Fistandantilus | DragonLance Saga

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Transcript
He is the most powerful sorcerer on Krynn. He made deals with gods to further his ambition. He is Fistandantilus.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about The Dark One himself, Fistandantilus. I would like to take a moment and thank my collaborator patrons, the Heroes of the Lance, and invite you to consider becoming a patron or member of this channel by visiting the links in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link. This episode is informed by many sourcebooks and the Dragonlance Wiki. I may miss some bits of information or misspeak in the presentation. If you have any comments or corrections, please add them below.
Discussion
It is unknown exactly when Fistandantilus was born or when he took the Test of High Sorcery, save that it was in the Age of Might. What is known is that he was supremely gifted in magic. After his Test of High Sorcery, he took the Red Robes and seemed content until he became intimately aware of his own mortality. He was infuriated at the thought of all of his vast magical knowledge being wasted and turned to dust, in death. He beseeched Gilean, the god of Neutrality to allow him to continue living on Krynn, but alas, having actually created humans, Gilean intended them to have limits. Fistandantilus was counseled to accept his fate. Refusing to do so, Fistandantilus called out to Takhisis herself, demanding to be able to look upon the Black Moon. She granted his request, and transported him to the Abyss where he glimpsed the future and his lived past. She gave him the Bloodstone, a magical artifact that would extend his life by transferring the victim's essence into his body.

With his continued existence, his means of immortality secured, he renewed his devotion to magic and learned all he could, even crafting new spells. He became close to Highmage Gadrella, a black robe who recently became head of the Tower, and was instrumental in convincing local lords to allow the construction of four more Towers of High Sorcery. In 2018 PC he fought alongside his colleagues of High Sorcery in defeating the renegade war mage Malock. When the orders demanded the destruction of Malock’s fortress of Zhaman, Fistandantilus convinced them to keep it as an invaluable place of study, as it was rumored to be indestructible.

Fistandantilus would live and work in Zhaman for a thousand years, until the end of the Third Dragon War in 1018 PC. In that time he would assist the Emperor of Ergoth and Vinus Solamnus in a couple adventure campaigns. For a time he was even the Head of the Tower of Palanthas.

Exactly when his ambition to become a God is also unknown, but at some point before traveling to Istar in 100 PC, he had determined this course of action. Fistandantilus and the fall of Istar are also linked for it was due to his machinations that Beldyn became the High Priest because of the prophecy of the Lightbringer. Fistandantilus was manipulating Istar for two reasons. He could study about the portals to the Abyss in secret and he could find the one true cleric he needed to help him open the portal. However…. When the Lightbringer came, with him came the hatred of darkness. This would include the Wizards of High Sorcery. Fistandantilus offered the new Kingpriest Belindas the seeds to destroy the groves surrounding the Towers of High Sorcery in trade for becoming his personal advisor. Beldinas consented but during the lost battles, the towers and portals would be abandoned and destroyed. In his effort to secure a portal, Fistandantilus would drive his apprentice Andras Rannoch insane and have him jump to his death to curse and seal the gates until the Master of Past and Present returned to open them. Ironically, unknown to Fistandantilus, the portal in the Tower of Palanthas was removed to his old stomping grounds, the fortress of Zhaman. Secure in his belief that a portal was now saved for him, he began work on corrupting a holy priest...

[DLSaga]

Thank you for watching today's Dragonlance Setting video. What do you think about Fistandantilus? With such a long and rich backstory, do you think he deserves more written about him and his earlier experiences? Leave a comment below.

[MarcAMARIAS]

I love the complexity of the relation between Rainstlin and Fist...😊

[DrEllert]

Imagine planning for 200 years... just so a gnome would come by and ruin it all. GNOMES!

[myrtislockett]

You can say what you want but Fistadantilus is one of the coolest character name ever.

[jedimonk]

I used to scrawl fistandantalus on random walls in brooklyn when I was young

[johansmallberries]

You can always trust a dead, ancient, evil wizard to just take *a little* of your life force. *just enough* to get by, I swear.

[robinsearles]

So great that he picked the ONE SORCERER...who would mess everything up 😂. Great episode. Love it. Glad to have joined as a member.

[echoeberle]

Everybody point and laugh at Fistandantilus for getting exploded because of a gnome device

[Argonova]

As one of the people who initially suggested it via comment, I'm very glad that you made this video about my favorite character in the books. You did an excellent job of getting all the lore details right, even though you did miss the events of the novel Fistandantilus Reborn (which is probably for the best, since that book deals with wonky alternate timelines and it is probably not even canon). That said, the ending of Dragons of an Hourglass Mage is something you might bring up in some future video, since it re-writes the ultimate fate of this character in a way that I'm not sure many fans liked, and it finally closes the loop begun by Tass in the Abyss, when he told the Queen of Darkness everything. She does indeed send Fistandanilus back through the Istar portal, granting him a body once again and a bloodstone (don't know if it was the original or a new one). She does this at exactly the right moment to change her loss into a win, at the cost of creating a massive time paradox. The outcome of this action raises all sorts of headache inducing questions about Raistlin as a character in the Legend books, and why he does some of the things he does, which now make absolutely no sense.

[SkullCowboy]

The second greatest mage in Dragonlance, this is great. Thank you for this.

[makdrumz]

I believe that Fistandantilus and Raistlin are one and the same person. They must be entangled in some kind of timeloop. Even when Raistlin went back in time, we don't actually know who won the contest. It all starts with Raistlin being born, raised, passing the test, marked by Fistandantilus, blah blah blah goes back in times, merges with Fistandantilus, does not know if he is Raist or Fist and the loop happens again. At least this is what I believe from the material I 'very read so far!

[gdubsterz]

Nice to hear someone pronounce it correctly. This was my favorite part of the legends volumes.

[mattcarafa]

Yes, Raistlin would be who he was without fis, but might not have survived the test, he made his own spell books at the end but maybe he would not have all that power with out fis, never mind the dragon orb that gave him troubles with having fis helping him out from time to time when he was in danger, cyan bloodbane would have probably ate him, if he made it that far. And then there’s lord soth the death night probably wouldn’t have bowed to him, instead probably would have tried power word kill

[GUNDAMURX]

I'm planning on adding Fistandantilus as a warlock patron for Shadow of the Dragon Queen, and this was a great referesher! He's even called out as an option for the Undying patron in the SCAG, so our warlock is in for some interesting times...

[shanezielinski]

Its actually the complexity of this, and the fact I am 'rusty' (and just jumping back in after 25 years) that makes this topic the one single I would never dare to comment on with input, on social media - But thanks for the video!

[Biggarou]

I always thought that fist was just raist caught in a time loop repeadedly killing himself

[gemmel]

Only discovered you today, I like your content.

[duvanok]

So glad I found this channel. I am in love with all things Dragonlance, such an amazing time in my life when I read these books and first got in to roleplaying.
Have you done a video on Solace yet, it's founding and history? Or why the heck Vallenwood trees grow so big? I'd love to hear it.

[tasselhoff]

How come nobody ever talks about that intoxicating smoke my ol buddy Caramon inhaled when we were younger? I always get to miss the fun stuff. Oh! What about old flints helmet? Is it really made out of griffin mane? Ive never seen a griffin with mane..or a griffin to begin with

[MrReevez]

If I'm not misremembering the timeline, fistandantalis was established as a lich before vecna, and much of vecnas later story as a lich turned God comes across as a fistandantalis "what if"