Five hundred years after the defeat of the Nameless One by Cleolind of Lasia, the Dreadmount erupted and unleashed an army of wyrms across the world, scorching the lands all over the world with fire and plague in a period that became known as "the Grief of Ages."
The book serves as a prequel to The Priory of the Orange Tree, covering this dark time in the world's history and revealing exactly how the legendary Inysh queen Glorian Shieldheart earned her sobriquet—as well as how the other regions of the known world struggled to survive. The novel begins some decades before the Dreadmount's eruption, covering the political situations in Virtudom, the East, and the South.
At the beginning of Glorian's story, she shows little sign of becoming the legend she will be remembered as, burdened by the shadow of her mighty parents and tyrannical grandmothers. Beside her is Wulfert Glenn, a retainer of her father's who is haunted by his mysterious origins in the ancient haithwood. In the South, a fifty-year-old sister of the Priory named Tunuva struggles with private doubts while trying to keep others from theirs—five hundred years with no wyrms in sight have lead those within and outside the Priory to question its purpose. In the East, the royal family of Seiiki struggles to throw off the influence of the manipulative Clan Kuposa—as Dumai realizes when she is informed that she is not a cleric on a mountain but the Emperor's long-lost daughter.
Unbeknownst to all of them, the balance of forces in the world is tipping back towards fire, and it will spell disaster for all.
Because this book is a prequel to The Priory of the Orange Tree, all spoilers for that book will be unmarked.
These tropes have emerged from the Dreadmount:
- Always Chaotic Evil: Discussed. The alchemist Kiprun posits that the fire-breathing wyrms of underground origin aren't evil, but that they (like the celestial dragons of the East) are an impersonal force of nature that happens to be sentient. Just as the celestial dragons are compared to weather or the ocean (forces that can be useful but are still far from tame), he posits that wyrms aren't evil the way a human being is—they're more like a sentient wildfire.
- Anti-Villain: Lord Robart Heller follows the ancient religion of Old Inysca, but the hawthorn worshippers know the same thing that heroic characters of both books do: Galian was a liar. He also laments the fate that Galian's descendents face and shows genuine sympathy for Glorian's lack of choice. Rather than open conflict, he and his compatriot planned to genuinely convert either Glorian or her daughter back to the old ways.
- Bad Vibrations: The second eruption of the Dreadmount is presaged when every hot spring and mudpot in the world boils. This causes severe injury or death to anyone who is unfortunate enough to be bathing in a pool that had been thought to be safe.
- Barrier Maiden: The Inysh only put up with the tyranny of the Malkin Queen because her blood kept the Nameless One at bay, but the falseness of this belief is discussed much more openly by everyone who doesn't follow the Six Virtues.
- Bittersweet Ending:
- Wulf finds a peace in himself but after losing all but one of his lith, knowing that he can only have minimal contact with his biological daughter, and he must spend the rest of his days feigning belief in the faith that he lost.
- In the East, the River Lord is defeated and Taugran the wyrm is killed. But defeating him costs the lives of seven dragons, including Furtia, the Noiziken dynasty is ended, Suzumai dies, and although Dumai may have survived, she and Nikeya cannot live together.
- Tunuva's relationship with Esbar and Siyu survives. She learns her son is alive after all. But her magic has been crippled by Canthe and countless Sisters died in the struggle.
- Glorian becomes Glorian Shieldheart, the legendary queen who saved Inys during the Grief of Ages. The losses and sacrifices she made to get there will weigh on her for the rest of her days and her faith in Galian—his strictures if not his divinity—is shaken, with her privately thinking that Carmentum had it right after all.
- Call-Forward: The rank of Red Damsel is created during the story when Esbar declares that any initiate who slays a wyrm or wyrmspawn has leave to dye her cloak with its blood, mocking the Inysh identification of Cleolind as "the Damsel."
- Chekhov's Volcano: This book covers the Grief of Ages, which the first book describes as beginning with the eruption of the Dreadmount—the ancient volcano where the Nameless One emerged for the first time. Its second eruption occurs while Tunuva and Esbar are riding through past it with the repentant runaway Yelini, and they barely escape.
