Dungeons and Dragons is certainly enjoying a new golden age, evident by all the new books, video games, toys, TV shows and Magic the Gathering crossovers that are coming out this year. Featuring foremost in are Dungeons and Dragons long-lived stars, the Heroes of Mitheral Hall. While new fans may be more familiar with Vox Machina and the Mighty Nein, I figured it'll be helpful to talk about Dungeons and Dragons OG stars.
Plus it gives me a chance to gush over my favorite dark elf, Drizzt. :)
Welcome to the Forgotten Realms
If you're looking at Dungeons and Dragons products produced by Wizards of the Coast you'll probably see the Forgotten Realms thrown around. This is D&D's basic world. This is where most of the adventure books take place, where most of the books take place, and where nearly all the video games take place. It's a world where magic is a thing, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes and all sorts of other people and monsters live alongside humans and where something is always happening that require the need for adventurers. The world has every biome and setting for any basic D&D campaign, and the stories written for it can easily be transplanted into any dungeon master's homebrew setting. It's not the most innovative universe, since it's basically Middle Earth the next generation, but sometimes that's all you need for some great adventures.
And Now for the Star of Our Show: Drizzt
Drizzt Do'Urden (Don't ask me how to properly pronounce it) is unarguably the main character in D&D's Forgotten Realms push. Premering in 1988 in R.A. Salvatore's The Crystal Shard series as a secondary character, Drizzt quickly became a fan favorite and now has nearly 40 books published about his adventures, plus appearing all over D&D merchandise.
Born a Drow (dark elf) in the underground city of his people, Drizzt learned that he had something most other Drow were not born with: a consience. He escaped his dark homeland, coming to the surface to embrace a new life where he can follow his heart, despite quickly realizing that his dark heritage will always mark him as an outsider to people who don't know him. His ebony skin and white hair forever marking him as one of the realm's most dangerous people. Armed with his scimitars, an incredible fighting skill and his magical panther Guenhwyvar.
I have to admit that despite my love of the character (I own the Funko Pop and am planning on obtaining the Magic the Gathering card as soon as it comes out), the character does come across as a bit of a Mary Sue, usually able to either outwit or outfight any problem he comes across. He's heralded as one of the best fighters in o'er the land and everyone who gets to know him wants to be his best friend unless they're a bad guy and even then they usually respect him. That all being said I love Drizzt for his unashamed awesomeness and his angsty little journal entries we get throughout the books where he contemplates the meaning of his existence in a world that will always hate and misunderstand him. There's a charm that Drizzt brings to the experience that for me similar characters like Batman and Wolverine just can't seem to match. Maybe it's the high fantasy. Maybe it's how cool Drow society is depicted in the fictions. I don't know, but there's a reason audiences have fallen in love with him and why he is overused by the Dungeons and Dragons writers.
Bruenor Battlehammer-A Dwarf to Beat All Dwarves
You know how Gimli from the Lord of the Rings films started off as an awesome warrior but by the end devolved into someone's annoying uncle? Bruenor is Gimli if he never devolved. Born the prince of Mitheral Hall his people had to flee after an attack by deep Dwarves (Deeper Dwarves, just go with it) and they fled to the frigid lands of Icewind Dale. Eventually he gathered a group to retake his ancestral land and reclaim the ancient throne for himself and his people.
Bruenor is a warrior/smithy/king/nanny who is not afraid to confront every problem with a swinging axe or hammer, but only after deciding the best place to put said hammer or axe. He's a brilliant battle strategist and cunning warrior, demonstrating that height means nothing to a Dwarf. He is also prone to picking up strays, as nearly his entire adventuring party ends up being people he adopted because they had nowhere else to go, including Drizzt his lonely friend, Cattie-Brie his adopted human daughter, Wulfgar his adopted human son, and Regis the Halfling who he keeps alive because someone needs to. It gives Bruenor depth to know that he can be at one moment a warrior king and in the next a protective father and friend.
Catti-Brie, the Not-So-Token Female
At a young age, Catti-Brie's family was killed in a goblin raid. Before she joined them, the girl was rescued by a Dwarven patrol, lead by Bruenor. He adopted the girl and raised her in the mines beneath Icewind Dale, where she learned the values of the Dwarven people. Her education included fighting prowess at the hands of her adopted father, and she thus has become a skilled warrior in her own right. Combined with her enchanted bow and heavy Scottish accent (Thank you again Tolken) she picked up from her adopted people, she's basically high-fantasy Merida, which is not a bad thing.
Wulfgar, the Blonde One
Another stray adopted by Bruenor, Wulfgar didn't join the Dwarf until he was in his late teens having grown up among the barbarians of the frigid north. He was shown mercy by the dwarf during battle who only saw a scared child inside a warrior's body. Wulfgar was held as a prisoner for several years, until he understood that his people could benefit just as much from peace as from raiding, a rare intelligent conclusion coming from the muscle bound barbarian. Wulfgar has been shown to let pride take place of reason, including waking up a sleeping dragon so he could fight it properly, and not realizing until deep in the adventure that the person who tried to sew discord among his party was an enemy in disguise-long after everyone already knew, including him. Wulfgar is a magnificent warrior, especially after wielding Aegis Fang, the magical war hammer crafted by Bruenor specifically for the barbarian, but they're are times when he's lucky he's good at something besides thinking.
Regis Rumblebelly
Regis is a character that does not get his just due. While the rest of the heroes show up frequently across media, Regis is usually absent, presumably because nobody wants to play as a fat little Hobbit. Hailing from the deep south, Regis found himself in trouble with the head of the thieves guild he was part of, mainly because he stole the leader's enchanted ruby pendant. The Halfling fled north and became a prominent member of the Icewind Dale community and friends with Bruenor et al, becoming yet another person for Bruenor to look after. Regis is a decent thief and con artist, usually apt at escaping situations he can't handle rather then confronting them head on, which has lead to no end of trouble. Nicknamed Rumblebelly by Bruenor for always wanting something to eat, the Halfling nevertheless has gained the respect of the traveling companions, and even becoming a general in Bruenor's Dwarven army, a position never given to non-Dwarves. Regis demonstrates that being clever is sometimes better than being strong.
The Big Deal
So my fanboy level gushing aside, the entire Forgotten Realms franchise is a marketing exercise that has grown into a beast of its own. Originally meant to sell Dungeons and Dragons to new audiences, the stories have created fans that could give less than a baby owlbear pellet for the game, and many people who play the game have never heard of Drizzt or his friends outside of the occasional reference in the Player's Handbook. We can attribute the reemergence of the companions this year mainly to the popularity of Critical Role and similar D&D games broadcast over the internet which renewed interest in the game in ways that the company could only dream of. To take advantage of the hype and steer new fans towards Wizard's existing franchises, the heroes of Mitheral Hall are being displayed front and center. Time will only tell if it works, and existing fans can only help the hype increases visibility of the characters and doesn't lead to something disasterous in the same vein as making Raven a comic relief character in Teen Titans Go!
Don't mess with my Drow, Wizards.
-JOE
