''The Icewind Dale Trilogy'' is a trilogy of

epic fantasy High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot.Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, Pl ...

novels by the American writer

R.A. Salvatore Robert Anthony Salvatore (born January 20, 1959) is an American author best known for ''The Legend of Drizzt'', a series of fantasy novels set in the Forgotten Realms and starring the popular character Drizzt Do'Urden. He has also written ''The ...

. The books are ''

The Crystal Shard ''The Crystal Shard'' is a 1988 fantasy novel by American writer R. A. Salvatore. The first book in The Icewind Dale Trilogy, it was his first published novel. Plot summary Even in the remote far northern region of Icewind Dale, the renegade d ...

'', '' Streams of Silver'' and ''

The Halfling's Gem ''The Halfling's Gem'' is a fantasy novel by American writer by R. A. Salvatore, the third book in ''The Icewind Dale Trilogy''. Plot summary The dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden and Wulfgar the barbarian race to Calimport to rescue their friend Regis— ...

''. They tell the tale of

ranger A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

Drizzt Do'Urden Drizzt Do'Urden () is a fictional character appearing in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. Drizzt was created by author R. A. Salvatore as a supporting character in the ''Icewind Dale ...

the

drow The drow ( or ) or dark elves are a dark-skinned and white-haired subrace of Elf (Dungeons & Dragons), elves connected to the Subterranea (geography), subterranean Underdark in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy roleplaying game. The drow have ...

(or dark elf),

Wulfgar Wulfgar, Wolfgar and Wolfger are variants of an Old High German masculine given name meaning "wolf-spear".Beate Varnhorn, ''Das grosse Lexikon der Vornamen'' (Bertelsmann, 2008), p. 309. They may refer to: Historical * Wolfgar (bishop of Würzbur ...

the

barbarian A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either Civilization, uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by som ...

warrior, Regis the

halfling Halflings are a fictional race found in some fantasy novels and games. They are often depicted as similar to humans except about half as tall, and are not quite as stocky as the similarly-sized dwarves. Similar to the depiction of hobbits in the w ...

dwarf Dwarf or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore * Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...

king Bruenor, and Bruenor's adopted

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

daughter

Catti-brie Catti-brie (spelled in later publications as "Cattie-brie") is a fictional character in the Forgotten Realms setting, based on the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. The creation of American author R.A. Salvatore, she is primarily kno ...

. It is the first of Salvatore's ''

Forgotten Realms ''Forgotten Realms'' is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a ...

'' novels, describing the events that created some of the best-known characters in that world. The final book of this series, ''The Halfling's Gem'', appeared in The New York Times Best Seller list, ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list. A prequel trilogy, ''The Dark Elf Trilogy'', followed, as did several subsequent sequel series such as ''Legacy of the Drow'' and ''Paths of Darkness''.

Works included

* ''

'' (1988) * '' Streams of Silver'' (1989) * ''

'' (1990) In later years, these and other books featuring the character Drizzt Do'Urden have been rebranded as installments of ''The Legend of Drizzt'', and such publications of the ''Icewind Dale Trilogy'' are identified on their covers as books IV, V and VI of that series.

Characters

*Akar Kessell is the former apprentice of Morkai the Red. He is left to die in a bowl-shaped dell of Icewind Dale by Dendybar the Mottled, who tricked Kessel into killing Morkai with promises to become the new head of the mage's guild. He comes across Crenshinibon, which allows him to survive and grants him great power. He commands a large army of creatures (mostly goblins, with lesser numbers of orcs, ogres and giants) and builds a large tower. He also forms an alliance with Errtu, who also seeks the crystal. He is defeated by Drizzt and killed when he teleports the two of them to the base of a mountain only to by buried in an avalanche. *Errtu is the powerful balor (Dungeons & Dragons), balor who originally sought the Crystal Shard. After leaving the Abyss, he comes to the Prime Material Plane and stumbles upon Crenshinibon and Akar Kessel-its wielder. Akar, after reminding Errtu of his newfound power, appoints him general of his army. Soon enough, Errtu is magically beckoned by Drizzt Do'Urden, who attempts to trick the balor into thinking he is part of larger drow force whose eyes are set on the Crystal Shard. Once this ruse fails, Errtu attacks Drizzt and Guenhwyvar, but is destroyed in the process and sent back to the Abyss for 100 years' banishment.

Comic adaptation

Crystal Shard

Following from the comic adaption of ''The Dark Elf Trilogy'', Devil's Due Publishing continued with the adaptation of ''Crystal Shard''. The second issue (October 2006) reaching 20 and the third issue (December 2006) reaching 18 in the top 100 Independent comic for their respective months.

Streams of Silver

Devil's Due Publishing announced the individual issues for this series would be collected into a trade paperback with Tyler Walpole serving as the cover artist. The series was adapted by Andrew Dabb and pencilled by Val Semeiks. The trade paperback for ''Streams of Silver'' was ranked 34 in the top 100 Graphic Novels for August 2007 with an estimated pre-order sale quantity of 2,524.

Halfling's Gem

The final issue of ''Halfling's Gem'' was announced on 18 September 2007 and was shipped in December 2007. The final issue #3 completes the adaptation of ''Dark Elf Trilogy'' and ''Icewind Dale Trilogy''.

Reception

The entire trilogy was ranked 9th in Banophernalia's top 10 books for 2000. In the same site, the series was given 3 stars for ''Crystal Shard'' and 3.5 stars for ''Streams of Silver'' and ''The Halfling's Gem''. It was considered standard enjoyable fantasy fare although clichéd. Ian Strelec, staff reviewer for ''d20zines.com'' awarded ''Streams of Silver'' a B+ rating. Vivid descriptions and good characterisations were praised in the novel; however, he was critical of unrealistic situations as well an overemphasis on combat scenarios. The last volume of the trilogy, ''The Halfling's Gem'', was ranked 14th in the ''New York Times'' paperback best sellers' list on 11 March 1990. Paul Hughes, in an editorial review of the trilogy on Amazon's website, wrote that while the book is not J. R. R. Tolkien, Tolkien it has "brought legions of enthusiastic fans to the genre". The reviewer also stated that it is essential for any "Drizzt true believer".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Icewind Dale Trilogy Book series introduced in 1988 Fantasy novel trilogies Forgotten Realms novel series Novels by R. A. Salvatore