The Scions of Shannara
Encyclopedia
The Scions of Shannara is a fantasy
novel by Terry Brooks
. It is the first book in the Heritage of Shannara
series, which takes place three hundred years after the end of the previous Shannara
trilogy. The first version was published in 1990. The book follows the lives of the Scions of Shannara, Par Ohmsford
, Walker Boh
, and Wren (Ohmsford)
.
. The Elves have vanished from the face of the land, while the dwarves are imprisoned for having fought the Federation in the past. The Dwarves are sent to dig in mines, and will soon be extinct because of the Federation's wickedness. Magic is forbidden and those that practice it are eventually found and brought to their fate. It is a cruel land in which the tale begins.
Par Ohmsford
and his brother Coll
start the story in Varfleet, telling legends and important histories of the past about the adventures of the Ohmsfords and the druids in a tavern through the use of Par's magic, the wishsong. The wishsong is but an illusion seen when Par sings what he wants to create. However, what Par and Coll are doing is illegal under the law of the Federation
because magic is supposedly the cause for various problems that are occurring in the Four Lands
. On one night, Rimmer Dall
, first Seeker for the Federation, bursts in to the tavern, having found out about Par and Coll, and tries to arrest them. Par and Coll are rescued by a mysterious man, who claims to be a leader of the rebel group (or the Movement). The man does not gives them his name, though he does hand Par a ring with a hawk insignia. He tells them that when they need help they can go to a certain forge, show the ring, and they will be led to the Movement's base. Thus, the two brothers escape and after much debate decide to travel to Leah to meet up with their friend, Morgan Leah. Upon their way, they are attacked by a frightening woods hag who is a Shadowen, a beast of legend and of great power. Yet they are saved by an old man, Cogline, who was once a Druid, and is now a messenger for the Shade of Allanon. He informs them that they must travel to the Hadeshorn in order to meet with the ancient Druid, Allanon. The fate of the Four Lands lies upon them and the other scions of Shannara: Wren in the Westland and Walker Boh who lives somewhere in the Eastland, and to whom Cogline is to deliver the message also. The Shadowen threaten to overcome all the Races.
After arguing the matter over, the two brothers, and later Walker Boh and Wren, travel to the Hadeshorn through much toil and perils. All the scions meet at the Valley of Shale and receive tasks from the shade of Allanon
. Wren is charged to return the missing Elves, Walker is charged with returning Paranor
and the Druids, and Par is charged with finding the lost Sword of Shannara. Both Wren and Walker see their charges as impossible (Walker even goes as far to say that he would rather lose his hand then recover lost Paranor and restore the druid order) and leave, but Par is determined to fulfill his task.
Par heads to the forge, hoping that the Movement will know more of the Four Land in order to find the Sword. He comes to the city of Varfleet with his companions, Morgan Leah, Coll Ohmsford, Steff, and Teel to request for help from an outlaw ally. Upon reaching their meeting point, however, they are pursued by Federation
. Hirehone, one of the outlaws, hides them in an underground basement before taking them to the Parma Key, base of the Movement. The company meets the mysterious leader who then tells them that he is Padishar Creel. He says he knows where the Sword is, leaving the Dwarves behind, Creel, Morgan, Coll, a group of outlaws, and Par set out for Tyrsis, the last known place of the Sword of Shannara. Once in Tyrsis, Creel leads them to a hiding place. Padishar Creel goes out to show Par about the truth. They meet with a girl, Damson Rhee. The three of them go for a walk and Creel explains that the Bridge of Sendric and People's Park in Tyrsis where the Sword was said to be placed many years before were destroyed. The ancient Bridge and Park were covered up in the Pit, a place guarded and unseen, and that fake ones were built in their place. They devise a plan so that Morgan, Par, Coll, Padishar, and some of the other outlaws venture into the Pit, where the Sword of Shannara was last seen.
