The age of five

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The age of five (English title: Age of the Five ) is a three-part fantasy -novel of Trudi Canavan of the life of the protagonist Auraya and one of really existing gods instigated religious war concerns. The trilogy includes the books priests , magicians and gods .

action

priest

The first book of the trilogy was published in 2005 under the original title Priestess of the White (≈ Priestess of the White ). The German translation followed in October 2007 under the title "Priester".

Auraya, a young woman manages to end a hostage-taking bloodlessly by negotiating in the prologue, whereby the White Mairae, who is sent to the negotiation, realizes that Auraya has great magical potential and offers her to become a priestess of the circle, an offer which Auraya also accepts after a short time. In the following years she rises in the hierarchy of the order and is chosen by the five gods she worships as one of the “whites” (besides her there are four other “whites”: Juran, Dyara, Rian and Mairae ( Order of their election to whites, the chosen of the five gods)). But then mysterious, black-clad magicians (Pentadrians) swarm out, whose goal for religious reasons is the downfall of the circular religion (the circle are the five living gods that are worshiped in Northern Lithuania). Auraya hires Leiard, a dream weaver she has known since childhood, as a dream weaver counselor and joins forces with the Siyee people. Auraya and Leiard fall in love and begin a relationship that nobody is allowed to find out about, because Auraya's gods are against the cult of dream weavers who do not pay homage to the gods. Eventually the Pentadrians attack the land of Northern Lithuania and Auraya has to go to war with the other whites and an army. Their first victim is one of the Siyee, so loved by Auraya . But then Juran, who is the head of the whites, learns of her love for Leiard and forces Leiard to stay away from Auraya. Auraya looks for him for a while, until she finds him near a brothel and reads in his mind that he no longer loves her and was just a customer in the whorehouse. The first point is a fallacy, however, as Leiard carries the spirit of the dream weaver founder Mirar, who was killed by Juran and who was in control of Leiard at the time. Sickened and angry, Auraya flies into the mountains to be alone, whereupon Chaia, one of the five gods of the circus, appears and tells her that she should go somewhere else. After changing position, she can watch the Pentadrian army exit the mountain through a mine instead of attacking through the only pass, as suspected. Shortly thereafter, there is a great battle in which Auraya manages to strike down the leader of the Pentadrians, the first voice Kuar, with magic. When the whites now also want to kill the other voices, Chaia intervenes, who forbids them to do so on the grounds that they now know how these enemies fought and that there would soon be five votes again. Since the Pentadrians, through the death of a voice and the loss of their enormous magical power, greatly strengthened by the Pentadrian gods, are now inferior to the whites who have also been strengthened by the circle, they capitulate and withdraw.

magician

The second book of the trilogy was published in 2006 under the original title Last of the Wilds (≈ [the] last of the wilds). The German translation was published in December 2007 under the title "Magier".

After the great battle, Auraya had nightmares night after night, but this improved when she entered into a relationship with the god Chaia. Meanwhile, Leiard goes to Si with Emerahl, where it turns out that Leiard is an artificial creation of the dream weaver founder Mirar in his body to protect himself from the whites. In the course of time, Mirar realizes that Leiard was not a new creation, but only a part of himself; when this becomes clear to Mirar, both spirits merge again into one. Meanwhile, Auraya goes back to Si, where she meets him while fighting a plague. When Mirar shows Auraya a healing method that later turns out to be the way by which one can become immortal, the circular gods learn that Mirar is still alive. Therefore they give Auraya the order to kill him. During her attack, however, Mirar manages to convince Auraya that he does not deserve to die. The goddess Huan then asks Auraya to hand over her body so that she could kill Mirar. Auraya refuses and lets him go, whereupon Mirar goes to South Ithania. When she later gets a second chance from the gods, she rejects that too. As a punishment, she has to stay in the capital for the next ten years. There she decides to give up her position as a white woman instead in order to be able to help the Siyee with the epidemic. Meanwhile, the Pentandrians want to convert Nordithania through their gods under their new head Nekaun, but this does not succeed because many have not forgotten the war that claimed so many victims for a long time; in addition, the inhabitants of northern Lithuania want to remain loyal to their gods. The Pentadrians find allies with the Elai, as they show them how to defend themselves against looters and how to attack them. Imenja and Reivan bring the princess Imi back home after she was cut down and kidnapped by looters. In the end, the king signs a treaty of alliance. Mirar eventually asks Emerahl to network teach Auraya to become immortal. She reluctantly agrees, because she wants to look for a scroll herself to find out more about the gods.

