Noman (Noble Warriors Trilogy)

Noman (2007) is the third book in the Noble Warriors Trilogy, written by William Nicholson.

The Noble Warriors

The Noble Warriors, or Nomana, are members of a religious community called the Nom. The Nom was formed by a great warlord, Noman, to protect their God, The All and Only. The All and Only has many other names: the Lost Child, the Loving Mother, the Wounded Warrior and the Wise Father. The God lives in the Garden, located on the island of Anacrea, until it is destroyed, when we, the reader, find that there are multiple gardens.

The Noble Warriors do not use weapons or have any armour; they use only true strength, which is also called Lir. The vow of the noble warriors (which Noman wrote) says they cannot fight wars or conquer land or empires. They cannot love any person above all others, build a lasting home, possess anything but can only use their powers to bring freedom to the enslaved and justice to the oppressed.

Plot summary

At the start of the book, Seeker is hunting down the last two savanters. He chases them through a mountain, through a mysterious valley and through the Glimmen. He finds Echo Kittle, who helps track them to a place called the Haven (which is an expensive refuge for fleeing people). He fights briefly with one of the savanters, who he does not manage to kill, instead becoming possessed by her. The other savanter flees, and manages to escape on a boat to other lands.

Meanwhile, the Wildman is head of the spiker army which formed at the end of Jango; Morning Star is there too. There is restlesness in the Spiker camp, and the Wildman is forced to kill Snakey, his childhood friend, in a leadership battle. Morning Star, sickened by the events, leaves and returns to her home village. When she arrives there, she finds it mysteriously empty. Soon she finds where everyone has gone; a huge assembly of people who call themselves 'the Joyous'. The leader of the Joyous is a young man called the Joy Boy. He claims to be leading people to the 'Great Embrace', which is when all his followers will become God. Morning Star is suspicious of the Joy Boy, especially because he has no aura, but he infects her with joy, and she complies to find Seeker for him, under the premise that the Noble Warriors need joy more than anyone else. Soon after Morning Star leaves, the Wildman and the Spiker army join the Joyous.

In the middle of a sea of grass, Seeker comes across a strange house, similar to Jango's, containing hardly anything but a blue cornflower. Upon leaving though, Seeker finds he is rather lost, and that the house has disappeared. He then comes across an old looted mansion. He enters the great hall, the walls of which are covered in cracked mirrors. In one of the mirrors an old man appears to him: Noman. He gives Seeker much advice and reveals that the last savanter did not escape but was still in the old kingdom; his name is Manlir and that he was at the centre of a great gathering. He also talks about the 'experiment' (See below).

Morning Star finds Seeker and Echo sleeping. When they wake up, she tells them about the Joy Boy and the Great Embrace. Seeker realises that the Joy Boy is actually Manlir- the last savanter. He sets off immediately and soon finds the Joyous. When he gets there, though, he finds that Manlir has sent the Wildman to stall him, whilst himself starting the Great Embrace. Seeker is forced to kill the Wildman to get to Manlir. By the time Seeker and Manlir meet, the Great Embrace had already started. They have a battle to suck out one another's lir. Just before Manlir is about to die, he releases his own lir from his body. After the battle, Seeker goes back to Wildman and resurrects him by giving him some of his own lir.

Seeker travels to the door in the wall, where he first met Jango. He meets him there again and is told that Manlir didn't die, and that by releasing his living lir, Manlir was now inside everything that has lir. Jango tells Seeker to go to the 'True Nom' and 'call on the strength of the All and Only'. Seeker goes back to the mysterious valley through which he chased the Savanters at the beginning of the book. At sunset, there is a spectacular display, as the sunlight dances all over the valley, and through a hole in one of the mountains. Seeker crawls through this hole, and comes out in the Garden.

Seeker moves through the garden, crossing a long bridge, and finds a chair in which he knows his God is sat. Seeker fears his God's nonexistence, but Jango appears, and reveals that he and Seeker are one and the same person. Jango tells Seeker to look with 'the eyes of faith'. Seeker looks at the chair and sees the All and Only. Then Noman, who has now also entered the Garden, tells Seeker to look with his own eyes. Seeker does so reluctantly, and in the chair sees his father, then his brother, then the Elder. Then the chair is emptied and Seeker himself sits in it. When Seeker rises from the chair, Jango asks him what he sees in the chair. When Seeker replies 'nothing', Jango exclaims that Seeker is the assassin. Noman then reveals that he, as well as Jango, is an older Seeker, and explains that when he entered the Garden over 200 years ago, he had found it empty and realised that, in his quest for knowledge, he was the assassin of the All and Only. Seeker also learns that the Savanters are a necessary evil, created to keep the Noble Warriors' faith strong.

Seeker leaves the Garden to have his final duel with Manlir. The duel takes place through the valley, the Glimmen and finally the coast where Anacrea once stood. Seeker eventually overpowers Manlir through the help of the former Noble Warriors who come to his aid. Manlir goes back to his body and, with Noman, sets off on his funeral boat out to sea. Seeker meets Echo, who is now inhabited by the last Savanter (having transferred it from Seeker by kissing him). He explains to her that she will be a lord of knowledge (as the Savanters had been), and persuades the last Savanter to let herself die within Echo. Seeker returns to Radiance which is now ruled by the Spikers and Orlans. The Wildman hands over the Spiker army to Shab, and Caressa (who became the next Jahan when Amroth died near the start of the book) gives the silver whip of the Jahan to Sabin (the last living son of Amroth). The next day, Seeker, Morning Star, The Wildman and Caressa set off on Wildman's old ship down the river and to other lands.

The Experiment

Noman has an experiment, which he is carrying out to test the nature of human beings and to see if his Noble Warriors can maintain and renew themselves without help. This is the analogy he uses: A farmer went to his field one day and wanted to plant some corn. He realises that he will not be in his field forever: one day he will die. So he chooses the best seeds of corn, he irrigates the field and fences it. He does not intervene with the crops, many die but those that survive will renew themselves every year. The corn that will grow year after year will be able to feed his children and his children's children forever.

See also

• Noble Warriors Trilogy
• Seeker
• Jango
• William Nicholson

External links

• William Nicholson's homepage
• The Noble warriors fan club