Join me as I review The Covenant of the Forge by Dan Parkinson, live! Share your thoughts on this first volume in the Dwarven Nations Trilogy, released on January 1, 1993. You can buy a copy here: https://amzn.to/4bWzG1I
About The Covenant of the Forge
The long-awaited historical saga of the rivalrous dwarven clans of Krynn and the birth of the legendary Thorbardin—told here for the very first time
An old dwarven chieftain, Colin Stonetooth, leads a tribe of Hylar in a migration across Ansalon, pursuing a vision of a new home. Hordes of dangerous outsiders, fleeing the Dragon Wars, sweep across the countryside. Evil magic, strange knights, and precocious kender abound, endandering Stonetooth and his followers during their journey.
In the Kharolis Mountains, in Kal Thax, the Hylar come upon squabbling dwarven clans and knit them into the new nation of Thorbardin. But a Theiwar assassin precipitates a civil war, a curse is fulfilled—and a child is born destined to become the Father of Kings.
Review
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga review episode. It is Misham, Fierswelt the 25th. My name is Adam and today I am going to give you my review of The Covenant of the Forge by Dan Parkinson. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga members, 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 year is the 40th Anniversary of Dragonlance, so join in on the celebration by submitting a video, piece of art or writing about Dragonlance to info@dlsaga.com. It will be added to the dlsaga.com/40th-anniversary celebration landing with all other contributors! 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 is a great first third to the novel. We are introduced to a historian and seer named Mistral Thrax. He is recording the history of the dwarves in his old age, and he had a dream where he was shown the Calnar of Thorin would have to seek Everbardin as an outcast, because Thorin would be washed in blood. Then we see a scout group from Thorin ambushed by humans, and killed to the dwarf. They did take more than twice the humans with them however. The humans are led by a mage named Grayfen, who has no eyes and sees through red gems in his sockets. He’s not quite alive or dead. He believes there is riches the dwarves are hiding in Thorin and has hired thousands of mercenaries to invade the dwarven kingdom during their solstice festival of Balladine.
Every year the dwarves of Thorin host the neighboring human communities of Goulash and Chandra where they engage in festivities and trade goods. With this new mercenary group, thousands have arrived posing as members of these nations, and when the leadership of them arrives, they are taken as hostages. The dwarves are tipped off to the potential attack by having caught a human with one of their scouts swords and a horse that returned on its own. With the scout team missing, they know something is up, aso they plan on a defense.
The attack is swift and quick and even though they knew it was coming the Calnar Dwarves were caught off guard. They trapped the human host in Thorin, and Mistral killed the mage who was the only one inside Thorin. Now he will report to the chieftain of the Calnar of Thorin, Colin Stonetooth and tell him of his vision. We cut to Colin Stonetooth leaving and handing leadership of the Calnar to his son Tolin Farsight, as he and many others travel to Kal-Thax believed to be in the Kharolis Mountains to the West. Colin renames his followers the Hylar. They come across a knight guarding a bridge very much like Lancelot in the film Excalibur, who defeats everyone who attempts to cross it, until the dwarves tear the bridge out from under him. The knight teached them new fighting techniques and they continued on to Kal-Thax.
The dwarves of Kal-Thax are battling humans who are trying to raid the riches of the dwarves as a dragon war is tearing apart the land to the east. The Daergar try to kill the Daewar because they believe they are holding out on treasure. In truth they are delving deeper into the mountain per a prophecy. They are told the highest of the deep dwarves will rule this new kingdom. The plot to kill the Daewar fails, and a new leader rises in the Dargar who after the battle raises Thiewar, Daergar and Klar to attack the Daewar kingdom. They find they are missing from their home, having delved deep into the mountain and covered their tracks. The Daergar turn against the Theiwar and they nearly kill each other.