Gods

The third volume of the trilogy was released in 2007 under the original title Voice of the Gods (≈ voice of the gods; here "is probably gods voice " meant). The German translation was published in March 2008 under the title "Götter".

At the beginning of the third part, Priestess Ellareen, usually just called Ella, is appointed as Auraya's successor as a white woman. Meanwhile, Mirar arrives in southern Lithuania and Emerahl arrives in Si to train Auraya. Emerahl succeeds in luring Auraya to him and convincing her to be taught the skills of the immortals (= savages). Meanwhile, on the southern continent, Mirar realizes that the Pentadrians treat dreamweavers well. Auraya acquires the ability to read minds, which she has not been able to exercise since her resignation when several dream weavers are murdered by seemingly circular priests in northern Lithuania. At this point Emerahl Auraya tells of the crimes of the dead gods and Auraya manages to hide her thoughts from others, including the gods. Shortly afterwards she overhears a conversation between the gods Huan and Saru and learns that Huan had demanded her death before the refused execution and that she (Huan) has since managed to convince Saru of this opinion as well. Auraya then realizes how to apply her healing abilities to herself in order to become immortal. The Pentadrian counselor Reivan recognizes meanwhile that there is tension between Nekaun and Imenja, the two top leaders of the Pentadrians, which Imenja admits to her "companion" Reivan. Shortly afterwards, against the warning of her superior Imenja, she begins a relationship with Nekaun. Meanwhile, Auraya tries to teach Emerahl to fly, but fails. Shortly thereafter, Ellareen discovers from the Whites that the murders of the Dream Weavers were carried out by Pentadrians, who disguised themselves as Circles in order to induce the Dreamweavers' apprentices to join the Pentadrian Faith and develop a hatred of the Circles. Then all Pentadrians are arrested and all defectors are told the truth; Ellaren finds out that Nekaun himself gave the order and personally supervised the murders and the training. In the meantime, Emerahl goes to southern Lithuania to look for a scroll on behalf of the twins that allegedly says how to kill gods. Auraya stays in the cave in which she was taught by Emerahl for three more days and ensures Chaia's support. Mirar reveals himself to the public in southern Lithuania. Shortly afterwards, Huan orders the Siyee to launch an attack against the Pentadrians and forbids Auraya to fight; however, she is allowed to come along to heal the injured. The attack fails, however, as Nekaun is present, captures all of the Siyee and takes them to Glymma, the capital of the Pentadrians. He makes Auraya the offer for every day that she stays in the city and deals with its culture to release a Siyee, which she also accepts. In the meantime, Emerahl allies himself in the search for the scroll with a group of thinkers (= scholars) through whom she makes great progress. Shortly thereafter, Auraya and Mirar decide in a dream network to let the Pentadrians believe that they are enemies. Meanwhile, Emerahl finds the scroll of the goddess Sorli, which contains some interesting details, but does not have the desired knowledge about how to kill gods. Mirar arrives in Glymma a little later. During the night Auraya reads Reivan's thoughts and finds indications of an impending betrayal of Nekaun and realizes that he does not coordinate with the other "voices". Meanwhile, Emerahl networks with the twins, with whom she comes to the conclusion that the desired information must be on a diamond. After doing some research, Emerahl finds out that the diamond says that gods can be killed by bringing them into a magically-empty room or by creating a magically-empty room around them. Nekaun betrays Auraya and holds her captive under the sanctuary. She cannot free herself because she was led unnoticed into a magically empty room. Nekaun treats her very badly there and takes all of her clothes. Later he tries to rape her, but Chaia alias Sheyr comes to help Auraya (Chaia calls the recognition word "shadow", which he made with Auraya so that she can recognize him) and orders Nekaun, who thinks Chaia is Sheyr, to do this do no harm. Nekaun is so upset that he visits Reivan and lets his anger out there. She goes to bed with him voluntarily, but what he does to her can still be described as rape. Reivan then ended the relationship. Meanwhile, the other whites do not know whether Auraya is still loyal to them and the gods, since she cannot report. Ella, who is in Dunwegen and turns out to be quite unscrupulous there, is absolutely convinced that Auraya betrayed her. Auraya contacts Danjin via dream networking and tells him that she is trapped. When Danjin tells Ella, she is convinced that it is a trick. Meanwhile, the whites, by order of the gods, plan to attack the Pentadrians and obliterate their religion. The Pentadrians are warned by their gods and also raise their army. They also try to get Mirar on their side for the fight. Mirar explains to them that he cannot fight. Therefore, the Pentadrians try to win him over at least to strengthen their wards. Mirar agrees, in return he wants to receive Auraya after the battle. Imenja and the other voices agree, but realize that Nekaun wants to kill them after the war at the latest. Auraya's pet named Mischief, who managed to get to Auraya, tries to open the lock on Auraya's handcuffs, but fails first because he needs magic. Chaia appears to Auraya and explains to her that she is dying, which is also true. He explains to her how to become a goddess since all gods used to be mortals and then immortals before becoming gods. Auraya realizes that if she had accepted Chaia's suggestion, she would have died because she is in a magically empty room. Now that it appears that all the gods have betrayed her, Auraya loses the last bit of her faith. While the voices and whites gather on the battlefield, the 5 last savages gather there too, as they don't want to miss the chance to kill the gods if one should occur. However, they need Auraya, because it takes six people to kill a god (to create a magic-empty room, six people have to be spread around the room and draw all the magic in). However, they must hope for Auraya, their sixth husband. In the meantime, nonsense succeeds in stealing the keys from a guard and taking them to Auraya. Just as the guards notice, she can free herself with the help of the Veez and kill the guards. She has just healed when Huan comes and demands insight into her thoughts. When she refuses, she attacks and can almost kill Auraya. In order to save herself, Auraya draws in as much magic as possible and thus creates a small, magic-empty room from which Huan has to escape. She heals herself and without further ado destroys the whole sanctuary. After getting some clothes, she flies to the battlefield where the Whites and Pentadrians are facing each other. She hears the thoughts of the gods again and finds out that the gods of the coven are also those of the Pentadrians, and that they see everything as a game. When the command comes to kill the gods, none of the immortals hesitates. Everyone draws in as much magic as possible to create an empty space. When they stop, they realize that they have created a magic-empty sphere with magic still in the middle, and the gods still exist. Chaia asks Auraya if he had mentioned the identification word during the attack on her life (the becoming god, see above). Auraya is dismayed to learn that it was Huan who pretended to be Chaia, and not Chaia who wanted to kill her. She promises Chaia that she and the other whites will protect the empty space until the magic has flown back in and Chaia comes out again. Chaia, who has apparently recognized how bad their deeds were, but above all has no inclination, a thousand years (estimate of the savages and the gods, how long it will be before the magic flows back again and the gods come free) to be trapped with Huan but draws in as much magic as possible and kills himself and the other gods. His last words to Auraya are: “Don't forget me!” Auraya mourns him very much, in contrast to the other savages.

