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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_talismans_of_shannara_cover.jpg]]
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3The sequel to Terry Brooks's best-selling [[Literature/TheSwordOfShannaraTrilogy Sword of Shannara Trilogy]], ''Heritage of Shannara'' is a quartet of novels that follows the Scions of the Elven House of Shannara as they attempt to save a world that's done its best to outlaw what they are.
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5The series opens with ''Scions of Shannara''. It's been three hundred years since the death of the Druid Allanon, and the Four Lands are barely recognizable. The Southland-based [[TheEmpire Federation]] has expanded to include most of the known world. The Elves have vanished, the Dwarves are enslaved, driven to the edge of extermination, and magic is outlawed. Worse yet, dark magical creatures known as [[TheHeartless The Shadowen]] have appeared, their very presence sickening the lands.
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7Realising that something has to be done, Allanon's shade sends Cogline, a former Druid, to summon the Heirs of Shannara: [[TheHero Par]], [[TheTeamNormal Coll]], [[RefusalOfTheCall Walker]], and [[ActionGirl Wren]]. He then hands each of them a charge: Par must recover the Sword of Shannara, Wren must find the Elves and convince them to return to the Four Lands, and Walker must bring back Paranor and the Druids. Most of the remainder of the book is spent with Par and Coll, and their friend Morgan Leah, who, with aid from [[SupportingLeader Padishar Creel]] and the [[LaResistance Free-Born]], attempt to find the Sword.
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9As the book closes, things are looking grim: a traitor enables the Federation to destroy the Free-Born, Coll is captured by [[SecretPolice First Seeker]] [[TheBigBad Rimmer Dall]], who convinces Par that he has accidentally slain his brother, and Morgan's magic sword is shattered. Worst of all, Dall allows Par to escape with the Sword, which he cannot seem to activate, after revealing that the Federation is in fact under Shadowen control.
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11In ''Druid of Shannara'', we shift focus to Walker Boh, who after finally accepting the CallToAdventure, attempted to retrieve the Black Elfstone, needed to revive the Druids, only to be left half-dead from joint attacks by the Asphinx (a snake whose bite petrifies its victims) and Rimmer Dall's Shadowen. He is saved by Quickening, Elemental daughter of The King of the Silver River, who recruits Walker, Morgan Leah, and a Federation assassin named [[PsychoForHire Pe Ell]] to help her retrieve the Black Elfstone from Uhl Belk the Stone King, a rival BigBad. With assistance from a Tracker named Horner Dees, a tunesmith named Carisman, and a whole lot of luck, the group manages to dodge the Stone King's monsters, retrieve the Black Elfstone, fix Morgan's sword, and seal up Uhl Belk within his own domain, though at frightful cost to themselves.
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13In ''Elf Queen of Shannara'', Wren Ohmsford and her companion [[BigBrotherMentor Garth]] make the journey to the island of Morrowindl to recover the Elves. They find the Elves besieged by so-called demons, later revealed to be Shadowen of the Elves' own, accidental creation. Wren discovers that she is not just an Ohmsford, but also [[spoiler:the granddaughter of the Elf Queen]], which, along with her use of the Elfstones, triggers an identity crisis that will nearly cripple her at a number of vital moments. Realising that Morrowindl will soon be destroyed, the Elves shrink their capital city down, allowing a party of nine men (including Wren) to try and transport their entire Race to the beach, where a Wing Rider will take them back to the mainland. They are successful, though only a few of them survive.
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15The series comes to a conclusion in ''The Talismans of Shannara''. Walker has become the first of the new Druids, Wren and the Elves are back and preparing for war with the Federation, and only Par has yet to fulfill his charge, by successfully using the Sword of Shannara. Nor will he, if Rimmer Dall has anything to say about it. Using a BrainWashedAndCrazy Coll as bait, he captures Par and begins the torturous process of breaking down his mind, trying to convince him that he is a Shadowen, even as he dispatches the might of the Federation army and the deadliest of his Shadowen to harass and eliminate Walker and Wren. The race is one to see which fails first: the Shadowen? The Shannara heirs? Par Ohmsford's mind? [[MindScrew Or perhaps our own...]]
