Wars of Light and Shadow

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The Wars of Light and Shadow is a series of fantasy books by Janny Wurts. When completed it will consist of five story arcs, with the first two arcs complete and the last book of the third arc, Stormed Fortress currently underway.

Contents

[edit] Background of the Series

Working as a writer and a painter, Janny Wurts' work on her Wars of Light and Shadow is realizing her ambition of describing and illustrating a world born in her imagination. Her research included experiencing some of the work of her characters, adding a gritty realism to her novels. She included a magic system in which she strives for a continuity and logic that spans the entire series.

The idea for the Wars of Light and Shadow originated while researching tactics and weapons. A documentary film on the brutal Battle of Culloden Moor gave her the historical sense of the fighting stripped of any romantic patina. It also helped her realize that education, written history and entertainment serve to justify the actions of the winners and portray the losers as morally wrong and evil. The series attempts to portray the fictional conflict of Lysaer and Arithon in sympathetic terms, illustrating each side with equal pathos. The story tracks the martial, political and personal conflicts of the characters, and the different tactics used by each - a mass following in one case, and a solitary wandering in the other. Wurts narrates each character from their own perspectives, leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions about the morality of individual actions[1].

[edit] Arcs

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Plot Overview

[edit] Characters and Organizations

[edit] Old Bloodlines

The chosen bloodlines of humans that ruled Athera in the early Third Age. Their rule was toppled by the rebellion incited by Davien the Betrayer in 5018. Their descendants hold out to this day as barbarians, living in forests where they are chased by the towns' headhunters.

  • s'Ahelas -- Family name for the royal line appointed by the Fellowship Sorcerers in Third Age Year One to rule the High Kingdom of Shand. The half-brothers Arithon s'Ffalenn and Lysaer s'Ilessid are borne by the same s'Ahelas mother. Gifted geas: farsight.
  • s'Brydion -- Ruling line of the Dukes of Alestron. The only old blood clansmen to maintain rule of a fortified city through the uprising that defeated the rule of the high kings. In the Ships of Merrior book, they seem to have developed gunpowder, but the Fellowship intervenes to erase both their knowledge and memory of even having it, maintaining it would be too powerful a force. Bransian s'Brydion is the current Duke of Alestron, with Sevrand s'Brydion his heir designate.
  • s'Callient -- Lineage of the caithdeinen of Melhalla, Fellowship chosen to succeed s'Dieneval after the fall of Tirans.
  • s'Dieneval -- Lost lineage of the caithdeinen of Melhalla, the last to carry the title being Egan, who died at the side of his high king in the battle to subdue the Mistwraith. The bloodline carried strong talent for prophecy, and was decimated during the sack of Tirans in the uprising in Third Age Year 5018, with Egan's pregnant wife the sole survivor. Her daughter, Meiglin was mother of Dari s'Ahelas, crown heir of Shand.
  • s'Ellestrion -- Lineage of the High Kings of Melhalla, died out in the course of the uprising in Third Age Year 5018. Gifted geas: wisdom.
  • s'Ffalenn -- Family name for the royal line appointed by the Fellowship Sorcerers in Third Age Year One to rule the High Kingdom of Rathain. Arithon s'Ffalenn is the only surviving heir. Gifted geas: compassion/empathy.
  • s'Gannley -- Lineage of the Earls of the West, once the Camris princes, now bearing the heritage of caithdein of Tysan. Iamine s'Gannley was the woman founder. In Traitor's Knot, Sulfin Evend, son of the Mayor of Hanshire and Alliance Lord Commander under Lysaer s'Ilessid, is sworn to the land as caithdein of Tysan. He was heir to the title through Diarin s'Gannley, forced to marry into the Mayor's line after being abducted.
  • s'Ilessid -- Family name for the royal line appointed by the Fellowship Sorcerers in Third Age Year One to rule the High Kingdom of Tysan. Lysaer s'Ilessid and his son Kevor, begotten by Princess Ellaine, his second wife, are the only known remaining heirs. Gifted geas: justice.
  • s'Lornmein -- Family name for the royal line appointed by the Fellowship Sorcerers in Third Age Year One to rule the High Kingdom of Havish. The only Kingdom to currently be reinstated, under the rule of Eldir s'Lornmein, crowned at Ostermere in Third Age 5643 following the defeat of the Mistwraith. Gifted geas: temperance.
  • s'Taleyn -- Lineage of the caithdeinen of Shand.
  • s'Valerient -- Family name for the Earls of the North, regents and caithdein for the High Kings of Rathain.

