secretly, by Marshal Alexius Medan, the leader of the Knights of Neraka who were stationed there, but Laurana, although she respected the Marshall, first as a honorable enemy and eventually as a friend, remained true to the memory of Tanis. Medan was assassinated by an Elven servant of Laurana's (to avenge the death of the servant's brother) immediately prior to the ultimate battle with the dragon Beryl who had decided to destroy the Qualinesti. During the final battle against Beryl, Laurana defeated the monstrous dragon, but at the expense of her own life. She did manage to buy enough time for the Qualinesti elves to escape the city via tunnels and, in doing so, paid back the debt that she owed to the fallen Sturm Brightblade. Character controversy The character of Laurana caused the first real argument between authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman when writing the Chronicles. Weis maintained that Laurana would not abandon her responsibilities as the Golden General to go save her fickle lover while Hickman believed Laurana would choose love over duty. As the plot required Laurana to be captured to set up the end of the story, Weis finally gave in. Reception Lauren Davis of io9 called Laurana a "spoiled elven princess", but commented on the "wonderful female characters" in the series, singling out what she considered two of the strongest: "Kitiara Uth Matar and the princess Laurana, are rivals for the heart of Tanis Half-Elven, but their status as romantic rivals isn't what makes them compelling characters. I'll admit that reading the books as a pre-teen, I admired Kitiara, who was sexy and manipulative (and attracted some of the most powerful male characters in the books), but also respected as a military leader and seen as a peer by a mighty dragon. Laurana, however, gets the more significant arc, after starting out as a lovelorn girl with a romantic view of the world. As she is thrust into war-torn Ansalon, however, Laurana proves herself a competent fighter and military leader in her own right, one who watches friends die, who sees herself shunned by her family, but who marches on tirelessly to protect Krynn from the forces of Takhisis. As seductive as Kitiara is, as a young girl I was inspired watching the growth of Laurana." In the Io9 series revisiting older Dungeons & Dragons novels, Rob Bricken commented that "The character best served