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17The character sheet can be found [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/Shannara here]]
18----
19!!This series provides examples of:
20* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Beneath Tyrsis. Justified because the city is so large and old, built upon a massive cliff face which has been hollowed out, and that they were in fact designed to allow the people an escape route should Tyrsis be about to fall in a siege. It's also a nice ContinuityNod, since these very escape routes and sewers were used by the traitor Stenmin to let the Warlock Lord's army into the city at the end of ''Sword''.
21* ActionGirl: Wren Ohmsford, Matty Roh, and possibly Damson Rhee. Generally speaking, this series boasts a lot more physically active females than the original trilogy did.
22* ActuallyIAmHim: Matty Roh, thanks to Morgan jumping to conclusions at their first meeting.
23* AesopAmnesia: The [[spoiler: Elves]] in the backstory. They forgot about the results of their original abuse of magic namely [[spoiler: the creation of the Shadowen]], and went on to repeat said abuses, resulting in [[spoiler: the "demons" of Morrowindl]].
24* AlliterativeName: Tiger Ty.
25* BodySnatcher: The Shadowen.
26* BadFuture: What the Shannara heirs are racing to prevent: a future where nothing grows, everything is dead, and people are just prey for the Shadowen.
27* BaitAndSwitch: In the third book, Coll Ohmsford puts on the Mirrorshroud to escape Southwatch, only to be subverted by it into a Shadowen and go haring off to Tyrsis to hunt down his brother. Not two chapters later, Par is discovered in his safehouse by a mysterious figure in a black cloak. But the very next book reveals this to be, not Coll, but Padishar Creel.
28* BearsAreBadNews: The Koden in ''Druid'' is a giant, blinded, magically mutated bear that serves as the guardian to the entrance of the Stone King's realm. It ultimately subverts this trope, letting the group pass unharmed in exchange for its freedom.
29* BecomingTheCostume: Arguably what happens to Coll when he puts on the Mirrorshroud, with some overlap with TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody. Rimmer Dall, ManipulativeBastard that he is, could even say that [[TruthAndLies he told Coll this outright]], since he claimed the cloak would "make him appear as a Shadowen". Problem is, he didn't mention it would do its job [[NightmareFuel all too well]].
30* BigApplesauce: It's hinted that Stone King Uhl Belk's lair, revealed to be the petrified remains of an Old World city, ''might'' be New York (although it could also be Chicago, with the Tiderace being Lake Michigan).
31* BigBad: The Shadowen, led by Rimmer Dall. Uhl Belk, the Stone King, is a rival BigBad who appears in ''Druid''. The King of the Silver River sends Quickening and her companions to head him off before he can achieve the same threat level as Dall and his cohorts.
32* BigCreepyCrawlies: Shadowen Creepers, which combine this with HollywoodCyborg are essentially a gigantic cross between a worm, a cockroach and a crab, with CombatTentacles, and metal plating. The Stone King keeps one (The Rake) as his watchdog. The Wisteron, the most dangerous of the "demons" on Morrowindl is also a good example, described as "half-spider, half-monkey, all monster".
33* BlessedWithSuck: All of the Ohmsford heirs, [[AndZoidberg and Morgan]] as well. They have powerful magic that can help them slay Shadowen, sure. It also means that they're targets for every Shadowen out there, constantly have to be on the lookout in case they become addicted to it, and are in constant danger of passing out or mutating due to its overuse.
34* BlindSeer: The Addershag, in a particularly disturbing (and [[MadOracle not exactly]] [[ChaoticNeutral good]]) version.
35* BreakTheCutie: Rimmer Dall attempts this on Par, and to a lesser degree, Coll. Wren, Walker, and Morgan endure what might be seen as a lighter version of this.
36* CatScare: [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Morgan's first appearance in the series]] is covering himself in mud and jumping out in front of Par and Coll as a prank, at a point where the reader is expecting the "mud creature" to be a Shadowen.
