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“ | I learned at a very young age that I cannot trust in or count on anyone but myself. To do so invites deceit and despair and opens a vulnerability that can be exploited. To do so is a weakness. | „ |
~ Artemis Entreri to Dwahvel Tiggerwillies |
“ | You will not leave him. We long ago established that difference between us, the difference that you call strength but that I know to be weakness. And so to our business. And so to our destiny. | „ |
~ Artemis Entreri to Drizzt Do'urden |
Artemis Entreri is a is one of the three tritagonists of R.A Salvatore's The Legend of Drizzt (alongside Bruenor Battlehammer and Regis) as well as on the two protagonists (alongside Jarlaxle Baenre) of the spin-off series Sellswords.
He was one of the deadliest assassins in Faerun before eventually becoming obsessed with defeating the dark elf Drizzt to prove that his empty and friendless life was necessary to perfect his skills. Over the years, he began to mellow down and occasionally even help people just to do the right thing. He is the former archnemesis of Drizzt Do'urden.
Appearance[]
Artemis Entreri was not a very tall man, and could be called small, but was surprisingly strong. He had high cheek bones and noticeable sideburns, as well as a small beard occasionally. He had light brownish skin which was later tinged with a grayish hue. His hair was jet black, but the most noticeable thing about him were his eyes, which always seemed dead. Artemis always stayed in shape, even as he got older. While traveling with the Jarlaxle, Artemis was often seen wearing a small-brimmed black hat called a bolero.
Personality[]
“ | I think not, Artemis Entreri. I know you better than you believe, and surely better than you are comfortable with. You would take no pleasure in killing me in such a manner and would hate yourself for the rest of your life for doing so, for stealing from yourself the only chance you might ever have to know the truth. Because that is what this is about, is it not? The truth, your truth, the moment when you hope to either validate your miserable existence or put an end to it. | „ |
~ Drizzt to Entreri about his motivation. |
Entreri was credited as one of the most effective and dangerous assassins in Faerun. His clients thought of him as a sword; if he was assigned with killing someone, that person would be killed. He dedicated one hundred percent of his life to killing and perfecting his killing, having no friends or loved ones and barely feeling any emotions. Despite this, he did not feel that he wasted his life, as he considered himself the most skilled swordsman in the Faerun.
This, however, changed when he met Drizzt Do'urden, someone who was equal if not superior to him in skill, but did so while having loved ones, which proved to Entreri that he had wasted his life. Refusing to accept this, Entreri grew obsessed with defeating Drizzt, hoping that either he would kill Drizzt, proving that his life wasn't wasted, or Drizzt would kill him, ending his pointless existence. When Drizzt finally defeated Entreri but refused to kill him, Entreri broke down, realizing that his existence was a lie.
Jarlaxle Baenre, a drow mercenary Artemis Entreri traveled with for some time, ended up grossly changing the assassin's view of himself. Firstly, he brought him to the dark elf city of Menzoberranzan, where Entreri saw a whole city of killers. After watching the drow apathetically and ruthlessly destroy each other, he began to understand how little fulfillment he would gain from a life without emotions. Secondly, Jarlaxle gave Entreri Idalia's flute, a magical instrument that helped the assassin realize that underneath his apathetic exterior, he was immensely angry at the world for all the horrible things that had happened to him during his childhood.
Despite that his alignment being Lawful Evil, he was not truly evil. He was just a miserable human who has very great concern to little children, because it reminded him of how he was exploited when he was a child. He tended to mind his own business with others, but if he witnessed a child being raped or murdered, he descended into a murderous rage and will viciously slay the abuser. He truly hates and despises child abusers, pedophiles and child murderers, which makes him rather heroic. In addition to this he does have a standard of honor, and only kills people that he feels he has to kill.
Power and Abilities[]
Artemis Entreri was an incredibly skilled swordsman, being considered the best in the world by some. With the exception of Drizzt, Entreri could beat any opponent at sword-to-sword combat. He was also incredibly agile and fit, and remained this way even as he got older. These skills were amplified by his tactical mind, and he knew what best to do and say in every situation.
