Menzoberranzan

The City of Spiders, birthplace of Drizzt Do'Urden.

Menzoberranzan, the "City of Spiders", is a drow city-state in the Upper Northdark, about two miles below the Surbrin Vale in the Forgotten Realms. It is best known as the birthplace of Drizzt Do'Urden, hero of R. A. Salvatore's novels, and has also been made into a video game and a tabletop setting.

Quick Facts

Series

Forgotten Realms

First

The Crystal Shard (1988)

Last

Lolth's Warrior (2023)

Creator

R. A. Salvatore

Genre

Dungeons & Dragons

Located in

Upper Northdark

Races

Drow
goblins
kobolds
duergar

Characters

Drizzt Do'Urden
Jarlaxle
Gromph Baenre
Liriel Baenre
Minthara Baenre

Lore & Background

The city first appeared in The Crystal Shard (1988) as part of Drizzt's background, and the prequel series The Dark Elf Trilogy is set there, beginning with Homeland (1990), which shows the city's drow house system as Drizzt grows up. Salvatore was given a free hand to build the society; the old drow modules only defined it as a matriarchy in the Underdark, so he modelled its structure on The Godfather and the Five Families of New York, and he has said his five older sisters gave him the idea of its matriarchy.