The Elfstones of Shannara

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The Elfstones of Shannara

Cover art of The Elfstones of Shannara
Author Terry Brooks
Illustrator Darrell K. Sweet
Cover artist Darrell K. Sweet
Country United States
Language English
Series The Original Shannara Trilogy
Genre(s) Fantasy novel
Publisher Del Rey Books
Publication date 1982
Media type Print (Hardcover, Paperback, Mass market paperback)
Pages 576 pp (Mass market paperback)
ISBN ISBN 0-345-28554-9 (Mass market paperback)
Preceded by The Sword of Shannara
Followed by The Wishsong of Shannara

The Elfstones of Shannara is an epic fantasy [1] novel by Terry Brooks. It is the first sequel to The Sword of Shannara and the second book in The Original Shannara Trilogy. It provides the history of the Elves, which was only hinted at in the preceding story, and follows Wil Ohmsford, grandson of Shea (the hero of the first book) and inheritor of the Elfstones.

Contents

[edit] History of the Elves

Main article: Elves (Shannara)

Before the dawn of mankind was the age of Faerie, an era from which many powerful spirits (such as the King of the Silver River) came. The Elves, extremely long-lived and possessing great magic, created the Elfstones. However, as a necessary balance to the light, darkness was also created in the beginning of time; from this darkness the Demons were born. After years of battle between the light and the dark, the Elves summoned their greatest magic and created the Forbidding, a spell that imprisoned the Demons beyond the confines of the world. They also created the Ellcrys, a beautiful silver tree with crimson leaves to maintain the Forbidding. Unfortunately, this drained nearly all the strength of the Elves, leaving them with very little magic. Most of the creatures of Faerie died out in this period of waning magic; yet the Elves survived, though diminished in splendor. In time, they came to resemble more and more the human race that had recently evolved, both in strength and longevity. Afraid of the rapidly multiplying humans, Elves went into hiding, remaining one with nature, ever guarding the Ellcrys. Even when mankind nearly destroyed the world in the Great Wars, the Elves lived on, spending their last remaining magic to save the Ellcrys. In the aftermath of the destruction, as mankind split into four distinct races, the Elves took that opportunity to come out from hiding. Indeed, most believed that the Elves were just another offshoot of mankind, like the Dwarves, Gnomes and Trolls. The Elves emerged as leaders in the new world; it was the Elf Galaphile who summoned the first Druid council at Paranor.

[edit] Plot Summary

The magical Ellcrys tree is now beginning to die, thus weakening the spell that holds the Forbidding. The Ellcrys spoke to the Chosen, telling them of a rebirth, a process which enables a new Ellcrys to be born--but this can only be done at the fountain of the Bloodfire. The Chosen then informs their Prince Ander Elessedil and King Eventine Elessedil of the matter. However, there is no one who knows of the location of the Bloodfire. A search in the ancient Elven library reveals one reference to the Bloodfire. It states that it lies in a place named "Safehold". At the same time, a powerful Demon, the Dagda Mor, escapes from the waning Forbidding, bringing with it the Reaper and the Changeling. The Dagda Mor then sends the Reaper to kill all the Chosen. Eventine finds himself at a loss, for only the Chosen can make the rebirth of the Ellcrys happen. The Druid Allanon appears and goes to the ancient Druid keep, Paranor, in an attempt to locate Safehold. Allanon is ambushed by the Dagda Mor and a handful of other Demons. He retreats to Storlock for a time, and then goes to Havenstead with Wil Ohmsford (a Healer, descendant of the House of Shannara and bearer of the Elfstones) to find Amberle, King Eventine's granddaughter and a Chosen, who abandoned her duty to the Ellcrys and fled the elven capital, Arborlon. After much discussion, she agrees to return to Arborlon with them.

En route, close to the Silver River, Allanon, Amberle and Wil are ambushed by Demon wolves. Allanon decides to fend off the Demons while Wil and Amberle escape to safety. After a meeting with the King of the Silver River, the duo manages to regroup with Allanon and return to Arborlon. Amberle receives a seed from the dying Ellcrys and prepares to go to Safehold with Wil, six Elven companions and the leader of the King's royal guard, Crispin. Journeying to the Elven outpost at Drey Wood, however, the group finds the entire patrol at the outpost dead, and the Reaper. They manage to escape, but two of their Elven guards are killed in the process. The party then goes to Matted Brakes, where yet another two of their group are killed by a massive creature. The remaining group of five finds themselves at an ancient Elven fortress named Pykon after escaping from the Brakes. The Reaper finds them once again and kills the final two Elven hunters. Wil, Amberle, and Crispin run into a fortress inside of the Pykon. Wil and Amberle finally lose the Reaper, but they lose Crispin as well.The duo meets the young Wing Rider Perk, who agrees to take them into the Wilderun on his Roc, Genewen.

