Aramanth trilogy

The Aramanth Trilogy is a series of fantasy books written by the author William Nicholson that tells the story of a city. It is also often called the wind singer trilogy (in the original English Wind on Fire ). For the first book, in German Der Windsänger , William Nicholson received the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize in 2000 .

The wind singer

In the city of Aramanth, daily life is regulated by trials. Everyone is checked every day and given a grade. The better you do, the more luxurious you live, the worse, the poorer. When the young Kestrel Hath openly rebels against this system, she incurs the wrath of the chief examiner. Kestrel has to flee. Together with her twin brother Bowman and the outsider Mumpo, she is looking for the voice of the wind singer, a large tower that sings in the wind with the help of organ pipes. This wind singer was once built by the mysterious singing people, and only through his song can the evil power called Morah be destroyed.

On their journey they get to know different other races and realize how evil the system in Aramanth really is. In their search for the voice of the windsinger, they wake the army of the Saren, an army of killing children, who march directly on Aramanth.

Master's prisoners

In the second volume of the Aramanth trilogy, the city of Aramanth is attacked and burned to the ground, and all of its inhabitants are kidnapped into the "master's kingdom". This includes Bowman and his family. Only his sister Kestrel, who wants to free her loved ones at all costs, can escape. Each of the two now forges a plan how the almighty master can be defeated and his kingdom destroyed. Bowman trains his psychic powers to strengthen himself for a duel with the master. Kestrel, on the other hand, is able to win over the army of the Kingdom of Gang through clever tactics.

The song of fire

The third part of the Aramanth trilogy is about the journey of the Manth who are looking for their true home. On the way, they encounter many dangers that they must face. Bowman is waiting to be picked up by a messenger to take him to Sirena. There he is used as a child of the prophet to help defeat the mighty Morah. There he should die in battle.

The Manth people

The "Manth" are a fictional people of their own with their own script and language. The aim of the Manth is to continue traveling until they find their home. In "Prisoners of the Master" a scholar knows the Manth people but cannot read the scriptures, which suggests that they were once well known and respected. Originally they were nomads, they probably traded until they came across a huge salt deposit in a desert. This made them rich and they built the city of Aramanth on the salt deposit and gave up their old way of life. During this time most of the knowledge about the old manuscript was lost, only a few can still read it, including Hanno Hath, Bowman's father. After the voice of the windsinger was handed over to the Morah by Emperor Creoth I, the system of government of Aramanth deteriorated drastically until it degenerated into a performance-oriented dictatorship. This lasted at least 2 generations, as mentioned in "The Wind Singer". This form of rule ended with the new singing of the windsinger, which destroyed the Morah and reminded people of the good in them (end of the first part).

A phase followed in which the Manth's way of life probably returned to its original state, the trilogy omits this period, at the beginning of the second part the society has become much more harmonious. But the city of Aramanth is looted and burned down by the master's army. The surviving residents are brought to the master's realm, where they are incorporated into the slave structure of this realm. There Hanno finds old writings that explain that the Manth have a predetermined homeland. There is disagreement about whether or not to collaborate with the other residents in the Master's realm. Ultimately, the master’s realm will be destroyed by Gang’s army and all former residents will have to find a new home. A large part of the Manth gathers in search of the prophesied homeland (end of the second part).

The entire third part deals with the Manth's search for their new home. Led by the prophetess Ira Hath, they embark on an arduous journey through a dangerous land full of unrest. After the master's kingdom collapsed, many suspect that the song of fire is imminent, which will destroy the Morah, but can also mean death for many people. Eventually the old prophecy of the singers who can destroy the Morah comes true. The Manth find their new home and settle there. The trilogy ends with an outlook on the harmonious future there.

The singing people

The "singers" are a people of magicians who live very close to nature and fight the Morah by renunciation. Ira Manth was their first prophet, who also gave the prophecies to the Manth people. The singers forego any luxury and are able to conjure up by singing. In "The Song of Fire" it is described in such a way that the essence of anything could be called "the song". Many things are possible by singing and manipulating this song: Among other things, flying, changing material properties, such as turning wood into a pudding-like mass, or telekinesis. Most important: The song of fire that will destroy the Morah. Her closeness to nature and her solitary life go so far that, for example, a singer named Dog Face lives in a tree and speaks to animals there. They all seem to follow an overarching plan, even the master, who appears as an opponent in the second part, is a singer, albeit a renegade. They seem to live very scattered, when they do something together, they gather on Sirena Island, where Ira Manth is buried, but still seems to be active.

The Morah

At the beginning, the Morah appears generally as the power of evil. He appears as a personification in the form of an old lady, for example when he steals the voice of the wind singer.

The Morah is in control of the Saren's army, which is made up of children. They seem to be constantly in lust for murder, their only interest is killing people. They look like children in traditional dress uniforms armed with a saber. The strength of the Saren is their mass, "there are always some". They are always aimed at one goal so that they will march on stubbornly without showing signs of fatigue. They even overcome a ravine on their way by walking into it without hesitation until the mountain of corpses forms a bridge. The supply of fighters is probably inexhaustible, as these are recruited from children who suffer from a particular aging disease. Even Bowman himself is briefly seduced by the Sars and joins them. This supposed weakness is something that will later occupy him a lot and often makes him doubt himself and his predestination. Later he summons the power of the Morah again to defeat the master. Again he experiences this as weakness, since he had to rely on the help of the Morah to win.

