Time of the Twins (1996)
Time of the Twins is a 1996 dungeons & dragons novel book written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
The war is over, but Raistlin Majere has not stopped climbing. Now an archmage of the black robes, he sets his sights on godhood itself, and his path runs backward through time to the golden age of Istar, in the days before the gods broke the world. The devout cleric Crysania follows, certain she can turn him or judge him. His twin Caramon, drunk and grieving, is dragged along to save him or stop him. Weis and Hickman narrow the focus from war epic to a single dangerous man and the two people who cannot let him go.
Quick answers
What is Time of the Twins about?
The war is over, but Raistlin Majere has not stopped climbing. Now an archmage of the black robes, he sets his sights on godhood itself, and his path runs backward through time to the golden age of Istar, in the days before the gods broke the world. The devout cleric Crysania follows, certain she can turn him or judge him. His twin Caramon, drunk and grieving, is dragged along to save him or stop him. Weis and Hickman narrow the focus from war epic to a single dangerous man and the two people who cannot let him go.
When was Time of the Twins published?
Time of the Twins was published in 1996.
Who made Time of the Twins?
Time of the Twins was written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
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Explore Time of the Twins guides
Time of the Twins in our writing
- Companion guide: Dungeons & Dragons on the PC: From the Gold Box to Baldur's Gate 3
A few thoughts on Time of the Twins
Readers here for Raistlin's cold ambition should meet Jon Irenicus of Baldur's Gate II, a mage of similar reach and colder heart. Disco Elysium suits the ruin-and-redemption thread running through Caramon. For screen, the brilliant-but-manipulative dynamic finds a match in the scheming siblings of House of the Dragon.
Games about a mind flirting with godhood
Raistlin's bid for godhood in Time of the Twins is a study in what unchecked ambition costs a mind, and these games sit in that same territory. Disco Elysium and Planescape: Torment both build a whole story around a self unraveling under its own choices, while the Baldur's Gate saga hands you Raistlin's exact temptation, godlike power within reach.
The rest of the Dragonlance saga
Weis and Hickman built Time of the Twins as the hinge of their Dragonlance saga, and the Chronicles trilogy plus War of the Twins and Test of the Twins carry the same war between gods and mortals through to its close. Champions of Krynn runs the same tabletop rules underneath the whole story.
Ambition and dark magic that strain a family
Raistlin's climb toward power and the loyalty it strains echo through House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones, families and courts undone from the inside by ambition. The Witcher, Excalibur, and Willow all put dark, costly sorcery at the center too, magic that always asks for more than it gives.
Salvatore's corner of the same tabletop multiverse
Weis and Hickman were writing Time of the Twins for the same TSR universe Salvatore built his Icewind Dale trilogy in. Streams of Silver, The Crystal Shard, and The Halfling's Gem follow Drizzt through a different corner of it, while Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn cover the dark elf's own exile that started his story.