The Pendragon Adventure

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Pendragon is the name of a series of fantasy novels by D.J. MacHale. They mainly follow the adventures of Bobby Pendragon, but also a continuing sub-plot of Bobby's friends Mark Dimond and Courtney Chetwynde. The first book, The Merchant of Death, was originally published in 2002 by Aladdin Paperbacks. The series currently has seven books out including The Merchant of Death, The Lost City of Faar, The Never War, The Reality Bug, Black Water, The Rivers of Zadaa, and The Quillan Games. The title for the eighth book was recently announced as "The Pilgrims of Rayne", after D.J. McHale said the title printed in The Quillan Games (Pendragon The Great) no longer fit. D.J. posted on his official forums that the book will come out May 22nd of next year. The series is planned to last 10 books, each of which switch from a first-person perspective of Bobby's journals to a narrative of Mark and Courtney's lives.

Contents

[edit] Series plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story begins in the first book in the series, The Merchant of Death. Bobby Pendragon is living a normal life in Stony Brook, Connecticut, where he is the star of Stony Brook Middle School's basketball team. But when he turns fourteen, his uncle, Press Tilton, takes him to an abandoned subway station where he and Bobby travel through a portal through space and time called a flume. Bobby soon finds himself in a different territory — presumably a different version of history — Denduron, which is on the brink of a civil war. There Bobby discovers he was chosen to be a Traveler, a defender of the universe from Saint Dane, an evil villain who wishes to tip all of Halla (all of the territories, all the people, everything) into chaos so he can remold it however he wishes to. To save it, Bobby must rescue all ten territories from destruction. So far, Bobby has travelled to Denduron, Cloral, First Earth (Earth in the year 1937),Veelox, Eelong, Zadaa, and Quillan, each time trying to keep Saint Dane from destroying the territory. They have been successful in all but Veelox and Quillan. He has also been to Third Earth (Earth in the year 5010) but this was merely for information and not to stop Saint Dane.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Travelers

The Travelers are a group of people with incredible wit and talent and are usually unique to their own territory. This group believes in a natural fate-like theory that gives them the motto "This is the way it was meant to be." It is unknown who chooses whom to become a Traveler, and so far it has only been determined that they are born and raised for the purpose of being a Traveler. For example, when Bobby was younger, his uncle took him on expeditions and otherwise to prepare him for some of the things he would have to do as a Traveler. When a Traveler finds out his destiny, all traces of that person's existence disappear, including their families, except in the memories of those who knew that person. It is unknown as of yet where the families of Travelers go, but they are reassured that they will see them again. This is coupled with the fact that none of the Travelers are raised by their biological parents, adding to the illusion of nonexistence. There should be only one Traveler from each territory, and at the time when there are two Travelers, the elder of the two will soon die. The previous Traveler, however, is allowed a certain amount of time to train the new Traveler in ways of judgment and responsibility. The purpose of the Travelers is to save Halla from Saint Dane, who is also a Traveler. The Travelers have apparently been around for a very long time, but if this were always the case it would make Saint Dane ancient. Every Traveler has special abilities. They can influence people's thinking through simple persuasion, perceive emotions, hear all speech (and see all writing) as their own tongue, recover from injuries that would kill any normal person, and bring one another back to life, just by willing them to come back.

In The Quillan Games, Saint Dane claims that the Travelers are not physical, corporeal beings, but illusions, and that is how they are able to use their "powers"; ergo, how Saint Dane and Nevva are able to change form, and how the Travelers are able to use the flumes. While Bobby does not fully accept this, it does answer many questions raised by fans of the series.

See more information on the Travelers in the list of characters.

[edit] The Acolytes

Acolytes are men and women who help the travelers. The Acolytes use their knowledge of Halla to help the travelers defeat Saint Dane. They supply the Travelers with information and supplies, such as transportation and clothing. They cannot travel between territories. However, they each receive a ring (pictured here [1]) through which they can receive things from the travelers, and send things to other acolytes. There is one acolyte per territory, but Second Earth, Bobby's territory, has two: Mark Dimond and Courtney Chetwynde, Bobby's best friends. When there is a new Acolyte, the old Acolyte does not die; for instance, Tom Dorney, the previous acolyte from Second Earth, remained alive when Mark and Courtney became the acolytes. On Cloral, Vo Spader's acolyte is Wu Yenza, his superintendent. On Veelox, Aja's acolyte is Evangeline, her adopted aunt. On Eelong, Kasha's acolyte was her friend Boon. On Zadaa, Loor's acolyte is Saangi, her little sister. On Denduron, Alder's acolyte is a Milago woman whose husband died in a Transfer ceremony.

