First introduced in the early chapters of Dragons of Winter Night (1985), Alhana Starbreeze is the princess of Silvaensti, daughter of Lorac Caladon, the Speaker of the Stars. Alhana joins the companions while trying to recruit mercenaries in the city of Tarsis. Travelling clandestinely, she reveals herself to Sturm Brightblade, who becomes the first human to look at her face, establishing a bond between both characters that would last until the end of the novel.

After the War of the Lance she married Porthios Kanan in an attempt to reunite the elven lands of Qualinesti and Silvanesti. However, a plot hatched by an elven senator resulted in the casting out of her and her husband, Porthios, and labeled as dark elves.

During her exile, she gave birth to Silvanoshei Caladon, rightful heir of the combined Elven Nations, but as she was termed a dark elf, he could not rule the two kingdoms.

According to Tracy Hickman, the introduction of this character helped him and Margaret Weis to split the group of heroes (at that point in the storyline consisting of 14 members) in two smaller and more manageable groups. It also marked the definitely split between the novels and the game modules. From this point on, the Dragonlance series began following the storyline set by the novels instead of the one stated in the game modules.