Child of the Dark Prophecy
Encyclopedia
Child of the Dark Prophecy is the first novel in The Great Tree of Avalon trilogy by T. A. Barron
. It is set in a world made up of a great tree and its seven roots inhabited by creatures.
that beat like a heart, planted by Merlin
in Barron's previous series, The Lost Years of Merlin
. Soon it grew into a huge tree, having members of every existing species living in its 7 root
-realms. Élano, the sap of the Great Tree, is a liquid that has the power to create, with powers far greater than that of Merlin himself.
For the first several centuries of Avalon's existence, the creatures lived in harmony
, guided by the religion
of Avalon, the Society of the Whole, its followers known as Drumadians, named after a wood in The Lost Years of Merlin. The Society was started by Elen and Rhiannon, mother and sister to Merlin respectively, also characters from The Lost Years of Merlin. The Society promotes harmony between all races, and the upkeep of the Great Tree, which sustains them all. However, sometime after Elen died, Rhiannon, called Rhia, resigned as High Priestess and left, never to be seen again.
Peace is shattered by the War of Storms, a war that included almost all of the races in Avalon and lasted for several centuries. The beginning of the war was heralded by the darkening of the star
s in the constellation
the Wizard's Staff. The war was only resolved by the Treaty of the Swaying Sea, crafted by the mysterious Lady of the Lake
and by Merlin. After the war ended, Merlin said that he would probably not return to Avalon, and that Avalon's problems must be solved by Avalonians. As a parting gift he, with the help of his friend Basilgarrad the dragon
, flew up to the stars and rekindled the darkened constellation.
All was well until the Lady of the Lake again appeared, this time to make a prophecy
about a year wherein all of Avalon's stars would go dark, and a child would be born who is destined to destroy Avalon. However, there was hope: the true heir of Merlin could save them all, if he was found. During the foretold Dark Year, the majority of creatures in Avalon forbade childbirth, killing all children born in spite of the moratorium. Despite this, rumors persist of a child being born in the Flamelon stronghold in the root-realm Rahnawyn.
17 years after the Dark Year, things are going badly. A drought appears in realms Olanabram, Brynchilla, and El Urien; humans become anthropocentric and arrogant; and the stars in the Wizard's Staff are again darkening, one by one. Characters Tamwyn, Elli, Nuic, Henni, Llynia, and later Batty Lad, must journey to the Lady of the Lake to find out what is happening, and how they can stop it.
Eventually, it is revealed that a sorcerer, Kulwych of the White Hands, has dammed the river that sustains the three realms named above with the sole purpose of collecting enough of the élano-bearing water thereof to produce a pure crystal of the substance. For this, he needs Merlin's staff, Ohnyalei, which has been for seventeen years in the keeping of Tamwyn's foster-brother, the eagleman Scree. Tamwyn is himself revealed to be Merlin's grandson; to be the Child of the Dark Prophecy; and to be the Heir. With the aid of his friends Elli, Nuic, Henni, Batty Lad, Shim, and Brionna, as well as of Scree and the staff Ohnyalei, Tamwyn destroys the dam and drives Kulwych into hiding. It is later revealed that Kulwych is a servant of Rhita Gawr, an evil spirit
warlord.
The Lost Years of Merlin
T. A. Barron
Thomas Archibald Barron is an American writer of fantasy literature, books for children and young adults, and nature books.-Biography:...
. It is set in a world made up of a great tree and its seven roots inhabited by creatures.
Plot summary
Avalon started its life as a magical seedSeed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
that beat like a heart, planted by Merlin
Merlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
in Barron's previous series, The Lost Years of Merlin
The Lost Years of Merlin
The Lost Years of Merlin is a work of literature by T.A. Barron, published by Penguin Group USA. It tells the tale of the legendary wizard Merlin's youth. Though the character Merlin is world famous as an ancient wizard, this story of his lost youth is original to the author...
. Soon it grew into a huge tree, having members of every existing species living in its 7 root
Root
In vascular plants, the root is the organ of a plant that typically lies below the surface of the soil. This is not always the case, however, since a root can also be aerial or aerating . Furthermore, a stem normally occurring below ground is not exceptional either...
-realms. Élano, the sap of the Great Tree, is a liquid that has the power to create, with powers far greater than that of Merlin himself.
