Changes

The trilogy is noted as being remarkable for giving real meat to the mysterious society of the dark elves, who until that point had remained a mystery except for being a generally villainous race.  The matriarchy, the dichotomy of stratification and mobility, and the worship of an evil goddess allowed ''Dungeons and Dragons'' players to understand how an evil society might actually, for lack of a better term, "work".

The trilogy is noted as being remarkable for giving real meat to the mysterious society of the dark elves, who until that point had remained a mystery except for being a generally villainous race.  The matriarchy, the dichotomy of stratification and mobility, and the worship of an evil goddess allowed ''Dungeons and Dragons'' players to understand how an evil society might actually, for lack of a better term, "work".

==Concerns and Criticism

==Concerns and Criticism==

The implications of the novels, based as they were on ''Dungeons and Dragons'' conventions, have given rise to debate in subsequent years (as have ''Dungeons and Dragons''' racial tropes themselves).  The implication that all or most drow are wholly evil, and that Drizzt alone was truly good (with his father, uneasy at his race's predilections but unwilling to take steps against them, implied to occupy a neutral limbo), indicated that it was genetics that made him moral, not his upbringing, which was little different from any other male drow, save his that his father, who trained him during his teenage years, was more gentle than most.  This is further emphasized with his sister Vierna; his other siblings are only half-related to him, sharing only their mother's blood, but Vierna, who treated him much more kindly than would be expected, was also his father's daughter, and though she didn't know this had a more temperate attitude as a result, though she was lost, having become just a loyal, if not as fanatical, a follower of the dark elves' goddess as her sisters and mother.  In summation, the book seems to endorse the idea that goodness derives from blood, not upbringing.  However, it is not revealed how Drizzt's father gained his distaste for dark elf society.

The implications of the novels, based as they were on ''Dungeons and Dragons'' conventions, have given rise to debate in subsequent years (as have ''Dungeons and Dragons''' racial tropes themselves).  The implication that all or most drow are wholly evil, and that Drizzt alone was truly good (with his father, uneasy at his race's predilections but unwilling to take steps against them, implied to occupy a neutral limbo), indicated that it was genetics that made him moral, not his upbringing, which was little different from any other male drow, save his that his father, who trained him during his teenage years, was more gentle than most.  This is further emphasized with his sister Vierna; his other siblings are only half-related to him, sharing only their mother's blood, but Vierna, who treated him much more kindly than would be expected, was also his father's daughter, and though she didn't know this had a more temperate attitude as a result, though she was lost, having become just a loyal, if not as fanatical, a follower of the dark elves' goddess as her sisters and mother.  In summation, the book seems to endorse the idea that goodness derives from blood, not upbringing.  However, it is not revealed how Drizzt's father gained his distaste for dark elf society.