| “ | You will learn your place! Hear my words; Vierna brought you to this place to have you killed. She showed you mercy. I understand the will of the Spider Queen better than she. If you ever speak ill of Lolth, our goddess, again, I will take you back to this place myself! But not to kill you; no that would be too easy. You will come back here to become a drider. | „ |
| ~ Malice threatening Drizzt. |
| “ | You killed him! Your insolence demanded repayment to the Spider Queen. But you live, as the elven child lives. Yes, we know of your deception. The Spider Queen always knew. She demanded restitution. | „ |
| ~ Malice after killing Zaknafein. |
Malice Do'Urden, also known as Matron Mother Malice, is a major antagonist of R.A Salvatore's The Legend of Drizzt, serving as the main antagonist of The Dark Elf Trilogy. She was the matron mother of House Do'Urden, tenth house of the drow city of Menzoberranzan. From her spot of power, she brought her house up several spots, wiping out two more powerful houses. However, she began to lose Lolth the Spider Queen's favor because of her sacrilegious weapon's master and lover Zaknafein, and their son Drizzt. When Drizzt left Menzoberranzan, she used all the power she had to kill him and get back her goddess's favor, but failed and was killed by her daughter Briza.
Appearance[]
Like all drow, Malice had white hair and ebony skin. She was also fairly short, but still intimidating.
Personality[]
Malice was cold, cunning, ambitious, and power-hungry, doing anything she could to destroy any of her opponents as she moved her house up the hierarchy. She was also very proud and believed that her house deserved respect and power more than any other. Like all powerful matron mothers, she was fanatically obsessed with Lolth, and was horrified by anyone who spoke against her goddess, punishing them severely. However, she was not above putting up with sacrilege for her own gain, keeping the heretic Zaknafein around for decades for his usefulness. Despite fighting for her house, she did not care the slightest bit about her family, or anyone but herself for that matter. Not only did she not feel affection for any living creature, but she was also shown to not even be able to comprehend how anyone could.
When she began to lose the favor of Lolth, she became obsessed with killing Drizzt, using all of her power in order to do so. When she failed, she broke, losing the will to live, realizing that the things that she had spent her whole life working for meant nothing. She didn't even fight Briza when she killed her, knowing that her house would fall and ultimately, nobody would ever remember or care about her loyalty to her goddess.
Biography[]
Plotting Against House Devir[]
Malice was born to Vartha Do'Urden, presumably being her first daughter. When Malice was 100 years old, her mother died suddenly, making her matron mother.
As matron mother, she took on a lover named Rizzen, and with him had initially three children: Briza, Dinin, and Nalfein. She later took the much more attractive and skilled Zaknafein as a lover and gave birth to a daughter named Vierna. She then gave birth to another child with Rizzen named Maya.
At some point, Malice decided to ascend her house from tenth house to ninth house by wiping out the fourth house, House Devir. In order to get enough magic to destroy the more powerful house, she chose to have the attack while she was giving birth to her sixth child: Drizzt. Since Drizzt was the third son, he was meant to be sacrificed. However, during the attack on House Devir, Dinin killed Nalfein, making Drizzt the second son. Malice spared the baby and assigned Vierna with the task of raising him.
The attack proved successful. The next day, Malice was summoned to speak with Yvonnel Baenre; the matron mother of first house Baenre. Yvonnel congratulated Malice on her ascension up the ranks of the city but warned her not to get too confident and try to move against Baenre.
War With House Hun'ett[]
Over the next decade or so, Malice continued to plot for her house to move up the hierarchy. She also began to realize that her son, Drizzt was unlike the other drow. He seemed soft, unwilling to kill for personal gain, and courteous to those around him. In order to remedy this, she had her daughter Maya make a goblin resemble a drow and tell it to attack Drizzt. Drizzt killed the goblin to save his own life, but was horrified, thinking he had killed one of his own people. Satisfied that the experience had hardened her son, Malice sent him off to the Academy.
During the next few years, Malice began to hear rumors that a powerful house was plotting against House Do'Urden, but couldn't figure out who it was. In order to keep her house strong, she ordered her family members to remain cautious. When she discovered Vierna trying to kill Drizzt for criticizing Lolth, she stopped her, scolding them both, but killing and maiming neither out of necessity. Later, she heard that Drizzt had killed a high elven child on a surface raid and was satisfied that he had gotten over his sacrilegious ways.
