Welcome, readers of Shady Vale, to the first installment in our reread of Terry Brooks’ classic epic fantasy, The Elfstones of Shannara. If you’re unfamiliar with Elfstones, Brooks, or this reread, be sure to check out the introductory post, in which we all become acquainted.
Today, as we embark on this journey through the Elvish lands—from Arborlon to the Bloodfire—we will meet Lauren, a young elf who makes a devastating discovery; the Dagda Mor and his two cronies, the Reaper and the Changeling, who want nothing more than to fill the Four Lands with bloodthirsty demons, and eke out some delicious revenge on the elves who banished them; and three members of the Elven royal family, princes Ander and Arion Elessedil and their father, Eventine. Who won’t we meet? Any of the principal protagonists. We’ll get to Wil, Amberle, and Alannon over the coming weeks.
One of the most remarkable things about Elfstones, especially when compared to its predecessor, The Sword of Shannara, is how it eschews so much of the traditional epic fantasy introductory narrative, which makes this part of the reread particularly fun.
But, enough! Onwards to join Lauren and the other Chosen in the Gardens of Life.
Chapter 1
What happens?
Lauren, a young and trod-upon member of the Chosen, discovers that the Ellcrys, a sentient magic tree that keeps the Elven population safe from demon invasion, is dying. At first his companions don’t believe him, but the evidence is irrefutable, especially after the tree speaks, showing them a vision of the future to come if she dies. Panic ensues.
Quotable
The legend was not a legend. The legend was life. Evil did indeed lie beyond a Forbidding that the Ellcrys maintained. Only she kept the Elven people safe.
And now she was dying.
Dramatis Personae
- Lauren
- Jase
- the Ellcrys
Analysis
Ahh! Here we meet our her—er, some random elf who hangs around for a couple of chapters. On first introduction, it’s easy to see how reader might mistake Lauren for the story’s protagonist: He’s central to the discovery of the Ellcrys’ doom; he’s naive, kind, and obviously an outcast among the Chosen. Sounds familiar, right? He’s basically every other epic fantasy hero from the ’80s. As we’ll see, however, Brooks spends a lot of time tearing down the strict Tolkien-esque structural traditions he followed so closely in Sword. It’s one of the reasons I love Elfstones so much, and often recommend it to readers as a good starting point for the series.
My favourite part of the chapter, besides the overwhelming sense of doom, is the way one of the nameless Chosen accurately and shrewdly identifies Amberle’s importance to the upcoming events. However, she’s mistakenly identified as a cause, rather than a symptom. Lauren, thank goodness for him, has more sense (and is less prone to snap prejudicial opinions):
“This is all Amberle’s fault. I said before that something bad would come from having a girl picked as a chosen,” said one of [the Chosen].
“There were other girls among the chosen, and nothing happened because of it,” Lauren protested. He had always liked Amberle. She had been easy to talk to, even if she was King Eventine Elessedil’s granddaughter.
“Not for five hundred years, Lauren,” the other said.
Brooks does a good job of laying the groundwork for Amberle’s upcoming role by establishing early on that she’s different than the rest of the Chosen. “[The Ellcrys] had never spoken to any of them after that,” Lauren observes at one point. “Never—except to Amberle, of course, and Amberle was no longer one of them.”
One of the things that Elfstones does best (which I’d also argue is one of Lord of the Rings‘ greatest strengths) is that it establishes an idyllic setting that we as readers desperately want to protect, and a threat that will inevitably destroy its beauty and peace. There’s no fat, no needless exposition—just clean, clear conflict. We know what’s coming, and its not good.
I’ve always wondered about the first Ellcrys. Who was she, and how did her transformation occur? Terry Brooks has plans to write several more Shannara novels about the period of time between the end of our world and the beginning of Sword, and—not that I necessarily think Brooks needs to retread the story of the Elves, the demons, the Forbidding, and the Ellcrys again—but I wouldn’t be disappointed to see him explore the story of the first Ellcrys. It’s sure to be a heart-breaker. Do you have any theories about who she might have been?
Chapter 2
What happens?
Fresh from a centuries-long imprisonment behind the Forbidding, the Dagda Mor arrives with Bebop and Rocksteady the Changeling and the Reaper, ready to rock and roll. Being pensive and prone to narrative exposition, the Dagda Mor thinks long and hard about the Ellcrys sealing Demonkind behind the Forbidding, and exactly what the Elves need to do to ensure it happens again. Using his Staff of Power™, the Dagda Mor summons an enormous bat to carrying them to Arborlon with plans to off the Chosen and put an end to any chance of saving the Ellcrys.
