Song of Valdemar” by Kristin Schwengel
Revyn, a young Healer-trainee, resists his own interest in healing. When he learns that his beloved younger sister has died of a fever, he blames himself. Finally she appears to him in a dream and helps him accept his calling.
“The School Up the Hill” by Elisabeth Waters
Leesa, the new scullery maid at an inn in Bolthaven, is Mage-Gifted. Her MindSpeech is so strong that she “hears” the instructions the teachers at Quenten’s school give their students.
“Chance” by Mark Shepherd
Guardsman Jonne saves Vanyel’s life on the Karsite Border after a mage-attack slaughters the rest of the camp. They hide in Jonne’s family’s quartz mine, where their relationship grows closer.
“Sword of Ice” by Mercedes Lackey and John Yezeguielian
Herald-Mage Savil is drawn by a MindSpeaking falcon to save a Hawkbrother, Starwind k’Treva, who has been struck by lightning. When he is sufficiently healed, he tries to convince the Elders of his Vale that Savil must be made a Wingsister.
“In the Forest of Sorrows” by John Helfers
The spirit of Vanyel saves a boy named Treyon, who is Gifted with Foresight and MindSpeech. He is fleeing a group of bandits, led by a mage named Ke’noran, who plans to sacrifice the boy so she can steal his untrained Gifts.
“Vkandis’ Own” by Ben Ohiander
Ancar is invading Karse after his first defeat at Selenay’s hands, and a regiment of infantry moves across the desert to meet him. One of the priests of Vkandis in their company is Solaris, a powerful provincial who argues often with the other two priests.
“A Herald’s Honor” by Mickey Zucker Reichert
Heralds Judaia and Martin are lifebonded, but Martin avoids Judaia, having made a promise to a former lover that he would never be with another woman. On their circuit together, Judaii tries to show Martin that what is right is most important.
“A Song for No One’s Mourning” by Gary A. Braunbeck
A young thief named Chas meets a strange boy who has a powerful untrained Mage-Gift. The boy, L’lewythi, uses music to take Cijas to an alternate world he has created, but the peaceful realm is shattered by Gash, a destructive force that is part of the boy’s magic.
“Blue Heart” by Philip M. Austin and Mercedes Lackey
Selenay’s “shadow,” a Herald-spy and assassin, tells her of a legend of the mountains near White Foal Pass. His Compatiion, Pilane, is a historian, and the two have researched the Blue Heart butterfly and the girl Pilane who may have been turned into the butterfly.
Short stories from other anthologies
1991 “Stolen Silver” in Horse Fantastic, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Rosalind M. Greenberg
A young Karsite captain named Alberich has a bright future, always seeming to know where his forces are needed. When he is accused of unholy witchcraft, only his strange new horse can save him.
1995 “A Dragon in Distress” in Sword and Sorceress XII, co-authored with Elisabeth Waters, edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Tarma and Kethry are pulled by Need through a portal in the Pelagirs that takes them to another world. The portal was built by a female dragon seeking aid for the young princess in her care, who has been abducted by a prince.
The world of Valdemar is a familiar one to millions of Meredes Lackey’s fans. In a shared journey of the imagination, they’ve wielded swords and magic, ridden Companions, met Hawkbrothers, marveled at bondbirds, and watched gryphons soar. They have cheered on Vanyel and Talia and Elspeth in their victories and despaired at their defeats, But apparently the nearly thirty books available so far on Valdemar haven’t been enough to keep them satisfied—the fans want more.
In fact, if the World Wide Web is any indication, they want a lot more. A quick tally on the Yahoo! search engine using the term “Valdemar” generates only one official website—but it turns up nearly 30,000 web page matches. The fans, it seems, have been busy, and they’ve done more than take this world to heart. They’ve put it online and started a worldwide conversation. While few of these sites are blessed and authorized by Mercedes Lackey, there’s no doubt that a patient web surfer can find many worth looking at. But be aware that when you’re heading off to find the virtual Valdemar, you’re going to find a very large place.
