Baldur's Gate 3: Why Are Dark Elves And Drow The Same?

in casual dd parlance you'll likely have heard the term dark elf and drow used interchangeably and they are indeed used this way and is technically not incorrect but this was not always the case and the distinction is that one's both a historical and a magical one now the following history can get quite confusing but worry not the many names of elven nations in the particulars are less important than the overall thrust of the history which i hope to both convey accurately and understandably the ancestors of what would come to be known as the dark elves and still later to the drow arrived in faerun over 28 000 years ago and they were called green elves they were imported to toril after a fashion after powerful fey who were frustrated with tyrannical draconic rule opened up portals from the feywild to toril in an effort to undermine the dragons who were ascended at the time now how much this actually led to an undermining of draconic rule is not clear however one group of green elves forged a truce with the dragons and carved out a small kingdom for themselves how this was accomplished no one knows but it was the first elven state to have been founded on faerun with a capital city called atronach these green elves were called the illithiri a name you have certainly heard me speak of before these elves did not originally worship the saldurine and it is known that they were not aware of an organized pantheon of elven gods as such and were said initially to have originally revered faye powers but over time theolo theory discovered the dark elven deity and son of loath veyrum and in subsequent centuries many of the iller theory converted to his faith as it suited both their spiritual and practical needs practically speaking the illa theory were always more inclined towards cruelty ambition and above all expansionism traits exemplified by the god veron and thus the relationship between the god and his followers in illithia worked well these dark elves at the time did not resemble what one is familiar with when it comes to modern drow rather than sporting obsidian skin and hair as white as alabaster they instead had dark brown skin and hair that was either dark brown or black neither were their eyes red as is frequently the case among drow but rather the normal spectrum of elven eye colors and they did not possess the dark vision of modern drow this dark phenotype was dominant amongst the green elves of illithia and it is for this appearance that they probably first became known as dark elves whereas other green elves were paler of both skin and hair other dark elven realms would emerge after some time as the first flowering a period marking the beginning of elven ascendancy in faerun began in earnest after the decline of the dragons and other elven nations not of dark elf origin emerged during this time as well primarily those of moon and sun elves at this time there were acceptable relations between the dark elven nations and the other elvid nations however many particularly those amongst the moon and sun elves were not fully aware of the degree of evil that had been cultivated in dark elven lands in addition to veyron as the major god for many dark elves of illithir there was in fact a small following of the goddess illustrate who opposed her brother but this cult had insufficient influence to do so effectively and more importantly the dark elves had been courting other evil deities over the millennia ganodar for example the depraved god of slimes and oozes and still later of course lolth the spider queen in time it became impossible to ignore how different the ili theory were and differently they conducted themselves slavery in illithia was normal and institutionalized including the enslavement of other elves and their drive to expand saw them justifying conquest and murder as tools to be availed of something that was anathema to most other elves and this cultural gap grew ever larger between the iller theory and the other elves over time things came to a head when the other elven races the moon elves the wood elves and above all the sun elves decided to draw a clear line in the sand and create an elven nation wholly separate from the continent of faerun and wholly excluding illithir they did not seek to kill them or drive them away but rather ignore them by creating a piece of land that would be entirely free of the dark elves in 17600 before dale reckoning elven high mages cast a spell of unprecedented power that led to the creation of evermeet an enchanted isle that would become sacred to al calqusir or elves with a notable exception of course of the dark elves this island once created would be closed off to all non-elves for all time protected by powerful magics and indeed by the elven gods themselves but ever meets creation born of the desire to exclude the dark elves and others however rightly or wrongly led to one of the great cataclysms of farunian history an event referred to as the first sundering this was no simple spell nor a spell born of standard casting or even extensive preparation rather it was sorcery on a near deific scale that required centuries of preparation and thus the preparation for this spell actually began many centuries before it was cast a majestic tower was built in the heart of faerun made of resplendent