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Aeonna β What Drow ought to look like
Published: 2007-08-30 18:03:44 +0000 UTC; Views: 14720; Favourites: 152; Downloads: 176
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Description
To my mind, it would be logical if the Drow were all albino, as many cave-dwelling creatures are.In this picture I have also given the Drow girl large, bat-like ears as I assumed that her hearing would need to be excellent in such dark surroundings. She may even be blind. I postulate this with the assumption that the Drow, after thousands of years in the Underdark, cut off from the Surface, would adapt to their environment.
Further comment: Thank you for some great discussions on this subject! Some of the comments contained points so important that they ought to be mentioned here.
1) Talking of evolution in this context in misleading, as the process takes a lot longer than the few thousand years I mentioned. This becomes even more true if one assumes that the Drow have a longer life-span and reach maturity later than Humans.
2) A self-contained world COMPLETELY without sunlight is not orthodox D&D, whichever version of the rules one looks at. I know this and I only discuss the make-up of life without sunlight because it is an amusing theoretical dilemma.
3) There are several different versions of the D&D world. In one early version, the Drow were in fact pale and in another, dark only refers to their moral alignment.
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Comments: 178
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I know this is a really old post and all, but you have an awesome concept right here!Β What im curious is what kind of equipment she(or the drows of your world) need to wear in other to go outside.
Since they live their entire lives underground, they be super sensitive to the sun and i'd imagine they'll need to wear something that covers all their skin in order to avoid getting a sunburnΒ and something
to protect their eyes (like a pair of goggles with lenses similar to sunglasses).Β
And thats only the beginning, what relations do they have with the outside world(If they even have one)?
What's their culture like?
What's their cities like?
Oh man, i can't stop thinking about this!
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The way I understand it, D&D elves have a very different kind of pigment in their skin, but not their follicles. They use melanin in their hair but something more exotic in their dermis. So Drow hair is white, as you would expect, but elf skin has the OPPOSITE long term adaptive reaction to sunlight as humans and most other creatures.
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So wait, how does the pigments on elves work within the dnd universe? The more they are in the sunlight the brighter they become? That dosent make any sense if you compare with humans.
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If you assume they used melanin, which they DO NOT, which is my point. They use something else, although the lore is vague on exactly what. I suspect it MIGHT be a retcon muguffin accidentally created by some ignoramus who didnβt understand how pigment worked when expanding on Dark Elf lore. Who precisely invented the Drow?
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The creators of DnD were the first to coin the term drow for dark elves. Even though "dark elf" is just another
name for dwarf, sense in norse mythology dwarfs are associated as part of the elf family but they live deep
underneath the mountains. Hence the term "Dark Elf".
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Knuckleheads probably confused environment with skin color.
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There are albino drow, they're called szarkai according to Drow of the Underark.
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The beauty of fantasy is that there is a lot of flexibility with the "rules". This was my own imagining. I don't claim to know things other fans don't, I just presented a musing.
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Well, there is a book called "Drow of the Underdark". In it, it tells of three creation myths. In one of them, when Lolth's followers rebelled against the other Elven deities, they were cursed with the dark skin so that they could be told apart from the faithful Elves. In another one, it is said that Lolth blessed them with the dark skin as a gift. The third one (where you're idea would actually make more sense), is that all Elves were originally Drow. Some rebelled and Lolth drove them above ground and cursed them with the light skin.
That being said, I LOVE this idea. I think it would make an excellent race, separate from the Drow. Perhaps a race of Elf that had actually created to live underground, instead of being driven under.
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Thanks for the summary! Two of those myths were new to me. It's fun that something that in itself is fiction has three different creation myths.
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you do know that they have dark skin because of Loth, not evolution its their mark for serving their goddess.
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Yes, I know the official version. I just made a mental game of coming up with a different explanation.
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Black skinned drow might have evolved darker skin to hide from the rather horrific predators that exist in the Underdark. That being said, this is a really cool drawing.
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Supposing the monsters in the Underdark hade normal sight, as we do, camouflage would make sense.
Thanks : )
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I'll never look at a drow the same way again. This would make so much more sense, though Fantasy has never been known to follow logic. The idea and drawing is really cool.
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Greetings
Your drawing is absolutely great, I think you have a really logical and interesting point of view, but I'm afraid that it's not an existing logic in a fantasy world where everything has its reason and its own story. Your theory is completely consistent respecting the natural evolution of living beings, but I would like to explain you some things about the drow that will be very useful and interesting for you, and certainly will get you out of your doubts. 
I'll start correcting you an essential point that you reported:
"3) There are several different versions of the D&D world. In one early version, the Drow were in fact pale and in another, dark only refers to their moral alignment."
Indeed, long ago, drow were pale. If you've already read the history of the drow, you'd know that they were always white skinned until the day that their goddess Araushnee (actually known for everyone as Lolth) and her dark elven children were banished from the surface lands and exiled into the Underdark after betraying Corellon Larethian, patron god of elves. According to my knowledge of the D&D official background, Corellon cursed Araushnee transforming her into a bloated spider demon, and punished the dark elves, turning their skin black as their evil hearts. 
That doesn't mean that there are no albino drows. In fact, albino drows are an extremely rare genetic mutation with alabastor white skin and other aspects of all albino creatures, representing 1/5 of 1% of the whole drow population. Known as szarkai, they are considered chosen of Lolth, and they have nothing to do with their alignment. A drow is free to choose their destiny regardless of his skin color.
I hope to solve your doubts with this information, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.
I love talking to people so interested in those black velvet beauties...
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Wow, that was a long post. Excuse me if I am more brief.
