History YMMV / Dragonlance

* MoralEventHorizon: From Raistlin, [[spoiler:"Farewell, Revered Daughter. I need you no longer." Or, before that, agreeing to let the dark dwarves have his brother's head. Or before ''that'' leaving his brother to die on a ship.]] Guy seems to do this a ''lot'', at least until he [[spoiler:dies to keep Takhisis locked up. So, at the end, subverted. And he becomes ''better'' after death]].

%%%%* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Happens with the Gods of both Good and Evil, and with Raistlin.
* BrokenBase: Fandom tends to be divided on either side of the ''Dragons of Summer Flame'' novel. On one hand, you have the old schoolers who generally refuse to accept anything that isn't connected to the original [[TrueCompanions Heroes of the Lance]] and the original ''Chronicles'' and ''Legends'' trilogies. On the other hand, there are those who consider the Fifth Age a bold and innovative step away from the original characters and consider the first group to be hopelessly clinging to the past. For their part, the first group considers the Fifth Agers to have discarded everything that made the series popular in the first place. Both groups, however, almost universally revile Mina and her [[CosmicRetcon Cosmic Retcon Army]], which over the course of a single trilogy managed to systematically destroy everything even remotely connected to the Fifth Age and return it to the status quo. Old school fans were slightly mollified, though even they were struck by the [[DroppedABridgeOnHim sheer meanness of it]], reading between the lines that the entire War of Souls was an AuthorsSavingThrow writ large.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Caramon's other sons, Strum and Tanin fall into this as they only feature in two short stories and then they get killed off-screen at the start of ''Dragons of Summer Flame''. They never even get to meet their cousin Steel which would've had plenty of dramatic potential considering they're from opposing orders of knights and Strum was named after Steel's father.

*** When Dalamar and Kitiara meet in the ''Legends'' series, Weis and Hickman realized there was really [[CoitusEnsues only one way it could go]].

** Istar and the Kingpriest are often accused of being victims of JerkassGods who didn't spell out that they were doing evil in their name. This ignores the fact the Gods of Good did send numerous signs and took away Istar's priests powers. Istar also was a xenophonic genocidal slaving imperialist state that forbid all other gods being worshiped but Paladine as well as outlawed the practice of magic. Even if you think the gods overreacted or were wrong, it is a theocratic fascist state.

** As noted under DracoInLeatherPants, the Gods of Good get this a lot. From how some fans talk, you'd think they caused the Cataclysm without warning or justification, whereas in canon they made ''very'' clear that they did not approve of Istar and the Kingpriest's actions, as well as the severity of what would happen if they had to step in, going as far as to strip all the priests of Istar of their divine powers (something that would make any ''sensible'' people at least consider the possibility that the Gods are pissed). Not to mention they gave Lord Soth an ''extremely'' easy and merciful LastSecondChance to stop the Cataclysm and save everyone… an act of mercy that Soth [[{{Jerkass}} proceeded to piss away out of petty jealously]]. While certainly there is argument to be made that they did not handle the situation as well as they could have, they also cut mortalkind ''a lot'' of slack before breaking out the divine punishment.

* EvenBetterSequel: Literature/DragonlanceLegends is generally considered to be superior to Literature/DragonlanceChronicles in terms of stakes, characterization, and worldbuilding.

* DesignatedHero: The Gods of Good... really aren't that good, in a lot of ways. See JerkassGods on the main page. More than one reader thinks StrawmanHasAPoint when somebody like Tanis proclaims that the gods don't deserve mortal worship and that the gods were the ones who abandoned the people rather than vice versa.

* AdaptationDisplacement: The ''Chronicles'' Trilogy were originally just meant to be [[TieInNovel Tie-In Novels]] to the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' gaming modules, but thanks to the ''Chronicles'' Trilogy's massive popularity, even more novels were written by both Weis & Hickman and other authors as well. Now it has gotten to the point where there are quite a few Dragonlance fans who have no idea there is even a game tied to the novels.