In order discover out which house was plotting against her, Malice summoned one of Lolth's handmaidens: a yochlol. However, the yochlol refused to give her any information other than that she was out of the favor of Lolth for the actions of one of her family members. Malice set out to discover who this was, so that she could punish them and get back into her goddess's good graces.
It wasn't long before she discovered who the perpetrator was. While watching Zaknafein and Drizzt through her magical mirror, she saw Drizzt confess to Zaknafein that he hadn't truly murdered the elven child, and Zaknafein be overjoyed by the fact. She prepared to kill Drizzt, but he left the compound directly afterwards. However, while she prepared for the ritual, Zaknafein offered to allow himself to be sacrificed in exchange for Drizzt's life. Malice eagerly agreed, wanting to keep around the skilled young Drizzt, and had her lover killed.
A few hours later Drizzt returned and reported that a House Hun'ett wizard had tried to kill him. Thrilled at discovering which house was her enemy and that they had one less wizard, Malice offered Drizzt a job in the now empty slot of weapon's master. However, upon discovering that she had killed Zaknafein, Drizzt left house Do'Urden and Menzobarranzan as a whole. Malice ordered her house to try and find him, but failed and was soon distracted by the oncoming war.
Over the next ten years, House Do'Urden fought house Hun'ett in a series of skirmishes. Eventually, Malice won by wiping out the Hun'ett compound with the help of mercenary Jarlaxle and his mercenary troop Bregan Daerth, thus becoming the eighth house of Menzobarranzan.
Hunting Drizzt[]
Shortly thereafter, Malice was once again summoned to speak with Yvonnel Baenre. However, this time, instead of congratulating her, Yvonnel criticized her for letting Drizzt escape and for letting the war with Hun'ett go on for so long. She told her that if she didn't kill Drizzt quickly, House Do'Urden would be destroyed. She also revealed that SiNafay Hun'ett, Matron Mother of House Hun'ett, had survived the fall of her house. Yvonnel then forced Malice to allow her enemy to stay in her house under the name "Shi'nayne Do'Urden".
In order to kill Drizzt and regain Lolth's favor, Malice ordered Dinin and Briza to try and kill. However, the two returned a few weeks later having been beaten in battle by their little brother, and Dinin refused to fight him again.
Malice decided that the only person who could kill Drizzt was Zaknafein. Sacrificing Shi'nayne to Lolth and using the last of her powers, Malice brought her lover back from the dead as a zin-carla: an undead creature controlled by its creator. Unfortunately for Malice though, in order for Zaknafein to kill Drizzt he needed to retain his fighting prowess, and in order for him to maintain his fighting prowess, she needed to leave his with some of his free-will, making controlling him a constant battle for Malice. After testing her new tool out by having him kill Rizzen, she sent him out to find and kill Drizzt. Malice was confident that the zin-carla would succeed, but knew that if he didn't, she would have no more chance to kill her sacrilegious son, and it would be the end of her house.
For months, Malice watched and controlled Zaknafein as he wandered to Underdark hunting their son, killing anything that got in his way. It finally confronted Drizzt in an illithid lair, where he was being imprisoned. After killing most of the illithids he attacked Drizzt, who fled his possessed father. They finally fought a few days later, but Malice briefly lost control of her zin-carla during the battle. Not wanting to kill his son, Zaknafein flung himself into a nearby acid pit.
Having lost her one remaining method for killing her son and having run out of power, Malice surrendered and was easily killed by Briza in a bid to become matron mother.
Powers and Abilities[]
Malice was an incredibly talented high priestess, who Lolth rewarded for her ruthlessness. Using these powers, she was able to destroy any house or individual who got in her ways, as well as creating and consistently controlling a zin-carla; an impressive feat not often accomplished even by other matron mothers.
Malice was calculating and cunning with a mind for politics. She always knew when and how to strike best and was adept at manipulating her opponents into doing what she wanted.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Although Malice's eyes seemed red with heat vision, in the light they were actually green.
- Malice is the second drow to grow obsessed with killing Drizzt Do'Urden, after Masoj Hun'ett.
- Malice would appear to Drizzt as a hallucination in the Homeland trilogy, where she would blame him for the death of his family.
External Links[]
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The Legend of Drizzt Villains | ||
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