Welcome back to the Dragonlance Reread!
The last time we met them, our intrepid heroes had narrowly escaped the clutches of Fewmaster Toade with the help of Gilthanas the elf, who insisted on taking them to fabled elf city of Qualinost. Ah, Qualinost, with its unimaginable beauty, slender spires and magical dwarven metalwork. Our friends are overwhelmed, though Tanis is anxious (of course) about being back, having been run out of there years earlier for some dodgy half-cousin adopted sister lovin’.
“The Speaker of the Suns” and “Tanis and Laurana”
They are asked to see the leader of the elves in the Tower of the Sun but before they do, Tanis convinces Gilthanas to ‘fess up – it seems that Qualinost is dying and there is a change in the air that ‘crackles with tension as before a storm’ as the elves evacuate.
Our lot make themselves presentable to meet the Speaker of the Sun – they wash, Sturm attempts to polish his shield, Goldmoon brushes out her hair (she has a brush?) and they enter a chamber no human has seen in centuries. The Speaker is Tanis’s adopted father, but it seems that he has really aged over the centuries (well, they’re elves, but eventually, even death may die etc etc) and isn’t doing all that well. He asks Gilthanas to tell him what happened when the elves travelled south. Gilthanas obliges, and we are blessed with a flashback that features a magnificent dragon.
It seems that ‘by the cruelest mischief’, Gilthanas, his warriors and their resistance fighter human friends found themselves in the path of the draconian army’s advance patrols. There was much valiant fighting on the part of the good guys, but it is pointless. They are tossed like trash into a ravine, where Gilthanas was rescued and cared for by Druids in the woods(!) who tell him that many of his comrades have been taken prisoner. He travelled to Solace, only to find it burnt (collective gasp from elven community). More importantly, he was in Solace when he saw a red dragon appear in the skies (shock and dismay from elven community) and upon its back was a human male, dressed in the robes of a cleric of the Queen of Darkness, with his face hidden under a horned mask of red and gold resembling a dragon.
This dragonrider, of course, was the very Lord Verminaard, Dragon Highlord of the North (who we have been waiting for some time now). He wasn’t pleased with the elves composure in the face of his fearsome self, and spouted some hate speech about how elves can never be taught the errors of their ways and as the representative of the true gods, he would not be merciful, but will instead destroy all the elves. With this, he commanded Ember the dragon to burn all the elven prisoners (tied to stakes by draconians). This, she did but Gilthanas is saved by Theros Ironfeld, the Solace smith, who later lost an arm for his heroism.
Back to the present… at the mention of Theros’ healing by Goldmoon (remember that?), the Speaker is disdainful, until Goldmoon reveals the medallion she has hidden so far under her cape. He assumes Goldmoon is a blasphemer but the medallion Jedi-stuns him with its flashy blue light when he tries to grab it. At this, the old mage, Fizban, casually saunters up and chides the Speaker for his actions, insisting that Goldmoon tell the story of how she came upon the medallion.
We are thankfully saved yet another lengthy flashback, this time to a story we already know, and the Speaker is convinced. He needs to time to get used to this new information, so he suggests the travellers rest. His daughter, the mighty fine Laurana leads them away, modestly blushing at all their stares because did I mention she’s ridiculously good looking? Like, ridiculously good looking. So much so that even Raistlin with his hourglass eyes can not see anything but her ridiculous good looks. Laurana steals glances at Tanis, who is disturbed by her presence. Trouble is afoot, but not the draconian kind.
Now: Laurana and Tanis. Tanis and Laurana. Oh the drama. After she has led the gang to a sun-dappled grove of prettiness in the heart of the city to feed them, she makes sure they are each comfortable, exchanging kind words with most of them and thanking Tika for saving her brother’s life (weird – see below). She then follows Tanis into the woods, where he has been standing angstily, being pensive and sullen and generally Tanis-like, staring at a ‘foaming stream alone, tossing dead leaves into the water’. Oh the emo-ness.
Laurana assumes Tanis is back to be with her and kisses him, even attempting to accept his scratchy human beard. She reminds him that they are betrothed, that she told Gilthanas about them (she tells him everything), and she is certain that their relationship will now be accepted. Tanis tells her that this is not true and that his return was an accident. Plus, he’s in love with a human woman and though he loves Laurana too, he can’t be with her. He asks her to ‘release’ him and she shrieks, chucks the ring he returns to her in the forest (where Tas picks it up, because… Tas), and storms off.
