Skull Bearers (Shannara)

Shannara character


name=Skull Bearers
nickname=
race=Formerly human, now unknown
gender=Male
hair=N/A
eyes=Red
loyalty=the Warlock Lord
appearance="First King of Shannara"
magic=Red bolts from their eyes, green fire from their hands
birth=Unknown
death=Died at the same time as the Warlock Lord

Skull Bearers were fictional minor characters from two books of the "Shannara" series, "First King of Shannara" and "The Sword of Shannara", epic fantasy [cite web |url=http://www.terrybrooks.net/novels/index.html |title=Terry Brooks' official website|accessdate=2008-09-18 |last= Speakman |first=Shawn |authorlink= |year=2008 |publisher= ] novels written by Terry Brooks. According to the fictional history of Shannara, the Skull Bearers were Druids once upon a time, but they were subverted by the Ildatch along with Brona, who would later become the Warlock Lord. They "sacrificed their humanity"cite book| last = MacRae| first = Cathi Dunn| title = Presenting Young Adult Fantasy Fiction| publisher = Twayne Publishers| date = 1998| location = New York| isbn=0-8057-8220-6 |page=74] to become "winged black destroyers", but by doing this, they tied themselves to their master, becoming "dread minion [s] of the Warlock Lord".cite web |url=http://www.terrybrooks.net/novels/sword.html |title=Summary of "The Sword of Shannara" |accessdate=2008-09-21 |last=Brooks |first=Terry |authorlink=Terry Brooks |year=1977 |publisher=terrybrooks.net ] As a result, when the Warlock Lord died as a result of Shea Ohmsford using the Sword of Shannara, the Skull Bearers were slain with him.

Role in the series

Prior to and during "First King of Shannara"

In lives long before "First King of Shannara", Brona and his followers were Druids. They decided to experiment with magic, which was frowned upon by the Druids. Rather than stop, Brona and his followers left, taking a magical tome named the Ildatch with them. However, the Ildatch subverted them, causing Brona to morph into the Warlock Lord,cite web |url=http://www.alitheia.org/shannarafiles/First_King_List.php |title="First King of Shannara" Character List |accessdate=2008-09-21 |last= Gong |first=Minnie |year=2007 |publisher=The Shannara Files] a being with great psychological powers, including the power of telepathy. His most loyal followers were mutated into black monsters with wings, claws and great magical powers, including the ability to fire red bolts from their eyes and green fire from their hands. They acquired their name, "Skull Bearers", from the silver Skull-shaped pendants that they wore in their role as generals during the First War of the Races.

In "First King of Shannara", the Skull Bearers served as scouts and emissaries for the Warlock Lord, and they a constant hazard to the Druid Bremen and his companions. One appeared at the beginning of "First King", but it just missed Bremen and Kinson Ravenlock. A few were present during the sacking of Paranor and two took part in the massacre of almost every member of the royal family of the Elves, the Ballindarochs. Another two appear in the attempt to stop the acquisition of the Black Elfstone, but they were slain by Tay Trefenwyd when Tay used the Elfstones' magic.cite web |url=http://www.alitheia.org/shannarafiles/First_King_Timeline.php |title="First King of Shannara" Timeline |accessdate=2008-09-21 |last= Gong |first=Minnie |year=2007 |publisher=The Shannara Files]

No more Skull Bearers came until one appeared to Mareth, claiming that he was her father. However, Kinson was able to prove to her that it was a wolf in sheep's clothing; Marteth's magic then utterly obliterated it. When Jerle Shannara used the Sword of Shannara upon the Warlock Lord, all of the Skull Bearers were banished along with him.

"The Sword of Shannara"

500 years later, the Skull Bearers returned along with the Warlock Lord. One almost found Flick, but Allanon saved him:

Several of them were sent to hunt Shea Ohmsford and Allanon, but they were unable to kill the heroes, despite one finding Shea and Flick alone (dawn came, and it had to leave) and another took Allanon by surprise in the furnace of Paranor. Yet another attacked Keltset, Panamon Creel and Shea in the fields of Streleheim. A third flew over Tyrsis on the final day of the battle, but it was killed, along with the rest of the Skull Bearers, when Brona fell to the Shea and the Sword of Shannara.cite web |url=http://www.alitheia.org/shannarafiles/Sword_Timeline.php |title="The Sword of Shannara" Timeline |accessdate=2008-05-15 |last= Gong |first=Minnie |year=2007 |publisher=The Shannara Files]

Critical Reception

Reviewers and critics had mixed opinions on the Skull Bearers. Praise for them came from Frank Herbert, the author of "Dune", who also liked all of the "monsters" in "The Sword of Shannara". He said that " [Terry] Brooks creates distillations of horror that hark back to childhood's shadows, when the most important thing about a fearful creature was that you didn't know its exact shape and intent. You only knew that it wanted "you". The black-winged skull bearer, for instance, is more than a euphemism for death."Cite journal| last=Herbert|first=Frank|author-link=Frank Herbert|title=Some Author, Some Tolkien|journal=The New York Times Book Review|issue=April 10, 1977|pages =15|date=1977] Tom Shippey wasn't so positive, as he thought that the Skull Bearers were very familiar to those who had read "The Lord of the Rings": he found that the Skull Bearers were "analogues" for the Nazgûl.cite book| last = Shippey| first = Tom| authorlink = | title = J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century| publisher = HarperCollins| date = 2000| location = London| pages = 2001 paperback, 319-320]

Sources

*cite book| last = MacRae| first = Cathi Dunn| title = Presenting Young Adult Fantasy Fiction| publisher = Twayne Publishers| date = 1998| location = New York| isbn=0-8057-8220-6
*cite book| last = Brooks| first = Terry| authorlink = Terry Brooks| title = The Sword of Shannara| publisher = Ballantine/Dey Rey| isbn = 0-345-24804-X

References