by T.A. Barron
Year 131:
As the blight spreads, destroying trees and other living creatures in Woodroot's forests, Merlin takes Rhia and her trusted companion, the priest Lleu of the One Ear, on a remarkable journey. Traveling through portals known only to Merlin, they voyage deep inside the Great Tree. There they find a great subterranean lake that holds magical white water. After the lake's water rises to the surface at the White Geyser of Crystillia, in upper Waterroot, it separates into the seven colors of the spectrum (at Prism Gorge) and flows to many places, giving both water and color to everything it meets. Merlin reveals to Rhia and Lleu that this white water gains its magic from its high concentration of élano, the most powerful—and most elusive—magical substance in all of Avalon. Produced as sap deep within the Great Tree's roots, élano combines all seven sacred Elements, and is, in Merlin's words, "the true life-giving force of this world." At the great subterranean lake, Merlin gathers a small crystal of élano with the help of his staff—whose name, Ohnyalei, means spirit of grace in the Fincayran Old Tongue. Then he, Rhia, and Lleu return to Woodroot and place the crystal at the origin of the blight. Thanks to the power of élano, the blight recedes and finally disappears. Woodroot's forests are healed.
Year 132:
Rhia, as High Priestess, introduces her followers to élano, the essential life-giving sap of the Great Tree. Soon thereafter, Lleu of the One Ear publishes his masterwork, Cyclo Avalon. This book sets down everything that Lleu has learned about the seven sacred Elements, the portals within the Tree, and the lore of élano. It becomes the primary text for Drumadians throughout Avalon.
Year 192:
After a final journey to her ancestral home, the site of the legendary Carpet Caerlochlann, Hallia dies. So profound is Merlin's grief that he climbs high into the jagged mountains of Stoneroot and does not speak with anyone, even his sister, Rhia, for several months.
Year 193:
Merlin finally descends from the mountains—but only to depart from Avalon. He must leave, he tells his dearest friends, to devote himself entirely to a new challenge in another world: educating a young man named Arthur in the land of Britannia, part of mortal Earth. He hints, without revealing any details, that the fates of Earth and Avalon are somehow entwined.
Year 237:
Krystallus, now an accomplished explorer, founds the Eopia College of Mapmakers in Waterroot. As its emblem, he chooses the star within a circle, ancient symbol for the magic of Leaping between places and times.
Year 284:
Without any warning, the stars of one of Avalon's most prominent constellations, the Wizard's Staff, go dark. One by one, the seven stars in the constellation—symbolizing the legendary Seven Songs of Merlin, by which both the wizard and his staff came into their true powers—disappear. The process takes only three weeks. Star watchers agree that this portends something ominous for Avalon. The Age of Storms has begun.
Year 284:
War breaks out between dwarves and dragons in the realm of Fireroot, sparked by disputes over the underground caverns of Flaming Jewels. Although these two peoples have cooperated for centuries in harvesting as well as preserving the jewels, their unity finally crumbles. The skilled dwarves regard the jewels as sacred and want to harvest them only deliberately over long periods of time. By contrast, the dragons (and their allies, the flamelons) want to take immediate advantage of all the wealth and power that the jewels could provide. The fighting escalates, sweeping up other peoples—even some clans of normally peaceful faeries. Alliances form, pitting dwarves, most elves and humans, giants, and eaglefolk against the dragons, flamelons, dark elves, avaricious humans, and gobsken. Meanwhile, marauding ogres and trolls take advantage of the chaos. In the widening conflict, only the sylphs, mudmakers, and some museos remain neutral . . . while the hoolahs simply enjoy all the excitement.
Year 300:
The war worsens, spreading across the Seven Realms of Avalon. Drumadian Elders debate the true nature of the War of Storms: Is it limited exclusively to Avalon? Or is it really just a skirmish in the greater ongoing battle of the spirits—the clash between the brutal Rhita Gawr, whose goal is to control all the worlds, and the allies Lorilanda and Dagda, who want free peoples to choose for themselves? To most of Avalon's citizens, however, such a question is irrelevant. For them, the War of Storms is simply a time of struggle, hardship, and grief.