[edit] Main Characters

  • Arithon s'Ffalenn -- One of the protagonists of the series, Arithon is private, reclusive and resists closeness from most people as a result of his gifted geas of empathy. Trained in magecraft, he is also the Masterbard of Athera, and the last scion of the s'Ffalenn bloodline. Due to a personality-twisting curse placed upon him by the Mistwraith, he is bound in enmity with his half-brother Lysaer that rouses him to homicidal rage whenever the two are within proximity of each other. He also possesses the gift of elemental shadow, allowing him to create darkness, extreme cold and shaped illusion on a scale limited only by will and imagination. Like Lysaer, Arithon's lifespan and youth were magically extended by five hundred years.
  • Lysaer s'Ilessid -- The second protagonist of the series, Lysaer is Arithon's opposite - charming, warm and inspiring. His gifted geas is justice, forcing him to pursue his version of justice against all odds. It is this trait that the Mistwraith perverted through the curse placed on Lysaer and his half-brother. Lysaer commands the collection of towns and guilds across much of the continent through his charisma and leadership, and has formed a religion based on the opposition of darkness, personified in his brother Arithon. Lysaer's gift is of elemental light, allowing him to create intense heat and light on a similarly grand scale. Lysaer's life has been lengthened by five hundred years after drinking from Davien's Five Centuries Fountain.
  • Dakar the Mad Prophet -- Initially in the series, Dakar was a inveterate drunk, who befriended Lysaer and was suspicious of Arithon. As the series progresses, he becomes aware of the curse that binds Lysander and Arithon to enmity and comes to respect and work with Arithon to undo the curse and bring back the Paravians. Dakar has the gift of prophecy, in which he fortells a conditional future while in a trance. The trances are extremely unpleasant and Dakar's drunkenness at the start of the series was actually an effort to prevent himself from having to endure them. His most notable fortelling was the Black Rose prophecy, in which he states that the Paravians return when Arithon willingly sits upon the throne of his birthright.
  • Elaira -- Elaira is a member of the Koriathain Order and is also Arithon's soulmate. The strictures of the Order mean that she and Arithon are unable to consummate their relationship, nor can she leave the Order unless released. Her relationship to Arithon is frequently used by the Koriathain to Arithon's detriment.
  • Fion Areth Caid'An -- The son of a sheepherd, Fion Areth was magically altered to resemble Arithon by Lirenda shortly after his birth. He was then used to draw Arithon into the open by falsely accusing him of being Arithon and threatening to have him killed in his place. He is of uncertain loyalty to Arithon, originally attempting to enroll in Lysaer's army that seeks to hunt and kill Arithon.
  • Sulfin Evend -- Lysaer's second-in-command, Sulfin Evend descends from the persecuted Clan bloodlines that originally ruled Athera. Kidnapped as a child, he was raised in the towns and joined Lysaer's army. Saved from death within sorcerous wardings in Lysaer's presence, he is Lysaer's most dedicated follower and only friend.
  • Kevor -- Lysaer's mortal son through his second marriage to the daughter of the Mayor of Erdane. Kevor was believed killed by the dragon-like Khadrim, but in fact was rescued and healed by Ath's adepts, later joining the order himself.
  • Jieret s'Valerient -- Arithon's caithdein (senschal), Jieret has known Arithon since childhood and has acted numerous times to save his life.
  • Lirenda -- A member of the Koriathain Order, Lirenda hates Arithon and has designed numerous traps to snare him for use by the Order. Originally the second-in-command of the Koriathain and groomed for a leadership role, she has since fallen from grace and is trying to re-establish her position.
  • Morriel -- The ruler of the Koriathain Order, Morriel is close to the end of an already unnaturally long life. Physically weak but capable of powerful magic, she acts in what she believes to be the best interests of the humans living on Athera, to the detriment of the planet itself.
  • Selidie -- Selidie is a potential successor for Morriel's position at the head of the Koriathain Order. She has great magical potential, but is actually quite stupid. Selidie replaced Lirenda after a failed attempt to capture Arithon resulted in Lirenda's demotion.

