The Sword of Shannara

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The Sword of Shannara

Cover art of The Sword of Shannara
Author Terry Brooks
Cover artist The Hildebrandt Brothers
Country United States
Language English
Series The Original Shannara Trilogy
Genre(s) Fantasy novel
Publisher Del Rey Books
Publication date January 1977
Media type Print (Hardcover, Paperback, Mass market paperback)
Pages 726 (hardcover)
736 (Mass market paperback)
ISBN ISBN 0-394-41333-4 (hardcover)
ISBN 0-345-31425-5 (Mass market paperback)
Preceded by First King of Shannara
Followed by Elfstones of Shannara
This article is about the fantasy novel. For information about the fictional sword, see Shannara artifacts.

The Sword of Shannara is an epic fantasy [1] novel by Terry Brooks, first published in 1977. It is the first book in the Original Shannara Trilogy.

Contents

[edit] Plot introduction

[edit] History

According to the history of the Four Lands, mankind once gained such technological advances that their power outgrew their own understanding. Politics and hunger for power led to apocalyptic battles that became known as the Great Wars, in which most life on Earth perished and the structure of the land itself was rearranged. (The new Genesis of Shannara Series has hinted this to be a nuclear fallout with the help of demon interaction, thus placing the Shannara stories sometime in an alternate future of our own world.) Mankind split into several distinct races: Men, Dwarves, Gnomes, and Trolls. Elves also appeared at this time, though they came from a different lineage than man and had always been in the world but had stayed hidden for centuries. In a futuristic return to the past, the natural world once again flourished, and magic appeared out of the skeletal remains of skyscrapers and subways.

[edit] The Druids

Main article: Shannara Druids

After the great war of races a few men remembered the secrets of the sciences that had shaped their way of life prior to the destruction of the old world. Most were little more than primitive creatures, and the few could recollect only bits and pieces of knowledge. But they kept their books of learning intact and these could tell them most of the secrets of the old sciences. They kept them hidden and secure during that first several hundred years, unable to put the words to practical use, waiting for the time when they might. They read and with no way to preserve them or copy them, those few men who possessed the books began to memorize the information. Soon the races began to develop beyond the primitive life and they quarreled violently over the land. This is when the men decided that they needed to act. So an elf named Galaphile called together a select group of men to a council at Paranor. This was the first Druid Council. From their fortress of Paranor in the center of the known world, the Druids guided the races to peace and preserved the wisdom of the ages. However, with the revival of magic, it soon became all too clear that any power, be it magic or science, was susceptible to corruption. The Druid Brona and his followers experimented in the dark arts, until the power they sought to wield instead controlled them. They were cast out of Paranor, leaving them with a desire for revenge against the Druids.

[edit] The Wars of the Races

Brona convinced Men to attack the other races, becoming his unwitting pawns in the First War of the Races. He almost succeeded, but the Druids led the other races against him. Brona disappeared, presumably dead, and the Druids partitioned the Four Lands out to each of the races to lessen tension. However, they were shamed by the betrayal of one of their own, and became reclusive, withdrawing to the walls of Paranor where they jealously guarded their knowledge. Centuries later, Brona and his followers, seemingly immortal, returned as the Warlock Lord and the Skull Bearers. The Second War of the Races began with the destruction of the Druid Order. The only survivors were Bremen, Tay Trefenwyd, Risca and a healer named Mareth, having been cast out for practicing the now-outlawed magic. Bremen, realizing now that only magic could combat magic, forged a magical talisman, a blade given into the hands of the Elven King, Jerle Shannara. The Warlock Lord led the Trolls and the Gnomes against the other Races, bringing creatures from the spirit world with him, but he was finally weakened by the Sword of Shannara. Yet peace came at an awful price. Tension was mounting between the races, having been turned on one another yet again, and the Druid Order had seemingly vanished from the world.

[edit] Plot summary

Centuries later, the Ohmsford family of Shady Vale is surprised by a half-elven baby left on their doorstep. The baby is taken in and named Shea. He is raised like a brother to the Ohmsford's son, Flick. The brothers become inseparable, helping run the family inn, until nearly twenty years later, when a tall, dark, mysterious figure arrives in the Vale. His name is Allanon, last of the Druids, his face perpetually in shadow under the dark folds of his robe. Allanon comes with a warning: Shea's life is in danger. He claims the Warlock Lord, previously thought to be a myth, has returned, and is after Shea, the last descendant of Jerle Shannara and the only one now living who can wield the Sword of Shannara against him.