Year 413:
Rhia, who has grown deeply disillusioned with the brutality of Avalon's warring peoples—and also with the growing rigidity of the Society of the Whole—resigns as High Priestess. She departs for some remote part of Avalon and is never heard from again. Some believe that she traveled to mortal Earth to rejoin Merlin; others believe that she merely wandered alone until, at last, she died.
Year 421:
Halaad, child of the mudmakers, is gravely wounded by a band of gnomes. Seeking safety, she crawls to the edge of a bubbling spring. Miraculously, her wounds heal. The Secret Spring of Halaad becomes famous in story and song—but its location remains hidden to all but the elusive mudmakers.
Year 472:
Bendegeit, highlord of the water dragons, presses for peace. On the eve of the first treaty, however, some dragons revolt. In the terrible battle that follows, Bendegeit is killed. The war rages on with renewed ferocity.
Year 498:
In early spring, when the first blossoms have appeared on the trees, an army of flamelons and dragons attacks Stoneroot. In the Battle of the Withered Spring, many villages are destroyed, countless lives are lost, and even the Great Temple of the Drumadians is scorched with flames. Only with the help of the mountain giants, led by Jubolda and her three daughters, are the invaders finally defeated. In the heat of the battle, Jubolda's eldest daughter, Bonlog Mountain-Mouth, is saved when her attackers are crushed by Shim, the old friend of Merlin. But when she tries to thank him with a kiss, he shrieks and flees into the highlands. Bonlog Mountain-Mouth tries to punish Shim for this humiliation, but cannot find him. Shim remains in hiding for many years.
Year 545:
The Lady of the Lake, a mysterious enchantress, first appears in the deepest forests of Woodroot. She issues a call for peace, spread throughout the Seven Realms by the small winged creatures called light flyers, but her words are not heeded.
Year 693:
The great wizard Merlin finally returns from Britannia. He leads the Battle of Fires Unending, which destroys the last alliance of dark elves and fire dragons. The flamelons reluctantly surrender. Gobsken, sensing defeat, scatter to the far reaches of the Seven Realms. Peace is restored at last.
Year 693:
The great Treaty of the Swaying Sea, crafted by the Lady of the Lake, is signed by representatives of all known peoples except gnomes, ogres, trolls, gobsken, changelings, and death dreamers. The Age of Storms is over; the Age of Ripening begins.
Year 694:
Merlin again vanishes, but not before he announces that he expects never to return to Avalon. He declares solemnly that unless some new wizard appears—which is highly unlikely—the varied peoples of Avalon must look to themselves to find justice and peace. As a final, parting gesture, he travels to the stars with the aid of a great dragon named Basilgarrad—and then magically rekindles the seven stars of the Wizard's Staff, the constellation whose destruction presaged the terrible Age of Storms. At last, he departs for mortal Earth, by entering the mysterious River of Time from the branch-realm of Holosarr.
Year 694:
Soon after Merlin departs, the Lady of the Lake makes a chilling prediction, which comes to be known as the Dark Prophecy: A time will come when all the stars of Avalon will grow steadily darker, until there is a total stellar eclipse that lasts a whole year. And in that year, a child will be born who will bring about the very end of Avalon, the one and only world shared by all creatures alike—human and nonhuman, mortal and immortal. Only Merlin's true heir, the Lady of the Lake adds, might save Avalon. But she says no more about who the wizard's heir might
be, or how he or she could defeat the child of the Dark Prophecy. And so throughout the realms, people wonder: Who will be the child of the Dark Prophecy? And who will be the true heir of Merlin ?
Year 700:
In the eternal darkness of Shadowroot, a new city is founded: Dianarra, the City of Light. Legends say that the city was built by people from the stars, whose very bodies were aflame. Called Ayanowyn, or fire angels, they brought the light of torches and bonfires to Shadowroot. And another kind of light, as well—that of stories from many distant lands.
Year 702:
Le-fen-flaith, greatest architect of the sylphs of Airroot, completes his most ambitious (and useful) project to date: building a bridge, from ropes of spun cloudthread, spanning the misty gap between Airroot and Mudroot. He names it Trishila o Mageloo, which means the air sighs sweetly in the sylphs' native language. But in time, most travelers come to call it the Misty Bridge. The first people to cross it, other than sylphs, are the Lady of the Lake and her friend Nuic, a pinnacle sprite.
