Goldmoon
Goldmoon (also known as Goldmoon of the Que Shu) is a fictional character from the Dragonlance series of books.
Profile
Goldmoon is a kind and understanding woman, who loves to travel and enjoys adventuring. She enjoys being surrounded by people, advising and taking care of them. Gifted with a good voice, she finds pleasure in singing. Being a high profile member of her community, she is a good speaker and is able to inspire others to reach for their own goals. [1]
Early life
Template:Spoilerabout Goldmoon was born on 322 A.C., in the barbarian village of Que Shu. Daughter of Tearsong, high priestess of Que Shu, and Arrowthorn, Chieftain of the tribe, she lived a sheltered life among the tribe, treated as a princess by barbarian standards since her childhood.
The early demise of her mother forced her to adopt the role of their high priestess, the main figure in the Que Shu society, at an early age. In their society, the high priestess was a title inherited by the eldest daughter of the high priestess, while her husband becomes Chieftain and leader of the Que Shu. [2]
A number of tribe men approached her due both her beauty and power within the clan. Loreman, who had tried to marry Tearsong before she chose Arrowthorn, tried to impose his own sons, Hollow-sky and Hawker, as candidates for Goldmoon. Although at an early age Goldmoon was in love with Hollow-sky, he changed after he took his warrior trainment with his older brother. Goldmoon lost interest in him, although he began pursuing her actively, but only as a prize. [3]
Meeting with ancestors
Following the requirement for every high priestess of the Que Shu tribe to commune with her ancestors in the Hall of the Sleeping Spirits, an event in which her ancestors' spirits would come back to Krynn to speak with the priestess, a contest was held where young men of the tribe would compete against each other to select two barbarians who would act as bodyguards to protect her during the pilgrimage to the mountain where the Hall was situated.
During the festival, Hollow-sky and Hawker worked together to dispatch other warriors. Besides skill, they cheated on some of them, creating small fissures in their weapons and effectively weakening them. However, Goldmoon realized about the arrangement, and replaced Riverwind's staff with a solid staff. During the last fight, Riverwind managed to beat a relaxed Hawker while fighting Hollow-sky.
Although Riverwind, a shepherd who had secretly fallen in love with her, had a low standing in the tribe, as his family did not consider their ancestors as gods as it was custom for the Que Shu, tradition forced Goldmoon to accept his company. She took as her task to convert Riverwind to the tribe's beliefs. During the travel, however, she accepted a small brass chain with a silver-blue steel charm with the shape of the infinite sign, a symbol of Mishakal, one of the ancient gods, just because the charm may offend Loreman.
At the Hall of the Sleeping Spirits entrance, Hollow-sky tried to kill Riverwind when Goldmoon refused to accept him as a husband and as a revenge for having defeated his brother. At the end of the fight, when Hollow-sky got an advantage, Goldmoon, afraid of the shepherd's defeat, attacked him with her crystal dagger, stabbing him on his right arm and making him lose his footing, stumbling and finally falling through the cliff.
Once inside the Halls, where Tearsong's tomb was found, a vision of her mother appeared, explaining the truth of the ancient gods who had been forgotten by the barbarians after the Cataclysm, and gave her a task, which she fulfilled with the help of Riverwind. Upon finishing, Mishakal blessed her with the power of minor healing.
Courting quest
After arriving to the village, Riverwind went on a courting quest which Arrowthorn hoped to be impossible. However, Riverwind returned with a Blue Crystal Staff, proof that the ancient gods existed. [4]
However, the Chieftain and elders refused to believe in the proof after Riverwind failed to make it work. He was sentenced to death by stoning. At the last moment Goldmoon joined him, and the Blue Crystal staff surrounded them with a flash and vanished from the tribe. [5] Appearing just outside the village, they decide to travel as exiles, looking for someone who could tell them more about the staff.
War of the Lance involvement
During their travel to Haven, where they hoped the Seekers, priests who were in search of the old gods, would be able to teach them about Mishakal, they met with Sturm Brightblade, a Squire of the Knights of Solamnia, who offered to lead them to Solace. In the meeting, events develop until the group was forced to flee from the city and travel through cities and woods until reaching Xak Tsaroth, where Mishakal blessed Goldmoon as her priestess, and gave her a Medallion of Faith. In the broken city they were also able to recover the Disks of Mishakal, which she later delivered to a former Seeker, Elistan.
Marriage
Goldmoon and Riverwind married in a valley not far from Pax Tharkas after the Heroes of the Lance defeated Lord Verminaard in that city and freed the slaves. [6] Her involvement in the War of the Lance diminished after learning she was pregnant, spending her time spreading the knowledge about Mishakal and the healing arts. She gave birth to three children: Wanderer, Moonsong and Brightdawn.
Que Shu reforming
After the War of the Lance, Riverwind and Goldmoon returned to Que Shu. After Arrowthorn died and Riverwind became Chieftain, they reformed most of the customs of the tribe, especially those related to the belief that ancestors became gods after dying. Goldmoon taught Moonsong healing arts, as she was destined to become high priestess.