37* CharacterDeath: [[spoiler: Hirehone, Steff, Teel, Carisman, Quickening, Pe Ell, Aurin Striate (The Owl), Ellenroh Elessedil, Eowen Cerise, Cort, Dal, Gavilan Elessedil, The Wisteron, Garth, Cogline, Tib Arne, Faun, Rimmer Dall]].
38* CloudCuckoolander: Carisman.
39* CombatTentacles: Each Creeper has several.
40* CoolDownHug: Performed by Damson Rhee on Par during the finale.
41* CorruptTheCutie: Dall's plan for Par involves this, combined with the above-mentioned BreakTheCutie.
42* DarkerAndEdgier: As compared to the original trilogy.
43* DeadpanSnarker: While most characters can get the occasional snark in, Stresa is made of this.
44* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Morgan and to a lesser degree, Par and Coll were in this situation before the series began. Par JumpedAtTheCall and Coll follows him; Morgan and (following the loss of his arm and his friends) Walker remain this way for quite some time, throwing themselves into the quest for the Black Elfstone in a desperate attempt to find some meaning in what they've endured. Walker eventually finds it by the end of ''Druid''; Morgan has to wait until ''Talismans'' before he finds his place.
45* DiscOneFinalBoss: Uhl Belk, a rival BigBad, in ''Druid'', and [[SuperPersistentPredator The Wisteron]] in ''Elf Queen''.
46* DomedHometown: The Elven capital of Arborlon in ''Elf Queen''. It is surrounded by a magical dome called the Keel, which is meant to keep the so-called demons of Morrowindl out.
47* TheDragon: Pe Ell, Federation assassin and PsychoForHire, who appears in ''Druid'', is probably the closest thing Rimmer Dall has to a Dragon. The Stone King has several candidates, including [[BigCreepyCrawlies The Rake]], [[SandWorm The Maw Grint]], and even [[BearsAreBadNews The Koden]].
48* DwindlingParty: Wren's party in ''Elf Queen''.
49* EarnYourHappyEnding: It ends pretty well, but ''God'' do they get tortured first.
50* TheEmpire: The Southland Federation plays this role, having gone through an expansionist, imperialist phase. It has occupied the empty Westland, annexed Callahorn and the Eastland outright, and is looking to move into the Northland.
51* EnergyAbsorption: [[spoiler: Southwatch]] feeds off of the magic in the Four Lands themselves, leaving them barren. The Shadowen have a more limited ability to drain lesser magics from their victims.
52* EnfanteTerrible: The little girl on Toffer Ridge, a Shadowen child who tried to possess Par by embracing him. [[NightmareFuel "Hug me?"]].
53* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Thanks to the Elves messing around with the magic of the earth to [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke create new creatures]] [[spoiler:and eventually copies of themselves [[CloneDegeneration that degenerated into demons]]]], and the demons drawing on its magic further to sustain themselves, the island of Morrowindl eventually becomes this crossed with HungryJungle.
54* EvilTowerOfOminousness: Southwatch, the massive black granite monument built by the Federation to commemorate its victories. It's also the homebase for the Seekers and the centre of Shadowen activity in the Federation.
55* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Gavilan Elessedil]], who turns on Wren and steals the Ruhk Staff because he believes he better knows how to control and use the magic of the Loden. [[LaserGuidedKarma He pays for it]], but thanks to his initial likability and how clearly desperate, young, and panicked he is, you can't help but feel sorry for him.
56* FaintingSeer: Eowen Cerise has shades of this, since she always seems weak and near collapse after having a vision/dream.
57* FantasticRacism: The Federation is Man-run and oriented, and hates Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, and anything else that isn't purely Man-blooded. While it's a recurring theme whenever the Federation appears, it's strongest expression is in this series.
58* FeatheredFiend: [[spoiler: Gloon]], [[spoiler: Tib Arne's]] Shadowen possessed [[spoiler: War Shrike]]. Capable of [[SizeShifter altering his size]] at will.
59* TheFederation: As pointed out on the main page, this is subverted to Hell and gone. The Southland Federation is TheEmpire in a democratic disguise.
60* FinalBattle: Wren, The Elves, The Trolls, and The Free-born fight a desperate battle in the Westland, while Walker, Morgan and co. storm Southwatch.