To start your journey, here a few of the authorized and official Waystations:
First and foremost is the official Mercedes Lackey Fan Club (called Queen’s Own) website, located at:
http://www.dragonlordsnet.com/qo.htm.
This is a great place to begin looking for virtual information about Valdemar. Among its other features, it boasts an email based chat subscription, a non-fiction journal, a list of approved fanzines for fan-written fiction, and numerous other resources, including information on taking on a Valdemar “persona.”
This process allows the serious fan of Valdemar to “become” a Herald, Herald-Mage, Bard, Healer, Mercenary, Shin’a’in, Kal’enedral, Tayledras, or a White Winds mage by following a specific series of steps and criteria developed by Mercedes Lackey. While the details for each persona are different, here’s a brief outline of the steps involved in attaining a Herald persona within the Queen’s Own fan club:
Basic Requirements:
a. Develop a character and write about him/her—the finished biography must be a minimum of three double spaced pages, and should detail the person’s physical characteristics, likes, dislikes, and so on. (Worth ten points.)
b. Develop the character’s friends and relatives—again, this should be a minimum of three double-spaced pages. though it doesn’t necessarily have to be as detailed. (Worth ten points.)
Extra Point Requirements:
a. Choose two or more activities that interest you (from a list of eighteen on the website) and complete them. Possibilities include writing a short story, designing a costume, attending a martial arts class, or learning about the care and feeding of horses. (All are valued at five points each.)
Becoming Chosen:
a. After you have accrued a total of 25 points, you may be chosen and will randomly select your Gifts (there’s a table on the website) by rolling a six-sided die.
Get Recognized by the Queen’s Own:
a. After fulfilling all of the requirements and sending the Queen’s Own fan club the details, you will be formally recognized in the fan club newsletter.
This all sounds like a lot of work; however, it can be done—hundreds of people have completed the requirements to become Herald. Becoming a Herald-Mage, (and not everyone can do this) is an even more arduous process, and includes learning four magic tricks (to become a Hedge Wizard), writing a twenty page paper and learning four more magic tricks (Journeyman Herald), writing two additional twenty-page papers and learning four more magic tricks (Master). Finally, to become an Adept Class Herald Mage, the site requires writing three more twenty-page papers, and learning another four magic tricks. Needless to say, the list of those who have completed these demanding requirements is much shorter. At this writing, only eight people have become Adept Class Herald-Mages since the club began.
The best place to check out the books is the publisher’s website, located at http://www.dawbooks.com, where all the novels of Valdemar are listed, as well as news of forthcoming titles, and an author bio, and other goodies. The site also has a link to a special place just for Mercedes Lackey fans, http://www.penguinputnam.com/lackey. The site is still being built at press time, but it promises to be the comprehensive site about Valdemar.
Another official site is Firebird Arts & Music, located at: http://www.firebirdarts.com. While this is not a Valdemar site per se, it does contain a huge amount of information on Valdemar, and—more importantly—it’s a commercial site that sells Valdemar-influenced music, poetry, art, and a variety of Valdemar-related collectibles. It’s also the location of an excellent forum where fans can e-mail in questions that may be answered online by Misty herself. Not only are all of the Va
ldemar novels available here, but fans can also get cover art prints from the novels by artist Jody Lee, CDs and cassettes featuring the music of Valdemar, Hawkbrother jewelry, and even clothing patches showing the crest of Valdemar.
Perhaps one of the best features of this site is the silent online auction of items made by Mercedes Lackey or her husband Larry Dixon for the purpose of raising money for their favorite charity, the Alex Foundation. The Alex Foundation supports the research of Dr. Irene Pepperberg of the University of Arizona who researches the intelligence, cognitive, and speaking abilities of African Grey Parrots. This research has made amazing contributions to the treatment of and therapy for learning-disabled children. Some of the items that have been auctioned off here through the years include original, signed manuscripts by Mercedes Lackey, a Hawkbrother Courtship Feather, and a variety of handmade pouches, necklaces, and other jewelry.
