Drow are black not blue!

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Here's a thought I've had ever since I first began playing: why have the artists coloured the drow as blue and not the 'true to life' black that they are meant to be? I would love to see how they look when rendered properly. I've always thought that, for example, Viconia looks like a *mysterious* and intriguing person appearance-wise, but not inherently frightening (as I think black is meant to make them look). This has always been one of the key attractions of Drizzt's character; that his friends come to see past his dark visage once they know his true character i.e. his looks are incredibly striking - stark white flowing locks against jet black skin, with his fierce violet eyes glowing stoicly at best. Drawn blue, I just don't get a sense of that.
Furthermore, I think we would get a better sense of the drow as a race when we play one in a dark setting, even in a city at night i.e. the figure on the screen should be positively difficult to see, so that if you then click on him, the effect of his infravision would seem to light everything up. I think this would liven up imagining being pitted against drow in the underdark, and how terrible that would really be.

 

Drow aren't supposed to look frightning. They are supposed to look beautiful and exotic - like their surface cousins. You misunderstand the fear they create when people see them. They're not scary looking because they have black skin. They're scary because everyone knows about what the drow 'do'.

Think of a powerful mage. A mage who has devoted his entire life to the study of the arcane isn't going to be very scary in a physical sense. But the fact you know that this mage is possible an arch-mage is what makes him scary.

Besides, drow 'can' be blue and they have different shades from grey to black. Some of them ever have light yellow coloured hair.

On a side note, after hearing the word drow and the colours black and blue, what colour do drow bruise? Pink?

 

I disagree entirely. Of course the drow are frightening because of what they do but I think the skin colour should still be remarkable because according to the Monstrous Manual they are black - as in jet, coal; black as night. Not black as Afro-carribean negroes like to be called. There is nothing in the MM that suggests they are ever blue.
I know about their hair being sometimes other than white; the MM description says their hair is 'pale, usually white' (Drizzt's is white).
Being elvish doesn't mean one can't be 'less than attractive' i.e. minimum charisma for an elf is 8. With an adjustment for racial preferance, that could go as low as 5 and a jet black one might seem worse to some.

 

Yeah, the Drow are actually demon-kin.
However, they don't assume the 'god-am-I-ugly'look that most demons have due to their ties with Lloth, the fallen Elf goddess-turned Arachnid-Demoness.
So, comparing a normal surface elf, the Drow will almost surely appear the more striking, due to their charisma bonuses.

PS: For more info on Drow, Check up the book, Evermeet: Island of The Elves!

 

I agree with Abomination that drow are feared for their reputation, not for their looks.
Viconia was colored blue for aesthetic purposes. Ever imagined what would happen to her protrait if you made her skin jet black?
She looks better with blue, IMO. Besides, this can easily be attributed to the illumination caused by the portrait having been one of her at night in a full moon.

 

That's just my point Sythesong, we haven't been able to see a professional artist's rendition of a black drow, so how can you say Viconia looks better blue?
I've never seem *any* picture of a black drow. Maybe the artists fear racist reprisals?
I know they have used blue for aesthetic reasons, I was once an illustrator myself. There is however, no good reason whatsoever for not going black. No artist worth his salt would say it can't be done! Anyway, it bugs me and always has, even though Viccy is gorgeous!

(Edit) If Viccy was rendered as black, she would be hard to see; the artist would have to pick out the detail in highlights, the colour of which would depend on the light falling on her. This, to my mind, illustrates my point that the drow *would* look frightening. In my imagination, their appearance would be so strikingly remarkable that they would look like the creatures of evil they are known to be. I think maybe R.A.Salvatore hasn't been done full justice with the illustrations of Drizzt, to illustrate how difficult it would be for one with such a visage, to convince people of his good nature and honour. That said, Salvatore seemed to quite quickly gloss over this aspect of Drizzt's life anyway. Not the greatest books.

 

If you want to see a black Drow look at the drow portraits in IWD2 they're black I think. And the Drow are just scary because of reputation, IMO.

 

@ keldor

?????


Well anyway, I have wondered a little about this and I have some friends from the Caribbean and Africa with very dark skin. In sunlight it seems some have a bluish glow that is very pretty, at least to me!
I have also an Asian friend with long black hair and it shines blue in the sun. I am sooo jealous. So maybe the artists have noticed this and are trying to portray this occasional characteristic of dark skin.

 

Don't talk against Viconia. The virtual romance transpose to reality in my case. AHhh, she's so beautiful

 

If the skin color means that much to you, install the sporeboy's alternative BG2 pics mod. That Viconia is black.

 

tabari, have you never been pulled up by a black person for using the term 'coloured'? From the time this happened to me, I've been careful (and happy) to use the term 'blacks'.
Speaking as an artist myself, I've never noticed any blacks having a bluish tint to their skin or hair. It kind of rankles to hear a suggestion that artists somehow see things differently from others i.e. the things themselves are unchanged no matter who is observing them, while the artist may *interpret* what he sees differently. Of course, what anyone sees is down to how their brain interprets the signals it receives from the retinae of the eyes. Thus, opinions of what something *appears* to be, differ. Sorry, that was the wannabe philospher part of me speaking.

 

To tell the truth, the Underdark is actually pitch black except in a few places where glowing moss gross. This is part of the danger of living in the Underdark. Infravision likewise does not make creatures turn black, but rather it makes everything turn white/black/grey. That is how everything is seen in the Underdark, there isn't much color, and that is the reason you don't see clothing vary in color much among the drow. There is low levels of light in the cities though.