61* FinalSolution: In the backstory, the Federation waged a war of extermination against the Dwarves, reducing their population to ruins.
62* {{Foreshadowing}}: "You're dead, [[spoiler:Garth]]."
63* TheFourHorsemenOfTheApocalypse: Rimmer Dall sends four Shadowen named Famine, Pestilence, War, and Death to keep Walker Boh trapped inside Paranor in ''Talismans''. Famine and Pestilence can spread their respective namesakes with a touch, War is a SpikesOfVillainy weapons user, and Death is about what you'd expect: a GrimReaper figure with a SinisterScythe. All four are nearly indestructible, forcing Walker to [[spoiler: use their own magic]] to destroy them.
64* GardenOfEvil: Morrowindl, crossed with HungryJungle.
65* GeniusLoci:
66** [[spoiler: Southwatch]], a living organism designed to leech off the planet's magic for Shadowen use.
67** The Stone King was more-or-less in the process of turning himself into one of these for Eldwist as well, fusing himself with the land.
68* GiantFlyer: The Rocs (with special mention going to Tiger Ty's mount, Spirit) and the War Shrike, Gloon.
69* GodGuise: The Urdas and their treatment of Carisman, complete with the equivalent of TorchesAndPitchforks when he disobeys them and leaves their village with Walker's party. It doesn't end well.
70* GrandTheftMe: The main ability of the Shadowen, making it incredibly hard for the heroes to trust ''anybody''. They're especially attracted to those with stronger magic, making Par a prime target.
71* GreenAesop: Brooks was already putting these in the original [[Literature/TheSwordOfShannaraTrilogy Shannara]] trilogy to some extent, but it really picks up here. The "demons" of Morrowindl, and the Shadowen, are both the result of people overusing the naturally existing magical energy of the earth. It's pretty clearly a metaphor for environmentalist concerns about resource overuse and depletion. Also, Uhl Belk's desire to turn the entire world to stone, and the stone city that he has made his home, could easily be inferred to be a metaphor for urban sprawl.
72* TheGrotesque: The extremely sympathetic and pitiable Mole, who lives under Tyrsis' sewers.
73* HandicappedBadass: Walker's down an arm by the second book, and Garth, Wren's bodyguard and trainer, is deaf.
74* HealingFactor: Many Shadowen can heal or are otherwise capable of PullingThemselvesTogether after taking purely physical wounds. It usually takes magical attacks, or massive physical trauma to put them down permanently.
75* TheHeartless: The Shadowen are disembodied wraiths carrying a piece of the soul of the person they originally were. How much of the original remains is unknown; they might better be described as TheSoulless.
76* HellishHorse: The Horsemen's mounts: scaled, clawed and fanged monstrosities that nevertheless have an equestrian gait.
77* HeroesActVillainsHinder: Our heroes are on quests to gain the talismans they need to stop Rimmer Dall. All Rimmer Dall (as well as various {{Disc One Final Boss}}es like Uhl Belk and The Wisteron) need to do is prevent them from succeeding.
78* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Quickening]] pulls one in ''Druid'', allowing her magic to be unleashed in its rawest form, undoing all the damage the Stone King has wrought. [[spoiler: Cogline]] pulls one in ''Talismans'', helping Walker defeat the final Horseman, Death, as does [[spoiler: Faun]], when Wren is attacked by the Shadowen.
79* HighAltitudeBattle: Between Tiger Ty and Spirit on the one hand, and [[spoiler: [[FeatheredFiend Gloon]]]] on the other.
80* HollywoodCyborg: The Creepers, which are all at least half mechanical.
81* IdiotBall: As part of an extremely-unlikely plot to seduce Par to the Dark Side, Rimmer Dall lets him have The Sword of Shannara. (The real one; he doesn't even whip-up a fake, even though the characters themselves think the sword is fake for most of the series, since it doesn't do anything when they hold it.) Guess what ends up being the key to the Shadowen's destruction at the end?
