Shannara
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Shannara is an epic fantasy[1] book series written by Terry Brooks. It is set in a distant future where the world has reverted to a medieval state and magic has re-emerged to take the place of science. The series tells the generational saga of the Ohmsford family, who play an important role in the struggles that ensue.
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[edit] History of the Shannara World
[edit] Age of Faerie
At the dawn of time, in what was known as the "Age of Faerie", the earth was inhabited only by Faerie creatures; most or all wielded magic. Like any power (be it wealth, technology, or physical strength), magic was used by some for good and some for evil. For example, the Elves used their magic to care for the earth, while the hateful Demons used theirs to dominate and destroy. When the Demons tried to eradicate the rival Elves altogether, the Elves proved victorious by creating a magical prison called the Forbidding, to which they banished the Demons. The Forbidding locked the demons away in an alternate universe from which they could not attack the Elves. The integrity of the prison was upheld by a magical tree known as the Ellcrys. As long as the Ellcrys lived, the Demons would remain locked away.
[edit] Age of Man
Thousands of years later, the age of man came into being. The Elves still existed, but quickly found themselves few in numbers compared to the quickly growing human race and decided to go into hiding. Thousands of years passed while man and science ruled. The Elves and their magic remained hidden, as memories of their existence become nothing more than “Fairy Tales”.
[edit] The Great Wars
Sometime in the early 22nd century, mankind all but destroyed itself through nuclear and chemical holocaust.
[edit] Birth of the Four Lands and The First Council
After an extremely long amount of time, the Earth had more or less recovered from the cataclysm of the Great Wars. Except for the ruins of man’s greatest cities and monuments, the world as everyone had known it had disappeared. New races appeared, genetically mutated by radiation from the Great Wars. These mutant human races were given names from man's ancient fairy tales: Troll, Dwarf, and Gnome. The surviving Elves also appeared from their concealment, now that the threat from the quickly multiplying men was gone. Unfortunately, chaos ensued as the four races each tried to declare their power over the other.
Fearing that the chaos would lead to the end for all of them, a group of learned men and women from all the races formed the Druids. Under the order of the Druids, the earth was divided up into the Four Lands, one territory for each race. The Druids then sought out all the information they could on the arts, sciences, and history of the Old World, attempting to understand what had brought about such a terrible apocalypse, so that they might learn from those mistakes and bring lasting peace and order to the land. As time progressed, The Council’s plan seemed to be working and they hoped that, in time, all that was known of the Old World would eventually exist again. However, several powerful members of the Druids became convinced that magic, not science, should be the guiding force of the new world, and that it was their destiny as Elves and magic-wielders to shape the future of the races. These Elves left the Druids to form their own group, consisting of all races and led by an Elf called Brona, who took with him the Ildatch, a book with unparalleled evil powers that once belonged to the Demon leader in the Age of Faerie.
[edit] The Wars of the Race
After years of growing his legion, Brona, who had become known as the "Warlock Lord", led a rebellion against the teachings of the Druids. The rebellion soon widened into what became known as the First War of the Races, with the Warlock Lord’s army against all the races that supported by the Druids--mainly the Elves and the Dwarves. Eventually, the combined power of the Council crushed the revolt, but the Warlock Lord escaped to rebuild his legion. Once strong again, the Warlock Lord and his armies returned multiple times, giving birth to two more Wars Of the Races, which spanned a century with years of peace in between (the equivalent of the World Wars during the time of man), until finally the Warlock Lord was killed.
[edit] The Shannara Family
Involved in nearly every key moment throughout the history of the Four Lands is some member of the Shannara family. Their mixed heritage of man and Elf left them both blessed and cursed, as this feature was part of the reason that they could wield magic. Over the years, descendants of the Shannara bloodline have been continuously called upon to fight to defend the Four Lands and the lives of its inhabitants.
[edit] The First King of Shannara and The Sword of Shannara
In two of the three wars of the races, descendants of the Shannara bloodline fought the armies of Brona, and used their magic to fight off the Warlock Lord and his army, until finally killing off the Warlock Lord at the end of the third war. (Each war and the epic adventures and battles are chronicled separately in The First King of Shannara and The Sword of Shannara; the other war occurred before the second druid council at the time of Galaphile.)
[edit] The Elfstones of Shannara
Fifty years after the last War of the Races, the world was at peace until the Ellcrys began to die and the Demons from the Age of Faerie slowly began to escape from their magical prison, the Forbidding, thus beginning The War for the Ellcrys. Young Wil Ohmsford (the descendant of Shea from The Sword of Shannara) sets off on a journey across the Four Lands to find the Bloodfire with Amberle Elessedil. She brought the seed of the Ellcrys, to attempt to save the Ellcrys. At the same time, back in Arborlon, a few separate units, including the Elven army, the Free Corps and Dwarves work together to attempt to stall the demons long enough for Will and Amberle to return. Ultimately, Will and Amberle return in time before the armies are overrun, locking the demons away once again in their magical prison. Saving the Ellcrys wasn't what they thought it would be, as Amberle had to become a new Ellcrys, losing her individuality and literally becoming the tree "reborn".
