Let's Talk About Drow Lore
As I'm gearing up to post some Drow headcanons tomorrow, I decided to create something to discuss canon drow lore for anyone who's fuzzy on it or would like to know more.
This is just going to be canon Drow lore from D&D/Forgotten Realms sourcebooks and novels, but I hope to do my own homebrew lore and headcanon post one day!
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What to expect: extremely boiled-down explanations of Elf lore before discussing Drow creation and lore.
Content Warnings: under the cut, there are a few instances of discussing the cruelty of Drow women to Drow men, but nothing explicit is mentioned.
Let's Start at the Beginning
Who is the Seldarine?
The Seldarine is the Elven pantheon of gods led by Corellon Larethian. There are many major, intermediate, and lesser gods in the pantheon, but for this post we're going to be concerned with the following key players:
Corellon Larethian: leader of the Seldarine - chaotic good
Araushnee: Lolth's original form, wife to Corellon and mother of Vhaeraun and Eilistraee - originally was a well-aligned Goddess who helped create Elves, specifically becoming the Goddess of the Dark Elves who matched her image
Vhaeraun: son of Corellon and Araushnee - chaotic evil
Eilistraee: daughter of Corellon and Araushnee - chaotic good
Becoming Lolth
Araushnee grew jealous of the power her husband had and wanted to take it for herself. She tried to kill him several times in various ways over thousands of years - bringing her son Vhaeraun into the fold, while her daughter Eilistraee protected Corellon. When these attempts failed, Corellon eventually gathered the Seldarine to essentially exile the traitorous members from the pantheon. Eilistraee ended up volunteering to be exiled, too, knowing that the Dark Elves would need her love and light as Araushnee, their main Goddess, fell further into evil and chaos.
Corellon couldn't bring himself to kill Araushnee, even after everything, so after exiling her and Vhaeraun he turned her partially into a spider and sent her off to the demon realm (The Abyss) where she eventually conquered the 66th layer. The entire debacle, as well as her banishment, forced her to lose her power over the Dark Elves, and she would spend a great amount of time fighting to get her power back. Her fall from grace and transformation is what turned her into Lolth.
Some Elven History
The first elves to arrive on Toril (the planet that Faerun is located on) came from the Feywild (the plane where Fey originated from), via a portal/gate between the realms. By this time, there were already a couple subraces of elves, notably the Green Elves and Dark Elves. When more types of elves moved to Toril and mixed with the Green Elves, Moon Elves and Sun Elves eventually evolved.
Note: The "Dark" in "Dark Elf" does not mean "bad" or "evil". They came from Green Elves while still in the Feywild, "dark" refers to their uniquely dark complexions.
The different elven tribes built great cities and kingdoms in Faerun, but over time they were destroyed during the Crown Wars - which took place over 3,000 years. Because of all the death and destruction from the wars, Green Elves retreated into the wilderness. Some sources say that Wild Elves and Wood Elves were different, but both stemmed from Green Elves, and other sources consider them to be synonymous with each other.
Eventually we end up with a distinction between High Elves and other elves; High Elves include Moon, Sun, and Star Elves, and other elves are essentially everyone else (Drow, Wild/Wood Elves, and Aquatic Elves).
Faerun used to be absolutely booming with elves before the Crown Wars, but by present-day (in-game present day, 1492 DR) they're nowhere near those previous numbers. Some sources say half-elves are just as common as full-blooded Elves, maybe even more so. To my knowledge, there are no longer any strictly Elven empires.
The Dark Seldarine
The gods Lolth, Vhaeraun, Eilistraee, Ghaunadaur, Kiaransalee, Selevetam, Malyk, and Zinzerena are considered to make up the Dark Seldarine, with Lolth, Eilistraee, Ghaunadaur, and Vhaeraun being the most well known and worshipped among Drow.
The other gods in the pantheon were at odds with Lolth in one way or another, even her son Vhaeraun. Most pantheons of gods worked together and are worshipped as a whole - the Dark Selarine is the opposite. It's described as a "collection of gods" rather than anything else.
Lolth has the greatest following and is thought to be the "leader" of the Dark Seldarine. She's chaotic-evil in alignment and was quite literally the goddess of chaos, evil, and darkness.
