Regis (jokingly called "Rumblebelly" by Bruenor Battlehammer), the halfling from the Forgotten Realms, is a major character in R. A. Salvatore's series of novels detailing the adventures of the drow ranger Drizzt Do'Urden.

Description

He is the least martially capable of the Heroes of Icewind Dale (a forgivable fact when one considers that the others are Drizzt himself, the mighty barbarian Wulfgar, the dwarven king Bruenor Battlehammer, and a gifted archer named Catti-Brie). He mainly plays his part by using a magical ruby pendant to influence the minds of others. He does carry a small mace, however, and has used it on occasion, usually to speed things along when his new "pets" (those controlled by the ruby pendant) are losing.

He obtained the pendant by stealing it from Pasha Pook, head of the thieves' guild in Calimshan. Regis had once been one of the finest thieves in the guild, until he set his eyes on the forbidden fruit that was the Pasha's powerful pendant. After stealing it, he fled north to the farthest reaches of Faerûn, beyond the Spine of the World mountains to Icewind Dale, where he befriended Drizzt and Bruenor.

Regis made a good living in the harsh Ten-Towns region, carving scrimshaw out of the bones of knucklehead trout, before joining Bruenor in his quest to reclaim Mithril Hall.

Regis was born in or near Calimport far to the south. His earliest recollections are of a childhood spent on the streets, begging and stealing. Eventually Regis caught the eye of Pasha Pook, master of the most powerful of the city's many thieves' guilds. Regis did not disappoint his new master, but he became greedy. When Regis discovered Pook used a magic ruby pendant in his dealings, Regis stole it and then had to go on the run from Pook. Pook proved more determined than Regis anticipated though, and wherever he went, Pook's men soon followed.

Regis' flight finally brought him to the frigid climes of Icewind Dale, where he believed not even Pook's hired thugs could find him. There he befriended Bruenor Battlehammer and Drizzt Do'Urden, often reluctantly joining them in one adventure after another. After a time, the assassin Artemis Entreri tracked Regis down. During the treck through the, then duergar controlled, Mithril Hall Artemis stole him back to Calimport. Regis' friends tracked the assassin back to the streets of the Calimshan Kingdoms principal city, rescued their halfling friend, and killed Pasha Pook. Drizzt defeated Artemis Entreri in the sewers beneath the guildhouse seemingly ending the threat from the skilled assassin, leaving him crippled and broken. Regis remained in Calimport for a time, but he was eventually driven out and back to his friends by Entreri. Regis has since settled into his life of adventure by his friends' sides and become a chief advisor to King Bruenor Battlehammer.

In the book "The Lone Drow", while Bruenor Battlehammer is on his deathbed, Regis becomes the steward of Mithril Hall, and eventually finds a way to save Bruenor's life.

Regis is barely 3 feet tall and so chubby he's earned the nickname "Rumblebelly," bestowed by Bruenor and the usage has spread. He enjoys nothing so much as comfortable living. He can be quite subtle and equally crafty, though he is by no means cruel in any way. He has also grown wise over the course of his many misadventures and gained an ability to see things his friends often miss. Regis abhors violence and will do his best to avoid it. However, when he must enter battle, he tries to support his allies with sneak attacks against their enemies.

There is a small reference to Regis in the popular PC game Neverwinter Nights expansion, Shadows of Undrentide. When the main hero speaks with a merchant in Hilltop Forest and asks if the merchant has any rare items, he speaks of a halfling with a ruby pendant, that the halfling never meant to sell it, and that he just kept playing with it. He regrets the bad deal he had made with the halfling. Although he never declares his name, it is a definite suggestion that Regis had been there and had used his Ruby Pendant to persuade the man.

In his past adventures with his friends, he has kept himself to the back. But, in more recent adventures, he has become more daring and braver, even helping plan the defenses of Mithril Hall when the drow invaded in the "Legacy of the Drow" book series.

His main piece of adventuring equipment is a mace made for him by Bruenor. However, he is notorious for using his ruby pendant to manipulate the thoughts of others, getting them to see things "his way", which has gotten him into trouble as often as it has gotten him out of it. Also, he had once used Artemis Enteri's dagger to kill one cocky drow.