
However, Drizzt and his new moon elf companion Innovindil must put vengeance aside and go on a rescue mission, as the moon elf’s stolen pegasus finds itself enslaved by the brutal orc overlord.
As the pair venture north to the land of the frost giants, Drizzt knows that this battle could be his last – and this is something he no longer fears.
However, unbeknownst to the lonesome drow, the companions are not dead, merely trapped within the walls of Mithral Hall – where an even greater battle arrives at their doors looking to finish them off for good this time.
As the tenuous truce between Mithral Hall and the united orc kingdoms looks likely to fall apart at any moment, the companions feel themselves stretched – each of them pulled apart in different directions as they must come to terms with what they have done, and what they have lost.
While the orc tribes become restless, and some seek to forge new alliances with half-ogres, things seem like they could crumble down any minute.
Similarly, the broken and torn Drizzt finds himself conflicted regarding his position within the group.
As such, Drizzt finds himself torn between providing help to a wounded Catti-Brie, helping to comfort a mourning, vengeful Wulfgar, and assisting an increasingly desperate Bruenor – who has embarked upon his own far-fetched mission to track down the lost dwarven city of Gauntlgrym – the ancestral home of his people.
In The Pirate King, Drizzt and the team find themselves wondering whether the ‘greater good’ is worth the cost of innocent lives.
As the city of Luskan suffers under the long and hard grip of the Arcane Brotherhood – an unlikely coalition of mages and pirates – Captain Deudermont seizes his chance to dethrone and defeat their violent leader Arklem Greeth.
Meanwhile, Drizzt and Regis set out for the northern kingdoms, traveling to the region of Icewind Dale, where they suspect a brooding and troubled Wulfgar is hiding in solitude – having recently delivered his adopted daughter back to her true birth mother, rendering himself alone and without a family.
As the two groups cross paths, their missions become one, as Drizzt and Regis help Deudermont destroy the Arcane Brotherhood, and the three eventually set off to save their long-time friend from the ghosts that are holding him back.
After Mystra’s Weave collapses, and the Spellplague wreaks havoc on the people of Faerun, the inhabitants of the region find themselves overwhelmed by unreliable and dangerous magic.
However, magic gone awry is not the only problem.
Freed from the lost depths of darkness and shadow, The Ghost King resurfaces, bringing with him death and destruction to an unsuspecting world.
Imbued with the power of a dragon, a mind flayer, and the crystal shard itself, The Ghost King seems unstoppable, but if there is one thing the companions have learned, it is that every ‘unstoppable’ force meets its match at one time or another.
As The Ghost King targets Jarlaxle, the mercenary knows that he must put his faith in his old enemies if he is to survive the ordeal, and after Catti-Brie is struck by a jolt of the weave itself, it doesn’t take the ranger much persuading to get involved.
As they all travel to the Spirit Soaring – along with the mages and priest of the ‘Deneir’ led by the lead priest Cadderly Bonaduce – they soon realize that to defeat The Ghost King they will have to sacrifice more than they ever have before, and risk losing it all in the process.
Pros
Tense
Good threat level
Action-packed
Suspenseful throughout
Well written
Cons
Somewhat predictable
Themes: peril, friendship, mortality, duty, honor, death
With nothing left to lose – having lost friends, suffered many defeats, and experienced heartbreak galore – the two old warriors Bruenor and Drizzt embark on a seemingly foolish journey to locate the fabled dwarven kingdom of Gauntlgrym.
However, Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri are two steps ahead as always – seeking their own fortune and power that the city can offer them.
However, when a misstep puts the inhabitants of Neverwinter in mortal danger, the two warring parties must put aside their differences to fix the mess, and put an end to the death and bloodshed at any cost.
As the last of the companions is defeated, Drizzt once again finds himself alone and broken by the weight of his grief.
Vulnerable for the first time in a long time, Drizzt falls victim to the allure of Dahlia – a mysterious elf who also survived the horrific cataclysm at Gauntlgrym.
Wayward and lost in more ways than one, Drizzt accompanies Dahlia in pursuit of revenge against the sorceress responsible for the devastation but finds his long-held moral certainty wavering as he is led astray by Dahlia’s corrupting influence.
As the drow finds himself on the wrong side of the law, and without anything left to really fight for, he finds himself engrossed in a violent battle for his own soul – one that he might not have the energy or the will to win.
Following their defeat of the evil sorceress that had wrought so much destruction on both of their lives, Drizzt and Dahlia once more find themselves on a mission of vengeance, as Dahlia’s dark lust for payback sees them hunting down Netherese lord Herzgo Alegni – an evil man who has links to Dahlia’s childhood.
Broken by his own deeds, and his growing enjoyment for battle and bloodshed, Drizzt finds himself at a crossroads in his long life – one that is plagued by the voices he has long tried to quell, and haunted by the ghosts of a long life on the road.
However, the pair are not the only ones looking for Alegni. Seeking to free himself from his magical servitude, Artemis Entreri also seeks to defeat the evil lord.
Then and only then can he claim the sword ‘Charon’s Claw’, and finally take back his own autonomy in the process.
As Dahlia and Artemis Entreri form deeper and deeper bonds, Drizzt finds himself questioning his place in the group – not to mention his place in Dahlia’s dark heart.
Filled with a newfound will to fight, and determined to stand for righteousness and ‘right’ once more, Drizzt forges his own path towards Icewind Dale.
But with so much death and loss behind him, and the promise of more darkness ahead, will Drizzt be able to wander this path alone – and will his newfound accomplices stand by his side when the time comes?
