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{{work}}{{Multiple Works Need Separate Pages}}
Often referred to as the "classic trilogy" or simply the "Shannara trilogy", these three loosely-linked [[Doorstopper]] [[High Fantasy]] novels launched Terry Brooks' writing career. Set in Brooks' now famous [[Shannara]] universe, the three novels deal with three different generations of the Ohmsford family, their ties to the Elven House of Shannara and its magic, and their relationship with the enigmatic Druid, Allanon.
In ''Sword Of Shannara'', Allanon arrives in the sleepy hamlet of Shady Vale with the news that [[Big Bad|The Warlock Lord]], [[Fallen Hero|Brona]], an evil former Druid, has returned to life. Only the fabled (and titular) Sword of Shannara can rid the world of his threat for good, and only a member of the House of Shannara can wield the sword. As it turns out, [[The Hero|Shea Ohmsford]] is the last living heir of the house. Along with his brother Flick, their friend Menion Leah, and diverse others, Shea and Allanon set out to look for the Sword.
On their way to Paranor, home of the Druids, disaster strikes. Shea is separated from the group. Forced to team with thieves [[Badass|Panamon Creel]] and [[Genius Bruiser|Keltset]], Shea sets off to recover the sword on his own, while his friends attempt to avert Brona's conquest of the Four Lands. Many adventures, and one Hell of a twist ending, later, Shea recovers the Sword and puts Brona in his grave permanently.
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Wil soon agrees. He and Amberle set off, with the [[High Octane Nightmare Fuel]]-inspiring [[The Dragon|Reaper]] in hot pursuit. In the meantime, Allanon, Elf King Eventine, and Eventine's son Ander gather what few allies they have and prepare to fight a delaying action against the armies of the Demon Lord known as [[Big Bad|The Dagda Mor]]. In the end, a new Ellcrys is created, the Demons are banished, and all is well.
Twenty years after that, the Mord Wraiths appear. In possession of the Ildatch, the same [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]] that corrupted Brona, they seem poised to destroy the Four Lands. Even Allanon cannot penetrate the defences they have raised around the book, and all seems hopeless. Falling back into his old habits, Allanon calls upon Brin Ohmsford, who, thanks to her father's use of the Elfstones, possesses the [[Reality Warper|Reality Warping]] Wishsong. Unlike Allanon, Brin will be able to use the Wishsong to enter the [[Garden of Evil|Maelmord]] and destroy the Ildatch; she and her [[Love Interest]] Rone Leah set off with Allanon in order to do so.
Meanwhile, her brother Jair, who possesses a lesser version of the Wishsong, is told by [[Dungeon Master|The King of The Silver River]] that Brin will fail if he does not go to her aid. Alongside reluctant Gnome Tracker [[The Lancer|Slanter]], and uber-[[Badass]] Garet Jax, as well as numerous others, Jair goes after Brin. In the end, Brin is saved, and the Ildatch destroyed, albeit at tremendous cost. [[The Magic Goes Away]]...at least until the next series.
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While the first book has been criticised for being too similar to ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', the later books are generally regarded as better, and the trilogy as a whole was very successful. It's best described as good quality pop-fantasy.
For those interested in the history of the fantasy genre, it should be noted that ''The Sword of Shannara'' was the first high fantasy novel not written for children to be a commercial success in its own time (that's right; ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' was not a commercial success until many years after it was published), and ''Elfstones'' and ''Wishsong'' were numbers two and three, respectively; all three spent weeks on the ''New York Times'' best-seller list. This was largely what convinced publishers that fantasy could be a commercially viable genre separate from sci-fi, causing an explosion in the publication of fantasy.
See [[Shannara/Characters|here]] for the character sheet.
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{{tropelist}}
== The Sword of Shannara ==
* [[Above the Ruins]]: Of Skull Mountain
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** [[Badass Normal]]: Panamon Creel, Balinor and Hendel. Menion Leah above all.
* [[Big Bad]]: The Warlock Lord
* [[Big Creepy
* [[Cain and Abel]]: Balinor and Palance. It's largely because of the latter's raging inferiority complex.
* [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]]: Only a Shannara heir can use the Sword, because the legends ''say'' only a Shannara heir can use the Sword.
* [[Dead All Along]]: {{spoiler|Brona}} is revealed to be this, in one of the biggest twists in [[Fantasy Literature]].
