Dungeons & Dragons put forward one of its best heroes of all time in the dark Elf Drizzt Do’Urden, and Drizzt has numerous high fantasy fights to prove it. Created by American writer R.A. Salvatore, Drizzt debuted in a book series set in Icewind Dale, a location created by Salvatore for the Forgotten Realms setting of the D&D game. With high-level stats, Drizzt tends to be a nearly unbeatable player in the epic tabletop game, and Salvatore’s books provide some graphically brilliant examples of why and how this came to be.
Drizzt featured in Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance as a secret character, proving that the popular D&D drow had video game potential as well as tabletop merit. All in all, it is Drizzt’s incredible strength, constitution, dexterity, wisdom, and charisma that posit him as a match for D&D’s mightiest villains. From dragons both dead and alive to demons and orcs, the evil of Dungeons & Dragons has often fled in the face of Drizzt and his scimitars. Now all that is needed is a TV show or movie to bring Salvatore’s best Drizzt fights to life.
10 Vierna
The Lolth Priestess
Drizzt Do’Urden was forced into combat with his own sister in The Legacy. This 1992 epic novel by R.A. Salvatore pitted Drizzt against his own family, revealing the violent traditions of drow culture and the reason why many people feared drows. Drizzt’s sister, Vierna, was a Lolth priestess and a normal-looking drow. She was loyal to the monstrous Queen of Spiders, one of the most significant drow goddesses, embodying chaos. Drizzt had forsaken this culture, leading to conflict with Vierna.
Drizzt eventually had to kill the priestess to incapacitate her, winning the fight but losing a sister.
In her attempt to sacrifice Drizzt to Lolth, Vierna attacked Drizzt with her snake-headed whip. Drizzt got bitten twice but his scimitar, Twinkle, split one snake’s head clean in two. Fighting through the poison of the snake bites, Drizzt managed to chop off another snake head. The bites would have probably incapacitated a Dwarf, but Drizzt proved his durability by standing strong. Drizzt eventually had to kill the priestess to incapacitate her, winning the fight but losing a sister.
9 Malcanthet
The Succubus
In Hero by R.A. Salvatore, Drizzt had to fight the succubus Malcanthet. The demon queen was possessing the body of the helpless Concettina. Only when the halfling Regis struck Concettina’s helpless body with his magical ruby was she able to start gaining back control of her limbs and fighting off Malcanthet. But before that, Malcanthet had managed to grab a hold of Drizzt and start feeding, demonstrating the power of succubi in D&D.
The demon queen’s lightning bolt slammed Drizzt against a wall – her “Abyssal stroke of lightning” pitching him face-first into the building. The vampiric succubus picked up Drizzt’s limp form and “bit [his] neck, and he felt his life-force being pulled from him.” Drizzt lost this fight, but Artemis Entreri and Regis were able to save him and fend off Malcanthet, for the time being.
8 Illithids
Mind Flayers
Drizzt Do’Urden had the misfortune of facing mind flayers in the second book in the Dark Elf trilogy. The three-part graphic novel version of this story is also particularly illustrative of Drizzt’s run-in with the mind flayers. In this altercation, Drizzt, Belwar, and Clacker were subjected together to the assault of the mind flayers, otherwise known as illithids. The three were taken prisoner and enslaved.
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Drizzt was made a massager, creepily, forced to massage the ilithid brain. In this sense, it could certainly be said that the mind flayers won this round. However, Guenhwyvar, Drizzt’s panther companion, was able to assist Drizzt. In the end, Guenhwyvar was able to spring herself from the astral plain – her plain of residence. Guenhwyvar found Clacker, Drizzt, and Belwar, who regained control of their minds and managed to leave, but not without a huge struggle.
7 Marilith
General Of The Demon Army
Drizzt managed to disable the great Marilith for whom all mariliths were named. R.A. Salvatore penned Archmage, published in 2015, which told the story of Drizzt taking on the great Marilith in what may be one of his toughest battles ever. Not only was Drizzt embroiled in the fight with Marilith, but he had to be revived by Jarlaxle and Kimmuriel to even stand in front of her.
What’s more, Drizzt had to overcome a history of enmity with Jarlaxle to become allies. Drizzt and his panther companion Guenhwyvar scraped by, only just managing to confront Marilith via a psionic vortex. Drizzt Do’Urden was able to fight back and subdue Marilith, turning the tide of the battle. However, it was Bruenor Battlehammer who placed the killing stroke, slaying her and banishing her.
6 Obould
King Of The Orcs
Obould faced the powerful Drizzt Do’Urden in The Two Swords. This formidable opponent was the King of the Orcs, causing trouble across the Forgotten Realms. In his drive to expand his realm, Obould ran into opposition from the Companions of the Hall, including Drizzt and Bruenor. Drizzt actually lost his first fight to the Orc King, leaving him scampering away with his tail between his legs. This is a testament to the fearsome power of the villain, who gradually turned into a semi-hero across Salvatore’s multi-book narrative. Indeed, perhaps it foreshadowed his eventual suitability to join Drizzt in battle.
The earthquake left both Drizzt and Obould alive, setting up Obould’s subsequent agreement to a truce and proving that not all enmity had to end in tears in
D&D.
Obould’s indestructible armor saw to his invincibility in his first clash with the drow hero. However, the second fight between Obould and Drizzt in The Two Swords was not so clear-cut. Drizzt had a super-sword to rival Obould’s super-armor in their second fight, but Obould was not so keen on a fair fight. Throwing Drizzt’s sword over a cliff, an earthquake ensued, leaving the fight unfinished. Courtesy of an ally of Drizzt’s, the earthquake left both Drizzt and Obould alive, setting up Obould’s subsequent agreement to a truce and proving that not all enmity had to end in tears in D&D.