Vhaeraun had the second largest following, the majority of which were men. If any other gods were known about in a Lolthian city, it was Vhaeraun - some men under Lolth's rule would pray to him for a better life. Some sources say he believed men should have dominance over women (the way Lolth says the opposite), but it seems to be more widely agreed that he wanted gender equality rather than anything else. He's still chaotic-evil aligned, so he encouraged similar violence and superiority ideas to his followers.
Eilistraee is part of the Dark Seldarine but is the only good-aligned member. As mentioned in the Seldarine section, she voluntarily left the Seldarine to join the Dark Seldarine in hopes of guiding Dark Elves (and, later, Drow) away from her Mother's teachings and back towards light and love. She wanted peace between all Elven races. She's chaotic-good in alignment and is the goddess of beauty, love, dance, and song.
The other Dark Seldarine gods were far more minor players in the grand scheme of things and had very few followers.
Another important note is that all members, other than Lolth, have died at some point or another and been resurrected. The most well-known incident of this was during the Second Sundering (1480s DR) when the Overgod Ao essentially rewrote fate, and many gods thought to be dead returned.
Creation of the Drow
The creation of Drow happened during the Crown Wars, as other groups of Elves began to hate the Dark Elves of Ilythiir (a Dark Elf kingdom) for making pacts with evil gods (one, in particular, being Lolth) for extra strength and power in the wars. The Ilythiiri eventually were corrupted by Lolth and turned to her and the Dark Seldarine completely during the Second Crown War.
Because of the Ilythiiri's turn to evil deities, the other Elven kingdoms decided to come together to use the power of the Seldarine to turn the Ilythiiri into Drow as a punishment for their corruption - banishing them underground just like Corellon had banished Lolth to the Abyss.
Unfortunately, it wasn't just the Ilythiiri Dark Elves who were transformed, but all of the Dark Elves, including those outside of Ilythiir who were not traitors. Sources say the transformation changed the Dark Elves physically, but I'm unsure of in what ways. It won't end up mattering much since there's so much discourse over what Drow look like, anyway. One feature of this transformation was their sensitivity to sunlight, which can cause excessive sunburning.
The goal in this punishment was to drive the Dark Elves, now Drow, away from Elven civilization and to the Underdark. The rallying of Drow to the Underdark was called the Descent of the Drow. Eventually Lolth gained power over them and led them further into darkness (literally), evil, and chaos. They'd then build large civilizations throughout the Underdark, where Lolth reigned as their supreme leader and Goddess in most cases.
Drow Appearance
What Drow look like is a huge topic for debate among fans - even the appearance of Elves in general (not just Drow or Dark Elves) is debated, too.
There are some general traits that tend to be agreed upon, though:
Drow eyes are most often red, but other colors could include shades of pink, purple, gray/white, and blue.
Their hair is often very light - white and a warmer platinum blonde being the most common colors. Other, but more rare, colors included silver or copper.
While it's agreed that Drow have dark complexions, it's up for debate what exactly this means. The way we humans have a wide range of skin tones with hues ranging all the way from warm to cold, and shades ranging from light to dark, the general consensus for the Drow complexion range goes from neutral-cool to cool hues, and medium to dark shades.
One of the most widely debated topics is Drow height and stature. Some say that Drow are much smaller than other elves, typically ranging from 4.5 feet to 5.5 feet (around 4'6" to 5'6") with women often being regarded as taller than men. Additionally, women are thought to be bigger and stronger than men, too.
Others argue that their height and stature don't differ in any way from the other Elven subraces - which tends to be the same average height and stature as humans, with the added idea that they're often very slender (Even this description is debated, too, though).
Lorendrow, and Aevendrow
In 2021, R.A. Salvatore did some retconning and introduced 2 new types of Drow that live on the Surface of Faerun: Lorendrow and Aevendrow. Lorendrow and Aevendrow rejected the evil Gods that corrupted the Ilythiiri in the first place, and Udadrow became the term for said corrupted Drow. There isn't a ton of information about these two new groups since it's such a new concept, but here's what I know about them so far.