* [[Don't Go in The Woods]]: The Black Oaks are avoided by anyone with half a brain. Unfortunately, avoiding them sends Shea, Menion, and Flick into the Mist Marsh.
* [[Dressing
* [[Evil Chancellor]]: Stenmin, to Balinor's brother, Palance.
* [[Freudian Trio]]: Shea (Ego), Panamon Creel (Id), and Keltset (Superego)
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* [[Half-Human Hybrid]]: Shea is part human, part Elf.
* [[Happy Ending]]: The only unambiguously happy ending in the whole blasted franchise.
* [[Hollywood Cyborg]]: The insectoid monster they meet in the ruins is at least half machine. Might be a [[The Heritage of Shannara
* [[Honour Among Thieves]]: Panamon Creel's belief that he owes Shea for saving his life is the reason he agrees to assist him in finding the Sword. And given Creel's peculiar sense of honour that means he'll take him to the ends of the earth to do it.
* [[Informed Ability]]: Stenmin, the [[Evil Chancellor]], is said to be a mystic. He never shows any sign of magical powers, though it's possible he was some sort of astrologer/fortuneteller/alchemist, and consequently didn't ''have'' any (or at least, not that would have helped him against the heroes). To be fair, however, it is very possible to infer that Stenmin's influence over Palance might have some partly mystical cause. Also, the word "mystic" technically does not mean the same thing as "magician."
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* [[Sorcerous Overlord]]: Brona
* [[Swamps Are Evil]]: The Mist Marsh. It's miserably damp, filled with pools of brackish water, and oh yeah, there's the Mist Wraith, a Kraken-esque spirit that would desperately like to eat you.
* [[Villain-Beating Artifact]]: {{spoiler|To defeat the Warlock Lord, the heroes need the titular sword, whose powers show the absolute truth about those who touch it. Reveals show that the Warlock Lord was dead for eons before the novels began.}}
* [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?]] ?: Shea is understandably distressed when he learns that {{spoiler|the Sword's power is to make any living being it touches accept the truth about itself. Of course since Brona is [[Dead All Along]]...}}
== The Elfstones of Shannara ==
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* [[Delaying Action]]: The entire War of the Forbidding is a delaying action, meant to give Wil and Amberle enough time to save the Ellcrys.
* [[Demon Lords and Archdevils]]: The Dagda Mor, leader of the [[Legions of Hell|Demon army]] is described as a Demon Lord, in an [[Asskicking Equals Authority]] sort of way.
* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: Wil, Amberle, and Eretria escape Safehold, only to find the sun is already setting--on the last day [[Child Prodigy|Perk]] said he would fly over the Wilderun. Wil, worn out from overuse of the Elfstones, tells Eretria to blow the whistle. Nothing seems to happen...then, at last, just when the sun has vanished and it seems they can never make it back to Arborlon, Genewen appears: Perk just couldn't leave them, especially after he saw the smoke from Mallenroh's tower, so he waited an extra day, and even past sunset. This rescue, in turn, allows them to be the [[Deus Ex Machina]] for the defenders of Arborlon, winging in just as they're about to succumb to the Demon horde.
* [[Dwindling Party]]: The Reaper does this to Wil and Amberle's party, ending with Crispin.
* [[Dying Moment of Awesome]]: Elven Hunter Crispin's futile [[Last Stand]] against The Reaper. He actually manages to [[You Shall Not Pass|slow down]] the [[The Juggernaut|unstoppable monster]] for a few moments, enabling Wil and Amberle to escape it.
* [[Elite Mooks]]: The Furies, who are The Dagda Mor's best killers after [[The Dragon|The Reaper]]. A large group of them almost manage to kill Allanon.
* [[Femme Fatale]]: Eretria. At first it isn't clear whether she is a villain (her anger at being spurned almost costs them the Elfstones when she doesn't warn Wil of Cephelo's plan to steal them), a [[Spanner in
* [[Femme Fatalons]]: The Furies.
* [[Final Battle]]: The Demon assault on Arborlon is shaping up to be this. The Ellcrys is reborn just in time.
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* [[Hero Secret Service]]: Wil to Amberle, [[Mauve Shirt|Crispin]] and his Elven Hunters to both of them.
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Amberle}} gives up everything in order to become the next {{spoiler|Ellcrys}}. [[Tear Jerker|Sniff...]]
