I Read What?!

So, another one page "journal entry" to mark the start of the fifth part. This part, however, is the last part of the novel. And it's titled "Zaknafein".



We know, after all, that Drizzt makes it to the surface. And we know, after all, that Drizzt lives on the surface alone. At best, his father stays behind.

At worst...well...

Let's just say, this journal entry from Drizzt reads like a eulogy. And a rare moment of genuine empathy. (I know I take potshots at Drizzt, but I do think he's a good guy. I DON'T think he's particularly good at empathy though.)

(I will say, given events in far future books, I do wish Drizzt might remember the bit of empathy he showed in this passage. But who knows, maybe in a few decades, I'll get there and be able to show you what I'm griping about.)

I might have been him. I might have lived, trapped within the helpless rage, buried under the daily assault of the wickedness that is Menzoberranzan and the pervading evil that is my own family, never in life to find escape.

It's true. He could have been. But we know Drizzt well enough to know that he would never be satisfied with the cross-parry. He can't accept a stalemate. He has to move forward.

But well...

I live with many laments, for my people, for myself, but mostly for that weapons master, lost to me now, who showed me how—and why—to use a blade.

There is no pain greater than this; not the cut of a jagged-edged dagger nor the fire of a dragon’s breath. Nothing burns in your heart like the emptiness of losing something, someone, before you truly have learned of its value. Often now I lift my cup in a futile toast, an apology to ears that cannot hear:

To Zak, the one who inspired my courage.

It sounds like he'll be moving forward alone.