- Children Are Innocent: Dumai's rival for the throne is Suzumai, a kind eight-year-old who loves playing with her dollhouse and is happy to have a big sister for the first time. Dumai is torn between recognizing that Suzu is a tool of the River Lord and a genuine affection for her.
- Decadent Court: The Imperial court of Seiiki is not ruled by the royal family but the Kuposa clan, and they are ruthless towards anyone who tries to infringe on their power.
- The Disease That Shall Not Be Named:
- The melancholy suffered by Berethnet queens crops up again when Glorian worries that she doesn't have time for the post-birth version (a.k.a. post-partum depression).
- Saghul dies of what sounds a lot like stomach cancer—a malignant growth that went unknown for years until it began to cause symptoms and then quickly killed her.
- Divided We Fall: One of the major problems in the second half of the book is people trying to hold on to their petty political squabbles when everywhere in the world is under a sustained siege by hostile, firebreathing dragons. This is particularly true in Seiiki, where the River Lord is more concerned with outmaneuvering the royal family than the actual plague.
- Doomed by Canon:
- We know from Priory that Glorian will be forced to take the throne at sixteen. Her parents are torched by Fýredel about halfway through the book.
- There are a few countries on the map in the front of the book that do not appear in The Priory of the Orange Tree. The Republic of Carmentum is reduced to ashes by wyrms.
- Doorstopper: Like the original book, this one weighs in at around eight hundred pages.
- The Dragons Come Back:
- The Eastern dragons have slept for generations. Although they can wake to the call of a temple bell, this is forbidden to any but the royal family due to the dragons' veneration as gods. Dumai sparks controversy in Seiiki when she rings the bell that will wake them all.
- The Western dragons come back and rain fire, disease, and terror upon the landscape.
- Evil Chancellor: The Kuposa River Lord of Seiiki. His family has controlled the royal family for generations and he works tirelessly to undermine Dumai and Jorodu as they try to wrest power back into their own hands.
- Fantastic Racism: Karlsten, one of Wulf's lith, despises Wulf for having been discovered in the witchy haithwood. Wulf's immunity to the plague doesn't help.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture:
- In addition to those introduced in Priory, there is an analogue for the Huns in the Horün. Their ruler conquered a city following a prophecy of great danger that would necessitate their people hunkering down for the long haul, but it's mentioned that some have chosen to continue their nomadic life. Hróth's similarity to Scandinavian cultures is further emphasized with Bardholdt and Wulf.
- There is some fantasy-counterpart-geography when Dumai, Nikeya, and Furtia cross an ocean strait in the far north that was once a land bridge connecting the eastern and western continents, i.e. the Bering Strait or Beringia.
- Gaia's Vengeance: Kiprun suggests that the wyrms, being an opposite force to the celestial dragons, are born from the core of the earth becoming too hot before the Long-Haired Star can return with its moderating influence. The haithwood worshippers go a step farther and blame the current Age of Fire on Galian having chopped down the Lady of the Woods' hawthorn, suggesting that the siden trees act as a release valve.note
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Sabran V, the Malkin Queen, was a horrific tyrant who terrorized her family as well as her country under the justification that she was the fruit of the Saint and could do anything she liked. When her daughter Jillian took the throne, Inys' people weren't any happier because Sabran's abuse had made her angry and bitter. And her daughter Marian was bad for a different reason: growing up under two such terrible mothers left her scared of her own shadow. Sabran VI has had to dedicate most of her life to undoing all the damage the three of them did.
- Grim Up North: Hróth, a land of ice, snow, and endless clan warfare until Bardholt unified it under the first kingship. It's also where the draconic plague first appears.
- Hidden Elf Village: The Priory of the Orange Tree, as in the first book. To preserve the orange tree from being used as a resource by power-hungry rulers, their methods of secrecy are lethal—they're supposed to kill anyone who sees or finds them by mistake.note Although Canthe manipulated the killing of Ansyo, it's stated that this is the standard procedure.
- Honor Before Reason: When Fýredel's war against Virtudom begins in earnest, the Hróthi choose to face the wyrms head-on in battle. Glorian and the Inysh groan at this as they take a more defensive posture using Inys' network of caves and ancient fortresses.
