The Elminster Series is a series of fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 novels by author Ed Greenwood

Ed Greenwood

Ed Greenwood is a Canadian writer and editor who created the Forgotten Realms. He invented the Forgotten Realms as a child, as a fantasy world in which to set the stories he imagined, and later used this world as a campaign setting for his own personal Dungeons & Dragons playing group...

. The novels are set in the Forgotten Realms

Forgotten Realms

The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories...

setting created by Greenwood for the Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...

fantasy role-playing game

Role-playing game

A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...

. The series focuses on the titular character Elminster who was a key figure in several of Greenwood's other novels set in the Forgotten Realms setting. Elminster was known as a powerful wizard or mage in previous books. This series seeks to present the backstory of Elminster's life as well as provide a history of other events in this particular fantasy setting.

Works included

• Elminster: The Making of a Mage (1994)
• Elminster In Myth Drannor (1997)
• The Temptation of Elminster (1998)
• Elminster In Hell (2001)
• Elminster's Daughter (2004)
• The Annotated Elminster (2007) - An anthology of the first three books in the series.
• Elminster Must Die (2010) - The debut 4th Edition appearance of one of the Forgotten Realms world’s most iconic characters.
• Bury Elminster Deep (2011)
• Elminster Enraged (2012)

Elminster: The Making of a Mage

As a young boy, Elminster has his first encounter with magic. After a tragic childhood, he takes up thievery. Eventually Elminster sneaks into a temple of Mystra

Mystra (goddess)

Mystra is a fictional goddess in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.She is the Mistress of Magic and Mother of Mysteries who guides the Weave of magic that envelops the world. She tends to the weave constantly, making possible all the...

, leading to a face-to-face confrontation with the goddess. Mystra instructs Elminster in the ways of magic and he becomes a powerful mage. Mystra offers him the choice to become one of Mystra's chosen, and he accepts her request.

Elminster in Myth Drannor

Mystra commands Elminster to journey by foot to the elvish realm of Cormanthor. On his way, Elminster encounters a dying elf and makes it a promise. Elminster performs the promise, taking him into the city of Cormanthor. By performing this task, the king of Cormanthor makes Elminster an armathor---a knight of Cormanthor. However, many elves decide that they want to kill Elminster simply because he is human. Elminster eventually finds himself as a forced apprentice to an elf. Finally, Eliminster is involved in the casting of the Mythal, a shield to help protect Cormanthor from outsiders. At the end of the novel, Cormanthor is renamed Myth Drannor.

Elminster Must Die

When the goddess of magic was murdered, Elminster’s world shattered. Once the most powerful wizard in the world, immortal, beloved of the goddess of magic, and the bane of villainy, he is now a tired old man. He is powerful but mortal, and with all the enemies a man who makes a habit of saving the world tends to accumulate.

To make matters worse, Elminster has needs—feeding powerful magic items to the Simbul, his lover, is the only thing that keeps her sane—but their increasingly risky collection leads his enemies right to him.