Rhapsody saga

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The Rhapsody Saga (original: Symphony of Ages ) is currently a seven-part high fantasy novel series that has been written by the American writer Elizabeth Haydon since 1999 . The first six volumes have been published in Germany by the Heyne and Piper publishing houses since 2003 . The seventh volume "The Merchant Emperor" has not yet been translated into German.

Fictional background

The Rhapsody Saga is set in a fictional medieval world. In the first three parts, the plot is limited to the sunken island of Serendair, the New World and some smaller island groups. Once again, the residents are preparing for a great war that is emerging between the divided population. The last Seven Hundred Years War had ended only four hundred years earlier.

main characters

Rhapsody

Rhapsody is the protagonist. While her father was of human origin, her mother is a Liringlas, so she is a half-breed. She grew up among the rural people at the end of the third age. After she is deflowered by a mysterious boy on her 14th birthday and he disappears the next day, she goes in search of him and therefore leaves her parents' house. Until she escaped from Serendair, she lived in Ostend, the largest city on the island, and offered her services as a prostitute there in an emergency. In addition, she is doing her training as a singer and namer, even if she was never able to complete it properly. Despite the many bad experiences, she is a very naive and kind-hearted person.

Achmed

The brother of all, but not related to any. Besides Grunthor, Achmed is the only friend who has remained with Rhapsody from the old world. One learns very little about his past in the books. Just like Rhapsody he is a half-breed, his mother was a Dhraki and his father a Bolg. He was the first Dhrakian to be born on Serendair, and therefore has a special ability that makes him a precise, practically infallible killer, but also a healer. But he only uses this ability once to save Rhapsody from bleeding to death after giving birth; Achmed can determine the heartbeats of all other beings born on Serendair and thus their whereabouts through the vibrations of the air. In the new world he loses this ability or can only use it on the first generation of Cymrers. He doesn't trust anyone other than his two old world friends.

Grunthor

Grunthor is probably Achmed's oldest friend, but his past is even more unclear than Achmed's. It is known that he must have been a sergeant major among his kind in the old world, but he lost his troops. He kept the title and used it again in the Bolglanden. Although Grunthor is bigger and more terrifying than the Bolg (he too is half-blood like the other three main characters), he still has a good, soft heart and is not at a loss for any joke with or about Rhapsody. He has a large collection of weapons that he always carries with him on his back. While the three wandered through the belly of the earth, Grunthor introduced Rhapsody to the art of sword fighting.

Gwydion of Manosse

Gwydion ap Llauron ap Gwylliam tuatha d'Anwynan o Manosse, Sam or Ashe, is Rhapsody's later lover and husband. Through their later son Meridion, Gwydion is teleported into the past as a child in Serendair. There he gets to know Rhapsody and is responsible for her later actions and indirectly the meeting with Grunthor and Achmed. In the new world he is only a shadow of himself after a part of his soul has been stolen from him by a F'dor. He meets Rhapsody again and is in love with her at first sight, but without knowing that she was the girl he met in Serendair. A love story begins that has extreme ups and downs, so Rhapsody no longer wants to see him in the meantime. At the end of the third volume, the two Cymrians and their descendants will be crowned Lord and Mistress of the Cymrians.

Yo

After being freed from the hands of evil, Rhapsody makes Jo her adoptive sister. Jo is a street kid, just like Rhapsody himself was for some time. Only after a long back and forth with Achmed, he gives his consent that 16-year-old Jo may travel with them. Jo is pretty much the exact opposite of Rhapsody, she's loud, witty, but also quick to snap. Nevertheless, a friendship develops between the three companions, above all Grunthor and Rhapsody, and her.

Oelendra

Besides Rhapsody, Oelendra is probably the only other Liringlas on the new continent. She was the former wearer of the daily star fanfare, but such a strong bond had never formed between her and the sword as is the case with Rhapsody. She is Rhapsody's sword trainer and becomes a loyal friend to her as the books progress. She too belongs to the secret society of blood relatives. She was also an executive on the first fleet. After Merithyn's death, she led the first fleet to the New World and safely ashore.