Year 717:
Krystallus, exceptionally long-lived due to his wizard ancestry and already the first person to have explored many parts of Avalon's roots, becomes the first ever to reach the Great Hall of the Heartwood. In the Great Hall he finds a single portal that could lead to all Seven Realms—but no way to go higher in the Tree. He vows to return one day, and to find some way to travel upward, perhaps even all the way to the stars.
Year 842:
In the remote realm of Woodroot, the old teacher Hanwan Belamir gains renown for his bold new ideas about agriculture and craftsmanship, which lead to more productive farms as well as more comfort and leisure for villagers. Some even begin to call him Olo Belamir—the first person to be hailed in that way since the birth of Avalon, when Merlin was proclaimed Olo Eopia. While the man himself humbly scoffs at such praise, his Academy of Prosperity thrives.
Year 894:
In Shadowroot, civil war erupts among the dark elves. When the fighting ends, most—if not all—of the dark elves are dead, the City of Light is destroyed, and Shadowroot's only portal to other realms is closed. What really happened remains a mystery that only the museos may fully comprehend.
Year 900:
Belamir's teachings continue to spread. Although wood elves and others resent his theories about humanity's "special role" in Avalon, more and more humans support him. As Belamir's following grows, his fame reaches into other realms.
Year 985:
As the Dark Prophecy predicted, a creeping eclipse slowly covers the stars of Avalon. So begins the much-feared Year of Darkness. Every realm (except the flamelon stronghold of Fireroot) declares a ban against having any new children during this time, out of fear that one of them could be the child of the Dark Prophecy. Some peoples, such as dwarves and water dragons, take the further step of killing any offspring born this year. Throughout the Seven Realms, Drumadian followers seek to find the dreaded child—as well as the true heir of Merlin.
Year 985:
Despite the pervasive darkness, Krystallus continues his explorations. He voyages to the realm of the flamelons, even though outsiders—especially those with human blood—have never been welcome there. Soon after he arrives, his party is attacked, and the survivors are captured. Somehow Krystallus escapes, with the help of an unidentified friend. (According to one rumor, that friend is Halona, princess of the flamelons; according to another, it is an eaglewoman.) Ignoring the danger of the Dark Prophecy, Krystallus and his rescuer are wed and conceive a child. Just after the birth, however, the mother and newborn son disappear.
Year 987:
Beset with grief over the loss of his wife and child, Krystallus sets out on another journey, his most ambitious quest ever: to find a route upward into the very trunk and limbs of the Great Tree. Some believe, however, that his true goal is something even more perilous—to solve at last the great mystery of Avalon's stars. Or is he really just fleeing from his grief? No one knows whether he ultimately reaches the stars. All that is certain is that Krystallus never returns.
Year 1002:
Seventeen years have now passed since the Year of Darkness. Troubles are mounting across the Seven Realms: fights between humans and other kinds of creatures; severe drought—and a strange graying of colors—in the upper reaches of Stoneroot, Waterroot, and Woodroot; attacks by nearly invisible killer birds called ghoulacas; and a vague sense of growing evil. Many people believe that all this proves that the dreaded child of the Dark Prophecy is alive and coming into power. They pray openly for the true heir of Merlin—or the long-departed wizard himself—to appear at last and save Avalon.
Year 1002:
Late in the year, as the drought worsens, the stars of a major constellation—the Wizard's Staff—begin to go out. This has happened only once before, other than in the Year of Darkness: at the start of the Age of Storms in the Year of Avalon 284. No one knows why this is happening, or how to stop it. But most people fear that the vanishing of the Wizard's Staff can mean only one thing: the final ruin of Avalon.
The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific entry, please use the search feature of your e-book reader.
