The Sword of Shannara Totally Explained

Everything about The Sword Of Shannara totally explained

ť This article is about the fantasy novel. For information about the fictional sword, see Shannara artifacts.

The Sword of Shannara is an epic fantasy novel by Terry Brooks, and the first book in the Original Shannara Trilogy. Brooks wrote the book as a way to fight what he called an "increasingly rapid descent into terminal boredom" brought on by his just entering law school. ť

Plot introduction

History

According to the history of the Four Lands, mankind once gained such technological advances that their power outgrew their own understanding. Politics and hunger for power led to apocalyptic battles that became known as the Great Wars, in which most life on Earth perished and the structure of the land itself was rearranged. (The new Genesis of Shannara Series has hinted this to be a nuclear fallout with the help of demon interaction, thus placing the Shannara stories sometime in an alternate future of our own world.) Mankind split into several distinct races: Men, Dwarves, Gnomes, and Trolls. Elves also appeared at this time, though they came from a different lineage than man and had always been in the world but had stayed hidden for centuries. In a futuristic return to the past, the natural world once again flourished, and magic appeared out of the skeletal remains of skyscrapers and subways.

The Druids

After the great war of races a few men remembered the secrets of the sciences that had shaped their way of life prior to the destruction of the old world. Most were little more than primitive creatures, and the few could recollect only bits and pieces of knowledge. But they kept their books of learning intact and these could tell them most of the secrets of the old sciences. They kept them hidden and secure during that first several hundred years, unable to put the words to practical use, waiting for the time when they might. They read and with no way to preserve them or copy them, those few men who possessed the books began to memorize the information. Soon the races began to develop beyond the primitive life and they quarreled violently over the land. This is when the men decided that they needed to act. So an elf named Galaphile called together a select group of men to a council at Paranor. This was the first Druid Council. From their fortress of Paranor in the center of the known world, the Druids guided the races to peace and preserved the wisdom of the ages. However, with the revival of magic, it soon became all too clear that any power, be it magic or science, was susceptible to corruption. The Druid Brona and his followers experimented in the dark arts, until the power they sought to wield instead controlled them. They were cast out of Paranor, leaving them with a desire for revenge against the Druids.

The Wars of the Races

Brona convinced Men to attack the other races, becoming his unwitting pawns in the First War of the Races. He almost succeeded, but the Druids led the other races against him. Brona disappeared, presumably dead, and the Druids partitioned the Four Lands out to each of the races to lessen tension. However, they were shamed by the betrayal of one of their own, and became reclusive, withdrawing to the walls of Paranor where they jealously guarded their knowledge. Centuries later, Brona and his followers, seemingly immortal, returned as the Warlock Lord and the Skull Bearers. The Second War of the Races began with the destruction of the Druid Order. The only survivors were Bremen, Tay Trefenwyd, Risca and a healer named Mareth, having been cast out for practicing the now-outlawed magic. Bremen, realizing now that only magic could combat magic, forged a magical talisman, a blade given into the hands of the Elven King, Jerle Shannara. The Warlock Lord led the Trolls and the Gnomes against the other Races, bringing creatures from the spirit world with him, but he was finally weakened by the Sword of Shannara. Yet peace came at an awful price. Tension was mounting between the races, having been turned on one another yet again, and the Druid Order had seemingly vanished from the world.

