Night World

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For the film, see Night World (1932 film).

The term Night World refers to both the title of a series young adult fiction novels by L. J. Smith and the secret society in the series. The series (9 published novels with 1 remaining) takes place in a universe very similar to reality, except that there are many supernatural races or species have secretly existed alongside humanity for thousands of years. These supernatural races, collectively known as the Night World, include vampires, witches, werewolves, and shapeshifters, each of whom have their own histories, society, and relationship with the others. Humans greatly fear Night People and have a history of violence towards them (e.g., witch huntings in the Middle Ages). Because humans far outnumber Night People, the latter are forced to live in secret, despite their (general) attitude that they are superior.

Each novel is a separate story, always involving romance, sometimes involving a mystery or some other conflict. Like all of Smith's works, the story is always told from the perspective of a teenage female. In Night World, this character can be human, vampire, witch, or shapeshifter. Besides taking place in the same universe, all the novels are thematically linked with the concept of the "soulmate." In the Night World, the soulmate principal is an old witch legend. However, at the start of the series (with the main characters in Secret Vampire being the first instance), the soulmate principal seems to be making a return, this time linking humans with Night People, and attributed to forces only known to witches as the "old powers". In the first six books of the series, it appears that the overall message of the series is to be the unifying of humans and Night People with these inter-species couples leading the way towards peace. This seems to change in the seventh novel of the series, Huntress, when a new idea of the impending apocolyse is introduced. At this point, Smith reveals that there is a prophecy stating that the world is about to end unless four "Wild Powers" are found to fight together. Though the soulmate principle continues to be present in the later novels, the plot is now focused on finding the four Wild Powers. The conclusion of the series, Strange Fate has been delayed for several years and is now scheduled for release in summer of 2009.

Contents 1 Overview of species 1.1 Vampires 1.2 Witches 1.3 Werewolves 1.4 Shapeshifters/Dragons 1.5 Old Souls 2 Plot Summary 2.1 Secret Vampire 2.2 Daughters of Darkness 2.3 Spellbinder (UK version titled 'Enchantress') 2.4 Dark Angel 2.5 The Chosen 2.6 Soulmate 2.7 Huntress 2.8 Black Dawn 2.9 Witchlight 2.10 Strange Fate (to be released) 3 Other/Trivia 4 References

[edit] Overview of species

[edit] Vampires

Smith's vampires are fairly different from the traditional concept of vampires. They even differ from vampires in the universe she created in The Vampire Diaries. In Night World, there are two types of vampires: the lamia and the "made vampires".

Lamia (pronounced lay-me-uh) vampires are vampires that were born as vampires. They age and grow as humans do, but also have the ability to stop the aging process. In the Night World, many lamia stop their aging in their late teenage years. However, once a lamia that has stopped aging decides to begin aging again, the aging process will be accelerated so that their physical appearance will match their true age in a short amount of time.

Made vampires are humans that have been made into vampires (via blood exchange with the vampire) by a lamia, as another made vampire cannot change a human. They cannot age as the lamia do.

Both lamia and made vampires have superhuman strength, speed, and agility and can have telepathic powers including visions. Unlike vampires in other fiction, they are not harmed by sunlight and cannot transform into bats. Like in most vampire lore, they need human blood to survive. Smith's explanation is that vampire cells are unable to carry oxygen and therefore, vampires must acquire human blood cells for them to breathe (thus making blood consumption more to do with respiration than nutrition). They are immortal with a vulnerability towards wood. Vampires are also possess an unearthly beauty however, such beauty is attributed to all Night World creatures collectively.

The first vampire in existence, Maya, was originally a witch. Whilst seeking immortality she became the first vampire. She achieved this with powerful magic involving the drinking the blood of infants. Maya bore a son, Red Fern, who is the first of the lamia vampires. All made vampires and lamia vampires however descend from Maya. As Maya is the first vampire in existence she has many abilities her descendents do not (since their vampire blood is diluted), such as shapeshifting. She also retains her ability to perform magic. Despite the fact that the first vampire was a woman, vampires (particularly the lamia) are a very patriarchal society.

Their symbol is the black iris.

[edit] Witches

Witches in Night World are also very different from the traditional view of witches. They are not evil, green, old, or ugly. Witches are the most human-like race of the Night World. There are two types of witches in the Night World. The first kind are the witches that were raised as witches. They know their full heritage and were trained in magic from an early age. The other kind are called "lost witches" and known as psychics or clairvoyants in the human world. They appear to be humans with some measure of psychic or supernatural ability. This is because they are descended from real witches.

