Defenders of Magic is a trilogy of fantasy novels written by Mary Kirchoff and set in the universe of Dragonlance. The books are, in order, Night of the Eye, The Medusa Plague, and The Seventh Sentinel.
More than three centuries after the Cataclysm, the people of Krynn remains deeply suspicious of magic and witchcraft, and those who practice such arts are subject to persecution and harassment. This does little to discourage Guerrand DiThon, the second son of an impoverished noble family. Faced with an unwanted arranged marriage, Guerrand runs away, setting out to become a mage, but soon finds that it's a dangerous vocation.
- The Alcoholic: Cormac DiThon, in spades. Most of the family's financial troubles are the result of his love of expensive wines and brandies.
- And I Must Scream: "Night of the Eye" ends with Belize horribly disfigured after his failed attempt at gating to the Lost Citadel.
- Arranged Marriage: At the opening of the book, Guerrand's younger brother Quinn is in an arranged marriage with Ingrid Berwick, the daughter of merchant who owns a significant piece of the DiThon family's ancestral lands. When Quinn is unexpectedly killed, Guerrand himself becomes Ingrid's new betrothed, much to his horror.
- Bald of Evil/Beard of Evil: Belize has the requisite bald head and goatee, just in case anyone was confused about his moral alignment.
- Big Brother Bully: Cormac treats his younger half-siblings like crap. He has a slightly better excuse than usual, as he was grown and had a family of his own when their father died, leaving him with three more mouths to feed from the family's depleting largesse.
- Contrasting Sequel Protagonist: The first book follows Guerrand, an aspiring mage. The second book follows his nephew Bram, an aspiring herbologist.
- Death by Childbirth: Guerrand, Quinn, and Kirah lost their mother when she died giving birth to Kirah.
- Death by Despair: Rejik DiThon loved his second wife Zena very much. After her death, he was never the same and died two years later.
- Fantastic Racism: Northern Ergoth, the seat of power for Guerrand's family, has a prejudice against blonde, fair-skinned people, as most Northern Ergothians have dark skin and hair. This prejudice led Kirah DiThon, whose mother had fair skin and hair which she inherited, to be outcast for most of her childhood, making her bitter towards her homeland.
- Loyal Animal Companion: Guerrand is accompanied on his adventures by Zagarus, his loyal seagull familiar.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In "Night of the Eye", Belize convinces Guerrand to run away from home and become a mage solely because he needs Guerrand out of the way for his plans. He figures that Guerrand would die on the way to Weyrath. Instead, Guerrand actually becomes a wizard and ends up being the one to thwart Belize's plans.
- Plot-Triggering Death: The sudden death of Quinn DiThon kicks off the books' plot, as his family was depending upon his work and his impending marriage to replenish their fortunes.
- Rich Jerk: Riette DiThon, Cormac's wife, is the heir of the Cuisset family, an old Solamnic family with a long history of knighthood, and thus she feels entitled to treat her subjects like crap. A particular favorite hobby of hers is commissioning craftsmen to make expensive things for her family, and then using the threat of having their shops shut down to get out of actually paying them for their work.
- Tomboy: Kirah, the youngest of the DiThon siblings, spends much of her time having adventures either out in the woods on within the castle's many hidden passageways.
