Good or Evil: Raistlin Majere

What are your thoughts on Raistlin Majere? What kind of person do you think he is? #dragonlance #fantasybooks

[bwg]

It varies by stage of his life.

Pre-Test of the Tower of High Sorcery: Good. This is the Raistlin that treats plague victims and exposes corrupt cultists. He's genuinely heroic in this period.

From his taking the Test of High Sorcery to the beginning of Dragons of Spring Dawning. Neutral. Raistlin is pretty dark during this time period (not surprising since it started with him murdering (a vision of) his brother and then making a pact with the spiirt of an evil wizard and even the good things he does are more incidental to his own drive for power rather than out of a desire to help others (his whole "I do not follow Tanis. We're just going in the same direction" statement which shows he didn't really care about helping others at this time but only about his own goals), but he still shows some decency in this period and is still willing at this time to risk himself for his friends.

From the start of Dragons of Spring Dawning (abandoning his friends and brother to die in the Blood Sea) to almost the very end of the Legends trilogy: EVIL. Raistlin is an absolute monster in this part of the story. He starts a pointless war that will kill thousands, murder an innocent gnome, tortures an innocent kender, plots to allow his own brother to be murdered, betrays and abandons to torture and death a woman that loved and trusted him, and takes the entire universe to the brink of total destruction all because merely being the most powerful wizard in the world wasn't enough power for him. That's a lot of red in his ledger and even his "sacrifice" at the end of Legends rings rather hollow, since he wasn't just saving the world (from the danger he put it in), but was also saving himself from a fate far worse than death.

Post-death: Good. Paladine saving him from Takhisis at the end of Legends seems to have mellowed Raistlin out considerably because he's back to being a good person in all his post-death appearances with him again working to help others without any of the ruthlessness and callousness that he so often showed in life.

[DLSaga]

Like everyone, he is self interested, but has a soft spot for the downtrodden and bullied. He also ends up as a good character when stripped of his magic in Dragons of Summer Flame.

[pullt]

Is Raistlin good or evil?

He is indeed....

[simonbellamy]

A complicated character. Very well written character. The best thing about Dragonlance....😂

[ClintOrris]

Raistlin is the classic example of a kid who never got attention from girls, so he sought ways to make girls give him attention. He was always jealous of his brother in particular. So to get the attention, respect and affection he craved, he sought power. And after becoming powerful/respected he wanted even more. After all who is more respected, revered, and loved than the gods.

[Rhuarc]

He was the Archmage; a being outside of those definitions, because he was a force unto himself. His coming created an instability in the world of Krynn, however. After his time, the Knights of Takhisis followed his example, and began to blend the different powers of sorcery into a new thing that overwhelmed the Orders. His wisdom and the perspective he gained from actually succeeding, but seeing the absolute destruction his victory wrought, made him something else again. A Krynnish Buddha, who found that the balance of things is of the utmost importance.

[angelskyd]

Raistlin has been my favorite character since I first read the Chronicles over 30 years ago. I feel he is most definitely evil. His ultimate goal is more power for himself. Just because he did good acts along the way doesn’t make him good. For him, the ends justify the means. So doing a few good things isn’t a measure of his goodness, it’s just a variable in his climb to power.

[Shadokin_Veil]

I feel he was an "honorable evil" character. He held to a loose moral code when it came to his companions. He's my favorite Dragonlance character of all time.

[MattyBatty-jk]

Raistlin is everything!! A real travel to both sides. My son's middle name is raistlin. I couldn't get it to be first name .

[JosephHeller-elzo]

If you read the Legend of the Twins trilogy: Test of the twins, Time of the Twins, War of the Twins, you will see that Raistlin deteriorates over time. But his shift towards darkness is a gradual process.

In the Chronicles (Dragons of Autumn/Winter/Spring…) he starts out as somewhat good…just not nice. He becomes more self-serving as the trilogy progresses. But to truly see his full character arc, you should read the Legend of the Twins trilogy as mentioned above.

[rustydog]

I think he has internal power struggles and due to this shifts alignments. He can be evil one day but has enough good him to overcome this.

[Bluewater]

He’s a dick to his brother, who had nothing but love, care and admiration for him. He resented his own physical weakness, while his brother was the archetype of a strong warrior. He partly redeemed himself by sacrificing himself. Which may have not been necessary if he would have been content with the enormous power he wielded at the end of the Dragon Lance War. But then the story wouldn’t have been this good 😊. He’s an interesting character, well written, but I like his brother more.

[ivegonehollow]

I believe he was a man trying to achieve his goals the best way he knew how and was addicted to power but no not complete evil

[CANDROU]

This is a tough one because he does a lot of good things, especially in the post Legends novels. And he was kind to Bupu and was a defender of the downtrodden. For me personally, I can overlook many evils if you see the error of your ways and make amends. HOWEVER, I personally can't overlook murder, such as with Gnimsh the gnome who he murdered to further his ambitions. Murder robs the other individual of the ability to live and make their own right and wrong choices, and seems innately unfair and for that - I have to say he was an evil character for me

[rhkean]

Based on my recollection of the alignment definitions at the time of the books' releases (mid-80's IIRC), I believe Raistlin to be Chaotic-Nuetral.

I don't believe any if his actions throughout the series are ever really evil, per se... But, more selfish. So, I wouldn't think any of the "evil" alignments actually fit. His "good" actions are primarily self-serving, so the "good" alignments don't fit either. He's definitely not "lawful", which leaves "neutral" and "chaotic". I didn't see him being true neutral (nuetral-nuetral), either... He doesn't flip flop on his actions for the sake of neutrality.... Definitely "Chaotic-Nuetral"

[brialapoint]

He was chaotic neutral. Over time takhihis and fistandantilus corrupted him. He was a descendent of majere. I feel sad for him.

[philkenseben]

He is chaotic evil but he did save the world so he got that going for him

[Owl_of_Omens]

I think he's a necessary evil and I think that if Paladine really felt that he was going to up end the balance too much he would have destroyed him early on. Of course he didn't because Paladine knew ultimately at the end of the line he would maintain and save humanity.

[JoeChrisMorris]

Chaotic Evil don't you feel? And just because you can understand Raistlin doesn't make him anyone you can easily trust turn your back on, or even trust in a fight, that's certain. He's too brainy a cove by half, the egoist! Raistlin WILL do good for others ..but only when it serves his purposes. .Also, Caramon being the only person Raistlin loves, and the only person Raistlin is utterly sick of the sight of, makes it difficult for the mage! Raistlin jealousy of his twins strength makes it very tricky indeed, because he also needs that strength, and not for comparing bowler hats! The lich Fistandantilus has taken all of his strength. Raistlin started neutral and stayed so after the Test made his body a wreck. Raistlin chose to become evil finally, but realized by the time of Test of the Twins that he could not create, that he had nothing inside of him. Only by sacrificing himself for Caramon can he gain a measure of peace and sleep

[alisakiritsy]

Never forget what he did for Bupu. At worst lawful evil at best chaotic neutral