Artemis Entreri's prized possession was his vampiric dagger, that drained the life force of anyone he, anywhere they were stabbed, and gave it to its wielder. Although Entreri didn't know it for a long time, the dagger also stole the souls of anyone who was killed with it.
For a time, Artemis Entreri held the magic sword Charon's Claw. Charon's Claw lethally poisoned anyone who it even nicked, as well as giving Entreri infravision and the ability to create opaque black walls. However, after Herzgo Alegni used the sword to enslave him, Entreri destroyed it.
Relationships[]
Family[]
- Yinochek (father; deceased)
- Shanali (mother; deceased)
- Belrigger (step-father; presumed deceased)
- Tosso (Non-biological uncle; deceased)
Allies[]
- Calimport Underworld:
- Pasha Basadoni (formerly/betrayed)
- LaValle
- Pasha Pook
- Dondon Tiggerwillies (formerly/betrayed)
- Rassiter (formerly/betrayed)
- Dwahvel Tiggerwillies
- Drow:
- Vierna Do'Urden (formerly/betrayed
- Jarlaxle Baenre (formerly/betrayed)
- Drizzt Do'Urden (currently)
- Dendybar the Mottled
- Sydney
- Jeirden (formerly/betrayed)
- Cadderly Bonaduce
- Danica Bonaduce
- Calihye (lover; formerly)
- Dahlia Sinfelle (lover; formerly)
- Amber Gristle O'Maul
- Afafrenfere
- Effron Alegni
Enemies[]
- Unamed Merchant
- Calimport Underworld:
- Theebles Royuset (victim)
- Rassiter (victim)
- Pasha Basadoni (victim)
- Kohrin Soulez
- The Companions of the Hall:
- Drizzt Do'Urden (former archnemesis)
- Regis
- Catti-bree Battlehammer
- Menzberranzan:
- Berelip Xorlarrin (victim)
- Numerous unnamed priestesses
- Rai-guy Bondalek
- Kimmuriel Oblodra
- House Baenre
- Tiago Baenre
- Jarlaxle Baenre
- Gromph Baenre
- Berg'inyon Baenre (victim)
- The Shadowvar:
- Unnamed Shadowvar agent
- Herzgo Alegni (temporary archnemesis)
- Charon's Claw
- The Crenshinibon
- Kazmil-urshula-kelloakizilian
- Calihye
Quotes[]
The Icewind Dale Trilogy[]
“ | I have found you little thief. Your fate is sealed. There is nowhere for you to run. | „ |
~ Entreri thinking he has found Regis. |
“ | You will do nothing. Not with a blade to your neck scratching your smooth skin. When I am done with my business, brave girl, I shall move on, and you will be left with your shame and guilt. And your answers to the merchants who believe you killed their companion. | „ |
~ Entreri to Catti-bree upon taking her prisoner. |
“ | Jierden: You shall insult me no more! Entreri: But I shall! There are many ways to defile a corpse, fool, and know that I shall practice every one on your rotting bones. |
„ |
~ Entreri fighting Jierden. |
“ | I could kill you, I agree, but to what gain? I take no pleasure in killing. | „ |
~ Enteri to Drizzt |
“ | I do not need the halfling. But my master demands the right to kill this little thief. Lay your plans, drow, for the hounds draw near. Alone, you stand a better chance. Leave these two, and live! | „ |
~ Entreri betraying Drizzt. |
“ | I can now understand your desperation in stealing this jewel. And I know now why Pasha Pook is so desperate to get it back. Much more than a gemstone. | „ |
~ Entreri on the ruby pendant. |
“ | That is where you err. In the streets, companions bring dependance and death. What strength do you bring Drizzt Do'Urden now? He rushes to your aid, to fulfill his responsibility as your companion, to his ultimate demise. | „ |
~ Entreri to Regis. |
“ | Sharks these fish are called. Marvelous fish. Rows of teeth as long as daggers, and a mouth that could bite a man in half. Or take a halfling whole. | „ |
~ Enteri telling Regis about sharks. |
“ | A worth ploy. And effective. It may take a tenday to gain passage south from Baldur's Gate. Of course, there are consequences, little fool. I commend your attempt - I hope you give me more excitement on this tedious journey! But I cannot belay punishment. Doing so would take the dare, and thus the excitement, out of your trickery. | „ |
~ Entreri before cutting off Regis's finger. |
“ | Yes, my ravenous friend, but there remain two problems. First, I work alone. And second, you are dead. | „ |
~ Entreri murdering Rassiter. |
Legacy of the Drow[]
“ | Do not doubt that he will ever hate you. | „ |
~ Entreri to Drizzt about himself while disguised as Regis. |
“ | Our fight began long before there, Drizzt Do'Urden. You and I have been mortal enemies from the day we learned of each other, each an insult to the other's code of fighting. I mock your principals and you mock my discipline. | „ |
