ELDERS—The Council of Elders is responsible for the Kingdom of Xanth during the absence of the King. The Elders take care of routine administrative chores and select a new King if anything happens. The Elders were responsible for the placement of Magician Trent as King, with certain conditions.
ELEMENTS—Air, Earth, Fire, Water and the Void—each has its special region in Xanth.
ELEVATOR—A magic chamber that rises or sinks when occupied. There is one at Gateway Castle, and some also exist in Mundania.
ELF ELM—The home of a tribe of elves, such as the Flower Elves or Tool Elves. The Elm gives strength to elves as they approach it, and in return they protect it. A blight eliminated such elms from Mundania, so that very few elves are now seen there.
ELSIE—Jordan’s original girl friend, who had civilizing designs on him. Her talent was turning water to wine by touching it with her finger.
ELVES—Magical folk of humanoid stock who live in Elf Elms. Their strength varies inversely with their distance from their Elms. They are honorable and seldom interfere in the affairs of others. They stand about a quarter the height of human beings.
EMJAY—A woman who compiled the Lexicon of Xanth, with some ass-istance.
ENCHANTED PATHS—Paths used throughout Xanth, whose magic prevents harm from coming to those who use them.
ENSORCELMENT—A spell, such as that used by the Horseman on the Kings of Xanth, usually permanent until nullified.
EVER-GLADES—Marshes in southern Xanth that go on forever.
EXILE—At one time the penalty in Xanth for being without a defined magic talent. No untalented person was permitted to remain. King Trent abolished that.
EYE SCREAM—A cold, sweet, creamy confection, superior to eye smilk because the eyes of scream birds are fattier than those of smilks.
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FANCHON—Chameleon in her smart-ugly phase.
FANTASY FANS—These may be made of bamboo, and when waved magically make a person think he is cooler than he is. Fans have an identity of their own; they gather periodically at fan conventions to shoot the breeze and blow hot air and decide who is the secret master of fandom. One is stored in the Castle Roogna arsenal.
FAUNS—Counterpart to Nymphs. They have little horns, shaggy legs and goat’s feet, and like to play pipes, chase Nymphs, laugh, eat and sleep, in approximately that order. There are several varieties: DRYFAUNS associated with trees, NAIFAUNS associated with water (with flattened flipper-hooves and scales), and OREFAUNS associated with the mountains (with greenish hair and dark-brown fur). All are harmless, fun-loving creatures who have no memory of the past or concern for the future.
FAUX PASS—Pronounced “Fo Pa,” meaning “giant misstep.” Centuries ago, the giant Faux was tramping north and tripped on a mountain range obscured by clouds, creating a gap that ordinary creatures now use to get through. The term has spread to Mundania, where it is misspelled.
FEN VILLAGE—Jordan’s original home, near the northeast border of Xanth, beside what is now known as the Ogre-fen-Ogre Fen.
FERDINAND—A noble bull of a man, leader of the Cowboys.
FETCH—Apparition of a living creature, seeming dead.
FIANT—A demon who works in a rum refinery, who dematerializes at will. He is large, muscular and fat, with squat horns and an unkempt beard and a barbed tail. He was at one time a great trial to Tandy, for when he looked at her his eyes glowed like smoky quartz shielding an internal lava flow.
FIRE—See ELEMENTS
FIREDRAKE—A small, ornate, winged fire-breathing dragon.
FIREOAK—A variety of acorn tree, protected by a hamadryad or tree Nymph. A magical effect called St. Elmo’s Fire makes it stand out beautifully with the illusion of burning that discourages predatory bugs, except for fire ants.
FIREWALL—The wall of fire surrounding the elemental zone of Fire in northern Xanth.
FIREWATER—Water that burns. Some of it was used to guard the Good Magician’s castle at one time. In Mundania they drink it.
FISH RIVER—Enchanted river whose water changes folk who drink it to fish.
FLASH LIGHT—Touch a button on its side, and you’re there in a flash.
FLYING SNAKES—Airborne serpents, sometimes poisonous. They may be green, yellow or red, and bad-tempered.
FOAMING INSULATION—Material that foams up, then hardens in place to keep things warm or cold. It burns explosively.
FOOTBALL—A sphere formed of feet of all kinds, that tramples a path where it rolls.