Quotable
The Demon hated. He hated with an intensity that bordered on madness. Hundreds of years of imprisonment within the black hold that lay beyond the Forbidding had given his hatred more than sufficient time to fester and grow. Now it consumed him. It was everything to him. It gave him his power, and he would use that power to crush the creatures who had caused him so much misery. The Elves!
Dramatis Personae
- the Dagda Mor
- the Reaper
- the Changeling
- a big bat
Analysis
Here we’re introduced to the novel’s three main antagonists, and provided with a bit more information about the threat (and teased with a possible solution) to the Ellcrys’ safety. I like the way Brooks continually holds back from introducing the novel’s core cast—Amberle, Wil, and Allanon—instead taking his time to build a sense of dread and inevitability about the demons’ coming. Before we ever meet our protagonists, we become dearly acquainted with the ferocity and cunning of their opponents.
It’s interesting that the Dagda Mor has no motivations other than revenge and anger. He hates the Elves, and Brooks makes no attempt to instill any moral ambiguity in his ambitions. It’s exactly what ’80s epic fantasy is now criticized for, but, in a day and age where every epic fantasy is filled to the brim with rich, grey, complicated characters, it’s kind of fun to have a guy I can hate without reservation, especially as we’re given an opportunity to see parts of the narrative through his eyes. I can’t think of many Tolkien-esque fantasy novels/series that feature their otherworldly/demonic antagonists as point-of-view characters. Brooks does this in most (all?) of the Shannara novels, but it really comes to a head about a decade after Elfstones with the release of Ilse Witch, which does an admirable job of blurring the protagonist/antagonist line.
Every novel needs a good antagonist, and here Brooks makes a sly decision to split his among three bodies. While the Dagda Mor is the ostensible leader, the Changeling and the Reaper each play their own important role in the novel, allowing Brooks to construct multiple plots that tie together nicely and create multiple fronts for the demons’ assault. Tolkien’s Nazgul (and, by extension, Brooks’ Skull Bearers from Sword) were terrifying, but they were tools manipulated by Sauron, his hands and eyes. The Changeling and the Reaper, however, are their own entities with their own set of deadly skills, and deepen in a variety of ways the dread the pervades the novel.
This first introduction to the Dagda Mor’s companions is concise and chilling.
The Changeling is chaos incarnate:
Even the Dagda Mor was not certain of the Changeling’s true appearance; the creature was so prone to adapt to other life forms that he spent virtually all of his time being something or someone other than what he really was.
And the Reaper is cold-blooded precision:
The Reaper was a killer. Killing was the sole function of its existence. … [The Dagda Mor] was wary because the Reaper served him not out of whim and not out of fear or respect as did all the others. The Reaper feared nothing. It was a monster who cared nothing for life, even its own.
Overloading the Dagda Mor with the responsibilities and powers of the Changeling and the Reaper would’ve created a super-villain of comical proportions—a caricature of the big baddie. Splitting this role into three parts provides readers with three pressure points—one powerful (the Dagda Mor), one mysterious (the Changeling), and one suffocating (the Reaper). There’s never a moment in the novel, no matter where it’s focused geographically, that isn’t shrouded by the danger presented by one of these three demons.
One of Brooks’ most effective tools, as I mentioned above, is his ability to create a fantasy world that you care about, and that’s partly due to his ability to draw a landscape with an exquisite brush:
They stood in the shadow of the Breakline, the dawn which had already shattered the peace of the Chosen little more than a faint light in the eastern sky beyond the monstrous wall of mountains. The great, towering peaks knifed into the sky, casting pillars of darkness far out into the desolation of the Hoare Flats. The Flats themselves stretched westward from the line of mountains into emptiness—a hard, barren wasteland in which life spans were measured in minutes and hours. Nothing moved on its surface. No sound broke the stillness of the morning air.
Beautiful, even in its desolation. I feel like Brooks loses some of his wanderlust in later Shannara novels, focusing on plot to the exclusion of all else, making the Four Lands feel less vibrant and exciting. It’s fun to see him still exploring as he writes his way through this early novel.
I also want to note that Brooks relays an important piece of plot-related information through the Dagda Mor’s (typically villainous) internal monologue: the key to reviving the Ellcrys and staving off the demon invasion. So many fantasy novels keep this carrot dangling in front of the reader, but Brooks liberally hands it to the reader, and chooses to create narrative tension in other more effective ways throughout the novel. We’ll get to those later, though.
(Nitpick: If lifespans on the Hoare Flats are measured in minutes and hours, how long are gestational periods?)