82* ICannotSelfTerminate: [[spoiler:Garth]], after being poisoned by the Wisteron, requiring [[MercyKill Wren to do the deed]] before he can [[TheCorruption become a Shadowen]] too. Considering how fond Brooks is of [[{{Expy}} Expies]], GenerationXerox, and HisStoryRepeatsItself, this may be intended as an echo of Helt's fate in ''Wishsong''.
83* [[IsThatWhatHeToldYou Is That What They Told You?]]: Wren gets hit by this ''hard'' in ''Elf Queen''--not only does she find out both her own grandmother and Eowen Cerise are keeping the truth from her about the origin of the demons and [[AndManGrewProud the full extent of the Elves' sins]], something which first has to be revealed to her by Stresa of all people, but even Garth [[spoiler:knew all along she was Ellenroh's granddaughter, and about Morrowindl and Eowen's prophecy, since her parents brought her to the Rovers and made him promise to care for her]]. It's no wonder she spends most of that book shifting from RageAgainstTheMentor to HeroicBSOD to RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
84* [[ItsGoingDown It's Going Down]]: Southwatch which is incinerated when [[spoiler: the heroes release the magic it was keeping captive]].
85* LampshadeHanging: In ''Druid'' Morgan constantly implies that he isn't supposed to be in the book, since he's part of the Par and Coll plot involving the Sword of Shannara and the Outlaws. He barely even knows Walker Boh, and the only thing he brings to the table is his broken magic sword.
86* LifeOrLimbDecision: Walker Boh's arm is petrified, by the bite of the Asphinx and he has to smash it off to prevent the rest of his body from becoming petrified as well.
87* TheMagicComesBack: In ''The Scions of Shannara'' the magic is returning to the world 300 years after it had [[TheMagicGoesAway left the world]] in ''The Wishsong of Shannara''.
88* ManipulativeBastard: Dear God, Rimmer Dall. He messes with Coll and Par's heads so thoroughly that it's almost frightening, and seems to specialise in BreakTheCutie. He drives them both towards the edge of fullblown insanity, leaving the brothers unsure of the difference between reality and fiction, and his default means of attack, in any situation, seems to be screwing with his opponents' mind. By the time he's done, neither the Ohmsfords nor the reader may be sure what to believe any more.
89* MeaningfulName: Rumor, Walker Boh's moor cat, is descended from the one who belonged to Cogline and Kimber in ''Wishsong''...and his name was Whisper. To add to this is the very amusing in-story joke that "wherever Walker goes, Rumor follows him."
90* MercyKill: Wren is forced to [[spoiler: MercyKill [[BigBrotherMentor Garth]] after he is infected by The Wisteron's venom]].
91* MistakenIdentity: A RunningGag of the dramatic sort in ''Talismans'', where characters continually rescue someone, thinking/hoping it is Par. First Morgan rescues [[spoiler:Wren]], then Damson and Matty rescue [[spoiler:Coll]]. Although [[spoiler:Wren]] wryly apologized for not being Par, neither rescuee is anything but grateful for the save. This is likely a CallBack all the way to ''Sword'', where both Menion and Flick rescued someone, thinking/hoping it was Shea, only for it to turn out to be Shirl and Eventine, respectively.
92* MixAndMatchCritters: Many of the creatures created by the Elves on Morrowindl, notably the Splinterscats, a cross between cat, porcupine, dog, and (mentally) human.
93* TheMole: Many, many examples, if only because of the nature of the Shadowen. [[spoiler: Teel, Tib Arne and Gloon]], and Pe Ell are among the nastiest.
94* {{Mooks}}: The Federation soldiers.
95** EliteMooks: The [[SecretPolice Seekers]] can cut their way through normal troops with ease, but tend to go down easily when confronted by Wren, Walker, Morgan, or the power-maddened Par.
