Review: The War of the Lance | DragonLance Saga
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- Опубліковано 23 сер 2024
- Join me as I review The War of the Lance by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Michael Williams, and Richard A. Knaak, live! Share your thoughts on this third volume in the Tales II Trilogy, released on November 3, 1992 You can buy a copy here: amzn.to/460skZS
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About The War of the Lance
The War Years
The world of Krynn is caught in the grips of a terrible war between the minions of Takhisis, Queen of Darkness, and the followers of Paladine and the gods of good. Dragons, both foul and fair, clash in the skies, and a small band of friends who will one day be known as the Heroes of the Lance, strive for freedom and honor.
The story of this mighty conflict was revealed in the internationally acclaimed Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy, and now many of the most famous scribes of the series return to tell other tales of Krynn's War Years.
Review
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga review episode. It is Bakukal, Fierswelt the 12th. My name is Adam and today I am going to give you my review of The War of the Lance by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Michael Williams, & Richard A. Knaak. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga members, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate links. This year is the 40th Anniversary of Dragonlance, so join in on the celebration by submitting a video, piece of art or writing about Dragonlance to info@dlsaga.com. It will be added to the dlsaga.com/40th-anniversary celebration landing with all other contributors! This is my perspective only, and if you have any thoughts or disagree with mine, I invite you to share them in UA-cam chat.
Lorac by Michael Williams
This is the first poem in these Tales II anthologies that I really liked. The story of Lorac Caladon is a painful one. And how he took the Dragon Orb from the Tower of High Sorcery to Silvanost before the Cataclysm is great, because it speaks to the sentience and awareness of the artifact itself. Then It speaks of Loracs adoration of the artifact as he is continually mesmerized by it, until the Dragonarmy renege on their deal and invades Silvanesti. Lorac felt helpless to stop, and a legacy of peace and isolation in the hundred of years since the Cataclysm, and realized that desperate times call for desperate measures. He tried to use the Dragon Orb, but was not strong enough, and it called Cyan Bloodbane who twisted Silvanesti with Loracs nightmares. It is a devastating outcome, but one that I can actually appreciate from Cyan’s perspective, as the first two dragon wars were about the Dragons being kicked out of their forests for the elves to occupy, then they tried to get it back, only to fail. For Cyan, I believe sees it as, if we can’t have it, neither can you!
Raistlin and the Knight of Solamnia by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
I have read this short story so many times and it still remains as one of my favorites. Caramon and Raistlin are waiting in an inn to join a lord's army to fight goblins when a Knight of Solamnia and his wife and son enter. They are shunned by the patrons and the woman is hungry, exhausted and they are destitute. The Knight leaves to talk to the lord about joining his force as he needs money, and Earwig Lockpicker arrives, he is Tas’ cousin. Raistlin gives the hungry boy and his mother their last coin out of sympathy for the child, and it is one of those touching moments that define Raistlin as a character more than his terrible attitude or ambition. The Knight returns with a quest to remove a curse on a nearby keep, but the tale tells of a mage being needed, so Raistlin joins him with Caramon and Earwig. They arrive and ghosts of Knights and mages are calling for aid. Earwig makes a comment that forces Raistlin to think differently about this curse, and calls out to the Maiden. She demands that Rasitlin choose a side for all eternity and Raist refuses, instead choosing love. This breaks the curse. This story is all about looking past your own pride and realizing what is actually important in life. Those who you have chosen to love and share your life with. I am reminded of a beautiful lyric in the song Nature Boy written by Eden Abhez, and initially performed by Nat King Cole:...
Thank you for watching today's Dragonlance Review. episode. What do you think about the anthology The War of the Lance? Leave a comment below!
The Vingaard Campaign was great. I love war strategy and there wasnt enough discussion of the actual War of the Lance in the Chronicles for me. And it definitely made me want to finish our War of the Lance game when you're available!
Yes, we need to.
40th aniversary... I feel old now. :)
Raistlin shows us the real meaning of "chaotic evil" character class.... he did go all black robes... but does random good things to offset his character. Maybe, neutral evil... he is self serving and "neutral" to everyone else. Raistlin was weak and helpless, so he see's others like he used to be, and has sympathy. Remember where you came from.. kind of thing. Gives history to his story line.... adds complexity. Just good writing and character development all around. Not all of the stories were happy or adventerous.... I can't remember which book it was from. The short story (probably one of the Tales books), the guy that was literally "hamstrung", and had his tendons cut at the ankles to prevent him from running away. He suffered daily and horribly... and didn't plan to escape. But, planed to shoot one single last arrow at his captor.... more specifically the dried up Heart in a little bag around his neck... to break the spell, if I remember right.... not a "Fun" story... tragic. I think I posted previously about the book "On a Pale Horse", by Piers Anthony... and the 6 other books in that series. It's not Dragon Lance, but I read those way back then along with the Dragon Lance stuff..... good to check out if you never read them and need a new book. What if Death, War, Nature, Time, were all actual physical jobs by people?? Really good series... they should do movies on these books.
That sounds good. I have a lot in my list atm, but I will keep them in mind!