Llauron

Llauron is one of the first people the trio meets in the new world. He is the intercessor of the filid who religiously worship nature. He is also the second eldest son of Gwylliam and Anwyn and the father of Ashe. One can only speculate about his real age; since he looks much older than Anborn and Edwyn Grifith, it can be assumed that he is getting older to strengthen his charisma. In the course of the third book he takes the form of a dragon and so loses his soul. In the fifth volume he finally dies when he throws himself selflessly, as he never was in his lifetime, in front of Rhapsody and her child so that they are spared from Anwyn's fire.

Anborn

Anborn, Llauron's younger brother, fought for and against everyone during the Cymric Age, especially on the side of his father, whom he despised almost as much as his mother. He is a harsh, unfriendly contemporary, his gentler sides rarely come to the fore. He, too, belongs to the secret association of blood relatives and is an excellent fighter. Towards the end of the third volume he loses both legs in a fight against his mother Anwyn. From then on he is paralyzed, but that does not prevent him from still sitting in the saddle. In the sixth volume he is reappointed Marshal, this time by his nephew Ashe.

Anwyn

Besides Gwylliam, the visionary, Anwyn is the source of all evil that falls on the Cymric nation. She was the queen of the Cymrers of the first fleet. When Gwilliam arrived with the third fleet, the two decided to rule together as King and Queen of the Cymrians. They have three sons: Edwyn Griffyth, Llauron and Anborn. During the great war, Anwyn fought successfully against Gwyllian. She was finally able to defeat him with the help of a F'Dor demon. The price was high, and in the end she was in ruins from a nation from which she was no longer accepted as sole leader. Since she was blessed with the gift of clairvoyance as the daughter of Elynsynos, she was visited by a few who wanted to take a look into the past, even in her exile. She has two younger sisters: Rhonwyn, who sees the present, and Manwyn, who can see the future.

action

Volume 1: Daughter of the Wind

The young Rhapsody is caught up with her past in the middle of her thesis on the naming woman: a customer of the former prostitute absolutely wants to see her again in her old business and does not shy away from any means. Only narrowly escaping her captors, she runs into two terrifying strangers: her brother and Grunthor, who are saving her life. The brother is the greatest assassin of his time and with Grunhthor, a seven-foot tall green-brown-skinned monster on the run from a F'Dor demon who has enslaved him and seeks to destroy the world. Thanks to her ability as a namer, Rhapsody unwittingly resolves the curse by renaming the brother to Achmed the Serpent. Together, the three of them flee to the Sagia, one of the five trees at whose locations time itself began and whose roots go deep into the earth's interior and network the whole world.

After their long journey through the roots of Sagia, where they had to prove themselves several times and a deep friendship developed between them, they realize that they have come out on the other end of the world. They learn that their journey lasted 1400 years and that their home, the island of Serendair, was submerged in the sea when the Sleeping Child rose. On their journey through the unknown country, they discover that the whole continent is ravaged by senseless violence. They get to know Llauron and Ashe, among others, and Achmed swings himself up to be the new King of the Firbolg in the former Canrif.

Daughter of the Wind is the beginning of the first Rhapsody trilogy.

Volume 2: Daughter of the Earth

The hunt for the obscure F'Dor continues. Under the protection of the mysterious Ashe, Rhapsody sets out to see the dragon Elynsynos, who ruled over a large part of the continent at the time of the arrival of the Cymrians. From her she learns a lot about the past and also about the Rakshas, ​​a scion of the F'Dore who is on the hunt for her. Rhapsody travels to Tyrian to study with Oelendra and protects the patriarch in the holy city of Sepulvarta from an assassination attempt by the Rakshas. In the meantime, Achmed and Grunthor find the remains of an old Dhrakier colony in the Zahnfelsen, not far from the boiler. In it they also find the Sleeping Child made of Living Rock and the only survivor of the colony, who later instructed Achmed in the Dhrakian ban ritual, with which F'dor spirits are held in a host body with which they can be killed. Meanwhile, Rhapsody finds out who Ashe really is and decides to help him. They first become lovers and later find out that they have known each other even longer than they thought. But before that, Rhapsody sets out with Achmed and Grunthor to kill the Rakshas and bring Ashe back his missing soul fragment. In the end, the three have to fend off an attack by the F'dor on the Earth Child, with the last survivor of the colony dying.