- Human Sacrifice: The old story of Lasia's king sacrificing his people to the Nameless One is repeated and discussed. The River-lord learns it from the wyrm and sacrifices his own grandniece.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: Glorian has no choice but to be imperiled in pregnancy because if she dies without issue, Inys will crumble. She gets pregnant as soon as it's legal and spends the whole nine months on the run from dragons.
- Insufferable Genius: Kiprun the alchemist. He can get away with being insolent to royalty because his innovations are so highly prized and he takes full advantage of it. He knows just how smart he is, and he's also irritated that he keeps getting hired by people who want him to work on things he isn't presently interested in."Most things I say turn out to be true."
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Glorian plans to have a child with her friend Wulf so that she doesn't have to sleep with her seventy-year-old husband. She knows it won't matter because Berethnets never resemble their fathers. Her husband is fully on board with this.
- Mandatory Motherhood: Discussed. Unlike Sabran IX, who fears that motherhood will make her irrelevant, Glorian can't wait to have a child so that she will be freer to act how she sees fit without everyone worrying over the succession.
- Manipulative Bastard:
- Kalyba, as Canthe, works her way into Tunuva's trust by playing on her grief and sympathy. She also sends dreams to try and sow doubt between Tunuva and Esbar, then tricks a sister into killing Anyso to drive Siyu away to widen the rift. In the end she has to resort to brute-force mind control to get what she wants fron Tunuva, however.
- The Kuposa clan are in a constant maneuvering war with Jorodu and the Noizokens but can't resort to open violence due to the line's claim of divinity. Until the River Lord decides to ally with Taugran to become a Flesh King.
- The Magnificent:
- Sabran VI, or "Sabran the Ambitious," a rare instance where ambition is a positive quality.
- Inverted with her mother Marian III, who is called "Marian the Less" for her weak-willed style of ruling.
- Medieval Stasis: Although some names and stories have gone through changes between this period and Priory (such as the spelling of Ascalun/Ascalon), the technology of fighting, travel, etc seems largely unchanged 500 years ago.
- Men of Sherwood: Dumai's "court" after leaving the capital is made up of outlaws, foresters, and other common folk who have been either rejected or neglected by the River Lord's rule.
- Muscles Are Meaningful: After moving to court, Dumai frequently laments that the lack of exercise has reduced her strength and stamina (both of which were very high due to her continual mountain-climbing).
- Mystical Plague: The draconic plague first appears in Hróth. King Bardholt initially tries to keep it secret and burn out afflicted villages. But when Wulf observes how poor sanitation is just through a few minutes of watching how people behave on an ordinary city street, it's clear why and how it spreads so quickly—the standards of cleanliness required to prevent spread simply do not exist. Research at the Priory indicates that it's caused by being exposed to too much siden externally rather than internally—it works its way into the body, causing horrific pain. Since mages and their children already have siden incorporated into their bodies through ingesting a fruit, they're immune. They rediscover a cure made by steeping blossoms from the Tree.
- Nature Is Not Nice: Unora frequently reminds her daughter "do not goad the mountain." It is an implacable force that doesn't care who is on it when cold and wind strikes.
- The Night That Never Ends: The eruption of the Dreadmount causes a volcanic winter, leaving the sun "darkened" for the next two years and causing major disruption in the growing and harvest seasons (as volcanic winters in real history have done).
- Never Mess with Granny: Despite being known as timid and weak-willed during her reign, an older Marian returns late in the book with a much stronger sense of self.
- Outside-Context Problem:
- The first third of the book concerns the various political problems and entanglements occurring worldwide, from the South's failing belief in the Priory to the struggle over Seiiki's throne in the East. And then wyrms come and torch a whole bunch of the entanglements into ashes.
- The draconic plague, which everyone knows happened during the Nameless One's reign of terror but not exactly what it involved. It first appears in the home of Bardholt's Íssyn, an elder cleric who helped him convert the country. Bardholt sends his housecarls to investigate reports of an affliction. They "rescue" the Íssyn from the plague-stricken village, not realizing she has already been infected and is merely asymptomatic—until she goes into an agonized frenzy upon reaching the "burning" stage.