Meanwhile, Gilthanas is okay with this, telling Tanis that his human half will always be attracted to humans too. He doesn’t want to talk about it anymore though, oh no.
Monster(s) of the Week
A new dragon, and Lord Verminaard (or at least our first detailed eye witness account of Lord V).
Notable Quotes
‘I am Verminaard, Dragon Highlord of the North. I have fought to free this land and these people from the false beliefs spread by those who call themselves Seekers. Many have come to work for me, pleased to further the great cause of the Dragon Highlords. I have shown them mercy and graced them with the blessings of my goddess has granted me. Spells of healing I posses, as do no others in this land, and therefore you know that I am the representative of the true gods.’
This Lord V, he’s a real scenery chewer, isn’t he?
Mahvesh’s Take
These are a weird couple of chapters, aren’t they? I’m so torn by them – I greatly enjoyed the flashback for its overbearing drama and Gilthanas’ clear eagerness at being the centre of attention when telling the story but also for the first eyewitness account of Lord Verminaard and his dragon Ember. We’ve heard plenty of mention of Verminaard so far, but no one has actually seen him. Well, maybe they still haven’t, not really, since he is seen by Gilthanas wearing a dragon-face mask. I did really love Verminaard’s little villain speech – imagine that being shouted down at you from the back of a dragon! Khaleeli has some stuff to learn from our Lord V.
My main concern with these chapters is, of course, this Tanis and Laurana drama. (Tanarana?) It’s all just very odd. We know that Tanis and she had a thing, even though they are sort of siblings by adoption. We know that her brother was unhappy about this (you dont say) and we know that Tanis was sort of run out of town too. So now that he’s taken back to Qualinost, I was expecting something…more dramatic than what feels like a teen breakup. But it seems that the Speaker is still not aware of Tanis and Laurana’s awkward relationship, because he says Laurana ‘has missed her childhood playmate’, which makes me cringe. It makes Gilthanas annoyed of course, and makes me wonder why Tanis’ adopted father really hadn’t clued into what was going on between his two ‘children’. In fact, Gilthanas didn’t know until Laurana told him either. Just how clandestine was this relationship anyway?!
I’m worried by Laurana too. I didn’t remember her being so childlike. She’s even referred to as that and it’s a bit creepy. Sure, she’s beautiful but what else is she? I have this strange sense that she’s a pretty empty vessel, the perfect host, considerate and beautiful like a Stepford Wife. I really hope there’s more to her in the future. Right now I’m even finding it strange that she treats Tanis so lovingly given he vanished on her years ago. She’s been waiting all this time? What on earth for? Oh, right, for Tanis.
Aside: where did these Druids come from? Do they just hang out in the woods? Where do they stand in this war? I am uncertain of how this society works. Why are the elves so upset about Solace being burnt? Have I missed something about how much they loved Solace? I mean, sure, there’s massive loss of life and general sadness but their wailing at the news seems a little…dramatic. Are elves just very dramatic? They are also destroying what they can not take with them when they evacuate Qualinost. That seems needlessly harsh and dramatic, doesn’t it? Is this where Tanis gets all his angst from? Oh the questions.
Jared’s Take
If we’ve done nothing else over the course of this reread, we’ve introduced the ship-name ‘Tanarana’ into fandom. This makes me so happy.
I also agree with Mahvesh – Laurana is really creepy right now – doing things “shyly” and “maidenly” and with “childlike grace” (a weird phrase anyway, I absolutely adore my niece and nephews, but they run into things a lot) and being the picture of demure beauty. Even Tika, who we know is an innocent (also, ick) feels awkward and underdressed and, well, slutty around her. Laurana’s a different archetype, an extra-creepy combination of Goldmoon’s ethereal beauty and Tika’s childishness. I get her purpose: she is too perfect; a sort of innocence that represents the world that Tanis left behind. But, wow. Bleh.
That said, here’s something that I missed the first thousand times I’ve read this book – “[Laurana’s] skin was smooth and woodland brown.”
Here’s ‘woodland brown’:
Here’s Laurana (center), from the cover of Dragons of Winter Night:
Granted, the ‘hair like honey’ is still accurate, but even if ‘woodland brown’ means a bit tan, that seems to have been lost in the artistic translation. I’m guessing ‘a bit tan’ is probably the original intent as well, but, hell, we’re going with the written word here, so guess what, Laurana, you’re now one of the most significant WOC in 1980s fantasy fiction. Congratulations!
