Kitiara Uth Matar | DragonLance Saga
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- She knew exactly what she wanted and refused to let anyone get in her way. Let’s learn all about Kitiara Uth Matar. Buy The Art of the Dragonlance Saga: www.drivethrur...
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Transcript
Her crooked smile ensnared men and women alike, but it was her ambition and drive that drove her to victory.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about Kitiara Uth Matar. I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this channel, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link. I am referencing the Dragonlance Chronicles, Lost Chronicles, Legends, The Art of the Dragonlance Saga and Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home for this information. If I miss anything, please feel free to leave a comment below.
Discussion
Kitiara was the last of the original three characters created by Tracy and Laura Hickman as they traveled to TSR for an interview. This was before Dragonlance was the name of the campaign world, but the two game designers knew they wanted this new project to convey the idea of balance between good, neutrality and evil. Laurana, named after Laura Hickman, was that pillar of good, Tanis was the pillar of neutrality and Kitiara was the pillar of evil. I have always struggled with the idea of evil, especially when applied to Kit. She is only acting in her own self interest, and thus, I cannot see Kit seeing herself as evil.
Kitiara believes, as her father did, that “Power is the only truth.” There is nothing inherently evil in this belief, it’s how you exercise the power that defines good or ill. The framing of this dichotomy that Power exercised is evil, only muddies the pillar itself. This is further contextualized by the authors framing her evil actions through the following of Takhisis and by becoming a Dragon Highlord. But again, this is only evil if we are to believe the actions of Takhisis’ armies are evil and the actions of the Whitestone armies are good. But can there be good and evil when both sides are enslaving, slaughtering, and ultimately destroying innocence. This thought exercise is meant to frame the idea that I don’t believe Kit saw herself as good or evil at all, only the authors did. And it is because of their framing that any of us do.
Kitiara was a character that defied every norm. She was a skilled female warrior, a rarity in post Cataclysm Ansalon. She was cunning and steadfast in her control of her emotions, something most male warriors struggled with. She stood up to Lord Ariakas, Lord Soth, and won the respect of the Dark Queen, her armies and her mount, so much so that after her death, Lord Soth and Khellendros would scour the planes of existence in search of her soul. She used men, as men traditionally used women. She was one to celebrate the indulgences of life but never at the expense of her own greater goals. She was also capable of compassion and love, even if she refused to acknowledge it outwardly, and this is seen in her care for her brothers as a young woman. Let's take a look at her history and see if we can understand the character any better.
Kitiara was the daughter of Gregor Uth Matar and Rosamun Aelan. Her father, a disgraced Solamnic Knight turned mercenary, would teach her to fight, and even took her with him, becoming impressed with her skill on one occasion. Gregor would tire of Rosamun, and eventually leave her. Rosamun would then marry Gilon Majere and they would have their twin sons Raistlin and Caramon. Kit would take care of Raistlin, seeing he was weak and the midwife gave up on him, she took it upon herself to care for him. She even named him from an old story of her fathers! When Raistlin was accepted to Theobald’s Mage Academy, Kit would leave for long periods, engaging in mercenary work as her father had before her. She would periodically return with gifts and to catch up with family and friend. It was here that she met Tanis as she was toying with some hobgoblins. Tanic came in and ‘rescued’ her, to Tanis’ dismay as she turned her attacks on him! They would learn to respect and love each other, finding their opposite natures attractive.
Kit was not one to stay in one place too long however, and when the companions split in search of the old gods, Tanis broke off his relationship with Kit, who left heading north with Sturm Brightblade. Kitiara was growing frustrated with Sturm's self righteousness and still angry with Tanis, she decided to seduce Sturm...
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Thank you for watching today's Dragonlance Setting episode! What do you think of Kitiara? Was there any good in her? Was her drive evil? Leave a comment below.
To be honest I kind of always figured Kitiara to a NPC. This puts her in the position of being almost completely independent and unpredictable. She was probably a good person up until her younger brothers were of age to take care of each other. Then she became a sell sword and eventually learned that more power was available if she aligned herself with Takhisis. Ultimately she wanted to be her own person and defied everything if it went against her desires. Pretty much my ex-wife. I'd love to see her character sheet and to know what happened to her soul. She definitely belongs in the Ravenloft setting for being so diabolical.
@@louiselockett2905 she obviously viewed herself as the underdog and took pity on those that are weak. This was how she saw Raistlin and her relationship with Tanis was the same. She had little affection for the strong Caramon.
