Paladine

Paladine is a fictional major deity from the Dragonlance fantasy series of novels and role-playing games, originally published by TSR, Inc. and later by Wizards of the Coast.

Paladine is the leader of the faction of good deities in the Dragonlance campaign setting. Among his other duties, he is the patron deity of the Order of the Rose, a prestigious order of knighthood. He is also credited with the creation of the elven race in the Dragonlance campaign world. His colors are silver and white. In keeping with his role as a major deity, he holds dominion over several concepts, which form his divine portfolio. Among these concepts are charity, redemption, leadership, law, and light.

Paladine is described as being the elder brother of Takhisis and Gilean, the major deities of evil and neutrality, respectively. He and Mishakal are the parents of Kiri-Jolith, Habbakuk, and Solinari, who are all lesser deities of good.

Character background
In the very early stages of the character’s development, Paladine and the character Huma Dragonbane were regarded as interchangeable; however, Tracy Hickman soon moved to using the character of Fizban as Paladine’s avatar. Thus when Paladine is first encountered in the novels, albeit incognito, in the preface to Dragons of Autumn Twilight, he calls himself “Fizban” and represents himself to be a clumsy and absent-minded wizard. The character of Paladine continues to present himself as “Fizban” throughout most of the series, although it becomes increasingly evident that Fizban is more than what he appears to be. Eventually, his friendship with the kender character Tasselhoff Burfoot becomes so strong he declares the “Fizban” avatar to be his favorite.

War of Souls
After the Chaos War, Takhisis stole the world from the rest of the Gods and became the "One God" of the world. When the rest of the gods returned to Krynn, they realized that Takhisis had gone too far. The punishment was for Takhisis to be stripped of her godhood and immortality, though for balance to be kept, a god of opposite faction had to also become mortal. Paladine saw this need for balance between good and evil, and so, after the events of the War of Souls, made the sacrifice, giving up his divine status and becoming Valthonis, a mortal elf, while Takhisis was killed by Silvanoshei. After Takhisis’s death, Mina kills Silvanoshei, but lets Valthonis live and tells him that the next time they cross paths, she will kill him. Valthonis feels sorry for Mina, has a sad look on his face, and leaves.

Symbols and titles
The pantheon of deities in the Dragonlance mythos is divided into three factions; the Good, the Evil, and the Neutral deities. Each of these groups has several deities of varying influence. Paladine is the head of the deities that represent the forces of Good. There is nothing inherently better about the position; it is simply a hierarchy to establish and enforce order.

Paladine is also called Draco Paladin, E’li, the Platinum Dragon, Dragonlord, Valiant Warrior, the Dragon’s Lord, Bah’mut (strikingly similar to traditional mythological creature Bahamut), the Great Dragon, Skyblade, Platinum Father, and Thak the Hammer. After the conclusion of the War of the Lance, the deity himself became known as Fizban among the fictional race of kenders; thus, referring to “Fizban” by kender can be somewhat ambiguous.

His symbols include the anvil, a silver triangle, a pine tree, and the platinum dragon. In the night sky of Krynn, he can be viewed as the constellation known as the Valiant Warrior, sometimes referred to as the Platinum Dragon. In the first chapters of Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Raistlin Majere notes that this constellation, as well as the constellation for Takhisis, were missing, suggesting that both deities were physically present on Krynn in their avatar forms. This is later proven to be the case when Raistlin meets Paladine’s avatar Fizban in person.

Dragonlance movie
Actor Neil Ross voiced Fizban (Paladine) in the animated Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight movie, directed by Will Meugniot, written by George Strayton, and produced by Toonz Animation, Commotion Pictures, Epic Level Entertainment, Kickstart Entertainment, and Paramount Pictures. It was released on January 15, 2008.

Comparisons with other fictional characters
Weis and Hickman later introduced a similar character in the Death Gate Cycle named Zifnab, and in The Mantle of Kendis-Dai named Zanfib. Both names are anagrams of Fizban, and both characters bear strong similarities to him. Tracy Hickman notes that the character of Fizban belongs to TSR, Inc. (and presumably transfered to Wizards of the Coast), while the characters of Zifnab and Zanfib are owned by himself and Margaret Weis. In Elven Star, the second book of the Death Gate Cycle, Zifnab makes several comments in reference to the Dragonlance series. (For example: “Let’s see, what was his name? Raist—No, that was the irritating young chap, kept hacking and spitting up blood all the time. Disgusting.”)

Paladine (in his Fizban aspect) has drawn comparisons with the character of Gandalf in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Both serve as as guides and mentors to the other characters in the stories. But while Gandalf guides through his wisdom and legendary status, Fizban is far more awkward and seemingly senseless, constantly putting the characters into worse trouble than they were in before. Nevertheless, in the end, Fizban, as with Gandalf, is revealed to be much more than was initially apparent.

Real-world influence
Paladine, along with other Dragonlance deities, has been included in Genesis LPMud, a text-based, massively multiplayer online game whose fantasy/adventure theme draws heavily from several fantasy settings, including Dragonlance and Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Paladine also appears as a character in  Ansalon MUD , where his character is played by one of the MUD staff.