Volume 3: Daughter of Fire

Achmed and Rhapsody set out to find the Raksha's children. These children carry the blood of the F'dor with which Achmed can track down the F'dor himself. Two of the children can be found in Yarim, the others are spread across the continent. In the meantime, even the annual winter carnival in Navarne falls victim to the inexplicable acts of violence that have swept the continent for decades. After Rhapsody has found all the children of the F'dor and that of the F'dor has been distilled from their blood, she goes on a journey with Llauron, at the end of which he "dies" and rises in his true dragon form. She then travels to Tyrian to help Oelendra to reunite the split Lirin people and to unite them under one ruler. Finally, the crown of the Lirin chooses herself as the new queen. Meanwhile, Ahmed can find out the host of the F'dor, and after Rhapsody's coronation as Lirin Queen they finally set out to kill the F'dor. Ultimately, Rhapsody convenes the Cymric Council, where she and Gwydion are elected as the new Lord and Mistress of the Cymrians.

Volume 4: Daughter of Time

Rhapsody is expecting Ashe to have a child. Since you make his dragon inheritance to create, she wants to go into the care of the dragon Elynsynos. On her journey she is surprised by her arch enemy from the old world, Michael, Wind of Death, believed to be dead, and kidnapped by him. He had survived the sinking of the island by allying himself with a F'dor, who henceforth occupied his body, but could not completely control it. So even after 1500 years Michael is after Rhapsody.

Troubling events are piling up in Sorbold. The empress and her son die a mysterious death. Achmed plans to build an amazing machine that was already in use by Gwilliams at the time. It is called the light catcher or the light forge, however, it will turn out to only bring him harm.

Volume 5: Daughter of the Storm

Rhapsody is still preparing for the birth of her child. After being rescued from Michael’s clutches, she’s finally looking for the protection of the dragon Elynsynos. She really needs it, as Anwyn, who was believed dead, has found a way out of her eternal sleep and Rhapsody is now striving for life.

Meanwhile, Achmed has completely different problems. After the light catcher was destroyed, he works feverishly to rebuild it in order to offer the best protection to his kingdom and the earth child who slumbers deep beneath Ylorc.

In addition, strange events at the ally Sorbold give cause for concern. Rumor has it that a war is imminent, and the new Emperor von Sorbold is also hatching a diabolical plan and preparing for war. In addition, he also plunders the Earth Basilica of Living Rock to create an indestructible instrument for killing.

Volume 6: Daughter of the Sun

Meridion, the child of time, was now born to Rhapsody. But still mother and child cannot feel safe.

At a secret council in Haguefort, to which only the most important are invited, the events in Sorbold are discussed and analyzed. War seems inevitable. Talquist, the new regent of Sorbold, is arming his entire armed force and is also after the child of time and does not shy away from any means. Rhapsody should therefore hide in the Ylorc with her child.

But that's not all: Achmed is not safe either. A Thracian assassin has entered the world and is looking for various F'Doren and is also looking for Achmed.

people

There are two types of peoples in Haydon's novels, the indigenous peoples and their descendants. The former include the Serums, F'Dor, Mythlin, Kith and Dragons. These peoples came straight out of the elements. The descendants, such as humans or lirin, descend directly or indirectly from one of the peoples.

Serums

The serums are the most powerful of the indigenous peoples, as they arose from the oldest and most powerful element: the ether. They are in human form, but their skin is much more golden. Together with the Mythlin, they set the trap for the F'dor in prehistoric times. The serums have an immortal soul.