~ Entreri to Drizzt. |
“ | So formidable even when all is lost. I will defeat you in combat- that is the deal, you see. In a chamber not far from here, your kin and I will part company, but not until you and me have settled our rivalry. | „ |
~ Entreri to a captive Drizzt. |
“ | You should have fought better. For the sake of your halfling friend, if not yourself. If you kill me, Regis will be free, but if I walk away from here... | „ |
~ Entreri trying to goad Drizzt into fighting him. |
“ | Might I rename your cat? | „ |
~ Entreri stealing Gwenwywhar. |
“ | Do you like the battlefield I have prepared? The only way off this ledge is the tunnel behind you, and so I, like yourself, cannot flee, must play it to the end. A deadly drop for the loser. A fight with no reprieve. | „ |
~ Entreri finally getting his fight. |
“ | I offer you a deal, one you are in no position to refuse. I will get both you and Drizzt out of Menzoberranzan, and you two will escort me back to the surface. Once there, we will go our separate ways, and may they stay separate through all eternity. | „ |
~ Entreri making an alliance with Catti-bree. |
“ | I saved... I... I saved that one. | „ |
~ Enteri trying to convince Drizzt to trust him. |
“ | Long, too, is my memory. And are my methods less devious than those of the drow? | „ |
~ Entreri leaving Drizzt and Catti-bree. |
Sellswords[]
“ | I see them, and I mark them carefully, because I am aware that my own reputation proceeds me. Because of that reputation, many on the street would love to sink a dagger in my heart. How great a reputation that killer might then find. They know that I am older now, and they think me slower - and in truth, their reasoning is sound. I cannot move as quickly as I did a decade ago. But as my body ages and movements dull, my mind grows sharper. I, too, am concerned with my reputation, but not as I used to be. It was my goal in life to be the absolute best at that which I do, at out-fighting and out-thinking my enemies. I desired to be the perfect warrior, and it a dark elf whom I despise to show me the error of my ways. My unintended journey to Menzoberranzan as a 'guest' of Jarlaxle humbled me in my fanatical striving to be the best and showed me the futility of a world full of that who I most wanted to become. In Menzoberranzan, I saw reflections of myself at every turn, warriors who had become so callous to all around them, so enwrapped in the goal, that they could not begin to appreciate the process in attaining it. | „ |
~ Entreri opening up to Dwhavel. |
“ | Let the fools come after me, one after the other, an endless line of eager assassins. With each kill, I grow wiser, and with the added wisdom, I grow stronger. | „ |
~ Entreri to Dwahvel. |
“ | Pray I do not go to the Nine Hells as you surely will, Kohrin Soulez, for if I see you there, I will continue to torment you throughout eternity. | „ |
~ Entreri after killing Soulez. |
“ | Because I hate drow more than I hate humans. | „ |
~ Entreri expaining why he spared Morik. |
“ | Jarlaxle:Perhaps Artemis had not the heart to let the woman die alone in the darkness. How many of Artemis Entreri's victims would be surprised? Entreri: How many of Artemis Entreri's victims deserved better than they got? Jarlaxle: Artemis the compassionate? Entreri: Perhaps. And perhaps if you keep saying foolish things, I will show some compassion and kill you quickly. Then again, perhaps not. |
„ |
~ Enteri speaking with Jarlaxle. |
Miscellaneous[]
“ | My dear Dwahvel, And so the time has come for us to part ways, and I do so with more than a small measure of regret. Rarely have I known one I could trust enough to speak what was truly on my mind. I will do so now, one final time, not in any hopes that you will advise me of my way, but only so that a I might more clearly come to understand my own feeling s on these matters... but that was always the beauty of our talks, was it not? Now that I consider those discussions, I recognize that you rarely offered any advice. In fact, you rarely spoke at all but simply listened. As I listened to my own words, and in hearing them, in explaining my thoughts, and feelings to another, I came to sort them through. Was it your expressions, a simple nod, an arched eyebrow, that led me purposefully down different roads of reasoning? I know not. I know not that has apparently become the litany of may existence, Dwahvel. I feel as if the