Question A Drow Question

I'm asking about the D&D drow Jobe based his girls on; why if they are darkness dwelling elves do they have darkly pigmented skin? Shouldn't they be paler then forest elves, on par with a shaved dwarf?

I would go with a Darwinian view on the matter. If they were pasty while critters they would stand out more in their natural habitat. Thus, lacking fur/hair to hide their skin tone they developed darker pigmentation as a survival mechanism.

I think of them sort of like worms. Some worms are pale in color. Others are darker in color. Both types live underground. But which is harder to find when you go looking for them? The dark ones that blend into their surroundings. Which is why I think darker colored worms are now more common than pale worms (I have seen very very few white/yellowish worms, but as a fisherman, I have seen tons of dark colored ones).

The same is found with deep sea animals. You will find very few deep sea animals that are blue. But you will find many that are red or black. Why? Because at great depths red and black animals become nearly invisible, but blue animals remain visible a long way down and are thus more easily targeted by predators.

From the canon, it is either a curse, underdark radiation, or just because (always have been). For a practical standpoint, it's because they are eviiiiiiil "dark elves" and Gary Gygax figured it was easy and more menacing to have them actually physically distinct.

It's inline with traditional depictions of Unseelie as well.

The blending-in hypothesis makes little sense because they have glowing eyes from infravision as well as bright white hair.

They have Lloth on their side, who do they need to fear? Except mind flayers that is...

Yes, in Faerun the Dark Elves as a race are corrupted by a demons blood and by Lloth.

In DrowTales the Elves actually get dark and paler when they are born underground.

Jobe like the dark skin, and I believe their hair turns dark at night.

I agree with MM2ss. Human skin pigmentation is dominated by the need for balance between sun protection and vitamin D production, but species who live their entire lives underground aren't going to have their skin color dominated by the sun since the sun isn't a part of their lives at all. Other factors will take precedence.

For example, maybe Drow culture considers it sexy to look like a living shadow, leading to darker-skinned Drow having more sex. (Similarly, the white hair can be explained with a spider silk fetish.)

It could also have nothing at all to do with color. Maybe whatever pigments their skin just tastes bad to certain would-be predators or parasites, so those who have that pigment are more successful than those who don't.

'Real Life' Answer: The Drow are loosely based on the Norse mythology of the Svartalfar, in particular their king, Fafnir, who was described as a dark-skinned elf. Our ancestors had no idea about DNA or evolution, they just made stuff up that sounded cool.

Forgotten Realms Universe Answer: Araushnee was once a lesser power of the Seldarine, the elven pantheon, and the consort of Corellon Larethian, the head of the pantheon. She was the dark-skinned, silver-haired, patron of artisans, elven destiny and later of those elves who shared her skin and hair colour. She bore Corellon two sons and a daughter who shared her colouration. Unfortunately, she was also a bit of a bitch, betrayed Corellon and the Seldarine multiple times before she was discovered and kicked out, becoming the demon queen Lolth. So the answer is probably because the Drow were created in Araushnee's image.

Whateley Universe Likely Answer: If actual Drow/Svartalfar existed during the reign of the Sidhe, they were probably a created race with optimised genetics for jobs that the Sidhe needed done. In particular in the war against the GOOs, low cunning and ruthlessness is of great use to warrior/assassins, as would being adapted to darkness. As a created race, they would have been given colouration that would help them do their jobs rather than what would come naturally through evolution. So Jobe's kind of following in the Sidhe's footsteps.

Note: I'm theorizing, there's no 'word of god' on this one.

Which also neatly answers the question of "Can they breed with humans" or provides an implied "Yes" at the least.

Thanks Kristen!

Yup! Lloth actually ends up getting her ass handed to her by Corellon after his daughter sacrifices herself and purifies a certain amount of drow. They became dark elves again.

The Svaralfar in Nordic mythology are often seen as elflike or basically as dwarves that could be another angel.

Jobe also seems to have the spider thing down so I think he's a Menzobarazzan fanatic and is channeling House Do'Urden all the way.