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Originally posted by BEAST

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Originally posted by Markustay

In his defense, he DID try to stop writing Drizzt novels.

They threatened to have another author write a Drizzt novel, and knowing RAS as they obviously did, he relented and and started pumping them out again. They used the man's ego against him - talk about pushing the right buttons.

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You're confusing some of the details, MT.

I don't know if Bob exactly tried to stop writing about Drizzt and the Companions after "The Dark Elf Trilogy", but he was certainly happy to try another group of characters with "The Cleric Quintet". Supposedly fan uproar caused TSR and Bob to pick up the Drizzt stories once again during the middle of all that, and thus was "Legacy of the Drow" born.

I've never heard that Bob was done with the tale at the end of the novel Siege of Darkness, either. Wulf was apparently dead, and Drizzt and Cat were leaving Mithral Hall for some maritime adventure, but I've never read that Bob tried to end it all, right there.

What I have heard is that TSR wanted Wulf to come back, and in addition, they wanted Bob to up his novel and short story count to boot. Drizzt's bestseller status and profits apparently were needed to bail them out of their financial troubles, and I guess they thought Wulf the barbarian was an important part of the formula for success.

Bob wasn't happy with this. He has said that he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with Wulf, or if the guy was even really dead, or just abducted. But Bob was really uncomfortable with TSR pressuring him to churn out more stories even faster than before. (If you don't like the Drizzt books that we have, today, just imagine if a disgruntled Bob had been forced to put one out every nine months, plus multiple short stories each year, or whatever.)

Then TSR went a step beyond merely threatening to bring in another author: they actually published a Drizzt short story by another author ("The Fires of Narbondel", in Realms of the Underdark, complete with Matron Malice serving tea and crumpets to a stinking goblin, and Zaknafein scaling and descending the pillar Narbondel twice {that's four trips} in the space of about 10-15 minutes, with time to spare to find an historical artifact); and had another author include a Drizzt chapter in a novel (Once Around the Realms, with an anachronistically morose Drizzt inexplicably out on some ship without any of his Companions where he just so happened to be present to save the impostor Volo from drowning). Neither was very good; the latter was even subsequently dubbed "Apocrypha" by WOTC, it was so bad. So when TSR threatened to contract one of those same authors to write a complete Drizzt novel (The Shores of Dusk), and even posted ads for it in the magazines, it clearly wasn't an idle threat.

And, actually, Bob didn't just start pumping out Drizzt novels again when TSR pulled all this. He wrote Passage to Dawn, which undid a bunch of stuff and stuck all the Companions back in Icewind Dale, completely the heck away from Mithral Hall and Silverymoon and everything else, effectively resetting the characters back to the beginning, and fulfilling his existing contract.

Then he started writing his non-Realms "DemonWars" series for DelRey.

Meanwhile, the game designers had a heyday writing about the goings-on with the Companions (namely Bruenor) during Bob's absence, completely ignoring/disregarding Passage to Dawn. So other people were still writing new "Drizzt" stories/lore/etc. behind the man's back.

It was only years later that WOTC took over from TSR and coaxed Bob (and Drizzt) back into the fold, with The Silent Blade. I guess you could say that he's been pumping them out since then.

But it was a headache reconciling where he'd left off with the Companions in Passage to Dawn and what all the game designers had done with the characters afterwards, as evidenced by past confusion over all the Silver Marches and Obould lore. (And I think I've just about got all that done, no thanks to anybody else around here at the 'Keep. )

There was more involved here than just ego, MT. There were strongarm tactics, facilitated interlopers, and disregard for the author's own personal vision for the characters.

I'm sure that's all Bob's and Drizzt's fault, though.

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Originally posted by Alystra Illianniis

Actually, the short story in RotU was RAS.

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Originally posted by Alystra Illianniis

I've never even heard of the other one. Or the writer, either, for that matter. The style certainly sounded a lot like RAS.

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AoA: There was a huge rift between you and TSR, after a period of time. Would that be fair to say?

Salvatore: Yeah. We had a huge rift. I had creative differences with the new editor. We didn’t get along. When it came time for contract, I was going to sign for three more “Dark Elf” books, but they wanted paperbacks for a different series from me too. I didn’t have time to do them. I [didn’t] want to burn out. They said, “It’s all or nothing, take it or leave it. If you leave it, we will get someone else to write Dark Elf”. I said, “That’s your choice, I’m leaving it” [Contract]. I walked away from them, and it was a very bad time. It got very ugly… I didn’t agree creatively.

