He was one of the first gods summoned from the Beyond by the High God, the entity who created the universe.
During the Dragonlance novels, Paladine appears as his avatar Fizban the Fabulous, a somewhat clumsy and absent minded wizard, so that he can help in the quest.
He is the patron deity of the Order of the Rose, an order of knighthood dedicated to good, and he is also the creator of the elven race, who call him E'li. Each deity in the Dragonlance universe has a divine portfolio of concepts over which they hold dominion and Paladine's are as follows: order; hope; light; redemption; good dragons; kingship.
He shows his very great character by agreeing to become mortal to maintain the balance of Good, Neutrality and Evil when his sister Takhisis is stripped of her immortality as punishment for her crimes. He becomes Valthonis, a mortal elf, and still tries to be a force for good, travelling all over the Ansalon to spread peace and wisdom.
I remember reading The Dragonlance Chronicles as a teenager and being utterly fascinated by the depth of the characters and the universe around them. Took me a while to get my head round the whole Good, Neutral and Evil set up, but it is a very clever device to enhance the action. If I am honest, it was a bit too real for me at times, wow do those characters go through some rough patches ;).
Sources: Wikipedia | Dragonlance Nexus
Are you a Dragonlance fan? Have you ever role played, this or other universes?
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I haven't heard of the book, but Paladine sounds like an awesome guy. =)
ReplyDelete~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Member of C. Lee's Muffin Commando Squad
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He was definitely of the good :)
DeleteI don't know this series at all but it sounds fun. What really jumped out at me was the name Fizban the Fabulous! I bet he pretended to be incompetent so no one would guess his godly nature.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the books I read as I was just getting into fantasy fiction when buying books myself and it has always suck with me.
DeleteI've never read the series, but now I'm tempted. I love sci-fi and fantasy, because someone has to create everything. Every book is a mystery, since I can't predict what will happen. When there is so much character detail created, it can me awe inspiring.
ReplyDeleteYou can find me here:
ClarabelleRant
I remember them as good books. I haven't read them in years, I should take a peek again :) I love fantasy because it completely takes me out of the now and to somewhere new, same as sci-fi.
DeleteI read the first few books of the Dragonlance sereis as a teenager too. Your post brought back such far away memories :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd hey, I've never truly grasped how much Tolkien there is in that universe before.
They are far away memories for me too ... I don't think I've picked up these books since I was a teen or just a little older either :). They are still all on the shelf, maybe I should nose at them again. I think Tolkien has made it in to a hell of a lot of fantasy :)
Delete'Fraid not a Dragonlance.
ReplyDeleteI remember it being a good read :)
DeleteI seem to remember it being quite popular in the day, but I have no idea if that was just my perception :) There were a hell of a lot of books though.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of this series before. Sounds like a good read!
ReplyDeleteI remember it being so :)
DeleteI'll have to read some of these! I have read fantasy novels as a teenager, but they were mostly based on MAGUS, which is the Hungarian version of D&D. Fun times...
ReplyDelete@TarkabarkaHolgy from
Multicolored Diary - Epics from A to Z
MopDog - 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary
These were a good read as I remember them :)
DeleteThis is another one I've never heard of!
ReplyDeletePrecious Monsters
Good books - worth a look :D
DeleteMy husband was a fan of those books as a young man. I think there's still a shelf of them around here somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI read the Chronicles first and then went on to lots of others in the same sets :)
DeleteI've never read Dragonlance. I always thought it was based on a game but now you have me intriqued.
ReplyDeleteI believe the original books were based on a campaign, but the are well written books.
DeleteThis is one I have not heard of, I am intrigued!
ReplyDeleteJeremy [Retro]
AtoZ Challenge Co-Host [2015]
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The books are a good read :)
DeleteI read the first book in the Dragonlance series when I was around 12, and it totally blew my mind. I think it helped spark my current love of fantasy as well. I didn't realize Fizban was an avatar of Paladine. Love that wizard. He makes an appearance in the Death Gate Cycle series. It had been so long since I read any of the Dragonlance books that I was like, "You!" but couldn't remember specifics about him. Such great books. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I read these as a teenager too :) The fantasy books I read first that I bought myself was The Wishsong of Shanara (sp?) but these came soon after in my reading.
