The Sword of Shannara
Terry Brooks
 The Sword of Shannaras events take place 2000 years after an apocalypse has occurred: nuclear holocaust has wiped out most of the planet. During this time, Mankind mutated into several distinct races: Men, Dwarves, Gnomes, and Trolls, all named after creatures from "age-old" myths. Also, the Elves begin to emerge after having been in seclusion and hiding for centuries. The warring that caused the holocaust is referred to as the "Great Wars" throughout the novel. These wars rearranged the planet's geographical attributes and wiped out most life forms on Earth. As a result of the Great Wars, most advanced technology has been lost, thus most of the events in the Shannara series take place in a medieval setting. However, magic is also back into the world, rediscovered after the loss of technology. 1000 years before The Sword of Shannara, an Elf named Galaphile gathered all of the people who still had some knowledge of the old world to Paranor in an attempt to bring peace and order to all of the races. They named themselves the First Druid Council. However, a rogue Druid named Brona and a few followers left, taking the Ildatch with them; this magical tome had subverted their minds and had brought them under its control. 250 years later, Brona began the First War of the Races when he convinced all Men to attack the other races. He almost succeeded in seizing rule of the Four Lands, but the tide turned, and the war ended with his defeat and subsequent disappearance. The Druids divided the Four Lands among the races to reduce interracial tension, and then became reclusive, withdrawing to Paranor because of their shame at the betrayal by one of their own members. Two and a half centuries after the First War of the Races, Brona returned as the Warlock Lord, now with Skull Bearers as his servants. Chronicled in the prequel novel First King of Shannara, the Second War of the Races began with the destruction of the Druid Order. A lone Druid, Bremen, then forged a magical talisman for the express purpose of destroying the Warlock Lord; it was given to the Elven King, Jerle Shannara. As it takes the form of a blade, the talisman was named the Sword of Shannara. It succeeded in banishing the Warlock Lord, though he was not killed, while his entire army was subsequently defeated by the combined armies of the Elves and Dwarves. Yet peace came at a high price, as interracial tension was renewed and the Druids had seemingly vanished from the land. About five centuries later, the Ohmsford family of Shady Vale in the Southland took in the half-Elven child Shea. He took the name Ohmsford and was raised as a brother to the family's son Flick. Becoming inseparable, the brothers helped to run the family inn. The novel begins with Shea as a young man and the mysterious Allanon arriving in the Vale. Tall and dark, his face perpetually shadowed under his hood, he was the last of the Druids. Allanon warned the Ohmsford brothers that the Warlock Lord had returned to the Skull Kingdom in the Northland and was already coming for Shea, as he was the last descendant of Jerle Shannara—and therefore the only one capable of wielding the Sword of Shannara against the Warlock Lord. Allanon departed, leaving Shea three Blue Elfstones for protection. He told Shea to flee at the sign of the Skull. A few weeks later, a creature bearing a symbol of a skull showed up: a Skull Bearer, one of the Warlock Lord's "winged black destroyers", had arrived in town to search for Shea. The brothers were forced to flee with the Skull Bearer on their heels. They eventually took refuge in the nearby city of Leah where they found Shea's friend Menion, the son of the city's lord. Menion decided to accompany the two, and he traveled with them to Culhaven, to meet with Allanon and also encountering various monsters like the creature from the Mist Marsh and the Sirens. While at Culhaven, they are joined by a prince of Callahorn, Balinor Buckhannah, two elven brothers, Durin and Dayel Elessedil, and the dwarf Hendel. The party sets out for Paranor. But along the way, Shea falls over a waterfall and becomes separated from the group. Allanon spurs the group to continue on to Paranor, and they eventually reach it. Once there, the party gets into a battle with minions of the Warlock Lord and find that the Sword of Shannara has already been removed. The party then learns of the Warlock Lord's invasion of the Southland, and decide to split up to do what they can to stop it. Disguised by Allanon, Flick infiltrated the enemy camp and rescued the captive Elven King, Eventine Elessedil; at the same time, in Kern, Menion saved a woman named Shirl Ravenlock and immediately fell in love with her. Together, they organized an evacuation of Kern before the Northland army reached the city. Balinor returned to Tyrsis in order to activate the Border Legion, only to find that it had been disbanded. Balinor was then imprisoned by his insane brother Palance Buckhannah, who had taken control of Callahorn's rule. His advisor, Stenmin, had driven Palance insane by drugs fed to him, making him his pawn. With help from Menion, Balinor escaped and confronted both Palance and Stenmin. Practically cornered, Stenmin stabbed Palance as a distraction and fled. Now commanded by Balinor, Callahorn's reformed Border Legion marched out of Tyrsis and engaged the Northland army at the Mermiddon River, killing many Northlanders before being forced to pull back; the Border Legion used the time gained to retreat to Tyrsis and make preparations for defense. During the siege of Tyrsis, Hendel and Menion come upon Stenmin and some of his supporters. Hendel is killed, but Menion kills Stenmin. After about three days, the Border Legion was finally beaten back from the Outer Wall of Tyrsis as a result of treachery—the wall fell when the traitors destroyed the locks on the main gate, jamming it open. At the defenders' last stand on the Bridge of Sendic, the Northlanders abruptly broke and ran. After being captured by Gnomes as soon as he had gotten out of the river, Shea was rescued by the one-handed thief Panamon Creel and his mute Troll companion Keltset Mallicos. Journeying to the Northland, they reached the Skull Kingdom, where the insane Gnome deserter Orl Fane had carried the Sword of Shannara in his madness. Infiltrating the Warlock Lord's fortress in the Skull Mountain, Shea reached the sword and unsheathed it. He finally learned about its true power, which was its ability to confront those, when touched, with the truth about their lives. The Warlock Lord materialized and tried to destroy Shea, but the youth stood his ground and confronted his enemy with the sword. Although immune to physical weapons, the Warlock Lord vanished after being forced to confront the truth about himself: though he had deluded himself into believing that he was immortal, this is impossible. The Sword forced him to confront this paradox, and it killed him. Keltset sacrificed himself to save his companions during the Skull Kingdom's destruction. In the south, the Northland army retreated after the Warlock Lord's downfall. Allanon saved Shea's life and revealed himself as Bremen's centuries-old son, before disappearing to sleep. Peace returned to the Four Lands. Balinor took up his country's rule, while Dayel and Durin returned to the Westland, and Menion returned to Leah with Shirl. Reuniting, Shea and Flick returned to Shady Vale.