Then at night, the group go into out to the pit. They lower a ladder into the Pit, but unfortunately the Federation guards managed to see them. The rebels and Par, Coll, and Morgan are captured and are told that someone of the outlaws had betrayed them. On the way to prison, Par uses the Wishsong to distract the guards so he could escape. He meets with Damson, and together they make a plan to free their companions. They do just that, and after hiding in another place, they make a plan to go into the Pit again. The second time the company, excluding Damson, makes it to the bottom of the Pit safely. There Par finds out that he can use another kind of magic that can find things that he wants, and he sees through this that the Sword is indeed there. However, they are confronted by Shadowen. Creel and Morgan make a stand in order for Par and Coll to escape. Par and Coll flee and are hidden by Damson, thinking that their friends are dead. Par insists on them to venture into the Pit a last time, and Damson knows a creature that might know another way into it. She leads them to the Mole, who agrees to help them, and escorts them through a series of tunnels and into the Pit. Damson and the Mole stay outside, while Par and Coll go in. This time Par does find the Vault, where the Sword is placed, and goes in, leaving Coll to stand guard outside (Coll wanted to). Par finds the Sword, and meets Rimmer Dall there, who shows him that he is a Shadowen and asks Par to join him. Par does not agree, and Rimmer Dall leaves, saying that once Par comes out of the Vault something precious will be lost. Par takes the Sword and runs out of the Vault to find that while he was gone Coll was possessed by Shadowen and that his brother has become one himself. Par kills him to escape and runs away from the Pit. He finds Damson and they hide in the underground tunnels that The Mole live in. Par, depressed and confused, becomes sick and Damson slowly but surely nurtures him back to health before vowing to get revenge for what happened to his brother.
Meanwhile, Padishar and Morgan are actually not dead, and have fled from the city of Tyrsis, having survived using Morgan's magical Sword of Leah. But the Sword of Leah is broken in the act of breaking free from the Pit and Morgan turns ill because of this. The two of them run to Parma Key, and are closely pursued by an army of the Federation who want to put an end to the Movement once and for all, having found out the base of the rebels from a traitor. The companions come to Parma Key and prepare to battle away the Federation with the Movement. A long battle takes place, in which Morgan finds out who the traitor is - it being Teel the Dwarf, who is now a Shadowen, who is on her way to opening a passageway into Parma Key for the Federation to breach. Creel and Morgan fight her, and both are wounded in the act, while Steff, her lover, is killed by Teel. However, the passageway was opened, since they were too late, and so Morgan and Creel head back. The Movement then escapes using another secret tunnel and are free for the time. The battle ends thus, with the escape of the Movement.
Walker Boh believes it is impossible for him to recover lost Paranor and the Druids, until Cogline brings him an old Druid History. Then Walker learns that he must first find the Black Elfstone from the Hall of Kings and with it accomplish his task. He goes to the Hall of Kings, which is an ancient place of great trouble and evil. There he goes and upon coming there goes to the location of the Black Elfstone. Using his magic he had been born with and had mastered, he senses where the black elfstone. He goes to where he feels something and there he encounters an Asphinx, a snake that turns everything it poisons to stone before becoming rock itself, instead of the black elfstone. The Asphinx bites him and Walker finds that his hand has turned to stone, effectively trapping him. Walker also knows that he is doomed because the poison of the Asphinx will spread until he has been completely turned to stone.
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...
novel by Terry Brooks
Terry Brooks
Terence Dean "Terry" Brooks is an American writer of fantasy fiction. He writes mainly epic fantasy, and has also written two movie novelizations. He has written 23 New York Times bestsellers during his writing career, and has over 21 million copies of his books in print...
. It is the first book in the Heritage of Shannara
Heritage of Shannara
The Heritage of Shannara is a series of four fantasy novels by Terry Brooks, set hundreds of years after the original Shannara trilogy. Unlike the original trilogy, however, this series is all one, cohesive story, in contrast to the three isolated stories of the originals...
series, which takes place three hundred years after the end of the previous Shannara
Shannara
Shannara is an epic fantasy series of novels written by Terry Brooks, beginning with The Sword of Shannara in 1977 and continuing through Bearers of the Black Staff which was released on August 24, 2010, as well as a prequel, First King of Shannara...
trilogy. The first version was published in 1990. The book follows the lives of the Scions of Shannara, Par Ohmsford
Par Ohmsford
Par Ohmsford is a fictional character....
, Walker Boh
Walker Boh
Walker Boh is a fictional character from Terry Brooks' Heritage of Shannara and The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara series....
, and Wren (Ohmsford)
Wren Elessedil
Wren Elessedil is a fictional character from The Heritage of Shannara by Terry Brooks....
.
Plot summary
The Scions of Shannara is set in a land ruled by the military and cruel order called the FederationThe Federation (Shannara)
The Federation is a fictional organization from the Shannara series by Terry Brooks.-Original Shannara Trilogy:In the aftermath of the Third War of the Races and Shea Ohmsford's defeat of the Warlock Lord, the cities of the deep Southland realized how close they had come to annihilation...