For the first several centuries of Avalon's existence, the creatures lived in harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
, guided by the religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
of Avalon, the Society of the Whole, its followers known as Drumadians, named after a wood in The Lost Years of Merlin. The Society was started by Elen and Rhiannon, mother and sister to Merlin respectively, also characters from The Lost Years of Merlin. The Society promotes harmony between all races, and the upkeep of the Great Tree, which sustains them all. However, sometime after Elen died, Rhiannon, called Rhia, resigned as High Priestess and left, never to be seen again.
Peace is shattered by the War of Storms, a war that included almost all of the races in Avalon and lasted for several centuries. The beginning of the war was heralded by the darkening of the star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
s in the constellation
Constellation
In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....
the Wizard's Staff. The war was only resolved by the Treaty of the Swaying Sea, crafted by the mysterious Lady of the Lake
Lady of the Lake
The Lady of the Lake is the name of several related characters who play parts in the Arthurian legend. These characters' roles include giving King Arthur his sword Excalibur, enchanting Merlin, and raising Lancelot after the death of his father...
and by Merlin. After the war ended, Merlin said that he would probably not return to Avalon, and that Avalon's problems must be solved by Avalonians. As a parting gift he, with the help of his friend Basilgarrad the dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
, flew up to the stars and rekindled the darkened constellation.
All was well until the Lady of the Lake again appeared, this time to make a prophecy
Prophecy
Prophecy is a process in which one or more messages that have been communicated to a prophet are then communicated to others. Such messages typically involve divine inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of conditioned events to come as well as testimonies or repeated revelations that the...
about a year wherein all of Avalon's stars would go dark, and a child would be born who is destined to destroy Avalon. However, there was hope: the true heir of Merlin could save them all, if he was found. During the foretold Dark Year, the majority of creatures in Avalon forbade childbirth, killing all children born in spite of the moratorium. Despite this, rumors persist of a child being born in the Flamelon stronghold in the root-realm Rahnawyn.
17 years after the Dark Year, things are going badly. A drought appears in realms Olanabram, Brynchilla, and El Urien; humans become anthropocentric and arrogant; and the stars in the Wizard's Staff are again darkening, one by one. Characters Tamwyn, Elli, Nuic, Henni, Llynia, and later Batty Lad, must journey to the Lady of the Lake to find out what is happening, and how they can stop it.
Eventually, it is revealed that a sorcerer, Kulwych of the White Hands, has dammed the river that sustains the three realms named above with the sole purpose of collecting enough of the élano-bearing water thereof to produce a pure crystal of the substance. For this, he needs Merlin's staff, Ohnyalei, which has been for seventeen years in the keeping of Tamwyn's foster-brother, the eagleman Scree. Tamwyn is himself revealed to be Merlin's grandson; to be the Child of the Dark Prophecy; and to be the Heir. With the aid of his friends Elli, Nuic, Henni, Batty Lad, Shim, and Brionna, as well as of Scree and the staff Ohnyalei, Tamwyn destroys the dam and drives Kulwych into hiding. It is later revealed that Kulwych is a servant of Rhita Gawr, an evil spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
warlord.
The main characters
- Tamwyn: A young man who has, for the majority of his lifetime, lived in the realm of Rahnawyn with his adopted brother, Scree. He has suspicions that he might be the Dark Child, as he is 17 years old and seems to think there is a hidden darkness in him. His name means Dark Flame in the language of the flamelons, his mother's people. His father is Krystallus, Merlin's son. Although they have never met, Tamwyn seeks to follow in his father's footsteps, even before learning of his father's identity.
- Scree: An eagleboy, having the ability to change between human form and that of an eagleEagleEagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...
. After his mother was murdered, he was adopted by Tamwyn's mother, and raised by her until he was ten years old. As their mother attempted to teach the two the art of portalseeking, wherein the traveler is teleported through the vascular system of Avalon itself, she is killed by the assassin-like birds called ghoulacas. Later, visiting the portal, Tamwyn and Scree are attacked by the birds again; the two boys enter the portal to escape. Tamwyn is sent to Olanabram, while Scree returns to Rahnawyn. The two then spend the next seven years in search of one another.
