History Literature / Dragonlance

** WordOfGod from the Annotated Edition of the original trilogy was that [[spoiler: Flint's death by heart attack was a specific aversion of this trope. They wanted to show that a hero doesn't have to die in battle but can live a good long life and die naturally. He was even given a noble send off by Bahamut in honor of how he lived, not how he died.]]

* PrettyInMink: Perhaps not in the actual text, but some of the covers show ladies wearing fur capes.

* Literature/DragonRider

Notable for taking extreme D&D influences and making them ''work'' on their own. For example, the original 'Heroes of the Lance' consisted of such a generic TabletopRPG party that they could easily be renamed according to their Character Classes -- if it weren't for the fact that each character is given a strong and distinct personality, detailed backstory, and oodles of CharacterDevelopment (for most of them) throughout the series. Also notable for mixing stock Medieval European fantasy with a Native American flavor (the Plainsmen, and a lot of the artwork), a bevy of unique and sometimes quirky races (Kender, Gully Dwarves, Draconians, and plenty of others), a unique magic system and a greater focus on Dragons as the primal movers and shakers of world events.

* AerithAndBob: While most characters have fittingly fantastic names, most of the Knights of Solamnia have good old straight up English names.

* AGodAmI: Raistlin Majere, Fistandantilus, Galan Dracos, [[KingpriestTrilogy Beldinas Pilifiro]], Malystryx.

* AllThereInTheManual: It is a book series of course, but there is tons of information about the world in the various DungeonsAndDragons supplements across all editions that is not found in the novels.

** A small case of this at the end of ''Amber and Ashes'', when [[spoiler: Mina]] is locked away in a magical room, where not even the Gods themselves could hear the screams of the person trapped inside. [[spoiler: She escapes, though...]]

* AngstComa: Subverted by Laurana while a prisoner at the Council of Highlords. She seems to go catatonic after hearing what Kitiara [[FateWorseThanDeath has planned for her]] and seeing Tanis serving Kitiara, but she is actually just feigning numbness to get Kitiara and Tanis to drop their guard, so she can make her escape.

* BadassBoast
-->'''Huma:''' I am a Knight of Solamnia. I am the hand of Paladine, of Kiri-Jolith, and of Habbakuk on this world. You are on Krynn. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome You are mine, Queen of Darkness.]]
* BadassInDistress: Laurana while a prisoner in Neraka.

* BattleStrip: Caramon has to fight a half-ogre bandit chief. Since he doesn't have any armour, he strips down to his loincloth.

* BigBad: Normally Takhisis, but depending on the era other dark gods, Chaos, Fistandantilus, or the Dragon Overlord Malystryx can take over the role.
* BiggerBad:
** Hiddukel in the Taladas Trilogy.
** Takhisis may also take this role in books like the KingpriestTrilogy where she's alive and plotting, but not directly active. Of course, the Biggest Bad in the whole 'verse is Chaos, but mercifully he's only been active during the Chaos War.

* BrainlessBeauty: Subverted in Laurana (see under HiddenDepths).

* CantHoldHisLiquor: Raistlin [[PlayingDrunk fakes this]] in ''Dragons of the Hourglass Mage''.

** The Kingpriest himself was a notable aversion, never becoming corrupt in the traditional sense. Of course, things [[KnightTemplar might have been better if he did]].
*** We actually see a world where the Kingpriest overthrows the gods in a short story. It's... not pleasant.
*** It is implied that he uses wizards' magic while condemning all the wizards of evil; that sounds like pretty corrupt behavior.

* CursedWithAwesome: Wizardry in general, with the Test always asking a steep price.
** Raistlin's in particular; attaining his magic left him with ruined health, golden skin, white hair, and golden eyes with pupils shaped like hourglasses that see the world and everyone in it perpetually decaying around him.

*** Notably this is subverted in that, while Soth was miserable as a Deathknight, just about every other 'fallen knight' cursed to become one has enjoyed it immensely. Mostly because they were horribly corrupt to begin with, rather than easily manipulated.

* DefensiveFeintTrap: The Blue Dragonarmy uses this to wipe out Derek Crownguard's troops at the High Clerist's Tower. Later on Laurana returns the favor by using the same tactic to crush the Dragonarmies at the Battle of Margaard Ford.
* DependingOnTheWriter: This can cause very different portrayals of members of different races. Elves, for example can be portrayed as being vegetarian in one book, and having no problem with eating meat in another.

