Dungeons & Dragons & Novels: Revisiting Dragons of Spring Dawning

I don’t suppose it’s presumptuous of me to have assumed that Dragons of Spring Dawning, the third novel in Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman’s beloved first Dragonlance trilogy, would closely characteristic… effectively, dragonlances. These books kicked off the brand-new Dungeons & Dragons marketing campaign setting, launched the dragon-filled world of Krynn, and chronicled the epic War of the Lance through which our heroes needed to face the evil dragon goddess Takhisis. Also, the collection is known as Dragonlance. And but one way or the other, Spring Dawning is generally dragonlance-free.

Alas, it’s not the one disappointment to be discovered within the remaining quantity of the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy, neither is it the one baffling choice made by Weis and Hickman within the e book. Spring Dawning ceaselessly reads if it was a rush job, the place the duo didn’t have time to completely suppose out the plot and was compelled to make use of a wide range of deus ex machinas to maintain the story churning. This actually could effectively have been the case, as Spring Dawning was printed in September of 1985, a mere two months after the earlier novel, Dragons of Winter Night. (Dragons of Autumn Twilight, for the report, got here out in November of 1984.)

Let me clarify. The main journey of the novel is Tanis and his comrades’ try and convey Berem—aoka the Green Gem Man—to the Temple of Takhisis at Neraka so he can do one thing that may assist seal the goddess away once more. Takhisis is well-aware of Berem and sends her draconian armies and dragons to search out him, as a result of if she will get her claws on him, she’ll be free and unbeatable. It’s exhausting to get too invested in Berem as a personality or his journey as a result of we’ve spent no earlier time with him—he was barely in both of the primary two books and by no means spoke a line of dialogue, so the invention that he’s the McGuffin that’s going to save lots of the world isn’t satisfying. And it’s even much less satisfying while you study the rationale why he’s the McGuffin, later within the e book: hundreds of years in the past, he and his sister noticed a jeweled column within the woods. In true Smeagol trend, Berem was consumed by greed, tried to seize a jewel, and by accident knocked his sister down and killed her. Apparently, the column had imprisoned Takhisis and the removing of the gem allowed the goddess a bit little bit of freedom, which is why she’s inflicting bother within the current. But all it’s going to take to save lots of the world is to take a little bit of super-glue and sticking the gem again on the column. It all feels fairly banal, particularly in comparison with throwing essentially the most highly effective enchanted merchandise on the planet into an open volcano.

In one among his makes an attempt to remain out of the fingers of the forces of Takhisis, Berem sails his ship, together with Tanis, Raistlin, Caramon, Tika, Riverwind, and Goodmoon, immediately right into a lethal maelstrom in the midst of the ocean the place the ship breaks and so they all get sucked into the whirlpool. Weis and Hickman take their time returning to their storyline as if anybody studying would imagine they’d killed greater than half of the trilogy’s major characters within the first few chapters of the e book, however the best way the authors write themselves out of the nook stinks. Suddenly, sea elves exist, and regardless that they don’t care concerning the floor world, apparently they sometimes rescue drowning folks by taking them to the conveniently positioned historical metropolis stuffed with breathable air on the underside of the seabed. When the ocean elves return Tanis and the others to the floor, the heroes don’t even bear in mind what occurred to them. The shipwreck is solely for shock worth, however the deus ex machina robs it of its energy, and the reminiscence wipe makes it a complete waste of time.

However, my least favourite second in Spring Dawning—and possibly in all the trilogy—is when Kitiara sends a message to Laurana, who has been kicking the draconian asses of Takhisis’ forces all throughout Krynn. She’s a tactical genius, all of the disparate teams below her management imagine in her absolutely, and he or she’s generally known as the “Golden General” to her troops and the townsfolk. Unfortunately, all these battles nearly solely occur as asides, and these are the one battles through which folks really experience on good dragons whereas wielding dragonlances, in order that they’re solely within the e book by proxy (minus a single scene the place a hapless Tasslehoff and Flint get drawn right into a dragon-fight and have to determine how you can use the lance). The War of the Lance is mainly decreased to a short montage.

But I used to be speaking concerning the message Kitiara sends to Laurana, which states Tanis is dying and desires to see the elf-general earlier than he dies. All Laurana must do is convey an evil commander she’d captured for a hostage trade and to come back alone. Laurana provides no proof that she has Tanis, and Tas and Flint clarify repeatedly that they know Kitiara and he or she’s undoubtedly mendacity—however ignoring the warfare, the pivotal position she performs in it, the troops that want her in command, and the folks she’s supposed to guard, Laurana goes anyway, like she’s the moon-eyed woman from Autumn Twilight. She’s captured immediately, in fact. Again, it’s like Weis and Hickman knew they wished Laurana on the Temple of Takhisis for the ultimate act however got 10 minutes to brainstorm on a narratively satisfying manner they may make it occur, and that is the most effective they may give you. Oh, additionally, Kitiara tells all of the mixed forces of fine they’ve three weeks to unequivocally give up and let the literal embodiment of evil rule over Krynn or Laurana will likely be killed. Admittedly, Laurana was extraordinarily good at her job, however why would they select everlasting darkness and subjugation over a single particular person? Why would the forces of evil suppose they might? It’s simply dumb.

