{"id":33414,"date":"2016-10-13T06:30:07","date_gmt":"2016-10-12T17:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=33414"},"modified":"2016-10-12T22:20:20","modified_gmt":"2016-10-12T09:20:20","slug":"elves-soul-sucking-swords-in-the-wall-of-night-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2016\/10\/13\/elves-soul-sucking-swords-in-the-wall-of-night-series\/","title":{"rendered":"“Elves” & Soul-Sucking Swords In “The Wall Of Night” Series"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The-Chaos-Gate-The-Wall-Of-Night-Book-Four\"<\/a>

Yup, she’s a gal with a sword of power…<\/p><\/div>\n

On Monday I posted<\/a> on what imho is the great Fantasy tradition of “elves with soul-sucking swords”, a topic that morphed into a more general reflection on artifacts of power.<\/p>\n

Having addressed the tradition, I thought I’d better check out the extent to which I’ve honoured it in The Wall Of Night<\/a> series. So today I’m looking at “elves” and “soul-sucking swords”, while tomorrow I’ll round up with artifacts of power generally.<\/p>\n

Firstly, I averred on Monday that “elves” or “elf analogues” are “wielders or manipulators of great power…distinctively inhuman looking in appearance and \u201cremote\u201d in disposition.”<\/em> I should also have added, “either outright immortal or at least very long-lived.”<\/p>\n

\"UK\/AU\/NZ\"<\/a>

UK\/AU\/NZ<\/p><\/div>\n

By this definition, I don’t really think there are any true elf analogues in The Wall Of Night series. The heralds, particularly in The Heir of Night<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, have the “remote disposition” routine mastered, and they also wield power. However, I don’t believe there is ever any real doubt that they are fully human.<\/p>\n

And although one character, Ravirien, is very long lived, he is not a user of power at all, and is very human in appearance and disposition.<\/p>\n

\"UK\/AU\/NZ\"<\/a>

UK\/AU\/NZ<\/p><\/div>\n

Probably the closest character who might qualify as an “elf analogue” is the Darksworn warrior and mage called Thanir, who first made his appearance in Daughter of Blood<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (The Wall Of Night, Book Three.) Like Ravirien, he is long-lived. Otherwise, here’s a wee snippet of character description for you to decide yea or nay on the elf analogue stakes:<\/p>\n

“…illusion fell away and the shadows acquired the shape of warriors in barbed armour and grotesque helmets. Yet only one, Malian thought, a tall figure in black armour that was honed to spur points at elbow and shoulder, had genuine substance. His visor was up as he stepped clear of the densest shadow, revealing a face of austere planes and sculpted angles.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"USA\"<\/a>

USA<\/p><\/div>\n

Yet whether the WALL series contains genuine elf analogues or not, fear not, all is not lost—because as became evident in The Gathering of the Lost<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and was confirmed in\u00a0 Daughter of Blood<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, there are<\/em> swords of power.<\/p>\n

Firstly, there’s the “frost-fire sword”, which is one of the three legendary arms of the (long dead) Derai hero, Yorindesarinen. It plays a very important part in Book Two (The Gathering Of The Lost<\/em><\/a>) and a not insignificant one in Daughter Of Blood<\/em><\/strong>. Although, so far, no souls have been consumed, the frost-fire sword has forged an alliance on its own behalf, imposed a geas on an enemy, and destroyed a major artifact of power that has previously wreaked great havoc upon the Derai.<\/p>\n

So I think it qualifies as a sword of power, with or without the soul-sucking propensities.<\/p>\n

\"USA\"<\/a>

USA<\/p><\/div>\n

The other swords that feature in the WALL story are the twin swords, one long, one short, of the Honour Captain, Asantir, who becomes Commander of Night. At the end of The Heir of Night<\/em> she not only uses them to slay a siren worm, but it is the blades that absorb the demon’s siren song. This certainly suggests magic-absorbing qualities and many in the story believe these swords to be the legendary “black blades” — which the reader knows<\/em> must be important because in the best epic fantasy tradition, they come with there own rhyme:<\/p>\n

“Of death my song and black my blade,<\/em>
\nfor Kerem’s hand by Alkiranth made.”<\/em><\/p>\n

As for soul-sucking, though, that remains to be seen…<\/p>\n

Check back in tomorrow for the artifacts of power—and more fun with epic fantasy. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday I posted on what imho is the great Fantasy tradition of “elves with soul-sucking swords”, a topic that morphed into a more general reflection on artifacts of power. Having addressed the tradition, I thought I’d better check out the extent to which I’ve honoured it in The Wall Of Night series. So today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-my-books","category-epicfantasy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33414"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33421,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33414\/revisions\/33421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}