(Another nitpick: The Dagda Mor wields the “Staff of Power”? Come on. I feel like Brooks had an eight-year-old make up a placeholder name for the Dagda Mor’s weapon and then forgot to replace it in the final manuscript. I can just see the Dagda Mor, withering away into old age, creakily standing up from his walking chair, calling out to his grandaughter, “Dear, can you get my Stick of Walking? I’d like to take a stroll before tea.” Pah.)
Brooks describes the Forbidding as a “formless, insistent limbo of endless dark and slow, wretched stagnation,” which, as anyone who’s read the High Druid of Shannara series knows, is very different than his later interpretation, which more-or-less mirrors a post-apocalyptic version of the Four Lands. You can see here how much the concept of the Forbidding changed in the 20+ years between the writing of Elfstones and those later novels. I’ll be honest, however, and admit that I preferred to think of the Forbidding as some sort of incomprehensible realm of chaos, roiling with demonic energy. But then, that wouldn’t be the first time I was disappointed with the way Brooks retconned changes into his series.
Chapter 3
What happens?
Ander Elessedil, “second son of Eventine Elessidil, King of the Elves,” preparing for an early morning horseback ride in the lands around Arborlon, is interrupted first by his dashing brother, crown prince Arion, then by Lauren, frantic with knowledge of the Ellcrys’ illness. With Lauren in tow, Ander convinces the king’s “personal aide,” Gael of the Most Punchable Face, to wake the king. Gael is dismissed, Manx is petted, and Lauren delivers the news, to much dismay.
Eventine speaks of the Bloodfire, which Lauren reveals is located in a mysterious place called Safehold. Quickly shedding his shock, Eventine sends Ander and Lauren to question the other Chosen, and begins his study of the old histories in hopes of discovering more about the Bloodfire and Safehold.
Quotable
“Have I lived too long? [Eventine] muttered. “If the Ellcrys dies, how can I protect my people from what will happen to them? I am their King; the responsibility for their protection is mine. I have always accepted that. Yet for the first time in my life, I wish it were otherwise…”
Dramatis Personae
- Lauren
- Went
- Ander Elessedil
- Arion Elessedil
- Gael
- Eventine Elessedil
- Manx the wolfhound
Analysis
One of the major leaps that Elfstones makes over its predecessor is in the way that Brooks attempts to add depth and more intricate motivations for all of his characters. From this first introduction, both Ander and Eventine struggle with getting older—Ander in the possibilities that have passed him by as he grew up in the shadow of his older brother, and Eventine in his body’s failing ability to lead his people against the demon invasion. Though not terribly deep by more holistic standards, both of these character arcs are more interesting than anything found in Sword (other than, perhaps, Shea’s journey to acceptance). It shows remarkable growth in Brooks, and, when you add many of the other secondary characters to the mix, makes Elfstones a much more interesting book to revisit. Each time I reread Elfstones, I find myself focusing on a different character, placing myself in their shoes and considering how I might react in their place. I can see that this time around, Ander’s story might be the most compelling frame for the narrative.
One of the most telling examples of how my relationship with Elfstones has changed over the years can be observed through my attachment to the princes. Ander, on his introduction, is approachable and somewhat morose:
As second son of Eventine Elessedil, King of the Elves, [Ander] could have had his rooms in the royal quarters; but years before, he had moved himself and his books to his present residence and thereby gained a privacy that he would have lacked within the palace. … At forty, he was no longer a young man. His lean Elven face was lined at the corners of the narrow eyes and the furrow of his sharply angled brow; but his step was quick and easy, and his face was almost boyish when he smiled—though that was seldom these days.
…compared to his brother, Arion, who is bold, attractive, and charismatic:
Arion was tall and fair, and his resemblance to their father at the same age was striking. That, together with the fact that he was a superb athlete and an accomplished weapons master, hunter and horseman made it inevitable that he should be Eventine’s pride and joy.
The narrative asks us to believe that Anders’ self-imposed exile from the royal palace is about peace and privacy, but it’s easy to imagine that it might also be an effort to actively avoid a relationship with his father that cannot match that of the King and his first son. Arion’s shadow falls darkly across every aspect of Ander’s life. You can tell immediately that Ander will be challenged to come out of his shell, and step out of his elder brother’s shadow; Arion, who’s had it easy all his life—due to favouritism from his father, natural athleticism, and good looks—will be challenged to rein in his confidence, and not to stumble when things become difficult.