Since the gods are now dead, the whites and the voices only have their original magical abilities and lose their immortality. At least Imenja retains her ability to read minds, which she also uses directly to accuse Nekaun of raping three servants of the gods, to sentence him to death and to enforce the sentence with the help of the other three voices.

Groupings

There are three main groups in "The Age of Five":

Circler

The Zirkler are the followers of the circular religion; they follow the five gods Chaia, Huan, Lore, Yranna and Saru and live in northern Lithuania, where they represent by far the largest religious community. The leaders of the circle are the so-called whites , who are selected directly by the gods and are only subordinate to them. Among the whites that are high priests , in turn, about the priests stand. The cyclical capital "Jarime" is located in the northern part of Northern Lithuania in the state of Hania.

Pentadrians

The Pentadrians represent the south-Iranian counterpart to the Zirklers and pay homage to the five gods Sheyr, Hrun, Alor, Ranah and Sraal. Their leaders are the so-called votes , which are elected by all servants of the gods in southern Lithuania. The servants of the gods represent the Pentadrian counterpart to the circular priests , just as the devoted servants of the gods correspond to the high priests . The Pentadrian capital "Glymma" is located in the northern part of southern Lithuania in the state of Avven near the land bridge, which is the only connection between the continents.

Dream weaver

The dream weavers represent a cult that was founded by the immortal Mirar many centuries before the onset of the plot and does not worship any god. In contrast to the Circular and Pentadrian religion, the dream weavers are not allowed under any circumstances, not even in war, to use force against people. The dream weavers are by far the best healers in all of Ithania and are widespread in both northern and southern Lithuania; While they are respected and respected in the south, the covenants in the north have a strong aversion to them, which in part also leads to acts of violence.

