# The Icewind Dale Trilogy - Work: Book series - Date: 1988–90 - Made by: R. A. Salvatore (Author) - Houses: TSR, Inc., Wizards of the Coast - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-icewind-dale-trilogy/ > A drow ranger with two scimitars and a panther, invented on the spot in a TSR marketing meeting, became Dungeons & Dragons' most famous fictional hero and the star of a saga still running almost four decades later. **Why it matters:** The Icewind Dale Trilogy turned a game setting into a bestselling literary franchise and gave D&D its signature character, Drizzt Do'Urden, who walked from the page into dozens of computer and board games. ## Quick answers **When was The Icewind Dale Trilogy first published?** The Icewind Dale Trilogy was first published in 1988–90. **Who created The Icewind Dale Trilogy?** The Icewind Dale Trilogy was made by R. A. Salvatore (author). **Who published or developed The Icewind Dale Trilogy?** TSR, Inc. and Wizards of the Coast. **What kind of work is The Icewind Dale Trilogy?** The Icewind Dale Trilogy is a book series in the Shared-World & Tie-In Fiction, Sword & Sorcery and High / Epic Fantasy tradition. **Why is The Icewind Dale Trilogy important?** The Icewind Dale Trilogy turned a game setting into a bestselling literary franchise and gave D&D its signature character, Drizzt Do'Urden, who walked from the page into dozens of computer and board games. ## Overview Every fictional universe has a character who escapes the story he was written for. In the [Forgotten Realms](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/forgotten-realms/), that character is Drizzt Do'Urden, a lavender-eyed dark elf with twin scimitars and a magical panther named Guenhwyvar, who first appeared as a supporting player in [R. A. Salvatore](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/r-a-salvatore/)'s *The Crystal Shard* (1988). The novel and its sequels, *Streams of Silver* (1989) and *The Halfling's Gem* (1990), form *The Icewind Dale Trilogy*, the books that made [TSR](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/tsr/)'s new campaign setting a literary brand and turned a roleplaying game into a source of long-running heroic fiction. ## Origins Salvatore, an aspiring novelist from Leominster, Massachusetts, had sent TSR a manuscript called *Echoes of the Fourth Magic*. Managing editor Mary Kirchoff liked his writing and asked him to try something set in the Forgotten Realms, the world [Ed Greenwood](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/ed-greenwood/) had developed and TSR had published in 1987. She sent him a map; Salvatore found an empty region at its northern edge and, in his own words, "moved the story a thousand miles to the north" to Icewind Dale. When Kirchoff phoned on her way into a marketing meeting to say one of his characters could not be used, Salvatore improvised: off the top of his head, he said he had a dark elf. The drow of D&D were, by the rules of the game's [Alignment](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/alignment/) system, an evil race of the Underdark. A drow who had rejected his people was a fresh idea, and Salvatore wrote the novel in about two months. ## The story In the frozen Ten-Towns on the edge of the known world, the dwarf Bruenor Battlehammer, the halfling Regis and the ranger Drizzt defend the settlements against a barbarian invasion — and then capture and befriend the young barbarian Wulfgar. When the apprentice wizard Akar Kessell finds Crenshinibon, a sentient artifact that craves domination, he raises an army of goblins, [orcs](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/orc/), giants and barbarians to conquer the Dale. *Streams of Silver* sends the companions south in search of Bruenor's lost ancestral halls of Mithral Hall, and *The Halfling's Gem* follows them to the southern port of Calimport to rescue Regis from the assassin Artemis Entreri, Drizzt's dark mirror. The books read, deliberately, like a well-run campaign: a balanced [The party](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/party/) of fighter, rogue, ranger and later the human Catti-brie, [dungeon crawls](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/dungeon-crawl/) through dwarven mines, monsters straight from the *Monster Manual*, and fights described with a gamer's feel for positioning and momentum. ## Reception & impact The trilogy made Salvatore a star. Readers wanted Drizzt's backstory, and *The Dark Elf Trilogy* (1990–91) supplied it, beginning a sequence of novels collectively called *The Legend of Drizzt* that has continued for more than three decades; *The Two Swords* reached No. 4 on the *New York Times* list in 2004. Salvatore has sold more than 15 million books in the United States alone. Drizzt then crossed back into games. He makes a cameo in BioWare's [Baldur's Gate](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/baldurs-gate/) (1998); Black Isle's [Icewind Dale](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/icewind-dale/) (2000) is named after and set in his home region; Salvatore wrote the story of Stormfront Studios' *Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone* (2004); and Wizards of the Coast's *The Legend of Drizzt* board game (2011) and the action RPG *Dark Alliance* (2021) put the Companions of the Hall directly under players' control. Salvatore later worked as a game writer in his own right, creating the 10,000-year backstory and dialogue for *Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning* (2012). ## Legacy The Icewind Dale books are the template for game-setting fiction that stands on its own, the counterpart to [Dragonlance](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dragonlance-chronicles/) for the Forgotten Realms. Their hero became so identified with D&D that the two-scimitar drow ranger turned into one of the game's most recognizable character archetypes, imitated at tables everywhere. The saga continues. After *Lolth's Warrior* (2023) closed the *Way of the Drow* trilogy, Salvatore launched a new series with *The Finest Edge of Twilight* (October 7, 2025), starring Drizzt and Catti-brie's daughter, Breezy Do'Urden. Ten-Towns, meanwhile, remains one of the most revisited places in D&D, most recently as the setting of the fifth-edition adventure *Rime of the Frostmaiden* (2020). ## Facts - Salvatore wrote The Crystal Shard, his first published novel, in about two months; TSR published it in 1988. - Drizzt was improvised: when his editor, on her way into a marketing meeting, told him one character could not be used, Salvatore said, off the top of his head, that he had a dark elf. - Salvatore moved his story to Icewind Dale because it was an empty spot on the Forgotten Realms map he was given. - Black Isle's 2000 computer RPG Icewind Dale takes its name and region from the setting of the novels. - Salvatore wrote the story for the video game Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone (2004). - Salvatore's The Finest Edge of Twilight (October 2025) begins a new series led by Drizzt's daughter, Breezy Do'Urden. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Icewind_Dale_Trilogy) - [The Crystal Shard (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Shard) - [The Legend of Drizzt (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Drizzt) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.