Giving credit where it is due – Theros, mentioned in this write-up, is one of the first few POC I ever remember reading as a child. It is a shame his story is largely (no pun intended) marginalised, as he’s got a significant role to play. Er. Spoilers.
Although if we are going to talk race in Dragonlance, isn’t the big bucket of worms Raistlin? He actually changes, due to magic, from locked-in-the-library-pale to perma-bronze. And society – including his closest friends – look at him differently because of his skin colour. On one hand, he’s actually a proper, identifiable, non-white, non-stereotypical protagonist that readers could identify with – and his magical refraculation makes him someone that everyone connected with. On the other hand, the way his skin colour is part of his ‘otherness’ raises a lot of questions about the default assumptions of Krynn – a gameworld, mind you, where race is a quantifiable, measurable, statistical thing, and colour (in the case of the dragons, for example) determines your very mindset.
That’s a lot to deal with, so let’s, um, move on. Boy, the flashback is fun, isn’t it? Dragonsplosion! Scenery chewing! Verminaard living up to his villainous billing! That’s why we paid the cost of admission, darnit. None of the Tanisfeels and Tanarana angsting. Geez.
Mahvesh loves dystopian fiction & appropriately lives in Karachi, Pakistan. She writes about stories & interviews writers the Tor.com podcast Midnight in Karachi when not wasting much too much time onTwitter.
Jared Shurin is an editor for Pornokitsch and the non-profit publisher Jurassic London.
Having originally read this between the ages of 10 and 12, and only re-reading with nostalgia coloured glasses since, this critical thinking approach is really bumming me out, sigh…….at least Raistlin is still awesome.
Random memory: Your mention of Tas picking up the ring made me flash back… sometime in grade school, we had a writing assignment where one of two or three options was “write an extra chapter to a book you’ve loved.” I chose Dragonlance, of course, and I’m pretty sure it had to do with Tas and the ring Laurana tossed away and he picked up because, Tas. I can’t remember WHAT specifically, or where.
Also, yes, I think Druids do pretty much just live in the woods. This is AD&D and back then that’s pretty much all my circle thought of them… they’re the cleric-like people who live in the woods and love nature and turn into animals yet also occasionally go adventuring. I was a druid quite a few times.
As for Solace: I think you mentioned in a previous chapter that they had a reference to some population of Elves living in Solace (that were rounded up to show how horrible the bad guys are), so that’s probably one thing. The second is… Elves are big on living in harmony with nature, and so a human town where the houses are built up in the trees might be pretty much the only human city they actually have any affection for and would mourn the loss of (and it would make sense for elves who did want to live among humans to choose there over anywhere else). Also, late breaking addition, I just googled Solace on a Dragonlance wiki where I found out apparently it was founded as a Qualinesti settlement, but given up by the elves because it was too far from their territory to effectively defend… that was probably a later addition to the canon, but still, kind of explains a few things.
the color of Raistlins skin has nothing to do with how the companions thought of him, even Caramon was afraid of what is brother could do. They might all have listened to his advice (through Tanis), because they knew he was intelligent, but they knew long before his skin color change that Raistlin was for Raistlin
As for the elves feeling sorry for the loss of Solace, it wasn’t really the town, or the people, it was the trees themselves. They revered the trees because they were one of the few living things that outlived an elf
There wasn’t a population of elves in Solace, the elves mentioned in that chapter were Gilthanas’ fighters that were taken captive.
And yes, as Samadai says, they were mourning for the trees(I’m pretty sure that’s even pointed out in this chapter)
@1: Awww. Sorry. The point isn’t to ruin the fun. We still love the series too! It can be both flawed and wonderful. At least, it is to both of us.
@2: This is totally bonkers, but I’m almost positive there’s a reference in the gamebooks to the fact that there are no druids in Krynn (at least in 1e? 2e?). I’ll have to track it down, because that’s a weird conflict with the book itself. Unless they just mean, you know, “druids”. Clerics that really like trees, as opposed to the specific class.
