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I remember when Drow Elves were just one of many entries in the old first edition Fiend Folio. They were simple, strait forward bad guys. They tried to kill your characters, and you killed them. Then came the option in the Unearthed Arcana supplement to have Drow as player characters.
A very good friend of mine, who had a habit of playing characters that were a bit outside the norm, diced up a female Drow cleric/fighter/magic user and it was one of many great characters that sprang from his slightly erratic but brilliant mind. To this day, after twenty years or so, that characters is still my favorite of all his characters. I, to my mild shame, even rolled up a character or two that were essentially poor copies.
Then came RA Salvatore’s Drizzt Do'urden. You need to understand, my gaming buddy had played his Drow for years before the scimitar wielding Drow ranger stepped out of the Underdark to make the Drow trendy. Now good Drow are becoming more and more common place from player characters in campaigns, to novels, and the newer game supplements. Drow are no longer mysterious or exotic, the allure is gone.
Why is there such a perceived need to make villains into heroes? I suppose the darkly erotic overtones that are inherent with the fictional Drow society (and Mister Salvatore’s talent for writing) are to blame for the popularity of the Drow, but what about other villainous people or races throughout sci-fi and fantasy?
In Star Trek there were the Borg. The Borg were implacable, merciless, unfeeling enemies that simply could not be reasoned with. They were the perfect foil for the Federation, and they were also wonderfully creepy. Then, a few seasons later, nice, friendly, even cute Borg were introduced. The whole thing was ruined. There were still bad Borg out there, but you just knew that the good Borg would win over the other Borg and everyone would just get along. The coolest Trek bad guys lost their edge.
There are other examples that I won’t go into for the sake of brevity, but my question is: why can’t bad guys stay bad? A hero is not heroic unless the villains are equally villainous. So why water down the bad guys?
My buddy has pretty much retired his Drow, and that is a shame. But I can see his point. The Drow have had what made them unique and mysterious taken away. One good Drow trying to live down the evil reputation of the race is intriguing. Hundreds or thousands of Drow making nice is passé. Bad guys are as much a part of any hero’s story as the hero.
The Adventure So Far
14 years ago
3 comments:
Interesting point, and the more so for not being limited to Drow. Odd how other fantasy staples (Orcs, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Ogres, Trolls) have remained villains and not also gone the way of the ill named Drizzt. (sorry my own hang up regarding naming) Is the same true for Dragons? Did dragonlance novels or Anne McCaffery novels have the same effect on the old Wyrm?
I read somewhere that the most evil villains are the ones who believe their vile actions are actually good or for the benefits of people. I think it would be interesting to take the Emo-Elf and have what would be considered malevolent undertones done for the betterment of others. The Drow go out to aid/Defend villages in a time of need when no one else can aid them...but they are converting the folks to worshipers of Loth in order to get their aid bring a darkness to the land. So while people/ villages are becoming safe and profitable the long term cost of giving power to Loth is unseen. The villagers and people are supporting the Drow and are against the heroes for trying to upset their safety...
I am not a big Drizzt fan either. I did like the "War of the Spider Queen" books, in which the drow were still evil (mostly) - some were just far more evil than others.
The one exception that comes to mind where I like the good version of the evil character is (bear with me here) Elric. Elric is not a nice guy, and the Melnibonéans are pretty drow-like. I never really liked Elric until the end of the original series.
Not sure what it is about the drow that does that to people. Maybe because drow can be sexy, where orcs and goblins cannot (tastes vary, of course :-). Drow are also smart and powerful, where ogres and hobgoblins are simple brutes. Beholders are smart, powerful, dangerous, evil... All the things drow are, except beholders cannot be sexy, so no one is interested in a good beholder.
Put a mind flayer in a bikini, and see what happens!
It is very tough to make a cool villain and then not want people to play them or use them way to often. Cool is a factor that trumps all. An people want to use and have cool things.
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