The Best Sidekick a Warrior Could Ever Want
R.A. Salvatore muses on the identity and unintentional identity crisis of one of Drizzt Do Urden s most important allies, the fearsome black panther Guenhwyvar.
She started out as a dog, a moorhound, actually, named Canthus. When I wrote a sample chapter to audition for the second book ever published in the Forgotten Realms setting, way back in the summer of 1987, I thought the Realms were the tiny Moonshae Isles and that TSR (the original publisher of the Forgotten Realms setting) was looking for someone to write a direct follow-up to Doug Niles s Darkwalker on Moonshae. I didn t want to use Doug s characters in any meaningful way they re wonderful characters, but I don t like sharing protagonists! so I grabbed one, a sly fellow named Daryth and his moorhound named Canthus, to introduce the hero of my story, Wulfgar of Icewind Dale.
Quite a bit changed during that audition period, starting with me discovering the size of the Forgotten Realms, and learning, to my great relief, that my editor didn t want me anywhere near Doug s work, since he was writing sequels to his book. So I set my book, The Crystal Shard, far away in Icewind Dale and added a character named Drizzt Do Urden who soon took over the book. One thing I did keep from Doug s example, however: the animal sidekick.
Why? Any pet lover already knows the answer to that question. Drizzt was created as the classic, misunderstood outcast, a bit of a loner, and often driven by circumstance to his own devices. Has anyone gone through junior high school or high school who can t relate to this?
I certainly can. And in those times when I found myself confused and feeling very alone, I had a savior, a dog named Cocoa and then a dog named Yuma. They listened, without judgment, and using them as sounding boards often got me through the tough and lonely days.
So Drizzt needed a friend like that, I figured, and Guenhwyvar was born.
Female or Male?Let me clear this up, once and for all: Guenhwyvar is a female panther! I know, I know, don t point out the problem with that argument, please. You see, when you re a professional writer, working on deadlines and working with a team of editors/artists/designers and the like, you come to learn certain things about the process. In the case of Guenhwyvar, for some reason I never figured out, I was told that the panther had to be gender neutral. I argued about this policy, but to no avail. Guenhwyvar was a magic item, so I was told, and so Guen was an it, not a she or a he.
The cat remained a she in my mind, certainly, but I painstakingly went through the manuscript of The Crystal Shard and removed all of the gender-specific pronouns. In some places, the use of it sounded quite awkward ; when you name a character, then use it, well, try to do it and you ll see what I mean. Nevertheless, I had my orders.
Soon after The Crystal Shard hit the shelves, I discovered, to my chagrin, that the copyeditor had apparently spotted the awkwardness of the gender-neutral pronoun, too, and so he/she (it?) had smoothed out the prose... by replacing it with he and him ! But no, Guenhwyvar is a female panther!
I got the name from those magnificent Mary Stewart books about King Arthur, where Guenhwyvar is the spelling of Arthur s Queen, and, according to Stewart, the name meant Shadow. Perfect for Drizzt, I figured, coming from the shadows and needing a shadow. Wherever would Drizzt have been without her? Indeed, where will he be without her going forward? Read The Last Threshold to know more.
R.A. Salvatore, February 2013