Gilthas

Gilthas Pathfinder is a fictional character from the Dragonlance universe. He is Tanis Half-Elven's (a half-elf) and Laurana Kanan's (a full elf) son. He is named after his uncle, Gilthanas Kanan. Gilthas is more elven than he is human, making him not quite an elf, but not quite a half-elf either. Gilthas is married in secret to Kerianseray, a rebel leader in Qualinesti also known as the Lioness.

Gilthas is sickly and frail in his young years. His hair is light and he has blue eyes. His human blood makes him impatient at times. He speaks the elven language, as well as Common, the language spoken by nearly everyone on Ansalon, the continent on which Dragonlance takes place.

In his adulthood, he is much changed. His skin darkens, and he has become stronger physically. His face is prematurely lined and his hair begins to gray, even though he is still young by elven standards. Gilthas is lured into becoming Speaker of the Suns by the elven senator Rashas in an effort for the Senate to rule through Gilthas. After the War of Souls and after becoming a stronger and wiser leader, he is made Speaker of the Stars and is named Speaker of the Sun and Stars, the leader of all elven nations.

Early life

When he is six, Gilthas nearly dies of a terrible illness, and after narrowly surviving, his parents become more protective of him. They keep Gilthas out of politics because the human blood in him would be cause for mockery and ridicule in the political world of Qualinesti. His father barely lets him leave the house, although he does let Gilthas ride horses, and so this is a skill Gilthas develops well. Gilthas is not allowed to learn the use of any weapon. Gilthas often refers to Tasslehoff Burrfoot as his "Uncle Tas". In his teenage years, Gilthas is moody and introspective.

In the novella The Sacrifice, Rashas, an elven senator, lures Gilthas in a plot make him a "puppet king" for the nation of Qualinesti. Even after several attempts to escape, he convinces Gilthas to become Speaker by threatening Gilthas when he is around 20 years old, saying he would kill Alhana Starbreeze, Gilthas's aunt, if Gilthas did not take the title of Speaker of the Sun. This is a ploy for Rashas and other powerful people in Qualinesti to gain control through Gilthas, who becomes a puppet king. Shortly after Gilthas accepts, Alhana and Porthios are named dark elves and are banished from all elven lands, Qualinesti and Silvanesti. Gilthas's father, Tanis Half-Elven, is banished from Qualinesti but is not proclaimed a dark elf. In the years following, he lets himself be a puppet to the Senators, but eventually becomes stronger and operates secretly.

The Chaos War

Gilthas, on order from Rashas, allows the Knights of Takhisis into the nation when they invade. This allows the Knights to take over Qualinesti through Gilthas, stealing control from the Senators and effectively ruling Qualinesti. After this, Gilthas found a Kagonesti spy named Kerianseray, whom he falls in love with. Through secret marriage to her, he begins to become a stronger king and begins a secret alliance with her soldiers. When creatures of Chaos begin to attack Qualinesti, a powerful alliance is made. Gilthas, Porthios, the Dark Knights, and even Green Dragons join their forces to form a grand new army. In the ensuing battles, Gilthas becomes a hero to his people, but Porthios is presumed dead, although in fact he had fought a fire dragon and his face has become horribly scarred.

Between Wars

Over the coming years, Gilthas and Kerian form a rebel group which she heads and he secretly supports. They convince the dwarf thane Tarn Bellowsgranite to dig secret tunnels beneath the city in preparation of the day that they might have to evacuate from the dragon Beryl, who had taken over Qualinesti in alliance with the Dark Knights.

The War of Souls

During the War of Souls, Beryl attacks Qualinesti. Using the secret tunnels beneath Qualinesti, Gilthas and Kerian lead the Qualinesti people to the Plains of Dust. Laurana, Gilthas's mother, stays behind and plans to kill the great dragon using the Lost Star, along with Marshal Medan, the leader of the Dark Knights in Qualinesti who has come to love Qualinesti as his homeland. Unfortunately, Medan is slain on the way to kill Beryl, and Laurana faces her alone. Using the sword, she slays the great dragon, who collapses on the city. It falls in on itself because of the tunnels dug beneath it, and fills with water from the nearby river. The former capital of Qualinost is now called the "Lake of Death".

Gilthas goes through Thorbardin into the Plains of Dust, where he crosses into Silvanesti seeking aid. He finds the nation ruled by Dark Knights, however. Gilthas joins up with the Silvanesti under the leadership of Alhana Starbreeze and goes north to Sanction, where Gilthas's cousin Silvanoshei has gone to. En route, ogres attack, but Metallic Dragons come just in time to save the day for the elves. Flying on the backs of dragons, the combined army goes north and joins into the Battle for Sanction, where it is discovered that the so-called One God is in fact Takhisis, the head god of evil. Gilthas assigns his bodyguard as general, and the battle is won. Just before the victory, however, Gilthas witnesses Takhisis entering the world of Krynn. However, the gods, newly returned, strip Takhisis of her immortality and Silvanoshei, Gilthas's cousin, slays her. Silvaoshei is promptly slain by Takhisis's herald, Mina. Prompted by Valthonis, the now mortal Paladine, Gilthas becomes Speaker of the Sun and Stars, which would entitle ruling the Silvanesti and the Kagonesti in addition to his Qualinesti. Alhana crowns him as such, though many Silvanesti are unhappy because of this, Gilthas being of impure blood. However, they accept him because he is at least a member of the Silvanos Goldeneye bloodline.

After the War

After the war is over, some 1000 elves leave with Gilthas to Khur, where he strikes a bargain for the lands near Khuri-Khan. Over time, these lands grow to hold nearly 100,000 elves, made up of all three land based elven races.

Gilthas tries once more to take back Silvanesti; when this fails he declares they will give up on trying to take it back. The elves decide that they would go to Inath-Wakenti, with Gilthas's wife leading a scout troupe to investigate. An assassination attempt is made on Gilthas; he says, however, that they will not go to war and restrains his people.

When his wife returns, she leads many acts against the people of Khur that were bad for the elves and for Khur. Nomads attack shortly after, his wife leads a rebellion against the Nomads, however Gilthas manages to stop it with negotiation. The Khan came and destroys the Nomads with his soldiers; however Kerianseray, Gilthas's wife, disappears. Gilthas decides to continue on to Inath-Wakenti.