Truls Rohk

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Truls Rohk is a character from the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara fantasy trilogy by Terry Brooks. He is a shapeshifter from the Eastland who accompanies the Jerle Shannara to Parkasia.

Truls Rohk is a hybrid, half-man, half-spirit creature. His father was a Borderman who learned the paths of the Wolfsktaag and was at home more in the wilderness than in civilization. During a trip in the Wolfsktaag, he encountered Truls Rohk's mother, a shapeshifter who at the time felt the irresistible urge to mate. The Borderman was caught up in her passion, and their forbidden courtship resulted in the birth of Truls Rohk. The shapeshifter told the Borderman to forget them both, her memory of him already fading. In rage, the Borderman killed her, and set out to kill the boy as well. However, after hours of searching, he fell asleep in exhaustion, and Truls Rohk snuck up and cut his throat.

It was only afterwards that Truls realized that he was alone. He could never fit in with humans, and the spirit-creatures rejected him. The giant, misshapen Truls lived alone in the Wolfsktaag, meeting only two beings he might count as friends: the Druid Walker Boh and the Dwarf Panax. He accompanied Walker on several quests, and was responsible for saving Bek Ohmsford.

Years later, Bek and his cousin Quentin Leah came with Panax to Truls Rohk, seeking to inform him of Walker's quest to the land of Parkasia which he wanted Truls to join. Rohk agreed, but did not appear again until Walker summoned him to search for a key on the island of Shatterstone. Rohk found the key, but did not recover it, and warned Walker of a presence he had felt around its hiding place.

Walker called on Truls again, this time to recover the key on the island of Mephitic. Truls then acquired the services of Bek Ohmsford, telling him his story and then teaching him a little of the use of his magic. The two recovered the key, much to Walker's outrage. Truls Rohk later board Black Moclips, the airship under the command of Grianne Ohmsford, the Ilse Witch. He met up with Bek again in Parkasia, and the two attempted to escape the Ilse Witch. However, they found themselves pursued by her Jachyra creature, and during a battle with it, Rohk was mortally wounded. A community of shapeshifters living in Parkasia came to Bek, asking if he would allow them to destroy the human side of Rohk so he could survive and join them. Bek agreed, and Truls Rohk ceased to exist.