. The Elves have vanished from the face of the land, while the dwarves are imprisoned for having fought the Federation in the past. The Dwarves are sent to dig in mines, and will soon be extinct because of the Federation's wickedness. Magic is forbidden and those that practice it are eventually found and brought to their fate. It is a cruel land in which the tale begins.
Par Ohmsford
Par Ohmsford
Par Ohmsford is a fictional character....
and his brother Coll
Coll Ohmsford
Col Ohmsford is a fictional character from the Heritage of Shannara series by author Terry Brooks. He is the younger brother of Par Ohmsford....
start the story in Varfleet, telling legends and important histories of the past about the adventures of the Ohmsfords and the druids in a tavern through the use of Par's magic, the wishsong. The wishsong is but an illusion seen when Par sings what he wants to create. However, what Par and Coll are doing is illegal under the law of the Federation
The Federation
The Federation may refer to:* Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, often just called "The Federation", a part of the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina* The Federation , an interstellar alliance in the Star Trek fictional universe...
because magic is supposedly the cause for various problems that are occurring in the Four Lands
The Four Lands
The Four Lands is the fictional world where Terry Brooks' Shannara series is set. The Genesis of Shannara trilogy reveals the Four Lands to be located in the modern Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada. Much of the landscape has been changed from a future holocaust, but some...
. On one night, Rimmer Dall
Rimmer Dall
Rimmer Dall is a fictional character from the Heritage of Shannara series by Terry Brooks....
, first Seeker for the Federation, bursts in to the tavern, having found out about Par and Coll, and tries to arrest them. Par and Coll are rescued by a mysterious man, who claims to be a leader of the rebel group (or the Movement). The man does not gives them his name, though he does hand Par a ring with a hawk insignia. He tells them that when they need help they can go to a certain forge, show the ring, and they will be led to the Movement's base. Thus, the two brothers escape and after much debate decide to travel to Leah to meet up with their friend, Morgan Leah. Upon their way, they are attacked by a frightening woods hag who is a Shadowen, a beast of legend and of great power. Yet they are saved by an old man, Cogline, who was once a Druid, and is now a messenger for the Shade of Allanon. He informs them that they must travel to the Hadeshorn in order to meet with the ancient Druid, Allanon. The fate of the Four Lands lies upon them and the other scions of Shannara: Wren in the Westland and Walker Boh who lives somewhere in the Eastland, and to whom Cogline is to deliver the message also. The Shadowen threaten to overcome all the Races.
After arguing the matter over, the two brothers, and later Walker Boh and Wren, travel to the Hadeshorn through much toil and perils. All the scions meet at the Valley of Shale and receive tasks from the shade of Allanon
Allanon
Allanon is a fictional character from the epic fantasy Original Shannara Trilogy and the trilogy's prequel, First King of Shannara; all four are by Terry Brooks. Described as Brooks' "most enigmatic character", Allanon is very secretive and appears only when needed...
. Wren is charged to return the missing Elves, Walker is charged with returning Paranor
Paranor
Paranor is a fictional location in Terry Brooks' epic fantasy Shannara series. It is the home of the Druids, but it has fallen to enemies of the Druids several times since its initial construction...
and the Druids, and Par is charged with finding the lost Sword of Shannara. Both Wren and Walker see their charges as impossible (Walker even goes as far to say that he would rather lose his hand then recover lost Paranor and restore the druid order) and leave, but Par is determined to fulfill his task.
Par heads to the forge, hoping that the Movement will know more of the Four Land in order to find the Sword. He comes to the city of Varfleet with his companions, Morgan Leah, Coll Ohmsford, Steff, and Teel to request for help from an outlaw ally. Upon reaching their meeting point, however, they are pursued by Federation
The Federation (Shannara)
The Federation is a fictional organization from the Shannara series by Terry Brooks.-Original Shannara Trilogy:In the aftermath of the Third War of the Races and Shea Ohmsford's defeat of the Warlock Lord, the cities of the deep Southland realized how close they had come to annihilation...
. Hirehone, one of the outlaws, hides them in an underground basement before taking them to the Parma Key, base of the Movement. The company meets the mysterious leader who then tells them that he is Padishar Creel. He says he knows where the Sword is, leaving the Dwarves behind, Creel, Morgan, Coll, a group of outlaws, and Par set out for Tyrsis, the last known place of the Sword of Shannara. Once in Tyrsis, Creel leads them to a hiding place. Padishar Creel goes out to show Par about the truth. They meet with a girl, Damson Rhee. The three of them go for a walk and Creel explains that the Bridge of Sendric and People's Park in Tyrsis where the Sword was said to be placed many years before were destroyed. The ancient Bridge and Park were covered up in the Pit, a place guarded and unseen, and that fake ones were built in their place. They devise a plan so that Morgan, Par, Coll, Padishar, and some of the other outlaws venture into the Pit, where the Sword of Shannara was last seen.