She saw Tanis as a bird with a broken wing. She had no respect for those of strength like Sturm and Arakas or even her own mother. Her father was the same way. As a fallen knight, he had nothing but his own ambition but still had the knighthood views of protecting the weak. She obviously inherited this trait. Sturm was everything she should be. Sturm was like her father, but with no ambition and no fallen from grace. Ironically, Soth shared a similar fate as her father, minus the tragedy. This likely also drew Soth to her as well as a kindred spirit. A knight but not a knightly knight.
Let me share with you what I have as part of my DnD collection. When I graduated from high school in '91 I bought myself a pewter figure of a dragon highlord riding atop a dragon wielding a dragonlance. Years later my brother and I bought the dragonlance miniatures as well as many others. Then I took a small keep that came out of a crossbows and catapults expansion game. Now on display I have Sturm Brightblade standing atop of a keep with the dragon figurine swooping down towards him and it looks exactly like the illustration from the chapter in the second book when Sturm gets impaled by Kitiara. Everytime I look at it I get a smile from ear to ear and it warms my soul. Thank you for what you are doing because I get the same feeling from your videos.
That’s wonderful! Thank you for sharing.
@@DLSaga thanks for the opportunity !!!
I don't know why, but it always surprised me that unlike the other companions that were very young, Kit was in her 40s at the start of the Lance and at the time of her death. When Steel was born, Kit would have been late 30s while Sturm would have been in his very early 20s.
I felt like this put a very different dynamic on her. Other than Flint, she was the most mature and at an age when a person is looking towards the future and not the present.
The last observation is that she was the only companion to complete the quest to find evidence of the old gods. Rather than return and report what she found, she joined Takihisis and led and army, setting aside a childish quest the companions had embarked on. Considering her age and how she reacted to the quest, this made her the adult of the group. Much in the same way she parented her baby brothers, she did whatever the task demanded of her. As a parent myself, I know this too well. When her brothers grew up, she left to live her own life with the guard rails off. Much in the same way a parent does when their kids leave home.
You have an interesting perspective on her. Thanks for sharing!
Kitiara remains my favourite character in all of DragonLance. Thanks for this video :)
My pleasure. Thank you for watching!
I remember my kit-gazm when I read Dragons of Winter Night, where they show Kit for the first time, after building her up in book 1. It took me by surprise (I entered the books without spoilers).
That’s awesome!
Well done as always, Adam. One further musing. The bond and respect between Kit and Skie led to easily one of the best friendships in the series.
Yes! They really have an awesome connection.
That is a very good point about the definition of "evil." People who crave power do so for many reasons and those reasons are subtly influenced while they wield it. To me, Kit seems obsessed with the idea she is destined to lead others. Along the way she makes both wise and foolish decisions that affect others because of her influence on the world. Self-harm is rarely considered "evil" but her ambitions go well beyond herself.
Very well articulated! Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
There was a short story that put Kitiara’s soul in a medallion. Hidden in the bones of Soth’s seneschal.
Knight of the Black Rose the Ravenloft novel set up that her soul was hid in Caradocs room after he collected it for Soth, but Soth never got it. Do you recall what story you are referring to?
@@DLSaga The medallion that soth gave to caradoc has her soul. In the events of knight of the black rose (spoiler alert!) caradoc tells soth he hid it under his corpse when both of them are in the mists near the end of the story. In the adventure book ravenloft when black roses bloom, the mist recreated the medallion and the gem that has her soul to torment soth in the adventure. After the event of spectre of the black rose soth escaped from the realms of dread back to his keep but I’m unable to find out what happens to the medallion in his keep. The fifth edition book of dragon lance dose not say what happens to her or the medallion after Soths return
I always felt like Kit would not had gone all the way down her dark path had Tanis not broken up with her during the Preludes.
It's possible. She was a very headstrong woman though...
The novel "The Soulforge" shows she was already a terrible person before Tanis broke up with her.
Kit rocks! thanks for making this!
My pleasure. I totally agree
Alrighty, hope you don't mind a long response as I disagreed with most of what you said in this one.
In regards to you having trouble with the idea of Kitiara being evil : are you serious? It was absolutely Kitiara’s actions, not authorial declaration, that marked her as evil. And indeed her actions make her one of the most evil characters in the entire saga.
To begin with she’s one of the highest ranking generals of an army that is openly genocidal (we hear about the Dragonarmies planning to annihilate the elves and Icefolk and we see the aftermath of them genociding the Que-Shu) and that is running a massive slave empire (all the references in Dragons of Spring Dawning to Tika being sold in the Nerakan slave markets). Trying to conquer the world on behalf of a genocidal, slave state is about as evil as it gets.
