The artist behind Dungeons & Dragons' iconic Red Box illustration has responded to the recent revelation that the unnamed warrior on the cover is female—first by dismissing the claim outright, and then by agreeing that it's in the spirit of both art and D&D to allow for interpretation.
Larry Elmore is one of D&D’s best-known artists. He worked for TSR, the role-playing game’s original publisher, as its first in-house illustrator from 1981 to 1987, and contributed illustrations to D&D mainstays from Dragonlance to adventure modules. The “Red Box” illustration (the 1983 revision of the Dungeons & Dragons Core Set) is arguably Elmore’s most recognizable image, with the illustration of a warrior battling a red dragon (officially titled “Ancient Red” or “The Red Dragon”) becoming the defining image of D&D for many generations.
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For more than 40 years, the Red Box warrior was only seen from behind, until it was revealed earlier this month that accessory maker WizKids would be giving the nameless, faceless warrior a face in a miniature recreation of the character released for D&D's 50th anniversary. Notably, WizKids portrayed the warrior as a muscular woman in an “intentional and clear” way.
Among those who disagreed with the interpretation (an obligatory shout-out to fans in the comments section) was Elmore himself, who insisted that he had painted the warrior as male, after D&D co-creator Gary Gyax explicitly asked him for a male warrior and “something simple that would catch the eye.”
“No one thought she was a warrior. 'Whoever thought she was a warrior is pretty crazy and doesn't know what they're talking about,'” Elmore wrote in a Facebook post. (Thanks, ENWorld.) “This is stupid. I painted it, I should know better.
“If I were a woman you would know because I am quite famous for painting women.”
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Elmore later appeared to soften her reaction, editing her post to agree that while she was “painted as a man” – and implying that her initial response had been a reply to “a question that was asked without context” – others were free to “interpret it however they wanted, because that’s the magic of art”.
Elmore also acknowledged that the very spirit of tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons is to allow their players to make the worlds and characters their own, writing, “What I love about D&D is that anyone can be anything they want in this game. Male, female, both, neither – it doesn't discriminate.
“It’s a game of imagination and you can be and do whatever you want.”
Will this stop the furious response from a bunch of internet fans? Definitely not, but it's at least somewhat heartening to see the artist open up to a new interpretation of a 40-year-old illustration, especially when it involves adding something new to the original artwork in a completely different medium, rather than replacing or erasing something that already existed. Now, if only the rest of the game's fanbase could follow suit, I'm sure their reaction will be measured and reasonable, as always.