F'dor

The F'dor come from the second oldest element, fire. They see it as their destiny to see the world rise in the fire from which they themselves come, what they are trying to achieve with a giant dragon, the sleeping child in the earth. The Creator did not show them his picture, that is why they themselves are formless and have to look for a host that they slowly use up, just as fire burns its food. Hence the F'dor do not have an immortal soul. In prehistoric times the four other indigenous peoples fought the F'Dor and locked them in a prison made of living rock in the earth, where they are guarded by the Dhrakiern. The Sleeping Child's impact on Serendair enabled some of the F'dor to escape.

Mythlin

Mythlin come from the element water and live deep in the waters. They are seldom seen by others, but it is said that whoever touches the skin of a Mythlin will have good luck and a special future. Since they live under water and thus far from the sky, they have no soul that can rise to the stars after their death.

Kith

Kith are the beings of the element air. They believe in the story of creation told to them by the serums. Legend has it that a wind rose from the movement of the water and blew the waves back. The kith are descended from this wind. The kith have a special sense of vibration and can therefore track down those F'dor who escaped their prison. You also have an immortal soul.

Dragons

Dragons or wyrms are made of ether and therefore have no soul. The life expectancy of dragons is very long, but they are almost extinct. Your element is the earth. In the fight against the F'dor, the forefather of the dragons sacrificed himself to form the prison for them.

Lirin

Lirin arose from the combination of Ur-Serums and Kith and lived in the forest of Sagia. After the exodus of Serendair, they settled Manosse, as many lirin sailed with the second fleet, which got lost there in a storm. The lirin are further subdivided: the forest lirin, called lirindarc, with a very dark skin and hair color that camouflages them well in forests; Lirinved, who live on the edge of forests and meadows and have a corresponding appearance; and finally the Liringlas, the Field Lirin, and Sky Singers. The Liringlas greet every morning and say goodbye to the sun with their song every evening, just as they greet the stars in the evening and say goodbye in the morning.

People

The humans are descended from the Mythlin. It is still unclear why the Mythlin came out of the water and settled on land.

(Fir-) Bolg

The Bolg are distantly related to the earth and dragons. They come from the connection between the children of the earth (beings formed from living rock by the dragons) and the kith. Often they are viewed as monsters or ogres. Under King Ahmed, however, their situation in Canrif and Ylorc improved and they concluded more and more alliances and trade agreements with other countries. They live in the land of the first Cymrians and in the "cauldron", the fortress built by Gwyllian.

Dhrakians

Those of the kith who stayed underground and guarded the prison of the F'dor, the blood relatives, became the Dhraki by intermingling with the other peoples. Although their connection to the wind is no longer as strong as that of the kith, they are still able to tame the wind and use it for their own purposes, such as killing a F'dor. Like their ancestors, they have a feeling for the vibrations of the incorporeal and can therefore hunt the F'dor. They hate the sea because it blurs the vibrations of their enemies.

Nain

The Nain live deep underground, east of the Tooth Rock. They come from the connection between Mythlin and the children of the earth. They are great miners and inventors. The light catcher is an invention of the Nain, but many weapons are also made by them. Their king is Faedryth.

Gwadd

The ancestors of the Gwadd are the Ur-Serums and the children of the earth. They too often live underground.

places

Serendair

Serendair, later called the Sunken Island, is the first geographic location in the Rhapsody Saga. Time originated there and the island is dedicated to the element of the stars, i.e. the ether. Early in Serendair's history, a star fell from the sky, flooding large parts of the island. The star was called the Sleeping Child, and people believed that one day it would rise again and the whole island would go under. This then happened, but only long after Achmed, Grunthor and Rhapsody had left the island. Fortunately, however, the reigning King Gwylliam was a great visionary who had foreseen the downfall and evacuated the island early. He sent his best navigator to look for a new place of residence. He found a practically uninhabited continent on which only one dragon lived, who approved the colonization of her land. Gwylliam had more than 800 ships built, which were made up of three fleets that sailed at different intervals. The first fleet consisted largely of artisans, because Gwylliam did not want the dragoness to think he wanted to take her land by force, but rather to share it with her. Merithyn, the discoverer of the new continent, was the leader of the first fleet. As an escort, Orleandra was also on the first fleet that led the ships after Merithyn's death.

