Drizzt and R. A. Salvatore: A Warrior and a Writer's Influence

To anyone not familiar with the works of R. A. Salvatore, that is a bewildering and downright weird sentence. To me, though, it marks the beginning of a passion. I was 15, living in Geilenkirchen Germany; a mile away from the NATO base my dad was assigned to with the same name, when something that started years before with a stroke of luck took hold and changed my life forever.

Until reading "Homeland" by Mr. Salvatore, it had never occurred to me that I possessed the power to write. Sure, I enjoyed reading, and had confidence in my ability to express myself clearly in text, but until I read those 350 pages (give or take), I had never thought to do it myself with any seriousness. Other stories had inspired me; I have been a voracious consumer of all things Advanced Dungeons and Dragons since 12 and had read the Dragonlance Trilogy, and some spin-offs of that (Flint The King was a favorite), but nothing resonated like the tale of a lone Dark Elf who clung to his innate morality against the odds of growing up in a society that sought to destroy innocence in any form.

I think part of this stems from the fact that Salvatore created an iconic character; Drizzt is everything we could want to be, smart, creative, talented, and godlike in some abilities. But where he succeeded the most is in making him flawed. Despite his marvelous skill with his twin scimitars and fantastic innate abilities, Drizzt is burdened by self-doubt, guilt (very often erroneously self imposed), and an overwhelming sense of moral responsibility. While that may not sound like a flaw, read on and I will clarify.

First off, the previous paragraph is probably as bewildering as the opening line to anyone unfamiliar with the worlds of Dungeons and Dragons, so here is a quick preface to bring you up to speed: D&D has many "campaign worlds", which are essentially universes created with their own rules, gods and creatures. In Toril, the world of the Forgotten Realms campaign, there is a race of evil black skinned elves called Drow. They live in the Underdark; an entire world of caves and caverns that honeycombs the world of Toril. Drow are the most evil, cruel and sadistic creatures alive on Toril. They delight in slaughtering their surface dwelling cousins, the more typical fantasy world elves.

Drizzt is an exception, however. He is born to a noble family in the drow city of Menzoberranzan, and possesses a natural innocence and morality, which is either lacking or destroyed in the rest of his race. In drow society, the self is the most important thing. Laws only exist to punish those who get caught, and morality is seen as weakness or outright stupidity. He survives by both pretending to be what he is not, and because he is remarkable with a blade, or rather, two blades.

Homeland, which isn't the first book to feature Drizzt, but chronologically the first book in his life (it opens with the night of his birth) follows his life from beginning through his formative years, to his escape from his totalitarian family. It is inspiring on many levels. First, the intricacies of Drow culture would make Machiavelli jealous; everything is a calculated lie within a lie within another lie, covered in a series of feints. Salvatore has said that writing books set in the drow city are difficult because he doesn't possess that natural ability; it takes a great deal of forethought and effort.

Next, it is amazing to see the growth of the character; you feel his pain and loss when his innocence is challenged; when he finds out that everything he knows is a lie and that his family cared about him only so far as he proved an asset to them personally.

People have a tendency to decry characters like Drizzt as being "too perfect". Another example is the character John Preston from the movie Equilibrium. He waltzes through gunfights in the movie, dispatching groups of 10 or more people, all better armed, without a scratch; ostensibly a flawless character. But he is far from it; he struggles with self-doubt and ultimately moral outrage by the end of the movie. The most important aspect of the character was not his ability to kill six people in six seconds, while it is undoubtedly incredibly cool. It's the fact that despite his amazing abilities, he is morally and emotionally devoid in the beginning, and has to grow into a real person over the course of the film. Similarly, Drizzt has a super-hero like quality of being able to take on two or more foes at once, usually outmatching both; but this strength comes at a severe cost.

In the first book, he loses the only true family he ever had and winds up ultimately alone. It's stark, but inspiring, and ultimately relatable. Everyone has experienced some sort of loss, and we feel that keenly when we read about a character we can relate to experiencing it. It is inspiring because while he has lost so much, he triumphs in the end and escapes the bonds of the evil matriarchal society he grew up in.

Here is where I get to explaining why his morality is a flaw. I think, in a way, he is flawed morally in the way a lot of vegans are morally flawed. Their conviction and ideals are correct; there is an objective right and wrong that they feel strongly about and adhere to, however, they take on too much responsibility. Drizzt is the kind of person who will beat himself up if he thinks back on any event that goes wrong and sees where his actions may have caused it. This isn't right and a part of maturing as you grow up is accepting that while it is horrible that children are starving in Africa, it isn't your fault and you don't have to never again eat chicken nuggets because those kids could use them more.