[edit] Other novels
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As time went on, and as history unfolded, various events (chronicled in the eleven other books in the Shannara series) continued to force members of Shannara bloodline into epic adventure and war with the fate of the world in their hands.
The familial relationships between the main characters can be seen in the Shannara family tree.
[edit] List of Novels
[edit] The Original Shannara Trilogy
Also called The Sword of Shannara Trilogy, the first three published Shannara novels (The Sword of Shannara, The Elfstones of Shannara, and The Wishsong of Shannara) follow Shea Ohmsford and his brother Flick Ohmsford, Shea's grandson Wil Ohmsford, and Wil's children Brin Ohmsford and Jair Ohmsford.
[edit] The Heritage of Shannara Tetralogy
The next four books, known as The Heritage of Shannara, are set 300 years after The Original Shannara Trilogy. This series consists of The Scions of Shannara, The Druid of Shannara, The Elf Queen of Shannara and The Talismans of Shannara. They follow four of Shea Ohmsford's descendants: Walker Boh, Par Ohmsford, Coll Ohmsford, and Wren Elessedil.
[edit] First King of Shannara
The prequel to the Original Shannara Trilogy, The First King of Shannara is set during the lifetime of Jerle Shannara, a predecessor of Shea (about 500 years before the first book of the original Shannara Trilogy).
[edit] The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara Trilogy
The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy consists of the books Ilse Witch, Antrax, and Morgawr. Set aboard the airship Jerle Shannara (named after the olden king), the story follows Walker Boh as he guides the crew across the ocean in search of an ancient source of power. This is set 130 years after The Heritage of Shannara.
[edit] High Druid of Shannara Trilogy
The High Druid of Shannara trilogy includes the novels Jarka Ruus, Tanequil, and Straken. It focuses on the disappearance of the High Druid Grianne Ohmsford and is set 20 years after The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara.
[edit] The Word/Void Trilogy
The Word/Void trilogy consists of Running with the Demon, A Knight of the Word, and Angel Fire East and is predominantly set in present-day Illinois. It follows Nest Freemark, a girl with magical abilities who has no known relationship to any Shannara character. Before the publication of Armageddon's Children it was unclear whether this trilogy existed within the Shannara universe. It has since been revealed as the "ultimate prequel" to the Shannara novels.[2]
[edit] The Genesis of Shannara Trilogy
The Genesis of Shannara series connects the Word/Void series with the Shannara novels. It takes place eighty years after the Word/Void story, and approximately 1500 years before the events of The First King of Shannara. The first book, Armageddon's Children, was published in the summer of 2006. The second novel, The Elves of Cintra was published in August of 2007. In January 08, the third novel was given the working title The Gypsy Morph, the projected release is late August of 2008.
[edit] Planned Movie Adaptation
The rights to a movie adaptation for all of the Shannara novels have been sold to Warner Bros until 2010.[3] The Elfstones of Shannara, the first planned movie,[3] will be filmed and directed by Mike Newell,[4] who was also responsible for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.[5] This movie is expected to start filming in 2008 and finished sometime during 2009. The Elfstones of Shannara will probably be followed by an adaptation of The Sword of Shannara in 2010 or so.[3][6] Note that the sequence of the movies differ from the sequence of the books, although Terry Brooks believes that this is the best starting place for adapting the Shannara novels.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Speakman, Shawn (2008). Terry Brooks' official website. Retrieved on 2008-05-02.
- ^ Shawn Speakman. The Great Wars. Retrieved on 2006-09-17.
- ^ a b c d The Wondrous Worlds of Terry Brooks - Shannara & Landover Movies
- ^ The Elfstones of Shannara (2009)
- ^ Mike Newell at IMDB.
- ^ The Sword of Shannara (2010)
[edit] See also
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| Book I | Book II | Book III | Book IV | |
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| Word & Void series: | Running with the Demon | A Knight of the Word | Angel Fire East | |
| The Genesis of Shannara: | Armageddon's Children | The Elves of Cintra | The Gypsy Morph | |
| Prequel to Shannara: | First King of Shannara | |||
| The Original Shannara Trilogy: | The Sword of Shannara | The Elfstones of Shannara | The Wishsong of Shannara | |
| The Heritage of Shannara: | The Scions of Shannara | The Druid of Shannara | The Elf Queen of Shannara | The Talismans of Shannara |
| The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara: | Ilse Witch | Antrax | Morgawr | |
| High Druid of Shannara: | Jarka Ruus | Tanequil | Straken | |
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| Other Shannara products | ||||
| The World of Shannara | Shannara PC Game | |||
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| Shannara on Wikipedia | ||||
| WikiProject — Characters — Creatures — Places — Objects — Related articles | ||||