** [[EvilSorcerer Fistandantilus]] is portrayed by Weis and Hickman as a sneering, humorless CompleteMonster, but he's a [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] MagnificentBastard in Chris Pierson's KingpriestTrilogy. Probably justified in that the Fistandantilus Weis and Hickman usually show is the undead version who made a deal with Raistlin- his, er, ''situation'' at the time would have had him a little stressed.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu:

* DistressBall: Laurana gets stuck with this in ''Dragons of Spring Dawning'' when after having previously been shown as a brilliant military commander she suddenly and inexplicably[[spoiler: completely falls for Kitiara's rather [[SchmuckBait obvious trap.]]]]
* DistressedDamsel- Laurana [[spoiler: after being captured by Kitiara. Though it is partially subverted in that she does end up largely escaping on her own.]]

** Also the ending to ''Dragons of a Lost Star'', when [[spoiler: not only Laurana ''and'' Goldmoon die, but the entire city of Qualinost literally has a dragon fall on top of it, causing the nearby river to flood the whole place, turning it into a "Lake of Death".]] But on the other hand, [[spoiler: you get to blame the whole thing on Mina and/or Takhisis!]]

* DragonRider

* EightiesHair: Kitiara and Tika in Larry Elmore's artwork most noticeably, but other characters may qualify as well. Of course, the first book came out in 1984.
* TheEmpire: The Dragon Highlords (early on) and the Knights of Neraka. Also the Minotaur empire.

* EnemyCivilWar: The battle between the Dragon Highlords at the end of ''Dragons of Spring Dawning'', a foretaste of which can also be found in the prequel ''Dragons of the Highlord Skies''.

* {{Exactly What It Says On the Tin}}: The Saga is called 'Dragonlance'. Every so often there is this weapon mentioned in the series called a 'Dragonlance'. The Final Jeopardy answer is, this is what type of weapon it is and this is what creature it should be used to fight. It's a tough one, I know. Don't hurt yourself. We'll wait.

* FallenPrincess: Laurana lost all standing with her people and was disinherited by her father after she ran away from home to chase after Tanis.

** Kitiara's plan for the captured Laurana. To have her tortured and then made into the undead bride of Lord Soth.

** Raistlin is quite skilled at this, most notably when he uses Crysania's unacknowledged arrogance and ambition to make her go along with his {{Evil Plan}}.

* FunctionalMagic

* GardenOfEvil: The Shoikan Grove

* GirlsWithMoustaches: Female dwarves have "sidewhiskers" or beards that are less full than those of male dwarves. Male dwarves seem to find this attractive.

** Caramon is forced to become a Gladiator in ''Test of the Twins''.

* GreenEyedEpiphany: Tanis only realizes he still has feelings for Laurana after seeing her become close to Elistan.

** Tanis [[HalfHumanHybrid Half-Elven]]. Played ridiculously straight in the animated movie where [[VisualPun his left ear is elven and his right ear is human]], possibly either a ShoutOut to ''Webcomic/OrderOfTheStick'' or simply a case of OffModel animation.
** Gully Dwarves are the now true-breeding result of hybridisation between dwarves and gnomes.

* HandicappedBadAss: Golgren, who only has one hand, but is a very capable fighter.

** Notably the first one is a bit ridiculous, since Wizards, who still had their powers, draw all their power from their gods. One would think a helpful white robe or power-hungry black robe would've mentioned this to the general public.

* HeroicBastard: Tanis Half-Elven is the product of a Human Warrior raping his Elven Mother.
* HeroicSacrifice: Sturm Brightblade performs a heroic sacrifice in ''Dragons of Winter Night'' when he buys the Knights time to activate the LostSuperweapon, which resulted in his death, and giving the Knighthood an example to strive for, pulling them from their slide into corruption.
** Raistlin also fits here at the end of the Legends trilogy. He sacrifices his own life in order to save his brother, Crysania, and the rest of Krynn from Takhisis entering their world.

* HiddenDepths: Laurana is initially regarded as just a BrainlessBeauty but when tested by war she proves to be a skilled warrior and great leader.

* IgnoredEpiphany: We see Raistlin having one in the storyline when Caramon goes to the future and Raistlin [[spoiler:has become a god and defeated all the others one by one]]. Lord Soth's {{backstory}} contains several.
* IHaveNoSon: Solostaran does this twice. Once with his daughter Laurana after she leaves Qualinesti to follow Tanis Half-Elven, and later to his son Gilthanas when he aids the companions in stealing back the Dragon Orb from the elves.
* IneptMage: Fizban the Fabulous, although [[GodWasMyCoPilot he's more than he appears]].