Kitiara was also incredibly cruel on a personal level. In The Soulforge it is described how she got into a fight with Tanis because he wouldn’t let her torture captive goblins for fun. (Torturing living creatures for pleasure, let alone sentient creatures, is serial killer level psychosis.) Likewise in Dragons of Spring Dawning, we see her tormenting a prisoner when she has Laurana brought before her wrapped in winding cloth so tightly that Laurana nearly suffocates while in the cocoon. There is absolutely no military advantage to torturing a prisoner like that and it was actually counter-productive to Kitiara’s goal of obtaining the Crown of Power since Takhisis was expecting a live prisoner to torture and would not have been amused if her “gift” suffocated to death before Takhisis got her claws into her, so the only reason for Kitiara to have Laurana brought before her like that was to make her suffer. And of course just in case that was't cruel enough Kitiara then not only gives Laurana to Takhisis (knowing that Takhisis intends to have Laurana tortured to death) and also attempts to have Laurana eternally enslaved to Lord Soth. (I can’t imagine anything more evil than inflicting eternal suffering on another person.)
Seriously man if those actions don’t scream EVIL at you, then I don’t know what to say. Kitiara was evil not because she wanted power but because she was willing to do horrible things to innocent people to get power (and because she seemed to derive pleasure from making other people suffer.)
It’s also absurd to equate the Whitestone Army to the Dragonarmies. The Whitestone Army is only shown defending its own territory (witness the Battle at the High Clerist’s Tower) or liberating conquered peoples (witness its entry into Kalaman where it was greeted by a celebrating population.) It was not out conquering and enslaving other nations. (And before you mention the Qualinesti and the Silvanesti oppressing the Kagonesti, those were actions done by the Qualinesti and Silvanesti not the Whitestone Army. Indeed the Whitestone Army didn’t even exist at the time the Qualinesti and Silvanesti did that.)
Nor would I say that Kitiara’s only weakness was the men in her life. Another serious flaw she had (which ended up being the flaw that cost her the most) was her own misogyny. She was described in Dragons of the Highlord Skies as having contempt for feminine seeming women, and I believe that contempt explains why she failed to consider the hyper-feminine seeming Laurana a physical threat (as shown by her not putting any restraints on Laurana when bringing her before Takhisis even though Laurana by that point in the story had proven herself to be a very capable combatant who had already fought Kitiara to a standstill once before and who had already killed a Dragon Highlord and one of Kitiara’s Highmasters in hand to hand combat.) Kitiara’s disregarding of Laurana as a physical threat let Laurana get the drop on her which in turn led to Laurana not only beating up Kitiara and escaping but also bringing down Kitiara’s whole empire.
I also disagree with the idea that Kitiara succeeded in poisoning Tanis’s mind at the end of the Chronicles. Yes, she succeeded in insuring that Tanis would have some fond memories of her, but that's all. He was still devoted to Laurana thereafter and subsequently demonstrated that he was not willing to sacrifice himself for Kitiara (whereas he had proven himself willing to sacrifice himself for Laurana.)
As for your closing question, yes Kitiara would have ruled Ansalon if not for Laurana. It was Laurana that defeated her at the High Clerist’s Tower and thus kept her from conquering Palanthas (with the wealth and fleet of Palanthas under her control, Kitiara would have been unstoppable), Laurana that led the counter-offensive that wrecked Kitiara’s army, and Laurana that set the Dragonarmies to cannibalizing themselves in Neraka (meaning that even when Kitiara finally gained the Crown of Power all she ruled over was a shattered realm.) Thus at every stage it was Laurana that stopped Kitiara. Absent Laurana, Kitiara still has to deal with Ariakas, but a victorious Kitiara who has conquered Solamnia and who has Lord Soth as an ally should be able to take down Ariakas.
Why am I not surprised?
Wow you really went all out on this. Great compelling argument. I would classify her as a narcissist that has intentions of world domination. The fact that she killed Sturm in such a fashion and to find out later that he was the father of her only child is extremely evil. I don't think pregnancy was her plan and she probably hated him for it. That is why I say put her ass in Ravenloft where she belongs.
Thank goodness you said all of that. I was getting ready to respond the same way and then saw your reply. You definitely hit the nail on the head better than I could have. Kudos
@@Hatfield1198 and thank you for your comment as well, you both saved me the trouble 😂
Well said. ✌️
Please consider doing a video on the kinslayer war. Thank you
I’ve reviewed the novel. I should do a series on the biggest conflicts.
Agreed, just like Vader never thought he was evil
Oh yea
I was completely in love with Kit. And I agree, I can't see her as completely evil
Thank you for watching!