FORGET SPELL—A powerful spell crafted by Magician Yang 400 years ago and detonated in the Gap Chasm 800 years ago, causing people to forget that the Gap exists. In the Time of No Magic it received a bad jolt and began breaking up, with serious consequences (see next entry). Today folk are able to remember the Gap, so it is beginning to appear on maps.
FORGET WHORLS—Fragments of the original Forget Spell, undetectable except by effect: any creature passing through one suffers amnesia. Most drifted south.
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH—It looks like a regular spring or pool, but it causes any one who drinks its elixir to youthen. Good Magician Humfrey and the Gap Dragon OD’d on it and were rendered into babies.
FRACTO—The worst of clouds. He terms himself King Cumulo Fracto Nimbus, and has enormous vanity and a stormy temper, but in time he blows over.
FRIS-BEES—Shaped like little disks, they glide down to a flower, then spin away to the next.
FRUITFLIES—Winged fruits that fly aimlessly about.
FURIES—Three dog-faced old women, creatures of retribution. Their whips cause terrible agony, and their curses are devastating. They are: Alecto, of the sorrows; Megaera, of suffering; and Tisiphone, of guilt. They know the secret guilts of anyone they encounter, whether human or animal.
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GAP CHASM—A monster crevice that separates Xanth into northern and southern segments, guarded by the Gap Dragon. For eight centuries it was concealed by the Forget Spell. There are several ways to pass it, but all are devious. The author of these volumes finally managed to purchase a tiny piece of the Gap Chasm’s extension into Mundania, but the magic was gone.
GAP DRAGON—One of the most formidable monsters of Xanth. He is low-slung, with a triple pair of legs, and iridescent metallic scales. Though he has small wings, he is landbound, and travels by whomping along. He destroys all creatures unfortunate enough to blunder into the Gap. Accidently youthened to baby status, he was befriended by Ivy, who named him Stanley, because he is a steamer. During his second youth, his female counterpart, Stacey or Stella Steamer, patrols the Gap.
GATEWAY CASTLE—An underwater castle in Lake Ogre-Chobee, home of the curse fiends. It straddles the Vortex that drains into the nether region. Vigilant swordfish patrol a giant seaweed wall about it, and entrance is via the big mouth of a behemoth.
GEROME—A centaur, an Elder of Centaur Isle.
GERRYMANDER—A creature with an irregularly sinuous body, small wings, claws, tail, and a lizard head. It repeats: “I convolute, I divide, I conquer, I surround, I select, I cover whatever territory I need to hold power!” And it does. This monster also flourishes in Mundania, where it deprives common folk of their part in government.
GIMLET—Prince of the Tool Tribe of Elves.
GLASS MOUNTAIN—A mountain of glass, one of the guardians of the Good Magician’s castle. It is brilliant, and lets Dor know it with bright repartee.
GLORY GOBLIN—A petite, stunningly beautiful goblin girl, daughter of Gorbage; Goldy’s younger sister. Her friendship with Hardy Harpy almost generates war between the goblins and harpies.
GNOBODY GNOMES—A tribe of gnomes, near the Cowboys.
GNOMES—Humanoid folk a third the height of human beings, who reside underground and mine for gems. The males are surly, but the females, called gnomides, are nice.
GOBLINS—Related to elves, gnomes and such, and of modified human stock, goblin males are ugly and mean-spirited, while the females are lovely and sweet. Goblins once r
uled much of Xanth, but a spell that caused the females to prefer the worst males caused them to decline in power over the centuries, and today they exist mainly underground or in mountain warrens. Their war with the harpies almost ruined the construction of Castle Roogna.
GOLD COAST—A region in southeastern Xanth where the shoreline is golden. The Ivory Tower is there.
GOLDEN FLEAS—The fabulous metallic fleas of an ancient Mundane dragon, sought by the idiot Ja-Son.
GOLDY GOBLIN—Eldest daughter of Gorbage, very pretty and nice. She traveled north to trap a male in the goblin fashion, aided by Smash Ogre, who obtained a magic wand for her.
GOOD MAGICIAN—See HUMFREY
GORBAGE GOBLIN—Chief of the North Slope Gap Goblins, ugly and unprincipled as expected, he nevertheless values his daughters and seeks the benefit of his kind.
GORGON—The personification of the promise/threat in woman. When she was young, the sight of her face stoned males; when she matured, her face stoned everyone, even animals. Sister to the Siren. Intrigued by Good Magician Humfrey, who made her face invisible so she could not accidently hurt others, she finally married him and had a son, Hugo.