The Night World witches are similar to the witches in another universe created by Smith in The Secret Circle. In both, witches are in tune with nature and call upon natural "elements" such as Earth, Air, Water, and Fire to help them perform magic. They both use herbs and crystals or minerals to help focus their powers. Also, witches in both universes use the term "witch" to refer to both males and females. In both books, witches are also a female-dominated or matriarchal society. In fact, the main difference in the witches of these two series is their history, which are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

The history of the Night World witches begins with Hecate, the mother of Hellewise and Maya. Their clan was the Harman clan. When Maya became a vampire, there was a great battle between she and Hellewise, with Hellewise dying in victory. However, this led to a rift between vampires and witches for many centuries. During the Middle Ages, a treaty was made between the witches and vampires. Hunter Redfern, a descendant of Maya's son Red Fern, married a Harman witch called Maeve, linking the leading families of vampires and witches.

In the Night World, black flowers are used a symbols for different races or clubs. The symbol for witches is a black dahlia.

[edit] Werewolves

Because no main characters in any of the novels have been werewolves, less is known about this species than others. In Night World, werewolves (sometimes called 'wolves or just wolves) can transform from human to wolf (and vice versa) at will. In Daughters of Darkness, Rowan describes werewolves as wolves that take human form, rather than the reverse. This means that they have animal instincts and urges, even in human form. This is all contrary to traditional werewolf lore where a werewolf is basically a normal person but undergoes an involuntary transformation. Though it is not stated explicitly, it appears that, like vampires, werewolves can be born as such and also be made (in Daughters of Darkness, Jeremy himself is born as a werewolf and also tries to make Mary-Lynette into one as well.)

Unlike vampires, werewolves must kill every time they feed because they need to consume organs. Thus, Night World law states that werewolves can only kill and eat animals. In the Night World, werewolves are treated as second-class citizens and are the victims of prejudice and racism. As in traditional werewolf lore, Night World werewolves are susceptible to silver.

In the Night World, werewolves can identified by the black foxglove symbol.

[edit] Shapeshifters/Dragons

Shapeshifters make their appearance very late in the series. No main character is a shapeshifter until the ninth book, Witchlight. Before that, only allusions to shapeshifters are made, usually in the context of a Night Person explaining the Night World to a human and listing the Night World species. In Witchlight, the protagonist, Keller, is a shapeshifter. She has the ability to change into the form of a panther at will.

Some history about shapeshifters is given in the novel: Shapeshifters had control of the world long before witches and vampires. Their leaders were known as "Dragons", beings that could change into the form of any animal. (Normally shapeshifters can only change into one pre-determined animal form). The witches rose to power and put the dragons to sleep, except for the smallest one. This one is the ancestor of the ruling house of shapeshifters. The descendants of this dragon have the ability to choose what animal they will become, but this choice is permanent.

In the early books of the series, werewolves and shapeshifters are described as separate groups or races of the Night World. For example, in Daughters of Darkness, Night World is described as being comprised of vampires, "witches and werewolves and shapeshifters, too."^[1] Though never explicitly stated, the later books tend to treat werewolves as a subset of shapeshifters. In Witchlight, when Keller tells the history of shapeshifters, she lists felines, bears, and wolves as groups or clans within the shapeshifter race.^[2] The description of both werewolves and shapeshifters as second-class citizens also supports the notion that werewolves are a subset, or one family, of shapeshifters. However, in Witchlight there is no real mention of Keller feeding or abiding by the rules for werewolves described in Daughters of Darkness.

[edit] Old Souls

The concept of "Old Souls" is introduced in the sixth novel of the series, Soulmate. Old Souls are people who are reincarnated every time they die. They retain some (sometimes subconscious) knowledge of their previous lives. It appears that they generally return to look fairly similar each time they are reincarnated. It is not clear whether Night People can be Old Souls. In the series, the only Old Souls mentioned are all human. However, it is only explicitly stated that vampires cannot be Old Souls. In the sixth novel "SoulMate" the first vampire, Maya mention that humans that are old souls but are turned into vampires can't returned back to Earth or simply say that they can't be reincarnated.

[edit] Plot Summary

[edit] Secret Vampire

Poppy's time in the world is coming to an end...or is it? She has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer for which the prognosis for survival is grim. But there is another world part yet apart from her world of ordinary things. A world which her best friend (whom she secretly loves), James Rasmussen, belongs to. He offers her a very dangerous invitation to life: to join him in the Night World as a made vampire with immortality. The danger is very real, for by even telling her about the Night World, he has broken one of their greatest laws. By offering to make her a vampire he also breaks another law. Lastly he finds he has broken the final and most important law: to never fall in love with a human. Even further complicating things are Poppy's protective brother Phil, and James' fiendish vampire couin Ash. If she accepts his invitation, she will never age and vampire blood will prevent her from ever becoming ill again. But if she accepts, she may not long survive her turning, not with all the Night World legally able to kill them both. But the alternative is also a painful death through cancer, and now she has a chance. Which fate is worse, certain death, or a rugged survival with her soulmate?