Meanwhile, Allanon and the Elves go to war with the Demons. The Elven army takes up two positions in two mountain passes named Halys Cut and Worl Run. In these ensuing battles, the Demons ran over the Elven army and managed to injure King Eventine through sheer strength of numbers--they have no weapons. Ander's brother, Arion Elessedil is killed as well. Defeated, the Elven force retreats to Arbolon. In the process, they lose their commander, Kael Pindannon. Shortly after their return to Arbolon, Dwarf and Troll contingents join them.

Amberle and Wil travel to the Hollows, domain of the Witch Sisters, but find out that the Elfstones have been stolen by Cephelo, a Rover. Wil leaves Amberle and pursues Cephelo. Eretria, daughter of Cephelo, helps Wil to locate Cephelo only to find him killed by the Reaper. Wil regains the Elfstones and travels back to the rim of the Hollows with Eretia. He finds Amberle missing. Hebel appears and agrees to track Amberle for Wil. Together with Hebel's dog, Drifter, they track Amberle to Mallenroh's tower. Mallenroh keeps the Elfstones for herself and locks them up.

Wil, Eretria, Hebel, and Drifter escape with Amberle, the Elfstones, and Mallenroh's servant, Wisp; who brings them to the Bloodfire. Amberle absorbs both the Bloodfire and the seed of the Ellcrys. The Reaper attacks them and kills Wisp, but Wil destroys the Demon using the Elfstones. Wil has Amberle call Perk who brings Wil, Amberle and Eretria back to Arbolon.

Back at Arborlon, the Demons have begun a full frontal assault upon the city. Despite the best attempts to blunt the attacks, the seven gates fall one by one to the superior numbers. The Demons eventually break through the last of the Elven city's defenses. At this point, Allanon engages and defeats the Dagda Mor in a titanic battle while the armies, now severely depleted, regroup at their last line of defense: the Gardens of Life, where the Ellcrys resides. The Demons try to reach the Ellcrys to destroy her, but are held back by the army just long enough so that Wil and Amberle can fly in. Amberle touches the dead Ellcrys and is transformed into the new Ellcrys. With this action, Amberle restores the Forbidding and banishes the Demons back to the Forbidding.

[edit] Film adaptation

The rights to a movie adaptation for all of the Shannara novels have been sold to Warner Bros until 2010. [2] The Elfstones of Shannara, the first planned movie, [2] will be filmed and directed by Mike Newell, [3] who was also responsible for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. [4] This movie is expected to start filming in 2008 and finished sometime during 2009. The Elfstones of Shannara will probably be followed by an adaptation of The Sword of Shannara in 2010 or so. [2][5] Note that the sequence of the movies differ from the sequence of the books, although Terry Brooks believes that this is the best starting place for adapting the Shannara novels. [2]

[edit] Character List

[edit] Main characters

[edit] Minor characters

  • Amantar
  • Arion Elessedil
  • Artaq (horse)
  • Browork
  • Cephelo (deceased)
  • Cormac (deceased)
  • Crispin (deceased)
  • Dancer (roc)
  • Dardan
  • Dayn
  • Dilph (deceased)
  • Drifter (dog)
  • Ehlron Tay
  • Emer Chios
  • Flick Ohmsford
  • Flyn
  • Gael
  • Genewen (roc)
  • Hebel
  • Herrol
  • Jase
  • Kael Pindanon
  • Katsin (deceased)
  • Kerrin
  • Kian (deceased)
  • King of the Silver River
  • Kobold
  • Lauren
  • Manx (dog)(deceased)
  • Mallenroh
  • Morag
  • Ped (deceased)
  • Perk
  • Rhoe
  • Rin
  • Spitter (horse)
  • Went (deceased)
  • Wisp (deceased)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Speakman, Shawn (2008). Terry Brooks' official website. Retrieved on 2008-05-02.
  2. ^ a b c d [1]
  3. ^ The Elfstones of Shannara (2009)
  4. ^ Mike Newell at IMDB.
  5. ^ The Sword of Shannara (2010)
v • d • e
Novels of Terry Brooks’ Shannara universe
Book I Book II Book III Book IV
Word & Void series: Running with the Demon A Knight of the Word Angel Fire East
The Genesis of Shannara: Armageddon's Children The Elves of Cintra The Gypsy Morph
Prequel to Shannara: First King of Shannara
The Original Shannara Trilogy: The Sword of Shannara The Elfstones of Shannara The Wishsong of Shannara
The Heritage of Shannara: The Scions of Shannara The Druid of Shannara The Elf Queen of Shannara The Talismans of Shannara
The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara: Ilse Witch Antrax Morgawr
High Druid of Shannara: Jarka Ruus Tanequil Straken
Other Shannara products
The World of Shannara Shannara PC Game
Shannara on Wikipedia
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