As I grew older, I began to respect and love Ander for his weaknesses, but when I first read Elfstones as an adolescent, I loved Arion. I wasn’t athletic as a kid (though I did play soccer, basketball, skateboarded, and was a decent short track runner), but was rather quite bookish. I had a lot of friends, who are still good friends today, but spent a lot of time at home reading, or immersed in RPGs like Chrono Trigger or Baldur’s Gate. It wasn’t that I didn’t have a chance to be more social or play more sports—in fact, I had every opportunity—rather, my exile was voluntary, much like Ander’s. In fact, looking back, I see a lot of Ander in myself. However, I first read Elfstones, to Brooks’ intent and credit, Arion was everything I thought a strong Elven prince should be. I idolized him in the same way I idolized Jose Canseco. Like Canseco, though, the tallest and mightiest of us have a long way to fall, and the crater they leave behind is usually massive:
Once, Arion and [Ander] had been close. That was when Aine was alive—Aine, the youngest of the Elessedil sons. But Aine had been killed in a hunting accident eleven years ago, and after that the bond of kinship had no longer been enough. Amberle, Aine’s young daughter, had turned to Ander for support, not to Arion, and the older brother’s jealousy had soon manifested itself in open contempt. Then when Amberle had forsaken her position as one of the Chosen, Arion had blamed his brother’s influence, and his contempt had degenerated into thinly masked hostility. Now Ander suspected their father’s mind was being poisoned against him. But there was nothing he could do about it.
When I first started writing my notes, I mentioned of how difficult I found it to believe that Eventine—the brilliant, experienced, and compassionate king—would be so flawed as to openly favour Arion over Ander. It seemed to go against everything we learned about him in Sword. However, on further thought, it seems perfectly, honestly clear how this could happen. Arion’s charisma is blinding, and, after their falling out upon Aine’s death, Ander’s decision to no longer be involved in the day-to-day runnings of the royal family eradicated any chance of reconciling with his father and older brother. There’s a lot of stubbornness and hurt feelings involved, and everyone involved made mistakes in the wake of Aine’s death, but Brooks does a good job of writing an intricate and saddening account of a family torn apart by death.
Plotwise, not a whole lot moves forward here. The Elves become aware of the threat to the Ellcrys, and begin to formulate a plan to save her, but otherwise it’s about establishing the demons (lowercase d, not uppercase) that haunt Ander and his father, as well as introduce a few other characters (who shall remain nameless) who play a surprising role later in the novel.
And, can I just say how refreshing it is that the Elven royals believe Lauren and treat him with respect when he comes with news of the Ellcrys’ sickness? Too many epic fantasy novels rely on people in power acting stubbornly, refusing to accept the truth—as it seems Eventine is on the verge of doing at one point in the chapter (For an instant, the King did not respond, but sat rigidly in place, his eyes fixed on the speaker.)—and making things worse by standing pat while their enemies grow stronger. It’s one of the reasons that Elfstones, unlike many of Brooks’ other novels, never wastes a word: There’s no time, as the stakes just get higher and higher with each page turned.
Next Time on the Reread
The end(?) of the Chosen. Oh, wait, Amberle. A Druid awakens.
Aidan Moher is the Hugo Award-winning editor of A Dribble of Ink, a blog about science fiction and fantasy, and author of Tide of Shadows and Other Stories. He lives on an island in British Columbia with his wife and daughter.
The antagonists in Elfstones are some of the best monsters I’ve ever seen. Its hard to put them on the “best villains” scale, because they are so one dimensionally monstrous, but if you construct a “pure evil villains” scale they’d be way up there. The Reaper and the Changeling were responsible for a few of my early nightmares.
And as an adjunct to @1, without spoilering because I know there are a few new readers in here based on the intro thread–said nightmare-inducing monsters lift Elfstones out of sequelitis or middle-book-itis. I don’t think Brooks ever again achieved the same sense of overwhelming, yes-the-world-is-ending dread in a single volume. It’s not just that the Four Lands are worth saving (though I agree with the author that this is set up well), it’s that you believe despite genre conventions that they are genuinely and hideously under threat. Without three books.
Speaking in general:
This book saved Brooks for me, as the first Shannara series left me cold (it came across very much to me at least as a Tolkien clone and this book showed much more originality and creativity). I look forward to the reread, the upcoming TV series, and the ability to put the first books behind me because afte reading them, the joke about “joining Allanon” wasn’t all that funny…
Yeah, the main
demons are very nightmare worthy. It definitely was a stroke of genius to include the Reaper and the Changeling, as both of them, at least to me are more scary than the Dagda Mor is by itself.
This time around I like Ander much more than the other royals we have met so far, he comes across as a sympathetic character I can relate to
I’ve only read the first trilogy and the Heritage foursome but I’m generally aware of the rest of the books (due to TV Tropes) so I’m no expert but wouldn’t the first Ellcrys be far more ancient than the gap between our now and the book’s present? I assume it happened in our (very) long distant past.
