Some Thoughts on Drizzt Book

Some thoughts on Homeland (The Legend of Drizzt Book 1) (a fantasy book about a Dark Elf named Drizzt who is morally different than most other Dark Elves due to being decent/compassionate/kind.)

Dark Elf society basically says that if you get away with destroying an enemy Dark Elf family or murdering someone without witnesses, “it never happened”. This bad idea involves major dishonesty. The Dark Elves know various bad things happen but then ignore that knowledge so that they can continue living according to falsehoods. This is a big part of why their society is so corrupt and evil.

At one point, Drizzt wants to believe that the tales about the elves who live on the surface — that they’re evil oppressors who’ve tormented the Dark Elves — are true. If those tales are false, then that will require him to have an even more negative view of his own society than he already has. He doesn’t want to have such a view. So his reasoning is somewhat biased by wanting a certain outcome. When he confronts evidence that directly contradicts the narrative he’s been told regarding the surface elves, Drizzt is too honest to make himself believe the narrative anymore, despite his desires, and his resulting actions become a major plot point.

Zaknafein is a weapons master who trains Drizzt, likes Drizzt, and has a close bond with him at one point. He thinks that maybe he should have killed Drizzt when he was younger to spare him the horror of being corrupted by the world. He’s a bit like Dominique vis-a-vis Roark in The Fountainhead. Zaknafein sees the goodness in Drizzt and so he wants to oppose and thwart him to spare him pain. But Zaknafein underestimates Drizzt’s resilience.

I liked the book and will probably try some more in the series.