Citadel of Light founding
On 8 S.C., and following a recurrent dream, Goldmoon travelled to the Isle of Schallsea with Jasper Fireforge, where she found the fabled Silver Stairs, an endless stair that was thought to be a portal to reach Solinari. While climbing it, she experienced a new vision about the reason the gods left Krynn after the Chaos War, and about the Power of the Heart, a special magic that would come to replace the one provided by the gods of old [7] and which she first discovered while healing a dying Jasper Fireforge, three years before in Solace. [8]
She founded the Citadel of Light, which after several attacks by the local tribes, was established as the healing center of Ansalon. [9]
Final quest
Template:Spoilerabout On the year 38 S.C., during the Fifth Age, at the beginning of the War of Souls, Goldmoon was given her youth back by the One God, which maddened her as she was expecting to die soon to join Riverwind in the River of Souls. [10] She was tricked on travelling half the world until reaching Nightlund, where the Tower of High Sorcery of Palanthas was hidden, where she met Mina, an orphaned girl she had adopted in the Isle of Schallsea.
Mina explained to Goldmoon it was due her request that Goldmoon had became young again, and revealed that the One God was in fact Takhisis, and that the goddess wanted to use Goldmoon as her herald. However, after refusing to accept the agreement, Takhisis drained the life out of Goldmoon, and then ordered Mina to secure her corpse in an amber sarcophagus as she planned on possessing it. [11] [12]
The soul of Goldmoon was enslaved and forced to act as a phantom during the War of Souls, as the souls of every other dead. Her spirit was finally freed when the war ended. [13]
Controversy
The character of Goldmoon was killed in the Dragons of a New Age trilogy, during events explained in The Day of the Tempest novel, and resurrected in the last novel of the series, The Eve of the Maelstrom. Although there were several theories about her death and resurrection, the matter was apparently clarified by a mail sent to the Dragonlance list by Miranda Horner, Wizards of the Coast Web Content Developer, and a forum post in the official Dragonlance forums by Jean Rabe, author of the trilogy.
According to Miranda Horner, The underlying thing was that it was rather confusing to come into, and it affected my project to some extent. Steve and I worked on Citadel, and I think he and Sue ended up having to change the stuff in there to make Goldmoon alive. I know that I had to adjust Wings of Fury to reflect book stuff, and books had to change Eve to reflect some game stuff.
Jean Rabe wrote in the official Dragonlance forums that I "killed" Goldmoon in Day of the Tempest, after getting approval from the books department and Margaret to do so. After the book was in typesetting, the games division called me and said she couldn't die, as they had plans for her in a DL game product. Since my novel was "work for hire," I had to bring Goldmoon back. Sigh. Argh. Just doing what they told me to do.
See also
References
- ^
edited by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (ed.). "Bertrem's essay on numerology". Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home (Paperback). developed by Mary Kirchoff, designed by Kristine Bartyzel, cover art by Larry Elmore (2nd edition ed.). Wizards of the Coast. p. 173. ISBN 0-88038-465-4. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help);|editor=has generic name (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|origmonth=ignored (help) - ^
Pierson, Chris. "Chapter 6". Spirit of the Wind (Mass Market Paperback) (1st edition ed.). Wizards of the Coast. p. 79. ISBN 0-7869-1174-3. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
"My place," Brightdawn repeated. "And what is that Father? Wanderer has his—he wears the champion's breastplate, for he is Chieftain's Son. Moonsong is Chieftain's Daughter and will become high priestess when mother is gone.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help); Unknown parameter|origmonth=ignored (help) - ^
edited by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, ed. (1987) [1989]. "Heart of Goldmoon". Love and War (Mass Market Paperback). cover art by Larry Elmore, interior art by Steve Fabian (9th edition ed.). TSR. p. 218. ISBN 0-88038-519-7. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
Once, Goldmoon might not have minded, for when she was a child she had loved Hollow-sky dearly. But when Hollow-sky began training as a warrior with his older brother, Hawker, he had changed. For the next few years her former playmate, engrossed in more "manly" pursuits, had practically ignored her. When his attentions to her were finally renewed, it had been all too obvious that he was not interested in her as a friend, but only as a prize.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help);|editor=has generic name (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|origmonth=ignored (help) - ^
"Chapter 26, "Whom the gods favor is a hero born—Astinus, the Iconochronous"". Riverwind The Plainsman (Mass Market Paperback) (1st edition ed.). TSR. 1987 [1990]. pp. 300, 310–313. ISBN 0-7869-3009-8. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
"The Staff of Mishakal. It fulfills my quest," Riverwind said feverishly.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|origmonth=ignored (help) - ^
"Chapter 3, "Knight of Solamnia. The old man's party."". Dragons of Autumn Twilight (4th edition ed.). Wizards of the Coast. p. 35. ISBN 0-7869-1574-9. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
He orders the people / To stone the young warrior: / [...] / The girl joins her lover, / The stones whistle near, / The staff flares in blue light / And both of them vanish;
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|origmonth=ignored (help) - ^
"The Wedding". Dragons of Autumn Twilight (4th edition ed.). Wizards of the Coast. p. 431. ISBN 0-7869-1574-9. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
On the last day of autumn, as the sun set behind the mountains, kindling their snow-capped peaks with flame the color of dying dragons, Riverwind and Goldmoon were married.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|origmonth=ignored (help) - ^
Rabe, Jean (1999) [1999]. "Chapter 2, The Celestial Ladder". The Silver Stair (Mass Market Paperback). cover art by Jeff Easley (2nd edition ed.). Wizards of the Coast. pp. 29–30. ISBN 0-7869-1315-0. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
"I don't understand this... this power of the heart. Is that what you call it?" This was a coarse voice, sounding almost dwarflike. [...] "I... I will teach you," she heard herself say. "All you. I will..."