* [[High Altitude Battle]]: Between Allanon and [[Giant Flyer|Dancer]] on the one hand, and the Dagda Mor and his [[Bat Out of Hell|bat]] on the other.
* [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons]]: And it works! Allanon's battle with a one-eyed, six-legged, flightless Dragon is one of the high-points of the book.
* [[Killed Off for Real]]: {{spoiler|The Chosen, Arion Elessedil, Kael Pindannon Cephelo and his band, [[Mutual Kill|Morag and Mallenroh]], The Changeling, The Reaper, The Dagda Mor, Eventine Elessedil}}.
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* [[Nothing Is Scarier]]: Part of what makes The Reaper so frightening, as it is utterly silent (and most likely [[The Voiceless|cannot even speak]]), has a hood which may very well be completely empty, and it will always [[Implacable Man|inexorably pursue]] until it catches you--but you will never know where or when it is coming. Crossing this with the silent, empty darkness of the Pykon may explain why that chapter is so subtly terrifying to some.
* [[Not Now, Kiddo]]: Although Wil Ohmsford doesn't say the trope name, he does pretty much ignore [[The Woobie|poor little Wisp]], who keeps trying to tell him something—but he's so set on getting the Elfstones back from Mallenroh so he can prove himself Amberle's protector that he doesn't even pay attention to the hysterical shrieking. Cue Eretria finally grabbing his arm and jerking him back, revealing that the box the Elfstones were in was trapped with a deadly viper inside:
{{quote|
* [[One-Man Army]]: With the Ellcrys staff neutralising the Demons' powers, Allanon is able to become one, as only The Dagda Mor (who has [[Evil Sorcerer|Druidic powers]] in addition to his own innate magic) is able to challenge him magically.
* [[Our Demons Are Different]]: Evil beings of Faerie exiled before the modern world began, they've been corrupted by hatred into various types of monster:
** [[Our Dragons Are Different]]: The one Allanon fights has six legs, one eye, and can't fly or breathe fire.
** [[Our Goblins Are
** [[Our Monsters Are Different]]: In addition to Ogres, Goblins, and the Dragon, many other mythical and fairy tale beings, including Imps, Gremlins, [[Our Ghouls Are Different|Ghouls]], Harpies, and of course, the [[Cats Are Mean|Furies]], are mentioned as being a part of the Demon army, although only a few are described in detail.
** [[Our Ogres Are Hungrier]]: Another Demon species, used as the brute force of the Dagda Mor's army on several occasions. All we're really told is that they're big, scaly, and that it took the presence of the Trolls to successfully repel them.
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* [[The Power of Hate]]: The Demon army is made of this trope. Years trapped within the Forbidding have completely warped the minds and bodies of the dark Fae, with their numbers, powers, and mutations only increasing as their loathing of all life (and the Elves and the Ellcrys in particular) grow. The Dagda Mor and Allanon both reference the trope on occasion, stating flat out that it is the power of their hatred/rage and not their superior numbers that truly makes the Demons dangerous.
* [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]]: Many demons are scaled. One of them, a huge monster with the head of a lizard, nearly breaks into Arborlon before Stee Jans stops it.
* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: The Elessedils are ''very'' active. Between Amberle being sent on the quest for the Bloodfire, Eventine, Arion, and Ander acting as war leaders, and in Ander's case, more or less holding the alliance together, they're more involved in the events of the story than anyone else.
* [[Sealed Evil in
* [[Second Love]]: Possibly {{spoiler|Wil}} and Eretria. We're not sure what he thought of {{spoiler|Amberle}}.
* [[Scarily Competent Tracker]]: The Reaper follows Wil and Amberle across the entire Westland, never losing them for more than a few days at a time.
* [[Slasher Movie]]: The Reaper's pursuit of Wil, Amberle and Crispin's men through the Pykon is so very much this. The horrific discovery and chase at Drey Wood also counts.
* [[Sleep Cute]]: Amberle and Wil get a moment like this in the Matted Breaks.
* [[Super-Persistent Predator]]: [[The Juggernaut|The Reaper]] is somewhere between this and the more human [[Implacable Man]], refusing to give up even after Wil and Amberle cross a whole mountain range on Roc-back.
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* [[Supporting Leader]]: Ander and Allanon.