Later it becomes clear why the collective idea makes the Sari so powerful: The Morah itself is the need of people to gain power through cohesion. This need then manifested itself as an evil spirit, the Morah. It can be destroyed by the song of fire, in which the singers act so selflessly that they give their own lives to destroy the Morah.

The mud people

The mud people live in the sewer under the city of Aramanth. However, they do not perceive their environment as bad, but have a slightly different perception of dirt (for example, like some animal species, they clean themselves with mud). Due to their way of life, they are constantly covered with a layer of mud. The main food for them is the mud nut, a kind of potato with a smoky taste. Bowman Hath, Kestrel Hath and Mumpo Inch meet this people in the book "The Wind Singer", they experience a mud nut harvest. Like many peoples in this universe, the members of this people stand for a nature-loving, peasant, but morally superior and little technologized society with many altruistic features, which at first glance appears very abnormal, but on closer inspection is even more social than the civilized aramanth .

Chaka and Baraka

The Baraka and Chaka are two peoples who are exactly the same except for their hairstyle (one people has plaited braids, the other is bald). They live on a huge sail-powered vehicle, which is described as a kind of sailing ship on wheels. These ships (they are called Ombaraka and Omchaka depending on the people) accommodate the entire society, which is completely fixated on war with the other people. However, since there is a peace treaty, the two peoples are only allowed to fight with sail-powered wheeled drones. Despite their similarities, both peoples are very hostile to each other and extremely suspicious of the war situation. So anyone who does not belong to their own people is automatically viewed as a spy for the other side. Militarily, both parties seem to be equally strong, since this state of war has been going on for a very long time, but apparently neither side has been able to win. Even when Bowman, Kestrel and Mumpo clearly win a battle, it doesn't seem to change the balance of power. These facts and the peace treaty, which clearly forbids the killing of human opponents, make the very propagandistic war appear only as a technological race.

The master's kingdom

The realm of the master consists only of slaves, all of whom are ruled by the willpower of the "master". Thus all follow a single will, the master is the only one who can think completely freely. New residents are first brought into the empire as slaves through campaigns, then integrated into society first through coercion, then out of habit and adaptation. During the campaigns of conquest, the armed forces proceed very brutally, the slaves are controlled by locking their relatives in cages and threatening to burn them. This is quite common and is even initially done prophylactically in the case of minor insubordination. This brutality of means is countered by the enormous cultural and artistic level of the empire. Since the empire collects and integrates all captured cultural assets and skills of the slaves, all arts are flourishing. The master himself makes music and composes and promotes art. His character can be described as rather self-centered, that he controls all subordinates and that he commits or allows committing so many cruel deeds for the sake of his art and perfection. Even after his empire has been destroyed, he only thinks of the beauty of the high domain that was burned down.

The people of Gang

The gang people from the land of Obagang: Less is learned about this people, as only the royal family and the army are described. A bit ambiguous is the impression that Gang was never mentioned in the first book, but is later described as a mighty kingdom, for which even Aramanth or the master’s realm are only a marginal province. The country also seems to survive the song of fire without suffering much damage. The royal family describes their country as very cultivated, but the characters of the royal family are very conservative, self-centered and infantile, so that one could question this view. The tendency to overglorify and isolate the royal family, as well as the hints of the master indicate that Gang may have experienced a cultural decline or at least is not very enlightened. The fact that the king's daughter has to be married to a "foreign dictator" in order to secure power also indicates a decline.

The 3 epochs

There will always be three epochs that repeat themselves over and over again. Book one takes place in the 2nd epoch, the second book in the 2nd to 3rd epoch, and the end of the third book largely takes place in the third and in the appendix also in the first.

1st epoch: there is peace. Evil is destroyed, a new world is being built. The world was purified by the great fire of God.

2nd epoch: People become greedy, stingy and selfish. The morah grows.

3rd epoch: The Morah is in power, nobody can do anything against him anymore. People are desperate, the world is desolate and cities are being plundered. Sirena, the island of singers, trains a descendant of the prophet of the Manth, Ira Manth. He / she is to sing the song of fire and thus sacrifice himself / herself in order to conjure up the great fire that frees the world from the morah.

Old manh vows

Oath to the will to progress: “I vow to work harder, to set myself higher goals and to strive in every respect to be better tomorrow than today. For the love of my emperor and for the glory of Aramanth. ”From: The wind singer

Farewell to the living: "We, who are left behind, guard you on your further path. The prison for many years opens its iron door. Be free and go to the wonderful land. Forgive us who suffer in this gloomy world. Guide us and wait for us as we wait for you. We will see each other again. "

Promise of marriage: "Today my path begins with you. Wherever you go, I will go too. Where you stay, I will stay too. When you sleep, I sleep too. When you get up, I get up too. During the day, I become yours Reach your voice and your outstretched hand at night and nothing shall ever separate us. I swear that. " Source: The Song of Fire