Kingpriest Trilogy

Prequel to the main Dragonlance novel series, focusing on the titular Knight Templar who brought about The End of the World as We Know It 350 years (approx.) before Dragons of Autumn Twilight.

In the mighty Empire of Istar, the Kingpriest has had a vision of his own death, and a high priestess goes on a quest to find his successor, guided by a prohpecy. She finds Brother Beldyn, a wise-beyond-his-years young monk with incredible supernatural healing powers and believes that he must be the Lightbringer. Other events are afoot, however, including a plague that leaves the Empire on the brink of civil war, a young bandit named Cathan, whose destiny is bound with Beldyn's, and the mysterious sorcerer Fistandantilus, who has a centuries-spanning Evil Plan of his own nearing fruition.

Needless to say, this won't end well...

The books are:

• • Chosen of the Gods
  • Divine Hammer
  • Sacred Fire

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This trilogy contains examples of:

• A God Am I: Both Fistandantilus and Beldinas himself pursue this in Sacred Fire. Neither succeeds, but their actions set up much of the setting's future.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Andras is a wierdly pathetic figure at the end, as is Beldinas, if you count him as a villain.
• All the Myriad Ways: The short story "There Is Another Shore You Know, Upon the Other Side" (in the Dragons of Chaos collection) and this scenario cover what would have happened if Beldinas succeeded in his plan. In the former the gods are reduced to human (albeit immortal) forms and tortured eternally; in the latter the former traitor turned High Protector of the Faith is Cathan the "Thrice-Born".
• Big Bad: Fistandantilus
• Blank White Eyes: Cathan has these after his resurrection. Most people find them very creepy- only Beldinas and wizards are able to meet his gaze for long.
• The Caligula: Beldinas, by the end, is completely insane. Somewhat subverted in that he still has the charisma to make everyone think he's still The Messiah.
• Call a Smeerp a Rabbit: In Sacred Fire a band of warriors are attacked by a many-legged monster that burrows under the desert sands. They note its resemblance to a legendary demon known as the "caterpilyo".
• Character Alignment:
  • Cathan starts out True Neutral and becomes Lawful Good
  • Beldinas and the Knights of the Divine Hammer are extreme and deconstructed Lawful Good
  • Wentha is Neutral Good
  • Leciane is True Neutral
  • Kurnos is Lawful Evil
  • Andras is Chaotic Evil
  • Fistandantilus is Neutral Evil
  • Quarath is Neutral Evil that thinks it's Lawful Good
• Chessmaster: Fistandantilus.
• Corrupt Church: To an extent, but things get to their worst when the guy who isn't traditionally corrupt takes the throne...
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: Paladine.
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: Several. Beldyn breaking the bridge, Tithian killing the Deathmaster, Cathan snarking off to Fistandantilus, Ilista nearly destroying the shadow demon, etc.
• Dating Catwoman: Cathan and the sorceress Leciane in Divine Hammer (though which of them is "Catwoman" depends on who you ask).
• Dead Guy, Junior: Wentha's son Tancred, named for her and Cathan's older brother, who died during the plague.
• Deadpan Snarker: Fistandantilus. Cathan also has his moments.
• Death Is Cheap: Averted. Only Beldyn (and possibly Cathan) can bring people back to life; after Cathan is resurrected he is regarded witih awe and trepidation as "the Twice-Born".
• Did You Just Flip Off Draco Paladin
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The plot of Divine Hammer bears more than a few similarities to the War On Terror, if you think about it...
• Downer Ending: Hoo boy (though it pretty much had to be considering how Chronicles opens). Beldinas has been prevented from ascending to godhood and wrecking the balance, but the world is in ruins and almost all the main characters are dead, to say nothing of untold millions of others we don't get to know by name. Oh, and Fistandantilus gets away too, but he's not quite a Karma Houdini because we know exactly what his Magnificent Bastardry wil get him in the end- a grisly death at the hand of the one Bastard in Krynnish history more Magnificent than he is.
• The Dreaded: Fistandantilus again.
• Early-Bird Cameo: In Chosen of the Gods, a few scenes feature a rather stuffy young squire named Loren Soth, who goes on to become one of the most iconic villains in the whole Dragonlance metaseries, the death knight Lord Soth.