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help); Unknown parameter|origmonth=ignored (help) - ^
"Chapter 27, The Touch of the Dead". Dragons of a Fallen Sun (Mass Market Paperback) (3rd edition ed.). Wizards of the Coast. 2003 [2000]. p. 514. ISBN 0-7869-1807-1. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
The healers worked among the sick and injured, using the power of the heart to heal them, a power Goldmoon had discovered and first used to heal the dying dwarf, Jasper Fireforge.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|origmonth=ignored (help) - ^
edited by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (ed.). "A timeline of the Age of Mortals". More Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home (Paperback). cover art by Daniel Robert Horne, interior art by Jeff Easley, Todd Gamble and Mark Brill, cartography by Dennis Kauth and Diesel, typesetting and design by Matt Adelsperger (2nd edition ed.). Wizards of the Coast. pp. 245–253. ISBN 0-7869-1516-1. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
8 SC, Power of the Heart. Goldmoon becomes the high priestess of a new mystic faith; soon bands of pilgrims are drawn to her from across the world. She founds the Citadel of Light on the Isle of Schallsea.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help);|editor=has generic name (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|origmonth=ignored (help) - ^
"Chapter 23, The Hedge Maze". Dragons of a Fallen Sun (Mass Market Paperback) (3rd edition ed.). Wizards of the Coast. 2003 [2000]. p. 447. ISBN 0-7869-1807-1. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
"I was so close to reaching him, Palin! So near! Riverwind and I would have been together soon. He has waited so patiently. [...] I was going to walk again with my beloved at last, and... and now... this!"
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|origmonth=ignored (help) - ^
"Chapter 35, The One God". Dragons of a Lost Star (Mass Market Paperback) (2nd edition ed.). Wizards of the Coast. 2002 [2001]. pp. 541–547. ISBN 0-7869-2706-2. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
"I pray that Paladine will hear my words, and he will come... for love of Mina... For love of all...." Goldmoon sank, lifeless, to the floor. "Mother," said Mina, as bewildered as a lost child, "I did this for you...."
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|origmonth=ignored (help) - ^
"Chapter 1, Lost Souls". Dragons of a Vanished Moon (PDF chapter sample) (2nd edition ed.). Wizards of the Coast. 2003 [2002]. pp. 3–13. ISBN 0-7869-2950-2. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|origmonth=ignored (help) - ^
"Chapter 32, The Age of Mortals". Dragons of a Vanished Moon (Mass Market Paperback) (2nd edition ed.). Wizards of the Coast. 2003 [2002]. p. 610. ISBN 0-7869-2950-2. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
"Flint and Tanis and Tasslehoff, Tika, Sturm, Goldmoon and Riverwind. They wait only for Raistlin, and he will join them soon, for Caramon, his twin, would not think of leaving without him." "Where are they bound, sir?" Gerard asked. "On the next stage of their souls' journey," said the elf.
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Other books
- Margaret Weis; Tracy Hickman (2000). Dragons of Winter Night: Chronicles vol. II. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1609-5.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Margaret Weis; Tracy Hickman (2000). Dragons of Spring Dawning: Chronicles vol. III. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1589-7.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Rabe, Jean (1996). The Dawning of a New Age: Dragons of a New Age vol. I. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-2842-5.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - Rabe, Jean (1997). The Day of the Tempest: Dragons of a New Age vol. II. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-2857-3.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - Rabe, Jean (1998). The Eve of the Maelstrom: Dragons of a New Age vol. III. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-2860-3.
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External links
- Goldmoon information at Dragonlance Nexus.
E-mail and forum posts
- Horner, Miranda (2000-06-01). "Re: Jean Rabe and Goldmoon, a new perspective (I think and hope) was: Re: [DL] Populations in cities and towns?". Retrieved 2006-05-21.
- Rabe, Jean (2005-01-11). "On Goldmoon's "Tempest" Death". Retrieved 2006-05-21.