@3: I’m not sure about this. The books (so far) imply Raist (we’re on a nickname basis, obviously) was always a bit… well… nerdy (he never liked the games, or physical stuff, and was always smarter). But his physical transformation at the start of this book is genuinely shocking, and Tanis very clearly no longer trusts him. He may have been awkward before hand, but now, post-Test, he’s genuinely something ‘other’.
@everyone: Poor trees.
Now that you mention it, I think you might be right. Since druids (I believe) did have some healing spells, even though they were nature-focused, they were probably forbidden from the Dragonlance setting (at least, from the Cataclysm up till the Chronicles), because if somebody who didn’t have a god but just worshipped “Nature” as Druids tended to, had real but non-sorcerous magic, it sort of undermines a lot of the plot about nobody ever finding real healing. So I guess it’s either a mistake, or the authors just meant it a herbalist who lives in the woods and knows some simple medicine and is called a druid because that’s the closest word they have for that.
Yay! Laurana at last! It’s amazing how much better these books get after she shows up.
Anyway, lots to say about your comments this week, so I’ll get right at it.
In regards to the Speaker and Gilthanas not knowing about the Tanis-Laurana relationship, last weeks chapters made it pretty clear that the Speaker at least had some idea about what was going on. Here’s the relevant quote from the book:
“It was only in later years, as he watched with growing unease the developing relationship between his beloved daughter and the bastard half-elf, that he began to regret his decision.”
So I think what the Speaker didn’t know was that the relationship had gotten so serious that Tanis and Laurana were pledged to each other.
In regards to the allegations of Laurana being “creepy”, I must admit I’m astonished by both of your reactions as my read was Laurana was a total sweetheart in these chapters. She was friendly to the Companions, was very kind to Tika and helped make her feel better about herself (despite Tika initially radiating hostility at her), and did not show even the slightest trace of the racism and classism that is so prevalent among so many Dragonlance elves. Likewise with Tanis, Laurana’s actions demonstrated she was a passionate and faithful partner. Those are all good qualities, so where are you all getting “creepy” from?
(Now the Companions acted pretty creepy. Tika was downright nasty in how she behaved when Laurana first appeared, and it was pretty classless of Tanis and Sturm to be so openly gushing about Laurana’s beauty in front of Goldmoon and Tika. But Laurana is hardly at fault for how other people react to the mere sight of her.)
And on that note as to Tika I didn’t get the feeling that she was feeling “slutty” in Laurana’s presence just dumpy and unattractive.
Likewise in regards to Laurana waiting all this time for Tanis, I have to again stress that 9 years for an elf is probably only equivalent to 2 years for a human. It’s not an insignificant amount of time but it’s not a ridiculously long time either, especially in a medieval world with long travel times and no reliable long range communication. (And for that matter Goldmoon waited 10 years for Riverwind to come back to her, which is a much bigger chunk of her life than Laurana spent waiting for Tanis to return.)
In regards to the elves destroying everything in Qualinost that they can’t take with them, what is wrong with that? That is a pretty standard (and sensible) tactic when your land is being conquered. You destroy what you can’t take with you, so as to deny the conqueror supplies and profit from their conquest. Frankly it would be immoral for them not to destroy everything they can’t take with them, because anything they leave behind will just help fuel the Dragonarmies’ future campaigns.
As for Laurana’s skin being woodland brown, IIRC there is exactly one more reference (in Dragons of Winter Night) to Laurana having tanned skin. Other than that she is hereafter consistently described as pale or having alabaster skin. (With Kitiara even mocking Laurana in Dragons of the Hourglass Mage by saying, “She’s so pale, and all one color, like bread dipped in milk.”) Thus the artwork seems accurate for the later descriptions of Laurana. Not really sure why the authors changed Laurana’s skin tone like that, but assuming elven skin works similar to human skin then forest-dwelling elves probably should be fair skinned, since they would not get much sunlight living in the forests and thus would do better with light skin since light skin is better at synthesizing Vitamin D in low sunlight environments.
Then there is the Tanis-Laurana break-up scene. While Tanis has been mostly tolerable up to this point in the novel, this scene is where I really begin to dislike him. Since I already discussed last week how awful Tanis was to Laurana in cheating on her and ghosting her, I won’t rehash all that now. And for the moment I’ll even give Tanis a pass on his idiocy in preferring Kitiara to Laurana. (Even at this point in the novel, with Tanis not knowing that Kitiara is a Dragon Highlord, preferring Kitiara to Laurana is insane. However, at this point at least Tanis’s preference for Kitiara is simply a catastrophic failure of taste on Tanis’s part rather than a moral failing, and thus Tanis should be pitied for his appalling judgment rather than hated.) But even putting those matters aside, Tanis was horrible in the break-up scene. Lets just look at everything he does here.