Strange Characters and Magical Terms
Arbassa 7
Aylah, the Wind Sister 8
Ballymag 9
Bumbelwy 9
Cairpré 11
Cwen 11
Dinatius 12
Domnu 13
Elen of the Sapphire Eyes 14
Eremon 15
Galator 16
Gobsken 17
Grand Elusa 18
Gwri of the Golden Hair 19
Gwynnia 20
Hallia (Eo-Lahallia) 21
Kreelixes 22
Light Flyers 23
Living Stones 24
Lleu of the One Ear 25
Lost Wings 26
Lost Years 26
Merlin (Olo Eopia) 27
Nimue 29
Ohnyalei, the staff of Merlin 30
Olwen 31
Pluton 31
Rhiannon (Rhia) 32
Seven Songs of Wizardry 34
Shim 35
Stangmar 36
Sword Arms 37
T'eilean and Garlatha 38
Treasures of Fincayra 39
Trouble 40
Tuatha 41
Urnalda 42
Valdearg, Wings of Fire 43
Wondrous Places
Crystal Cave 44
Dance of the Giants 45
Druma Wood 46
Fincayra (Lost Fincayra) 46
Forgotten Island 50
Haunted Marsh 51
Shore of the Speaking Shells 53
Shrouded Castle 53
Smoking Cliffs 54
Varigal 55
Strange Characters and Magical Terms
Abcahn 57
Abelawn 58
Aelonnia of Isenwy 59
Ahearna, the Star Galloper 59
Aileen 60
Angus Oge 60
Arc-kaya 61
Ayanowyn (Fire Angels) 61
Babd Catha, the Ogres' Bane 63
Basilgarrad, Wings of Peace 64
Batty Lad 66
Bonlog Mountain-Mouth 66
Brionna 67
Catha 68
Ciann 68
Coerria (High Priestess Coerria) 69
Cuttayka 69
Deth Macoll 70
Doomraga 71
Drumalings 71
Edan 72
Élano 72
Elements (Seven Sacred Elements) 73
Elliryanna Lailoken (Elli) 73
Ethaun 75
Faeries 76
Fairlyn 77
Fraitha 78
Ghoulacas 78
Grikkolo 79
Gwirion 80
Hac Yarrow 81
Halaad 82 Halona 82
Hanwan Belamir (Olo Belamir) 83
Hargol 85
Harlech 86
Harshna 86
Hawkeen 87
Helvin 87
Henni Hoolah 88
Hywel 89
Ilyakk 90
Imbolca 90
Kerwin 91
Kree-ella 91
Krystallus Eopia 92
Kulwych (White Hands) 93
Lady of the Lake 94
Le-fen-flaith 96
Lleu 96
Llynia el Mari 97
Lott (Master Lott) 98
Mananaun 98
Marnya 99
Maryths 99
Maulkee 100
Morrigon 101
Museo 101
Neh Gawthrech 102
Nuic 102
Obba and Ossyn 103
Ogallad the Worthy 104
Olewyn the Bard 104
Palimyst 105
Pwyll the Younger 106
Quenaykha (Queen) 107
Ruthyn 108
Scree 108
Serella 110
Society of the Whole 111
Tamwyn Eopia 113
Thule Ultima 115
Tressimir 115
Tulchinne 116
Uzzzula 117
Willenia 118
Wondrous Places
Avalon (The Great Tree of Avalon) 119
Brynchilla (Waterroot) 126
EL Urien (Woodroot) 127
Holosarr 127
Lastrael (Shadowroot) 128
Malóch (Mudroot) 129
Merlin's Knothole 130
Middle Realm 130
Olanabram (Stoneroot) 131
Portals 132
Rahnawyn (Fireroot) 133
River of Time 134
Spiral Cascades 134
Stars of Avalon 135
Y Swylarna (Airroot) 135
Strange Characters and Magical Terms
Dagda 137
Lorilanda 138
Rhita Gawr 139
Wondrous Places
Otherworld of the Spirits 140
Strange Characters and Magical Terms
Arthur (King Arthur) 143
Excalibur 144
Wondrous Places
Camelot 145
Earth 146
T. A. Barron is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling creator of the twelve-book Merlin Saga, which has sold millions of copies worldwide and has been translated into a dozen languages. Always a believer in the heroism of every child and in the magnificence of nature, Barron has become a major keeper of the Merlin story. Those same ideals led him to found the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, which honors outstanding young people of all descriptions.