[edit] The Mistwraith

The Mistwraith is a malicious entity of pure spirit that gained entry to Athera through the southern Worldsend gate. Originally it was embodied in a world-shrouding fog that covered the entire planet. The combined elemental talents of Arithon and Lysaer stripped it of its mist-shell, after which it was trapped by Asandir.

[edit] Fellowship of Seven

Sorcerers bound to Athera by the summoning dream of the dragons and charged to secure the mysteries that enable Paravian survival. Achieved their redemption from Cianor Sunlord, under the Law of the Major Balance in Second Age Year One. Originators and keepers of the covenant of the compact, made with the Paravian races, to allow Mankind's settlement on Athera in Third Age Year One. Their authority backs charter law, upheld by crown justice and clan oversight of the free wilds.

Their headquarters of sorts are in Althain Tower.

They are aided by the apprentice to Asandir, Dakar the Mad Prophet; and the master spellbinder Verrain, trained by Luhaine.

Members

  • Asandir -- His secondary name is Kingmaker since his hand crowned every High King of Men to rule in the Age of Men (Third Age). After the Mistwraith's conquest, he acted as field agent for the Fellowship's doings across the continent. Also called the Fiend-quencher, for his reputation for quelling iyats; Storm-breaker and Change-bringer for his past actions when Men first arrived upon Athera.
  • Ciladis the Lost -- He is the greatest healer among the Fellowship. He left the continent in Third Age 5462 in search of the Paravian races after their disappearance following the rebellion.
  • Davien the Betrayer -- He was responsible for provoking the great uprising in Third Age Year 5018, that resulted in the fall of the high kings after Desh-thiere's conquest. Rendered discorporate by the Fellowship's judgement in Third Age 5129. Exiled since, by personal choice. Davien's works included the Five Centuries Fountain near Mearth on the splinter world of the Red Desert through West Gate; the shaft at Rockfell Peak, used by the Sorcerers to imprison harmful entities; the Stair on Rockfell Peak; and also, Kewar Tunnel in the Mathorn Mountains. In Traitor's Knot it was revealed that Davien had found a way to regain a physical body.
  • Kharadmon -- He has been discorporate since the rise of Khadrim and Seardluin leveled Paravian stronghold at Ithamon in Second Age 3651. It was by Kharadmon's intervention that the survivors of the attack were sent to safety by means of transfer from the fifth lane power focus.
  • Luhaine -- He has been discorporate since the fall of Telmandir in Third Age Year 5018. Luhaine's body was pulled down by the mob while he was in ward trance, covering the escape of the royal heir of Havish.
  • Sethvir -- He has been The Warden of Althain Tower since Third Age 5100, when the last centaur guardian departed after the Mistwraith's conquest.
  • Traithe -- He is solely responsible for the closing of South Gate to deny further entry to the Mistwraith. Traithe lost most of his faculties in the process and was left with a limp. Since it is not known whether he can make the transfer into discorporate existence with his powers impaired, he has retained his physical body.

[edit] Koriathain Order

[edit] Paravian Races

  • Athlien Paravians -- aka Sunchildren.
  • Ilitharis Paravians -- centaurs
  • Riathan Paravians -- unicorns