- Elliryana Lailoken/Elli: A young trainee at the Society of the Whole. Her parents were killed in gnomeGnomeA gnome is a diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature...
raids; she was herself kept in slavery for the majority of her life, clinging to the only remnant of her parents: a harpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
made by her father, who was a priest in the Society of the Whole, that was later accidentally destroyed by Tamwyn the first day they met. After escaping, shortly before the events of this book took place, she went to the Drumadian compound to become a priestess, hoping to follow in her father's footsteps. Her memories continue to haunt her.
- Nuic: Elli's faithful maryth; one of the diverse creatures voluntarily bound in partnership to Drumadian priests and priestesses. He is an old creature, often referring to ancient events at which he was present. He is a small pinnacle sprite; a rotund mountain-dweller whose color changes according to his thoughts and emotions. He is often sarcastic and impatient, though he is wise and witty. Nuic is said to have been the maryth to Rhiannon, daughter of the Drumadian founder and great aunt to Tamwyn.
- Rhita Gawr: A shape-changing, immortal spirit who seeks to dominate all the worlds. He emerges slowly into physical form throughout the first two books. He is arrogant, cruel, egocentric, and prone to undervaluing all whom he meets.
- Olewyn: Though not named until Shadows on the Stars, he is quite prominent in both books. Appearing several times, he is a mysterious bardBardIn medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...
whose knowledge and power far exceeds that which he chooses to reveal. He is notable for his broad, white beard, his skills of music and poetry, and for a creature called a museo, which dwells in his hat. This creature possesses the most musical voice of all voices in Avalon.
- Kulwych: An evil sorcerer who desires to gain totalitarian control of Avalon. He especially hates Merlin, and wishes to rid Avalon of the wizard's image. He is shown to be a servant of Rhita Gawr. Kulwych is known as White Hands, because he hides his battle-scarred body beneath a cloak, allowing only his perfectly white hands to show. His plan involves the creation of a dam by which to capture the water of GeyserGeyserA geyser is a spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by a vapour phase . The word geyser comes from Geysir, the name of an erupting spring at Haukadalur, Iceland; that name, in turn, comes from the Icelandic verb geysa, "to gush", the verb...
Crystillia, which has enough eláno to make a crystal. He then plans to corrupt the crystal, making it a thing of destruction, rather than creation.
- Brionna: A young elfElfAn elf is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine beings endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind...
from El Urien who is captured by White Hands's arms master, Harlech. She is forced to work on Kulwych's dam. Later, Kulwych blackmails her into stealing the staff Ohnyalei from Scree, who has been its keeper, by threatening the life of her grandfather Tressimir. Brionna obeys, fearing to lose her grandfather. She meets and befriends Shim, a giantGiant (mythology)The mythology and legends of many different cultures include monsters of human appearance but prodigious size and strength. "Giant" is the English word commonly used for such beings, derived from one of the most famed examples: the gigantes of Greek mythology.In various Indo-European mythologies,...
who has become dwarf-sized under the influence of a curse. Brionna, having stolen Ohnyalei, is betrayed by Kulwych. She later abets the destruction of his dam.
The supporting characters
- Shim: A giant who has been reduced to the size of a dwarf, not once but twice, having grown to giant-size in between. He is as old as Avalon itself. Shim is a friend of Merlin's, encountered first in The Lost Years of Merlin. In Child of the Dark Prophecy, he befriends Brionna. Shim always speaks with a particular mannerism, distinguished by his haphazard use of suffices and his use of synonymous adjectives such as "certainly, definitely, absolutely" in trios.
- Henni: Henni is a hoolah; a mischievous, reckless, comical person who sees life as a game. He enjoys seeing people become frustrated or hot-tempered, because they are then excited and therefore appear absurd to him. He fulfills this liking by joining the travelling group consisting of Elli, Nuic, Llynia, Llynia's maryth Fairlyn, and Tamwyn, whom he teases relentlessly. Henni, for his part, becomes more sober as a result of his experiences of violence and danger.
- Llynia: A priestess of the Society of the Whole. Llynia is excessively arrogant, egocentric, and anthropocentric. She torments Elli constantly and abuses all whom she meets, except the gardener Hanwan Bellamir, who is as anthropocentric as she despite his gentler demeanor.
- Batty Lad: A small, green-eyed, batBatBats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
like creature who joins Tamwyn. Batty Lad is happy-go-lucky, cheerful, and talkative. He speaks very quickly, with a tendency toward colorful language. His origins are implied to be of great significance.
