Power of Three

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**Title** **Power of Three**
Cover from the American edition.
Author	Diana Wynne Jones
Country	Great Britain
Language	English
Genre(s)	Fantasy, Children's novel
Publisher	Harper Collins
Released	1976
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)

Power of Three is a 1976 fantasy children's novel by Diana Wynne Jones. The novel, a bildungsroman for the adolescent character Gair, discusses the relationship among three different races in a manner that can be read as a parable of race relations in humans.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Characters:

Three different species live on the Moor:

Lymen live in cities inside huge, hollow mounds. They fear the Giants and are at war with the Dorig. They operate their magic/technology with Words. They are warlike and like hunting, but they usually will not kill unless they have to. A few have special attributes called Gifts which enable them to use a special magical skill (i.e. see the future). Their clothes are the color of the Moor, so they can camouflage with the long grasses, shadows, and trees. They look like humans, but are a little smaller, thinner, and have almond-shaped eyes which are the same colour as a human's.
Dorig live in halls under water. They have airlocks and working pumps. They, too, fear the Giants and they are at war with the Lymen. The Dorig have only the barest minimum of knowledge about Words and do not seem to have Gifts, but can shift shape. They are rather peaceful, but are not reluctant to kill. Their real clothes are soft, and made of fish-skins that are prepared to shift shape along with the Dorig that is wearing them. When Dorig come to the surface, they don a hard, scaly armour that covers them head to foot and also shifts shape along with them. They are as tall as humans, very pale with a greenish tinge to their skin, and have large, yellow eyes. Their accent has a lilting sound, and they trail their s's.
Giants are humans. They have machines that work by themselves, great big pieces of metal that smell bad and take them where they want, great strength, loud voices, boxes that release sound, and objects which they use to fire stone-like round things that can hurt or kill. The Lymen and the Dorig fear them, but the humans are unaware of the Lymen and Dorig. They wear clothes with many colours and much decoration that fasten in "mysterious ways" (zippers), even though they use buttons, like Lymen, sometimes.

The main characters of this book are three Lymen siblings: Ayna, Ceri and Gair. Both Ayna and Ceri are blessed with "Gifts". Anya can tell the future, and Ceri can find anything that has been lost. Gair is without a Gift, and thinks of himself as the ordinary one.

Other Characters:

Adara - Mother of Ayna, Ceri and Gair. She is said to be very wise and beautiful.

Gest - Father of Ayna, Ceri and Gair. He is cheif of Garholt, which is the biggest mound. He is often called a Hero, and is known for being charismatic and unique. He mysteriously completed three tasks to win Adara's hand in marriage.

Orban - Adara's brother; uncle to Ayna, Ceri and Gair. He is cheif of the Otmound mound.

Ondo - Orban's son and cousin to Ayna, Ceri and Gair. The three kids hate him for being an obnoxious bully. His distinguishing feature are ears that stick out like a sheep's.

Kasta - Orban's wife, and the spoiling mother of Ondo. Known for having a voice like a duck's.

Gerald - A giant that tries to help the threesome. He and Gair are particularily good friends, because they can relate. They are both rather lonley and meloncholy.

Brenda - Another, very fat, giant. She and Gerald are fighting when the threesome first meet them.

Hafny - A dorig that Anya, Ceri and Gair befriend. He is much more open-minded than most dorigs, and occupies roughly the same place in dorig society as Gair does in laymen society.

Halla - Hafny's sister.

Plot Summary

The book starts with Orban and Adara when they were kids. They come across a dorig, and Orban decides to steal its collar. When the dorig curses the collar, Adara tries to tell Orban to let it go. Orban kills the dorig and takes its collar anyway.

The next story it relates is the one where Gest won Adara's hand in marriage. He completes three seemingly impossible tasks and whisks her away to Garholt.

Anya and Ceri discover their gifts at a young age, making Gair feel like an outcast from youth. He often sits alone at a windowsill, thinking about how he can become less ordinary.

When Gair is about twelve, dorig start attacking the mounds more, and completely flood out the Otmound mound. The Otmounders move into Garholt, and Gair is forced to share a room with Ondo.

And I will finish this later...