white granite taller than any structure ever built before by the elves seemingly touching the clouds themselves and reflecting the colours of the sky the structure was such that each mage that was to participate in the ritual had a seat built into the tower alongside its winding staircase engraved with the name of the mage who would occupy it during the casting after centuries of planning the best and brightest mages of all elven races say for those of the dark elves were summoned to the tower to participate in this monumental casting however all mages who had participated in the casting had their souls ripped from their bodies as the magic of the weave course through them with their souls being used to empower the spell the only mage who survived was a green elf called star leaf the mage who had initiated the casting and as all the other mages had died she alone felt the destruction they had wrought upon faerun as the continent was torn asunder to create an island far to the west in the trackless sea the coasts were laid waste to by devastating earthquakes and tsunamis and hundreds upon hundreds of elven settlements were destroyed and those that were not were forever changed perhaps most significant of all and most relevant to the future of the dark elves was the destruction and leveling of the city attorneys the capital of the dark elven empire of illithir nor did other parts of their empire escape unscathed countless dark elves died and most of these were worshipers of the god veyron with many of the remaining survivors being worshippers of lolth and thus indirectly the creation of the isle of evermeet was partly responsible for the ascendancy of the spider queen as the primary deity of the dark elves as millennia of scheming culminated in her domination of the dark elves and she no longer faced the stiff competition from her son veron nor her daughter elishtray as the iller theory had deliberately been excluded from the ritual and also suffered from massive destruction and loss of life from the spell matters between them and the other elves grew ever more tense above all the sun elves who had been the de facto orchestrators of the high magic ritual between the other elves this was added to by the fact that not all elves had agreed to the creation of everme to begin with regardless the dark elves of illithia would never forget this a century after the creation of evermeet three elven realms comprising green elves moon elves and sun elves they are natar er and sierpieur attempted to unify themselves into a single nation but illithiri assassins sabotaged these efforts by eliminating the leaders of these realms from behind the scenes whilst deceiving them into believing that each of the other three nations had been responsible for the assassination of its respective leader plunging the three countries former allies of each other into chaos and a war called the war three leaves that lasted three centuries was waged but eventually it came to light that the ila theory had been chiefly responsible and had intentionally pinned the blame on the other participants and hostility ceased this led to resentment and conflict with the dark elves though not as yet outright war the distrust tension and occasional conflict between the ili theory and the other elven nations continued for millennia and eventually other dark elven nations that had emerged over time were drawn into it such as the nation of meeretar an offshoot nation founded by green and dark elves however not all non-dark elves were patient and virtuous and the sun elf nation of aravandar had been attempting to annex miuratar for centuries by means of diplomacy political pressure and espionage culminating however in failure and greedy and impatient leaders of a clan the vishon outright declared war on miertar in 12 000 before dale reckoning thus commencing the first crown war a series of overlapping wars and conflicts that would last three millennia with some continuing as others were starting the first crown war ended in victory for the sun elves of aravandar and in the conquest and subjugation of the dark elves of mirotar the second crown war was begun in 11 700 before dale reckoning by the dark elven realm of illithir under the pretense of solidarity with their dark elven brethren in mirotar who had been annexed and conquered in the previous war they attacked a moon elf kingdom another realm called urashar which then further escalated to include other elven realms such as hyarnatar ialur and diorpier with whom they had experienced conflict millennia prior the second crown war spanned centuries and led to the utter annihilation of the aforementioned elven kingdoms and it was at this time that the term darrow meaning traitor in the elvish language was first used as an epithet an insult to describe the dark elves of illithir a term that would later be corrupted and shortened to drow and would encompass all dark elves as the violence they had committed and the unspeakable dark magics they had used had been unprecedented in elven lands it was also at this time that loth personally sent her baylor servant windani to further corrupt the ruling families of illithir by teaching them ever more powerful demonic magics allowing them to summon demonic servants from the abyss before the second crown war had come to a close the sun elves of aravandar