(by the way, as a personal opinion, I simply despised the way Chaos was portrayed in the Dragons of the Summer Flame
- I just don't think that he was evil or majestic or anything, just a big, mean, stupid brute. I liked the idea, though, and the rest of that book, as well enough of the rant)As for his personality, he's pure evil and insanity. Aside from Azathoth, the drooling idiot god, I cannot think of a better concept of the fact that ultimately evil is simply ugly and foolish.
er... the ambiguity of what happened to Chaos-Ionthas nags at me. If he was reimprisoned where is the Greygem now? If he's not... well then same question.
"Chaos SMASH puny Krynn!"
er... the ambiguity of what happened to Chaos-Ionthas nags at me. If he was reimprisoned where is the Greygem now? If he's not... well then same question.
That's true, we have no clue what's become of the infamous Graygem. Was it left behind when the world was stolen? Did it travel with the world when it was stolen? Did they really even recapture Ionthas/Chaos or is that just what the gods are telling everyone to cover up their incompetence? Or is it in the possession of one of the gods to be used as blackmail against the rest should they try to disrupt his/her plan. A lot of interresting plot ideas on this one.
I'm not so sure Ionthas/Chaos was evil. He was quite insane though, being the embodiment of chaos and all. He was destroying the world for personal gain or to punish the gods or anything like that. He was destorying the world because he didn't think it should been allowed to be created in the first place. He was angry at the gods, Reorx especially for trapping him in the Graygem, but I don't think he was evil, just like the high god isn't good, he's just lawful.
I tend to think destroying the world qualifies as evil. There was a titanically silly book concept where Star Trek the Next Generation crossed over with the X-men, nevertheless it had a good statement that evil and insanity are often two sides of the same coin than precluding one another.
I also think Ionthas isn't Chaos, he just likes to claim he is. Much like Takhasis claiming to be the One God (aka High God).
I tend to think destroying the world qualifies as evil. There was a titanically silly book concept where Star Trek the Next Generation crossed over with the X-men, nevertheless it had a good statement that evil and insanity are often two sides of the same coin than precluding one another.
I also think Ionthas isn't Chaos, he just likes to claim he is. Much like Takhasis claiming to be the One God (aka High God).
Destroying the world could be considered an evil act if it was for a reason. He had no reason other than he didn't think it should have been created in the first place by these upstart godlings.
As to whether or not he's Chaos or not, he is the embodiment of Chaos. He is the flip side to the high god who is merely lawful. Polar opposites another theme of DL. You can't have balance between lawful and chaos without chaos.