R. A. Salvatore Talks All Things Drizzt

“I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in a world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith.”

— R.A. Salvatore

[Note from the interviewer: Here is a previously unreleased interview with R. A. Salvatore that took place following the release of Lolth’s Warrior in 2023. It was the final installment in the Way of the Drow trilogy. Since then, he has written another Drizzt novel, The Finest Edge of Twilight, which was released in October 2025 (read the review here – Link TBC). This launches a brand-new series centering on Breezy Do’Urden, the daughter of Drizzt and Catti-brie. I had to put fine-tuning the interview on the back burner while I fought complications following difficult cancer surgery. My apology to Bob for not publishing it earlier.]

He needs no introduction unless you’ve never played Dungeons & Dragons or come across the hundreds of epic fantasy novels, comic books, and video games featuring his legendary characters. He is the author of nearly 100 books, around 50 of which are set in the Forgotten Realms (the Dungeons & Dragons world setting created by Ed Greenwood). These recount the adventures of the renowned Heroes of the Hall—Bruenor Battlehammer, Regis, Catti-brie, Wulfgar, Drizzt, and his astral panther companion, Guenhwyvar—and other heroes of the Realms. He is also the creator of the DemonWars Saga, which includes several series of novels, games, and graphic novels, and the author of several Star Wars novels, including Vector Prime and the novelization of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.

It is hard not to find a reference to Drizzt Do’Urden in popular culture. 2022 was the official “Year of Drizzt” with a number of products celebrating the character’s enduring legacy, including the Way of the Drow trilogy that concluded in 2023 with the release of Lolth’s Warrior. Drizzt and the rest of the Companions of the Hall were also the starring characters in the video game Dark Alliance. Drizzt was featured in a number of expansions of the Neverwinter MMO, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2023. The venerable MMO features new adventures written in cooperation with Salvatore and set in Drizzt’s original home of Menzoberranzan. Drizzt’s adventures have also been adapted into graphic novel format, including the original work Neverwinter Tales.

Read on as we sat down with R. A. Salvatore to talk all things Drizzt.

RA Salvatore: Hey! There’s a cat!

NKG: Yes, well! I have a few, and they can be very annoying when I’m on a video conference call. Sorry about that.

RA Salvatore: They have to be the center of your attention.

NKG: Yes. And you know all about cats, of course, because you’ve been writing about one big cat for over 30 years now. [Guenhwyvar, a large black panther summoned from the Astral Plane and Drizzt’s faithful companion.]

RA Salvatore: Yeah. 36 years.

NKG: 36 years! And over how many novels?

RA Salvatore: There are 39. Plus the trilogy that I wrote with my son, Stone of Tymora, which kind of takes place right next to the other Drizzt adventures. There are also the five cleric books [The Cleric Quintet]. So, if you add those eight, it’s 47, plus the collection of short stories and the essay collection, The Dao of Drizzt. You add them all up, you’re close to 50 [Update: You can now add The Finest Edge of Twilight to that list].

NKG: That’s amazing. This has to be the longest fantasy series ever. It’s even longer than The Wheel of Time.

RA Salvatore: I don’t think it is. I’m sure there are others, but it’s going to be close. It’s been a great journey. I’ve enjoyed every minute. I would keep doing it if people want to read it.

NKG: I’m sure your readers want you to keep writing those books, and that brings me to my next question: Why do you think people are still reading the Drizzt books?

RA Salvatore: When I started the first book, I was 27 years old. I’m 64 now, so I’ve changed a lot over the years, and the characters have changed with me. I think it’s not the same thing over and over again with these characters, and there are so many characters in the series that I just love and pay a lot of attention to.

NKG: So which one is your favorite?

RA Salvatore: I think… Oh, boy.

NKG: You don’t have to have a favorite…

RA Salvatore: I’m going to have to say it straight: No. Because the essays [The Dao of Drizzt] really helped me make sense of the world, you’re going to say it’s him [Drizzt].

NKG: Right. Do you think the essays have helped a lot of other people make sense of their own situations? I’m sure they can relate.

RA Salvatore: I get emails and letters from people who say that the books have helped them find their way, whether it’s through a health crisis, soldiers overseas, or younger readers trying to find friends through high school. It’s been humbling and inspiring because all I ever wanted to do was leave the world a little better than I found it.

NKG: Speaking personally, I’m going through cancer right now, and The Dao of Drizzt came at the perfect time for me. Reading that book was very comforting. I’m sure it’s been the same for a lot of people going through any type of struggle. What made you come up with that?

RA Salvatore: People have been asking for that for years. Finally, I found a publisher that agreed with it, and Wizards of the Coast said okay. I believe it was the right time to do it because the circle came complete with Lolth’s Warrior.

NKG: Does that mean the end, or is there still room for more Drizzt adventures?