* {{Wangst}}: Plenty of it from almost everyone at some point, but Tanis Half-Elven comes off as the greatest offender, primarily because the thing he whines the most about is his inability to choose between his BettyAndVeronica [[LoveTriangle relationships]] with two stunningly gorgeous women (one a bratty but pure-hearted elven princess and the other a wickedly sensual human warrior)... while he's leading a party embroiled in an epic struggle for the fate of the world. Priorities, man. Add to it that he's a half-elf but neither of his love interests are and you get extra {{Wangst}} owing to MayflyDecemberRomance.

* ValuesDissonance: The cosmology of the setting borrows quite heavily from the Hickmans' own personal attitudes towards theology, and their beliefs palpably bleed through in much of their writing. Most of the conflicts between what the books say and what the readers feel is due to this dissonance, most notably in regards things like the "goodness" of elves & kender or the righteousness of the gods.

* RonTheDeathEater: In canon, Kender are treated as a "good" race, with many of the sourcebooks chatting up their [[IncorruptiblePurePureness pure hearts and innocence.]] However, years of [[ChaoticStupid "borrowing" the wizard's spellbook and the cleric's holy symbol]] has led to them becoming, in fanon, a despicable blight of inconsiderate thieves who are either brain-damaged or playing dumb. On some boards, killing Kender is considered to be PokeThePoodle-level evil at worst, as opposed to canon, where it's treated with about the same weight as [[WouldHurtAChild murdering children]]. This is primarily because a Kender's more distasteful traits in canon are because they truly don't know any better, [[{{Griefer}} whereas the player sitting across from you with a smug grin on his face]] most certainly does.

** Many possible instances, but blatantly Raistlin and Dalamar - the Master/Apprentice relationship, the fact that they're both scrawny, evil bishounen wizards, the passionate way Dalamar refers to his "''Shalafi''", and who could forget [[spoiler: Raistlin burning his fingerprints into Dalamar's chest to punish his betrayal]]. Whew.

* JerkassWoobie: Raistlin.

* MoralEventHorizon: From Raistlin, [[spoiler:"Farewell, Revered Daughter. I need you no longer" Or, before that, agreeing to let the dark dwarves have his brother's head. Or before ''that'' leaving his brother to die on a ship.]] Guy seems to do this a ''lot'', at least until he [[spoiler: dies to keep Takhisis locked up. So, at the end, subverted. And he becomes ''better'' after death]].

** As noted under DracoInLeatherPants, the Gods of Good get this a lot. From how some fans talk, you'd think they caused the Cataclysm without warning or justification, whereas in canon they made ''very'' clear that they did not approve of Istar and the Kingpriest's actions, as well as the severity of what would happen if they had to step in, going as far as to strip all the priests of Istar of their divine powers (something that would make any ''sensible'' people at least consider the possibility that the Gods are pissed). Not to mention they gave Lord Soth an ''extremely'' easy and merciful LastSecondChance to stop the Cataclysm and save everyone… an act of mercy that Soth [[{{Jerkass}} proceeded to piss away out of petty jealously]]. While certainly there is argument to be made that they did not handle the situation as well as they could of, they also cut mortalkind ''a lot'' of slack before breaking out the divine punishment.

** As noted under DracoInLeatherPants, the Gods of Good get this a lot. From how some fans talk, you'd think they caused the Cataclysm without warning or justification, whereas in canon they made ''very'' clear that they did not approve of the acts of Istar, the Kingpriest, and their empire, and the severity of what would happen if they had to step in, going as far as to strip Istar of his priest powers (something that would make any ''sensible'' person at least consider the possibility that the Gods are pissed). Not to mention they gave Lord Soth an ''extremely'' easy and merciful LastSecondChance to stop the Cataclysm and save everyone… an act of mercy that Soth [[{{Jerkass}} proceeded to piss away out of petty jealously]]. While certainly there is argument to be made that they did not handle the situation as well as they could of, they also cut mortalkind ''a lot'' of slack before breaking out the divine punishment.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Tanis states that it was really the ''gods'' who abandoned humanity, not vice versa. The thing is, while the gods were definetely right that Kingpriest of Istar and his priesthood went too far, they didn't make it clear what angered them, gave very cryptic hints which really can't make it known, and took all faithful priests with them. So, no wonder that people curse the gods!