There are nonetheless a number of issues that work in Spring Dawning, nonetheless! Tanis’ self-loathing is much more palatable when he has concrete causes for it, specifically the very fact he begins the novel actually sleeping with the enemy, and I feel his twisted relationship with Kitiara feels authentically self-destructive. It makes his character arc extra satisfying, and it pays off effectively within the story’s remaining act, when he makes use of his poisonous relationship to rejoin the forces of evil in hopes of liberating Laurana.

Speaking of evil, that is the e book the place Raistlin lastly goes full black robes, first by teleporting himself off the maelstrom-bound ship, abandoning everybody else, together with his devastated twin brother Caramon. Still, Weis and Hickman handle to present the brand new black mage shades of grey by having him be a part of the forces of Takhisis, solely to assist Tanis kill the goddess’ strongest acolyte, Emperor Ariakis. Then Raistlin permits Berem to return the gem to the column to lock the divine dragon away. Sure, he makes clear he’s finished all of this as a result of it’s made him essentially the most highly effective pressure of evil on Krynn, however then he nonetheless saves Tasslehoff and Tika from demise. He’s evil, however he nonetheless has a delicate facet in there someplace, which has brought about him to be one among Dungeons & Dragons’ most beloved characters.

Additionally, the e book’s remaining act is simply nice. Once you get previous the nonsense of Laurana’s seize, Tanis, Caramon, Tika, and Tasslehoff’s three-pronged assault is splendidly plotted and edited collectively for optimum vitality. I’m unsure Tanis and Kitiara’s plan, or the plans they’ve saved secret from one another, would all make sense below shut scrutiny, nevertheless it was thrilling sufficient that I didn’t care, particularly when every thing on the Temple of Takhisis devolved into complete chaos anyway. And there have been some great character beats: Caramon’s pathetic plea for Raistlin to take him on his new journey in direction of evil is heartbreaking, particularly when he’s standing proper subsequent to Tika, the lady who loves him; Kitiara’s choice to let Tanis and Laurana go away, presumably out of kindness to the half-elf she cherished, however presumably to verify Tanis’ can by no means get her out of his thoughts and absolutely decide to a relationship with Laurana, is completely enigmatic.

There’s sufficient good in right here to make all the authentic Dragonlance trilogy price rereading to make sure, however as its personal e book and as a conclusion to the collection, Dragons of Spring Dawning is a disappointment, particularly after studying its predecessors. But once more, this primary Dragonlance trilogy general is healthier than any D&D trilogy I’ve learn up to now. I can actually perceive why it’s beloved, however I can’t in good conscience name Spring Dawning higher than its predecessors. Thus, it rolls a 14 on its 1d20, beneath Winter Night’s 17 and Autumn Twilight’s 16, and similar because the Forgotten Realms novel Shadowdale. It feels harsh however truthful: Spring Dawning is a largely good e book that’s permeated with small bits of atrocious plotting.

After studying three good Dragonlance novels in a row, I really feel like I ought to strive one other presumably horrible Gary Gygax/Greyhawk joint to steadiness it out… however I really don’t need to. So as an alternative, let’s end out R.A. Salvatore’s authentic Icewind Dale trilogy and look again at The Halfling’s Gem. See you subsequent month!

Assorted Musings:

• The entity that Raistlin made his mysterious cope with to defeat the inexperienced dragon Cyan Bloodbane in Winter Night seems to have been the traditional (and lifeless) evil wizard Fistandantilus. It’s Raistlin’s second cope with Fistandantilus that enables him to stay after practically dying utilizing the Dragon Orb to flee the sinking ship. The partnership makes the mage highly effective sufficient to be of use to—and finally defeat—Takhisis. I’m below the impression this will get explored an amazing deal extra in Weis and Hickman’s subsequent trilogy, Dragonlance Legends.
• It seems the rationale that the great, metallic dragons had been conserving out of the battle was as a result of the evil, chromatic dragons had stolen the great dragons’ eggs and have been holding them hostage. But Laurana’s brother Gilthanas went on a fact-finding mission and found these eggs have been being reworked into the half-dragon, half-man draconians that made up Takhisis’ military. This struck me as bizarre after I was a child, and it strikes me as bizarre now as a result of there appear to be lots of or possibly even 1000’s of dragons on both sides, however the evil, humanoid draconians appear to quantity within the tens of 1000’s, if no more! How did the unhealthy guys get their fingers on so many eggs from the great dragons? Do good dragons lay eggs like chickens? How does this work?
• Flint dies of a coronary heart assault alongside the best way to Neraka. Since it’s such a secular demise by D&D requirements, it really has extra energy than it will if he fell in battle in opposition to a dragon or some such. The wizard Fizban takes him to Dragonlance heaven, largely so Fizban has an excuse not to participate within the remaining battle. And that’s presumably as a result of he’s secretly Palantine, the god of fine that stands in everlasting opposition to Takhisis. Why he permits himself to be in conditions the place he dies horribly—like when he falls dozens of ft and smashes into the bottom whereas attempting and failing to solid feather fall again in Autumn Twilight—is totally unknown
• The most messed-up factor within the e book is one other diatribe concerning the significance of conserving the steadiness between good and evil, as if evil was an OK a part of the equation. But Spring Dawning takes it a wild step additional, as per this quote concerning the issues with goodness: “[Good] breeds intolerance, rigidity, a belief that because I am right, those who don’t believe as I do are wrong. We gods saw the danger this complacency was bringing upon the world. We saw that good was being destroyed simply because it wasn’t understood.” I’m not going to even attempt to start to unpack that.

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