• The Empire: Istar is a relatively benevolent example, but things get worse after The Messiah, of all people, takes the throne...
• Evil Chancellor: Quarath and ultiamtely Fistandantilus too.
• Evil Prince: Kurnos isn't technically a prince, but as priest next-in-line of the succession, he might as well be.
• Evil Sorcerer: Fistandantilus, Andras.
• The Faceless: Fistandantilus.
• Disc One Final Boss: Kurnos.
• Fantastic Racism: Wizards in particular get a lot of it, as do certain intelligent nonhumans.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Istar itself resembles Rome a great deal, while the Draavinish are distinctly Arabic.
• Fictionary: The Church Language, which in some respects resembles Latin.
• First-Episode Resurrection: At the end of Chosen of the Gods, Cathan is killed by Kurnos and immediately after revived by Beldinas.
• Foregone Conclusion: If you've read Chronicles you know how this ends.
• God-Emperor: The Kingpriest is as good as this.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Beldinas
• Ill Girl: Wentha, Cathan's little sister. After Beldyn heals her, she goes on to be an important recurring character.
• I'm Cold... So Cold...: Leciane's lover Vincil says this literally after he catches an axe just before he teleports the surviving wizards away from the disasterous moot with the Kingpriest in Divine Hammer.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Essentially a whole trilogy about this concept.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: What convinces Ilista that Beldyn is the Lightbringer. Ultimately subverted in that he isn't incorruptable, just corruptable in a different way than usual.
• Knight in Shining Armor--> Knight in Sour Armor: Cathan in the last two books.
• Knight Templar: Beldinas and the Divine Hammer descend into this.
• Magnificent Bastard: Fistandantilus, oh yes...
• Meaningful Rename: Beldyn to the more regal Beldinas, after he becomes Kingpriest.
• The Messiah: deconstructed
• The Mole: Tancred in Sacred Fire.
• Moral Event Horizon: Beldinas setting up mind-readers throughout his empire to make sure people can only think good thoughts. He'd been teetering on the edge for a while, but this attempt to control the very thoughts of his people is what proves that the idealistic young monk from Chosen of the Gods is truly dead, consumed by the fanatical Knight Templar.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Andras. "I never meant for this to happen. I only wanted revenge..."
• Nightmare Fuel: Andras's situation at the end of Divine Hammer. He's directly responsible for causing the Kingpriest's assault on the Towers of High Sorcery, which results in the destruction of two of the towers and the deaths of hundreds of his fellow wizards. He ends up trapped for weeks in Fistandantilus's stripped, abandoned underground base, with no idea where he actually is and no ability to teleport out. The only food and drink he has are the noisome liquid in the base's summoning pool and the demons he summons out of it. There's a brief Hope Spot for him when The Dark One returns...but he's only there to steal his body for his next incarnation.
• Obstructive Zealot: Bron in Sacred Fire.
• Oh My Gods: Palado Calib (Blessed Paladine) is a common oath.
• Our Elves Are Better: No points for guessing at Quarath's disposition.
• Prophecy Twist: Everyone things Beldinas is the Lightbringer. It's really Cathan all along, and he ends up sacrificing himself to save the only complete copy of the setting's Bible from Beldinas himself.
• Religion of Evil: Several show up, worshipping dark gods; they're portrayed more like cults of fringe lunatics than anything majorly widespread, however.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Andras.
• The Scottish Trope: Nobody likes saying Fistandantilus's name- they mostly call him "Dark One" along with a handful of other epithets.
• Smug Snake: Quarath and Kurnos.
• Supporting Protagonist: Cathan is the main POV character, but this is really Beldyn/Beldinas's story.
• The End of the World as We Know It: The world survives the trilogy (barely), but the gods' justice on Beldinas smashes it beyond recognition.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Played straight, lampshaded, and deconstructed all at once in Tithian's first appearance.
• Unwitting Pawn: Everybody. I mean everybody even Fistandantilus himself.
• Villainous Breakdown: Kurnos and Andras both have these.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Fistandantilus does this a lot, though its less about cruelty and more about covering his tracks.