** Lord Soth had the chance to prevent the Cataclysm but gave up on it in order to accuse his wife of adultery (which she was innocent of--not that such matters given his SkeweredPriorities). The gods punished him with undeath and eternal torment. Lord Soth remains unrepentant and helps the Queen of Darkness bully humanity with his undead armies.

%%%%** Not to mention Raistlin and Dalamar.

%%%* DracoInLeatherPants: Raistlin. Lord Soth.
%%%** Dalamar may actually be a subversion or inversion, as it's not clear what he's done to be called evil other than wear black.
%%%%** Chemosh's character design in the Dark Disciple trilogy seems to be made to invoke this trope.

** Kitiara uth Matar rises [[FromNobodyToNightmare from humble village girl to Dragon Highlord of the Blue Army]] via wits and grit. Ruthless from a young age, Kitiara outwits and kills the woman who conned and drove her mother to her death, later seducing the knight Sturm Brightblade to get him to forget his vows. Later becoming part of the army of Takhisis and becoming a Highlord, Kitiara proves herself a nightmare on the battlefield while also attempting to manipulate the feelings of her old lover Tanis Half-Elven to lure his beloved, Laurana the Golden General to her own death. Later uniting the remnants of the armies under her banner as the Blue Lady, Kitiara nearly takes the City of Palanthas in her never ending quest to satisfy her ambition.

* ValuesDissonance: The cosmology of the setting borrows quite heavily from the Hickman's own personal attitudes towards theology, and their beliefs palpably bleed through in much of their writing. Most of the conflicts between what the books say and what the readers feel is due to this dissonance, most notably in regards things like the "goodness" of elves & kender or the righteousness of the gods.
* {{Wangst}}: Plenty of it from almost everyone at some point, but Tanis Half-Elven comes off as the greatest offender, primarily because the thing he whines the most about is his inability to choose between his BettyAndVeronica [[LoveTriangle relationships]] with two stunningly gorgeous women (one a bratty but pure-hearted elven princess and the other a wickedly sensual human warrior)...while he's leading a party embroiled in an epic struggle for the fate of the world. Priorities, man. Add to it that he's a half-elf but neither of his love interests are and you get extra {{Wangst}} owing to MayflyDecemberRomance.
** Raistlin deserves an entrance here too. Yes, his [[SiblingRivalry brother]] was more popular than [[TheUnfavourite him]]. Yes, he was bullied as a [[LonersAreFreaks kid]] and has [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation difficulties forming relationships]], but ''still''...it is a lot moping.

* RonTheDeathEater: In canon, Kender are treated as a "good" race, with many of the sourcebooks chatting up their [[IncorruptiblePurePureness pure hearts and innocence.]] However, years of [[ChaoticStupid "borrowing" the wizard's spellbook and the cleric's holy symbol]] has led to them becoming, in fanon, a despicable blight of inconsiderate thieves who are either brain-damaged or playing dumb. On some boards, killing Kender is considered to be PokeThePoodle-level evil at worst, as opposed to canon, where it's treated with about the same weight as [[WouldHurtAChild murdering children]]. This is primarily because a Kender's more distasteful traits in canon are because they truly don't know any better, whereas the player sitting across from you with a smug grin on his face most certainly does.

