Drow (Dungeons & Dragons tradition)

Within the Dungeons & Dragons tradition the drow were elaborated by game authors as a distinct elven subrace adapted to underground life; game histories cite early modules and rulebooks that built the drow into a full culture with cities (e.g., Erelhei-Cinlu), priesthoods, and political hierarchies. Linguistically, the English game-term draws on Orcadian and Shetland Scots dialect 'drow' as an alternative form of 'trow', themselves inherited from Norn and ultimately related to Old Norse draugr and troll — older northern folk categories of subterranean, uncanny, or revenant beings. Sources note that Gary Gygax used the existing folkloric mention of 'drow'/'dark elves' as an ideal basis when creating the game's elaborated drow mythos rather than claiming the word or concept as wholly original to the game.

D&D sources summarized in secondary literature portray drow as dark-skinned with white hair; early portrayals emphasized this stark contrast and associated them visually with subterranean darkness. The Prose Edda's earlier literary precedent for 'dark elves' describes beings who 'live down below the ground' and are described as 'blacker than pitch', a motif echoed in the game's depiction of a people adapted to the depths. Module accounts additionally note distinctive accoutrements tied to drow religion and rank (for example, a golden spider pin inscribed 'Lolth, Death Queen Mother' found on a priestess in module narratives).

In published D&D material summarized by the sources, drow are presented as a subterranean civilization notable for their strong traditions of magic and organized priesthoods; early materials characterized them as adept magic-users with priestess-led cultic structures and political intrigue. Module narratives portray drow as manipulators of subterranean politics and as participants in wider schemes (for example, influencing alliances among other underground peoples and opposing surface races); early descriptions framed them as 'evil' and 'poor fighters but strong magic-users', while later editions moved away from fixed alignment and explored greater social variation. The sources document drow involvement in clerical/magical worship (notably of the spider goddess Lolth in many early portrayals) and extensive social hierarchies within their capital cities and power structures.