[edit] Daughters of Darkness

If you told Mary-Lynnette Carter that there were really such things as vampires and werewolves and that they were all around her, she'd probably just stare blankly at you before returning to her contemplation of the night sky. But it is just that activity that leads her to the truth of it all: that there are vampires and there are werewolves and they are all around her. She is forced upon reality and her 'paranoia' proves all too correct. Blood-tied with a vampire family, and soulmated to a guy she hates, a vampire called Ash, she is stuck in relationships she cannot avoid or terminate. Even Jeremy Lovett, the one person she was ever comfortable with turns out to be a werewolf. One other complication, if Ash doesn't sort out all the troubles the town is having, the ruthless made vampire Quinn is likely to exterminate it.

[edit] Spellbinder (UK version titled 'Enchantress')

Thea Harman's running out of relatives to live with because her cousin Blaise (considered her sister due to witch ties), keeps getting them expelled from different schools. Now she's living in Las Vegas, and she hopes that living with her grandmother will put a stop to Blaise's shenanigans, because her grandmother just happens to be the Crone: the oldest and most respected of all the witches in the Night World. Thea and Blaise are witches themselves, thought to be the last direct descendents of Hellewise, and they are subject to the dictates of the Inner Circle of witches (including Aradia the blind maiden of the witches). For once however, it seems Thea has more chance of getting them expelled tha Blaise. She's found her soulmate and he is a human. Night World law forbids her from falling in love with a human but how can she help it? Making everything worse is Blaise who, rejected by Eric and scared for Thea, is determined to have him, or kill him. Lastly there's also the small problem of a killing witch-specter on the loose.

[edit] Dark Angel

Have you ever had a near-death experience? Well, Gillian has. She died and her soul was on its way to the afterlife when something intercepted it and led her back to her life. The problem was, that something followed her, and now its haunting her. It calls itself Angel and he looks like it. He seems to act like one, too, helping her to remake her self-image into someone more assertive and more attractive. He even helps her find her Harman heritage and urges her to make contact with the Night World, where she could become a power in her own right. But would an angel really encourage her to hurt her enemies? Would he urge her to turn against her one true friend? Would he try to kill her one and only soulmate on the chance that he could possess his body and become flesh once more? Well, that is what he does, and it's up to Gillian to correct the mistakes she's made in following his every direction. The question is, how do you stop a spirit--a ghost--who happens to be drop-dead gorgeous and determined to stay with you?

[edit] The Chosen

Where there are vampires, there's bound to be a vampire hunter or two around. And there aren't any vampire hunters better than Rashel Jordan, also known as "the Cat." She's killed more than her share of vampires without hesitation. Why, then, does she freeze when she locks eyes with Quinn, a vampire from the 17th century whose reputation precedes him? He's a dark and deadly vampire with more deaths at his hands--and teeth--than Rashel could keep track of, yet she can't bring herself to stake him. And while she can't stake him, he can kill her...or can he? Because something's happening to Quinn, too, that he never expected. Could it be the soulmate principle? Whatever it is, it's a distraction neither can afford. Because something's happening in the Night World among the made-vampires, something that could bring the wrath of the Night World Council against them all. Can the two of them overcome whatever it is that's bothering them before events come to a boil...or worse, before the two of them are killed for violating the Night World law?

[edit] Soulmate

Hannah doesn't know it, but her life is about to turn into a battle for surival. First, though, she has to deal with the possibility that she's going crazy. After all, why would she write notes to herself that are obvious threats to her life? "Death before seventeen" what does this means? The truth, however, may make her wish she was truly insane, because maybe then she could cope. Because there is another world that runs along side her own, and two of its most powerful members have ancient bonds to Hannah. Both want her and will stop at nothing to get her, but for very different reasons. The vampire, Thierry Descouedres, because he is her soulmate, wants to love Hannah as he was denied repeatedly through the ages. But the other, Maya, is a vampire far more powerful and deadly. She is the original lamia queen and she wants Hannah dead. Is Hannah really an old soul? If so will Hannah this time be able to escape from Maya's grasp, or will she be slain once more before she can unite with her soulmate?

