D&D: An Adventurer’s Guide to Tanis Half-Elven
Erstwhile leader of the Companions of the Lance, Tanis Half-Elven played a pivotal role in the War of the Lance.
Born the child of two worlds, Tanis Half-Elven, or Tanthalas Quisif-Nan Pah, as the elves call him, spent his life looking for a place to belong. From origins shrouded in questions, to the tumult of the War of the Lance, Tanis Half-Elven has been at home amid conflict.
Before he met the famous Companions of the Lance, long before anyone had heard of his name, the half-elf was a youngling in the wilds of Qualinost.
Early Life
Tanis Half-Elven was born in Qualinost. His mother, having been kidnapped by and subsequently fallen in love with a human brigand known as Brand, was regarded with some dismay by the elves of Qualinost. Though, fortunately for the boy, his mother’s husband’s brother, was none other than the elf king, Solostaran.
Solostaran took in the fatherless boy and raised him alongside his own children, Porthios, Gilthanas, and Laurana Kanan. But life among the elves was an isolating one. Especially since they only ever regarded him as half-human.
As a result, Tanis was only ever close to Gilthanas and Laurana. The latter especially. The two became fast friends, and then more. Lovers, pledged to marry each other—at least until Laurana’s family discovered that the two planned to wed.
Demanding that Laurana find a “suitable match for an elven princess” her family broke off their affair. And Tanis, losing his last friends, left Qualinost for the nearby town of Solace.
There he met the dwarven smith, Flint Fireforge, and the kender, Tasselhoff Burrfoot, preventing the one from killing the other after a little “reasonable light theft.” Tanis and Tasselhoff became fast friends.
But there was one more early meeting that would change the course of his life.
Tanis Half-Elven and the Companions
In 344 AC, while out riding, Tanis heard what he thought was a woman in distress. Upon his steed, Dauntless, Tanis raced through the wilderness. There he found a woman fighting a band of hobgoblins.
But to his surprise, the woman was not in danger. Instead, she was toying with her assailants. Through the battle, the two quickly realized an immediate attraction. And so, Tanis Half-Elven and Kitiara Uth Matar first met.
And not long after, the two immediately fell into a romantic relationship.
Shortly after that, the course of Tanis’ life changed forever, as Kit introduced Tanis and his friends to Sturm Brightblade, and Caramon and Raistlin Majere.
This group of heroes became known as the Companions. And though they might often go their separate ways, they would remain connected. Over the course of a year, Tanis rescued a woman who had been changed into a bird by becoming a red-pelted fox, for example.
But in 346, the Companions split up to go their separate ways, agreeing to meet five years later at the Inn of the Last Home. Tanis left, breaking off his relationship with Kitiara, and going to seek the “lost gods of Krynn”.
War of the Lance
When the Companions returned, war was beginning. The Companions met at the Inn of the Last Home and were almost immediately in danger. They fled the invading Dragon Army forces, journeying to Que-Shu and then Xak Tsaroth under Tanis’ leadership.
While fleeing Takhisis’ forces, they got a broader picture of what was going on in the world. Tanis decided to return the group to Solace where they were immediately captured and sent to the Dragon Army base of Pax Tharkas.
But along the way, they were freed by elves from Qualinost. Once freed, though, the group was tasked with breaking other prisoners out of Pax Tharkas. Destiny, it seemed, had a fickle hand.
Throughout the events of the war, Tanis Half-Elven played a pivotal role in many instrumental events. He helped recover the Hammer of Kharas from the depths of the dwarven realm of Thorbardin. He escaped from a dream with the power of love. And ironically, not long after met and rekindled his relationship with Kitiara, now Dragon Highlord of the Blue Dragon Army.
This briefly rekindled romance would prove vital to ending the War of the Lance. After offering himself in trade for a captured princess Laurana, whom he also loved, Tanis was brought before the Queen of Darkness by none other than Kitiara herself. Of course, Tanis seized the opportunity during this meeting and killed Lord Ariakas, Emperor of the Dragon Armies.
Only then did he finally choose a relationship, fleeing with Laurana and leaving Kitiara to die. Perhaps the world of Krynn, like so many others, would have been different if they had embraced polyamory.
Tanis Half-Elven, War Hero
After the War of the Lance, Tanis Half-Elven was hailed as a hero. A celebrity, even. The Knights of Solamnia made him an honorary knight. The dwarves of Thorbardin made him an honorary dwarf.
He was saved from death at the hands of Lord Soth by his time-traveling kender friend, Tasselhoff Burrfoot. And Tanis and Laurana became diplomats and ambassadors, helping to broker an alliance between the Knights of Solamnia, the Silvanesti, and Qualinesti elves.
And so he remained, the man of two worlds, who forged a world where at last he felt welcome
