https://youtu.be/Pqp-rJUM4AI

His devotion to his twin was absolute, to his own detriment. Let’s take a closer look at the complicated character, Caramon Majere.

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Transcript

He was seen as a big dumb brute, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Intro

Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about Caramon Majere. 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 Art of the Dragonlance Saga, Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home, the Chronicles, Legends, and the War of Souls for this information. If I have left anything out, please leave a comment below.

Discussion

He was created as one half of a whole. Harold Johnson suggested Caramon, the fighter, be the twin to Raistlin, the mage, as if they were destined to be one person, but were split apart. This set up a juxtaposition that would echo in every development decision for the character. All except one. They both inherited the disease of addiction. Raistlin would find it in Magic, and Caramon would find it in dwarven spirits after his twin left him. Caramon's whole purpose was to look after his twin. In his absence, nothing could replace him. Not Tika, his wife, not his family, and not his friends. This is the path of the addict. It takes their recognition of their state, and their will to even attempt a change. The irony is that it takes infinitely more strength for an addict to seek help compared to anyone else. They fight with themselves.

Tracy Hickman wrote that, more than any other character, Caramon is the one that changes the most. He has his ascent into light as his twin descends into darkness. This is not to say that outside of his addiction, Caramon was a pure soul, no he was truly a victim of his desires. It took Goldmoon to counciling Tika and Caramon to make him stop pressuring her to have sex with him. And though this may be an extension of his addictive personality, when he led the Army of Fistandantilus, he turned from his wife Tika, and tried his best to lean into the arms of Crysania. It was her love of Raistlin that prevented him from turning his back on his vows! Caramon is not in control of himself, and what’s more disturbing is that he doesn’t seem to want to be. 

There are moments when his purpose is laser focused, but these are fleeting. When he wanted to travel back in time to murder his twin and was enslaved in the gladiator pits of Istar, he was awoken with purpose and direction. When he saw the future his brother would create, he faced the Abyss and his twin who scorned him to stop it. He was a devoted friend, and when he learned of his sister Kitiara and friend Sturm’s son from Sara Dunstan, he knew he had to try and help. Caramon would eventually master his passions and find as close to a sense of peace as possible with his wife Tika, and in his children, but there was always a hole inside of him, left by the loss of his twin, Raistlin. But let's take a birdseye look at Caramon’s life, because it was truly an interesting one! 

Caramon was a twin son of Gilon and Rosamun Majere. Half sister to Kitiara Uth Matar.