Shannara

Shannara is an epic fantasy^[1] series of novels written by Terry Brooks, beginning with The Sword of Shannara in 1977 and continuing through The Gypsy Morph which was released in August 2008. The series is probably best known for its blend of magic and primitive technology. It is also known for where it is set, as the setting is on Earth long after civilization as we know it was destroyed in a chemical and nuclear holocaust called the Great Wars. By the time of the prequel First King of Shannara, the world has now reverted to a medieval state and magic has re-emerged to supplement science.

Shannara is not actually the name of the world itself (that being the Four Lands) but it is instead the name of an Elven noble family. Many of the protagonists in the series are descended from this family, beginning with Jerle Shannara.

History of the Shannara World

Age of Faerie

At the beginning of time, in what was known as the "Age of Faerie", the Earth was inhabited only by Faerie creatures; most or all wielded magic. Like any power (be it wealth, technology, or physical strength), magic was used by some for good and some for evil. For example, the Elves used their magic to care for the earth, while the hateful Demons used theirs to dominate and destroy. When the Demons tried to eradicate the rival Elves altogether, the Elves proved victorious by creating a magical prison called the Forbidding, to which they banished the Demons. The Forbidding locked the demons away in an alternate universe from which they could not attack the Elves. The integrity of the prison was upheld by a magical tree known as the Ellcrys. As long as the Ellcrys lived, the Demons would remain locked away. (See The Elfstones of Shannara)

Age of Man

Thousands of years later, the age of man came into being. The Elves still existed, but quickly found themselves few in numbers compared to the quickly growing human race and decided to go into hiding. Thousands of years passed while man and science ruled. The Elves and their magic remained hidden, as memories of their existence become nothing more than “Fairy Tales”.

The Great Wars

Sometime in the early 22nd century, mankind all but destroyed itself through nuclear and chemical holocaust.

Birth of the Four Lands and The First Council

After an extremely long amount of time, the Earth had more or less recovered from the cataclysm of the Great Wars. Except for the ruins of man’s greatest cities and monuments, the world as everyone had known it had disappeared. New races appeared, genetically mutated by radiation from the Great Wars. These mutant human races were given names from man's ancient fairy tales: Troll, Dwarf, and Gnome. The surviving Elves also appeared from their concealment, now that the threat from the quickly multiplying men was gone. Unfortunately, chaos ensued as the four races each tried to declare their power over the other.

Fearing that the chaos would lead to the end for all of them, a group of learned men and women from all the races formed the Druids. Under the order of the Druids, the earth was divided up into the Four Lands, one territory for each race. The Druids then sought out all the information they could on the arts, sciences, and history of the Old World, attempting to understand what had brought about such a terrible apocalypse, so that they might learn from those mistakes and bring lasting peace and order to the land. As time progressed, the council’s plan seemed to be working and they hoped that, in time, all that was known of the Old World would eventually exist again. However, several powerful members of the Druids became convinced that magic, not science, should be the guiding force of the new world, and that it was their destiny as Elves and magic-wielders to shape the future of the races. These Elves left the Druids to form their own group, consisting of all races and led by an Elf named Brona, who took with him the Ildatch, a book of unparalleled evil power that once belonged to the Demon leader in the Age of Faerie.

The Wars of the Races

After years of growing his power, Brona, who had become known as the "Warlock Lord", orchestrated a rebellion against the Druids. Started by Men attacking out of the Southland at Brona's urging, the rebellion soon widened into what became known as the First War of the Races, with Men against all the races that were supported by the Druids--mainly the Elves and the Dwarves. Eventually, the combined power of the Council crushed the humans, but the Warlock Lord escaped to rebuild his legion, leaving the human countries to rebuild their shattered lives. Indirectly, this war led to the isolationist policy of the Federation, a human country first mentioned in The Elfstones of Shannara.

Once he recovered, the Warlock Lord and his armies returned twice more (in the Second War of the Races and the Third War of the Races, in the space of a century with years of peace in between (the equivalent of the World Wars during the time of man), until finally the Warlock Lord was killed.

The Shannara Family

Involved in nearly every key moment throughout the history of the Four Lands is some member of the Shannara family. Their mixed heritage of man and Elf left them both blessed and cursed, as this feature was part of the reason that they could wield magic. Over the years, descendants of the Shannara bloodline, now with the last name of Ohmsford, have continuously been called upon to fight to defend the Four Lands and the lives of its inhabitants.

The familial relationships between the main characters can be seen in the Shannara family tree.

List of Novels

The Word/Void Trilogy

The Word/Void trilogy consists of Running with the Demon, A Knight of the Word, and Angel Fire East and is predominantly set in present-day Illinois. It follows Nest Freemark, a girl with magical abilities who has no known relationship to any Shannara character. Before the publication of Armageddon's Children it was unclear whether this trilogy existed within the Shannara universe. It has since been revealed as the "ultimate prequel" to the Shannara novels.^[2][3]

The Genesis of Shannara Trilogy

The Genesis of Shannara series connects the Word/Void series with the Shannara novels. The trilogy consists of Armageddon's Children, The Elves of Cintra and The Gypsy Morph. It takes place eighty years after the Word/Void story, and approximately 1500 years before the events of The First King of Shannara.

First King of Shannara

The prequel to the Original Shannara Trilogy, The First King of Shannara is set during the lifetime of Jerle Shannara, a predecessor of Shea (about 500 years before the first book of the original Shannara Trilogy) and chronicling the second war of the races.

The Original Shannara Trilogy

Also called The Sword of Shannara Trilogy, the first three published Shannara novels (The Sword of Shannara, The Elfstones of Shannara, and The Wishsong of Shannara) follow Shea Ohmsford and his brother Flick Ohmsford, Shea's grandson Wil Ohmsford, and Wil's children Brin Ohmsford and Jair Ohmsford during the times of the third war of the races and the war of the forbidding.

The Heritage of Shannara Tetralogy

The next four books, known as The Heritage of Shannara, are set 300 years after The Original Shannara Trilogy. This series consists of The Scions of Shannara, The Druid of Shannara, The Elf Queen of Shannara and The Talismans of Shannara. They follow four of Shea Ohmsford's descendants: Walker Boh, Par Ohmsford, Coll Ohmsford, and Wren Elessedil.

The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara Trilogy

The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy consists of the books Ilse Witch, Antrax, and Morgawr. Set aboard the airship Jerle Shannara (named after the olden king), the story follows Walker Boh as he guides the crew across the ocean in search of an ancient source of power. This is set 130 years after The Heritage of Shannara.

High Druid of Shannara Trilogy

The High Druid of Shannara trilogy includes the novels Jarka Ruus, Tanequil, and Straken. It focuses on the disappearance of the High Druid Grianne Ohmsford and is set 20 years after The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara.

Planned Movie Adaptation

The rights to a movie adaptation for all of the Shannara novels have been sold to Warner Bros until 2010.^[4] The Elfstones of Shannara, the first planned movie,^[4] will be filmed and directed by Mike Newell,^[5] who was also responsible for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.^[6] 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.^[4][7] 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.^[4]

References

See also

• Shannara Wiki (Wikia)
• The Shannara Files fansite
• The World of Shannara