Lord Soth

Lord Soth, the Knight of the Black Rose, is a fictional character in the fantasy realms of Dragonlance and later Ravenloft. He is a death knight, an undead knight and fallen paladin from the world of Krynn.

Soth was a Knight of the Rose, the most esteemed rank of knight in the Knights of Solamnia, and married. While on a trip with his loyal retainers they encountered a band of ogres attacking thirteen elven priestesses. They slew the ogres but Soth fell in love with the fairest priestess, and eventually managed to seduce her. Soth sent a message to his seneschal Caradoc to murder his wife and dump her body in the nearby ravine. Soth's indescretion was found out when the elf-maid's twelve companions revealed to his superiors that she was pregnant with Soth's bastard son. Soth was stripped of his rank and would have been executed had not his lover and retainers spirited him away from jail to his home, Dargaad Keep, where he married the elf-maid.

Besieged by the other knights, Soth's mood turned black, even striking his wife on one occasion. When he realised the monster he had become, he prayed to the deity Paladine for help. Paladine showed him the future, the destruction that the arrogant Kingpriest was about to call upon Krynn. Soth was told that if he could stop the Cataclysm, he would be redeemed. Soth set out but encountered the 12 other elf-maids. Blinded by the vision the Kingpriest foretold, a world in which only the good (meaning the elves in their minds) remained, they poisoned Soth's mind with lies about his wife's infidelity. Enraged, Soth turned from his quest and confronted his wife just as the Cataclysm began. A chandelier fell upon his wife and new-born son, setting her aflame. His wife begged for him to save their child, but Soth ignored her. As her life ended she cursed him, and upon pronunciation of the curse the fire engulfed the entire keep, slaying Soth, his retainers and the twelve elf-maids. Soth became a death knight, his followers skeleton warriors and the elves banshees, cursed to remind him of his and their folly every night.

Soth ruled a domain in Ravenloft for a time. This realm, Sithicus ("land of specters" in the elven tongue) was created when Soth was betrayed by the ghost of his seneschal, Caradoc. The mists of Ravenloft plucked Soth and Caradoc from Krynn whilst the two battled, and separated them. After a series of adventures with the Vistani girl Magda and the were-badger Azrael, Soth became ruler of his own domain. The story of his ascension is told in Knight of the Black Rose, the story of his release is told in Specter of the Black Rose.

Upon his return to Krynn, Mina, Chosen of Takhisis, attempted to recruit Soth to lead the Dark Queen's armies. Soth's experiences in Sithicus had changed him, however, and he refused. In retribution, Takhisis restored Soth's mortality, and then killed him.

Soth also features prominently in the computer role-playing game Death Knights of Krynn.