96* NothingIsScarier: Some of the most disturbing, creepy, nightmare-inducing moments in the series come from the times when the characters are exploring dark, empty, lifeless, twisted places, constantly waiting for something to jump out at them but it never does. The sewers beneath Tyrsis act as this at several points for Par, particularly when he, Coll, and Damson are led by the Mole through the old palace of the Buckhannahs to enter the Pit for the last time, and some of Wren's exploration of Morrowindl partakes of this as well. But the biggest example in the series has to be the many chapters detailing the long, bleak days the company from Rampling Steep spends in Eldwist...the constant description of the lifeless stone, the cries of the seabirds and crashing of the ocean waves, the otherwise endless silence of the ruined city, the mist and shadows, how solitary and alone they are...and how they just keep finding nothing. The tension is so thick that the times when it suddenly explodes into horrific attacks from the Rake or the Maw Grint are almost welcome...but afterward the same silent nothingness always returns, and Brooks's language through the whole section is some of his best and most evocative ever. It gets to the point that the oppressiveness of the place weighs down upon the company until all of them, even Pe Ell and Quickening, seem on the verge of crossing the DespairEventHorizon, and while Walker suggests it is a function of the Stone King's magic and that the city itself is alive in a way and corrupting them, it's just as likely to be the simple result of constant exposure to so much changeless, empty nothingness. It's certainly very haunting and will stay with the reader for a long time.
97* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:Cogline and Rumor]], thanks to the magical power of the Druid History that protects them from the Shadowen attack--[[BlessedWithSuck at the cost of making them one with Paranor, unable to come fully back to the world of men until it does]]. However, in [[spoiler:Cogline]]'s case, [[YouCantFightFate this was merely delaying the inevitable]]: he gets KilledOffForReal in a HeroicSacrifice saving Walker from the Four Horsemen.
98* NumberTwo: Chandos to Padishar.
99* OhCrap: The revelation that [[spoiler:Teel is a Shadowen. She was with the heroes practically from the beginning, and actually witnessed Allanon giving the scions their charges. Hence Rimmer Dall ends the first book with a significant advantage. ]]
100* OurDemonsAreDifferent: The so-called "demons" of Morrowindl, which have no connection to the evil faerie beings locked up in the Forbidding (the capital "D" Demons) or the soulless once-men of ''Literature/TheWordAndTheVoid'' (the small "d" demons). They are magic creations of the Elves, gone mad, and evolved into monsters that somewhat resemble the Demons of the Forbidding, and are referred to as such.
101* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The Drakuls of Morrowindl: Disembodied wraiths that make themselves sound like people you trust, convince you to lower your defenses and then drain the life from you, transforming you into one of them. Fortunately they're only found on one area of the island.
102* PantheraAwesome: Rumour, Walker Boh and Cogline's moor cat, and a descendant of Whisper, from ''Wishsong''. He's more than a match for most Shadowen.
103* PoisonedWeapons: The Sword of Leah works like this; all Morgan has to do is slash a Shadowen and it will burn apart from the inside-out. Once the blade is broken, Morgan can only get the magic to work by keeping the shattered blade in constant contact with the Shadowen.
104* PoliceState: The Federation is a tightly controlled police state, where magic is outlawed, the Dwarfs are enslaved, and the Seekers have the power to arrest anybody at any time on the slightest pretext.
105* PowerTrio: [[TheSmartGuy Morgan]], [[TheHeart Damson]], and [[SugarAndIcePersonality Matty Roh]] form one in ''Talismans''. [[WarriorPrince Morgan]] is TheKirk, Damson TheMcCoy, and [[BrokenBird Matty]] is TheSpock.
106* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: Each of the visions the Grimpond gives Walker comes true.
107* PropheticFallacy: ...but always with a twist. If Walker hadn't figured this out before the end, and looked beyond the obvious interpretation, the third vision would have come true with his death, [[{{Revenge}} just as the Grimpond wanted]].
108* ProtagonistTitle: ''Druid'' and ''Elf Queen'' are named for Walker Boh and Wren Ohmsford respectively.
109* PsychoForHire: Pe Ell of ''Druid of Shannara''. He's a casual killer who became an assassin because he likes to look into people's eyes while they die. It's almost a religious thing for him.
110* PsychopathicManchild: [[spoiler: Tib Arne, a teenaged Shadowen]], who uses [[spoiler: his]] [[EnfanteTerrible childish]] and [[DeliberatelyCuteChild seemingly innocent appearance]] to trick others into trusting [[spoiler: him]]. Note that the childishness isn't an act; when revealed as TheMole [[spoiler: he]]'s still remarkably puerile.
111* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Four Horsemen are a very serious version that Rimmer Dall uses to harass Walker in ''Talismans''. They manage to keep him trapped inside Paranor for almost half the book, and nearly kill him two or three times.
112* RagnarokProofing: The Stone King's domain, Eldwist is the petrified remains of an Old World city (implied to be New York), with his abode being a large stadium located in the middle of the ruins.
113* RedEyesTakeWarning: Red eyes are the usual tell for Shadowen, and they have them as both corporal beings and wraiths. The more powerful Shadowen can hide them in human form.
114* {{Retirony}}: Retirement per se is not mentioned, but at one point during the exploration of Eldwist when it seems the party will never find Uhl Belk and escape, Carisman waxes eloquent about the Highlands of Leah after Morgan mentions them and says he wishes he could have stayed there; Morgan then offers to take him home with him after the quest is over, and he accepts. [[spoiler:But of course this never happens, as he ends up dying thanks to the Urdas.]]
115* TheReveal: The Shadowen are [[spoiler: Elves who rediscovered the old magic and found a way to transform into wraiths]]. On a lesser note the "demons" on Morrowindl are [[spoiler:degenerated Elven clones, created from the failure of the same magic]]. To say the Elves royally screwed up, would be an understatement.
116* TheSavageSouth: Toyed with. The Southland Federation prides itself on being the most civilised of the Four Lands, and on bringing that civilisation to the rest of the world. The end result of that pride, however, is the transformation of the Southland into a xenophobic dictatorial state, secretly controlled by the Shadowen, and bent on extending that dictatorship over the rest of the Four Lands. Needless to say, nobody in their right mind visits the Southland anymore, and the Eastland, Westland, and Northland all want the Federation out of their territories.
117* SavageWolves: The Gnawl, which tracked Par, Coll, Steff, Teel, and Morgan through the Wolfsktaag, and the werewolf creature that followed Wren and Garth throughout the Westland. Both are Shadowen spawn.
118* SchmuckBait: "Here, do you see this magical cloak? If you put it on it will [[{{Glamour}} let you appear as a Shadowen]], thus fooling everyone in Southwatch. Why am I telling you this? Oh, just because I'm a ManipulativeBastard [[ForTheEvulz who likes taunting you]] with something you can't have--[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial it's not because I'm trying to get you to steal it]]. Go ahead, try it on, [[BlatantLies it's perfectly harmless and I'll never know]]."
119* SecondLove: Matty Roh to Morgan, after [[spoiler:Quickening's death]].
120* SecretPolice: The Seekers, who are employed by the Federation to hunt down criminals, and magic users. Ironically, all of them are Shadowen. Might actually be StateSec given the ridiculous amount of influence and power they have, as well as their control of the Creepers.
121* TheSmartGuy: Morgan is the automatic go-to for plans and plots as the series progresses--this is first exemplified in ''Scions'' where he not only comes up with the idea of going to Padishar and the Free-born and is instrumental in the plans to get into the Pit, but he's the one to figure out [[spoiler:Teel]] is TheMole. Walker could also be said to fulfill this role, though as Druid, {{Mentor}}, and all around badass this should be expected. In ''Druid'', retired Tracker Horner Dees manages to be TheSmartGuy to both Morgan and Walker, serving as their guide to Eldwist and the mountains.
122* SpikesOfVillainy: War in ''Talismans''.
123* SpoonyBard: Carisman is a "[[CallARabbitASmeerp tunesmith]]", but while the reader sees various songs from him during ''Druid'', they tend to vary greatly in effectiveness--he doesn't succeed in charming the Urdas, and his song to conceal them from the Koden would have led to their deaths had not Walker communed with it in time. He acts throughout the quest as a cross between TheLoad and TheHeart, occasionally a GreekChorus, and on very rare occasions he has a clever insight or [[WeNeedADistraction aids as a distraction]]. But other than one moment when he succeeds in saving the party from a horde of rats with the [[ArchEnemy sounds of a horde of cats]], he's pretty much useless. [[spoiler:Which is underscored when he gets himself killed in a completely ignominious, pointless, but undeniably tragic and sad SacrificialLamb manner.]] He does at least elicit a fair amount of sympathy from the reader, especially as he becomes more aware of just what he's gotten himself into and begins to despair.