* [[Swamps Are Evil]]: The Matted Brakes, a godforsaken tangle of swampland, deadwood forest, scrub, and stagnant water, populated by some of the most unpleasant creatures imaginable, including The Things, which kills two members of Amberle's bodyguard.
* [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]]: [[
* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: Cephelo, leader of the Rover caravan, demonstrates both stupidity and [[Genre Blind|Genre Blindness]] when he steals the Elfstones from Wil. He is killed soon after by The Reaper.
* [[The Unfavourite]]: Ander's position as this is a huge plot point.
* [[Vain Sorceress]]: Morag and Mallenroh are identical twin [[Vain Sorceress|Vain Sorceresses]]. Each is convinced that she is the most beautiful and the other is a hag; this is the source of their rivalry and leads to the death of a human who [[Love Triangle|got between them]] and eventually their own [[Mutual Kill]].
* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]: The Changeling.
* [[Wham! Episode|Wham Chapter]]: Chapter 24, the flight through the Pykon.
* [[Wicked Witch]]: Morag and Mallenroh again.
* [[Wizard Duel]]: Between Allanon and The Dagda Mor. It's epic.
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* [[Driven to Suicide]]: Helt, due to [[The Corruption|the poison of the winged creature]] in the cellars of Graymark, brings down the gate to cut the rest of the party off from the Mord Wraiths and their forces, a [[You Shall Not Pass]] brought on by incipient [[Body Horror]].
* [[Dwindling Party]]: Jair's party is reduced to {{spoiler|him and Slanter}} by the end.
* [[Everything's Squishier
* [[The Faceless]]: The Mord Wraiths, due to a combination of [[Black Cloak]] and [[In the Hood]].
* [[Fighting Down Memory Lane]]: To restore {{spoiler|Brin}} to herself.
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* [[The Lancer]]: Slanter slowly evolves into Jair's.
* [[Leave Him to Me]]: Allanon and Garet Jax both say this when confronted by the Jachyras.
* [[Lizard Folk]]: The Mwellrets are first introduced in this book, as a species of reptillian Troll that survived in the swamps instead of the mountains.
* [[The Magic Goes Away]]: The finale. The Ildatch is dust, Allanon is dead, Paranor is sealed away, and Brin and Jair are told to never use the Wishsong again.
* [[The Man Behind the Man]]: Turns out the the Warlock Lord, [[Big Bad]] of the first book was actually the puppet of his {{spoiler|sentient [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]] cum [[Artifact of Doom]], the Ildatch}}. Whether he was aware of this is unknown.
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** According to [[Word of God]], he really was insane, courtesy of a screw-up with the Druid Sleep. By the time ''Heritage'' rolls around, he's back to normal and considers that time period his [[Old Shame]]/ [[Never Live It Down]] moment. Makes it even funnier in a way.
* [[Panthera Awesome]]: Whisper, Cogline and Kimber Boh's moor cat, who attacks the Mord Wraiths and their monsters with only his teeth and claws. He may be more [[Badass]] than any of the human characters.
* [[Playing
* [[The Power of Love]]: How {{spoiler|Jair brings his sister back to her senses}} after [[The Big Bad]]'s [[More Than Mind Control]] leads to a bit of [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]. Lampshaded by Allanon when his Shade visits Brin.
* [[Reality Warper]]: Brin's Wishsong allows her to force the world around her to comply with how she wants it to be. See the [[Shannara|main page]] for more details.
* [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]]: The first book to introduce the [[Lizard Folk|Mwellrets]], in the form of the treacherous Stythys.
* [[Suicide Mission]]: Jair's quest is effectively this. Of the six men who leave Culhaven to go to Heaven's Well and [[Green Aesop|halt the pollution of the Silver River]], four of them die on the way.
* [[Take Up My Sword]]: {{spoiler|Allanon does this to Brin after he dies, charging one of her [[The Heritage of Shannara
* [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]]: The Ildatch is an ancient book, surviving from the time of Faerie, and containing the secrets of many of their darker magics. Reading it subverted Brona, the Skull Bearers, and the Mord Wraiths; as such, Allanon has decided it must be destroyed.
* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: Rone Leah's "...for cat's sake!" which he says frequently enough for it to be considered his [[Catch Phrase|catchphrase]].
* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: Jair and Slanter evolve into the Type II version.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:The Sword of Shannara Trilogy]]▼
[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category:Fantasy Literature]]
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