Feal-Thas (ca. ? - 351 AC ) was a Silvanesti dark elf who was once a respected wizard that walked the halls of the Tower of Wayreth, and was most well known as the Dragon Highlord of the White Dragonarmy. He was described as being unusually dark-skinned for his race, having white hair and haunting gray eyes. Feal-Thas was particularly slender as well, and was normally garbed in white, even though he was a mage of the Black Robes.
He was said to have a hint of madness about him, especially if one looked into his eyes. Feal-Thas also possessed the arrogance of the Silvanesti, and treated most he dealt with, with a measure of disdain and contempt. As one of his many magical skills, Feal-Thas was able to transform himself into the form of a Great White Wolf at will.
Origins[]
Feal-Thas was born in the lands of Silvanesti, where he dwelt for the first eighteen years of his life. Still a youth, he murdered his young lover in anger at the age of eighteen, and was exiled to the pre-Cataclysmic realm to the south, that would later become known as the Icereach. In these harsh lands, he was expected to die a slow death, but instead he was taken in by the local humans. In the southern lands, he also took a human lover who was a Winternorn, and who taught him the rare magic after he persuaded her to do so. Believing that he could not trust the humans he lived with, Feal-Thas journeyed to the Tower of Wayreth, where he took the Test of High Sorcery and became a Wizard of the Black Robes.
Shortly before the Cataclysm, he was asked by the resident wizards of Wayreth to take a Dragon Orb from the tower and keep it hidden, so he fled and once more returned to the realm of Icereach. In the frigid realm, Feal-Thas managed an alliance with the Ogres of Daltigoth, through betrayal of the Ice Folk who had once taken him in. The elf engineered the slaughter of his former lover and her people, and then took their lands as his own.
After leaving the Tower of Wayreth, Feal-Thas returned to Icereach and lived at Icewall Castle until he built his Ice Palace. He stayed in the arctic realm for several centuries until he learned of the Dragonarmies and made himself known to Ariakas.
The Dragonarmies[]
Lord Ariakas held a deep abiding hatred for the elves, however he agreed to accept Feal-Thas into his ranks, if the elf could pass a test of loyalty. The elf was sent into the lands of Silvanesti, where he gathered information about King Lorac and a Dragon Orb, and then returned to deliver this information to Ariakas. The information that Feal-Thas provided was instrumental in the early successes of the Dragonarmies against the elves during the Silvanesti Conflict, and earnt the elf the position of Dragon Highlord of the White Dragonarmy, whilst the forces were still in their formative years. The elf returned to Icereach to guard the southern reaches of Ansalon from Icewall Castle, where his only truly trusted companions were his White Wolves. Feal-Thas also earned the trust of the local White Dragons and the local tribes of Thanoi, who became his servants, as well as a cadre of Draconians sent from Ariakas.
Feal-Thas maintained a tight grip of the southern reaches of Ansalon for the early part of the War of the Lance. The elf was informed by Kitiara in 351 AC, of a scheme of Ariakas' to allow the orb he held to fall into the hands of Derek Crownguard, to bring about the downfall of the Solamnics. However the elf informed her that his only desire was to be left alone to his studies and the Dragonarmies be damned. Feal-Thas' only reason for joining the armies was to bring about the destruction of the Silvanesti nation, which he had all but orchestrated during the Silvanesti conflict.
The elf was eventually undone when a group of adventurers entered Icewall Castle in an effort to recover his Dragon Orb, as per the scheme that the Highlords engineered. In the ensuing battle, the knights Aran Tallbow and Brian Donner were cut down by Feal-Thas' wolves. However the elf was himself slain by Laurana Kanan when she sliced into his throat with an Icereaver, killing him.
Known Spells[]
- Polymorph (a large White Wolf)
Alternate Krynns[]
War of the Darklance[]
In this alternate version of Krynn, Feal-Thas' soul is not allowed passage into the afterlife, as Takhisis is enraged at his failure. Instead she returns him to the world as a Death Knight, her eternal servant. The former Highlord takes on the name of Aren Feal-Thas, and becomes known by the nickname of Wolflord. He is forced by his goddess into an alliance with Ariakan, and has thanoi, draconians and barbarians under his command. He also has a cadre of Dark Knights that ride upon white dragons with darklances, that serve him.
Feal-Thas also converted Icewall Castle into a Flying Citadel, and seeks to march his forces northward to conquer the elven lands and teach Ansalon the meaning of cold.
Kender Tales[]
Feal-Thas was said to have been exiled from Silvanesti for crimes he did not commit. However in truth he was banished from Silvanesti for murdering his young lover. (It has been noted that Feal-Thas was in fact innocent of the crime.)
In some tales, Feal-Thas is described as having brown eyes, but in truth, actually had gray eyes. He was also occasionally described as a renegade mage, which he was not in truth, but rather a mage of the Black Robes.
References[]
- The Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles, Winter Night, p.632, 636
- DL6: Dragons of Ice, p.31
- Dragons of the Dwarven Depths (PB) p. 345
- Dragons of the Highlord Skies (HC), p. 34, 52-53, 107-110, 116, 120-125, 290, 294, 379, 402, 414, 429
- Dragons of the Highlord Skies (PB) p. 45, 71, 139-164, 332, 393, 421, 499-503, 535-548, Author’s Notes
- Legends of the Twins, p.145-147
- The Magic of Krynn, 'Finding the Faith', p.247-251
- War of the Lance (Sourcebook), p.251-252