#Legacy of the drow

[everybodyloveshippos]

Vierna and Dinin, sometime after the fall of House Do'Urden

I HAD a bunch of dialogue on this that got rlly cluttered and messy but here is the unedited stream of consciousnes-esque discussion/internal dialogue they were supposed to be having. . at some point it stopped mattering who was saying what. if this doesnt make any sense, My Bad

you were with him. all his years at the academy. why didn’t you see it? why didnt you stop him? guide him? kill him -Our brother was always different…I- I didn;t- you must have known too. He must have been that way as you weaned him. i thought he would grow out of his...irregularities-And all his time with Zaknafein, a borderline heretic…- your father. I should have stayed my hand. I should have let Nalfein live this never would have happened- I should have put a knife in his ribs rather than leaving him to the driders I should have seen I should have known this is all my fault this is all his fault

[haaaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Legacy of the Drow by Brom

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Legacy of the Drow (Collector's Edition) Cover Art by Gerald Brom

[bdazzlebooklover]

Legacy of the Drow

[motherfuckerunleashed]

more Entreri slander

I love it when a villain fumbles the ball so hard and looks like a total buffoon, a complete idiot

[steamclouds]

That other not-so-nice Do'Urden brother

[baldursyourgate]

the legacy (book version): multiple descriptions of the drow men's delicate hands, graceful drow body, how Dinin's sister Vierna was larger and stronger than him, etc etc.

the legacy (comic): drow men with 5 tons of physic defying muscle that shows through their supposedly metal armour

[honeysulani]

[nikatyler]

drow me wild 🖤🕸

[vspin]

Staring this bad boy tonight.

Hehe

Am I gonna be sad??

[ratsetflummi]

this "rivalry" is so fucking funny

entreri is all like "you want to kill me so bad it makes you look stupid"

and drizzt just goes "who are you again?"

[everybodyloveshippos]

you’re an assassin? wooow thats soooooo cool (twirling imaginary lock of hair)

(set during legacy of the drow)

[outeremissary]

Most cursed ass thing about BG3 is the way it makes me think "I should replay BG1." Literally the voice of the devil

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Legend of Drizzt - The Legacy Cover Art by Chris Rallis

[defnotjarlaxle]

Can't decide which way I want to draw Zaknafein so I slapped some sketches on a page and hoped something would stick ( •_•) Spoiler: Nothing sticked

Also gave him some different hairstyles, i prefer his shorter hair though!

Top left was an attempt at making him look more like Drizzt but it just looks like Drizzt now. (๏ᆺ๏υ)

[lunastrophe]

BG3 Drow Lore 🕷️ Minthara's alurlssrin

Alurlssrin is a drow term Minthara uses to describe the bond she shares with Tav - but what does it precisely mean?

🕷️ Alurlssrin In BG3 - alurlssrin appears in some specific Minthara’s lines, when the player character romances her. According to Narrator, it is …a word used rarely, describing the deepest bonds of trust and love.

When asked about it, Minthara says simply that alurlssrin means “love” and confesses that she never really expected to use it. In another line, she seems to be convinced that alurlssrin is the kind of bond that can be life-lasting.

When Tav tries to reciprocate, saying: I alurlssrin you too, Minthara – with a hint of amusement – explains that alurlssrin is a noun.

The alurl- part may suggest that this word means “the best” kind of an emotional bond, or something close to it (alurl – “best, foremost” in Drowic).

🕷️ Alurlssrin And Ssinssrigg - in R. A. Salvatore’s The Legacy, it is stated that …there is no word in the drow language for love. The closest word (...) is ssinssrigg, but that is a term better equated with physical lust or selfish greed.

Ssinssrigg is another term that appears in one of Minthara’s lines, when the player character romances her, but does not have her high approval. She says then: What we share is no more than ssinssrigg, a passion that burns fierce, but has no foundation.

But... since according to drow lore, there is no word for “true” love in Drowic – and the closest term is ssinssrigg - where did alurlssrin come from?

🕷️ Drow Words For Love - alurlssrin was first mentioned by Ed Greenwood in his post (TheEdVerse, Twitter, Jan. 2023) about Eilistraee and drow words for love:

Eilistraee knows all the drow words for love, and the elvish ones, too. The Drow words are: alurlssrin = unselfish, deep love, raggath = act of love (lovemaking), lurraggath = act of love (sacrificial or noble deed), ssinssrigg = passion, lust, greed, longing, love.

(Among elvish words for love, apparently also known to Eilistraee, there is nor = love, essence of passion. It also appears in one of Minthara's lines, when she calls her lover ust-nor - thank you to @vspin for messaging me about this!)

It seems, then, that alurlssrin is a drow word that is known to Eilistraee and most likely to her followers...

...but Lolth-sworn drow – or at least Menzoberranyr drow – do not know / use it. 🤔 So how is it possible that Minthara, a (former) paladin of Lolth from Menzoberranzan, is familiar with it?

🕷️ Alurlssrin In Minthara's Vocabulary

I have a feeling that alurlssrin appears in Minthara’s lines simply because a drow word for deep, true love was needed for the dialogue. Still, I tried to come up with some more lore-adequate explanations:

🕷️ Some Very Old Word – perhaps in Menzoberranzan, alurlssrin is a half-forgotten archaism that is no longer regularly used, but an educated (or bookwormish) drow can still stumble across it in centuries-old books and figure out its meaning.

🕷️ Language Of Heretics – as a paladin of Lolth, it is possible that Minthara came to contact with Eilistraeans – or with their culture – at some point. She might be even trained to recognize this particular kind of “heresy”, learning symbols and words popularly used among the followers of Eilistraee... alurlssrin included.

🕷️ Not So Unknown Anymore – language tends to change over time, and between the quote from The Legacy and the events of Baldur’s Gate 3, there is a gap of over 130 years. Maybe during this time, alurlssrin term became less unknown in Menzoberranzan? Although considering its connection to Eilistraee and her cult, this may be the least likely explanation.

Regardless of everything, the fact that Minthara calls the bond between her and Tav alurlssrin is certainly meaningful. Typically, many drow like her might not be exactly (or at all) familiar with a sheer concept of deep, unselfish, lasting love...

For more of my drow lore ramblings, feel free to check my pinned post 🕷️