Giving Shea three blue stones for protection, Allanon departs, bidding Shea to leave the Vale immediately. Reluctant to heed Allanon's advice, he stays in the Vale until a pack of Skull Bearers, powerful minions of the Warlock Lord, come to the Vale in search of the last descendant of Shannara. Shea and Flick flee with the Skull Bearers on their heels. They seek refuge in the nearby city of Leah, joining with Shea's friend Menion, the lazy son of the city's lord.Menion guides them to the Eastland, where they meet Allanon at the Dwarf capital of Culhaven.

The three blue Elfstones (as they are revealed to be) protect Shea and his companions through their adventures until they safely arrive at Culhaven. Once there, a council of the Races is summoned under Allanon to decide how to combat the Warlock Lord. It is decided to send a small party to Paranor, the final resting place of the Sword of Shannara. There they could take possession of the one weapon that could destroy the Warlock Lord, once and for all. Journeying through the Valley of Shale, where the spirit of Bremen resides, and under the Dragon's Teeth mountains, they finally arrive in Paranor, but Shea is lost along the way.

The remaining group finds Paranor overrun with Gnome soldiers in the service of the Warlock Lord, and the Sword missing; it has already been taken north to the Skull kingdom. The group splits up, some to find Shea, others to prepare for the inevitable battle that will ensue.

Flick sneaks into the enemy camp and rescues the captive Eventine Elessidil, King of the Elves, thus mobilizing the Elves to the aid of Callahorn, the Borderland country that would be struck first. Menion saves a beautiful redhead named Shirl Ravenlock, with whom he falls in love, and together they organize evacuation of the island city of Kern, which is later burned by the Northland army. Meawhile, Shea's life is saved by a one-handed thief named Panamon Creel and his mute Troll companion, Keltset. Journeying to the Northland, Shea and his rescuers reach the Skull kingdom itself, where an insane Gnome deserter has carried the Sword of Shannara in his madness.

Just as the battle to the Borderlands is about to be lost to the northern army, Shea takes the sword, his birthright. Its enigmatic power is finally revealed to him, as he is confronted with the truth of his life the moment he touches the handle. The Warlock Lord materializes to destroy Shea. In a rage of determination to prevent Brona from hurting anyone else, Shea attacks Brona. Although immune to physical weapons, the Warlock Lord is forced to confront the truth of himself: Brona, the man, died in the First War of the Races, and the rest of his life was a lie. Forced to confront the truth of his death, the Warlock Lord vanishes.

The destruction of the Skull kingdom takes Keltset's life as he sacrifices himself to save his friends. In the south, the Troll army is easily dispatched once the Skull Bearers follow Brona to his fate. Allanon saves Shea's life, reveals that he is the centuries-old son of Bremen, and soon disappears, saying he needs to sleep. Peace returns, and the heroes go home. Shea and Flick are reunited, having found their confidence, and Menion has become a responsible young man, returning home with Shirl.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Main characters

[edit] Minor characters

  • Acton
  • Breen Elessedil
  • Curzad Ohmsford
  • Fandrez
  • Fandwick
  • Ginnisson
  • Janus Senpre
  • Jon Lin Sandor
  • King of the Silver River
  • Lynliss
  • Messaline
  • Mist Wraith
  • Pahn
  • Ruhl Buckhannah
  • Shade of Bremen
  • Sheelon

[edit] Background

Brooks began composing The Sword of Shannara in 1967.[2] He wrote the novel as a way to fight what he called an "increasingly rapid descent into terminal boredom" brought on by his entrance into law school.[3]

“ I had read The Lord of the Rings two years earlier. What if Tolkien's magic and fairy creatures were made part of the worlds of Walter Scott and Dumas? What if the story took place somewhere timeless and placeless, a somewhere that nevertheless hinted strongly of our own world in the future? What if our present knowledge had been lost, and science had been replaced by magic? But it couldn't be magic that was dependable or simply good or bad. And the right and wrong of things couldn't be clear-cut because life simply didn't work that way. And the central figure needed to be someone readers could identify with, a person very much like themselves, caught up in events not of his own making, a person simply trying to muddle through. That was how Sword began.[4] ”

According to Brooks, he initially submitted his manuscript to DAW Books, whose editor Donald A. Wollheim rejected it and recommended submission to Ballantine Books instead.[5] Ballantine Books accepted The Sword of Shannara for publication. Brooks' editor was Lester del Rey, who used the book to launch Ballantine's Del Rey Books imprint.[6]