[edit] Other Notable Characters

  • Barach s'Valerient - current Earl of the North, son of Jieret, brother of Jeynsa.
  • Braggen -- Companion (one of the 14 survivors of Tal Quorin), who accompanied Arithon on his flight to Davien's Kewar Tunnel in Peril's Gate
  • Caolle -- former war captain of the clans of Deshir. Raised both Steiven s'Valerient and Jieret s'Valerient to fulfil the role of cathdein of Rathain.
  • Cerebeld -- Lysaer's High Priest of the Light
  • Eldir s'Lornmein -- High King of Havish. Raised as a wool dyer until restored to his kingdom by the fellowship in Third Age 5643.
  • Ellaine -- Second wife of Lysaer, mother of Kevor. Daughter of the Mayor of Erdane.
  • Enithen Tuer -- former Koriani. Resident of Erdane and ally of the Fellowship sorcerers.
  • Erlien s'Taleyn -- cathdein of Shand
  • Feylind -- daughter of Jinesse. Friend of Arithon since her childhood in Merior. Currently captain of the Evenstar.
  • Fiark -- Feylind's twin. Son of Jinesse. Currently working as a trade factor in Innish, who passes information on to Arithon.
  • Jeynsa s'Valerient -- cathdein of Rathain since Jieret's death.
  • Kyrialt s'Taleyn -- son of Erlien.
  • Machiel -- cathdein of Havish.
  • Maenelle s'Gannley -- former cathdein of Tysan. Executed by Lysaer for passing stolen goods to Arithon.
  • Steiven s'Valerient -- former cathdein of Rathain. Father of Jeiret. Died in the Ettaran attack on Strakewood Forest.
  • Talith -- First wife of Lysaer, sister of Diegan. Native of Etarra.
  • Verrain -- spellbinder. Warden of Mirthlvain swamps.

[edit] Locations of Note

  • Alestron -- home of the s'Brydion family. One of the few cities not to fall in the uprising against the clans after the invasion of Desh-thiere.
  • Althain Tower -- build in the second age by the paravians, Althain tower houses many records and artifacts from Athera's history, and is the current home of Sethvir of the Fellowship.
  • Araethura -- an expanse of grasslands within Rathain.
  • Athir -- East coast ruin, site of Arithon's blood-oath to survive made with Asandir.
  • Avenor -- Second age capital of Tysan, restored to habitation by Lysaer.
  • Caithwood -- Tysan woodland.
  • Dier Kenton Vale -- Approach to cliffs in Vastmark. Site of confrontation between Lysaer and Arithon which resulted in 30,000 deaths due to a landslide
  • Erdane -- significant city in Tysan
  • Etarra -- city in Rathain.
  • Halwythwood -- woodland in Rathain.
  • Hanshire -- notable port town in Tysan - formerly the centre of sea trade for Avenor - home town of Sulfin Evand.
  • Havish -- neutral realm under the rule of King Eldir
  • Innish -- southern port town of Shand.
  • Instrell Bay -- body of water between Tysan and Rathain.
  • Ithamon -- former capital of Rathain, site of the defeat of the Mistwraith.
  • Jaelot -- formerly a second-age town, currently occupied by townsmen with a reputation for bad taste and bad manners.
  • Kewar Tunnel -- Davien's construction beneath the Mathorn mountains.
  • Marak -- The world beyond the South gate, which has been overrun by the Mistwraith.
  • Melhalla -- another kingdom of Paravia
  • Merior by the sea -- isolated fishing village on the Scimlade peninsula in Shand, and one-time refuge of Arithon.
  • Methisle -- site of a keep where Verrain keeps watch on the Mirthlvain swamps
  • Mirthlvain Swamp -- marshy region of Melhalla, reknown for breeding poisonous snakes.
  • Rathain -- kingdom of Paravia
  • Riverton -- port town in Tysan, site of Lysaer's ship building.
  • Rockfell Peak -- large mountain where the Mistwraith is imprisoned under three rings of Fellowship wards.
  • Shand -- one of the kingdoms of Paravia
  • Spire --
  • Tal Quorin -- confluence of rivers where the first traps were set by the Deshirans to repel the invasion from Etarra under Lysaer.
  • Telmandir -- former capital of Havish, now restored by King Eldir.
  • Tysan -- kingdom of Paravia
  • Vastmark -- isolated region of Shand, inhabited by shepherds, notorious for forbidding peaks and landslides.
Spoilers end here.

[edit] References

  1. ↑  Taken from Janny Wurt's biography in the back of 'Traitor's Knot'. Wurts, J. (2005). 'Traitor's Knot'. Meisha Merlin Publishing, Inc., Decatur, GA.
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