Also idk how canon the wiki is because im sorry im not going to read. Who knows how many books and novels and campaigns worth of stuff to create my own version of the plot
but I choose to interpret Lolth and her "fall" as the very reflection of sexism that DnD used to have.
So I interpret Lolth, before she fell, as a woman who had married a man but was only ever considered a "consort" (at least the wiki never specifies if he actually considers her his wife? But makes clear that he is her husband) and as such always had felt belittled. Never truly equal to him and so it bread resentment.
This resentment came from her feeling that she wasn't truly equal to her partner in the way that he required of her and so she would find power, obtain it, and prove to him that she was of equal if not greater than him. This did lead her to looking into more of the infernal and demonic magics but it was by her own free will she had done so.
I want to believe she wasn't "corrupted" by the demons and people she had entwined herself with to obtain the unholy and demonic power but instead learned from them and obtained it through her own right.
As it makes her descent wholly her consequence.
Due to this fall though she would reach out to other elves, people she had ruled over before she had fell into the demon web pits and offered them a way out of their similarly oppressive male-dominated nature.
By creating drow in a similarity to spiders she would place female/femininity above the patriarchy and establish a matriarchy among her new followers so that she, and her people, wouldn't suffer the same as she had.
Although, she would lack the foresight to realize she was doing the exact same as her ex-husband had to her only flipping the script.
By making women more physically powerful, bigger, and overall stronger in some aspects biologically she challenged the established patriarchies of the underdark and other civilizations of how they ruled. Of course Lolth was not without fault and her aspect as a goddess of Chaos would come back to bite her.
As she needed chaos to thrive, and so had her people create as much of it as possible. Justifying starting wars, infighting, and sending them to the surface to wreak havok as a way to grow her power and also establish bonds between the powerful and cull out any weaker forces among her ranks. Since Lolth needed power. She needed to never feel weak compare to her fellow gods and goddesses so that no one could put her in a position she had been in before feeling lesser than others.
of course this is a self destructive behavior and her attempt to ascend, the silence of lolth, would backfire horribly for her.
After all, no one tells you how to be a goddess and after being stripped of her power and scrambling to find shreds of her godhood again in the demon web pits she struggled and was unsure how to proceed.
Drow now have learned to be more tolerant of their fellow male counterparts, even allowing the ruling house males to rule over important parts of the city. It's a small change but one that Lolth doesn't know how to handle, much less face, as times nd social standing change. Worried she is losing her grip and control, terrified especially with how more male drow start this revolution against her and her tyrany that it would end the same as it had been before she attempts to keep as many followers close and ingrained with her ideals as possible.
In my view Lolth is a woman/Goddess who had been scorned while in marriage, but took the most extreme route to solve this issue and instead caused the same pain that was inflicted upon her. A Goddess that has to struggle with how her children / the people she created now are moving on, moving past her, and bettering themselves in a way she can't understand and grapple or has extreme difficulty in grappling.
Yes, she is evil. Yes she had harmed many people and took advantage of many, and doesn't regret her decisions but she also is a Goddess attempting to keep power and learn of self worth when not compared to other Goddesses and Gods who continuously shame her for having fallen so far, been exiled, and grow in hostility for her simply wanting to be seen as equal and part of one whole, not an attachment to another God.
She's still a badass bitch, but i feel she's more lawful evil than anything as she holds her own ethics and reasoning for things even if the actions she does harms others and even her own people to better herself.
She took an extreme reaction and method to counter her struggle with inequality and while obtained the power she wished ended up creating a race and empire that was not too different from her ex-husband. Showing that neither method, patriarchy or matriarchy, are the "right" way to go and it's cooperation between all that will keep bonds strong
Something Lolth still has yet to learn, if she's ever able to accept it.
discoholicmusic
kianamaiart
tangentwithtanner
stormborns
annaxmalina
baratheonpilled
ellievsbear
