The Kingdom at the End of the Road is the third book in Jan Guillou's

Jan Guillou

Jan Oskar Sverre Lucien Henri Guillou is a Swedish author and journalist. Among his books are a series of spy fiction novels about a spy named Carl Hamilton, and a trilogy of historical fiction novels about a Knight Templar, Arn Magnusson...

 The Knight Templar (Crusades trilogy)

The Knight Templar (Crusades trilogy)

The Knight Templar is a series of books about the fictional character of Arn Magnusson. The series is written by Swedish author and journalist Jan Guillou....

 book series. This book follows the fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 of Arn Magnusson as he returns home to Sweden after 20 years as a Knight Templar

Knights Templar

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

.

The book starts with Arn coming home to the abbey in which he grew up and reuniting with his kinsmen. Arn, now an experienced knight, has great plans for Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. To build a superior and centralized fighting force to create a stable peace within the three countries that will one day be known as Sweden. He is also forced to repel two invasions by the Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

-supported pretender to the throne, Sverker Karlsson.

This book covers the last part of Arn's life and argues that Arn is the de facto founding father of modern Sweden.

See also

• The Knight Templar (Crusades trilogy)
  The Knight Templar (Crusades trilogy)
  The Knight Templar is a series of books about the fictional character of Arn Magnusson. The series is written by Swedish author and journalist Jan Guillou....
  
  
• The Road to Jerusalem
  The Road to Jerusalem
  The Road to Jerusalem is the first book in Jan Guillou's The Knight Templar book series. The book follows the fictional character of Arn Magnusson from his birth and until he sets off to Jerusalem....
  
  (1998), ISBN 91-1-300565-0 the first book in the series
• The Knight Templar
  The Knight Templar
  The Knight Templar is the second book in Jan Guillou's The Knight Templar book series. This book follows the fictional character of Arn Magnusson as a Knight Templar in the kingdom of Jerusalem...
  
  (1999), ISBN 91-1-300733-5 the second book in the series
• The Heritage of Arn
  The Heritage of Arn
  The Heritage of Arn is a follow-up to The Knight Templar by Jan Guillou about Birger jarl, the founder of Stockholm - fictionalized to be Arn Magnusson's grandson....
  
  (2001), ISBN 91-642-0003-5 a follow-up about Birger jarl
  Birger jarl
  , or Birger Magnusson, was a Swedish statesman, Jarl of Sweden and a member of the House of Bjelbo, who played a pivotal role in the consolidation of Sweden. Birger also led the Second Swedish Crusade, which established Swedish rule in Finland. Additionally, he is traditionally attributed to have...
  
  , the founder of Stockholm - fictionalized to be Arn's grandson