The Legend of Huma

The Legend of Huma was the first Dragonlance novel, published in 1988, which did not involve any of the original companions. It tells the story Huma, the man who won of the Third Dragon War and saved the world through the aid of Paladine and the other gods of light.

By the time Legend starts, things are not going well for the Knights of Solamnia or their allies. Takhisis' hordes have overrun most of the world, Solamnia's last strongholds are under siege and there are rumors that the Dark Queen is about to manifest herself in the flesh. It's up to Huma, his friends Kaz the minotaur (who has defected from the Dragonarmies), the mysterious magic-user and childhood friend of Huma Magius and Huma's mysterious lover Gwyneth to save Krynn from total destruction.

It's notable that this book is quite possibly the only source of information you can use to read the history of the Third Dragon War...even the Dragonlance Lexicon Wiki barely mentions it.

Now has a Graphic Novel published in 2006 by Brian Augustyn and Sean Jordan. Sadly, it only covers the events of the novel up to the arrival at Magius' tower.

This novel provides examples of

 * Air Jousting: Oh yes.
 * Artifact of Doom: The Sword of Tears. An elegant sword with an emerald worked into it, it constantly whispers promises of power, happiness and wealth to its user, while slowly corrupting their soul to evil. According to Paladine, it was what corrupted the ogres into a race of cruel tyrants and will be used on the "last day" by the final champion of darkness to lead the charge against the forces of the light when the final apocalyptic battle for Krynn is fought. (It should be noted that this is the only work that has so far mentioned this "Armadgeddon" doomsday that will end Krynn's history)
 * Big Badass Wolf: Direwolves, enormous wolves with their skin flayed off that can talk like humans. Sweet dreams
 * The Chosen One: Subverted in that Huma he wasn't the first to undergo the tests to become Paladine's champion, but he was the first who truly cared about the people of Krynn enough to win them.
 * Captain Oblivious: You'd think that Huma would have picked up on Gwyneth's secret a little bit earlier, given what appears immediately after her Stealth Hi Bye routine.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: (though not by name),  and a young, who serves as Gaelen Dracos' steed.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Most of the wizards in Takhisis'corner of the ring are regegades such as Gaelen Dracos who have rejected the Orders of High Sorcery. There is one mention of a group of Black Robes assisting the forces of darkness, but these wizards were coerced unwillingly. This goes along with Raistlin's claim that most of the Black Robes had realized that Takhisis'darkness would bring their own destruction and assisted in the creation of the Dragon Orbs.
 * The Faceless: Morgion, as his Aspect appear to Huma, is an invisible face in darkness with sinister red eyes beneath a bronze crown.
 * Handicapped Badass:
 * My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Kaz shows the Knights that minotaurs are not Exclusively Evil, though even good virtuous ones like Kaz are still very aggressive at first. According to Kaz, the minotaurs have a warlike culture but are slaves in everything but name to the ogres who are holding their homelands on Ansalon's eastern coast hostage.
 * Near Villain Victory: By the time Legend starts, most of the world has fallen to Takhisis' armies and the regions that haven't have been devastated by the omnipresent cult of Morgion's plagues. Hylo and northern Ergoth fall during the course of the novel and Solamnia is on its last legs, having already lost major territories such as Eldor, Huma's birthplace, nearly a generation ago. Even most of Ansalon's forests have been burned by Takhisis' scorched-earth tactics. If Huma hadn't found the Dragonlance, the war wouldn't have lasted longer, it would have been over.
 * When Astinus writes in the prologue that he was worried that the Third Dragon War would be the event that ended Krynn's history for good, you know you're dealing with a Near Villain Victory.
 * Plaguemaster: Morgion. Subverted in that, while he's most associated with diseases, he's a god of all types of decay. His portfolio includes rust, aging and madness too.
 * Precursors:  It's unclear how he fits into the history the original five chromatic dragons that inhabited primeval Krynn in "Aurora's Eggs" but he may have served as the ëarly "prototype upon which Takhisis later improved upon, given his radically different anatomy.
 * The ogres, which are still around and leading Takhisis' armies but only at a fraction of their once-powerful empire's strength.
 * Physical God:
 * Right Hand Versus Left Hand: Even in the Time of Myths, the forces of good's clerics and mages won't have anything to do with each other, setting up shop on opposite sides of the Solamnic Knights'camp.
 * Sand Worm:  definitely has this vibe going.
 * Shrouded in Myth: Huma, who becomes the subject of many legends, some true and some exaggerated, even while he's alive that bring him a great deal of embarassment because he feels like he's not worthy of them.
 * Someone to Remember Him By: It's not mentioned in this novel, but a story in Dragons of Chaos shows that
 * Vestigial Empire: Ergoth, which can only spare a few thousand soldiers in the war. Rumor has it that the court of the Ergothian Emperor is so posh that he doesn't even know that there's a war going on.
 * Voodoo Shark: Huma realizes right away that Gwyneth, ostensibly a healer in the knights' camp, isn't entirely human. The problem is that he thinks she's part-elven due to her having slightly almond-shaped eyes. Right idea,
 * Younger Than They Look: Huma's age is never given, but he apparently his blond hair turning grey long before it should be.