Lorendrow are surface drow that can be found in the Southern parts of Faerun. This group is known to be incredibly reclusive, living in the jungle away from other civilizations. They can be found in a city they built called Saekolath, though they're known to be so hidden that I wouldn't be surprised if they are completely unknown to outsiders.
Aevendrow are found in the north, living in a giant glacier where they built the city Callidae. While also fairly reclusive, they welcome outsiders who happen to find their city.
Here's my speculation:
We know that not all Dark Elves were corrupted by evil, only the Ilythiiri, but that both corrupted and innocent Dark Elves were transformed into Drow. I'd assume the un-corrupted groups became the Lorendrow and Aevendrow. To avoid the sunlight, they migrated and built cities that would keep them out of the majority of sunlight - the Aevendrow creating an enclave within a glacier in the north, and the Lorendrow creating theirs in an incredibly dense forest.
These two groups likely continued to follow the Seldarine or possibly started following the Faerunian gods. Because of how well-known Udadrow became, due to their vast numbers and incredibly violent tendencies, Lorendrow and Aevendrow's reclusiveness came from other races and surface Elves' prejudice toward all of Drow-kind.
[I'll save all other thoughts for my Aevendrow/Lorendrow headcanons post]
Udadrow
Udadrow became the term for the transformed Dark Elves corrupted by Lolth and the Dark Seldarine. While all corrupted Drow were led to the Underdark, not all of them ended up following Lolth - some of them followed other evil Dark Seldarine members like Vhaeraun and Ghaunadaur (but, to be fair, many of them were Lolthites).
Udadrow are by far the most known type of Drow and are known to be evil-aligned. They know Deep Drow (aka Drowic) and Drow Sign Language, and it was also normal for them to know Undercommon. Common wasn't as widely known by them unless there was a specific reason for a particular person to know it.
Something that's important to understand is that these Drow hate other elven sub-races (including the Lorendrow and Aevendrow), and are taught that they are better than all other races in general. They are unaccepting of anyone who's not Udadrow and see themselves as better than all other races.
Other Surface-Dwelling Drow
While there's not much information about this since the release of the Udadrow/Lorendrow/Aevendrow concepts, I'd still like to share some thoughts about it here.
To me, it would make the most sense that surface-dwelling Drow that are not from Lorendrow/Aevendrow communities are Udadrow who have left the Underdark, and have abandoned one of the evil Dark Seldarine gods. I think it'd be rare for a member of the Lorendrow/Aevendrow groups to permanently leave their communities, but of course never impossible.
With that being said, it would make sense that these uncategorized Drow follow Eilistraee or the Seldarine, and possibly the good/neutral-aligned Faerunian gods.
[Saving all other thoughts on this for my Drow headcanons post]
Now let's discuss the specifics of Lolthian society. Please be aware of the warning listed at the top of this post
The information here is not going to be elaborated on to a crazy extent, just for simplicity's sake. If you're interested in any particular topics, I highly suggest checking out the Drow page on the Forgotten Realms Wiki!
Otherwise, send me an ask and I can definitely elaborate on anything further (I'll include links to these asks in this post if I happen to get them).
Lolthian Society
As mentioned, not all Drow were sworn to Lolth, and not all Drowan cities in the Underdark followed her societal standards. One city, in particular, was famous for having Lolthites, Vhaeraunites, and Ghaunadaurans living amongst each other (Erydlyn).
In the cities that were Lolthian, however, the worship of other gods was forbidden - it was an incredibly dangerous thing to do, so obviously it was not done publicly, if at all.
The Teachings of Lolth
Lolth is an incredibly cruel and chaotic Goddess, always encouraging her followers to mirror her ways. She has a deep hatred for men, so all Lolthian societies are matriarchal, with men being second-class citizens and often having little to no power. Women take what they want when they want it, whether consent is given or not. To summarize to an absurd extent, Lolthian society is ruthless and dangerous where everyone, including the men, is power-hungry. She doesn't allow weakness in any way, and her society very clearly reflects this fact.
Lolth would never be able to be truly pleased and though her followers know this, they still do their best to win her favor. Generally speaking, the more cruel and strong a person is, the more likely they were to receive signs of her favor.