I’m a big fan of the Legacy of Kain video game series and one of the big themes of that was the banishment of the Hylden into a hell dimension by the Ancient Vampires, this banishment is enforced by the Pillars of Nosgoth. Most of the plot of the series is caused their attempts to escape and take revenge. You briefly see the inside of this dimension during the fifth game and it is a twisted shadowy version of the same area seen on the outside.
I read Elfstones after playing these games so I had a very good idea of the nature of the Forbidding.
PS I really recommend the series to any gamers but Elfstones fans may find it more interesting.
The high point of the Shannara series for me. Interesting recap, as some of your reactions were similar to mine, and others quite different. For instance, I never thought of Lauren as quite the outcast among the chosen that you seem to see, just perhaps the youngest and most innocent. I also perceived Arion as an obstructionist jerk direct from the mold of Brom Bones and Gaston (though I read the novel while in High School in the ’80s before Gaston was introduced to the general public), that might be a little extreme; maybe Boromir would be a better comparison, though he seems to lack even Borormir’s sympathy as a character. So I’m somewhat surprised that he had appeal to other readers that I must have missed.
I agree about Demon’s as villains, and I have to admit that the Reaper is what brought them to a whole new level of scariness. Sometimes the whole ‘shades of grey’ thing is a bit over rated. Yes, many fantasy novels have totally evil villains; and yes many of these novels are poor; but I don’t know that it is merely because of the supposedly two dimensional villains that this is so. Sometimes it is nice to focus on the protagonists and their choices and responses to the force-of-nature that is the antagonists.
A thought about the Ellcrys, I remember that I always thought that the Ellcrys now was also the first one ever, but I guess that can’t be right? Considering the first Ellcrys was made before the race of men. Right
Re: the age of the current Ellcrys — I’ve always assumed that the previous female Chosen that Lauren alludes to in the first chapter (a few hundred years prior) eventually became the Ellcrys we meet in Elfstones. Fast forwarding through the series:
*SPOILERS FOR THE DARK LEGACY OF SHANNARA*
We learn in Wards of Faerie that the life expectancy of the Ellcrys is about roughly 550-600 years (according to this non-official timeline, at least), which would suggest to me that the Ellcrys in Elfstones is not the same one that first established the Forbidding. My understanding is that the first Ellcrys would have been created before recorded human history, suggesting that there have been several instances of the tree being reborn at the Bloodfire before we meet her for the first time.
Thoughts?
I started reading this book again for the reread. I had not read it since 1984. I was expecting things to not age well.
But what is really throwing me in the reread is not what I expected. The point-of-view is completely alien to my current sensibilities. This is a third-person omniscient epic fantasy with multiple major characters and no designated narrator. Third-person limited has become so standard that I cannot remember the last time I read a third-person omniscient. Certainly not one without a narrator.
This actually created problems for me as a reader in later chapters. I could not reliably figure out what information characters did and did not know. I will comment on that when we reach those chapters in the reread.
@Aidan Moher
I’m with you on that one – even without the retcons, the Ellcrys can’t be the original – the Demons were first banished before the age of Men, when the Elves were top dog. That has to be thousands of years. I think they’ve broken through more than once though.
The Dagda Mor mentions brooding over the fortress for hundreds of years … I get the feeling that he was young at the last time they broke through, which is what causes his hatred. Otherwise how could he hate them so much without experience?
I don’t think this Ellcrys is from 500yrs before … I think it is from a previous incarnation 700-800yrs before, and the girl mentioned was previously picked as a backup plan but never put into use.
I have in the back of my head that the previous Ellcrys was of the blood royal as well, perhaps the first was a similar sacrifice from the Elven king at the time?
Also the Reaper is such a wonderful bad guy – all the menace of the Ringwraiths, with none of their weaknesses. It’s like a fantasy version of the Alien.
The trio are the perfect adversaries at this time in Fantasy – the cunning and evil wizard, the perfect spy of the shapeshifter and the ultimate killing machine. I can’t actually think of anything else in Fantasy at that time that covered even half that ground in the antagonists.
@Mayhem
This also clarifies how the Dagda Mor knows that he must target the Chosen if he wants to put an end to any hope of the Ellcrys being reborn.
The story of the First Ellcrys is detailed in The Dark Legacy of Shannara.
I always thought that the Dagda Mor’s Staff of Power was a leftover relic from one of the Knights of the Word gone astray.
But it could just be a Demonic creation similar to the Elf Stones or a magical counter to the Word’s early efforts to arrest the deterioration of society. I’m not tied to it as an explanation for an external source of power for a Demo. I do think it’s interesting that Allanon breaks it in two, which is reminiscent of Logan Tom’s duel with a former Knight of the Word who went over to the Void.