More humans and ogres are upset by the dragon war attack, and as the Daewar go to help, they find more refugees. They almost got defeated by the new army, and began to retreat, when the Daewar told everyone they could stay in the newly delved kingdom but the Daewar will rule this new location. Then a mysterious figure appears that was in the Daewar chiefs dreams and reiterates the coming dwarves will rule this new kingdom, and they all suddenly hear the drums of Colin Stonetooth’s Hylar. The Hylar are finished training with Glended Hawke and award him with a dwarven crafted sword. The Dwarves press on to Kal-Thax and come across human raiders, destroying them. They arrive at the mountain to be confronted by elves from Qualinesti headed to the dragon battles in the east. The dwarves make friends with them and they share the location of the other dwarves and their battle.
The Hylar claim the abandoned Daewar dwellings and arrive to aid the other dwarves. They try to attack the Hylar as they are rounded up by the superior fighting techniques. The Hylar Thane Colin Stonetooth declares this will be Everbardin for them, and they will help defend the land as a new member here. Initially everyone argues but they relent. Then another fight comes and they defeat it completely. Colin is showing grace and trust in the fellow Thanes, asking their opinions and thoughts. It is new to the constantly warring clans, and this version of the dwarves frames the subraces as little more than opinions rather than genetic differences, while it simultaneously explains their genetic differences. For example, Colin’s son prefers the outside air, so he declares he is a Niedar, and ultimately the other Einar convert to the Neidar title as well. The assassin Glome has moved between the Thiewar and Daergar, even befriending the Klar as if he is part of each subrace. It’s very odd.
The last third of this novel really picks up momentum as the elves were sent to meet the knight as they may want to help with the dragons in the east. They discover the delvings the Daewar made into the Urkhan sea and declare it Thorbardin with a council of Thanes ruling, one from each the Thiewar, Hylar, Daewar, Daergar, Klar, Niedar, and Aghar. They each have different skill sets so they aid each other in delving out and building new homes and roads beneath the mountains. Colin’s son Cale Greeneye is taking representatives from each clan on a scouting mission to build roads to divert the human traffic, and end up in a rocky pass where they meet the elves again. They claim the mountain territory and discuss taking the road up to Ergoth. They also met with Lord Charon, an Ergoth knight and opened trade with them, and they will help build the road and patrol it.
Just as everything seems to be going well, Glome the Assassin waits for the perfect time to strike and kills the Hylar thane Colin Stonetooth, as his rebels kill the thane’s guards. They take a massive toll, and as Glome is holding Colin’s corpse demanding everyone name him king, a spirit manifests in the sea, claiming that the covenant of the different Thanes is now forged in blood, and disappears. I am completely confused by this, because it is presenting this as the human mage Grayfen that Mistral Thrax killed early in the novel, but why would he care about the future of the dwarven race or the kingdom of Thorbardin, and why is Mistral fighting him later on, only to destroy him, as the human mage was blessing the grandson of Colin as the father of kings? Again, I am completely confused by this.
The king and his guards are buried in the newly named valley of Thanes, and Colin’s daughter Tera is offered the role of thane. She asks for everyone to accept the choice of her husband Willen Ironmaul instead, and she ultimately gives birth in a wonderful scene where the men are all rushed out of the birthing room and the various clan women aid in the birth. I helped the doctor and nurses with my children’s birth and cut the cord on both. I could never imagine not being there when my wife brought them into the world, they are two of my most important life experiences. I just don’t know why this stereotype exists. Men impregnate the women, they should be there at birth helping. We are half of the equation here.
It ends with the aforementioned death of the human mage foretelling the child’s legacy, and we see the beginnings of the treaty that leads to Pax Tharkas being built, which I believe is the next novel. I thought this was a great story, and redeemed the author in my eyes after The Gates of Thorbardin. I am excited to read the next novel in the trilogy, but Dragons of Eternity will be out before I can get to it, so I will be reading it next. I highly recommend this novel to any fan of Dragonlance or dwarves.
Outro
And that’s it for my review of The Covenant of the Forge by Dan Parkinson. What did you think of the move of the Calnar to Hylar and the Einar to Neidar? Is there a difference in dwarven subraces? And finally, do you enjoy historical Dragonlance stories? Feel free to email me at info@dlsaga.com or leave a comment below.
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