Lord Soth

Lord Soth, the Knight of the Black Rose (full name: Lord Loren Soth of Dargaard Keep), is a fictional character in the fantasy realms of Dragonlance and later Ravenloft. He is a death knight and fallen Knight of Solamnia from the world of Krynn.

According to Tracy Hickman, he needed a powerful character for the Heroes of the Lance to fight at the High Clerist's Tower, and Lord Soth suddenly came into his mind with a complete history and personality.

Appearance
In all his undead glory, Soth stands 6'5 feet or taller. He wears a full suit of Solamnic plate mail that is of ancient design. Damage from many battles mars the delicate ornamentation on his armor, obscuring its intricate carvings of kingfishers and roses, leaving only a charred black rose on the breastplate, which had become Soth's symbol. A long purple cloak hangs heavily on his shoulder, draped behind him almost to his knees. A tassel of long black hair tops his helm, as worn and ancient as the rest of his armor. A sword black with the blood of countless victims hangs is sheathed on his hip. Of the death knight himself, only two flaming dots red as blood shine from the eye slits on the helm. His voice seems an echo from the depth of a bottomless cavern. Like all death knights, there is always an aura of freezing undeath cold around Soth, the demeanor so terrifying that even kender have been known to be frightened.

When traveling, Soth is usually mounted on a nightmare, a demonic steed with ebony skin and flaming feet.

Combat
Although evil and filled with an intense hatred for all living creatures, most of the time Soth retains a semblance of the pride he held as a Solamnic knight, and fights honorably. He will never ambush an opponent from behind, nor does he strike before his enemy can ready his weapon. Aside from these facts, however, Soth is a terrible enemy. An undead abomination, Soth has inhuman strength, which is further enhanced by his skill with the sword; something that he learned as a former Knight of the Rose. Soth also can cast various type of spells, including huge fireballs, magical wards which stun or kill enemies, ice walls, cone of cold, etc. With a single word, Soth can snuff the life out of (thus Power Word Killing) a red dragon, or shatter the great city gate of Palanthas, which was formerly known as the "Unconquered City".

Life as a Knight
Soth was a Knight of the Rose, the most esteemed rank of knight in the Knights of Solamnia, and married. He and his wife, Lady Korrine, tried over and over to have a son to be Soth's heir but had few positive results. Soth's wife then visited a witch to help her with this problem who then agreed but warned that the child would be a representation of Soth's soul. Thinking Sir Loran Soth pure of heart the wife had no fear of this warning. Soon after, while on a trip with his loyal retainers they encountered a band of ogres attacking elven priestesses. They slew the ogres but Soth fell in love with the fairest priestess, and eventually managed to seduce her bringing her back to Dargaard as a friend in the eyes of the public and his wife. On the day Soth's wife gave birth the labor was very painful. After hours of childbirth the "child" came to be. It had the face similar to that of dragon-kin with two arms on one side and a leg on the other. The last leg was placed at the bottom of the buttocks as if a tail. Soth raged thinking his wife had been disloyal to him with some kind of demon and then slaughtered her and the abomination. Soth then asked Caradoc his lieutenant to get rid of the evidence and reveal the news of the deaths as difficult childbirth. Soth's indescretion was found out when the elf-maid's mistress revealed to his superiors that she was pregnant with Soth's bastard son and the fact that the court spelled the man who gave birth to his first "son" revealing the truth that both "son" and mother were alive after the birth. Soth was stripped of his rank and would have been executed had not his retainers spirited him away from his execution to his home, Dargaard Keep.

Undead Curse
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 of Istar was about to call upon Krynn. Soth was told that if he could stop the Cataclysm, he would be redeemed. Soth set out on this quest, but encountered the  other elf-maids. Blinded by the twisted vision of the Kingpriest, 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, "you shall live the lifetime of every soul that you have caused death today", and upon pronunciation of the curse the fire engulfed the entire keep, seemingly slaying Soth, his retainers and the rest of the inhabitants of the Keep. But Soth did not die, he became a death knight, his followers skeleton warriors and the elves banshees, cursed to remind him of his and their folly every night.

War of the Lance
In the event when Takhisis trying to enter Krynn in her physical form, Soth was in command of her undead legion. Under his command, great number of undead creatures (including several of his fellow death knights and banshees with wyvern-carried chariots) breached Palanthas the Unconquered City. However, Soth had his own motivations. His goal was not to serve Takhisis, but to acquire the soul of one of her generals, a Dragon Highlord, the human female, Kitiara Uth Matar, (whose self-serving nature and survival-instinct had somehow rekindled his undead heart), and to make her become his eternal consort. However, due to the treachery of one of his servants, Caradoc, his plan failed. The computer role-playing game Death Knights of Krynn which Soth was featured in was also happened during this era.



Rule in Ravenloft
The mists of Ravenloft plucked Soth and Caradoc from Krynn while the two battled, and separated them. When the mists of Ravenloft took Soth, he was brought to the domain of Barovia. Wanting to return to Krynn, Soth sought out Strahd Von Zarovich the ruler of the domain in hope that Strahd would help him. Strahd tried to use Soth to his advantage but this only cost him a red dragon which was one of his castle guardians. After a series of adventures with the Vistani girl Magda and the were-badger Azrael Dak, Soth had found out that Strahd was hiding Caradoc from him. Soth attacked Strahd unceasingly and the vampire had no choice but to release Caradoc in order to keep his domain in one piece. Soth then pursued Caradoc until he finally caught him at the edge of the mists. Soth was then given the domain Sithicus ("land of specters" in the elven tongue)in Ravenloft by the mists but had his vengeance upon Caradoc stolen. His castle, Nedragaard Keep, was a mockery of Dargaard in Krynn continuelly changing form so Soth could not maintain his military order he was accustomed to. 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.

War of the Soul
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 in this he refused her offer. Throughout his time in the Dread Realm, Soth found himself entering mirror worlds, each which contained a portion of his past. These images were enough to forever alter his being, returning a small piece of his humanity. In retaliation to this insult, Takhisis restored Soth's mortality, crushing him under the rubble of his own keep. The fallen knight perished with his honor restored, vowing that he would forever search for the elf maid and his son in the afterlife.