It is unknown whether Gunny, Patrick, and Remudi have (or in Remudi's case had) acolytes, or even know what acolytes are, as the series has never mentioned them.

Nevva does not have an acolyte because she has not had enough time to find one, and believes she works better alone.

[edit] Territories

A realm of space-time, possibly alternate histories for the same planet or planets who evolved in parallel manner. The territory that Bobby Pendragon comes from is called Second Earth. Most of the territories are similar to one another; for example, most have the same kinds of plants, animals, and people in them. Most territories have a normal sun in the sky, with the exceptions of Denduron and Eelong, and the possible exceptions of Quillan and Ibara. Territories are interconnected by flumes, tunnels through space and time.

Territories have no official order; however they are usually listed in the order of the book they appear in: Denduron, Cloral, First Earth, Veelox, Eelong, Zadaa, and Quillan.

Traditionally, only Travelers are allowed to use the flumes; however it is revealed in the fifth book that acolytes can use the flumes, but damage them in doing so, and that anyone can use the flume if they go with a Traveler.

The ten different territories are:

  • Second Earth - The territory where Bobby comes from. Represents Earth in modern times. Mark Dimond and Courtney Chetwynde are Bobby's friends and become his acolytes in the fourth book, The Reality Bug. This territory undergoes a chaotic change in its technology and history at the end of the Quillan Games, presumably due to Mark's assumed intervention in the past (First Earth). The quigs — bloodthirsty guardians of the flumes — of this territory are large dogs.
  • Zadaa - Loor's home territory. Mostly desert, with two civilized tribes: the Rokador and the Batu. The other tribes are uncivilized cannibals. Loor comes from the Batu tribe. Loor's acolyte is her sister, Saangi, also from the Batu tribe. Bobby visits Zadaa in the sixth book, The Rivers of Zadaa. The quigs of this territory are large snakes.
  • First Earth - Earth in the year 1937. A man named Vincent "Gunny" Van Dyke is the Traveler from First Earth. Bobby comes to First Earth in the third book, The Never War.
  • Third Earth - Earth in the year 5010. Now humanity is at peace, pollution has been abolished, and people are colonizing other planets and moons in our solar system. The Traveler from Third Earth is a man named Patrick.
  • Denduron - A territory mostly covered with frozen undiscovered continents, but near the equator are three inhabited continents. One of these continents is where two battling tribes live: the Milago and the Bedoowan. The Milago are forced to hunt for glaze, a type of valuable mineral, and give it to the Bedoowan. The Traveler from Denduron is a Bedoowan knight named Alder. His acolyte is a Milago woman who lost her husband to the Bedoowan in the first book. Bobby and his Uncle Press visit Denduron in the first book, The Merchant of Death. The quigs of this territory are described by Bobby as being reminiscent of prehistoric bears, with a single yellow spike on their bodies.
  • Cloral - A territory completely covered by water. The inhabitants of Cloral live on huge floating cities called habitats, with the exception of the recently re-discovered city of Faar. Each habitat has a job to do. Some habitats make all the machinery for Cloral, and some grow all of the food. An energetic man named Vo Spader is the Traveler from Cloral. Spader's acolyte is his boss, Wu Yenza. Bobby and his Uncle Press come to Cloral in the second book, The Lost City of Faar. The quigs of this territory are sharks.
  • Veelox - A territory with cities similar to those on Earth. Unique to it is Lifelight, a computer program that allows people to live in their own fantasy worlds. Most of the people in Veelox have abandoned their homes and live in their own fantasies. The Traveler from Veelox is a girl named Aja Killian. Her acolyte is her aunt, Evangeline. Bobby visits Veelox in the fourth book, The Reality Bug. The quigs are unknown for this territory. It was the first territory lost to Saint Dane.
  • Eelong - This is probably the territory most unlike Earth. Eelong is covered in tropical jungle. The most civilized creatures there are not human. They are beings called "klees". They look like wild cats, but stand on two legs and have no tail. Humans there are called "gars" and are kept as pets and slaves, or are used for entertainment purposes by the klees. The Traveler from Eelong was Kasha. Bobby visited Eelong in the fifth book, Black Water. The quigs from Eelong are savage gars. The flume in Eelong has been destroyed, and Gunny and Spader are trapped on Eelong because Mark and Courtney traveled through the flumes.
  • Quillan - Quillan is a territory on the verge of destruction. The people have lost control of their own future. The only chance they have of finding a better life is by playing games — games in which game masters Veego and LaBerge use the people of Quillan as pawns in competitions that range from physical battles to impossible obstacle courses to computer-driven tests of agility. To triumph in the games is to live the life of a king. To lose is to die. It was the second territory lost to Saint Dane. The quigs from Quillan are robots that look like spiders.

