Drizzt was born into the ninth house of Menzoberranzan, called Daermon N'a'shezbaernon, more commonly known as Do'Urden, on the night when that house wiped out one of its rivals. As a male in the matriarchal society of the drow, Drizzt was trained by his father, Zaknafein, to be a warrior in the two-handed drow fighting style. Drizzt excelled at this, becoming an 18th-level warrior before he fled the society of the evil elves for the surface.

Prior to the journey, Drizzt was first disenchanted and then disgusted by the corrupt, vicious nature of drow culture. He sought some means of escape. In the meantime, his family came to realize his abhorrent (to them) principles, and his father, the house's Weapons Master, gave his life to save that of his son when the family's matriarch wanted Drizzt to be executed as a traitor.

The path of Drizzt's life took an irrevocable turn away from the evil ways of his kindred when he killed Masoj Hun'ett, a drow who had been using a fabulous magical item, an onyx panther figurine of wondrous power, for tawdry assassinations and other detestable work. In the panther named Guenhwyvar, Drizzt sensed a kindred spirit-a fierce but brave and loyal warrior trapped in the drow's dark world of deceit. Drizzt liberated Guen from Hun'ett, and later fled Menzoberranzan entirely.

He and Guen wandered the Underdark for a decade, always moving, until they found a grotto tended by the fungus people known as myconids. While there was life here, Drizzt was still profoundly lonely. His only companion was Guen, and the magic that brought her to this world also sent the cat away again all too often.

Not long thereafter, he discovered a city of svirfneblin, gnomes who make their home in the Underdark. This was what he had been seeking: a civilization that valued the same concepts of honor and loyalty and goodness that he did. Careful not to reveal himself to the gnomes right away, because they certainly would have thought him to be an ordinary drow, Drizzt stealthily made his way into, around, and then back out of the city he learned was called Blingdenstone.

Later, convinced that this was the life he was destined to have, Drizzt reentered the city-only to be taken prisoner by the wary gnomes. Fortunately, he came into contact with a deep gnome he had met once before. Before Drizzt fled from the drow society, he had been assigned to go on a patrol. This patrol encountered a group of deep gnomes and killed them all-except for one warrior named Belwar Dissengulp. Drizzt, hoping to save at least one life from being massacred, pleaded with the other elves to spare this one's life-arguing that it would be better to allow him to return to his people and tell of drow ferocity than just leave another corpse. Drizzt's brother Dinin did agree to let the gnome live, but chopped off both of Belwar's hands first.

When Drizzt again met Belwar, the gnome had two great metal constructions attached to his wrists in place of his hands: a hammer and a pick. Belwar remembering that Drizzt had saved his life, convinced the other gnomes to give him a chance. Drizzt proved himself soon thereafter when he, Belwar, and a pech named Clacker who had been polymorphed into a hook horror by a mad wizard worked together to defeat the wizard and the mind flayers that were in the area. During this time, Drizzt also found himself facing his deceased father in combat. Zaknafein had been brought to undead status by an unholy drow ritual-but knowing that this creature was not truly his father, Drizzt spared no effort in destroying the abomination.

Feeling that he needed to put yet more distance between himself and his drow past, Drizzt fled to the surface world, where he witnessed a sunrise for the second time in his life. The first being the time when his patrol attacked elves on the surface killing them all-except an elven girl that Drizzt saved-when they arrived back in Menzoberranzan, Drizzt was pronounced a traitor for the act of mercy, and his father sacrificed himself to save him.

He eventually met the blind ranger Montolio "Mooshie" DeBrouchee, who taught Drizzt the ways of the surface world and the concepts of being a ranger, and introduced him to the existence of the goddess Mielikki, the Lady of the Forest. With Mooshie's help, Drizzt began his career as a ranger, defeated a large band of orcs, and vanquished a pair of barghests.

After Mooshie passed away, Drizzt again took to wandering, but this time on the surface world. After a time he came to Icewind Dale and the region known as Ten Towns. Under the terms of a deal he made with Cassius, the region's leader, Drizzt took up residence in the area in exchange for his regular patrolling of the region to watch for incursions of barbarians.

Before long, Drizzt met the dwarf who was to become one of his dearest friends: Bruenor Battlehammer, who was busy battling a remorhaz at the time. By the time Drizzt arrived to help, the beast was dead. Drizzt also came to know the dwarf's adopted daughter Catti-brie and the halfling Regis.

When Bruenor spared the life of one of the barbarians who later attacked Ten Towns, Drizzt became acquainted with Wulfgar. Over time the young man matured, due in no little measure to Drizzt's training him to use his brain as well as his brawn in battle.

This training was put to good use when a power-mad mage attacked Ten Towns with a horde of humanoids. The towns-folk, barbarians, and heroes defeated the humaniods, and Drizzt overcame the tanar'ri Errtu.

Drizzt and the other members of the band later accompanied Bruenor on his quest to retake his ancestral homeland, Mithral Hall. It was here that Drizzt met for the first time the man who would become his nemesis. The human assassin Artemis Entreri was originally after Regis the halfling, but found his mirror image, and his real foe, in Drizzt. After a battle with Drizzt that proved inconclusive, Artemis kidnapped Regis, and the heroes followed him all the way to the distant southern city of Calimport to rescue their friend. Drizzt and Artemis met once more, but again their was no clear winner.

After rescuing Regis, the heroes returned north and did reconquer Mithral Hall. All seemed peaceful for a time, but then drow spies found a way into Mithral Hall from below and Artemis returned magically disguised as Regis.

Drizzt eventually found where Artemis was holding the real Regis, and the ranger and the assassin again did battle. They were both attacked by drow before any conclusion could be reached, however. They fought again later, and Artemis fell over a cliff. Wulfgar met his end at this time when, caught in the grasp of a handmaiden of Lolth, he used his magical warhammer to collapse the ceiling onto them both.

Drizzt soon decided that he had to return to Menzoberranzan to put an end to the drow meddling in his life, and Catti-brie followed him. The pair eventually discovered that Artemis was still alive and working for the drow-though he suspected he was being used and would be killed as soon as he had done what the drow wanted of him. When the time came to flee back to the surface, the three of them worked together to defeat the drow. Artemis and Drizzt seemed to have come to an accord and parted without further violence.

The same could not be said for Drizzt's other enemies. The drow, the fiend Errtu, and others all conspired in an attempt to bring down Drizzt and Mithral Hall. An army of drow and humanoid slaves invaded, and it took the combined forces of the dwarves, the deep gnomes, and the humans to defeat them.

Deciding again it was time to move on, Drizzt and Catti-brie-whom he came to love-road away from Mithral Hall. From there, they traveled to Waterdeep and gained passage on a boat-the Sea Sprite-set for the southern lands. Attacked by pirates the captain and the two heroes overcame them and began hunting pirates up a down the Sword Coast, becoming infamous to the cutthroats.

Gaining the soul of Wulfgar, Errtu set a trap for Drizzt by calling him back to the north. Meeting the priest Cadderly, Drizzt and Catti-brie were transported by him back to the north. There they found Bruenor and some other dwarves who had returned to their old dwarven mines. From there the heroes ventured out across the sea of move ice to retrieve the soul of Zaknafein-who Drizzt thought was the bait Errtu was using.