Join me as I review Emperor of Ansalon by Douglas Niles, live! Share your thoughts on this third 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/3I7TTGn
About Emperor of Ansalon
Ariakas, the Emperor of Ansalon, successfully gains power with the help of his mistress, Takhisis, but must learn to rein in his ambition, or be prepared to oppose the Queen of Darkness herself.
Transcript
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga review episode. It is Bakukal, Deepkolt the 10th. My name is Adam and today I am going to give you my Spoiler review of Emperor of Ansalon by Douglas Niles. 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.
This novel is broken into three different parts, Part One is Seduction. This is where we meet Duulket Ariakas and learn about his past as a warrior, leading warlords raids on ogres, and fulfilling his revenge on the ogres who killed his father. All this has made Ariakas wealthy, and with the desire to live in peace and put up the sword to enjoy his wealth, he traveled to his acquaintance Habbar-Akuk, a wealthy money lender, to trade in his wealth for smaller coinage. Habbar offered him a locket with the portrait of a stunningly beautiful woman within. Ariakas took it and was entranced. Habbar mentioned that the woman may have been in a tower in the Kalkists.
Ariakas is then traveling to Sanction and wakes to discover the locket missing from his pack. He hunts the would-be thief into the mountains and discovers its two thieves, two Kender to be precise. He approaches them and finds the locket in their pack, they say it’s not his, it belongs to the woman in the locket who is held at a tower of Oberon, a bandit lord who commands an ogre army. Ariakas kills the male, Cornsilk Tethersmeet, and the female Keppli taunts him, enraging Ariakas into killing her, but not before she cuts his face. Then he heads off to where they mentioned the tower was located. Ariakas is infatuated with the woman and wants to rescue her.
He discovers the tower in the peaks of the Khalkists and waits for patrols. He discovers one patrol with a human in armor, then ambushes him to wear the armor and sneak into the tower. Once inside he heads to the top and discovers the Lady in the picture. She is chained to the wall and says the key is in the dungeon. She then tells him where a secret tunnel is located to get there, and Ariakas finds the key, but also a dwarf who convinces him to let him go. They make a plan to use the dwarf as a distraction so Ariakas can rescue the Lady. The plan goes off without a hitch until Arikas is returning up to the tower and bars are now in place preventing this movement up. He goes down to discover ogres waiting in ambush. Ariakas then charges into the ambush, surprising the ogres and kills them all suffering near mortal wounds himself. The final ogre tells him that this was all a set up and the Lady is in charge.
Ariakas then takes the regular path up to the Lady where another ogre waits, and after Ariakas defeats it, on the brink of death, the lady appears to him shining as if glowing in light. He wakes in her bed as she is healing him. She tells him the gods never left and she can heal with their blessing, but will not say whose blessing it is. They spend the winter together having sex and eating the magically produced food, and Ariakas is truly happy. The lady who refuses to give her name, demands one promise, that Ariakas will do exactly as she wishes without question. He agrees and in the summer, when Ariakas tries to get the Lady to leave the tower and travel to Sanction with him, she refuses and tells him to kill her. That is her god’s will, and he must do it. It takes some coaxing but finally Ariakas does it, and an avatar of Takhisis springs from her body. Takhisis demands Ariakas follow her and in return she will allow him to stand by her side. Ariakas agrees and sets off to Sanction for others who await him, as Takhisis has been testing Ariakas his whole life up to this point.
Part Two: Corruption deals with how Ariakas arrived in Sanction and helped to create the first Draconians. Ariakas arrives in Sanction and sells the locket and his other items for money, buys a stone mansion and explores the town before traveling to the Temple of Luerkhisis. As he arrives, Wryllish Parkane, the high priest, meets him and takes him on a tour of the temple. They go to the catacombs where they are introduced to the many dragon eggs, and the corruption of some. A Zhakar dwarf snuck into the catacombs and prompted a bronze egg to spill out mutilated lizards. Wryllish believes the mold of Zhakar can assist them in forming the creatures in the eggs, and asks Ariakas to bargain with Tale Splintersteel, a Zhakar leader here in Sanction, to trade mold to the temple.
As Ariakas travels to the inn where Tale is rumored to be located, he meets the dwarf from the tower he released named Ferros Windchisel. Ferros is looking for Tale as well, but to enter Zhakar. The Thorbardin dwarves are searching for the lost kingdom as there are rumors of war. This note bothered me, as we are in a time when the Dragonarmies haven’t even formed yet, and still there are rumors of war in Qualinesti and Thorbardin? I don’t buy it. Either way, they approach Tale in the inn and on sight of the Hylar, Tale demands Ariakas kill him if he wants to talk with him. Ariakas refuses and the Zhakar all attack, they fill the tavern. Ariakas calls on the might of the sword Takhisis gifted him and defeats all the Zhakar, escaping with Ferros who is mortally wounded. He takes him back to the temple and demands Wryllish heal the Hylar. Wrillish refuses saying Ariakas should do it. He teaches him how to reach out to Takhissi for power and he successfully heals Ferros.