@KReaves—I’d forgotten that. Can you remind me of what Brooks wrote about the first Ellcrys?
@CireNaes—Staff’s have certainly been integral to Brooks’ heroes and villains over the series’ lifespan. Though I’m certain Brooks didn’t intend to connect the Dagda Mor’s staff to the W&V series when he first wrote it, it’s fun to contemplate a possible connection between the Staff of Power, Logan’s Staff, and the staff that the Tanequil creates. Are they all manifestations of the Word and/or the Void?
@13 Oooh, I’m going to have to look that book up, I would love to find out about the very first Ellcrys!
@others – Thanks for clarifying the age of the current Ellcrys, it makes sense that she is only at the most around 800 years old
I do think, with the discussion of the age of the Ellcrys, that we’re probably dealing with a certain amount of retconning and Flints here no matter how we figure it. It’s plausible that the Dagda Mor might confuse “centuries” with “many millennia” if the Forbidding is chaotic or timeless, but it’s a rookie mistake for the omniscient narrator given that the Dagda Mor also remembers a time before the emergence of humans as a sentient species. Honestly I’m surprised Brooks’ editor didn’t catch it. Multiple emergences could explain how the Dagda Mor knows about what are, for him, scare-quotes “Trolls”, “Gnomes” and “Dwarves” and would solve a lot. . .but that’s just not how the passage is written.
Might be a bit of a narrative double bind. A lot of the tension would be lost if the death of the Ellcrys were presented from the start as a cyclical event every few hundred years (and the loss of historical memory would feel less apocalyptic and more borrowing-from-Pern) rather than a crisis that hasn’t come to near fruition for tens of thousands of years. But as many commenters have said, the temptation to write a story about the first Ellcrys must have been really strong. Likewise the temptation to write another Ellcrys story, which demands the extremely short lifespan.
BTW, what are the spoiler rules for this thread?
Spoilers for the entire series are fair game in the comments. Be kind and mark which books you’re spoiling, though.
@@@@@ 15 Spoiler for Dark Legacy of Shannara
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The diary that Aphenglow Elessedil is translating throughout the series (Highlight for spoilers) Aleia who fell in love with a Darkling of the Void and told him about the Elfstones, which he stole so that she would come and find him using the Blue Seeker stones.
It’s over the course of the trilogy that you find out all the backstory.
Being this is my first read of Elfstones, one of the things I loved about Elfstones was the simplicity of the story. Brooks tells a story in a way that captures the reader’s attention. He makes us want to live in that world. To be a Chosen. To be an Elf. He creates a story and a world that we want to protect.
One of the things I struggled with was the Ellcrys, because to me, with the “s”, I was making the assumption there was more than one. Which now I understand that there is, but only one lives at a time, not multiple Ellcrys living at the same time. The Ellcrys also reminded me of the great oak tree in Running with the Demon from the Word & Void series. That particular tree was designed to be a prison for the maentwrog that the demon was trying to release. I get that the W&V series was written years after Elfstones, but I like the parallel of trees being used to prison a horde of demons (Forbidding) or one dangerous creature (maentwrog). Based on the parallel of tree usage to encage demons, I would not be surprised that Brooks has some type of parallel between the Staff used by the Knights of the Word and the demons. Similar to the Jedi and Sith both using lightsabers.
I’m sure over the years as Brooks has created and explored this universe with the Four Lands, he continues to discover new aspects, which he infuses into his novels. Meaning that at times the “history” or “logic” appears to change. But based on my limited knowledge (having only read the W&V series, Genesis and Legends series) I think he does a wonderful job of staying consistent and even paralleling aspects of the different stories. By evidence that “Staffs” contain power regardless if it is a Knight or demon. Trees are prisons, no matter what age or who is ruling the Four Lands at the time, humans or Elves.
I agree that there is an impressive amount of consistency, @20. That was one thing I enjoyed so much about Armageddon’s Children–it felt like a natural outgrowth instead of a stunt. That said, the thing that still drives me crazy about The Elves of Cintra (other than the Villain Monologue) is that *spoiler*
Brooks sets up a really exciting story for readers who understand the Ellcrys and then pulls the punch. Logically, the Ellcrys at that time must have Chosen Arusha as a potential successor, presumably because she sensed the nuclear apocalypse. Having the King know, at that much earlier time when the records are much more complete, why his daughter was a Chosen makes his motivations make so much sense. . .and then the whole thing just goes nowhere.
It’s been a long, long, long time since I read any of the Shannara books, and that was only the first trilogy. But I rather suspect that if I went back to them now, I’d discover that most of my expectations for epic fantasy had been formed when Shannara (and Dragonlance and Thomas Covenant) imprinted themselves on my DNA.
