Join me as I review Before the Mask by Michael Williams & Teri Williams, live! Share your thoughts on this first volume in the Dragonlance: Villains series released on January 1, 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. You can buy a copy here: https://amzn.to/3ZdsAko
About Before the Mask
This first in a series of novels focusing on the prehistory of the villains of the popular Dragonlance novels describes the rise to power of Verminaard and the choices that forged his unhappy destiny.
Transcript
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga review episode. It is Misham, Newkolt the 26th. My name is Adam and today I am going to give you my Spoiler review of Before the Mask by Michael Williams & Teri Williams. I will be spoiling the story, so if you don’t want to know it, stop watching now! I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this YouTube channel, 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 is my perspective only, and if you have any thoughts or disagree with mine, I invite you to share them in YouTube chat.
The story begins with Verminaard birth. Daeghrefn, Lord of Nidus has a friendship with Lord Laca Dragonbane of East Borders, a descendant of Huma. Both Lords’ wives are pregnant, months apart. As Daeghrefn is attending a dinner at Laca’s castle, Laca suggests that it is his son in Daeghrefn’s wifes belly. This taunting goes on through the night, until he is challenged, and his wife doesn’t deny it. Apparently in the past, the Lord Luca came to hunt and stayed behind. It is never addressed whether it was Luca who seduced Daeghrefn’s wife or vice versa, but they did have sex.
This leads to Daeghrefn force marching through the Taman Busuk with his young son and wife in a blizzard. They are rescued by a druid of Paladine who has been granted immortality, and has lived for three thousand years. I believe since the time of Huma. It is prophesied that two of Huma’s descendants will battle and one will turn to evil, greater evil than his surrogate father. This seems to be a set up by Takhisis to corrupt the lineage of Huma. Daeghrefn doesn’t accept the child as his, as it is born in the cave of the druid, and names him Verminaard as an insult. His son sees the baby as his brother and the mother dies in childbirth.
Daeghrefn and his sons return to his castle and years later, after falling away from the Knighthood, and shunning the order, Daeghrefn enacts a gebo-naud, an exchange of sons, to form an alliance with Luca. The Nerakan mercenaries are getting bolder and pressing against their territories. The rite demands the firstborn son, which Daeghrefn was hoping to trade Verminaard rather than his son Abelaard.
Forced to follow through with the rite, he hands his son over and accepts Luca’s son Aglaca, the true half-brother of Verminaard. Aglaca is the opposite of Verminaard, as Luca is still a Knight of Solamnia, so he worships the gods of good, while Verminaard is taught the gods of evil. There is a constant whisper in Verminaards head, pressing him to kill Aglaca. And a warning in Aglaca’s head that Verminaard will kill him. It’s an interesting juxtaposition, but a bit too contrived for my tastes.
They go on a hunt and Aglaca thinks he’s protecting Verminaard by joining him in the vanguard, but it’s not what Verminaard wants, and they lose their hunt master in the process of hunting a Centicour. I have no idea what a cenicore is, but it has horns and is smart apparently. Daeghrefn disregards Verminaards kill due to the loss of the hunter, and the boys return home. On the way home they witness a young maiden being chased by Nerakans who also attack Daeghrefn’s group. They do their best to rally and escape but that young woman will stay in Verminaard and even Aglaca’s mind moving forward. In fact even as much time has passed, Verminaard is insistent about rescuing this woman, and uses Cerestes, his magic teacher to cast runes and learn the future. He interprets the omens as if he should rescue her and sets out to do so. This will end up being the choice that not only defines Verminaard moving forward but also reveals Ember the dragon for the first time in thousands of years and Takhisis’ plans.
Verminaard and Aglaca, much to Verminaard’s dismay, go to search for this woman for rescue. They end up in Neraka and the tunnels underneath to find her cell, thanks to Takhisis’ voice that is actively talking to both brothers. Aglaca is ignoring it and Verminaard is listening. They rescue the woman names Judyth from Solamnia, and we learn that Ember has plans to deceive Takhisis, while Takhisis wants Judyth to lead her to L’Indasha Yman, the druid, who would be able to show her where the green gemstone man is so she can enter Krynn. They escape Neraka through the tunnels, but the Nerakans give chase, and the ogres from the mountains set fires all around and hunt them. They find themselves in a sacred cave of Takhsis where she presents Verminaard with the offer of service and power. He accepts and takes the magical mace artifact that Takhisis crafts for him, and they set out to Castle Nidus. Meanwhile, when the castle learns of the two young lords leaving and missing, the entire castle force goes looking for them. They are waylaid by the fires and Ogres, and try to return to the castle which is under siege by ogres.
