Quote Originally Posted by ti'esar View Post
'Why' is a mystery (and one not likely to be solved, since I think Zz'dtri is probably not going to survive this fight, let alone this book), but the fact that he's doing it in the first place shouldn't be in question.

As theNater points out, it's not as if tailoring his build to fight V is worthless against other wizards. And saying that V isn't particularly powerful seems questionable, seeing as she's at least fifteenth level - that's not a common thing in a lot of settings, and doesn't seem to be here.

Edit: On second thought, isn't getting him dragged off by lawyers a decent reason to hold a grudge? I'm not sure if anything more complicated then that is needed, especially since drow have been traditionally characterized as putting a high value on revenge.
I believe that Z's quote there is likely a part of his attempt to psychologically undermine V, as was suggested by Qarr here. Z was actually fairly successful in getting under V's skin and who knows how would the duel go if Z was more wordy.

If Z really started to modify his build just out of grudge towards V, it happened after his first defeat, when they were both around level 11, which is not as powerful.

Even minor characters in the comics have some depth, so the idea that a moderately important antagonist is a mere spiteful, revenge-obsessed fool doesn't ring right with me.