Catti-brie

Catti-brie
Forgotten Realms character
In-universe information
Race	Human
Gender	Female
Class	Fighter
Alignment	Neutral Good
Home	Icewind Dale

Catti-brie (spelled in later publications as "Cattie-brie") is a fictional character in the Forgotten Realms setting, based on the Dungeons & Dragons RPG. She is the creation of author R.A. Salvatore.

Development

As the creation of author R.A. Salvatore, she was named after his daughter Caitlin Brielle after the editor suggested The Crystal Shard needed a strong female character.

Overview

Catti-brie's mother died in childbirth, and her father moved with his daughter from Mirabar to Termalaine, one of the Ten Towns. For three years, he was quite successful -- but then a goblin ended the man's life. All of Termalaine might have fallen to a goblin onslaught but for the dwarves of clan Battlehammer rushing from their valley to turn back the horde. Bruenor himself saved the orphan girl from death. When the smoke cleared, he claimed Catti-brie as his adopted daughter.

Catti-brie has no memories of the time before Bruenor took her in, but she had a pleasant childhood with the dwarves. During the five years Wulfgar spent in Bruenor's service, she helped him to break the bonds of his barbarian upbringing and bring out the compassion and intelligence that was inside him. The bond between them continued to grow stronger as they adventured together with Bruenor, Regis, and Drizzt Do'Urden, and at one time were betrothed. But then tragedy struck their relationship when drow seeking the death of Drizzt attacked Mithral Hall, and Wulfgar was captured by Errtu during one of the battles.

Catti-brie was the first person in the Icewind Dale to accept Drizzt, although she was very young when Drizzt came to know her. Catti-brie possesses a stubborn and tough dwarf personality due to her foster-father. Catti-brie was one of the Companions of the Hall, and had a tentative, on-off romance with Drizzt through many of the books. This tension finally culminated in The Two Swords, when Catti-brie and Drizzt finally became lovers.

Catti-brie's dwarven upbringing is clear throughout the series. She is portrayed as having the same accent as the dwarves.

For quite a while Catti-brie mourned the loss of Wulfgar, but as time passed she found herself falling in love with Drizzt. When Wulfgar returned from his apparent death, it caused a great deal of mixed emotions in Catti-brie. Wulfgar fled his friends, eventually finding his own way and accepting Catti-brie's burgeoning relationship with Drizzt (a matter that was finally settled in The Two Swords, the third book in the Hunter's Blades trilogy).

When Regis was being chased by Artemis Entreri Catti-brie was held prisoner by the assassin. After the finding of Mithral Hall she discovered Taulmaril the Heartseeker, Gift of Anariel, Sister of Faerûn, in the destroyed Hall of Dumathoin. For several years she also carried the sentient blade Khazid'hea otherwise known as "Cutter", the sword that she took from the body of Dantrag Baenre, after defeat and death at the hands of Drizzt. Khazid'hea was stolen by an enthralled Delly Curtie, who was shortly after slain by orcs. Drizzt found the weapon, but lost it in a battle with the orc king Obould Many-Arrows. It was recovered by an exiled drow named Tos'un Del'Armgo, who was in league with the orcs.

Catti-brie is a beautiful auburn-haired and green-eyed woman. She is kind, tolerant, and pragmatic. Moreover, Catti-brie has grown into the emotional compass for her adventuring companions, guiding both Drizzt and Wulfgar into wise action with her common sense and clear insight. While originally she grew to the age of late 30s to early 40s, in The Hunter's Blades trilogy R. A. Salvatore put both Catti-brie and Wulfgar in their late 20s. This is not unheard of, however, as even Drizzt Do'Urden was originally some 200 years old in Salvatore's first Drizzt books (The Icewind Dale Trilogy), and since changed to around 78 years old as he is now. Undoubtedly this is a result of the writer's attempt to keep the main characters alive and appealing to the book's target audience. However R. A. Salvatore explains this as rewriting The Icewind Dale Trilogy to fit with The Dark Elf Trilogy.

