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Beyond the Great Mountains and west of the Afridhi of Mystara, the Empire of Izmir is ruled over the Archmagus Profion. He commands a council of mages to oppress the common folk of Izmer and use the Crimson Brigade to keep the people in line. Meanwhile, the Izmir Rebellion grows underneath Profion, forcing him to seek the Rod of Savrille. Legends say the Rod allows its wielder to control the minds of dragons. With the Rod, he can use the dragons to finally wipe out the Rebellion and assert his dominance over Izmer and lands beyond. He needs the Eye of the Dragon, a ruby that opens the door to Savrille's Crypt in order to do so, however.

Meanwhile, in the capital of Sumdall, young Ridley Freeborn rides up to a patrolling squad of the Crimson Brigade, wanting to join their ranks. The Brigade laughs at the youth, who draws his sword, shouting challenges to the knights. This action causes Captain Damodar, who was sitting silently on his horse watching the boy, to dismount and calmly accept his challenge. Ridley is thrashed by Damodar and told to flee. He does so, defeated and angered. Ridley is then met by his childhood friend, Moriah, who teases him for his failure but suggests they can get back at them by stealing Damodar's sword from the tower that night.

That night, the pair make their way into the tower and almost manage to steal Damodar's sword, but end up getting captured and brought to Profion. Profion, impressed by how close they had gotten, agrees to allow the the two to go free if they travel with his apprentice, Marina Pretensa, to find and bring him the Eye of the Dragon. He leaves the three with a map to the Crypt and a rumor that the Eye was last believed to be in Antius. The trio set off for Antius, followed by a pair in brown cloaks. The three make it to Antius, where Moriah leads them to the thieves' guild, where the leader Xilus waits. They tell him about their quest for the Eye, Xilus agree if Moriah can defeat his maze. Moriah clears the maze and claims the Eye, only for it to turn out that Xilus double-crossed them and sold them out to Damodar. Marina manages to use her magic to prevent Ridley and Moriah's capture, but gets taken in the process.

Ridley and Moriah escape thanks to Marina and help from the two cloaked figures who were following them. The two lead our heroes to a secret underground hideout, revealing themselves as members of the Izmir Rebellion; Norda, a ranger in service of the deposed Empress Savina, and Elwood Gutworthy, a disgraced Dwarven warrior who seeks to reclaim his honor. The two are brought to Empress Savina and are tasked with recovering the map and finding Savrille's Crypt. The Rebellion hopes to tip the balance of power against Profion by wielding dragons. They agree on the condition they can also save Marina. Savina agrees, sending Norda, Elwood and the Elven cleric Halvarth with them on their quest. Between this we have time to develop each character and build a small rapport between Ridley and Halvarth, who was himself a warrior before becoming a healer.

The party attack the castle, Elwood and Norda taking out the forces on the ground while Ridley and Halvart move to rescue Marina, Moriah stealing the map. During the raid on the castle, Damodar fights Ridley and Halvart, gravely wounding Halvarth and slicing Ridley's face, leaving a scar. The party manage to escape with the map and the Eye, but Halvarth dies on the return trip, using the last of his power to heal the wound on Ridley's face. Ridley shoulders the blame of Halvarth's death, having rushed to fight Damodar in spit of the healer's warnings. He is talked into continuing the journey so Halvarth's sacrifice was not in vain.

The party soon makes it to Savrille's Crypt, fighting through traps and proving themselves worthy to the ghost of Savrille. As they are leaving, they are met by the full power of the Crimson Brigade and arrested. Damodar taking the Rod to bring back to Profion. As the film hits the final climactic battle, our heroes are tied to stakes to be executed by burning. However, the people fight back and the heroes begin their second wind while Profion summons forth an army of dragons (a careful mix of CGI and practical effects to make possible, as seen from the previous Zelda films) with the major fights being Ridley vs. Damodar while Marina faces her her former mentor. Ridley manages to best and kill Damodar while Marina takes the Rod and commands a dragon to eat Profion.

Time passes and Savina is restored to her position as Empress, appointing Norda and Elwood to her council as Elven and Dwarven representatives, Marina as the Archmagus and knights Ridley as a member of the Crimson Brigade. Moriah opts instead for a large sack of gold as her reward for her efforts, offering the remaining party drinks on her at the tavern to celebrate their victory. As the heroes head for the tavern, Ridley stops by Halvarth's grave, briefly seeing his ghost before turning back and joining the party.

So, this film was a big hit for the holiday season, making ten times its OTL take on over twice its OTL budget. The film was met with a lot of derision during its promotion due to the choice director, its niche source material, its choice of actors, the competition it was up against and its long time in production hell (Solomon had been pushing for almost a decade to get it made.) However, in spite of all of that, the film managed to be successful and continued the renaissance of fantasy films started by Zelda and finally freed Tobey Maguire from his cursed status as "DiCaprio's less successful friend." It also resulted in larger public interest in Dungeons & Dragons, boosting sales for 3rd edition and resulting in modules based on the film and set in the Empire of Izmir.