** [[EvilSorcerer Fistandantilus the Dark]] was [[TheArchmage one of the greatest mages who ever lived]], and his {{ambition|IsEvil}} and scheming would shape centuries of Krynn's history. As told in the ''Literature/KingpriestTrilogy'', he carefully masterminded Beldinas's rise to power over the course of decades in order to create a suitable pawn to help him [[AGodAmI become a god]]; though Beldinas ultimately proved unsuitable for the role, Fistandantilus was able to quickly adjust his schemes and find a suitable replacement. Failing in his goals only due to random chance, his spirit nonetheless persisted and was able to groom Raistlin into a suitable successor - and even when Raistlin turned the tables and consumed Fistandantilus's soul, he was unable to escape his legacy and continued to carry out the schemes Fistandantilus had laid down to their bitter end. From the rise of the Kingpriest to the War of the Lance, Fistandantilus's subtle hand shaped much of Krynn's history, cementing his legend as its most powerful, cunning and feared wizard.
** The nameless [[OurDragonsAreDifferent red dragon]] narrator from ''The Best'' disguises himself as a human to find the best adventurers who have a chance of destroying him. Luring them into a treasure hunt, the dragon brings them to his lair, only to ambush them and wipe them out completely while they barely have a chance to fight back so the dragon may simply enjoy [[DragonHoard his treasure]] without fear of pesky dragon slayers, distinguishing himself via incredible charm and wit in the narrative.

** When Dalamar and Kitiara meet in the ''Legends'' series, Weis and Hickman realized there was really [[CoitusEnsues only one way it could go]].

** Raistlin Majere starts as a [[EvilCripple frail, sickly magician]], cursed by god and mage alike. Desiring ultimate power, Raistlin goes back in time, to study under the most powerful dark wizard ever, Fistandantilus, murdering him when he tries to steal Raistlin's life force. Raisltin then proceeds to organize a war to get himself close to a gate leading to the abyss, manipulating a holy cleric named Crysania into falling in love with him to help him open it. With this achieved, Raistlin intends to lure out the supreme Dark Goddess Takhisis so he can kill her, take her place and then usurp the rest of the gods, all while abandoning Crysania to death when he needs her no longer. Raistlin manipulates countless people along his path, from [[PlayingBothSides the forces of darkness to the armies of light]], coming within a [[NearVillainVictory hair of achieving his goals]]. The only thing that stops him is a pang of conscience when he sees his brother Caramon, instead opting to sacrifice himself to rescue Caramon and Crysania in the end. Even after his death, Raistlin occasionally resurfaces to pull off a new gambit to assist his family, being [[TheDreaded feared even by the gods themselves]].
** The nameless red dragon narrator from ''The Best'' disguises himself as a human to find the best adventurers who have a chance of destroying him. Luring them into a treasure hunt, the dragon brings them to his lair, only to ambush them and wipe them out completely while they barely have a chance to fight back so the dragon may simply enjoy his treasure without fear of pesky dragon slayers, distinguishing himself via incredible charm and wit in the narrative.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Happens with the Gods of both Good and Evil, and with Raistlin.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Raistlin. Dalamar. Lord Soth.
** Dalamar may actually be a subversion or inversion, as it's not clear what he's done to be called evil other than wear black.
** Chemosh's character design in the Dark Disciple trilogy seems to be made to invoke this trope.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Raistlin. Also, to a lesser extent, Dalamar and Kitiara.
** To say nothing of Kang, Slith and The Doom Brigade, who's popularity lead to an unplanned short story, two novels, and an appearance in ''Vanished Moon''. Slith made a solo cameo in ''Highlord Skies'' and ''Hourglass Mage'' as well.

* EvilIsSexy: Kitiara. At least Tanis seems to think so, and he's hardly alone. In fact, she's so hot, she manages to inspire the lust of ''Lord Soth'', which is why he ultimate joins her cause.
** Not to mention Raistlin and Dalamar.
*** When Dalamar and Kitiara meet in the ''Legends'' series, Weis and Hickman realized there was really [[CoitusEnsues only one way it could go]].

* HoYay: Many possible instances, but blatantly Raistlin and Dalamar - the Master/Apprentice relationship, the fact that they're both scrawny, evil bishounen wizards, the passionate way Dalamar refers to his "''Shalafi''", and who could forget [[spoiler: Raistlin burning his fingerprints into Dalamar's chest to punish his betrayal]]. Whew.
** That was actually played for laughs in [[http://myar.deviantart.com/art/Smells-like-roast-elf-28121249 this comic.]]