** Cathan Twice-Born of the Kingpriest Trilogy also fits this pretty well.

* TheLadysFavour: The starjewel given to Sturm by Alhana Starbreeze.

* LaResistance: In ''Dragons of the Hourglass Mage'' [[spoiler: Raistlin works for a secretive group in Neraka that is working to bring down the Dark Queen Takhisis, called the Hidden Light.]]

* LoveMakesYouDumb: Laurana's love for Tanis is what causes her to pick up the DistressBall in "Dragons of Spring Dawning".

* MadScientist: Tinker Gnomes

* MagiciansAreWizards: Well, at least Raistlin is.
* MagiBabble
* MagicFeather: A short story in the ''War of the Lance'' anthology says that this was the case for the ''Dragonlance''s.
* TheMagicComesBack: The War of the Lance saw the return of Clerical magic to the world. The early Fifth Age saw the rediscovering of Primal Sorcery and the discovery of Mysticism, and finally High Sorcery and Clerical magic return after the War of Souls. Krynn's magic is a bit unstable...
* TheMagicGoesAway: After the Chaos War.

* MagicKnight: There's a semi-religious organization of Wizards of High Sorcery that [[LampshadeHanging actually try to subvert this trope.]] They've made all sorts of laws and social stigma against a wizard wearing armor or carrying martial weapons. Wizards who do so anyway are looked down upon, such as...
** The [[KnightInSourArmor Knights of Neraka]] faction, the Knights of the Thorn. They can cast arcane spells with a reduced chance of failure when using armor, and often resort to melee combat. They are referred to as Grey Robes, in a [[TakeThat mockery of the aforementioned wizards of High Sorcery.]]
* MagicMisfire: "Fireball... how did that go again?"

* MagneticHero: Laurana inspires thousands to join the Whitestone Army.

** Laurana Kanan and Ahlana Starbreeze also show shades of this in later books.

* MoralityPet: Bupu for Raistlin.
* MotorMouth: The Tinker Gnomes.

* MonogenderMonsters: The Draconians are an example of the all-male variety. Played with later on, as it's revealed that their creators deliberately kept the Draconians all-male to stop the race from being able to sustain itself naturally. [[spoiler: The Draconians took issue with this, and eventually found the creators' stash of female Draconian eggs, which they'd planned to hold as blackmail. Then the female Draconians grew up and proved to be every bit as BadAss as their male counterparts.]]

* NobleDemon: Blue dragons collectively seem prone to this. They are clearly the least evil of the evil dragons and any that have any sort of characterisation at all are given at least one sympathetic trait, most commonly tremendous loyalty to their riders (see Kitiara and Skie or Medan and Razor).

* NotThatKindOfMage: A Wizard might be annoyed at being mistaken for a Primal Sorcerer. The two have different philosophies towards magic. To Primal Sorcerers, magic is just a tool, to Wizards, magic is almost a religion, it is something they revere.

* OminousFloatingCastle: The Flying Citadels

* PlanetOfTheApesEnding: The dark future portrayed in the Legends Trilogy, [[spoiler:created after Raistlin destroys all of the other gods and is left to devour himself over an ash-choked wasteland, having no power to create anything new. Caramon and Tasselhoff think they've been stranded in another world until they discover the ruins of their hometown, complete with the rotting corpses of Caramon's wife and Caramon himself. Fun for all the family!]]

* POVSequel: Many books in the saga are of this type.

** Kagonesti elves can also go this route.
* ProudScholarRaceGuy: The Tinker Gnomes probably see themselves as Type I, and the Irda are Type II.
* PsychoExGirlfriend: Kitiara is this for Tanis in both the Chronicles and Legends.

* RebelliousPrincess: Laurana. [[spoiler: She runs away from her family twice, becomes a LadyOfWar in defiance of elven tradition, becomes the FourStarBadass leader of the highly chauvinistic Knights of Solamnia, and ends up abandoning her army to try and save her love.]]

* RetCon: The War of Souls trilogy (''Dragons of a Fallen Sun'', ''Dragons of a Lost Star'' and ''Dragons of a Vanished Moon'') reveal that [[spoiler:the very ending of ''Dragons Of Summer Flame'' was actually a trick by Takhisis, and that far from the other gods leaving voluntarily she stole and hid the world and manipulated Palin into 'discovering' wild magic. The trilogy pretty much reverses nearly all the changes done in ''Dragons Of Summer Flame''.]]

* ScrewTheWarWerePartying: The day long Spring Dawning Festival held in Laurana's honor after she liberated Kalaman.

