[Fantastic Worlds] The Dark Elf: The Endless Fight for Survival, Honor, and Principles

The Dark ElfIt is a saga that caught my attention ever since I learned of its existence. Perhaps it was because the title itself makes it clear that the work focuses on a race that has received little attention in fantasy literature, or because of the mysteriousness of its covers, but the fact is that I had been wanting to read it for a long time. What I didn't expect is that it turned out to be the work that fascinated and captivated me the most since the first two books of the Geralt of Rivia saga.

The protagonist ofThe dark elfisDrizzt Do'Urden. With coal-black skin and long, straight, white hair, there is no doubt that he belongs to that race. Only one subtle feature differentiates it from the rest of its peers: someviolet eyesinstead of red. Its character, however, differs from that of those like the night from the day, as we will see below.

The center of the world of the people of Drizzt isMenzoberranzan, an underground city calledUnderdark. This is governed by a kind of theocracy, in whicheight high priestesses of the spider goddess Lloth occupy the pinnacle of power. Invariably, these belong to the first eight houses, according to their position in the power classifications. Two others are added to these, to complete a total often main houses.

In society like the drow (another way of calling dark elves)power is above any other virtue. That means thatEach house is willing to exterminate another in order to climb the ladder or maintain the one it already has.. There is no punishment for such crimes, as long as no witnesses survive to file a complaint (including children). And the same thing happens with the members within it. The murder of a family member is not punishable if it does not damage the position of the house.

Drizzt's very existence is a paradox in that brutal and ruthless world, since it was those crimes that allowed him to survive his birth, but, at the same time,He will hate them all his life. Since then, he was educated in the most rigid of disciplines, always reminded of his inferior status as a male ina rigidly matriarchal societywhich reminds me a lot of hyenas. But even in such circumstances I would glimpse a ray of light...

As I indicated at the beginning, this work has captivated me like few others, and much of that fault lies inits world so strange and alien. The infrared vision of the drow, the system of “days” and “nights” marked by a magical device that acts as a peculiar sun, the terrible drow reality and the Underdark as a whole make this saga unique. All of thiswritten in a direct style, almost crude in my opinion, but it works when the fight for survival is the only thing that matters.

Now, I think that the American trilogyR.A. Salvatoreit goes from more to less.The abodeIt is the best by far, as it brings together all the aforementioned elements. Furthermore, the intrigues and combats described in detail captivate from beginning to end.The exile, for its part, focuses so much on battles, with few breaks in between, that, even though I liked it, I was a little spoiled. Finally,The refugeIt seemed to me that it had a story that was not enough on its own to hold my attention.

These books are part of the universe ofForgotten Realms, that is, of the role-playing gameDungeons & Dragons.The extension of these is moderate. All of them exceed 300 pages, but none reach 400. These are invariably composed of five parts with a brieffirst person introductionand in italics with Drizzt's reflections, in contrast to the rest of the work, written inthird person.  

In conclusion,The dark elfIt is a trilogy that offers a world as strange as it is fascinating, intrigue and combat galore. If you are not one of those who is scared by the brutality that the books reflect and you do not mind the excess of combats that it may have, you will enjoy it a lot. The only drawback I see is that it seems that I feel as if the third part was conceived as a “glue” of this prequel with the subsequent events of the trilogy ofEl Valle del Viento Helado.

The dark elfha sido publicado publicado en español por distintas editoriales a lo largo de tres décadas. Varias de ellas están descatalogadas, como la de Timun Mas, Planeta deAgostini (la que está en mi estantería), Círculo de lectores o Altaya, pero, a diferencia deBelgarath Chronicles, existen otras más recientes. En concreto,Minotaurtiene disponibles tanto los tres libros individuales como una de esasediciones especialescon las páginas pintadas que tanto odio.