Drizzt Do'Urden (/ˈdrɪtst doʊˈɜːrdɪn/)[1] is a fictional character appearing in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

Salvatore created him on a whim when his publisher needed him to replace one of the characters in an early version of the first book, The Crystal Shard.

Drizzt has also been featured in D&D-based role-playing video games, including the Baldur's Gate series and Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone.

In 1987 R. A. Salvatore sent Mary Kirchoff, then managing editor of TSR's book department, a manuscript for what would become his 1990 novel Echoes of the Fourth Magic.

After two weeks of phone calls, Salvatore found a spot on the map that was not already designated for another project, and he located Icewind Dale there.

In the book, Drizzt is born in Menzoberranzan as the third son to Matron Malice, the leader of House Do'Urden (a type of family akin to a Scottish clan).

The 1996 short story "The Fires of Narbondel", in the Realms of the Underdark anthology, describes unrelated events involving Zaknafein as the main character, and a young Drizzt plays a supporting role.

Sojourn[10] picks up the story when Drizzt leaves the Underdark for the surface, where he meets a blind human ranger named Montolio Debrouchee.

It describes Drizzt's meeting with the barbarian Wulfgar and the halfling Regis, and their adventures as they stop Akar Kessel, a mage possessed by the sentient artifact Crenshinibon (the book's eponymous Crystal Shard), from gaining control of the region.

Wulfgar is seemingly slain by a yochlol, and Drizzt returns to Menzoberranzan to prevent his friends from being further attacked by dark elves.

Drizzt and Catti-Brie work with Captain Deudermont on his pirate-hunting ship, with the Companions of the Hall ultimately fighting the powerful demon Errtu who is aided by the Crystal Shard, which had previously been buried under a mountain of snow.

Sea of Swords (2001)[16] continues Drizzt's story after the events of The Spine of the World (1999), which focuses on Wulfgar, and Servant of the Shard (2000), which has Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle as the main characters.

Sea of Swords covers the companions' search for Wulfgar's lost magical warhammer, Aegis-fang, and the reunion of the group after an extended separation.

The Lone Drow (2003)[18] continues this storyline as the still-living Companions protect Mithril Hall from orc attacks without the aid of Drizzt.

[19] R. A. Salvatore's next series of Forgotten Realms books, The Sellswords Trilogy, focus on the further adventures of Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle, with Drizzt only being mentioned in them.

[26] Drizzt Do'Urden has been featured in several accessories and one book for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

The Hall of Heroes accessory for the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, published in 1989, features a four-page description and game statistics for Drizzt and Guenhwyvar, written by R. A.

To date, Homeland, Exile, Sojourn, The Crystal Shard, Streams of Silver, The Halfling's Gem, The Legacy, and Starless Night have been released.

[38] A special adventure set in Icewind Dale was featured as the centerpiece at the November 3, 2007, Worldwide Dungeons and Dragons Game Day event, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the debut of Drizzt that was upcoming.

He appears as part of the Neverwinter: Underdark expansion that allows players to travel to the drow city of Menzoberranzan and play several quests written by R. A.

[43] Sleep Sound (2021) is a poem by R. A. Salvatore which received an animated short to promote the "Summer Of Drizzt" marketing campaign.

[44][45][46] Salvatore mixes neatly choreographed battles with philosophical musings from self-styled "renegade soul" Drizzt, lending a little depth to an otherwise straightforward hack-and-slash adventure.

According to PopMatters' Andrew Welsh, Drizzt is Salvatore's attempt to create a multifaceted character who faces internal struggles, in hopes of standing out from the drow, and fantasy fiction in general.

Welsh feels that Salvatore fails in this regard, saying "any blood Drizzt finds on his hands is quickly justified and most 'internal' conflict is superficial at best.

All 34 novels featuring Drizzt by Salvatore have made The New York Times Best Seller list, starting with The Crystal Shard.

[52] It reached the top of The Wall Street Journal's hardcover bestseller list after only two weeks, a record for its publisher Wizards of the Coast.

They singled out two characters for praise: Innovindel, an elf who talks "pensively" of her long life in contrast to the short lived humans, and Obould the orc king.

"[53] In the Io9 series revisiting older Dungeons & Dragons novels, in his review of The Crystal Shard, Rob Bricken referred to Drizzt as "arguably the most famous and beloved D&D character of all time" and noted that Wizards of the Coast had finally begun combatting the stereotype of the drow as a "super-evil, subterranean race", which Drizzt forsakes "to become a noble Ranger on the surface world".