Of Nostalgia and Sexy Evil Wizards

He seems really nonchalant about that dragon in the background. >_>.

Alternate title, "In Which Brigid Tries To Write An Intelligent Book Review But Instead Starts Ranting Like A Crazy Person." Has a nice ring to it.

Every once in a while I get a very strong urge to re-read Dragonlance.

Don't lie, all you nerds out there remember Dragonlance. If you don't, let me refresh your memory. Dragonlance is a series of fantasy novels, probably one of the better known ones, beginning with Dragons of Autumn Twilight, the first book in the Chronicles trilogy. The most recent book, from The Lost Chronicles, is called Dragons of the Hourglass Mage, which I have yet to read. (It's a really long series, actually - according to Wikipedia there are over 100 books set in the Dragonlance universe. That's just absurd. Don't read ones that aren't by the original writers, it's not worth it.)  Along with R.A. Salvatore's The Legend of Drizzt series, they were my favorite thing in the world during my early teenage years - I spent more time in the fantasy section of my library than anywhere else. In fact, reading all of those fantasy books is what made me want to be a writer in the first place.  Originally a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, there are far-too-frequent moments where you can practically hear the d20 dice rolling on the table as you read, which, for someone as dorky as me, can be kind of fun sometimes.

I love to re-read books - to me it's really comforting, and I get even more out out of the book the second time around. But when I actually break down and re-read Dragonlance, I usually get through a chapter or two before I end up staring at the page, going "What the hell was I thinking?

The thing is, I wish I'd never re-read them in the first place. The first time, they were some of the best books I'd ever read. I was enthralled by the world, and the magic, and the characters. Since I love re-reading, I read them again. The second time, I could see every flaw. The writers, Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman, don't seem to understand the concept of continuity (which is a huge issue when the sequel trilogy, Legends, deals largely with time travel. Seriously, I have no idea what was going on through those books), so that's  pretty confusing. I also realized that I can't stand most of the characters. Tanis Half-Elven, the half-elf (there's a shocker), is the definition of angsty, and not in a good way. His thought process through the entire book goes something like this: "Oh no! I'm a half-elf and no one accepts me! And I can't choose between the gorgeous elf who is totally in love with me and the psycho-bitch totally evil Dragon Highlord who doesn't give a shit if I die or not! I HAVE TO GO WRITE ANGSTY POEMS." (No, really, he does. They're in the book. It's a sickening amount of angst.) Also, the cover art is stupid because no matter how many times they describe the Staff of Magius as 'a crystal ball held by a dragon's claw' or something along those lines, the artist(s) can't seem to draw it that way. In the official art. Yeah.

The rest of the characters... Well, they don't exactly do anything that offends me, they just...don't do anything. They're completely two-dimensional. Caramon is an idiot, and will always be an idiot. Kitiara is a psychobitch and you can tell that from the first scene she appears in, Sturm and Flint have no purpose, Goldmoon and Riverwind only have a purpose through the first book, Crysania should never have existed...and so on. There are only three characters in the book that I like, but they are all so amazing that I can't stop reading these books even though I mostly can't stand it.

There's Dalamar, the dark elf, an evil mage and Raistlin's apprentice. He was exiled from Silvanesti because he's so evil. Or something like that.
And Tasslehoff Burrfoot, the kender (pretty much a halfling, but cooler). He's kinda the most adorable thing in the world. <3. Oh, and he's friends with Paladine/God. So there.
And of course...Raistlin.

Google Images, I love you. Creeper!Raistlin makes me LOL so much. See that slutbitchwhore right there? Yeah, she really needs to just die. Painfully.

Here is where the obsessive fangirl ranting comes in. May I just say, I am so in love with this man. LOL. I talked about Raistlin a bit in my Love Letters To Fictional Characters post, but I could actually rant about him for hours. I can't explain to you what I, and so many other Dragonlance fans love so much about him, exactly, because I don't know myself. (what is it with me falling for evil characters?) He's not very nice; in fact, he's selfish and a bit whiny and crazy... And he looks pretty nasty, honestly, except in this amazing picture right here.

 There are very few likeable qualities about him except that he's relateable - even if you didn't have a shitty childhood like he did, I think everyone can understand how he feels to some extent. He's power-hungry because power is the only thing he has. He doesn't love anyone because he's never been shown love, except from his twin brother Caramon, who he despises. He's pretty heartbreaking, honestly.
Or maybe we love him because he's completely badass.

I can't really tell if I can still call myself a Dragonlance fan anymore. I guess I wish I hadn't re-read them because I still want to be as amazed as I was when I was thirteen. I'm feeling all nostalgic right now. I guess I'll just curl up with my copy of The Soulforge (a whole book. all about Raistlin. *happysigh*) and reminisce about the good ol' days.

If anyone has found good fanart and/or fanfiction of/about Raistlin that doesn't pair him with Crysania, you would get bonus points for linking me to it. Bonus to what, I don't know yet.

On a completely unrelated note, my Chuck Taylors are sexy now. I'mma post pics tomorrow. Also, I just heard a loud THUMP outside of my window and now I'm sure someone is about to murder me. If you never hear from me again, assume that I was killed tonight :]  
thanks for reading<3comments are a beautiful thing.