Join me as I review Lord Soth by Edo Van Belkom, live! Share your thoughts on this background novel about the infamous Lord Soth, when he was a Knight of Solamnia. This is the sixth book in the Dragonlance Warriors series. You can pick up Lord Soth here: https://amzn.to/3lAlmDS
About Lord Soth
The Dragonlance Warriors series continues with the tale of Soth, once a mighty warrior, whose jealous passions and neglect of duty has caused him to lose all that is dear to him – his love, his life and his very spirit. His is the tale of a descent into evil and darkness.
Review
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. It is Misham, Reapember 23rd, my name is Adam and today I am going to give you my Spoiler review of Lord Soth. 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 my collaborator patrons, the Heroes of the Lance, and invite you to consider becoming a patron or member of this channel by visiting the links in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link. This is my perspective only, and if you have any thoughts or disagree with mine, I invite you to share them in YouTube chat.
I grew up loving fantasy films. Films with knights and maidens and magic captured my attention and none was greater in my opinion than Excalibur. It featured the story of King Arthur and the Holy Grail. It was resplendent with chivalry and battle, all the while showcasing the knights’ humanity as they struggled to live up to thor lofty ideals through their human desires. I see a lot of this in this novel.
Book One: Son’s Rise is all about how Lord Loren Soth ordered his faithful Knight Caradoc to murder his fathers illegitimate children to ensure his uncontested rise to take over his fathers lands. It focuses on his hatred for his father, for having put him in this place, and for his fathers lack of willpower for women that put him in this place to begin with. A wonderful foreshadow for the reader.
It then shared how Lord Soth was presented to the Knights Council for consideration into the Knights of the Rose. This reminded me of my time in the military when I had to appear before my leaders for review before I was granted my stripes as a non-commissioned officer. Lord Soth’s deeds though fantasy, obviously outshone my own. He was immediately inducted into the Rose Knighthood and it describes the construction of Dargaard Keep briefly.
We are then immediately presented with the life and love of Lord Soth as he marries and expands his lands with Lady Korinne Gladria. THey struggle with being able to get pregnant, as Lord Soth is called to defend a town that was assaulted by Ogres. We are then shown his and his knights tactics and prowess in battle, and how each knight rationalizes or outright ignores the Oath and the Measure, his Knight Caradoc being the most flagrant. This again foreshadows their willingness to follow Lord Soth, regardless of their code.
They then travel to Palanthas to attend a council and come across a group of elf maidens en route to Paladines temple to become clerics who were assaulted by ogres. They search and kill each of them, again with varying adherence to their code, and Lord Soth finds Isolde Denissa. He immediately is attracted to her, and she to him. We get to see Soth struggle with his attraction and his devotion, and even question whether he loves Korinne after they haven’t been able to secure an heir. Isolde kisses him as he is taking her to Dargaard Keep alone, an unnecessary move, but Soth is compelled. Lord Soth has dreams throughout this book about his son dying in fire at varying ages and his inability to save him, again foreshadowing.
What I find interesting about this book is the setup of the Kingpriest emboldening his wizards to read the thoughts of citizens and sentence them to death if they think an evil thought through The Edict of Thought Control. We are given a couple examples, and it is clear that the Kingpriest is the true evil in the land.
Book Two: Knight’s Fall is all about…you guessed it, Lord Loren Soth, Knight of the Rose falling from grace in the eyes of the knighthood and the world at large. Korinne and Soth are unable to conceive and Soth is seen being kissed by Isolde by the maid, who goes and tells Korinnen. Korinne and the maid both travel to a hedge Witch as Korinne believes that if she can give Soth an heir, he will forget about the elf maiden. The Hedge Witch is reluctant to help but they make a bargain. She will cast the dark magic but makes no promises, as the health of the child will be entirely dependent on her husband’s honor. Korinne is confident in Soth and accepts. She gets pregnant and things seem well for a while, until she gives birth. The healer delivers the child who looks more like a creature and calls on Soth who is convinced of Korinne’s infidelity as he would never have such an abomination. Korinne tells Soth about the witch and claims Soth is the corrupt one, Soth orders the healer out, and savagely murdered his wife and child.