My whole reasoning assumes that there is no such thing as magic. This is the premise. The official version stirs the imagination nicely and I am not trying to overwrite or disprove it. I just thought it would be fun to try out a parallel version where the same creatures exist but everything can be proven with scientific theory.
And yes, they are very beautiful ^^
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Oh, in that case there's no problem xD Scientifically, your version is absolutely correct and I have no objection with it, but I have a habit of giving explanations to many D&D players who are still wondering why the drow have the features that they have, and sometimes, it's a little bit hard to show them that in a fantasy world with magic everything is possible.
Anyway, thanks for reading my extense paragraph and for answering it (?)
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A cute albino elf! Yes, this might be more accurate, though the time for evolution might prevent it.
She does look rather blind with her eyes not looking at anything and huge pupils. Her hand gives her the sense of being rather tactile as well--using her fingers as if they were antennae.
The moths give rise to another idea. Under extreme conditions, evolution and survival of the fittest can happen fairly quickly in animals with very short generations and large broods. Specifically, the Industrial Revolution caused soot to coat birch trees, making their bark dark. White moths that lived on them became colored dark after several generations as the dominant whites were killed off due to predation. After coal plants were replaced, and the air got cleaner, birch trees became whiter again. The process than reversed itself with the moths returning to their original white color due to habitat change.
Likewise, mice have also been observed changing colors over many generations under environmental conditions where hawks could pick them off. The mice tend to become a similar color as the ground they scavenge for seeds on.
By accident or design, the colorless moths in this pic make for a nice touch on this idea of color changing due to the environment.
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Thanks for the comment!
Glad you noticed her unseeing eyes! I do think of her as being blind, as there is no natural light in the underground and other senses would take over. (The luminescent parts of the picture were added for effect and because I couldn't well post a wholly black deviation).
I imagine the survival of the fittest is a particularly harsh selection among the dangers of the Underdark, so maybe it would be quicker than usual.
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I had always thought that drow's skin was black even before they separated from the surface elves and that it wasn't a result of living underground. It was just always like that.
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There may well be such a version of the story, or if not there should be. There is no real truth in these matters : )
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I like this alot.
and some drow are born bone white albino, so your interpretation is not too far out there.
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And I love your art and I'm not being all mean I'm just saying what I know. ^^ It's very good though
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Yes but the only reason their skin is black is because of the magical rock underground that their surrounded by. It's the eminations from the magical rock and from them being so close to the senter of thei planet. And yes you are correct. they would have extremly pale skin if the rock didn't radiate a potent magic that turned their skin black to live in the underdark. if they were from earth or real and not magical then yes they would be all albino
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In this thought experiment I have disregarded any explanations that are magical or unscientific. So if the rock was not magical, what would the drow look like?
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they would look much like what you made your picture like. Their eyes would be usless and they would probable use sound more then anything. they would be extremly pale and their hair would have no pigment
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yes I agree with you.
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but what if in a realistic environment the black skin was a favorable trait? if the environment contained light from something like a bio-luminescent fungi, thus making eyes useful to both drow and animals, then the black skin could be used for hiding from predator and prey. the only kink would be the white hair.
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Well in a realistic environment there would be nothing to turn their skin black, thus there would be no way to make that trait a favorable one. And I do agree on the fungi glowing making it possible for them to still have their eye site but, there is fungi like that in caves yet, the creatures that live around them have no need for their eyes, so realistically they would also not have use for them. In a small area there is light but in the rest of the large cave where they spend almost all of their lives they can not see so what is the use and just make it so they adapt to learning how to go around with out eyes. I look at them kind a like bats if they were in a realistic environment. Even though bats still go outside into the sun set to hunt till sun rise they still can barely see, so what about a creature that lives in the caves almost constantly unless they are forced to leave either for their life or for trade, and even for trade they would probable make trade come down to them like they do in the books.
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but what you said was very true. if only there was something to make their skin black I liked your theory
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if D&D was post-apocalyptic then mutation caused by radiation would be valid, but in that time period the only thing i can think of is plain old evolution, but even that theory is flawed since they didnt always live underground.
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yeah. lol but it's ok. D&D is also magical ^^ Nothing can ever be fully proved. I've been playing D&D sense I was 2 rolling my moms dice and moving her character forward on the board. And I still don't know it all.
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awesome, i just started. what E do you play?
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a mix of first and second ep but I'm slowly learning the forth edition. even though I miss Garey T-T
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how is 4e? i keep hearing mixed reviews. personally i play 3.5 and its working for me and the people i play with.
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It's really hard to learn if you've grown up on the older editions and completely skipped all of the 3rd ep. But after you get past the confusing stuff it's ok I guess. I can never get past the original. They balance out the magic users and the plain old fighters better by giving every one special skills to help them. Because as soon as I mage reaches a high enough level they just fire ball a room and it pisses me off because then I can't get close enough to kill anything >_< But hey I Like being a rogue who the group relies on
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its like that in 3.5 too. my rogue is kinda needed in our group 1. because they would die from traps without me and 2. because she happens to be the most competent in the group (our sorcerer lit a torch while in a sewer filled with methane, i was in said sewer and both of us got blown out). its also nice how they pretty much get first dibs on any treasure taken from a locked chest or room ^-^
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yeah lol ^^ I've saved my friends from so many traps and ambushes that they can't live without me. lol they also once when i wasn't playing one day fed a white dragon and potion of dragon control -_- I hit them so hard because they all died from the dragon.
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rofl, rogues and intelligence FTW!!!
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I completely agree. Its science that an underground race would have light skin and no use for eyesight since they live in the dark, but the Drow is a race of science fiction, they dont follow normal standards.
Besides that, your Drow girl shown is lovely. I think her ears are adorable.
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Your very welcome, your art is lovely
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