If you want to look a little farther on the Web, you might want to try some of the Valdemar WebRings, sites that are linked together and share a common interest in the works of Mercedes Lackey. A few of the better ones include:
The Queen’s Own Official WebRing, located at:
http://nav.webring.yahoo.com/hub?ring=qsown&list. This links to several websites related to the writing and work of Mercedes Lackey.
The Heraldic Collegium WebRing, located at:
http://nav.webring.yahoo.com/hub?ring=vanyel&list. This links to a fair number of websites that have to do with Valdemar, the Herald Mage Vanyel, and more.
The Official Vanyel Fan Club, located at:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/9963/. This chapter of the Queen’s Own Offical Fan Club is dedicated to the hero of The Last Herald-Mage Series, and maintains a mailing list via email as well as a newsletter for its members.
This is just a small sampling of the treasures that are out there, changing and developing every day on the World Wide Web. The virtual world of Valdemar is a rich one, bounded only by the skill and imagination of the fans, and the legalities of copyright law. Grab your search engine and go exploring—the reward will be a chance to surf the thousands and thousands of Valdemar web pages and chat rooms, containing everything from book reviews to discussion groups to role-playing games and fan fiction, all awaiting the arrival of an intrepid Internet adventurer to find and enjoy them. To all you explorers—wind beneath your virtual wings, and speed to your search engines.
The following abbreviations are used to denote where the defined term appeared in the Valdemar books:
ARROWS: The Heralds of Valdemar Trilogy (Talia’s trilogy)
BB: Brightly Burning (Lavan’s book)
BV: Some terms are used throughout the Valdemar series, and are basic vocabulary for that world.
GRYPHON: The Mage Wars Trilogy
LHM: The Last Herald-Mage Trilogy (Vanyel’s trilogy)
OATH: The Vows and Honor Duology/Oathblood (Kethry and Tarma books)
OWL: The Owl Trilogy (Darian’s trilogy)
STORM: The Mage-Storms trilogy
SWORD: By the Sword (Kerowyn’s book)
TT: Take a Thief (Skif’s book)
WINDS: The Mage Winds Trilogy
Terms and foreign words are listed alphabetically, without regard to punctuation.
Although this is contrary to standard dictionary practice, to make the concordance easier to use, we have listed characters by their first name with their last name following (if known), and their title (if any) in parentheses (King, Herald, etc.). When a first name is not available, characters are listed by last name only. We have made one exception to this—characters from large families (Alders, Ashkevrons, etc.) are listed under their last names, with important characters cross-referenced by their first name as well, so that they can found in a central grouping for ease of keeping track of them while reading.
Although we have tried to make this concordance as complete as possible, please note that Mercedes Lackey’s novels cover more than two thousand years in the Valdemar/Velgarth timeline, and the descriptions of people, events, and places may not remain the same from book to book, depending on how things have been recorded in the canon. Also, as Mercedes Lackey has mentioned, certain kingdoms, events, and cultures have purposely been left vague, so that she will be able to explore and write about them in later novels without being restricted by what she might have written earlier.
