The Dragonlance Pondering of the Month and Year

Enjoy the old Dragonlance pondering of the months and years, shown here in chronological order.

February, 1999

Are the gods asexual?

If not, why do the gods of magic only have on parent?

Maybe they were “magically” conceived.

March, 1999

What the hell happened to Gilthanis and Silvara?

Maybe they should write a book… Oh God! What am I saying! Help! Please don’t write the Gilthanis and Silvara legends tales series!!!

April, 1999

Is The Art of Dragonlance really a fitting name?

I was thinking something more like The Progressive Takeover of Larry Elmore.

May, 1999

What do the gods do for fun?

Well, BESIDES trying to take over Krynn.

June, 1999

Just what does the quote “I dedicate this book to the one who gave me life.” (Soulforge, 408) mean?

Is Raistlin dedicating the book to his parents, or is this Margaret Weis’s secret way of saluting herself for creating Raistlin?

July, 1999

With their incessant chatter and lack of stillness, kender give the appearance of having ADD, so why are they able to sit still for long periods of time to create detailed maps?

Sent in by Lord Queso.

August, 1999

In Dragons of the Autumn Twilight Flint reminds Tas and Tanis that, “It was a sacred oath we took -to meet again after five years had passed and report about what we had found out about the evil spreading in the world.” (23-4) Yet when they discussed their plans they never mentioned this -Tanis and Flint wanted to go back to their homelands, Sturm and Kitiara wanted to check up on Solumnic ancestry, Raistlin and Caramon planned to travel to the Tower of High Sorcery so Raistlin could take his test, and Tas got dragged back to Kendermore. It seem that they weren’t checking up on evil, but rather on their pasts…

By the way, without accurate calendars, how was it that they were all able to meet on the exact same day?

September, 1999

When dwarves got together with gnomes they made gully dwarves, so what do you get when you cross a kender with a gnome?

October, 1999

If Tanis’s mom had loved Tanis’s dad, would Tanis still be a freak divided between his human and elf self?

November, 1999

Why don’t we ever hear about Tas falling in love? Did it just not seem like enough fun or adventure to interest him, or are there other reasons?

January, 2000

If the authors of Dragonlance had never played D&D would it be what it is today?

February, 2000

Ok, the gods disappeared after the Chaos War, but where did they go? For that matter, why do I keep asking these things, which will only prompt the authors to write still more books when I haven’t finished the ones I have?

March, 2000 to January, 2001

Where on Krynn is Luna and why isn’t she writing Dragonlance Pondering of the Months?

February, 2001

What happens to the Forestmaster after and before chronicles? And how come we never get to see the centaurs and pegasai except in that one book? And why do we only glimpse the fairy realm in the Defenders of Magic trilogy? If we’re watching Takhisis take over the world, can’t we at least have a unicorn watch too?

March, 2001

If everything decays and dies when Raistlin looks at it, how is he able to navigate? Shouldn’t he run into to buildings that he thought fell down? If someone is destined to burn up, does he see her or him go up in flames instead of crumbling? Does he get to see things for a second before they die? Do they die once or keep dying over and over again? Or is the death time calculated by the spell so that everything dies the whole time he looks at it. Can he see through people that have crumbled to ash on the floor according to his eyes?

April, 2001

Why do the god of good and the god of balance appear as men, but the god of evil appear as a woman? Are the Dragonlance authors trying to make some kind of statement about women in power?

May, 2001

When Raistlin looks in the mirror, does he see the image of himself decay, or does it not decay because it’s only an image, or does the mirror decay too fast for him to see anything?

June, 2001

What’s up with the Brass and Bronze dragons? They’re not even elements, they’re just filler dragons to finish the five dragon set. I suppose that using elements wouldn’t have worked though- who would rally behind the lead dragon or the aluminum dragon?

December, 2001

Why is so much of Dragonlance blatantly stolen from “Lord of the Rings”?

“Dragonlance Pondering of the Month” changed to “Dragonlance Pondering of the Year”

2002

Why are there so few strong female characters in Dragonlance? Yes, I know there’s Laurana, Goldmoon, and Kitiara, but there are no main female mages or kender. The majority of the companions are male the coolest characters are male. Most of the main characters in the books are male, and if there are any main female characters they exist only accompanied by men. The only time females don’t have to share the spotlight with men is when they’re evil. What kind of message does this give female fantasy readers?

A Note: A lot of people have e-mailed me saying that there are strong female characters, but they aren’t as central as the men, and are a lot rarer. The character I think is the most developed, Raistlin, is male, and the character I consider funniest and most endearing, Tas, is also male. The books that star females are few and are usually only side books.

2003

Will the companions ever turn up again after the War of Souls? Can we look forward to a spin-off series about them (or will they turn up in Forgotten Realms or some such)?

2004

Why the new book covers? I’m sure it had nothing to do with wanting fans to spend lots and lots more money…

2005

We have elves for the ocean, elves for nature, people-loving elves, and people-hating elves, so what happens if a new race of elves appears? I’m voting for a super-industrial nature-hating elf race with allergies! Maybe they can fly.