Your opinions on the portrayal of drow in fantasy novels

[OP1000]

Hello!!!!

What is the first thing that comes to your minds when you think about drow in fantasy novels?

P. S.: How would you differentiate them form dark elves?

 

[CarburetorThompson]

Drow is just wotc hasbro trademarked dark elves.

One of my stories had dark elves, in the setting elves were faeries and couldn’t stay in the human world unless they followed certain restrictions. So dark elves were undead elves that killed themselves in order to stay in the human world. I ended up abandoning that story as I often do, mostly because I was more interested in the setting than any story I was creating within it.

 

[KoyukiMegumi]

DnD ruined the word Drow for me. I think of cave dwellers.

But Dark elves can be w.e you wish them to be.

 

[Cannight]

They're like dark elves but almost always evil.

 

[LilRora]

For me, dark elves are a variant of elves, while drows are an entirely different but related race.

Generally I imagine drows as a race without or with a much weaker connection to nature, with gray or black skin as opposed to dark elves' dark brown or purplish, much rougher in appearance and character because of different upbringing.

All of this is gonna heavily depend on the setting though, mainly whether the setting has both or not. Most will have only one, I assume, then there's a lot more freedom.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I never seen them outside of DnD

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Dark elves or mutated elves.

 

[Tempokai]

Dark elves but with funny ears

 

[Corty]

They are fancy-named elves so corporations can copyright them because dark elves are too broad of a term.

 

[Arkus86]

Wait, Drow and Dark Elves are different?

 

[Corty]

Wait, Drow and Dark Elves are different?

One will get you wizard lawyers trying to hunt you down, and the other will not.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

What is the first thing that comes to your minds when you think about drow in fantasy novels?

Some kind of crow?

How would you differentiate them form dark elves?

Some kind of dark elf with black feathers?

 

[Kenjona]

As a GM:

• Drow = Cheese Monkeys.
• Dark Elves = Either Edge lord players, Emo wannabes or worse they think they are playing Drow. Sometimes a combination of all three.

As a player:

• Drow = Cheese Monkeys. Yes, I used to like playing them.
• Dark Elves: Meh whatever, do they get anything good?

As a reader: Trope # whatever. Hope the author does them well.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

What is the first thing that comes to your minds when you think about drow in fantasy novels?

Not worth the level adjustment.
And how did you know I have more than one mind?

P. S.: How would you differentiate them form dark elves?

Different game systems entirely. There are no Dark Elves per se in D20

 

[HelloHound]

tbh I find drow to be overly combative and intertwined with bdsm in a way that feels fetishistic.
They do have a standalone type of personhood though, which makes them more sturdy as a concept than dark elves, which could be anything ranging from elves with a tan to devil worshippers for some reason or another.
Personal preference: Dark elves
Narrative sturdiness: Drow

 

[Daitengu]

For me, Drow are the old school obsidian skinned slaver cave elve milfs that're following an evil spider goddess and will sacrifice your ass for evil goddess power.

Dark elves on the other hand would be like Pirotess from Record of Lodoss war. Dark brown skinned assassin milf. Not as evil as Drows, but typically followers of some dark lord or demon lord.

 

[KonoKei]

Drow are matriarchal elves from some "other" world, usually undergound. They focus on sexuality and deception to manipulate their foes. My story has a drow MC, so I'm quite fond of the concept. I'd say a dark elf as in something like Warhammer is just an elf with BDSM flavor.

It's also worth noting that the term "Drow" and the concept of a "Dark elf" are not trademarked by WotC as can be seen here. A search of public trademark databases also reveals no entry for the word "drow" besides a search engine, which doesn't apply here.

 

[melchi]

Not worth the level adjustment.
And how did you know I have more than one mind?

Different game systems entirely. There are no Dark Elves per se in D20

Even if they are not worth the level adjustment some people still play them.

I think that for a drow to be a proper drow, they have to be evil. Having a good drow (looking at you drizzt) only waters down the setting. It is like having evil elves. Elves are not supposed to be evil characters so making them evil waters down the setting. When the setting is watered down enough then both drow and elves become humans with pointy ears.

Humans with pointy ears are boring.

The book that I think really gets drow right is "daughter of the drow" by elaine cunningham. Though there could be better ones. She does a good job of showing how a spider-chaos-goddess led society is incredibly cut throat. The only thing that I don't like about it is like RA salvatore's books the main character decides to be the special snowflake and not actually play a drow like it should be played.

While drow are evil, they are not beasts. They should be incredibly pragmatic. Yeah, they'll kill if they can but won't fight to the death if they don't have to. If one path benefits them more than another than that is the one they'll take. Like good evil ropeplay it is less about mindless violence and more about taking everything they can get.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

Try hard dark elves.

 

[pumpkinewe]

In my novel, the word drow has more to do with the loyalty (ie being a traitor) of the elf than the race. Dark elves are generally seen as Drow though in my novel due to the fact other elves label them as "traitors". Any elf can be a drow if they don't follow the preconception of an elf. It's mostly an unused term but was often used to label those who would mingle or forge friendships with humans, goblins, and orcs. They used to be very xenophobic. It's really up to you what a drow means to you in that regard. Fantasy novels are your creation and there aren't too many set rules around it.