Galen Beknighted is a fantasy novel by Michael Williams. It is the second of two novels starring Galen "Weasel" Pathwarden and Sir Bayard Brightblade.
Setting[]
Galen Beknighted takes place in Solamnia three years after Weasel's Luck, about one century before the adventures of the original trilogy. The action is restricted to a smaller area than the previous novel; the characters start in Castle Di Caela in Central Solamnia and go to the Vingaard Mountains, to the West (a map of Solamnia is included in the book).
Blurb[]
The reluctant knight returns
Becoming a knight has changed the Weasel very little. Galen Pathwarden is still reluctant to adventure, still out to save his own skin at virtually any cost. But when his brother Brithelm vanishes mysteriously, Galen sets aside his better judgment and embarks on a quest that leads under the earth, deep into a conspiracy of darkness, and to the end of his courage.
/Summary[]
Three years after the conclusion of Weasel's Luck, Galen Pathwarden-Brightblade is being knighted and admitted in the Order of the Crown of the Knights of Solamnia.
On the night of the ceremony, he receives a vision of his brother Brithelm being in danger. The following days, nobody believes his vision, but still two people decide to join him, mostly because they are tired of staying in Castle di Caela: they are Sir Ramiro of the Maw and Lady Dannelle di Caela. Also, Galen accepts his older brother, Alfric Pathwarden, as his squire, but he gets killed almost immediately in a random encounter.
In short, the quest consists in paying a visit to Brithelm and check whether he is doing well. It is far from epic.
One third into the novel, on chapter X, the main characters learn that Brithelm was indeed kidnapped, and the villain is at last introduced.
Long before the Cataclysm, from his ethereal prison in the Abyss, the dark god Sargonnas whispered in the ears of Firebrand, a young Plainsman namer (shaman or cleric). He granted him centuries-long life and promised "the power of life and death" if he could restore thirteen opals in a sacred Plainsmen crown. Following the directions of the deity, Firebrand became the leader of a tribe of Plainsmen and they started mining under the Vingaard Mountains. After several centuries, they had found just seven opals. Firebrand learned that Galen Pathwarden-Brightblade owned six more opals. Therefore, the power-hungry shaman kidnapped Brithelm Pathwarden and sent a vision to Galen. He wants the opals as ransom.
Sir Galen and his companions found the entrance to the caves where Firebrand lived, saved his brother, killed Firebrand, reunited the underground tribe with the other Plainsmen, and returned the crown with all the opals to the shamans.
Side quest[]
- "But what about the others?", a small child asked, "What of those who stayed at the castle?" The Namer nodded and smiled...[1]
- The Namer wanted to say: "Who cares?", but the Publisher spoke first: "Mr. Michael Williams, or Namer or whatever, your novel is too short and you need more chapters to fulfill the contract. Make up something."[2]
The side quest is told on chapters XIII, XIV, the last part of chapter XVIII, all but the first three parts of chapter XIX, and chapter XXIII. The main theme of this adventure is to belittle and ridiculize some characters that were respectable and valorous in Weasel's Luck.
Sir Bayard Brightblade broke a leg. Out of boredom, he goes to the castle library, where he discovers a note from the Scorpion. Apparently, the villain of the previous novel set a device under the castle to destroy everything. At the same time, the engineers report that a cave was found behind a wall that collapsed in the cellar. Six characters decide to explore the cave just because they have nothing better to do. Two sensible but young people are somehow forced to join.
By sheer accident and without realizing it, Sir Robert stops the plan of the Scorpion. All of a sudden and without any logical deduction, Sir Bayard understands what was going on and how they avoided a catastrophe.
A cave-in blocks the way out, but a party of rescuers from the surface saves the explorers.
Characters[]
All surviving characters from Weasel's Luck come back, and new characters are introduced.
Main adventuring party[]
- Sir Galen Pathwarden-Brightblade
- Sir Ramiro of the Maw
- Oliver, Sir Ramiro's squire.
- Alfric Pathwarden, Sir Galen's squire and eldest brother.
- Dannelle Di Caela
New supporting characters[]
- Que-Nara Plainsmen from Abanasinia:
- The Namer, the narrator of the novel.
- Longwalker, leader of a party who traveled from Abanasinia to Solamnia.
- Marmot, a girl in Longwalker's party.
- Sir Fernando and Sir Elazar, old bureaucrats of the Knights of Solamnia.
- Shardos, a blind juggler and storyteller met on the Vingaard Mountains.
- Bradley, a young engineer at Castle Di Caela.