124* TheStarscream: The Maw Grint. Originally an elemental created to serve the Stone King's will, it's now a giant, maddened worm who openly seeks to usurp Uhl Belk's power and is kept in check only by the power of the Black Elfstone.
125* StateSec: The Seekers are the SecretPolice of TheFederation (actually TheEmpire), dedicated to tracking down political enemies and magic users. They also have their own elite military units, and hold the leashes of [[BigCreepyCrawlies The]] [[HollywoodCyborg Creepers]], the most effective weapon in The Federation's arsenal. Throw in the massive clout that their leader, [[BigBad Rimmer]] [[ManipulativeBastard Dall]] has, and it's easy enough to see why the Seekers are so feared.
126* StormingTheCastle: The finale of ''Talismans'' has Walker, Morgan, Coll, Rumour, Matty Roh, and Damson Rhee storming Southwatch, the Federation fortress. The results are pretty spectacular.
127* SwampsAreEvil: Morrowindl has two-- Eden's Murk, which is vast and impossible to find one's way in, and infested with Darters and various other "demons", and the In Ju, the lifeless bog where the [[SuperPersistentPredator Wisteron]] makes its home. Back in the Four Lands there's the Matted Brakes in the Westland (first featured in ''[[Literature/TheSwordOfShannaraTrilogy The Elfstones of Shannara]]'') where Wren lures the Creepers to pit them against The Things.
128* SympathyForTheDevil: Wren feels a certain amount for [[spoiler: Gavilan]].
129* TakeThat: Carisman, an expy of [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Tom Bombadil]]. A character who travels with our heroes for a while and often breaks into song. There are some small people who worship him as a god, but he desires to be on his own. The small people get angry at being abandoned, they track him down, kill him, and take his head as a trophy.
130* TeamPet: Faun to Wren, Rumor to Walker (although he acts more as a companion, protector, and loyal badass fighter).
131* TomatoInTheMirror: Rimmer Dall goes beyond a NotSoDifferentRemark and tries (with near success) to get Par to believe this
132* TooDumbToLive: ''Carisman''. "I am the Urdas' king! [[TemptingFate They would never hurt me]], they will welcome me back with open arms, and I can calm them and send them away..."
133* TwoHalvesMakeAPlot: Played with. Damson Rhee breaks [[MeaningfulName the Skree]][[labelnote:*]]"scry", the archaic divination term[[/labelnote]] in half and gives one part of it to Par to help them find each other again, since its magic makes it act as something of a homing beacon, each half glowing brighter as they get closer together. Normally this would not be a trope example due to the lack of surprise or unwillingness (i.e. it's more of a DismantledMacGuffin)...except for the fact Coll, under the spell of the Mirrorshroud, forcibly takes Par's half away with him. As a result, when Damson tries to use her half later, she and Matty end up being quite surprised when they're led to find Coll instead. Thanks to Par's magic imprinting on it, however, they're eventually able to come back and find him inside Southwatch, too.
134* VerbalTic: Stresa has one of these. It is never stated if this is unique to him or true of all Splinterscats, but it may be worth noting that none of the Elves in Wren's party seem to find it odd.
135* WackyWaysideTribe: Literally with the Urdas in ''Druid'', though [[DownerEnding not particularly wacky]].
136* WhamLine: Whether it's the nightmarish possibilities inherent in it or the shock of such a revelation at all, it's hard to beat this line from ''Elf Queen'' when Wren learns the truth of her heritage.
137-->''[[spoiler:The Shadowen are Elves--and you carry the entire Elven nation back into the Four Lands.]]''
138* [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway What Kind of Lame Power Is Truth]]: Subverted, while the Sword of Shannara still has only the lameish sounding power of "truth", it is the only way [[spoiler: to break through all the deceits, lies, mind rape, and manipulations Rimmer Dall uses to try and turn Par into a Shadowen.]]
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