The Ruins of Gorlan

Infobox Book
name = The Ruins of Gorlan


image_caption = First American Edition Cover
author = John Flanagan
cover_artist =
country = Australia
language = English
series = Ranger's Apprentice
genre =
publisher = Random House (Australia); Philomel (USA)
pub_date = November 1, 2004
media_type = Print (Paperback and Hardcover)
pages = 288 (Australian paperback edition); 249 (US hardcover edition)
isbn = ISBN 0759320756 (Australian paperback edition); ISBN 0399244549 (US hardcover edition)
followed_by = The Burning Bridge

The Ruins of Gorlan is Book One of the Ranger's Apprentice series written by John Flanagan. It was published in 2004. The book was originally written to get John Flanagan's son interested in reading.

Plot

Morgarath, the exiled lord of the bleak, barren Mountains of Rain and Night, had been waiting for fifteen years in his dark realm, carefully planning his revenge against the kingdom of Araluen. His former fief, known as Gorlan, was long since brought to ruin, ever since his dismally unsuccessful initial rebellion against King Duncan.

Morgarath had been confident on an easy victory against Duncan and his kingdom Araulen, because the previous monarch had recently died and the new one was young and inexperienced. However, with the help of several experienced army commanders, the rebellion was swiftly crushed and the renegade lord exiled to his gloomy home for fifteen years. Now, as the years passed, he was silently plotting, rallying creatures known as Wargals to his side. Wargals had little will of their own, and were easy to control, therefore being suitable as soldiers in Morgarath’s army. Now, after the fifteen years, Morgarath prepared to unleash his power and attempt to take the kingdom once more.

In Araulen, the fief Redmont was bright and lively compared to the ruins of Gorlan. The castle buzzed with activity, as it, along with many other fiefs in the area, hosted various education opportunities for young learners. In one room of the castle, several orphans sat together, pondering about the next day, which was “Choosing Day”. This was when children were selected as apprentices to the Craftmasters, special tutors for the students. Will, one of the orphans, was the only one particularly worried. He hoped to be accepted into Battleschool, but he was too small and was therefore unlikely to be accepted. All his companions, Horace, Alyss, Jenny, and George were confident about their acceptance into their choices: Battleschool, Diplomatic Service, Cooking School, and Scribeschool respectively. It turned out that all of them had demonstrated competence in their preference and were accepted. The same could not be said for Will. He had no idea who his parents were, so he had no surname, meaning no special treatment because of parentage. All he knew was that his father had died in battle and his mother had died giving birth to him. Because he couldn’t verify his story about his father, he was not accepted into Battleschool or his second choice, Horseschool. However, Halt, the Ranger, came in and raised Will’s hopes slightly by simply handing Baron Arald a paper, which caused the Baron to tell Will to wait until morning for the Baron’s decision. But the inquisitive Will couldn’t wait and decided to sneak into the Baron’s office by using his agility and speed to sneak past the Baron’s guards, and then climb up the Baron’s tower. This maneuver was unsuccessful, as the Baron anticipated this move and stationed Halt in his office. However, Will’s fears as he was caught were groundless, as he was not punished, but appointed to be Halt’s apprentice to train as a Ranger.

Will’s first lesson consisted of purely doing housework for Halt. As he worked, Halt would often give him “encouragement” which was purely curt remarks on how to do his work. Will’s day, however, was relatively pleasant compared to Horace’s.

Horace had believed Battleschool to be fun and glorious, but the first lesson was purely grueling exercises. Running, weights, and all sorts of demanding exercises occupied the entire day. And to top it off, three second-year students had begun bullying him.

A few lessons on, Halt began showing Will the types of weapons used by Rangers. Rangers relied mainly on stealth to attack, and therefore did not usually carry long, heavy weapons such as swords or spears. Instead, for long range attacking, they used bows. A full-grown ranger, such as Halt himself, used a tall longbow. But Will, already small for his age, used a smaller one, but with extra power, known as the recurve bow, appropriately named for the opposite-direction bends at the end to provide power.

In case of confrontation, the Rangers used small blades. Rangers carried a small knife and a longer blade. The smaller blade was primarily used for throwing, but could be used in combat. The long blade was chiefly for close combat, and was known as the saxe blade. The blades were of hardened steel and much surpassed the quality of the other blades used in the world.

Horace’s lessons were getting more interesting, but the bullies, Alda, Byrn, and Jerome, seemed to have their lives centered on making Horace miserable. They pestered him around the clock and tortured him relentlessly until he was beat up, weak, and miserable. He excelled in physical lessons, but was falling behind in the written assignments. Will was the exact opposite.

Will was rapidly improving in his lessons with Halt. He soon received his own horse, named Tug. Rangers’ horses were trained not to respond to anyone unless they said a predetermined phrase in the horse’s ear. Tug’s phrase was “Do you mind?” Once an owner said the phrase, then the horse would serve its new master at any cost. Rangers’ horses were far faster than the larger ones used by the army, despite (or maybe because of) being small.