5 Hakuun
The Ogrillon
Hakuun was the chief advisor to Grguch, and he failed miserably in his standoff against the drow Drizzt Do’Urden. Hakuun was a shaman as well as an advisor, reflecting the leadership traditions of most orc tribes. Hakuun’s group was Clan Karuck, which was a relatively small tribe of ogrillons – a race that was half-orc and half-ogre. Hakuun’s showdown with Drizzt took place in R.A. Salvatore’s The Orc King.
The story of
The Orc King
began a century after the events of
The Two Swords.
Published in 2007, The Orc King was the first in a book series called Transitions, which followed on from The Hunter’s Blades Trilogy. In The Orc King, Obould was fighting on Drizzt’s side. Together with Bruenor, Drizzt and Obould stood off against Grguch. While Bruenor jumped at Grguch from Obould’s back, Drizzt hunted down Hakuun and slayed him successfully.
4 Errtu
The Balor
Drizzt Do’Urden had several confrontations with Errtu the balor, which ended twice in Errtu’s unquestionable defeat. One of Drizzt Do’Urden’s trusty scimitars, Icingdeath, was responsible for banishing Errtu on both occasions. Errtu was one of the most powerful balor described in D&D, evoking a rough imitation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous Balrog. Like the Balrogs, Errtu was surrounded by flames and fought with a deadly whip. Errtu was a commander of a whole layer of the Abyss, which was a realm of demonkind in D&D.
Accordingly, Errtu had command over vast swathes of Tanar’ ri, the warped demons that lived in the Abyss. Errtu was seeking the Crenshinibon, an artifact that Drizzt was trying to keep out of his hands. This led to a meeting between the two, pursued by Drizzt himself. When the negotiation slipped out of Drizzt’s control, Errtu tried to burn Drizzt alive, but Drizzt’s magical sword put out the flames in a shock reveal that allowed Drizzt the advantage.
3 Hephaestus
The Dracolich
Drizzt Do’Urden skilfully fought a dracolich called Hephaestus. In the R.A. Salvatore novel, The Ghost King, Drizzt helped Cadderly defeat a giant undead dragon. The red dragon Hephaestus was turned into an undead creature by the Spellplague, setting him up to become the Ghost King when he got possessed by the psyche of a mind flayer. Fusing with the last of the Crystal Shard, the possessed dracolich couldn’t be beaten by Drizzt alone.
Drizzt managed to hack away
“a great chunk”
of the dracolich’s cheekbone and upper jaw, but it was Cadderly who really took the creature down.
With the evil drive of a dragon, the dominant will of the Crystal Shard, and the unscrupulous addition of the mind flayer, Hephaestus was undeniably one of Drizzt’s toughest foes. Drizzt attacked with Guenhwyvar, his magical panther familiar. Stabbing with Twinkle and Icingdeath, Drizzt managed to hack away “a great chunk” of the dracolich’s cheekbone and upper jaw, but it was Cadderly who really took the creature down.
2 Icingdeath
The Dragon
The namesake of one of Drizzt’s lethal scimitars, Icingdeath is one of the most iconic villains in R.A. Salvatore’s Drizzt Do’Urden books. Wulfgar helped Drizzt Do’Urden defeat Icingdeath in the Year of the Worm. Having defeated the dragon, Drizzt claimed a scimitar from the hoard that the dragon was guarding, naming it after its recently vanquished owner.
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Challengingly, Icingdeath was also known as Ingeloakastimizilian. No wonder the books normally used the shorthand. Ingeloakastimizilian was living in Icewind Dale when he was confronted with Drizzt’s wrath. In order to protect Icewind Dale and Ten-Towns, Wulfgar had gone to fight Icingdeath, but luckily, was followed by Drizzt. Drizzt provided vital support and the two were able to overcome the dangerous dragon together.
1 Demogorgon
The Prince of Demons
Called the Imprisoned One by many, Demogorgon was a demon lord of domination, and probably Drizzt’s unwieldiest enemy. This embodiment of nihilistic destruction sought to drag all creation down into the Abyss, leaving it in the hands of its various demons. And yet, somehow, Drizzt Do’Urden defeated this 18-foot monster. The tentacled and two-headed Demogorgon was finished by Drizzt in 1487 DR.
Drizzt battled Demogorgon in Menzoberranzan with a complicated magical act that was a stroke of genius. Drizzt had managed to make himself a conduit for a huge amount of magical energy. He was able to use this energy to attack Demogorgon in a huge torrent of force that was held in place by mind flayers. Drizzt’s historical enemy, the mind flayers were being used to create an illithid hive-mind to hold the wall of energy in place, leading to Drizzt’s most impressive Dungeons & Dragons win.
Dungeons & Dragons
The Dungeons & Dragons franchise is a fantasy adventure series based on the iconic tabletop role-playing game. The franchise includes both live-action and animated adaptations, with the most notable being the recent film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023), which brought the fantasy world of D&D to a broader audience with its blend of humor, action, and classic D&D elements. The franchise explores themes of heroism, friendship, and the unpredictable nature of adventuring in a magical world filled with dragons, wizards, and mythical creatures.
- Created by
- E. Gary Gygax , Dave Arneson , Jonathan Goldstein , John Francis Daley
- First Film
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Summary
The Dungeons & Dragons franchise is a fantasy adventure series based on the iconic tabletop role-playing game. The franchise includes both live-action and animated adaptations, with the most notable being the recent film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023), which brought the fantasy world of D&D to a broader audience with its blend of humor, action, and classic D&D elements. The franchise explores themes of heroism, friendship, and the unpredictable nature of adventuring in a magical world filled with dragons, wizards, and mythical creatures.