Glad you (mostly) loved this anthology, it is my favourite of the 3. I am a Laurana fan (though I can acknowledge going to Kitiara was a foolish move) and her story is my favourite. Even though it has been years I still remember the Griffins fighting the green dragons and taking serious losses, I remember the Silver dragons holding the evil dragons back while the others are on their mission, I remember the Crown knights chaffing at not being able to charge the enemy! I am a historian and teacher by profession so the notes, journals, and eyewitness accounts appealed to me.
Did you catch the mistake with the type of dragon ridden by Flint and Tas? They mixed up brass and bronze (could be wrong with the type) from Spring dawning. When I was younger this bothered me, I thought it was a silly authors mistake, but I could just be an in world mistake made by the chronicler. As we know, historians and primary sources do make errors. That is how I see it now. Very meta.
Fully agree that "The Vingaard Campaign" is a great story and the best story in the anthology. (It runs neck and neck with "Finding the Faith" as my favorite Dragonlance short story.) Never really showing Laurana leading her army as the Golden General was by far the biggest failing of the Chronicles, so it was great to finally correct that defect here, and Niles does a wonderful job in both making the War of the Lance feel like a real war and in showcasing Laurana's character and leadership ability. (I particularly liked how Laurana's tactics were so imaginative and bold, almost to the point of recklessness. That seemed very in-character for her.)
That said as much as I enjoy this story, I do still wish we could get a Weis and Hickman story showing Laurana leading her army as the Golden General as well, not so much to see the battles she led (I think Niles did that perfectly here), but I would like to see Laurana's own thoughts during the campaign (in particular how she felt leading her army against the Blue Wing when she believed Tanis was serving in that army), and also to see how Laurana won the admiration of her soldiers. (Niles does a great job showing Laurana's interactions with her senior officers, but he didn't really show her interacting with the ordinary soldiers.)
(And of course, I must raise my obligatory objection to charactering Laurana's decision to go to Kitiara as foolish, since Laurana's decision there was both understandable and objectively reasonable on the information available to her at the time.)
I didn’t notice. I can definitely see how it would be your favorite. For the most part it’s great!
@@bwg4608 I agree, a connection with the regular soldiers being shown and her point of view would be great. One of the reasons I enjoy dragons of high Lord skies is that we get so much more Laurana and Feal Thalas is such a great villain.
I also appreciated her innovation. It was a perfect contrast to the Knights and their tactics at the time. Great story.
I am glad we can continue to appreciate her as a character, while still disagreeing on other things.
Just as a side point, did you ever feel that she should have been called upon to play a larger part in joining or leading the Knights and allies against the Knights of Takhisis?
@@trieze90 100%! Laurana and Ariakan were the two greatest military minds of that era. Them never facing off against each other in battle is such a missed story opportunity. It's the Krynnish equivalent of Napoleon and Suvorov never meeting in battle. We definitely needed to see them go head to head, leading armies against each other, and I think Laurana wins that battle. Ariakan was brilliant at organization and at devising the perfect campaign plan when he knows the other side's playbook by heart, but he didn't seem all that adaptive (witness how quickly his forces went down when he had to face an enemy he hadn't had 20 years to prepare to fight), so I don't think he would be able to handle Laurana's creativity and boldness. She would do something to throw off his perfect plan and once Ariakan was off-balance, she would never give him the chance to recover.
(Really the fact that the whole Qualinesti plotline was cut from Dragons of Summer Flame is probably my single biggest gripe about that novel. It was the most interesting story thread from Second Generation and would have added so much to the novel.)
You were spot on with your comments about the Story Tasslehoff Promised He Would Never Tell. It doesn't align with so many other moments in the canon such as when the elves killed Beryl with it when the gods weren't even on Krynn and tons of other examples i could give. And like you said, why didn't the gods of good just make all weapons Dragon-Killing then. Yeah, I'm just gonna pretend i didn't read that one 😂
lol yea, it’s best for our sanity.
Well of course a lot of people are obsessed with Laurana, she's magnificent!
And on Dragonlances being powered by faith, it's interesting that this isn't the first Dragonlance story to make that claim. It also appears in The Legend of Huma.
"They'll die, Grand Master. With little or no faith, they'll simply die. It's not a matter of whether the power of Paladine flows within the Dragonlances. The hand that guides the weapon also must believe or else reactions will be a little too slow, a little off the mark. They must have faith, as we do, or they will lose because they will see these lances as they have seen all lances-objects that will bend, break, or shatter on the hides of the dark dragons."
-Lord Guy Avondale, Legend of Huma, Chapter 25
Blech, it’s nonsense.
Say it with me Adam
GOOSFRABA, Goosfraba, goosfraba
lol
As a person of faith it bothers me because how the Dragonlances work has already been established. This is the same problem I have with alot of these anthologies they change established things in ways that don't make sense.
I find it odd that you went on a rant about real-world faith when ALL divine magic functions simply because of the caster's faith in their deity.
Other than that awesome videos I miss 2nd Ed so much. Easily the golden age of D&D.
I clearly have hangups about religion after having been raised in a Mormon household.