@@DLSaga I'm glad someone is giving love to this beautiful saga. Thank you for all the work and effort!
I too think rarely about Dragonlance in terms of Good and Evil.
I prefer Light and Darkness -a searing, unmerciful Light and a blinding, suffocating Darkness.
Both in their purest form are bane to mortal survival.
As for Kitiara, a pity she never wore the Crown of Power in public -she would have been a much more deserving Dragon Empress than Ariakas ever was.
I’d like to think she was, but she didn’t do well in her war.
Well, there is much more to the end. Soth tried to catch Kits Soul, but failed. Her Soul appears later in the Chaoswar fighting her nephew Palin, when he was there with Raistlins help. And then, when Skie become the Dragon High Lord Khelendros, before war of souls, he tries to catches Kits Soul also, and creates the blue brood for her, but never succeed.
It’s funny how her memory hit her Allie’s the hardest. Skie and Soth were obsessed.
In the ravenloft with Soth, there are clues that Kitiara might be living there , or at least there is reported sighting of her
Yea it was a red herring. Once you read both books you find out who it really was.
If you read the Ravenloft novel "Knight of the Black Rose" you find out what happened to Kitiara's soul.
That was the explanation from Ravenloft. When Skie is looking for her soul, the Dark Queen tells him its in the astral plane, and then she shows up in the abyss when Palin is there.
Poor tanis lol
Lol he never had a chance.
What’s the age difference between Kitiara and the twins?
8 years
I thoiught Kitara's blue dragon's name was Sky not Ski.
I think I’m the only one who pronounces it skie, as the ‘ie’ makes an ‘ee’ sound in English.
Always thought of her as evil with a chance for redemption she never really took fully. She may not view herself as such. I agree with you that she only saw the world through a might is right/what I make of it sort of way. But this included genocide and the terrors of war being committed at her command to further her own ambition. She’s definitely a badass though and I loved her cunning in brothers in arms and highlord skies. Thanks for the vid!
I don't see how anyone can justify war being good or evil. Each side believes they are justified in some way. Each site believes their god is on their side.
@@DLSaga So you don't see any moral difference between an army that is fighting so that it can genocide a race of people versus an army that is fighting to prevent its people from being genocided?
@@DLSaga that’s true, like they say the enemy thinks their cause is just as just :o
@@DLSaga This would be true if we were discussing this in terms of mundane the world we live in. We're not, the world of DragonLance embodies an alien form of morality that is physically represented by true deities that are personifications of the ideals of Good and Evil. These forces actively fight wars and dabble in mortal lives. Siding with the Dragon Queen is literally choosing to fight for the universal embodiment of evil, regardless of your own ambitions. In D&D terms Kit is a great example of Neutral Evil. Look at Kit's last act in Dragons of Summer; she actively embraced and mirrored the selfishness of the Dragon Queen by tempting Steel to abandon the world for his won ends.
I always thought it was pronounced "tok ah sis"
Pronounce it however you like.
Ensnared men, women, and Dragons... Don't forget Skye
How could I? She had massive impact on everything and everyone she touched.
Not one mention of her crooked smile? You have more self control than Weiss and Hickman.
Haha
1. Uth Matar. Ma Tar
2. Skie is Sky
3. Great video
4. Dont take it personal, you cant know everything and it would have required you listening to many interviews of Hickmen and Weis to know this.
Thank you for watching! With everyone, authors and audio book performers included, pronouncing it differently, I always fall back on Tracy Hickman's note: "I honestly believe that the names are, indeed, pronounced exactly the way you hear them in your head".
We are all the heroes of our own story. She chose to lead the Dragon Armies in what was likely a nightmarish war to promote her own interests.
Yep. I see it as good is what you like, bad is what you don’t like. Perspective is 9/10 of reality as my old Drill Sergeant used to say.
@@DLSaga Eh, I am more inclined to see "Evil" as the absence of empathy and compassion.
Skie is pronounced "Sky" ....i always did anyway...lmao.... not "ski"...
According to the authors there is no official pronunciation in Dragonlance. Also, any word ensue is ‘ie’ is an ‘ee’ sound. www.babynamespedia.com/pronounce/Skie#English
You’re not the first, and won’t be the last to correct me.
well big blue dragon...in the (ahem) "Sky" ...lololol... for some strange reason i pronounced it "Sky" :P
Yeah, I always pronounced it "ski" as a kid, and revisiting it is clearly "sky."
Reminds me a bit of Smaug, which the new Jackson Hobbit films pronounced "Smaaauuug" or whatever, but the name is intended to be a play on the word Smog, so I always pronounced it "Smog"
100
Thanks for watching!