Shakespeare Reference in Dragonlance Saga Heroes Volume One: The Legend Of Huma

Shakespeare references pop up everywhere, even in Dungeons & Dragons novels. Richard A. Knaak’s Dragonlance Saga Heroes Volume One: The Legend Of Huma contains a reference to The Tempest. Knaak writes, “Then, to top it all off, you supposedly vanish into thin air like Paladine himself” (p. 289). Actually, that line refers both to Othello and The Tempest. In Act III scene i of Othello, the Clown says, “Go, vanish into air, away!” That’s the first use of the phrase “vanish into air.” And in Act IV scene i of The Tempest, Prospero says, “These our actors,/As I foretold you, were all spirits and/Are melted into air, into thin air.” That’s the first use of the phrase “thin air.” Knaak uses the phrase again a little later in the book, writing “Galan Dracos pulled his hood forward again and summoned a pale, bone-colored staff from thin air” (p. 352).

Dragonlance Saga Heroes Volume One: The Legend Of Huma was published in 1988.