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AoA: But, then you brought him back. Can you explain why you brought him back. Was it because of the public outcry?

Salvatore: Well, that was part of it. My mail was split fifty-fifty quite honestly about that issue. I knew, that whatever I did, I was going to get beat up pretty good. There are two reasons why I brought him back. One, I felt bad that he had become a shallow character, because the book was supposed to have been about him. This “Dark Elf” kind of nudged in and pushed everybody out of the way. I really wanted to explore him more deeply, which I think I have done since I brought him back. The other reason that I brought him back, quite honestly… I knew that if I didn’t bring him back, someone [from TSR] was going to, and I didn’t want them to do it. So I did it, before they could. That’s the truth. I am glad I brought him back though.

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AoA: Dead is dead.

Salvatore: Here is the thing. I contributed to this [disgruntlement about resurrections, with] Wulfgar, so I admit to it. I am also contributing to it with Drizzt with the on-going sagas where he should have been dead a hundred times. But, here he is, still kicking along. This is something that bothers me about Fantasy. I think it is dumbing down Fantasy. This idea that the heroes, are immortal. It’s like hands-off with the main character. If you deviate from that the readers get angry. Heroes die…and they should. Would anyone in our time know who Joan of Arc was, if she had not been burned at the stake? Probably not. The truth of it is, as a culture we don’t talk about death. As a culture we don’t understand death. As a culture, because of a crisis of faith, we don’t ask enough questions about it. I think that is changing. Fantasy should deal with the themes of heroism and sacrifice. Including, the ultimate sacrifice.

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• The Crystal Shard, RAS, TSR, JAN-1988.



• Streams of Silver, RAS, TSR, JAN-1989.


• Hall of Heroes, RAS et al, TSR, APR-1989.


• "The First Notch", RAS, Dragon 152, TSR, DEC-1989.


• The Bloodstone Lands, RAS, TSR, DEC-1989.



• The Halfling's Gem, RAS, TSR, JAN-1990.


• Homeland, RAS, TSR, SEP-1990.


• Exile, RAS, TSR, DEC-1990.



• Sojourn, RAS, TSR, MAY-1991.


• Canticle, RAS, TSR, OCT-1991.



• In Sylvan Shadows, RAS, TSR, APR-1992.


• Night Masks, RAS, TSR, AUG-1992.


• The Legacy, RAS, TSR, SEP-1992.


• Menzoberranzan [Boxed Set], "Book Two: The Houses" & "The House Do'Urden Retrospective", RAS et al, TSR, OCT-1992.



• "Dark Mirror", RAS, Realms of Valor, TSR, JAN-1993.


• The Fallen Fortress, RAS, TSR, JUN-1993.


• Starless Night, RAS, TSR, AUG-1993.

• The Chaos Curse, RAS, TSR, JUN-1994.


• Siege of Darkness, RAS, TSR, AUG-1994.


• "The Third Level", RAS, Realms of Infamy, TSR, DEC-1994.



• Once Around the Realms, Brian M. Thomsen, TSR, APR-1995.


• "Guenhwyvar", RAS, Realms of Magic, TSR, DEC-1995.



• "The Fires of Narbondel", Mark Anthony, Realms of the Underdark, TSR, APR-1996.


• Passage to Dawn, RAS, TSR, AUG-1996.



• The Shores of Dusk, Mark Anthony, TSR, Scheduled for AUG-1997/Cancelled.

• The Silent Blade, RAS, WOTC, OCT-1998.



• The Accursed Tower, RAS et al, WOTC, FEB-1999.


• The Spine of the World, RAS, WOTC, SEP-1999.


[snip Servant of the Shard & "WOTSQ" stuff]


• Sea of Swords, RAS, WOTC, OCT-2001.

• The North: Guide to the Savage Frontier, TSR, APR-1996.


• Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark, WOTC, NOV-1999.


• Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3E, WOTC, JUN-2001.


• Silver Marches, WOTC, JUL-2002.

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Originally posted by Markustay

And that wasn't a fake Volo - that was the real Volo trying to prove he was the real Volo,

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and all the lore in that book (despite how truly bad it is) is reconcilable.

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I still think he should have left Cadderly dead, but whatever.

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Originally posted by Alystra Illianniis
<snip>
It would have been much more interesting to have her running around Mithril Hall setting up a nursery and puking at all hours, if RAS wanted to set her aside for a while. But that's just my take.

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