The order of the territories for the final 3 books is under much speculation, but at the end of The Quillan Games, Bobby and Courtney are going to Third Earth while Saint Dane is headed for Ibara. For this reason, many believe Second Earth will be the final battlefield. Similar suggestions occurred in The Lost City of Faar, wherein Bobby remarks that in the end, the battle will be between Saint Dane and himself.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Main characters

See: The Pendragon Adventure characters

[edit] Travelers

Since the publication of the seventh Pendragon book, we now know the names of at least one Traveler from all ten territories. This is a list of them:

  • Denduron: Alder - A Bedoowan knight. He is very tall and a trained knight. He is quite clumsy but loyal and steadfast, and has large, caring eyes that remind Bobby of a puppy's.
  • Cloral: Vo Spader - Lives on the habitat of Grallion and works as an Aquaneer — a shepherd for incoming craft. He accompanies Bobby on the mission to First Earth and almost ruins the mission because he was blinded by the hate he has for Saint Dane. He also was the cause, by accident, of Bobby's Uncle Press's death. Spader is trapped in the territory of Eelong because the flume there collapsed. His acolyte is Wu Yenza, his boss and chief Aquaneer.
  • First Earth: Vincent "Gunny" Van Dyke- An old African-American man, formerly a soldier in World War One. Bobby first meets Gunny when he first visited First Earth in The Never War. Gunny has also helped Bobby on Eelong and is currently stranded there with Spader since the flume collapsed in the fifth book.
  • Veelox: Aja Killian[2] The lead phader of Lifelight. She lives in a gigantic mansion outside of Lifelight which is owned by Dr. Kree Sever(Saint Dane), who was on a Lifelight jump for over a year. Aja helps Bobby to take on Saint Dane. It is mainly her fault that Veelox was Saint Dane's win because of her invention of the "Reality Bug." Nothing is known from her at the time other than that she stayed on Veelox to fix what had been wronged.
  • Eelong: Kasha - Kasha is a klee (a civilized feline biped), and the Traveler from Eelong. She and her acolyte, Boon, find and save Black Water, a civilization that klees usually dismiss as a gar (human) myth. At the end of Black Water, she was killed by falling rocks as a result of the flume on Eelong crumbling, because Mark and Courtney used the flume. Boon is the acolyte of Eelong after Bobby finds out that Yorn, the original acolyte of Eelong, was Saint Dane in disguise. Seegen is Kasha's father, another klee from Eelong. He was the Traveler from Eelong before he passed it down to Kasha.
  • Zadaa: Loor - Loor is Bobby’s partner in their adventures in Denduron. She’s a very strong warrior, and doesn’t like it when people correct her. Osa is her mother. She always saves Bobby’s life, because her mother always tells her to do so. She likes Bobby, and is "there when a warrior is needed." In the middle of the sixth book, Bobby tells Mark Dimond that he has feelings for Loor, but shows that they cannot be together because they are Travelers; a romance would obstruct their mission. In a desert camp in book six, Alder, Saangi, and Loor help train Bobby to fight so he can better defend himself against Saint Dane after almost being killed by him earlier in the same book. Loor was killed briefly by Saint Dane, but was brought back to life by Bobby. Rumor has it that her destiny had yet to be fulfilled, or that Travelers can resurrect one another at need.
  • Quillan: Nevva Winter - She is the Traveler from Quillan. She seemed to be helping Bobby save Quillan, but she was really helping Saint Dane. She is convinced that Saint Dane will save existence, having given in to despair and hate. At the end of the book she jumps out of a window and is unharmed, which suggests that she has learned how to use Saint Dane's powers. She has decided to become the Ibara Traveler and is headed there since it no longer has a Traveler, and it is no longer safe for her to stay on Quillan. Elli Winter is her mother and is the new Traveller from Quillan since Nevva left with Saint Dane. She was supposed to be the Traveler on Quillan originally, but she could not handle it.
  • Ibara: Remudi - Not much is known about Remudi besides his name, appearance, and that he is the Traveler from Ibara. He was killed in a game on Quillan called "Tato" by Saint Dane disguised as "Challenger Green". Bobby was meant to have watched him die; it was a plot by Saint Dane and his accomplice Nevva Winter, wherein they would convince Bobby to enter the games and discover for them Quillan's hope, which they would then destroy.
  • Third Earth: Patrick - Appeared in The Never War. He is the Traveler from Third Earth. Helped Gunny and Bobby see what would happen to the Earth territories. He works as a librarian. He is suspected to appear again in the next book, The Pilgrims of Rayne.
  • Second Earth: Robert "Bobby" Pendragon - In all books. He is the lead Traveler, and from Second Earth. He was reluctant at first to fufill his task, but motivated later.
  • Saint Dane is considered a Traveler, although it is unknown which territory he is from. According to Saint Dane, to reveal this truth would put him at a disadvantage. He plans something called the "Convergence", which is part of his plan to make all of Halla at his mercy. He is the number one enemy of all Travelers (and Halla itself), and is thusly Bobby's arch nemesis. Saint Daine has the power to shape shift, and passes on this power to Nevva Winter at the end of The Quillan Games. Rumors exist to the effect that he is Bobby's rival in particular, as well as to the effect that he is what Bobby Pendragon could become if he fails in his mission.