[edit] Huntress

For sixteen years Jez Redfern grew up as a vampire, stalking humans and drinking their blood. Then long-suppressed memories arose, and she discovered the truth about herself: she is only half vampire, and the other half of her was human. Unable to cope, she leaves behind the vampire gang she once led and moves in with her mother's human relatives. But the Night World isn't about to leave her entirely alone. She seeks out Circle Daybreak, the renegade witch's circle, and becomes a vampire hunter. She's sent to collect one of the four Wild Powers that ancient prophecies predict could save the human world from plunging into blood and darkness. But to do so, she must first confront forces she never thought to face again. Like her former second-in-command in her gang, Morgead Blackthorn. But there's something different between them now, something that looks suspiciously like a silver cord that ties their souls together. But Morgead hates humans, so what can he possibly feel for her?

[edit] Black Dawn

One night Maggie Neely's brother, Miles, didn't return home from a hiking trip, but his girlfriend did...and lies about what really happened. Maggie hunts the girl down, but her impromptu investigation--she's still in her pajama top and mismatched socks--traps her in a dark and diabolical slave trade that no human suspected existed. But the origin of this scheme is the Night World, where the vampires, witches, and shape-shifters lurk in the darkness of a society underlying the human one that Maggie knows. Not that she cares. All she cares about is finding her brother, who she's certain is still alive. But then things take a strange and confusing twist: first she falls in with a blind girl who happens to be Aradia, the Maiden of the Witches. Then she finds her soulmate, the seventeen-year-old youth, Delos Redfern, who just happens to be a vampire, as well as a Wild Power. She also discovers that her soulmate is also the prince of a hidden kingdom in the Night World, and the great-grandson of one of the most ruthless and malicious vampires in the World. And that vampire has plans for this little kingdom and the power his great-grandson possesses. Can Maggie save herself and her soulmate, as well as the rest of the human slaves in the Dark Kingdom before it's too late for the Day World, the world of humans? And what about her brother?

[edit] Witchlight

The world is not in good shape, not with the different kingdoms of the Night World splintering apart to make their bid for dominance in the chaos predicted to rein at the end of the millennium. But that chaos may be averted if Circle Daybreak, the witches' Circle turned rallying point for the good folk of the Night World and their human allies, can convince the four Wild Powers spoken of in prophecy to stand with humanity against the forces of darkness. To that end, Raksha Keller and her team of troubleshooters have descended upon North Carolina to rescue a potential Wild Power before their Night World enemies have a chance to kill her. But everything goes wrong, from Iliana Harman's complete denial of possessing anything remotely resembling witchcraft, to the sudden inclusion into their circle of a young man who just happens to be the prince of the shapeshifters, Galen Drache. And nobody ever said anything about a force put to sleep long millennia before suddenly awakening, something along the lines of a dragon!

[edit] Strange Fate (to be released)

Sarah Strange and the gentle vampire Blade, live in a peaceful New England town. But Sarah's world is shattered when her family is asked to hide an arrogant male witch named Kierlan Harman. Sarah recognizes Kierlan as a soulmate and fights being drawn to him--until he's kidnapped by the Night World and everything she's ever known is lost.

Direct from L.J.Smith's own official website, her summary on book 10:

Night World: Strange Fate, Simon & Schuster:

Sixteen-year-old Sarah Strange finds life a mass of contradictions. She’s an ordinary-looking girl, and yet two of the most popular guys at school form her circle of friends. Kierlan Harmen and Mal Drache, who are as unalike as any two people can be. That ought to make her happy, but recently she’s been having romantic feelings about each of them—and has seen two silver cords: one reaching from her to Kierlan, and one from her to Mal. What’s going on? In addition, every night she dreams of a future where dragons and vampires rule the world, and of a brave child called Crispy. For a girl who hasn’t even heard of the Night World yet, Sarah has a lot to handle! Even worse, the Apocalypse has finally come—and even the Wild Powers see only one way to stop it. This is an epic volume, which stars all the most beloved Night Worlders from the other books. Be prepared, though, because seven go on a mission to save the world . . . and only two come back.

Though the release date for this book has been pushed back every year since 1999, LJ Smith remains dedicated to finishing the series for 2009. She has written a delay of the apocalypse into Strange Fate and plans to tie off all loose ends in this last edition to the Nightworld series. Each novel is supposed to be re-published throughout 2008 and 2009 in order to draw in new readers to the Nightworld series before it is concluded.

[edit] Other/Trivia

The character Ash Redfern (lamia vampire) makes an appearance or is mentioned by name in all of the novels until the seventh, Huntress. This is yet another (albeit small) division between the first six books and the latter three.

Below is the prophecy introduced in Huntress, with the assumed Wild Power described in parentheses.

One from the land of kings long forgotten; (Delos Redfern from Black Dawn)
One from the hearth which still holds the spark; (Iliana Harman from Witchlight)
One from the Day World where two eyes are watching; (Jezebel Redfern from Huntress)
One from the twilight to be one with the dark. (Kierlan Harman from Strange Fate)

[edit] References

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