The Crystal Shard (1988)
The Crystal Shard is a 1988 fiction book written by R. A. Salvatore.
On the frozen edge of the world, the ten fishing villages of Icewind Dale scrape out a living between the tundra and the sea. Then barbarian tribes mass for war, and a young captive named Wulfgar falls into the gruff care of the dwarf Bruenor, who sets out to forge a warrior with brains as well as brawn. At their side stands Drizzt Do'Urden, a dark elf who abandoned his people's cruelty and now guards a home that barely trusts him. Beneath the ice, a shard of ancient evil finds a weak-willed mage and turns him toward ruin. Salvatore writes combat with real choreography, and his outcast ranger became one of fantasy's most beloved heroes.
Quick answers
What is The Crystal Shard about?
On the frozen edge of the world, the ten fishing villages of Icewind Dale scrape out a living between the tundra and the sea. Then barbarian tribes mass for war, and a young captive named Wulfgar falls into the gruff care of the dwarf Bruenor, who sets out to forge a warrior with brains as well as brawn. At their side stands Drizzt Do'Urden, a dark elf who abandoned his people's cruelty and now guards a home that barely trusts him. Beneath the ice, a shard of ancient evil finds a weak-willed mage and turns him toward ruin. Salvatore writes combat with real choreography, and his outcast ranger became one of fantasy's most beloved heroes.
When was The Crystal Shard published?
The Crystal Shard was published in 1988.
Who made The Crystal Shard?
The Crystal Shard was written by R. A. Salvatore.
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The Crystal Shard in our writing
- Companion guide: Dungeons & Dragons on the PC: From the Gold Box to Baldur's Gate 3
A few thoughts on The Crystal Shard
Icewind Dale, the classic RPG, drops you into the exact frozen frontier Salvatore mapped, Ten-Towns and the tundra beyond. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance lets you fight alongside Drizzt himself. For the lone-swordsman-with-a-code appeal, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt gives Geralt, another wandering outsider judged as much as his foes.
If you want to play through this same Forgotten Realms
The Crystal Shard is set in the same Forgotten Realms that Icewind Dale, the Baldur's Gate trilogy, and Neverwinter Nights are built from, right down to the frozen Ten Towns Salvatore describes. Menzoberranzan and Planescape: Torment share the ruleset and the dark corners of the setting, letting you run the same tundra and Underdark Drizzt walks.
The rest of Drizzt's Icewind Dale trilogy
The Crystal Shard opens the trilogy that Streams of Silver and The Halfling's Gem finish, following Drizzt, Wulfgar, and Bruenor across the north. Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn tell what came before, the dark elf's own exile from the Underdark that made him the outcast ranger guarding Icewind Dale in the first place.
Dragonlance's own continent-spanning war
Salvatore and Weis and Hickman were writing for the same TSR shelf at the same moment, and the Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends carry a similar scale, a continent at war and companions who carry the weight of it. Champions of Krynn and Pool of Radiance run on the same tabletop rules underneath both sagas.
Outsiders who find a family in a hostile land
Wulfgar is forged into a warrior by people who owe him nothing, and Drizzt guards a home that barely trusts him, the same outsider-finds-a-family shape that drives Excalibur, Willow, and The Witcher. The Legend of Vox Machina and Game of Thrones both build a found family out of exiles and misfits too.