DeleteI have not read these, but I knew of them. Our library is sparse on high fantasy and sci fi. Most of our patrons only read thrillers, mysteries, and women's fic.
ReplyDeleteThe only library I've ever used is my old school library and we had some classic sci-fi, but no high fantasy. We've always lived in the country so no local library :( I believe the one in the town is good though.
DeleteI bet my daughter would have liked this series when she was a teen. I have not read Dragonlance myself :)
ReplyDeletebetty
I read it as a teen and I remember really enjoying it.
DeleteThis is a new series to me. You're going to make my reading list even long. :)
ReplyDeleteThat seems to be happening with a lot of blogs - I know I'm picking up so many recs :)
DeleteI never heard of the series. I used to read so much fantasy. I'll see if this is available on Amazon Kindle.
ReplyDeleteI think the individual books are available on Kindle, but not the combined book shown above.
DeleteIt makes me sad that so many people haven't heard of Dragonlance. I didn't like it (it was basically the authors' Dungeons & Dragons campaign transcribed in book form) but the fact that no one heard of it is depressing. \
ReplyDelete\
I guess it was only a big deal in my circles.
I read it in my teens and I don't think many people I knew had heard of it. I enjoyed the books - I thought I remembered reading that it was a campaign :). I still thought it was well written.
DeleteI haven't heard of this series, either. But as I'm on the very cusp of fantasy/science fiction reading/watching, I'm feeling pretty good that I've heard of at least some of your deities so far. P already!
ReplyDeleteAnnalisa, writing A-Z vignettes, at Wake Up, Eat, Write, Sleep
Some of my choices are very specific, so knowing some of them is an achievement ;)
DeleteTo be honest, I tried reading the first one of these books and never got far, but to hear more about the series makes me think I should give it another try. I had no idea of the depth of the story. Wow.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I have no idea how many books there are in the end. I have quite a few of them :)
DeleteIt's been a long time since I saw all those names. I think they were some of my first introductions into the world of fantasy.
ReplyDeleteYes, me too ... along with Terry Brooks and David Eddings :)
DeleteI love how "good dragons" is mixed in with all those other realms he has dominion over. It's such an interesting juxtaposition.
ReplyDeleteYes, I liked that too when I went Googling him for the details :)
DeleteI'm not into fantasy at all, so these names are brand new to me...
ReplyDeleteThey are fun books if you enjoy the genre :)
DeleteMy husband is very old-school as well. He plays a game called MajorMUD, where you make yourself a particular character. The Paladines are 'holy warriors' with all kinds of god-like powers. It's nice to find out a little more about that name and where it comes from.
ReplyDeleteI think there are paladines in D&D and then a god called Paladine in Dragonlance - I found loads of both references when Googling, so I have no idea who came first ;)
DeleteI haven't read this series, but Paladine sounds like my kind of good guy! Plus, there are elves - I need to get my hands on these books!
ReplyDeleteElves are always worth seeking out aren't they :)
DeleteNew series to me, intriguing concept and neat good god guy. It was also a nicely written post. I am visiting during A to Z - I've noticed that you and I comment on some other blogs, so I decided to visit when I passed the "P" post... glad I did. - Jeri from storytellingmatters.wordpress.com
ReplyDeleteThank you and thank you for dropping by :) I've been meaning to drop by your blog anyway because I had it rec'd to me, now I shall get off my bottom and remember to do it :)
DeleteI knew a character named Paladin, from a TV show, "Have Gun, Will Travel", but am not familiar with Paladine. I like his avatar name "Fizban the Fabulous". ☺
ReplyDeleteIt's impossible not to like a character with a name like that isn't it ;)
DeleteI have not read this series in so long. This reminds me just how much I need to go back and read it again!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the A to Z Challenge!
A to Z Co-Host S. L. Hennessy
http://pensuasion.blogspot.com/
Always glad to help people remember good things :)
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