If you want some real reading on the Underdark or the Drow there are two 3ed Books you can buy:
I forgot their names but on is the Lolth book, (I think it's titled "The Spider Queen"), and the other is the Underdark book titled something like ("The Underdark").

 

@ keldor

Uhhh, no I haven't. I don't use the term negro either.

I wasn't trying to rankle you with any suggestion that artists see things differently. No where in my post did I say that. I said I had noticed it occasionally. I am not a professional artist.
Sorry dude, I was just offering a possible suggestion as to why they might be portraying them
with a bluish tint or whatever.

 

Actually, I have seen many portraits of Drow with black skin. You come across a few when you surf endlessly looking for D&D-related material.
Of course, I'm still nowhere near versed in D&D, however.

The result was that the details weren't exactly very clear, and I had a hard time trying to determine the expressions of the Drow being represented. There were a few nice ones, but you can't appreciate them as much unless they went with a lighter hue.

I've also come upon many artists who preferred their Drow to have a bluish tint (very dark blue), while some prefer very dark brown and dark purple(or somewhere near that color). The portraits were clearer, and you could note down very fine details.

 

Blue is a better choise of skin colour for a drow -looks more exotic

 

As long as it's a realistic blue for a skin colour... not a ridiculous one (yes... I know how stupid this sounds, but it does make sense. Well... to me it does.)

Though I agree that Black is a true Drow colour - though you do get slight differences, as with all places not everyones' skin colour is the same in a single community, there will be some which are slightly blue or purple or more brown. Though black is the collective term for it. You can still get a lot of detail from black. Sometimes it is easier to use another colour to work with, but with a lot of time black can be as detailed.

 

You people obviously haven't completed the Viconia romance...

Or, if you have, you missed out on the part where Viconia explains that just before fleeing Menzoberranzan, she went to one of those Drow tanning salons, gossiped for a few hours with her girlfriends until they decided to stop playing around withe sacrifice. Such salons were and still are very in; even the lowliest of males manages to get a healthy, glowing blue epidermis somewhere along the line.

Naturally, Viconia had to get her hair done in Ched Nasad.

 

tabari, have you never been pulled up by a black person for using the term 'coloured'?

Quote: Uhhh, no I haven't.

Well I have. The point has also been discussed on television debates and by myself on occasions. You can take it from me; blacks usually find any term other than ‘black’ offensive.

Quote: I don't use the term negro either.

What’s your point? Are you implying it’s somehow offensive? It’s not slang, it’s not considered taboo and it’s not offensive. Is the word ‘Caucasian’ offensive to you? If the issue of race or heritage comes into conversation in black company, you need a word of some form, or you’re not going to be able to communicate!

This is to digress off-topic. I wanted to discuss opinions about the ‘true’ colour of a fictitious race that happen to have been written as being black. If Kobolds had been coloured green, or hobgoblins purple, it would have been reasonable for someone to comment that this ‘wasn’t right’.

 

jeez dude...
relax!
And why do you assume i'm white??

I did offer a suggestion related to the topic in my original post btw.
I asked a friend who does some video game design and he said it was probably just easier. But maybe he's just lazy.
Personally though I prefer a jet black Drizzt. It's sexier to me.

 

I assumed you were white because I don't play mind games with people and treat others as if they don't either. Thus, your reply:

Quote: "Well anyway, I have wondered a little about this and I have some friends from the Caribbean and Africa with very dark skin. In sunlight it seems some have a bluish glow that is very pretty, at least to me!
I have also an Asian friend with long black hair and it shines blue in the sun. I am sooo jealous. So maybe the artists have noticed this and are trying to portray this occasional characteristic of dark skin."

implies that you are white. If you aren't white, then your "I have some friends..." dialogue is a subterfuge, as is "I also have an Asian friend...I am sooo jealous," clearly implying that you aren't 'of colour', as Asians are.

Further to this is your reply that you have never been pulled up by black friends for using the term 'coloured' - if you *are* black, you wouldn't have, would you? But did you say that? No - you want to imply something else, you want to play games. You also said: "I also don't use the word 'negro'" Again, you wouldn't, would you?

This is why I assumed you were white - (and don't think I'm now certain you're black because there's a good chance that you're a 'wannabe black' (and there's another word for those people that I am too polite to use).

Real blacks are not ashamed of their race so they wouldn't imply they were otherwise, as you have done. Having said that, I've come across blacks with huge racist chips on their shoulders, and you could be one of those. If you are, I would say this to you: 'relax dude', I never enslaved anyone, and never would have. Don't blame me for a past I had no part of.

"jeez relax dude" is more of the same. Someone pretending they are white in order to turn an innocent game-related question into a race debate is enough to wind anyone up. To do so is to imply *I* am racist, which is a veiled insult.

To all: Incidentally, I've since seen some illustrations of drow 'coloured' black and I'm satisfied that they are far more frightening and striking than the 'toned-down' softer blue style. It's a no-brainer really - the reason the artists went blue, is obviously, as has been said, aesthetic i.e. to make them look 'more beautiful', more pleasing to the eye. It clearly worked, as most here seem to prefer the pleasing look, which I am arguing isn't what the drow were ever about. It's a cop-out really.

[ January 24, 2004, 16:45: Message edited by: keldor ]