[edit] Books in the series

  1. The Merchant of Death
  2. The Lost City of Faar
  3. The Never War
  4. The Reality Bug
  5. Black Water
  6. The Rivers of Zadaa
  7. The Quillan Games
  8. The Pilgrims of Rayne


There is also The Guide to the Territories of Halla (2005) by Victor Lee, D.J. MacHale, and Peter Ferguson.

[edit] Trivia

  • The The Merchant of Death, Black Water, and The Rivers of Zadaa books have class/racial issues as a major theme
  • Many readers have drawn strong links drawn between the villain of the seventh book, the company called Blok, and Wal-Mart, because both have been accused of ill-treating their employees and swallowing up small businesses for their own interests. The name appears to stem from that of a Trade Bloc.
  • All of the territories' Turning Points have something to do with many people dying or widespread destruction:
    • The first book had an impending Milago use of Tak to destroy all of the other tribes on Denduron.
    • The second book had an impending plague and subsequent war that would wipe out Cloran civilization.
    • The third book had the impending threat of Nazi Germany using the atomic bomb first in 1944.
    • The fourth book had the impending threat of the Reality Bug killing everyone in Lifelight.
    • The fifth book had the impending genocide of all the gars, and the consequent poisoning or starvation of the klee.
    • The sixth book had the impending genocide of the Batu, and the consequential follow-up destruction of the Rokador by the cannibal tribes of Zadaa.
    • The seventh book had the impending destruction of Mr. Pop and the history of Quillan; therefore destroying the hope of the Revival and allowing Blok to continue to control the people of Quillan.
  • Gunny is the only Traveler older than 30.
  • Press is the only Traveler of his generation to live to see a Turning Point occur.
  • Saint Dane always has at least two disguises per book, with the possible exception of the fourth. One of his guises is always immediately known (either by being told by him, being told by another character, or exposed by the narrator), while the second or third guise is a hidden guise, and the reader only finds out it is Saint Dane a while later.
  • Saint Dane did not permanently transform after winning Quillan like he did with Veelox, though some assume he will be more demonlike in book eight.
  • Nevva is the first Traveler (not including Saint Dane) to turn evil.
  • There are several mistakes in Black Water where Yorn is referred to as Boon.

[edit] External links


The Pendragon series
 By D.J. MacHale
Books in the Series:
The Merchant of Death · The Lost City of Faar · The Never War · The Reality Bug · Black Water · The Rivers of Zadaa · The Quillan Games · The Pilgrims of Rayne (forthcoming) · The Guide to the Territories of Halla (Companion Book)
Characters:
Bobby Pendragon · Saint Dane · Loor · Alder · Vo Spader · Vincent "Gunny" Van Dyke · Patrick · Aja Killian · Kasha · Remudi · Nevva Winter · Courtney Chetwynde · Mark Dimond
Locations:
Halla · Second Earth · Denduron · Cloral · First Earth · Veelox · Eelong · Zadaa · Quillan · Ibara · Third Earth
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