In combat, Catti-brie usually supported her friends with Taulmaril and her limitless supply of arrows. She was not hesitant about entering melee, however, and would charge into combat with Khazid'hea at the ready, generally confident in her ability to dominate the blade. However, she was recently wounded by a giant-thrown boulder during the defense of Mithril Hall from the legions of Obould Many-Arrows. This lasting injury has forced her to largely forgo the use of traditional melee weaponry, being physically unable to fight as she once did. To compensate, she has instead started learning magic under the tutelage of the illusionist Nanfoodle and Lady Alustriel.

Weapons

Taulmaril the Heartseeker

Taulmaril was a gift to the Mithral Hall dwarves by Lady Anariel, Sister of Faerûn. The bow is made of wood enspelled not to break or scratch, and the quiver held 20 silver arrows (which can magically teleport back to the quiver); when one was used the quiver magically replaced it. The bow was used by Catti-brie. Part of the weapon's enchantment (passed to the arrows when they're fired by it) is that the arrows are imbued with crackling energy in flight that causes them to deal far more damage than would be typical for a normal arrow. The energy is probably electrical in nature, as it scorches targets, can set flammables alight, but does not seem to have any particularly enhanced effect upon cold-based creatures.

Another property of Taulmaril the Heartseeker is that the arrow, when fired from the bow, travels at super high speeds compared to a normal bow, allowing it to blast through enemies even when they have armor.

Khazid'hea (Cutter)

Khazid'hea was the evil sentient blade she wielded during The Legacy period, the blade with a wicked design all of its own and with the ability to communicate with its user and the ability to change the shape of its own hilt; furthermore the super sharp blade could cut through solid stone. Khazid'hea could easily take over the minds of others in its search to be wielded by the dark elf ranger Drizzt Do'Urden, by its measure the greatest fighter in the world. Catti-brie, however, was able to overcome the sword and put it to deadly use, though soon after this Khazid'hea left the hands of Catti-brie and after some time led to the death of Delly Curtie, Wulfgar's wife, and after that fell into the hands of another drow elf. Khazid'hea's ego, it seems, could not stand Catti-brie's use of Taulmaril.

Later in the Legacy of the Drow series, specifically Starless Night, after Drizzt killed Dantrag Baenre his sword, Khazid'hea, came into Catti-brie's hands when Drizzt refused, saying, "I favor the scimitar", because the sword's hilt took the shape of a unicorn's head, the symbol of Mielikki.

The sword's name, Khazid'hea, literally means cutter in the drow language.

The Blade itself is sentient in nature, wishing for only the best to wield it. Or it will take over the mind of the "owner", as evidenced by the use of Delly Curtie, Wulfgar's wife, and subsequently several Orcs, to get to Drizzt Do'Urden in the book The Two Swords.

In other media

Catti-brie will appear in Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance as one of the four playable characters.

Reception

In the Io9 series revisiting older Dungeons & Dragons novels, Rob Bricken commented that "The Crystal Shard's biggest crime by far is its scarcity of female characters; only one has a name and dialogue. That would be Bruenor’s adopted human daughter Cattie-Brie, who, even though Drizzt calls her his soulmate in chapter one, gets only a few dozen lines", although he noted that "I know for a fact that Salvatore's writing—included his female characters; thankfully, Cattie-Brie even eventually joins Bruenor, Drizzt, and Wulfgar on their adventures in later books—improved over time." In reviewing the sequel, Bricken commented that "this time Cat is a real protagonist and needs a reason to stay part of the story, with as well-rounded a personality and as much development as the other main characters. This is a massive improvement, although her character arc starts out rough. Basically, despite being a very proficient warrior herself, she’s so terrified of the assassin she can't do anything, to the point she occasionally doesn't even need to be tied up. Finally, she gets ahold of herself and starts doing the "sow seeds of distrust among the captors" shtick. However, when she does escape, she becomes a badass equal to the others (well, not Drizzt, only Artemis is on par with Drizzt). She manages to trap the golem under a rock pile during her flight, catching up with the others right before they enter Mithral Hall for the final act."