Shannara is an epic fantasy[1] series of novels written by Terry Brooks, beginning with The Sword of Shannara in 1977 and continuing through Bearers of the Black Staff which was released on August 24, 2010, as well as a prequel, First King of Shannara. The series blends magic and primitive technology and the books are set in the Four Lands which in some books is identified as 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 as humans and other races live in a place known as the Four Lands, which is a future North America. Further into the novels science starts to become more advanced.
Shannara is the name of an Elven noble family. Many of the protagonists in the series are descended from this family, beginning with Jerle Shannara.
At the beginning of time, in what was known as the "Age of Faerie", the Earth was inhabited only by Faerie creatures, born out of the power of the Word; most or all wielded magic. 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)
Thousands of years later, 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”.
Throughout the history of man a battle existed between the Word, the creator of life, and the Void, the power of death. During the age of man the Void attracted the attention of power hungry men who through various temptations, power, greed, and immortality, gave them magical power to try to destroy the life created by the Word. The word responded in kind and created numerous black staffs that she gave to men and women who she believed were true of heart and could wield the power of the Word to protect the world from the Void. These humans became Knights of the Word and lead a secret war against the followers of the Void who called themselves demons. The books Running with Demon, A Knight of the Word, and Angel Fire East are set during this period.
However sometimes during the 22nd century the demons of the void managed to infiltrate and seduce the worlds ruling powers into starting an unending war between each other that left the world an almost barren wasteland. During the confusion created during this time the demons created an army of blood thirsty savage humans known as the Once Men and lead an invasion against the few surviving human strong holds.
The Knights of the Word did what they could to stop this but were too few in number and after the wars devoted themselves to protecting the few remaining human settlements. Eventually the Word told her knights that a holocaust was coming that would destroy the world and that they should find the gypsy morph, a being of incredible magical power that could save a small portion of humanity.
However the gypsy morph was trapped in the body of a small child known only as Hawk and it had no knowledge of the power it had. The Void also knew of this child and sent several of its strongest demons to destroy it before it could use its power. The Word also told her knights to find the hidden Elves and take them with the gypsy morph to ensure the survival of both species. However a demon had already found the elves and was in the process of trying to destroy them.
Eventually the Knights of the Word succeeded in transferring the entire city of the elves into a magical gray elfstone known as the loden and brought it, the gypsy morph and as many human survivors as they could take to a valley full of life hidden in the mountains that the war did not destroy. Once there they released the elven city from the lode stone and the gypsy morph sacrificed himself, creating a magical barrier around the valley to prevent anyone or thing from entering or leaving.
The word then used her powers to contact the humans who managed to survive in nuclear missile silos around the world and told them to fire their nuclear rockets. The resulting nuclear blasts destroyed most of the demons and their armies of Once Men and mutated whatever life remained into new and dangerous forms.
Eventually the barrier created by the gypsy morph collapsed and creatures from the outside world found ways into the valley of the humans and Elves. Eventually a race of mutated humans who called themselves Trolls managed to find a way into the valley and tried to take it for themselves. During this time the last of the great demons of the Void attacked the last Knight of the Word who took the last remaining black staff into the valley with the gypsy morph. The Knight of the Word was eventually victorious and the humans and elves went out to explore the old world and to try to find their place in it.
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 Druid Council. 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 a Druid 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.
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 men of the deep Southland.
Once he recovered, the Warlock Lord and his armies returned twice more. In the Second War of the Races, Brona rallied the Trolls (Shannara) to attack all of the other races. In the Third War of the Races the combined forces of the Trolls and Gnomes. Both 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.
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 surname 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.
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 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. The many varieties of mutants found in it, are the predecessors of species from later in the series, the Trolls, Dwarfs, and Gnomes.
The Legends of Shannara series will continue to connect the Old World with the world of the Four Lands. The first book, Bearers of the Black Staff (2010), is set 500 years after the end of The Gypsy Morph. The second book The Measure of the Magic was released in August 2011.
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.
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 step-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 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 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.
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.
Terry Brooks has planned another trilogy to take place 100 to 120 years after the events in Straken. These three books are scheduled to be published in September 2012, March 2013, and September 2013, respectively.[4]
The rights to a movie adaptation for all of the Shannara novels were sold to Warner Bros until August 2010.[5] The Elfstones of Shannara, the first planned movie,[5] was to be filmed and directed by Mike Newell,[6] who was also responsible for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and more recently Prince of Persia.[7]
Since the initial offer made to Warner Bros., a script was bought, potential actors reviewed, and assurances made that the movie would indeed be produced. To date, the rights to Warner Bros. for the production of the movie have expired. Mike Newell, the director announced to produce the movie, disappeared from the project and began work on Prince of Persia.
Terry Brooks himself has expressed frustration and a desire to see an adaptation. He stated that there is still interest by other parties to produce the movies, but as of yet he still holds all creative rights to his books.[5]
|
|
||||
| Book I | Book II | Book III | Book IV | |
|
|
||||
| Word & Void: | 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 | |
| Legends of Shannara: | Bearers of the Black Staff | The Measure of the Magic | ||
| 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 | |
| Legacy of Shannara: | The Wards of Faerie | TBA | TBA | |
|
|
||||
| Other Shannara products | ||||
| The World of Shannara | Shannara PC Game | |||
| Dark Wraith of Shannara | Indomitable | |||
|
|
||||
| Shannara on Wikipedia | ||||
| Shannara task force — Characters — Creatures — Places — Objects — Related articles | ||||