Upon its publication in 1977, The Sword of Shannara was a commercial success. It became the first modern fantasy novel to appear on the New York Times bestseller list.[7]

[edit] Literary significance & criticism

The Sword of Shannara has drawn extensive criticism for being overly derivative of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. Following its publication, the influential fantasy editor Lin Carter denounced The Sword of Shannara as "the single most cold-blooded, complete rip-off of another book that I have ever read".[8] Elaborating on his disapproval of the book, Carter wrote that "Terry Brooks wasn't trying to imitate Tolkien's prose, just steal his story line and complete cast of characters, and [Brooks] did it with such clumsiness and so heavy-handedly, that he virtually rubbed your nose in it."[9] In a 1980 book on American fantasy, the critic Brian Attebery similarly accused The Sword of Shannara of being "undigested Tolkien",[10] finding it "especially blatant in its point-for-point correspondence"[11] to The Lord of the Rings. In a 1999 educational article on writing, the author Orson Scott Card cited The Sword of Shannara as a cautionary example of overly-derivative writing, finding its result "artistically displeasing".[12]

Assessing The Sword of Shannara decades after its publication, the Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey found it distinctive for "the dogged way in which it follows Tolkien point for point".[13] Within Brooks' novel, Shippey located "analogues" for Tolkien characters such as Sauron (Brona), Gandalf (Allanon), the Hobbits (Shea and Flick), Aragorn (Menion), Boromir (Balinor), Gimli (Hendel), Legolas (Durin and Dayel), Gollum (Orl Fane), the Barrow-wight (Mist Wraith) and the Nazgûl (Skull Bearers), among others.[14] He also found plot similarities to events in The Lord of the Rings such as the Fellowship of the Ring's formation and adventures, the journeys to Rivendell (Culhaven) and Lothlórien (Storlock), Gandalf's fall in Moria and subsequent reappearance, and the Rohirrim's arrival at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, among others.[15] Avoiding direct commentary on the book's quality, Shippey attributed the book's success to the post-Tolkienian advent of the fantasy genre: "What The Sword of Shannara seems to show is that many readers had developed the taste . . . for heroic fantasy so strongly that if they could not get the real thing they would take any substitute, no matter how diluted."[16]

Terry Brooks admits that Tolkien's works were a major influence[17], and his supporters point out that many of the similarities are broad concepts common in modern day fantasy literature[18]. Additionally, the plot of Brooks' subsequent novels bear little resemblance to Tolkien's works (apart from elements shared by many novels in the genre).

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Speakman, Shawn (2008). Terry Brooks' official website. Retrieved on 2008-05-02.
  2. ^ Brooks, Terry (1991/2002). Author's Note.
  3. ^ Brooks, Terry (1991/2002). Author's Note.
  4. ^ Brooks, Terry (1991/2002). Author's Note.
  5. ^ Brooks, Terry (1991/2002). Author's Note.
  6. ^ Clute, John (1997/1999). "Brooks, Terry". The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. 142. 
  7. ^ Clute, John (1997/1999). "Brooks, Terry". The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. 142. 
  8. ^ Carter, Lin (1978). The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 4. New York: DAW Books, 207. 
  9. ^ Carter, Lin (1978). The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 4. New York: DAW Books, 208. 
  10. ^ Attebery, Brian (1980). The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guin. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 155. 
  11. ^ Attebery, Brian (1980). The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guin. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 155. 
  12. ^ Card, Orson Scott (1999). Uncle Orson's Writing Class: On Plagiarism, Borrowing, Resemblance, and Influence. Retrieved on 2006-09-08.
  13. ^ Shippey, Tom (2000). J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. London: HarperCollins, 2001 paperback, 319. 
  14. ^ Shippey, Tom (2000). J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. London: HarperCollins, 2001 paperback, 319-320. 
  15. ^ Shippey, Tom (2000). J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. London: HarperCollins, 2001 paperback, 319-320. 
  16. ^ Shippey, Tom (2000). J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. London: HarperCollins, 2001 paperback, 320. 
  17. ^ Shawn Speakman. The Wondrous Worlds of Terry Brooks - Biography. Retrieved on 2006-09-04.
  18. ^ Laurie Thayer. Sword of Shannara book review at Rambles.net arts magazine.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Novels of Terry Brooks’ Shannara universe
Book I Book II Book III Book IV
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
Other Shannara products
The World of Shannara Shannara PC Game
Shannara on Wikipedia
WikiProject — Characters — Creatures — Places — Objects — Related articles