RA Salvatore: It means that the story that was begun in Homeland with him starting a revolution down there [in Menzoberranzan] has come complete. DemonWars is one of my favorite series. You’re talking about going through cancer now… When I wrote Mortalis, the fourth book in the original series, my brother was very ill. He had pancreatic cancer and passed away during that timeframe. That book helped me deal with my grief.

NKG: I’m sorry about your brother. Even with the French accent, do I sound like someone you know?

RA Salvatore: You sound just like my uncle. He was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

NKG: It’s funny that you mentioned DemonWars because I’ve been rereading old books, and The Demon Awakens is next on the pile. I just can’t wait to dig back into it.

RA Salvatore: There are 14 books. There was the original series, four in the Highwayman series, then The Coven trilogy. Now I’m doing three more. 17 books. Something comes out in April called Pinquickle’s Folly [the first of the Buccaneers trilogy].

NKG: And Wizards of the Coast pretty much completely stopped publishing fiction for a while, except for your Drizzt books and the new Dragonlance.

RA Salvatore: But they are not publishing them after that. Del Rey is publishing Dragonlance. That’s where I want to be. Hasbro doesn’t want to be a book publisher. That’s okay.

NKG: Fortunately. I wish they’d open up the Forgotten Realms line again. [Update: WotC returned to the Realms via the Random House Worlds imprint with novels like The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin (March 2024) and The Fallbacks: Dealing with Dragons (July 2025); and other D&D related novels such as Spelljammer: Memory’s Wake (June 2024) and Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd (May 2025).]

RA Salvatore: It made the Realms so much better.

NKG: That’s right. You have all these authors doing their things in the world—Ed, Elaine, Erin, Richard—and people fell in love with these characters. I read somewhere that they stopped publishing the books because they wouldn’t venture into anything that didn’t produce at least $1,000,000 in revenue.

RA Salvatore: I don’t know if that number is correct, but I do know that the bigger the company gets—now we’re talking Hasbro—they really look at the profit margin. Publishing is not an easy market anymore.

NKG: I prefer a physical hardcover book to an e-book. Even at today’s prices, I think it’s worth the investment.

RA Salvatore: People under 40 are okay with e-books. People under 30 ask, “What’s a book? I have a reader.”

NKG: Of all the trilogies, which one was your favorite or most satisfying to write?

RA Salvatore: My favorite remains The Dark Elf Trilogy because I didn’t expect what happened. But the ones I found the most satisfying are probably the last three series, starting with Archmage and going all the way through the new book, because this is really where we started to see the answers to the questions Drizzt has been asking for 30 years. Writing about a drow society that wasn’t connected to Lolth was an absolute blast.

NKG: Do you think that also did a lot towards removing the reputation that D&D has of being racist? Because the way you wrote Drizzt helped the game evolve; he was the first to break the mold of a race that was supposedly entirely evil.

RA Salvatore: The notion of a race being hereditary or genetically evil makes no sense. That’s been the message of Drizzt from the very beginning. Logically, prejudice breaks down for most people once everybody is involved.

NKG: Getting back to the books, which one was the most challenging to write?

RA Salvatore: The Companions. Because I was bringing everybody back from the dead. We had planned that because Fourth Edition jumped ahead 100 years and basically forced my hand. I was scared to death writing that; I didn’t know if I was going to be able to pull it off.

NKG: Now the question that’s on every fan’s mind: When can we expect to see a Drizzt movie?

RA Salvatore: I have no idea. The D&D movie—Honor Among Thieves—did pretty well. It’s going to happen eventually. I just hope I’m alive to see it. A Drizzt series should be more adult and darker.

NKG: If you could write about any other famous Forgotten Realms character, who would it be?

RA Salvatore: Back when I was originally writing The Crystal Shard, I thought the Moonshae Isles were the entirety of the Forgotten Realms, so I used Tristan Kendrick from Doug Niles’ books [the Moonshae trilogy: Darkwalker on Moonshae, Black Wizards, Darkwell; and the Druidhome trilogy: Prophet of Moonshae, The Realm of Three Parts, Crucible of Light] in an early draft. I loved those characters, and I also loved what Elaine Cunningham did with Arilyn Moonblade. But I’m happy sticking to my own characters.

NKG: Last question: Drizzt has popped up in video games like Neverwinter and Dark Alliance. Any chance we’ll see him in more games or miniatures?

RA Salvatore: I know there’s a new set of miniatures coming out soon. [D&D Icons of the Realms: The Legend of Drizzt 35th Anniversary line by WizKids.] There is also a Drizzt Webtoon coming out titled Brie and the Borrowed Blade, written by Purpah, who is fantastic. So yeah, Drizzt is going to be around. He’s not going anywhere.

NKG: Well, that’s pretty much all the questions I had for you. Thank you for your time and patience.

RA Salvatore: It was good talking with you again. Hang in there, and I hope you beat this thing.