Then at night, the group go into out to the pit. They lower a ladder into the Pit, but unfortunately the Federation guards managed to see them. The rebels and Par, Coll, and Morgan are captured and are told that someone of the outlaws had betrayed them. On the way to prison, Par uses the Wishsong to distract the guards so he could escape. He meets with Damson, and together they make a plan to free their companions. They do just that, and after hiding in another place, they make a plan to go into the Pit again. The second time the company, excluding Damson, makes it to the bottom of the Pit safely. There Par finds out that he can use another kind of magic that can find things that he wants, and he sees through this that the Sword is indeed there. However, they are confronted by Shadowen. Creel and Morgan make a stand in order for Par and Coll to escape. Par and Coll flee and are hidden by Damson, thinking that their friends are dead. Par insists on them to venture into the Pit a last time, and Damson knows a creature that might know another way into it. She leads them to the Mole, who agrees to help them, and escorts them through a series of tunnels and into the Pit. Damson and the Mole stay outside, while Par and Coll go in. This time Par does find the Vault, where the Sword is placed, and goes in, leaving Coll to stand guard outside (Coll wanted to). Par finds the Sword, and meets Rimmer Dall there, who shows him that he is a Shadowen and asks Par to join him. Par does not agree, and Rimmer Dall leaves, saying that once Par comes out of the Vault something precious will be lost. Par takes the Sword and runs out of the Vault to find that while he was gone Coll was possessed by Shadowen and that his brother has become one himself. Par kills him to escape and runs away from the Pit. He finds Damson and they hide in the underground tunnels that The Mole live in. Par, depressed and confused, becomes sick and Damson slowly but surely nurtures him back to health before vowing to get revenge for what happened to his brother.
Meanwhile, Padishar and Morgan are actually not dead, and have fled from the city of Tyrsis, having survived using Morgan's magical Sword of Leah. But the Sword of Leah is broken in the act of breaking free from the Pit and Morgan turns ill because of this. The two of them run to Parma Key, and are closely pursued by an army of the Federation who want to put an end to the Movement once and for all, having found out the base of the rebels from a traitor. The companions come to Parma Key and prepare to battle away the Federation with the Movement. A long battle takes place, in which Morgan finds out who the traitor is - it being Teel the Dwarf, who is now a Shadowen, who is on her way to opening a passageway into Parma Key for the Federation to breach. Creel and Morgan fight her, and both are wounded in the act, while Steff, her lover, is killed by Teel. However, the passageway was opened, since they were too late, and so Morgan and Creel head back. The Movement then escapes using another secret tunnel and are free for the time. The battle ends thus, with the escape of the Movement.
Walker Boh believes it is impossible for him to recover lost Paranor and the Druids, until Cogline brings him an old Druid History. Then Walker learns that he must first find the Black Elfstone from the Hall of Kings and with it accomplish his task. He goes to the Hall of Kings, which is an ancient place of great trouble and evil. There he goes and upon coming there goes to the location of the Black Elfstone. Using his magic he had been born with and had mastered, he senses where the black elfstone. He goes to where he feels something and there he encounters an Asphinx, a snake that turns everything it poisons to stone before becoming rock itself, instead of the black elfstone. The Asphinx bites him and Walker finds that his hand has turned to stone, effectively trapping him. Walker also knows that he is doomed because the poison of the Asphinx will spread until he has been completely turned to stone.
Characters
- Par OhmsfordPar OhmsfordPar Ohmsford is a fictional character....
- Coll OhmsfordColl OhmsfordCol Ohmsford is a fictional character from the Heritage of Shannara series by author Terry Brooks. He is the younger brother of Par Ohmsford....
- Walker BohWalker BohWalker Boh is a fictional character from Terry Brooks' Heritage of Shannara and The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara series....
- Wren ElessedilWren ElessedilWren Elessedil is a fictional character from The Heritage of Shannara by Terry Brooks....
- Garth
- Cogline
- Steff
- Teel
- Padishar Creel
- Damson Rhee
- Rimmer DallRimmer DallRimmer Dall is a fictional character from the Heritage of Shannara series by Terry Brooks....
- Morgan Leah