who had come to be called the vishantar empire after their previous conquests attacked another elven kingdom in 10 900 before dale reckoning composed of fellow sun elves and moon elves after accord's diplomacy and negotiations had failed a recurrent pattern with the sun elves of the vishentar empire beginning the third crown war and after three hundred years of war this realm that the vishentar had besieged chantal or threer was conquered it also had partially come to light at this time that the vishentar empire had had dealings with devils and that some of their leadership had been corrupted by infernal magics and pacts ultimately having been aided and abetted by the devil and fallen solar malkazid who once served corellon laurethian before he was banished to the nine hells some centuries later an event called the dark disaster occurred in 10 500 before dale reckoning a series of unimaginably powerful and magically created storms ravaged the dark elven nation of miuratar leveling it to the ground and turning it into a barren wasteland there were two competing theories considered for the cause the first one being that the high mages of the vishentar empire corrupted as they were by infernal influence had caused it and the second one being that it was the result of accidental magic on arai a miyuratar side although there was never clear evidence for either theory in response to this the illa theory believing the sun elf mages to be responsible for destroying their dark elven brethren's land launched an attack of unprecedented savagery on the vishentar empire in 10 450 before dale reckoning beginning the fourth crown war no longer attempting to hide their demonic ties they openly wielded evil abyssal magic and flaunted their worship of loth the spider queen the degree of malice sheer corruption and atrocities committed by the theory at this time astonished the other elves and led to the decision of the other elven nations to expel the eli theory from the grace of corellon larithian forever the non-dark elven nations came together in ten thousand before dale reckoning and the most powerful high mages worked jointly with the most powerful clerics of the elves empowered by corellon laurethian himself completing a ritual that transformed and banished all dark elves whether illithi or not to the underdark their features changed taking on the traditional ashen white and bleached hair of the drow their skin darkened still further so the familiar ebony black modern dark elves and their eyes took on a red hue and all of this was coupled by a crippling sensitivity to sunlight depriving them of their census and health and drawing them to the underdark like moths to a flame there is the matter as to why the magic in question affected all dark elves rather than only the corrupt nation of illithir particularly when considering that the magic had had the backing of corellon laurethian himself some simply considered it collateral damage but the truth is far more sinister despite their infernal corruption it was not widely known that the sun elves of the vishentar empire had been compromised and they had had a major hand in the high magic ritual and they had always intended for all dark elves whatever their providence to be forever bound to the fears res or radiation of the underdark compelling them to journey there and to remain within two months any remaining drow were driven underground by the joint forces of the surface elves an event sometimes referred to as the descent of the drow the gold elves of the vishentar empire would eventually get their combuppence in the fifth crown war as a divinely mandated elven court decreed them responsible for the crown wars whereupon in an act of madness they attacked the other elven nations and were eliminated from the face of faerun by 9000 before dale reckoning thus three thousand years after they had begun the crown wars came to an end over the ensuing millennia the drow would adapt to their new environment and create their own civilization all under the sinister guidance of lolth the spider queen but the question remains are dark elves the same as drow in every contemporary faroonian context yes but historically as i have sought to elucidate they were distinct it is still possible for a modern drought to gradually acclimate to the sunlit lands as some drought have managed this but it is painful and takes a great deal of time and whatever abilities they have are typically lost when outside of the underdark and thus very few venture forth from there without good cause and when they do they do so at night of course in a baldur's gate 3 context a so-called cell during drow would be one wholly adapted to life on the surface whereas a low sword drow would not be although the intricacies of the differences between them such as the loss of powers due to sunlight sensitivity will practically and understandably never be implemented something most of us are perfectly fine with myself included after all lore and history are very important but fun takes precedence as always thank you for tuning in please leave a like comment share and subscribe as it really helps out the channel and i'll check you out next time take care

Channel: Spell&Shield

Views: 11,212

Keywords:

Id: D7WzHBT6QBo

Length: 15min 21sec (921 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 14 2022