GRIFFINS—One of the classier monsters, a griffin has the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. There’s hardly a better fighting animal, weight for weight, other than a dragon or an ogre. They are notoriously finicky, spending hours preening their feathers, and won’t eat anything that’s spoiled.
GROMDEN—Former King of Xanth, whose talent was to perceive the history of any object he touched. Old, bald and fat in his later life, he nevertheless had the guilt of a scandalous liaison with a demoness that resulted in Threnody, the object of Jordan’s adventure.
GRUNDY GOLEM—A man-figure as tall as a spread human hand, he was fashioned from wood, clay, rags, and bits of other refuse, and animated. Later he learned to care and became alive or, as he calls it, real. His talent is the ability to converse with all living creatures. Cheap insults are his forte. See also RAPUNZEL.
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HALF MEN—Human/animal crossbreeds, including centaurs, merfolk, Fauns, Nymphs, sphinxes, harpies, manticoras, werewolves and the Horseman. In Xanth such crossbreeding is acceptable and at times unavoidable, facilitated by unmarked love springs.
HAMADRYAD—A tree nymph. They inhabit and protect various trees in Xanth, and some in Mundania, though they are invisible and relatively powerless there.
HANDBALL—A ball formed of all manner of hands.
HARDY HARPY—One of the very few male harpies: young, clean, handsome, intelligent and with good personality. His liaison with Glory Goblin almost touched off a renewal of the goblin harpy war, but also demonstrated that goblins and harpies share half-talents, which become whole talents when the two get together. He and Glory were able to become invisible, together.
HAROLD HARPY—An early prince of harpies, consort to Heavenly Helen Harpy.
HARPIES—Human/vulture crossbreeds: dirty birds with the head and breasts of women, and body of vulture. Most of them are raucous, ill-tempered, ugly old hens, but a few are young and nice, like Heavenly Helen. They have a centuries-long running feud with the goblins, because the goblin-girls lured the few male harpies away with their attractive legs. In return, the harpies put a spell on the goblins to make their women prefer bad men. This feud caused the power of both goblins and harpies to decline in Xanth, which was fortunate for human folk.
HASBINBAD—Punic leader of the Nextwave Mundanes who brought recruits from Iberia and Morocco. He had been transporting 1200 men and 9 elephants to Hannibal along with 50 horses. He was under the impression that this was Italy, Mundania.
HEADSTONE—A memorial marker that assumes the form of the head of whatever is buried near it.
HEALING SPRING—A source for healing elixir, that makes people and animals heal instantly. But it requires the beneficiaries to take no actions contrary to its interest, or the healing is voided.
HEAT WAVE—A spell for generating heat, in the shape of a wave, given to Smash Ogre by Joan/John the fairies.
HEAVENLY HELEN—Young and beautiful and pleasant harpy queen. Her punnish background is derived from Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s poem Troy Town, which opens: “Heavenborn Helen, Sparta’s queen,/(O Troy Town!)/Had two breasts of heavenly sheen,/The sun and the moon of the heart’s desire:/All love’s lordship lay between./(O Troy’s down!/Tall Troy’s on fire.)” Thus we have Heavenly Helen, Harpy’s Queen, whose distinguishing feature is a pair of breasts, involved with the siege of Castle Roogna.
HELIOTROPE—A plant which mimics the sun’s heat, dehydrating everything in its vicinity.
HEPHALUMPH—An elephantine creature inspired by one in the Winnie the Pooh series.
HERMAN THE HERMIT—A centaur, Chester’s famous uncle, who helped save Xanth from a wiggle invasion. He was exiled from the centaur community because he had magic: the ability to communicate with the will-o’-the-wisps.
HERO DRAGON—A statue carved from genuine stone and set on a pedestal, resembling Stanley Steamer.
HERO’S CHALLENGE—The contest of magic in which Jordan seeks to fetch an object that turns out to be Threnody.
HIATUS—Son of Millie and the Zombie Master, and twin to Lacuna. His talent is growing organs—such as eyes, ears and noses on walls and books.
HIPPOCAMPUS—A monster with the head and forefeet of a horse and tail of a dolphin.
HIPPOGRYPH—A monster with the forepart of a griffin and body of a horse. It has golden feathers and a yellow tail. The steed of Xavier.