foundation upon which I have built my beliefs and action is not a solid thing, but one shifting as the sands of the desert. When I was young, I knew all the answers to all the question. I existed in a world of surety and certainty. Now that I am older, now that I have seen four decades of life, the only thing I know for certain is that I know nothing for certain. It was so much easier to be a young man of twenty, so much easier to walk the world with a purpose grounded in- Grounded in hatred, I suppose, and int the need to be the very best at my dark craft. That was my purpose, to be the greatest warrior in all of the world, to etch my name in the histories of Faerun. So many people believed that I wished to achieve that out of simple pride, that I wanted people to tremble at the mere mention of my name for the sake of vanity. They were partially right, I suppose. We are all vain, whatever arguments, we might make against the definition. For me, though, the desire to furth my reputation was not as important as the desire- no not the desire, but the need- truly to be the very best at my craft. I welcomed the increase in reputation, not for the sake of my pride, but because I knew that having such fear weaving through the emotional armor of my opponents gave me even more advantage. A trembling hand does not thrust the blade true. I still aspire to the pinnacle, fear not, but only because it offers me some purpose in a life that increasingly brings me no joy. It seems a strange twist to me that I learned of the barren nature of my world only when I defeated the one person who tried in so many ways to show that very thing to me. Drizzt Do'Urden- How I still hat him! - perceived my life as an empty thing, a hollow trapping with no true benefit and no true happiness. I never really disagreed with his assessment, I merely believed that it did not matter. His reason for living was ever based upon his friends and community, while mine was more a life of the self. Either way, it seems to me as if it is just a huge play, and a pointless on at taht, an act for plearure we perceive as huge, but that are really just little mounds, and though valleys that appear so very deep, but are really nothing at all that truly matter. All the pettiness of life itself is my complaint, I fear. Or perhaps it was not Drizzt who showed me the shifting sand beneath my feet. Perhaps it was Dwahvel, who gave to me something I've rarely known and never known well. A friend? I am still not certain that I understand the concept, but if I ever bother to attempt to sort through it, I will use our time together as a model. Thus, this is perhaps a letter of apology. I should not have forced Sharlotta Vespers upon you, though I trust that you tortured her to death as I instructed and buried her far, far away. How many times you asked me my plans, and always I merely laughed but you should know, dear Dwahvel, that my intent is to steal a great and powerful artifact before other interested parties get their hands on it. I is a desperate attempt, I know, but I cannot help myself, for the artifact calls to me, demands of that I take it from its current, less-than able wielder. So I will have it, because I am indeed the best at my craft, and I will be gone, far, far from this place, perhaps never to return. Farewell, Dwahvel Tiggerwillies, in whatever venture you attempt. You owe me nothing, I assure you and yet I feel as if I am in your debt. The road before me is long and fraught with peril, but I have my goal in sight. If I attain it, nothing will truly bring me harm. Farewell! -AE |
„ |
~ Entreri's parting letter to Dwahvel. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Artemis remains one of the most popular D&D characters. He was voted fifth in the "Underdark All-Stars Poll" on Wizards of the Coast's website and was also rated as one of Dungeons & Dragons' top twenty most infamous and most powerful villains.
- According to R.A Salvatore, when the TSR got rid of the assassin class in the Forgotten Realms, they told him to kill off Entreri. However, Salvatore had grown attached to the character, and told them that he was just a fighter who killed people for money, not an assassin.
External Links[]
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The Legend of Drizzt Villains | ||
Pirates of Luskan Calimport Underworld Sentient Artifacts Demons Dragons Drows Many-Arrows Shadowvar Red Wizards of Thay Others |