The Death Gate Cycle - Behind The Series

Behind The Series

"Margaret and I have always tried to take fantasy literature in new directions. Krynn is a world wholly distinct from Earth, unlike Tolkien's Middle-earth. Time travel itself was a science-fiction notion we applied to fantasy. We have even written fantasies taking place in the far future (The Death Gate Cycle)!"

— Tracy Hickman, The Annotated Dragonlance Legends pg. 458

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman had finished their Dragonlance and Darksword series prior to The Death Gate Cycle, which may be considered their most ambitious work yet, as they created multiple fully realized and distinct worlds. The series also displayed Weis and Hickman's continued command of the fantasy genre.

As in their previous works, the authors continued to explore the theme of balance, and how the universe naturally works to correct imbalances.

Unlike in Dragonlance, where the universe's balance was a greater force than even the gods, the existence of a god or gods in The Death Gate Cycle is unknown; a universal balance is the closest thing to divinity. Along a similar line, the authors continued to explore the theme of men becoming gods—in this case with the entire Patryn and Sartan races clamoring for that throne. Finally, as in both Dragonlance and the Darksword series, they explored the effects of sweeping changes to the fundamental nature of a world (in this case worlds) on both the day-to-day life and the fate of nations.

Similar to the central concept of The Lord of the Rings, which J. R. R. Tolkien claimed was a translation of a real tome in his keeping (the Red Book of Westmarch), The Death Gate Cycle claims to be documentation of the events revolving around Death's Gate, authored after the fact by its primary characters. Even more than that, it is a scholarly document, with footnotes containing definitions of terms, references to past adventures and authorial asides. Each novel contains appendices giving further detail on various aspects of the story and its world, often summarizing (or occasionally laying the groundwork for) information related in the narrative proper. Finally, most of the novels also contain a musical score at the end, documenting a song (or sometimes a Sartan music-based rune-construct) featured in that particular volume.