This begins Ariakas’ dive into the culture and history of Takhisis and her view of history. He trains with an impressive priest warrior called Lyrelee, and he has Ferros stay with him in his estate. He is growing more and more confident in his leadership and powers when a random Zhakar tells him that Tale wants to meet him. This time Ferros joins him in hiding, and they meet Tale who really only wants Ariakas’ magical sword. Tale casts darkness, and Ariakas fights through his assassins with the power of his sword. Ferros pins Tale down with a crossbow bolt, and as Tale is bleeding out, Ariakas brings him to the temple. If he is unwilling to trade the mold, he will be the provider if kept alive. As they get there, Ariakas and Lyrelee take Tale to the catacombs but they are ambushed by Shadowpeople. They don’t want the mold to corrupt the precious dragon eggs. After realizing they read minds, Ariakas and Lyrelee fight through the captivity and escape with Tale. They are met by Wryllish and Dracart.
They all head to the catacombs into the ritual chamber and use the Zhakars mold and both arcane magic and divine magic to corrupt the egg which results in ten Draconians. Ariakas takes the holy symbol and demands the Draconians serve him and their Dark Queen. The new Draconians kneel in supplication.
Part Three: Triumph and Treachery is about Ariakas making a trade deal with the Zhakar, conscripting them to his cause as soldiers and earning his mount the red dragon Tombfyre. It starts with Ariakas, Lyrelee, Ferros and Tale all traveling to Zhakar. Ferros is trying to determine if the Zhakar are worth being comrades with, and Ariakas is setting up a trade deal for the mold. They are ambushed and only escape because of Ariakas’ sword which blasts fire at them, incinerating the Zhakar. They arrive at the kingdom and Ariakas breaks in with the Knock spell, surprising the residents. He demands to see their king, Racks Ironcog. They reluctantly present him to the king where Ariakas requests a trade relationship. The king only has eyes for Ariakas’ sword however, not in trade.
The King sets up a dinner for them to discuss, where the food is poisoned. Ariakas blesses it, purifying the food, to the King’s dismay, and the King tells them he will show them the mold. They travel deep into the mountain, and cast blindness on them, abandoning them after killing Lyrelee. A massive mold/fungus monster attacks and nearly kills them. Ferros has contracted their mold disease and has a broken leg and arm. He demands Ariakas flee to survive and leave him there. Ariakas does, running through the tunnels, unsure where he is, but feeling drawn to a specific location.
Ariakas realizes the Dark Queen is guiding him, and climbs down a fissure in the mountain to a small ledge overlooking a massive cavern containing a monstrously sized suspended cage that imprisons a red dragon. After the Dragon Fear subsides, about an hour later, Ariakas calls out to the dragon. They share their devotion to the Dark Queen and the dragon, named Tombfyre, says that he will lead the dragons in the army Ariakas will build, as Ariakas leads the army itself. Ariakas uses the sword to blast lightning, breaking the cage apart, and Tombfyre and Ariakas dive down into the mountain and work their way to Zhakar once more. They enter the throne room where Ariakas has Tombfyre burn the King’s treacherous advisor, as the King’s rival, Whez Lavastone breaks out of his captivity and kills the king. Ariakas dismounts and kills Tale for his attempted ambush in Sanction and no longer asks for the mold but demands it.
Whez is crowned King of the Zhakar, pledges loyalty to Ariakas, and provides lizard mounted Zhakar to his army. He also begins trade with the Mold as Ariakas travels back to Sanction on dragonback. When he arrives, Wryllish informs him that the Shadopeople have taken the eggs for protection, and Ariakas says he will take care of it with his sword, now a green color.
This is how a villainous Dragonlance novel should be written. Ariakas made a close friendship with Ferros but understood his devotion to his queen superseded everything else, love, friendship, everything. This is a fantastic book that I would recommend to anyone who cheers for the bad guys in movies, or loves Dragonlance lore. It is definitely worth your time.
Outro
But that’s it for my review of Emperor of Ansalon by Douglas Niles. Was Ariakas too likable in the story? Did you appreciate the slavelike devotion Takhisis demands of her followers? You can email me at info@dlsaga.com or comment below.
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This channel is all about celebrating the wonderful world of the Dragonlance Saga, and I hope you will join me in the celebration. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time Slàinte mhath (slan-ge-var).
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