HOE ELF—Member of the Tool Tribe of Elves.
HOLEY COW—A big cow with a bumpy gait, as full of holes as any big cheese.
HOORAH BIRD—Derived from “Hoorah’s nest”—a hodgepodge. A huge bird with bright but tasteless plumage, with patches of red, blue and yellow on the wings; a brown tail speckled with white, and a body streaked with shades of green. It collects things. When it spots something interesting, it cries “Hoo-rah!”
HORSEMAN—A werehorse, a human/equine crossbreed. Centaurs resulted from man-mare coupling, this one from stallion-woman at a love spring. He is handsome as either a white stallion or a man, but evil, using his Brass Circlet to ensorcel victims. He tries to take over the crown of Xanth, but is foiled by Mare Imbrium.
HORSES—There are really no true horses in Xanth, but a number of equine crossbreeds or variants, like sea horses, horseflies, centaurs, hippogryphs, unicorns, ghost horses, night mares and day mares.
HOUSE FLY—A flying house.
HUGO—The son of Humfrey (HU) and the Gorgon (GO), he is considered retarded because his talent of conjuring fruit doesn’t work well. But under Ivy’s influence he becomes remarkably intelligent and talented. Ivy considers him to be her Night in Shiny Armor.
HUMFREY—The Good Magician, whose talent is information. He is gnomelike, with enormous Mundane-type spectacles, and over 100 years old. He tends to be grouchy and to safeguard his privacy by establishing all manner of barriers to entry to his castle, but he always knows exactly what is going on. He typically charges one year’s service as the fee for an Answer to a Question, and many people and creatures willingly pay that fee. When the Gorgon asked whether he would marry her, he made her serve a year before he Answered. This might seem extreme—but it gave her the chance to get to know him well enough to be sure, before committing herself. Humfrey is like that, being more rational and generous than is generally perceived.
HUMFREY’S CASTLE—Although the castle stays in the same place, it never appears the same twice. It was built on the same site as the prior castle of the Zombie Master, by centaurs who owed service to the Good Magician. Applicants for Answers must first struggle through three obstructions to gain entry.
HYDRA—A water dragon with a number of heads. When one is cut off, two more grow in its place.
HYPNOGOURD—A special vine grows the gourds, each of which has a peephole. Any creature who looks in is immediately trapped in the world inside, where bad drea
ms are fashioned. There are many types of residents therein, such as the metal Brassies, ifrits, paperfolk, walking skeletons and ghosts, but only the night mares can travel freely in and out, by night. The gourd’s World of Night is, in allegory, the subconscious mind, and its power extends also to Mundania, though there are no peepholes there. However, there is a Mundane variant that makes similar idiots of viewers, called the TV.
HYPOTENUSE—A big, fat monster associated with triangles.
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ICHABOD—A Mundane archivist discovered by Dor’s party when it ventured past the Crimson Tide and into the Mundane realm of Montgomery circa 1950. He is a friend of Arnolde Centaur, and an excellent researcher on the magic of Xanth. He likes to look at (but not touch) nymphly legs.
IMBRI—See MARE IMBRIUM
IMPS—Very small humanoid creatures responsible for lenses for sunbeams and sparkles for morning dew. But the items work only once. The imps call it “planned obsolescence.”
INANIMATE—In Xanth, as in Mundania, the Inanimate tends to be perverse. Dor is able to converse with it, and objects such as doors, tables, beds, stones, etc., evince a rather shallow sense of humor.
INJURE JAIL—A beverage concocted of incarcerated water, which forms a “jail” around the drinker.
INTERFACE—A spell in which two creatures are interconnected.
INVISIBLE BRIDGE—One way to cross the Gap Chasm, if you can see it.
INVISIBLE GIANT—A large, bad-smelling giant, impossible to see except by the trees and things crashing down.
IRENE—Daughter of Trent and Iris. Her talent is to make plants grow rapidly, so that in minutes one of them could complete a life cycle that would normally require years. She was first classified as of sub-Magician level talent, but later upgraded to full Sorceress. She has green hair and good legs (and that’s not all), and no truck with sexism.
IRIS—One of the most potent Sorceresses in Xanth, her talent is illusion. She can make a nonexistent thing appear, or an existent thing disappear. Her Mundane form is frumpy, but she never shows that to the public; consequently she is glamorous. She married King Trent, and for a time was King herself, because Xanth has no reigning Queens.
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