I believe the age of the ellscry is one of the things that has changed in the following books. One of the problems they have is that she remembers where the bloodfire is but the world has drastically changed since then. This would put her before the destruction of the world. Also she was considering herself the first. Because of her being the first she had no idea what to expect when she died. Every time a girl was chosen it was because she thought she was dying. Until the time of Elfstones it had always been a false alarm.
Spoilers for the end of the book!
@23 It seems from comments that there is some major retconning down the line. I just reread the last few chapters of Elfstones last night & Allanon straight up states that this is the first Ellcrys & that is why she made ‘mistakes’ over her lifetime (previously thinking she is dying when she isn’t, pushing too hard with Amberle,…).
I really liked the introduction of all 3 of the villains together, it really brought an added sense of doom i think. Instead of one super powerful villain, or one leader with 2 henchmen, it seems that they each follow their own agenda and the changeling and reaper are ok with dagda mor being in charge because they all get what they want, but I think that they would each be capable of taking the slack of the others if they were to fall which is equally scary.
Potential spoilers below for people who have not read elfstones before… maybe.
As for the inconsistency between the description of the forbidding throughout the series, (now keep in mind that I haven’t read anything newer than the voyage of the jerle shannara trilogy so I don’t know if this is addressed at all), a theory I thought of when I read this as a gripe was that maybe the Forbidding that is described in these chapters might be the manifestation of the current Ellcrys and whoever became her, whereas, the Forbidding that is established and in place in the future is the new Ellcrys (Amberle) and might have been formed from what she pictured as the worst place imaginable. The old Ellcrys might have come from a time before the 4 lands even existed or something like that, or it could be possible that the old Forbidding could have started out like how the new vision is as an apocalypse, but as so much time has passed it might have degraded into emptiness and nothingness (that’s why we cant have nice things, demons). As I was reading the comments above from people who have read the series way beyond where I left off I realize that I might need to get back into the whole series after this reread and also where it connects with his other books. I find that I have a lot of questions about it and it seems to be really interesting.
Elfstones clearly implies that this is the first Ellcrys, which makes the knowledge of how to renew her being lost in time much more plausible. If this is retconned in in future books, then that is disappointing.
@treebee72 – Thanks for digging that out. It does put an interesting spin on the Ellcrys’ character to consider that she was as naive as everyone else. I think there’s enough evidence in later volumes that she’s not the first Ellcrys (Alannon might be wrong here), so it’s certainly going to be a point of debate during this reread. I’m going to see if I can get an official comment from Brooks about it. :)
@mole701 – That’s an interesting theory re: different manifestations of the Forbidding depending on the current Ellcrys. If you’re interested in jumping ahead, you might just go straight to Wards of Faerie, which is the first in a trilogy that acts, in many ways, as a direct sequel to The Elfstones of Shannara.
@gadget – At the time Brooks wrote Elfstones, I get the sense that as he fleshed out the lore surrounding the Ellcrys, the Forbidding, and the end of world chronicles in Armageddon’s Children, that he wrote himself into a bit of a corner. Still, considering the immense complexity of a storyline that takes place over the course of millennium, I think he’s done a tremendous job of keeping things consistent (sometimes too consistent) with relatively few plot holes. Definitely worth applauding.
Since we are on Chapters 1-3, I would like to talk about the original cover. Is this a Hildebrandt brothers cover? When I was much younger that cover drew me in, along with Sword’s cover. As I read the books, these were the types of images that flowed through my mind. Rereading this now, the images are changing to those that I am seeing in the trailers for the new show. Amazing how things can change over the years when you read different stories again. As for the first three chapters, the setup to the story and the evil-to-be-overcome was great. However, it seems so long before our main heroes are even introduced. I also love Terry’s “weather reports” in these earlier novels so much. Seems like they were missing a bit more in his later works. Ready for the next chapters!
@Aidan Moher, yeah I think that even though I have a to-read pile that seems to grow faster than I can get it to shrink (full time job and family time with 2 very young kids makes reading time very limited) I am going to have to continue delving further into the shannara books. I think when we finish our Elfstones reread, I am going to have to read all the new books that have been released since the last ones I read, I might even reread all of them, It would take a long time, but what the hell, I only remember having a good time with them.
@28 Shades, I love all the old book covers as well. I thought they added so much character to the books. I wish they never changed them. I cant stand the new boring computer rendered landscapes they put on the covers. The old artwork was exactly that, art. I remember that I had an old edition of Sword of Shannara when I was growing up that had color versions of all the pictures throughout the book, and there was one picture in the middle that showed the whole group that was a larger picture that actually folded out. It was really cool and I wish I had it. One thing I noticed also from Amazon, is that it seems like they are “re-branding” Elfstones no longer as being part of the shannara trilogy, but as “book one of the Shannara Chronicles”. I hate that move. I think it is going to confuse people who are just going to get exposed to these books by the show when there are so many different brands on the same book.
