Khellendros
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Dragonlance character | |
| Khellendros | |
|---|---|
Khellendros in the back.
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| Created by | Jean Rabe |
| First appearance | Dragons of Winter Night |
| Character information | |
| Alias |
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| Race | Blue Dragon |
| Alignment | Evil |
| Gender | Male |
Khellendros (also known as Skie) is a fictional blue dragon from the Dragonlance campaign setting created by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
[edit] Biography
Kitiara and Skie were partners in the War of the Lance, fighting together for the Queen of Darkness. While other Dragonlords saw themselves as superior to their mounts, Kitiara and Skie developed a partnership of equals. Skie remained loyal to Kitiara until her death by Dalamar the Dark in Test of the Twins.
Unknown to everybody on Krynn at the time, Skie had been born on another world populated exclusively by cannibalistic dragons. These dragons gained strength from eating one another, and the smaller and weaker of the dragons were forced to serve the bigger and stronger ones or face their wrath. Skie had discovered the means to travel to other worlds and did so in an effort to escape his enemies. One of the worlds Skie discovered was Krynn, and while there he met Takhisis. Skie struck a bargain with the goddess, aiding her in her battles and showing her how to use the portals between worlds. In return, Takhisis promised Skie that he would eventually be given rulership of Krynn. Compared to the dragons of Skie's world, the dragons of Krynn were small and easily subdued, to say nothing of the other races, therefore Skie could easily take control of the world if he were unopposed by the gods.
When Skie first arrived on Krynn he was young by the standards of his race and approximately the same size as the Krynnish blue dragons. After the Chaos War, however, Skie grew much larger than the other blues (in part because he began devouring the Krynnish dragons) and finally became powerful enough to take his place alongside dragon overlords such as Malystryx and Beryl, ruling over Palanthas and the surrounding territory.
Despite his gains, Skie was frustrated and lonely. While Skie had at first felt nothing but contempt for the races of Krynn, over the years he had unexpectedly come to respect and love one of them, Kitiara Uth Matar. He missed Kitiara, and chafed at the restrictions placed upon him by Takhisis, who forbade him from taking control of Krynn even when it was vulnerable. Finally, Skie told Takhisis that he would no longer ask for control of Krynn if he could only see his beloved Kitiara again. Takhisis agreed to his terms and told him that Kitiara could be found on a plane of existence known as "The Gray." Skie visited The Gray and searched long for Kitiara without result.
He finally gave up and returned to Krynn, only to find that a strange human prophet named Mina had amassed an army and had conquered much of Krynn. Mina had enthralled her followers by bringing a message from a god known only as "The One God" and performing miracles. Mina's army was in the process of marching on Skie's territory when he returned. Skie knew that the "One God" was in reality Takhisis, who had moved the world of Krynn to another part of the universe and hidden it from the other gods near the end of the Chaos War using one of the portals shown to her by Skie. He was angry and believed he had been betrayed; Takhisis had forbade him from taking Krynn for years, had sent him on what he believed was a fool's errand to search for Kitiara in the Gray, and now appeared to be seizing Krynn for herself through Mina in direct violation of their bargain.
Skie met with Mina and confronted her with his suspicions. Mina told him that he was correct, that Takhisis felt that she owed him nothing. Mina told Skie that his mistake had been in showing more loyalty to a mortal, Kitiara, than to Takhisis, and that because of this Takhisis had no plans of honoring her promise to him. Mina continued to mock Skie, informing him that Kitiara was not in The Gray, that there was no Gray at all, that The Gray had only been in his mind. Enraged, Skie lashed out at Mina with his lightning breath. At first it appeared that his lightning had burned her to death, but Mina rose to her feet and shot the lightning bolt meant for her back at Skie, leaving him barely alive. Mina left Skie to die slowly.
Unknown to Mina, the entire scene had been witnessed by the silver dragon Mirror. Much of the conversation between Skie and Mina had come as a shock to Mirror and he used his magic to heal Skie as best he could, keeping the enormous Blue alive and conscious long enough to get more answers from him. Mirror was unable to save Skie's life, but he did manage to restore some of the Blue's strength.
Malystryx had heard that Skie was dying and flew to his lair to steal the totem of dragon skulls from which he drew his magical power. When she arrived, Skie initially felt too weak to resist her. But then he saw a vision of Kitiara ordering him to get up and strike at the enemy. Motivated by the image of his long-lost friend, Skie summoned the energy to blast Malys with his lightning and inflict a painful, if not serious, wound. The last of his strength gone, Skie's vision and consciousness rapidly ebbed. He took comfort in the fact that he had been able to defy Malys instead of lying on the floor helpless as she made off with his totem. A furious Malys violently expedited Skie's death by tearing him to pieces. The last thing Skie was aware of was the sound of Kitiara's approving voice praising him for a job well done.
[edit] References
- Dragons of Autumn Twilight
- Dragons of Winter Night
- Dragons of Spring Dawning
- Time of the Twins
- Test of the Twins
- War of the Twins
- The Dawning of a New Age
- The Day of the Tempest
- The Eve of the Maelstrom