- In the East, the haze over the sun is mysterious and confusing to the people there until Dumai wakes the dragons and they inform her that it's due to the eruption of a massive volcano (the Dreadmount) on the other side of the world.
- Readers who started with Priory will read Canthe's story and recognize her immediately as Kalyba. Unfortunately, the sisters of the Priory have no idea who she is and don't understand the danger she poses.
- Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Sabran V and Glorian both see a figure in their dreams whom they speak to for advice and solace. Sabran believes it is the Saint. They actually share a link with the royal family of Seiiki, who carry a trace of sterren magic.
- Parental Favoritism: Inverted with Esbar, who holds her daughter Siyu at the distance expected in the Priory. It's her aunt Tunuva who treats Siyu as a daughter figure.
- Parents as People: Sabran VI loves Glorian but deliberately refuses to be affectionate because she wants Glorian to be strong and self-reliant.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Sabran VI, as princess, offered her hand to Bardholt when she knew nothing more than that it would neutralize any Hróthi hostility towards Inys and that he kept looking at her during his audience with then-Queen Marian. They prove to be a loving and compatible pair, even though being rulers of different kingdoms usually keeps them apart. After Fýredel burns their ship, Wulf reports that in their last moments they were holding each other.
- Posthumous Character: Galian Berethnet's life and choices are given more detail. As in the first book, he's used as a way to question the moral of the story in Saint George and the Dragon. Even Glorian, who believes wholeheartedly in his divinity, questions why he put such a heavy shackle on his descendants in exchange for keeping the Nameless One sealed.
- Puppet King: Emperor Jorodu of Seiiki, which he knows full well. He spends most of the plotline in the East trying to outmaneuver the River Lord through Dumai.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: The haithwood worshippers, like the Priory sisters, refer to Galian as a deceiver and doubt the Berethnets' claim to divinity. On the other hand, their rites to bring back the Lady of the Wood don't have any real mechanism of action because Kalyba is a physical being rather than a goddess, isn't even aware that she's being worshiped, and she doesn't exactly have the world's best interests at heart either.
- Royally Screwed Up: The heavy burden laid on Galian's descendants is explored in more detail. Their advisers and subjects tend to reduce them to a walking womb, and they face very little choice in their own lives. Marian suggests that Sabran V's cruelty stemmed from this.
- Spanner in the Works: Whatever plans young Bardholt or the other Hróthi might have had in regards to Inys, Sabran VI interrupted with her own plan to marry him.
- Spare to the Throne:
- Dumai soon learns that she is Emperor Jorodu's illegitimate elder daughter and has to become his heir to try and break the River Lord's control over Seiiki.
- Sabran and Bardholt tried for one in spite of the family history because Sabran was anxious about the insecurity inherent in having only one successor.
- Supernatural Sensitivity: Anyone born to a mother who has imbibed a source of siden or sterren (or both) will carry a trace of that power and pass it on to their own children, which attunes their descendants to magical events. Glorian is able to perceive the eruption of the Dreadmount, Wulfert Glenn has resistance to plague, heat, and cold, and Dumai can speak telepathically with dragons because of the tear her mother drank. Glorian and Sabran are also able to communicate with a "higher self" through lucid dreams, which they take to be the part of themselves that is Saint-touched but it's strongly implied to be their living ancestor Kalyba.
- Tragic Villain: Kalyba, who goes through this book under the name of Canthe. She stole Tunuva's child and killed his father, sent deceptive dreams to several characters, and tries to steal the jewels. Yet all the same, she helps Tunuva and shows genuine remorse for some of the things she's done. Though she doesn't forgive her, Tunuva recognizes that Kalyba is probably the loneliest person in the world.
- Unfit for Greatness: Because the Malkin Queen emotionally abused her daughter Jillian and granddaughter Marian, neither were suited for the throne. Jillian was bitter and angry (not that she got the chance to rule), and Marian was so timid that she made a dangerously weak monarch. Sabran VI worries that Glorian might turn out badly as well and forbids contact between Glorian and Marian because of it.
- War Is Hell: After almost half a century of enjoyment in combat training, Tunuva is shocked at how grueling and awful real warfare is.
