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Description edit see section history

As I became a creature of the empty tunnels, survival became easier and more difficult all at once. I gained in the physical skills and experience necessary to live on. I could defeat almost anything that wandered into my chosen domain. It did not take me long, however, to discover one nemesis... read more

Characters edit see section history

  • Drizzt Do'Urden: a superb drow fighter and outcast of Menzoberranzan. Drizzt flees his home city because he can no longer tolerate the cruelty and brutality of the drow, but he has recently begun to consider the consequences of his rash flight. His sanity is beginning to suffer in the wilds of the Underdark, and he is keenly aware of his solitude.
  • Belwar Dissengulp: a deep gnome burrow warden of Blingdenstone.
  • Clacker: a pech who has been transformed into hook horror by a wizard.
  • Malice Do'Urden: Drizzt's mother. Malice is the Matron Mother of House Do'Urden and a high priestess of Lolth. Malice is furious that Drizzt has escaped into the wilds of the Underdark, and she will not stop hunting him.
  • Dinin Do'Urden: Drizzt's elder brother. Dinin is the elder boy of House Do'Urden and a former master of Melee-Magthere. He knows Drizzt is the superior fighter, and has no desire to hunt his brother as a result.
  • Jarlaxle of Bregan D'aerthe: the charismatic and flamboyant leader of the mercenary band, Bregan D'aerthe.
  • SiNafay Hun'ett: Matron of House Hun'ett.
  • Briza Do'Urden: Eldest daughter of House Do'Urden.
  • Rizzen Do'Urden: Patron of House Do'Urden.
  • Firble: A councillor of Blingdenstone.
  • Brister Fendlestick: A human wizard.
Show all 11 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “Joy multiplies when it is shared among friends, but grief diminishes with every division. That is life.”
    Drizzt
  • “Perhaps survival was not enough.”
    Drizzt's thoughts
  • “My enemy was solitude, the interminable, incessant silence of hushed corridors.”
    Drizzt's thoughts
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • Joy multiplies when it is shared among friends, but grief diminishes with every division. That is life.
    Highlighted by 67 Kindle customers
  • We all are prisoners at one time or another in our lives, prisoners to ourselves or to the expectations of those around us. It is a burden that all people endure, that all people despise, and that few people ever learn to escape.
    Highlighted by 61 Kindle customers
  • The physical powers of the body cannot be separated from the rationale of the mind and the emotions of the heart. They are one and the same, a compilation of a singular being. It is in the harmony of these three—body, mind, and heart—that we find spirit.
    Highlighted by 29 Kindle customers
  • pirit. It cannot be broken and it cannot be stolen away. A victim in the throes of despair might feel otherwise, and certainly the victim’s “master” would like to believe it so. But in truth, the spirit remains, sometimes buried but never fully removed.
    Highlighted by 28 Kindle customers
  • Spirit. In every language in all the Realms, surface and Underdark, in every time and every place, the word has a ring of strength and determination. It is the hero’s strength, the mother’s resilience, and the poor man’s armor. It cannot be broken, and it cannot be taken away. This I must believe.
    Highlighted by 27 Kindle customers
  • How many tyrants have tried? How many rulers have sought to reduce their subjects to simple, unthinking instruments of profit and gain? They steal the loves, the religions, of their people; they seek to steal the spirit. Ultimately and inevitably, they fail. This I must believe. If the flame of the spirit’s candle is extinguished, there is only death, and the tyrant finds no gain in a kingdom littered with corpses.
    Highlighted by 18 Kindle customers
  • The very identity of every reasoning being is defined by the language, the communication, between that being and others around it.
    Highlighted by 18 Kindle customers
  • Greater indeed are pleasures that are shared.
    Highlighted by 11 Kindle customers
  • “We do not consider friendship a debt,”
    Highlighted by 9 Kindle customers
  • Belwar reached into a deep pocket and took out the light-giving brooch. “Take this, dark elf,” he said softly, flipping it to Drizzt, “and do not forget me.” “Never for a single day in all the centuries of my future,” Drizzt promised. “Never once.”
    Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers
Show all 13 quotes from this book

Setting & Locations edit see section history

The Underdark

Organizations edit see section history

  • House Baenre: The oldest and most powerful house in Menzoberranzan.

First Sentence edit see section history

From the prelude: The monster lumbred along the quiet corridors of the underdark, its eight scaly legs occasionally scuffing the stone.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Prelude

Part One: The Hunter

1. Anniversary Present
2. Voices in the Dark
3. Snakes and Swords
4. Flight from the Hunter
5. Unholy Ally
6. Blingdenstone

Part Two: Belwar

7. Most Honored Burrow-Warden
8. Strangers
9. Whispers in the Tunnels
10. Belwar's Guilt
11. The Informant

Part Three: Friends and Foes

12. Wilds, Wilds, Wilds
13. A Little Place to Call Home
14. Clacker
15. Pointed Reminders

Part Four: Helpless

16. Insidious Chains
17. A Delicate Balance
18. The Element of Surprise
19. Headaches
20. Father, My Father
21. Lost and Found

Part Five: Spirit

22. Without Direction
23. Ripples
24. Faith
25. Consequences
26. Lights in the Ceiling

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 2 of 3 in Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy. (standard series)

Preceded by Homeland, and followed by Sojourn.

This is book 2 of 22 in Forgotten Realms: The Legend of Drizzt. (standard series)

Preceded by Homeland, and followed by Sojourn.

This book is in Forgotten Realms. (universe)
This is book 35 of 157 in Fantasy Book Review Top 100 fantasy books of all time. (community list)

Preceded by Dracula, and followed by Fool's Errand.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. R. A. Salvatore (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Jeff Easley (Cover Artist)
  2. Todd Lockwood (Cover Artist)
  3. Todd Gamble (Artist) - Map
  4. Hartmut Huff (Translator) - German translation.

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: TSR, Inc.
Country: USA
Publication Date: December 1, 1990
ISBN: 0880389206
Page Count: 306

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PS3569.A462345E97
  • Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Adults

Young adults may enjoy this too

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • Servant of the Shard
  • Dissolution
  • Daughter of the Drow
  • The Collected Stories
  • The Cleric Quintet
  • The Stowaway

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
  • A Reader's Guide to R.A. Salvatore's The Legend of Drizzt

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