On Harvest Day that year, the students that once lived together got back together for a picnic. Jenny, who had learned cooking from the castle cook, prepared a batch of mince pies for her friends. But Horace did not show up until late into the picnic, and was extremely ill-tempered from the bullies’ torture. He lashed out at his former friends with unkind words, and insulted Tug, causing Will to start a fight with Horace until the Battlemaster, Sir Rodney, swooped in and caught them.

One day, Halt and Will, while practicing tracking, noticed a set of boar tracks. They immediately alerted the Baron, who sent out a party to catch the boar. They headed to the boar’s lair, surrounding it and waiting silently for the boar to emerge.

The boar lashed out at a soldier, who immediately impaled it on a long spear, killing it. But little did they realize that there was a second, even larger boar in wait. This one attacked Horace, who had come on the trip. The boar nearly skewered him, but was stopped by Will, who shot the boar. The arrow did not hit a vital area, nor did he mean it to; his only purpose was to distract the boar. As the boar charged at Will, Halt reacted and shot the boar right in the heart.

This event caused Horace to make up with Will, feeling gratitude for Will’s actions. But the three bullies weren’t so pleasant. On the contrary, they immediately found Horace and beat him into semiconsciousness, accusing him of belittling Battleschool’s reputation by requiring a Ranger’s apprentice to step in and save him. But the bullies did not feel any gratitude for Will either. After finishing with Horace, they found Will and attempted to beat him down as well, only to meet Horace, who had dutifully come to return the favor that Will had done him. Although the bullies attempted to attack, Halt stepped in and caught all three of them.

Near the end of the year, the Gathering took place, where all the Rangers met and exchanged news. Halt introduced Will to his former apprentice Gilan, who was bright with a great sense of humor, quite the contrary to his former master, who was always grim and rarely smiled. At the Gathering, they received a report that the Kalkara, vicious creatures that Morgarath had managed to rally, were at large. There were three Kalkara in the world, and only one had been successfully slain, and it was by the combined efforts of three knights that the beast was finally defeated. Two knights died in the attempt, and the surviving one was crippled for life. Arrows usually did no lasting damage to them, as they were small, not nearly sufficient to penetrate the Kalkara’s thick skin. The only weapons likely to work were heavy ones carried by knights. Halt mentioned that a good thrust with a long spear would probably do the trick, or a solid blow with a broadsword or battleaxe. And also, one of their greatest fears was fire. But before anyone could get close enough to stab a Kalkara, they would usually be stopped by its gaze, which instantly petrified anyone who looked in its eyes, becoming easy prey for the creatures. That was the main reason teamwork was crucial in slaying one. Halt decided that he would lead a mission to go and kill the Kalkara.

After a few days of riding, they decided that one of them should report back to Castle Redmont and deliver the news. They chose Will, using both Tug and Gilan’s horse Blaze to go back as quickly as possible. He alternated between the two horses to prevent one of them getting too tired.

The Baron, Sir Rodney, and several others led a group of soldiers to attempt to slay the Kalkara. Meeting the Rangers, they followed the tracks to the ruins of Gorlan. The battle began.

Halt fired a volley of arrows into the Kalkara, but it charged, smashing Halt’s bow and clawing a gash into his leg. When Halt used his saxe knife, the blade glanced off and fell out of reach. Halt then fled into the darkness to buy time to recover. Eventually, the Ranger glanced at the monster coming at him, and shut his eyes to avoid the petrifying glare, using only memory to guide the small knife he threw. The blade struck home right in the beast’s eye.

The Baron and Sir Rodney charged at the Kalkara, whirling weapons. Baron Arald used a broadsword, swinging it into its neck. The Kalkara, though half-blind, avoided the blow and clawed several gashes into Arald’s back. Sir Rodney rushed forward and smashed his battle-axe into the creature’s side.

The creature’s skin blocked the blow, and it turned, staring Rodney full into the face. Sir Rodney stared motionless as though transfixed, but in reality terrified.

Will, who had been watching a distance away, acted instinctively and lit an arrow on fire. He shot the arrow right into the Kalkara’s chest, setting it on fire. The Kalkara slowly burned, and then toppled.

Will was asked to attend a meeting with Baron Arald. He spoke about Will’s deeds and announced that Will could transfer to Battleschool. He brought in a sword and shield, for Will to use when he graduated. But Will remembered Halt, Tug, and all the other things he had accomplished as a Ranger. He refused and announced to remain a Ranger.

Later that day, Halt told Will about his long-since-deceased father, Daniel. He told that he had stepped out of the battle line to save a wounded comrade, armed with only a spear. He said that when he killed the first Wargal, a second sliced off the head of the spear. Daniel continued fighting with the shaft like a quarterstaff. Eventually, he succumbed to his wounds, but not before informing the comrade of his wife, and his unborn son. After he died, the soldier ran to save Daniel’s wife, but she died giving birth. It was there that Halt revealed that the wounded comrade that Daniel had saved was Halt himself.