** Raistlin Majere starts as a [[EvilCripple frail, sickly magician]], cursed by god and mage alike. Desiring [[AGodAmI ultimate power]], Raistlin goes back in time, to study under the most powerful dark wizard ever, Fistandantilus, murdering him when he tries to steal Raistlin's life force. Raisltin then proceeds to organize a war to get himself close to a gate leading to the abyss, manipulating a holy cleric named Crysania into falling in love with him to help him open it. With this achieved, Raistlin intends to lure out the supreme Dark Goddess Takhisis so he can kill her, take her place and then usurp the rest of the gods, all while abandoning Crysania to death when he needs her no longer. Raistlin manipulates countless people along his path, from [[PlayingBothSides the forces of darkness to the armies of light]], coming within a [[NearVillainVictory hair of achieving his goals]]. The only thing that stops him is a pang of conscience when he sees his brother Caramon, instead opting to sacrifice himself to rescue Caramon and Crysania in the end. Even after his death, Raistlin occasionally resurfaces to pull off a new gambit to assist his family, being [[TheDreaded feared even by the gods themselves]].

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Tanis states that it was really ''gods'' who abandoned humanity, not vice versa. The thing is, while gods were definetely right that Kingpriest of Istar and his priesthood went too far, they didn't make it clear what anger them, gave very cryptic hints which really can't make it known, and took all faithful priests with them. So, no wonder that people curse the gods!

* {{Wangst}}: Plenty of it from almost everyone at some point, but Tanis Half-Elven comes off as the greatest offender, primarily because the thing he whines the most about is his inability to choose between his BettyAndVeronica [[LoveTriangle relationships]] with two stunningly gorgeous women (one a bratty but pure-hearted elven princess and the other a wickedly sensual human warrioress)...while he's leading a party embroiled in an epic struggle for the fate of the world. Priorities, man.
** Add to it that he's a half-elf but neither of his love interests are and you get extra {{Wangst}} owing to MayflyDecemberRomance.
** Raistlin deserves an entrance here too. Yes, his [[SiblingRivalry brother]] was more popular than [[TheUnfavourite him]]. Yes, he was bullied as a [[LonersAreFreaks kid]] and has [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation difficulties forming relationships]]. But ''still''...

* MagnificentBastard: Raistlin Majere starts as a [[EvilCripple frail, sickly magician]], cursed by god and mage alike. Desiring [[AGodAmI ultimate power]], Raistlin goes back in time, to study under the most powerful dark wizard ever, Fistandantilus, murdering him when he tries to steal Raistlin's life force. Raisltin then proceeds to organize a war to get himself close to a gate leading to the abyss, manipulating a holy cleric named Crysania into falling in love with him to help him open it. With this achieved, Raistlin intends to lure out the supreme Dark Goddess Takhisis so he can kill her, take her place and then usurp the rest of the gods, all while abandoning Crysania to death when he needs her no longer. Raistlin manipulates countless people along his path, from [[PlayingBothSides the forces of darkness to the armies of light]], coming within a [[NearVillainVictory hair of achieving his goals]]. The only thing that stops him is a pang of conscience when he sees his brother Caramon, instead opting to sacrifice himself to rescue Caramon and Crysania in the end. Even after his death, Raistlin occasionally resurfaces to pull off a new gambit to assist his family, being [[TheDreaded feared even by the gods themselves]].
** Jaymes Markham from the "Rise of Solamnia" Trilogy and Golgren from "The Minotaur Wars" and the "Ogre Titans" Trilogy may also count.
** Fistandantilus, especially in the Kingpriest books. It's harder to see in the main storyline, because [[EvilVersusEvil Raistlin is better at it]].
** Paladine [[spoiler: Fizban.]] He managed to manipulate Heroes of Lance into becoming them, thus saving the world indirectly, and in Legends storyline he seems to be pulling the strings too, which ended in Raistlin's HeroicSacrifice DeathEqualsRedemption.
** Takhisis ascended to this status in Fifth Age, managing to steal the world from other gods and almost winning.