First he tries to puts the blame on Laurana’s father for why he can’t be with her. That’s wrong for two reasons. First we know it is a lie. (Once Tanis decides he does want to be with Laurana, he doesn’t give a seconds thought to the fact that her family might not approve of the relationship so obviously her family’s disapproval was not actually a serious concern to Tanis.) And second, it is a hurtful thing to say because if Laurana believes Tanis’s claim, it is very likely to damage her relationship with her family. (How is she going to think well of her father, if she believes her father is the reason she can’t be with the man she loves.)
Then Tanis gets exasperated with Laurana for her not being instantly ok with him dropping a massive bombshell on her.
Then in what was probably the cruelest and most cowardly thing Tanis does here, after telling Laurana he was in love with Kitiara, he turns around and tells her he loves her too. Why would he do such a thing? If you are breaking up with someone then there is absolutely no good reason to tell them that you love them. All that can do is give them hope that the relationship can still be salvaged.
Afterwhich Tanis lies to Laurana yet again, by telling her that his “heart is divided.” How do we know this is a lie? Well, lets go back to Tanis’s thoughts from Book 1, Chapter 9.
“Why had he gotten involved, when all he wanted was to find Kitiara and tell her his mind was made up- he loved her and wanted her. He could accept her human frailties as he had learned to accept his own.”
That shows pretty clearly that at this point in the story at least, Tanis’s heart is not divided. He’s made his choice, and it’s Kitiara. And as such Tanis is lying to Laurana here and as with him telling her he loves her, it is a cowardly, cruel action that can serve no purpose except to cause Laurana more pain.
So an utterly contemptible performance by Tanis with him treating Laurana horribly and proving himself to be a complete creep.
@bguy
It’s not that Laurana herself is creepy it’s the voyeuristic way the writers present her here, with all the emphasis on her “childlike” beauty. This was a big factor in my initial read on her, which was one of dislike(I’ve since come around and she’s one of my favorite characters, after Tas).
Tika was downright nasty in how she behaved when Laurana first appeared
IIRC, isn’t Tika mainly concerned that she has a bustline, vs Laurana’s svelte and modestly clothed frame?
@9: Was there really emphasis on Laurana’s “childlike” beauty though? There is an extended paragraph describing Laurana’s beauty, but nothing in it describes her as appearing childlike in the slightest. And indeed the word “childlike” only appears once in this entire chapter where it is being used to describe not how Laurana looks but how she is walking. “Moving with childlike grace”. I agree that was a poor adjective choice (by context the authors probably really meant “delicate”), but it isn’t really suggesting Laurana appears particularly childlike. And indeed in an upcoming chapter, Tanis specifically notes that, “Laurana had been a girl when he left. He returned to find a woman- a very beautiful, desirable woman.” That would seem to mean Laurana’s beauty is very much that of an adult woman.
IIRC, isn’t Tika mainly concerned that she has a bustline, vs Laurana’s svelte and modestly clothed frame?
Well here’s what it said.
“All Tika knew was that, looking at Laurana, she felt suddenly dumpy and half-dressed, freckled and red-headed. She tugged her blouse up higher over her full bosom, wishing it didn’t reveal quite so much or that she had less to reveal.”
The references to feeling dumpy, freckled, and red-headed all suggest Tika feels unattractive compared to Laurana. The references to Tika’s bustline is more ambiguous, but it still came across to me more as Tika feeling bulky compared to Laurana rather than Tika feeling like she was being considered a slut.
And what’s downright nasty about that?
@11: The nasty wasn’t that. It was her shoving Tasslehoff just for saying he thought Laurana was pretty.
I have always taken Raistlin’s bronze skin literally, assuming he now looks somewhat metallic, which would be creepy.
@12 I thought she was cross with Tas for sayings what she was sure Caramon was thinking.
@13: Agreed, but that reason makes Tika’s action ever nastier. She physically attacked someone half her size because she was angry at someone else.
The way I understood it, Raistlin isn’t feared because he now has a different skin color: he’s feared because his skin is now metallic. It doesn’t look natural whatsoever.