Drow (Dungeons & Dragons)
| Drow | |
|---|---|
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| Characteristics | |
| Alignment | Usually Chaotic Evil or Neutral Evil |
| Type | Humanoid or fey humanoid (Elf) |
| Image | Wizards.com image |
| Publication history | |
| Source books | Drow of the Underdark |
| First appearance | G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King (1977) |
| Mythological origins | Dark elf, Drow |
The drow (/ˈdraʊ/ or /ˈdroʊ/) or dark elves are a generally evil, dark-skinned, and white-haired subrace of elves in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game.
The word "drow" is from the Orcadian and Shetlandic dialects of Scots, an alternative form of "trow", which is a cognate with "troll". The Oxford English Dictionary gives no entry for "drow", but two of the citations under "trow" name it as an alternative form of the word. Trow/drow was used to refer to a wide variety of evil sprites. Everything about the Dungeons & Dragons drow was invented by Gary Gygax except for the basic concept of "dark elves". However, in the Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson wrote about the black elves: "[...] the dark elves however live down below the ground. [...] while the dark elves are blacker than pitch."
Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax stated, "Drow are mentioned in Keightley's The Fairy Mythology, as I recall (it might have been The Secret Commonwealth--neither book is before me, and it is not all that important anyway), and as Dark Elves of evil nature, they served as an ideal basis for the creation of a unique new mythos designed especially for the AD&D game." The form "drow" can be found in neither work. Gygax later stated that he took the term from a listing in the Funk & Wagnall's Unexpurgated Dictionary, and no other source at all. "I wanted a most unusual race as the main power in the Underdark, so used the reference to 'dark elves' from the dictionary to create the Drow." There seems to be no work with this title. However, the following entry can be found in abridged editions of Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of the English Language, such as The Desk Standard Dictionary of the English Language: "[Scot.] In folk-lore, one of a race of underground elves represented as skilful workers in metal. Compare TROLL. [Variant of TROLL.] trow"
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