By this point, you may think this is just fan-boy pontification about my favorite character. That is partially true. But more importantly, this is a synopsis of why I became a writer. At 15, I read this book, and it changed my life. The prose was poetic and descriptive without being too much. By contrast, I love H.P. Lovecraft with a similar intensity, but he is almost the only person who could write the overly descriptive stories he created. Everyone else sounds like they want to be him. Salvatore has a minimalist approach; enough description to draw you in, but not enough to get bogged down in details that don't drive the story forward. This has been a tenant of mine since I began writing. I used to go back and "dress up" my stories with more descriptive text after the first draft. The result being my story "Bearwood", which I am proud of because I wrote it at the age of 19 after seeing Se7en; its brutal with a horrific ending, but I am a bit embarrassed by a lot of what went into it. It's not something I would write again.

Salvatore also inspired something that exists in all the fantasy and sci-fi I have conceived; the iconic flawed character. Characters should not be defined by their abilities but by their actions and motives. Abilities are great; we love that Superman can bench press a semi truck and that Luke Skywalker can do a somersault in mid-air and block gunshots with his lightsaber; but the reason they persist in pop culture and continue to draw fans is because they are ultimately human. Luke struggles with the pressure of trying to resurrect a dead culture; a society of heroes dedicated to good. Superman tries to live a normal life while simultaneously trying to save the world he calls home from an endless array of disasters. An unflawed character is a boring character; this is why no one writes about utopias, unless something has happened to change or destroy it. In most cases, utopias are things of the past; and ancient and almost forgotten aspiration.

Most of us are, on some level, moral beings. We love, we hate, we have a sense of right and wrong. We are drawn to things that remind us of our own struggles and victories.

And for those of us who are creative types who love to write, we are inspired to create by these things. I read Homeland during the same period I was learning how to play Bass guitar. While I still play from time to time, that passion fizzled, partially because it was never going to provide a viable income (the music scene in early 90s northern Germany and New Hampshire was lacking), but because for all my ability as a musician, it paled in comparison to my ability and passion as a writer. Metallica and Primus have waned as passions; coming and going with my mood. But writing...

Every time I think about being in front of a keyboard and letting words pour from my fingers, I feel pride. It's similar to eating a cheeseburger for me; satisfying and deeply happy. I read an online interview with R. A. Salvatore once where someone asked him about writing for profit. His response has stuck with me and confirmed for me that this is my path. He said don't write for money. Write because you have to, because you feel the need to create. Write as if you will never have anything published ever. If you can live with the thought that what you make will never see the light of day; that you will never make a penny from it and still have the passion and the need to write, then you have what it takes. It doesn't guarantee that you will succeed, only that you have passion. And creation is all about passion.

Again, I will tie this back to the character Drizzt Do'Urden. His antithesis is a man named Artemis Entreri. Artemis is a human, so he never has to worry about being labeled based on his appearance. Drizzt provides an allegory for racism; people automatically assume that since he is a black skinned elf; that he will seek to kill or corrupt them, even though he is practically a saint. Artemis blends in; he is internally the representation of what people think of Drizzt externally. Artemis has sculpted himself into the perfect killing machine. To him, killing is just another day at the office, so to speak. He kills and fights without passion, feeling nothing for the people he kills or how it affects the others in their lives.

Drizzt fights with nothing but passion. He loves the dance of the fight, the feel of the weapons in his hands, the experience is a joy, the fact that he sometimes needs to kill is ancillary and often unpleasant. So here is where I come to the point; thanks to a book, a man, and his character, my passion was ignited. A lifelong love was born, well, half a life so far. At this point in my life, I have actively considered myself a writer for over half of it, although I have had my slumps, sometimes not writing a thing for a year or more.

That time seems to have come to an end, though. At 33, I am hell bent for leather, as the saying goes. I write in one form or another all the time. I love the act of creating, I love writing, I love comparing what I do with others and seeing where they are better and where I am unique.

I am writing this assuming that most if not everyone one reading it has at least a passing interest in writing. If you do, I have some suggestions for you (this is more for creative writing, but it applies t everyone). First, see if your library has the Dark Elf Trilogy by Bob (R. A.) Salvatore. If it does, see if it is the latest printing, or special edition. They have interviews with him in the back that are very entertaining, but more importantly, insightful.

Next, get a copy of "On Writing" by Stephen King. Like him and/or his stories or not, it is a window into the writing habits and suggestions of one of the most successful writers of the modern world. He knows his stuff, he is witty, and most importantly, he is critical.

If you make it through these without being inspired, I would suggest another field or hobby. If you come out the other side feeling like your choices are justified and you can't wait to "put pen to paper", then you just might have what it takes.

I'll close with this: writing is passion, and it is love. Those of us who do it and love it are special. Those of us who choose to do so publicly are even more so because as writing is inspired, it inspires. Perhaps I am tooting my own horn, which is odd since I am a barely published author on a site full of much more successful people. But I have the passion and I have the love, and I hope that I can pass a little bit of that on and convince some great minds that aren't sure to be sure.

Now get out there and make your mark.