Plot summary

Centuries later, the Ohmsford family of Shady Vale is surprised by a half-elven baby left on their doorstep. The baby is taken in and named Shea. He is raised like a brother to the Ohmsford's son, Flick. The brothers become inseparable, helping run the family inn, until nearly twenty years later, when a tall, dark, mysterious figure arrives in the Vale. His name is Allanon, last of the Druids, his face perpetually in shadow under the dark folds of his robe. Allanon comes with a warning: Shea's life is in danger. He claims the Warlock Lord, previously thought to be a myth, has returned, and is after Shea, the last descendant of Jerle Shannara and the only one now living who can wield the Sword of Shannara against him.
   Giving Shea three blue stones for protection, Allanon departs, bidding Shea to leave the Vale immediately. Reluctant to heed Allanon's advice, he stays in the Vale until a pack of Skull Bearers, powerful minions of the Warlock Lord, come to the Vale in search of the last descendant of Shannara. Shea and Flick flee with the Skull Bearers on their heels. They seek refuge in the nearby city of Leah, joining with Shea's friend Menion, the lazy son of the city's lord.Menion guides them to the Eastland, where they meet Allanon at the Dwarf capital of Culhaven.
   The three blue Elfstones (as they're revealed to be) protect Shea and his companions through their adventures until they safely arrive at Culhaven. Once there, a council of the Races is summoned under Allanon to decide how to combat the Warlock Lord. It is decided to send a small party to Paranor, the final resting place of the Sword of Shannara. There they could take possession of the one weapon that could destroy the Warlock Lord, once and for all. Journeying through the Valley of Shale, where the spirit of Bremen resides, and under the Dragon's Teeth mountains, they finally arrive in Paranor, but Shea is lost along the way.
   The remaining group finds Paranor overrun with Gnome soldiers in the service of the Warlock Lord, and the Sword missing; it has already been taken north to the Skull kingdom. The group splits up, some to find Shea, others to prepare for the inevitable battle that will ensue.
   Flick sneaks into the enemy camp and rescues the captive Eventine Elessidil, King of the Elves, thus mobilizing the Elves to the aid of Callahorn, the Borderland country that would be struck first. Menion saves a beautiful redhead named Shirl Ravenlock, with whom he falls in love, and together they organize evacuation of the island city of Kern, which is later burned by the Northland army. Meawhile, Shea's life is saved by a one-handed thief named Panamon Creel and his mute Troll companion, Keltset. Journeying to the Northland, Shea and his rescuers reach the Skull kingdom itself, where an insane Gnome deserter has carried the Sword of Shannara in his madness.
   Just as the battle to the Borderlands is about to be lost to the northern army, Shea takes the sword, his birthright. Its enigmatic power is finally revealed to him, as he's confronted with the truth of his life the moment he touches the handle. The Warlock Lord materializes to destroy Shea. In a rage of determination to prevent Brona from hurting anyone else, Shea attacks Brona. Although immune to physical weapons, the Warlock Lord is forced to confront the truth of himself: Brona, the man, died in the First War of the Races, and the rest of his life was a lie. Forced to confront the truth of his death, the Warlock Lord vanishes.
   The destruction of the Skull kingdom takes Keltset's life as he sacrifices himself to save his friends. In the south, the Troll army is easily dispatched once the Skull Bearers follow Brona to his fate. Allanon saves Shea's life, reveals that he's the centuries-old son of Bremen, and soon disappears, saying he needs to sleep. Peace returns, and the heroes go home. Shea and Flick are reunited, having found their confidence, and Menion has become a responsible young man, returning home with Shirl.

Main characters

Minor characters

Acton

Breen Elessedil

Curzad Ohmsford

Fandrez

Fandwick

Ginnisson

Janus Senpre

Jon Lin Sandor

King of the Silver River

Lynliss

Messaline

Mist Wraith

Pahn

Ruhl Buckhannah

Shade of Bremen

Sheelon

Literary significance & criticism

The plot of the 'Sword of Shannara' has drawn criticism for being overly derivative of the The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien's series, which predates the first Shannara novel by roughly thirty years, also revolves around an unlikely hero from a small, quiet community who is drawn into a quest by a tall, magic-bearing man in order to destroy a distant Dark Lord. Precious magical artifacts are entrusted to the young hero who must flee, accompanied by his oldest friend and cousins from a neighboring land (or, in the case of Shannara, his mundane brother and a friend who is nobility from a neighboring land), when terrifying, demonic, bestial minions of the Dark Lord begin to stalk him and can sense when he uses his talisman. Eventually, a council decides the young hero will have to penetrate the center of the Dark Lord's realm in order to stop his armies, aided by a multi-racial group of companions. The heroes are unable to travel the way they wish, and are forced to follow a mysterious and foreboding underground passage to cut underneath the land. Along the way, their tall wizard leader fights a seemingly invincible foe, and falls with it into a pit of fire to his supposed demise, only to meet up with the main characters later. In addition, some names sound similar, such as Elessedil, which sounds somewhat like a combination of the Tolkien names Elessar and Elendil. These and many other similarities, combined with the common every-day language that Brooks uses in The Sword of Shannara, give some justification for calling it "Tolkien Lite" or "Tolkien For Dummies". Terry Brooks admits that Tolkien's works were a major influence, and his supporters point out that many of the similarities are broad concepts common in modern day fantasy literature. Additionally, the plot of Brooks' subsequent novels bear little resemblance to Tolkien's works (apart from elements shared by many novels in the genre).

Footnotes

Further Information

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