Takhisis demands that Ember reveal himself and protect Judyth, Aglaca, and Verminaard, and as the men and ogres are all paralyzed by dragon awe, Verminaard kills off the stunned ogres. L’Indasha Yman comes down from her mountain and rescues Lord Daeghrefn’s seneschal Robert, and meets up with the three to return to Castle Nidus. Now we know why Takhisis wants the bloodline of Huma, to corrupt or end it, and Verminaard’s magic teacher is actually Ember, his future mount. I am getting nostalgic vibes from this novel in a very real and good way. I can’t wait to see where it goes.
With the apparent heroism of Verminaard defeating so many ogres the castle’s denizens are now more loyal to him than Daeghrefn, and over time, Daeghrefn is locked in a tower as Verminaard takes control of the castle. It turns out that L’Indasha and Robert fall in love, but since she is sworn to Paladine to protect the rune, she cannot return his love, though she wants to. She asked Robert to collect Judyth as she is supposed to aid L’Indasha. Robert returns to the castle to see the incredible changes in power.
Ember is summoned to Takhisis who has been reading his mind about his treachery and threatens his destruction. Ember bows to Takhisis’ will and swears to be Verminaards mount. Verminaard is convinced to attack East Borders Castle where Luca Dragonbane, Huma’s descendant and Verminaards true father lives, to reclaim his birthright, though in fact it’s just to end the Dragonbane line. Verminaard is met outside the castle and defeats all the knights, but stops short of killing Luca as he discovers he wounded his half brother Abelaard. He returns to his castle and realizes that he cannot get rid of the mace. It compels him to use it, much like the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings. As he struggles with his desire to be free, his other half brother, Aglaca is now with Judyth romantically, and he reaches out to Paladine who grants him a spell to cancel all evil magic. Verminaard asked Aglaca to be his lieutenant or leave. But if Aglaca leaves, Verminaard will take Judyth, so Aglaca looked for a third option, to allow Verminaard to choose his family and honor. He hopes to dispel the magic of the mace to free Verminaard.
The action is not realized and Ember in the guise of Cerestes murders Aglaca after Verminaard stopped him from casting the spell and defeating Cerested. At this point, you aren’t really sure if Verminaard is in control any longer. The narrative suggests he is struggling and eventually accepts Takhissis lies and bargain, but he still resists her sometimes. It’s really odd. In either case, Laca comes and attacks Castle Nidus, as Verminaard is losing his mind. Daeghrefn is confronted by Robert and he has clearly lost his mind, and falls out of his tower balcony window. Robert can’t leave the castle with Judyth now that it’s locked down under siege, so they wait out the outcome.
Verminaar is told by Takhisis that Ember is designing a helmet to cover the scar Aglaca gave him, which is the traditional Dragon Highlord armor, and it just glosses over him becoming a cleric for Takhisis. This is another confusing point, as throughout the book, he was taking lessons from the wizard Cerestes in magic. At what point was that supposed to be divine magic lessons? It’s totally unclear, but it fits with the obscure nature of the overall story. Verminaard finally mounts Ember with his armor and burns everyone and everything, flying off to an army Takhisis told him is waiting for his command in Estwilde. Even Robet and Judyth were supposed to be burned only to be saved by a necklace that Verminaard found in L’indasha’s cave and gifted to Judyth as he was trying to court her.
They return to L’indasha and Paladine is there where Judyth and L’indasha switch places so L’indasha and Robert can be together. The whole point was to have the druidess protect the rune that Takhisis was after, but Takhisis gave up looking for it after Verminaard burned his home, so what is the point of that storyline? It just falls apart, and becomes meaningless. Not to mention the entire Laca Dragonbane storyline of him betraying his friends marriage and sleeping with Daeghrefn’s wife. At no point do any of the wifes have names, or any culpability in their husbands actions. How is Laca an honorable Solamnic Knight as presented, when he cheated on his wife with his friend’s wife? Then ignores that Verminaard is his actual son? It’s the most un-honorable thing you can do as a man!
Why doesn’t anyone address wether it was willing infidelity or rape? Why don’t wives have names? It drives me nuts! I honestly hoped for a better origin story for Verminaard than this. It’s convoluted, at times nonsensical and overly complicated, definitely NOT one of Williams’ best books. If you are obsessed with Verminaard, maybe don’t read it, it changes how I feel about him and not in a good way. If you are a completionist, then you probably already read it, so otherwise, I think you can skip it entirely. I am really bummed as I wanted something better.
Outro
But that’s it for my review of Before the Mask by Michael Williams & Teri Williams. What do you think about the novel? Do you have a favorite part? You can email me at info@dlsaga.com or comment below.
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