Charles Marlow
Marlow's name may be inspired by the Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe. Conrad's father was a translator of William Shakespeare who doubtless would have known of Marlowe's work as well. Some intertextual interpretations of "Heart of Darkness" have suggested that Marlowe's "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus" may have influenced Conrad. Charles Marlow describes a character as a "papier-mache Mephistopheles", a reference to the Faust legend. Marlow's and Kurtz's journey up the Congo River in "Heart of Darkness" also has similarities to another work by Marlowe, "Dido, Queen of Carthage", in which Aeneas is stranded on the shore of Libya and meets the African queen Dido.
Drizzt Do'Urden
Drizzt is the main character in only two books of the "Paths of Darkness" series. "The Silent Blade" (1998) describes the group's journey to permanently destroy the Crystal Shard. "Sea of Swords" (2001) continues Drizzt's story after the events of "The Spine of the World" (1999), which focuses on Wulfgar, and "Servant of the Shard" (2000), which has Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle as the main characters. "Sea of Swords" covers the companions' search for Wulfgar's lost magical warhammer, Aegis-fang, and the reunion of the group after an extended separation.