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Happens several times in ''Legends''.
** The obvious one is when Caramon sees the future when Raistlin ascends to godhood and goes back to the present to stop him.

** It's strongly implied that he's the same continuitous character throughout all the series he appears in; he just can't remember his name when he shows up. [[GodWasMyCoPilot This makes sense in context, though.]]
*** Not necessarily. For example with Zifnab it seems more likely that he actually had read the ''Dragonlance Chronicles'' in his youth, and modelled his personality after the character he liked the most. He also tries to become JamesBond at times, with less success. In the end it's outright {{Jossed}} that he would be any kind of deity.

* {{Sourcebook}}: There are many DungeonsAndDragons sourcebooks for the series.

* SwordAndSorcerer: Caramon, an impressive warrior, and Raistlin, his brother and a fearsome spellcaster. They used to hire themselves out as mercenaries, often fighting back-to-back against hordes of foes.

* TheBaroness: Kitiara
* TheBeautifulElite: The ancient High Ogres were said to be even more beautiful than the Elves. Elves get this treatment too, especially in ''Chronicles'', but it is not as prominent for Elves in most later novels.
* TheChainsOfCommanding- Laurana is under great stress while leading the Whitestone Army as the Golden General.
* TheDarkTimes: The Age of Starbirth
* TheMagnificentSevenSamurai: ''Middle of Nowhere''
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: Fistandantilus was behind the reign of the last Kingpriest of Istar.]]
* TheWatcher: Astinus of Palanthas follows this trope to the T.
* TheVamp: Kitiara has a ''lot'' of sexual partners, and [[spoiler: Tanis' feelings for her make him seriously consider [[FaceHeelTurn switching sides and joining her army]]]]. Since she is one of the villains and a woman, and since her rival for Tanis' affections, Laurana, is not promiscuous at all, one could say that there are [[UnfortunateImplications some]] [[SexIsEvil unfortunate]] [[MyGirlIsNotASlut implications]].

* TimTaylorTechnology: This pretty much describes the tinker gnome theory of engineering.

* TookALevelInBadass:
** Laurana: from a spoilt, near-airhead to the Golden General.
** Tika Waylan; from barmaid to badass in one book. Though, it isn't as poignant as in Laurana's case.

* TrojanPrisoner: Which fails when they don't have the proper paperwork.

** Dalamar is also the "hero" of his own subplots. The audience roots for him on a combination of his being something of a MagnificentBastard (though he's got nothing on his ''shalafi'') and because Dalamar as the most powerful Black Robe in the world is sufficiently better than [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the alternative]].

* WhatMeasureIsANonhuman: The first book applies this rather harshly, complete with the line "I don't consider myself a murderer. Goblins don't count." However, DependingOnTheWriter this can be averted.

** The Spelljammer Wiki reveals that Zivilyn, an outer planet in Krynn's crystal sphere where the titular deity resides, was home to people who tried to challenge the gods much like the Kingpriest did. They failed and now Zivilyn, once a normal terrestrial ball planet, is a series of floating islands floating in clouds.
* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Laurana is described as being this.

* WorthlessYellowRocks: Gold becomes devalued after the Cataclysm due to it not being useful for practical purposes. At first, a barter economy was used, and later Steel coins become the common currency on Ansalon.

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity - Raistlin's unrelenting desire for power leads him to [[spoiler: an epic FaceHeelTurn, betraying his brother, his friends and a woman who loved him, and nearly destroying the world by killing the Gods and taking their place: starting with the Dark Queen]]. Only ThePowerOfLove (and TimeTravel) could stop him.
* WizardDuel: Raistlin and Fistandantilus have one in ''Time of the Twins''. Coryn and Hoarst have an even more epic one at the end of ''The Measure and the Truth''. [[spoiler: Which involves them flying through different planes of existence and culminates in outer space with them flying around the moons of Krynn.]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Raistlin [[ByronicHero admittedly deserves]] some of the things that happen to him, but at some point, him [[spoiler:becoming a god to spite reality]] becomes understandable.

* YourMindMakesItReal: Basically how things work in the Abyss.

* DifferentAsNightAndDay: Raistlin and Caramon.

The ''Dragonlance'' world has turned into a major setting with many authors writing stories for it- in total, at time of writing there are about ''180 novels'' comprising it, ''not'' including anthologies, manuals and various other extras. See the KingpriestTrilogy for one particular sub-series.

The ''Dragonlance'' world has turned into a major setting with many authors writing stories for it. See the KingpriestTrilogy for one particular sub-series.

* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Laurana is described as being this.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: ''Lord Toede'' was a ''{{Blackadder}}':like comedy about the eponymous minor villain who had been previously killed. [[IGotBetter He got better.]] This was so bad, it was actually commented on by the author of ''Lord Toede'' in the 15th anniversary edition of the ''Chronicles''.

* ApocalypseHow: There's the main Cataclysm, in which a "mountain of fire" (WordOfGod says it was a meteor) annihilated the Kingdom of Istar and killed millions outside of it with fire, earthquakes, etc. On the same day, Taladas, the continent to the northeast of Ansalon, suffered the "Great Destruction," in which an earthquake wiped out the mighty Aurim empire and filled the interior of the continent with molten lava and poison gas. In Adlatum, the third continent the Cataclysm came in the form of the Great Drowning in which massive tidal waves flooded large parts of the land and never receded.

The ''Dragonlance'' world has turned into a major setting with many authors writing stories for it.

* WifeHusbandry: There are no female draconians during the War of the Lance. There continue to be no female draconians until the Chaos War. At that time, Kang and the First Dragonarmy Engineers find eggs containing female draconians which were hidden away. Suddenly, all of these adult male draconians are raising baby female draconians, their evetual goal being to prevent their species from dying out. Which, of course, means that whoever any of the females ultimately conceive children with, it will be a draconian who knew her when she was still a baby.

* WoundThatWillNotHeal: Raistlin punishes his apprentice Dalamar for spying on him by burning five holes into Dalamar's chest with his fingers, leaving five permanently seeping wounds.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The books are sometimes criticized for being one more cliched sword-and-sorcery series built on the D&D model. This was not the case when the Chronicles first saw print.

* StaffChick: Goldmoon.

* TheBeautifulPeople: The ancient High Ogres were said to be even more beautiful than the Elves. Elves get this treatment too, especially in ''Chronicles'', but it is not as prominent for Elves in most later novels.

* UnwittingPawn: Crysania fits this perfectly. Tasslehoff also sort of fits this trope at times. When he isn't being a XanatosGilligan, that is. [[spoiler: The Kingpriest himself to Fistandantilus. [[FanNickname Fisty]] didn't get ''exactly'' what he wanted out of that scheme, but the Kingpriest was his pawn all along nonetheless. The Gods of Magic become Takhisis's [[UnwittingPawn Unwitting Pawns]] in ''Dragons of the Hourglass Mage.'']]

** Gully Dwarves are the now true-breeding result of hybridisation between dwarves and gnomes. One of the "Prequel" novels, set before the Companions meet up again at the start of the first book, has a [[HalfHumanHybrid Half-Orc]], despite Orcs not existing on Krynn (also, a rather lusty she-dwarf temporarily falls in love with said half-orc, at least until she realises that he's a cold, cruel, ruthless assassin... and ends up killing her). One of the rarer races of Krynn is the half-''kender''. Yes, as in the fearless, kleptomanical hobbits of Krynn. They're {{Half Human Hybrid}}s, too.
** Golgren is half-ogre, half elf. Not a half-''human'' hybrid, but noteworthy all the same.
** Steeltoe from War of the Twins is a half-ogre with the strength, size and evil temprament of an ogre and the intelligence of a human. He lucked out in the genetic lottery.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Humans can crossbreed with many races on Krynn. In addition to the DungeonsAndDragons classic, the Half-Elf, and the somewhat less-common but still well-known Half-Ogre, mentions in the various novels have been made to Half-Dwarves, Half-Kender and Half-Gnomes.

** Steeltoe has (surprise surprise) a peg leg made of steel, which he uses as an extra weapon. He gives a fully-functioning, gladiator-mode Caramon a major run for his money.

* DesignatedHero: The Gods of Good... really aren't that good, in a lot of ways. See JerkassGods below. 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.

*** Plus, anyone who claims in the various novels that the gods are jerkasses or otherwise fallible entities is invariably portrayed as the DesignatedStrawman.

* JerkassGods: The entire evil side of the pantheon, and especially Takhisis. The gods of good are not immune to this either though, as could be seen when they threw the fiery mountain on Istar to punish an arrogant punk of a Kingpriest, which [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt ravaged the continent, killed thousands instantly, and many more later to starvation]]. Oh, and it kind of allowed the primary god of evil to partially enter the world again, resulting in another massive war. The gods of evil were in on the Cataclysm too. It was a group action to punish somebody who had made them ''all'' angry.