Opponents[]
- Firebrand, a one-eyed Que-Tana Plainsman, dark cleric of Sargonnas. He and his tribe live underground, in the Vingaard Mountains. He kidnapped Brithelm because he wanted the six opals in Galen's brooch. After appearing in a nebulous vision, he is properly introduced to the reader only in chapter 10 (after more than one third of the novel).
- Sargonnas, evil (selfish) god of fire, anger and vengeance, consort of Takhisis. As Brithelm suggests, he is manipulating Firebrand for his own selfish objective.
- Tellus, the huge limbless dragon upon which rests the continent of Ansalon.
Side quest party[]
- Sir Bayard Brightblade, lord of Castle di Caela, he breaks a leg and subsequently goes on a dungeon crawl out of boredom (it makes no sense, but this is it).
- Sir Brandon Rus, an excellent knight who refuses to join Galen's un-epic quest, but gets involved in Bayard's even less epic quest.
- Sir Robert di Caela, father-in-law of Sir Bayard. Old.
- Sir Andrew Pathwarden, father of Sir Galen Pathwarden. Old.
- Gileandos, tutor of the three sons of Sir Andrew Pathwarden. Old.
- Raphael, a very efficient page, too young to be a squire.
- Enid Di Caela-Brightblade, wife of Sir Bayard.
- Marigold Celeste of Kayolin, a young lady with a scandalous sex drive.
Legacy[]
This is the second Dragonlance book written by Michael Williams. Later, the same author wrote The Oath and the Measure, a third book focused on the Knights of Solamnia, but starring a descendant of Sir Bayard, the well-known Sturm Brightblade.
No prequel to Galen Beknighted exists (Weasel's Luck was published first).
Reception[]
- This section is a stub.
Readers who enjoyed this book were disappointed by the previous one, and vice versa. The average ratings of this book and the previous one are very close: 4.3/5 and 4.5/5, respectively (the first book received the better rating).
Trivia[]
- True to the Dungeons & Dragons franchise name, Galen Beknighted features two dungeons and one dragon.
- In "Weasel's Luck" it was said explicitly that the Scorpion's glain opals could only come from Estwilde (East of Solamnia), and this was an important clue to solve that quest. Still, the villain in Galen Beknighted and his subjects have been mining for opals under the Vingaard Mountains in western Solamnia, and they found just six opals over several centuries. Such huge waste of effort could be a cruel joke by Sargonnas, the dark god they worship.
- It is unexplained how the villain learned about the opals in Galen's possession. It could be because the silver of the brooch acted as a catalyzer, or because Sargonnas revealed it to his worshipper.
- As in the previous novel, Castle di Caela is located West of the Vingaard river. It is only later (Galen Beknighted was published in 1990) that Dragonlance canon established that Castle di Caela is east of the Vingaard river.
- Chapters XIII and XIV are full of problems:
- Motivation - The characters decide to go on a dungeon crawl simply out of boredom.
- Common sense - When a wife sees her husband with a broken leg leaving his sickbed and trying to enter an unknown cave, her sensible reaction would be: "Husband, go back to your bed!" On the contrary, Enid di Caela insists on following him.
- Archery - The first rule when setting a shooting range (firearms, too) is to make sure nobody and nothing sensible is near or behind the bullseyes. This is just common sense. The novel ignored this for comedic effect. In a medieval/fantasy setting, where bows and crossbows are normal weapons, characters should know better.
- Family names - Enid di Caela, wife of Bayard Brightblade, is erroneously called "Enid Pathwarden" twice in a row.
- Basic mathematics - There is ongoing confusion throughout the chapter about how many characters went to the dungeon. First, the book says six and lists five names, then it says five and lists six. Later, the chapter concludes that they were eight: five males and two girls (that is still wrong by one).
- Logistics - The characters have no idea about the size of the cave under the castle. As far as they know, it could be explored in less that one hour. Still, they prepare provisions for a long expedition. Furthermore, said amount of provisions is prepared and packed in less than a minute.
- The author randomly and needlessly translated (often misspelled) a few words into French: reconnoiter (reconnoître, old French for "recognize"), legerdemain (légér de main, French for "sleight of hand"), baton (bâton, French for "staff"), assailant (assaillant, French for "attacker"), crevasse (French for "glacier crevice", but erroneously used about a rock fissure).
- "Galen Beknighted" was published in Italy as "La leggenda di Brithelm" (literally, "The Legend of Brithelm") to keep consistence with the localization of the other titles in the two "Heroes" series, all of them localized as "La leggenda di...".