@Shades #28 – The cover art for the first edition of The Elfstones of Shannara is by Darrell K. Sweet, who you’ll also recognize for his covers on all but the final volume of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. And, I agree, I absolutely love it. Yeah, it’s campy, but the visuals included in the first three volumes (not just the covers, but the interior illustrations) helped Brooks’ world come to life for me in a way that even Tolkien’s Middle-Earth (which I’d read just prior to discovering Brooks) couldn’t. They’re still the visual reference I use for the lands and characters in the series. I’ll be interested to see how the upcoming show affects this.
@mole701 #29 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the later books. There are definitely some dips in quality (I’d actually recommend skipping a few of the pre-Sword of Shannara volumes, and can’t wholly endorse his latest two books), but it’s definitely a ride worth taking. Enjoy!
I’m not getting the love for the cover of this book, I mean, I think its horrible. You’ve got a teen in the front (I haven’t read the book yet so I’m assuming its a teen because he is so much smaller compared to the other guy (actually character sizes was never one of Sweet’s strengths)) who is wearing a green shirt with purple trim and yellow pants. Then you’ve got an archer (you know he’s an archer, not because he is holding a bow but because he is wearing Robin Hood’s hat from the Errol Flynn movie, with the feather even) who is wearing Green and orange.
Green and purple? Green and orange??? WTF?!!! Did these guys get dressed in the dark? Are the tailors in Shannara all color blind?
YMMV of course, I also dislike Sweet’s WoT covers, lol. But, having said all that I don’t let bad cover art keep me from reading a book. If I did I never would have read WoT after all.
Also, planning on taking my daughter to the bookstore tomorrow (Saturday) and I am going to pick up Elfstones. If I can get through these first three chapters over this thankfully long, three day weekend, I’ll let y’all know what I thought of them.
Huh, it’s funny, I also have always kinda liked the original cover (@31 makes some valid points about some, uh, excessive use of the whole paint palette, but even so), but I HATE HATE HATE all the Sweet covers for the WoT. I can never decide whether Romance Novel Rand on Lord of Chaos or Pointless Stew Pouring Ugly Super-Domestic Moiraine on Shadow Rises is the worst. I can’t help but think that it’s a reflection of different author expectations. Brooks is trying to write an exciting adventure novel where Errol Flynn wouldn’t be entirely out of place. He talks in his new introduction to the e-book Shannara trilogy about the influence of novels like The Three Musketeers. If we start talking in any depth about Jordan we’ll get off topic and probably also argue ourselves blue in the face, but I think we can agree that “traditional exciting adventure” isn’t what he was going for. So maybe that’s why I react well to Sweet in conjunction with Shannara and badly to him in conjunction with WoT; he fits the material. Yes, it would be nice if he kept character sizes consistent. That said, does anyone else remember his really quite beautiful interior line drawing of Amberle with the Ellcrys seed in the original paperback? Maybe he’s one of those illustrators who is better in line than acrylic but no one will buy a line drawing cover.
I loved the original cover art. My copy was that image presented here but the rest of the book was black, not purple; the glow of the Elfstones really popped out. It’s probably why I bought it, as a kid in the 80s, not realizing that it was the second book in a series. As it was I loved it and it was, for me, a better place to start than Sword, which was a bit bloated. My visual image of both the Elfstones and of Allanon’s powers comes from the book rather than that one.
Love all three of the very scary demons presented here.
I also thought Lauren was going to be a protagonist.
But then, I also thought (and still think) that Ander is a protagonist as much as Wil or Amberle. And he was definitely my favorite of the Elessedils siblings; Arion came across as jock and a jerk, to me.
I stopped reading new Brooks as soon as they came out sometime during retconning of the Forbidding; not directly b/c of that (I just wasn’t enjoying the books as much anymore) but that was definitely a thing that grated on me. If there’s some kind of retcon that there have been many, um, Ellcryi – well, that will be just annoying. It’s clear in this book that this is THE ELLCRYS, the original. If we lose that, then we lose a lot of the beauty and majesty of this ancient and majestic lifeform from the Time of Faerie. And the idea that some of the Elven people see demons as a myth becomes much more plausible.
Plus….SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
If the Ellcrys in later books might not still be Amberle, living through the eons and preserving memories of Wil and Ander and Eventine et. al., then I just feel cheated!