The writers and editors are all too aware of the fact that mistakes are inevitable in such a mammoth work. Comments, questions, and suggested additions or corrections may be sent to the following address:
John Helfers
c/o DAW Books
375 Hudson St., 5th Floor
New York, NY 10014
Abel (Duchess)
A court lady in Haven who waged a fashion war with Lady Isend. (BB)
Aberdene’s Eye
The astronomical body that Herald-Mage Kilchas was observing on the night he was pushed from his tower and killed. (LHM)
Abewell
A Rethwellan town carved into the side of a mountain where the Skybolts were ordered to take prisoners. (Sword)
Absel (Brother)
An elderly priest at the Temple and Priory of Thenoth, the Lord of Beast (TT)
Abyssal Plane
One of the otherworldly planes of existence inhabited by creatures—some good, some evil—that can be summoned by a mage. (LHM, Oath)
Abyssal Plane Elementals
Semi-intelligent creatures that inhabit the Abyssal Planes. White Winds mages gain the cooperation of these entities with favors, as do Herald-Mages, but they can be called and commanded by any Master or Adept mage. Disturbances in the normal flows of magical energy can also attract them. (Oath)
Adan (Companion)
The Companion of Lord Marshal’s Herald, Turag. (BB)
Adern (Guardsman)
A high born guard at the Palace in Haven, friend of Rubrik’s. (Storm)
Adept
The highest classification of mage, able to tap into both ley-line and node energy. (BV)
Aderin
A viscount at the Imperial Court who brought his six daughters to Vademar to look for husbands. (Storm)
Ado Larsh
The only member of the Errold’s Grove’s militia who survived the Blood Bear Clan raid. He was so traumatized that he was barely able to tell the villagers what had happened. (Owl)
Agnetha
The wheat crowned Goddess of the LadyTrine. A school in Rethwellan teaches the womanly arts in her name. (Sword)
Agnira
The horse-taming Goddess of the LadyTrine, naturally Kerowyn’s favorite Goddess. (Sword)
Agnoma
The Crone Goddess of the LadyTrine who is symbolized by snowflakes. (Sword)
Ahela
K’Leshyan term of endearment. (Storm)
Ah’kela shen Liha’irden
A young Shin’a’in apprentice in training with the Liha’irden Clan’s Chief Shaman. (Oath)
Ahrodie (Companion)
Herald Dirk’s Companion, she Chose him when he was eleven in marketplace on Fair Day. (Arrows)
Air elemental
See vrondi
Ajela
One of Tuck Chester’s sisters. (BB)
Albayah (Prince)
The eldest son of Jkatha’s Queen Sursha, soon to be betrothed to Merill. (Oath)
Alberich (Herald)
A Captain in Karse’s army, Chosen deep in Karse by Companion Kantor who saved him from being burned alive by his troops for having Mind magic. Rescued by his Companion from certain death and taken back to Valdemar, Alberich became one of the finest Herald weaponsmasters of all time. Despite a lack of trust from the Queen’s councilors because he was from Karse, he worked undercover for Queen Selenay, gathering information and carrying out special missions. He was highly respected for his military and fighting skills and was also a superb teacher of those arts. (Arrows)
Alchemy (Master)
One of Master Levy’s teachers. (Storm)
/>
Alder, Ayver
Keisha’s father. (Owl)
Alder, Garry
One of Keisha’s five brothers. (Owl)
Alder, Keisha
Healer of Errold’s Grove. In addition to her Healing Gift, she also has the Gift of Empathy. She discovered cures for the diseases afflicting the Northern Tribes, and eventually become famous as a Wisewoman among them. Married to Darian, and sister to Herald Shandi. (Owl)
Alder, Rafe
One of Keisha’s five brothers. (Owl)
Alder, Rondey
One of Keisha’s five brothers. (Owl)
Alder, Shandi (Herald)
Keisha’s younger sister. Chosen by Companion Kanes as a teenager. Her Gifts are Empathy and Foresight, and she has a talent for dyeing and spinning, embroidery, and making friends. Romantically involved with the Tayledras plant specialist Steelmind. (Owl)
Alder, Sidonie
The wife of Ayver and over-protective mother of Keisha, Shandi, and five strapping sons. (Owl)
Alder, Tell
The middlemost of Keisha’s five brothers. (Owl)
Alder, Trey/Torey
One of Keisha’s brothers. (Owl)
Alderscroft
A village a hundred leagues from Haven and the original home of the Chitward family. (BB)
Aldon (Father)
The patriarch of Valdemar’s largest religious sect and a member of Queen Selenay’s Council. (Arrows)
Alessandar (King of Hardorn)
The much-loved ruler of Hardorn and friend to Valdemar who was assassinated by his son, Prince Ancar. (Arrows)
Alistair (Lord)
One of Ancar’s mages bound into service by coercion spells. He was ordered to care for the captured Falconsbane. (Winds)
Alliance, The
Treaty-bound nations—initially Valdemar and Rethwellan, later expanding to include the Tayledras, the Shin’a’in, Karse, Hardorn, and eventually Iftel. United in finding a solution to the Mage-Storms, and in resisting the armed incursions of other nations. (Owl)
The Valdemar Companion Page 18
