Badger Posted January 8, 2005 Report Share Posted January 8, 2005 Well me and one of my friends every once in a while like to discuss crossovers of universes (comic, fantasy, sci-fi, etc). But the last one that we had recently popped back in my head. And I thought it might make for a fun little discussion. So how would the Drow from D&D have affected the Lord of the Rings trilogy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outsider Posted January 8, 2005 Report Share Posted January 8, 2005 Re: Interesting little idea for discussion. Another army of Sauron for the good guys to defeat by pulling a counterforce out of thin air against, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted January 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2005 Re: Interesting little idea for discussion. HAHA, good point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outsider Posted January 9, 2005 Report Share Posted January 9, 2005 Re: Interesting little idea for discussion. I do actually really like the middle earth setting, but I think it would be very difficult to run a game in, at least during the periods covered by the books. 4th age (post LoTR) might work out, or some less well covered part of 2nd or 3rd age, and somewhere less well covered than the NW of Middle Earth. Things have to have been pretty turbulent in the East between Sauron's defeat at the end of the 2nd age, and his reemergence in the 3rd. Lots of fell creatures still about, 2 completely undeveloped Istari (the Blue Wizards), probably some unknown clans of dwarves, maybe some really rustic elves (descendants of the ones who never even started on the trip west) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted January 9, 2005 Report Share Posted January 9, 2005 Re: Interesting little idea for discussion. Look for the out-of-print ICE products Lords of Middle Earth vols. 1-3. They made up lots of NPCs and cultures. The Blue Wizards are covered in volume 1 Some Mannish races in the east are part of some NPC backgrounds in volume 2. Volume 3 expands on the Dwarf clans. "The Court of Ardor" is even harder to find. It depicts a group of evil Elves in southern Middle Earth who are trying to bring Morgoth back from the Void. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted January 9, 2005 Report Share Posted January 9, 2005 Re: Interesting little idea for discussion. There are already Dark Elves in Middle Earth - but they are not like the Drow at all. The Sindarin elves, of which Legolas is a prince, is a dark elf. Dark Elves are those that didn't travel west to see the light of the two trees (ie those that came back with Galadriel). However - that's mainly implied. The only elf actually named as a Dark Elf is Eol who built his own sword and betrayed Gondolin to Melkor. What I completely dislike about the D&D Drow is their colour - 1) lack of light makes you pale, not dark and 2) Black is easier to see in dark places than dark brown, blue or green. Which is why I prefer the Warhammer Dark Elves who actually make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teflon Billy Posted January 9, 2005 Report Share Posted January 9, 2005 Re: Interesting little idea for discussion. What I completely dislike about the D&D Drow is their colour - 1) lack of light makes you pale' date=' not dark and 2) Black is easier to see in dark places than dark brown, blue or green.[/quote'] Drow are pitch black because that is what their original skin color is, it has nothing to do with them living underground. TB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted January 9, 2005 Report Share Posted January 9, 2005 Re: Interesting little idea for discussion. Ah - that's understandable then. The laws regarding adaption and evolution wouldn't apply to a magical world. As magic replaces science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted January 9, 2005 Report Share Posted January 9, 2005 Re: Interesting little idea for discussion. Also, keep in mind that the term Dark Elf isn't synonymous with evil in Middle Earth. The term has been used in a derogatory fashion by the Noldor; they seemed to equate them with unsophisticated louts. As for the skin color of the drow, I always found it racist that the dark-skinned elves are evil, and the light-skinned elves are good. I know the light and dark elves in Norse mythology were depicted as light and dark skinned, but the latter weren't necessarily evil. And because I failed my EGO roll: How now, brown drow? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teflon Billy Posted January 9, 2005 Report Share Posted January 9, 2005 Re: Interesting little idea for discussion. Ah - that's understandable then. The laws regarding adaption and evolution wouldn't apply to a magical world. As magic replaces science.Well, I should have expanded a little. Drow are naturally pitch black, this was their natural skin color before their race moved from the surface world to the Underdark. As the Drow have only lived underground (in Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms at least) for a few tens of millenia at most, as they are elves they live to be 500-1000 years old so that is only 5-20 generations to be living underground, they haven't really had a long enough time to evolutionary adjust to being subterranian creatures. If evolution would have any effect in this case at all, I personally would lean more to evolution not being a factor in a universe that has the direct intercession of the Divine as a natural and regular course events in the world. TB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted January 9, 2005 Report Share Posted January 9, 2005 Re: Interesting little idea for discussion. And because I failed my EGO roll: How now, brown drow? And now I've failed mine: Drow rhymes with crow, not cow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted January 9, 2005 Report Share Posted January 9, 2005 Re: Interesting little idea for discussion. And now I've failed mine: Drow rhymes with crow' date=' not cow. [/quote'] I've heard it both ways, but I've always pronounced it as rhyming with cow. Could be yours is right; I think the term originally comes from Norse mythology, although it wasn't synonymous with dark elf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted January 9, 2005 Report Share Posted January 9, 2005 Re: Interesting little idea for discussion. Yeah, I've heard the cow-rhyming drow so many times that I often say it myself, and then I get mad at myself. Etymologically, "drow" is related to "trow" and "troll". Your brown drow thing was pretty funny, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted January 9, 2005 Report Share Posted January 9, 2005 Re: Interesting little idea for discussion. I've never heard it pronounced to rhyme with crow, that is quite interesting... As to the points I've made on skin colour - that was to do with old arguments I'd had with DandDophile friends about the justifications for black. Their argument was that it was intentional so they could hide better. On Middle Earth, there are no naturally occuring pure evil creatures - all the evil creatures are manufactured (like orcs) or are supernatural (like sauron and the balrog). Races that can actually reproduce through normal means (ie, are actual "races") are not as two dimensional. If Drow went to Middle Earth - they could be another corruption of Elves, or they should not be "evil" if you want them to fit the mythology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Rose Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 Re: Interesting little idea for discussion. And now I've failed mine: Drow rhymes with crow' date=' not cow. [/quote'] According to the "experts" at WotC (and earlier, TSR), it's supposed to be "Drow like cow" not "Drow like crow". [dorky fanboy rant]Then again, these are the same people who killed off my favorite ruling House in Menzobarranzan, so screw them, I say.[/dorky fanboy rant] Besides, I think "Drow like crow" sounds more spooky. Droooooow.... Droooooooow.... "Drow like cow" sounds like a complaining old woman. But that's just me.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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