- Rhiannon: T. A. Barron's re-invention of the Lady of the Lake. Rhia, as she is sometimes called, is vital, optimistic, friendly, humorous, courteous, compassionate, wise, and skilled in magical arts. She is very much in touch with nature, though at times she surrenders to her frustrations. She is Merlin's sister and Tamwyn's great-aunt.
- Krystallus Eopia: Though he did not actually take action in the book, Krystallus was often mentioned. Son of the wizard Merlin and deer-woman Hallia, Krystallus was a great explorer who died on his greatest expedition, the journey to the stars. The Lady of the Lake later revealed to Tamwyn that Krystallus was his father.
The Seven Root Realms
The Great Tree of Avalon splits into seven roots (realms):- Airroot(Y Swylarna)
- Mudroot(Maloch)
- Stoneroot(Olanabram)
- Waterroot(Brynchilla)
- Fireroot(Rahnawyn)
- Woodroot (El Urien)
- Shadowroot (Lastrael)
The books in The Great Tree of Avalon series
| Great Tree of Avalon Series |
|---|
| Child of the Dark Prophecy |
| Shadows on the Stars Shadows on the Stars Shadows on the Stars is the second book in The Great Tree of Avalon series by T. A. Barron. Child of the Dark Prophecy was the first book, and The Eternal Flame the last... |
| The Eternal Flame The Eternal Flame The Eternal Flame is the third book in The Great Tree of Avalon trilogy by T. A. Barron. It was preceded by Child of the Dark Prophecy and Shadows on the Stars. The hardcover version of this book was published by Penguin Young Readers Group in 2006.-Plot introduction:Avalon is at the edge of... |
Adventures of Kate trilogy
- Heartlight (1990)
- The Ancient One (1992)
- Merlin EffectMerlin EffectThe Merlin Effect is the third book in The Adventure of Kate trilogy by T. A. Barron. It was preceded by Heartlight and The Ancient One. The hardcover version of this book was published by Ace Books in 2004.-Plot introduction:...
(1994)
The Lost Years of MerlinThe Lost Years of MerlinThe Lost Years of Merlin is a work of literature by T.A. Barron, published by Penguin Group USA. It tells the tale of the legendary wizard Merlin's youth. Though the character Merlin is world famous as an ancient wizard, this story of his lost youth is original to the author...
epic
- The Lost Years of MerlinThe Lost Years of MerlinThe Lost Years of Merlin is a work of literature by T.A. Barron, published by Penguin Group USA. It tells the tale of the legendary wizard Merlin's youth. Though the character Merlin is world famous as an ancient wizard, this story of his lost youth is original to the author...
(1996) - The Seven Songs of MerlinThe Seven Songs of MerlinThe Seven Songs of Merlin is a work of literature by T. A. Barron, published by Penguin. The Seven Songs of Merlin is the second story in a five story epic known as The Lost Years of Merlin. These books chronicle the childhood of Merlin....
(1997) - The Fires of MerlinThe Fires of MerlinThe Fires of Merlin is a 1998 fantasy novel by T. A. Barron published by Penguin. It is the third of The Lost Years of Merlin, a five-book series providing a childhood story for the legendary Merlin, wizard of Arthurian legend....
(1998) - The Mirror of MerlinThe Mirror of MerlinThe Mirror of Merlin is a 1999 fantasy novel by T. A. Barron published by Penguin. It is the fourth of The Lost Years of Merlin, a five-book series providing a childhood story for the legendary Merlin, wizard of Arthurian legend....
(1999) - The Wings of MerlinThe Wings of MerlinThe Wings of Merlin is a children's fantasy novel by T.A. Barron. It is the fifth book in the Lost Years of Merlin epic about the legendary wizard Merlin's youth...
(2000)
Merlin's Dragon trilogy
- Book One - Merlin's Dragon (2008)
- Book Two - Doomraga's Revenge (2009)
- Book Three - Ultimate Magic (2010)
Picture Books
- Where is Grandpa? (1999)
- High as a Hawk (2004)
- The Day the Stones Walked (2007)
Nonfiction
- The Hero's Trail (2002)
- "Ben Barron: The Greatest Son in the Universe. A biography of the boy who became a man who became the King of Shadows." (2008)
Nature Books
- To Walk In Wilderness (1993)
- Rocky Mountain National Park: A 100 Year Perspective (1995)