Drow

The dark elves of the Underdark.

The drow, or dark elves, are a dark-skinned, white-haired subrace of elves tied to the subterranean Underdark in Dungeons & Dragons. They were long portrayed as generally evil and bound to the spider goddess Lolth, but later editions dropped that preset alignment and explored drow societies that have nothing to do with Lolth.

Quick Facts

First: G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King (1977)
Based on: Dark elf, Drow
Alignment: Usually Chaotic Evil or Neutral Evil (1st–3rd Editions); Any alignment (4th–5th Editions)

Lore & Background

The word drow comes from Orcadian and Shetland Scots, a variant of trow, and Gary Gygax invented everything about the game's drow except the basic idea of dark elves. Gygax said he wanted an unusual race as the main power of the Underdark and took the term from a dictionary entry. The drow were first mentioned in the 1977 Monster Manual, under the entry for elves. In the Forgotten Realms the drow city of Menzoberranzan is the birthplace of R. A. Salvatore's Drizzt Do'Urden.