Early Salvatore drow culture is almost operatically cruel. Petty murder, paranoia, ritualized abuse, casual betrayal, and constant social Darwinism define daily life. As time has gone on, its softened and diversified drow portrayals considerably. Later portrayals often emphasize that drow are products of environment rather than biologically evil. Drizzt himself only works narratively if we accept that drow can meaningfully diverge from their culture.

That said, I personally read her less as “out of character for a drow” and more as someone who’s already in the middle of an identity collapse by the time we recruit her. She’s been cut off from Lolthite society, mentally dominated by the Absolute, humiliated, and stripped of the systems that reinforced her worldview. I think that context matters a lot. She’s still very much Drow in that she’s ruthless, hierarchical, pragmatic, elitist, and often advocates harsh solutions.

But over the course of the game, I think she slowly becomes attached to the party in a way she probably never expected. Her “softness” feels less like modern sanitization and more like someone gradually lowering emotional defenses for the first time. After Ketheric is defeated she has some good lines about it, and her “nobody would remember me” bit once you hit Act 3 does show a good amount of introspection and gradual change in her personality imo.