I think the most overarching idea is that station, or social status, is arguably the most important thing to Lolthites. Essentially everything they do is to climb through the ranks and appeal to their Goddess. The higher station you have, the more power and control you have over others, which is the ultimate goal. With violence being so encouraged,
Hierarchy
Generally speaking, the hierarchy in Lolthian society, from highest station to lowest station, is noble houses -> commoners -> slaves.
The cities are run by the Matron Mothers of the noble houses within them. The noble houses have their own hierarchy as well, though the specifics vary across source material.
The Matron Mothers always rule a noble house, and then her daughters, in birth order, follow her in ranking. After that is other women that are a part of the Matron's family, and any other priestesses of the house.
Next in ranking is usually the Head Wizard and Weaponmaster, both positions commonly taken by men. Because of this, house sons and the house patron are often thought of to be on the same rank, since sons and patrons tend to fill these roles.
After that are house mages/wizards, which are also normally men. Warriors and soldiers would likely be ranked here as well.
Lastly would be servants and slaves.
Because of their desire for power and higher station, the Houses are always at odds with each other. To rise through the House ranks, Houses will completely kill off other higher-ranking Houses, wiping them from the ranking entirely.
Non-Nobles
Commoners typically were business owners/service providers or went to school to become soldiers and mages. They're often poor, but homelessness usually isn't an issue.
Merchant clans are traveling groups always made up of men, as the task of interacting with outsiders is viewed as undesirable. Though they're run by men, they're incredibly important to the functioning of Drow society in the Underdark.
Slavery is an overwhelmingly popular thing in Drow cities, including the non-Lolthian ones. Slaves consisted of humanoid races that weren't Drow, often being goblins, grimlocks, kobolds, orcs, quaggoths, bugbears, humans, and many more.
Note: Drow wouldn't have other Drow as slaves, but perhaps as captives.
Other Points of Note
Only women can be Priestesses (clerics) of Lolth, called Yathrin. There are some inconsistencies on how exactly the Church of Lolth is ranked, though, if at all. Matron Mothers are almost always High Priestesses of Lolth.
It's rare for women to be Wizards, normally leaving that to skilled men.
The third son born is always sacrificed to Lolth at birth unless one (or both) of his older brothers have died, as it would make him the first or second son. Some sources say all male boys after the second-born son are sacrificed to Lolth, and others say it's only the third boy the mother has.
Women do not need men's consent to use them as they please. A man turning down a woman can even be punished by death. It's essentially a free-for-all. Women also can just discard men at will, either simply letting them go or killing them (it's assumed that killing them is more common).
It's generally understood that no one trusts anyone in Udadrow communities, especially Lolthites. Real trust and love are two things that are basically unheard of in their culture. With that being said, it's also exceedingly rare for people to fall in love, or even have love for their own children.
To the point above, every positive thing someone does for another person is seen as selfish, like they're only doing it to get something out of it, or trickery, having an ulterior motive.
While elves are thought to be naturally alluring and attractive, it's said that Drow engage(d) in selective breeding to become more genetically fit and, whether on purpose or not, attractive.
Elven life spans are extraordinarily long, with many living past the age of 600-700. However, many Drow do not make it to this age, especially commoners, because of their incredibly violent society.
The Matron Mother's eldest daughter (or oldest living daughter) takes over when she dies. Some sources say that it's common for the Elderdaughter to kill her mother to take her place, as she wants the power all for herself. Other sources say it's a great violation to kill a Matron Mother, especially her own daughter being the one to kill her, so they end up living long lives.
Any abuse or killing of a spider is considered taboo at best and punishable by death at worst.
Driders were previously Drow that were changed through an agonizing process after failing The Test of Lolth. Despite the reverence and love for spiders in Lolthian society, driders are not respected nor regarded as something one wishes to be. Driderification is a punishment, and all driders are cast out of society.
That's all I have to say about Drow lore and culture! Please be on the lookout for my personal headcanon/thought posts about more specific topics regarding Drow if this was something you enjoyed!
Again, if you're still curious about anything, feel free to send an ask to me and I'll be sure to help out! Otherwise, check out @lunastrophe's incredible masterlist of canon Drow lore, as well as thought pieces on other aspects of Drow culture and theories for some of our favorite BG3 Drow characters.
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