He burns their corpses claiming they died in childbirth and had disease. Six months later, Soth marries Isolde, who is already pregnant. Soth’s son with Isolde Denissa is born and named Peradur in honor of Lord Soth’s great-great-grandfather who was the first of his line to become a Knight of Solamnia, under Vinas Solamnus’ command! The maid is sharing the truth all over the keep and is eventually fired by Isolde. The maid travels to Palanthus and speaks to the Knights of Solamnia who begin an investigation into her claims. They call Lord Soth and his knights to Palanthas where he is separated from his knights and immediately put on trial. They use the Kingpriests mage to get the truth out of the loyal healer, and sentence Soth to death the following morning. Soths knight decides to break him out.
They rescue Soth, charge out of Palanthas and flee into the mountains, pursued by the Knights of Solamnia. They end up narrowly reaching Dargaard Keep before they are caught and the Knights strip Soth of his Knighthood, and tell him if he leaves his lands that he will be executed on the spot. This whole book is fantastic, though I am a bit bothered that he was stripped of his knighthood, yet still wears the armor in death.
Book Three: Dead of Knight presents Lord Soth as a shell of himself. His wife refuses to accept that he committed the atrocities that he is condemned for, and prays to Mishakal for his redemption. Soth joins her in the chapel eventually and prays to Paladine. Isolde wakes soth from another of his foreshadowing nightmares and tells him she received a message about his redemption. Isolde is then possessed by the gods and tell Soth that he must travel to Istar and confront the Kingpriest, who will strike Soth dead with lightning. The gods will continually resurrect Soth after each death as he will return stronger each time until he can destroy the kingpriest, thus saving Krynn from the Cataclysm and redeeming his soul. He knows this is a death mission and tells Isolde so when she returns to herself.
They agree that he must do it for his son and Krynn, and so he takes three of his best thirteen knights with him and leaves. Paladine clears their path of danger and provides food during their journey. After days, they come upon three elf maidens. They taunt Soth about his past and his new wife’s fidelity, preying on every buried insecurity of Soth’s. HIs knights are telling him to ignore the elf’s as they must be sent by the Kingpriest who is aware of Soth’s quest, but he is becoming more and more enraged until he can take no more and strikes them all down, brutally mutilating their corpses. When he is done they disappear, but the damage is done to Soth’s mind.
He immediately turns back to Dargaard Keep to confront Isolde. His knights try to catch up but are incapable, as Soth is driven by otherworldly madness and rage. He arrives at the keep and confronts Isolde as the fiery mountain passes overhead and ultimately crashes into Istar, shaking the planet. Dargaark keep begins to get torn apart and fires begin where no fire should exist, engulfing the keep. A chandelier falls from the ceiling pinning Isolde to the ground with her son, and the flames burn them alive as Soth is reminded of the saying “Our Children shall bleed for our sins.” He is convinced that if his son lives, he will be wickeder than even Soth. So he turns his back, letting them die. With her last breath, Isolde curses Soth, saying in part: “You will die this night in fire, Even as your son and I die. You will live one life for every life your folly has brought to an end!”
Soth is unaffected by the flames, returns to his throne room and sits on his throne, and is then engulfed in flames. The elf maidens return as banshees telling his story through haunted song nightly. His thirteen knights return as undead to patron Dargaard for eternity.
I did not want this novel to end. It was so incredibly good. It gave us context of Soth’s mind through his character arc from famed Knight of the Rose to doomed Knight of the Black Rose. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who loves tragedy’s and Dragonlance.
Outro
And that’s it for my review of Lord Soth by Edo Van Belkom. Have you read the novel? What did you think of the fall of the infamous Lord Soth? Do you enjoy the reviews I am putting out there? Feel free to email me at info@dragonlance-saga.com or comment below.
I would like to once again invite you to consider becoming a patron or member of this channel, and you can pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link, all of which are in the description below.
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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