Others

In addition, there are of course other groups, some of them religious, such as B. the followers of the dead gods or the cult of the Creator (whose followers believe that the gods do not stand above everything, but that there is still a higher being, the so-called Creator, who largely behaves like God in the Christian faith), which, however, contribute very little to the plot.

Peoples and immortals

In addition to the "normal" people in Ithania there are also the Siyee and Elai peoples, as well as some immortals and of course the gods.

Siyee

The Siyee, like the Elai, represent a people created by the goddess Huan. They are significantly smaller than "normal" people, who they call "landwalkers", and have wings with which they can fly effectively. The wings are a kind of leathery skin that is attached to the arms and the side of the body, much like a bat .

Elai

The sea people of the Elai were also created by the goddess Huan, but, unlike the Siyee, they are a little larger than "landwalkers" (the Elai also use this name) and have black skin. The Elai are a people that are perfectly adapted to marine life, including greatly enlarged lungs and webbed feet.

immortal

There are two types of immortals in Ithania: the "savages" and the elect of the gods. The term “immortal” is misleading, however, as they can certainly die, be it through an accident, a murder, or a suicide. However, they never die a natural death and have such great magical powers that a single immortal can decide a battle, so that they can easily defend themselves against more or less everything except other immortals.

The wild

The "savages" are the immortals who have given themselves immortality. They are hunted by the chosen of the gods because the gods would like to see all savages dead. The "savages" refer to themselves as "immortals"; there are five more of them to start the action:

  • Mirar; At the beginning of the plot, however, he has lost his personality and moves as Leiard through northern Lithuania. “His” quality is the ability to heal perfectly. As the founder of a dream weaver, he strictly refuses to use force.
  • Emerahl (the witch); Their property is the ability to completely change their age and thus their appearance, which, however, takes a lot of strength.
  • the seagull; probably the oldest immortal. In a sense, he is the immortal of the sea, who is said to have many abilities, including the ability to change the weather to a limited extent; But what skills he really has remains unclear.
  • Tamun and Surim (the twins); The twins are also very old immortals, their ability is to “skim off” people's thoughts in large areas, to compare them with their memories, and thus to appreciate what the future will bring. Their name originated from the fact that they used to be Siamese twins who split up at some point. The great peculiarity here is that Tamun is a woman and Surim has transformed his formerly female gender into a male over time.

Other savages who had already been murdered or committed suicide when the action began

  • The oracle; couldn't see into the future, just read minds, which she took advantage of by giving ambiguous answers to those concerned
  • The farmer; knew everything about agriculture
  • The librarian; watched over the library from thrush
  • The creator; took his own life after his creation was destroyed

The chosen of the gods

The chosen of the gods obtain their abilities from a ring enchanted by the gods or a necklace (star pendant). They have more or less the same abilities as the savages, but lose these when they remove the ring (Zirkler) or the star pendant (Pentadrian).
The whites (circles) are (in order of magical power):

  • Juran; Leader of the whites;
  • Dyara; the second white woman to be chosen;
  • Auraya; As the trilogy progresses, however, it turns out that her own magical power is greater than that of any other magician;
  • Ellareen; Auraya's replacement after her resignation, she appears for the first time in " Gods " and turns out to be an unscrupulous fanatic;
  • Rian: was chosen fourth and is also an unconditional fanatic;
  • Mairae; was chosen third;

The voices (Pentadrians) are (in order of magical power):

  • Kuar; fanatical leader of the voices; it is not clear whether he is stronger than Nekaun;
  • Nekaun; Kuar's successor as the first voice of the gods; it is not clear whether he is weaker than Kuar;
  • Imenja; second voice of gods; considers Nekaun to be absolutely incapable;
  • Vervel; third godly voice
  • Genza; fourth voice of gods; invites Mirar; breeds black birds
  • Shar; fifth godly voice; breeds worms

See also: Zirkler and Pentadrianer

The gods

The gods are beings of pure magic who can move through the land at practically unlimited speeds in all three dimensions without any obstacles. However, you need humans to connect with the material world and can only see the world through a mortal's eyes. Also, they can only exist in places where there is at least a little magic, since they need it to live, if very little. A god can only die by entering a so-called “empty room”, that is, a room without any magic, voluntarily or involuntarily.

See also

literature