Broken and alone, and coming to terms with his own age and the burden that long life brings, Drizzt has all but abandoned his old life.
However, when the goddess Mielekki offers his fallen companions the chance to once again return to the land of the living, the three jump at the chance to return to the long-time friend – even if it means they must return as children and work their way back to him.
Meanwhile, as three ‘chosen’ mortals discover they are imbued with mysterious powers – all of which have an unknown connection to Drizzt Do’Urden – they all find themselves pursued by a league of dark mages hell-bent on taking their power for themselves.
As Drizzt and the companions finally join forces once again, and everything just begins to seem right with the world, they are tasked with journeying to Gauntlgrym once more, where Bruenor’s shield dwarf now remains trapped as a vampire in the ruins of that fabled dwarven city.
However, turning him back to his mortal form is no easy task, and there are sacrifices that must be paid if they want to save their friend and return home as a group once more.
Unfortunately for Drizzt, this journey takes them back through the Underdark – a realm that he has not stepped foot in for a number of years, and one he hoped never to return to ever again.
After escaping Gauntlgrym with their lives intact, the companions once again find themselves united and together.
However, their hearts remain elsewhere, and the group begins to feel the pull of old rivalries, debts, and problems that have to be dealt with.
As a war between the dwarves and the orcs seems destined to once more ignite – a new leader of the orcs takes power, one urging the tribes to turn to war once again.
When war finally breaks out, it proves to be one of the bloodiest the region has ever seen, and one that will change the fate of the continent forever.
But as things seem at their bleakest, the companions once more march on – determined to free their friend from his vampiric curse, and to once again reclaim the fallen throne for Bruenor and the dwarves of Mithral Hall.
As the war rages on across the world, bloodier and more demanding than ever before, the companions find themselves once more cast apart – thrown to different corners of the conflict and consumed with their own trials and tribulations.
While Regis and Wulfgar dredge the deepest depths of the Underdark – resting in the fabled Silverymoon and launching numerous raids – the rest remain at the besieged Mithral Hall, where the overwhelming orc tribes continually bombard them over and over again.
As the warlord Hartusk launches a daring attack on Everlund – a city that could grant him control of the northern kingdoms – he finds himself at odds with his own drow allies, who have their sights set on something more personal and driving than mere conquest.
Following the aftermath of the war of the Silver Marches – one that claimed so much from the kingdoms, and the companions themselves – things once again return to a renewed state of peace.
Cities once again repair their walls, and armies bury the dead they have lost along the way.
However, the same cannot be said for the drow forces, who have no intention of stopping their bloody campaign against Drizzt Do’Urden.
Led by the dangerous and powerful Archmage Gromph, their desperation drives them to call upon demonic forces – risking a newfound plague on the world as they try harder than ever to destroy the famed drow ranger and the companions that have caused them so much strife.
Once again destined to return to his home of Menzoberranzan – a place he hasn’t returned to for decades.
However, after hearing that something unforeseen and terrible has befallen the once powerful city of spiders, he sees no choice but to bite the bullet and embrace the world he tried to leave behind.
However, as the effects of ‘the Darkening’, the war, and the ravaged Underdark start to send ripples throughout the north, the companions must once more defend themselves against massing forces that mean to do them harm, and fight as hard as ever to hang on to one another and the peace they have finally achieved.
Pros
Tense and action packed
Well written
Good character development
Cons
Somewhat repetitive
Themes: home, family, honor, duty, war, good vs evil
As a form of peace finally returns to the Underdark, and the demons seem to have retreated from their stronghold in the realm, things once again seem to be returning to normal.
After Drizzt is freed by the matron mothers of the city of spiders, he once again finds himself on the path he has always been on – one in search of peace, a home, and a family to share it with.
Focusing on the rise of Drizzt’s father Zaknafein centuries ago, and his enduring friendship with Jarlaxle, Timeless shows the Underdark through different eyes, showing how the famed weaponmaster rose above his rank and class to become one of the most revered warriors that the region had ever seen.
Torn between his own time and a future he will never know, Zaknafein finds himself troubled by the choices he has to make, and the people he could lose along the way.
While his prowess as a warrior made him content enough to die on the battlefield, his new life reborn in the future requires different things from him – things he isn’t sure whether he can deliver.
However, one thing he realizes is that the threats of demons, monsters, and the enemy armies to the north remain the same, and taking comfort in this small mercy, donates his services to a cause that seems as timeless as he is – good vs evil.
Thrown across time, reunited with his son, and forced to overcome his own prejudices in the name of justice and victory, Zaknafein helps Drizzt defeat the spider queen Lolth once and for all – all while fighting his own mortality.
Pros
Well written
Interesting concept
Good reunion of characters
Good world building
Cons
A little repetitive
Themes: family, duty, honor, war, peace
Final Thoughts
And there we have it, everything you need to know about Drizzt Do’Urden, and the 36 best stories featuring this fan favorite character!
Frequently Asked Questions
Are D&D Books Suitable For Younger Readers?
While the game of Dungeons and Dragons is more than suitable for children and young people of all ages – due to the positive game playing skills that it encourages – the books are aimed at YA readers and up due to their more mature content and violence.
Do You Need To Be A Fan Of The Tabletop Game?
No! The fact of the matter is that the books – and the lore surrounding them – are so rich and well made that even total strangers to the D&D game can enjoy them perfectly well.
Noah Burton works as a Librarian full time, and is a blogger in his spare time. His goal is to write compelling recommendations for all of the most popular books he can find, from science fiction to romance.
With a passion for books, a drive to find new reads to get stuck into, and a love for sharing book recommendations with others, Noah can help you find the next novel for your bucket list.