Manosse

The second fleet, which was mostly manned by Lirin, was, in contrast to the other two fleets, off course due to a storm and was first stranded in Gaematria , the island of sea magicians between the new world that Merithyn the explorer found and the continent Manosse. Some of the people settled there, others sailed on and reached Manosse. Eventually a part of it reached Merithyn's continent.

The new world

Tyrian

Along with Roland and the Bolgland, Tyrian is one of the countries in the middle of the continent. The area consists almost entirely of a large forest that is only inhabited by the Lirin. The Lirin are Roland's allies and have lived in harmony with the rest of the continent since the end of the Cymric War. Rhapsody officially rules the country as queen. But since she is also the mistress of the Cymrer, her vice-agent Rial rules for her.

Roland

Tristan Steward is the regent of Roland and also the Duke of Bethania. Since Ashe and Rhapsody rose to the undisputed rulers of the Cymrer, his title is purely nominal and he has exactly as many rights as the dukes of the other provinces of Roland:

  • Avonderre: the Duke of Avonderre is Martin Ivenstrand. The first fleet went on board in Avonderre. This is where the Port Fallon harbor is now, the largest in the New World. In Avonderre there is also the water basilica, which is consecrated anew every day by the flood.
  • Narvarne: Haguefort, currently the seat of the Lord and Lady of the Cymrians, and the seat of the Narvarne family are located in Narvarne. Stephen Narvarne was the Duke of Narvarne until he was killed at the Cymric Council. Four years later, his son Gwydion becomes the new duke.
  • Bethania: Bethania is the capital of Roland, there is also the fire basilica, which is constantly rededicated through a connection to fire in the heart of the earth.
  • Yarim: Ihrman Karsrick is actually the Duke of Yarim, but Yarim has a guild of murderers and thieves that has the city firmly under its control. Her leader was Estens until she was killed by Grunthor. Since then the Crown Prince Dranth has ruled the guild.
  • Canderre: The Duke of Canderre is Cedric Canderre.
  • Bethe Corbair: The Duke of Bethe Corbair is Quentin Baldasarre. The Wind Basilica is in Bethe Corbair. The wind that makes its 876 bells (each stands for a ship that Serendair has left) ring, consecrates the basilica anew every time.

Sepulvarta

The city-state of Sepulvarta is the seat of the Patriarch, the head of the patriarchal faith on the central continent. The basilica dedicated to the ether element is also located here. The stars themselves consecrate the basilica anew every night by shining on its floor.

Sorbold

In contrast to Roland, located in the central continent, Sorbold had existed long before the Cymrians had set foot on the continent. Sorbold was ruled by various ruling dynasties over the centuries. In the first three volumes, Sorbold is ruled by the queen widow, but in the fourth book she is killed by the merchant Thalion. This then takes its place. In Sorbold there is also the Nachtberg, in which the Terreanfor earth basilica was built. It is consecrated anew through the daily rotation of the earth.

Ylorc

Ylorc, formerly Canrif, is the home of the Firbolg and is therefore also called the Bolgland. An important place is the boiler . It is a fortress in the Tooth Rock built by Gwylliam the visionary. It is the home of Achmed and Grunthor. Gwylliam's light catcher was also there, and Achmed is also rebuilding it here.

Gwynwald

In the Gwyn Forest is the circle, the sanctuary of the filids. Elynsynos Cave is also located in the Gwyn Forest. The Filiden are a religious community with more than one million believers. Once their intercessor was Llauron, but after swapping his human body for that of a dragon, Gavin assumed that position.

Hintervold

Hintervold is north of Roland and Ylorc. It is a partially inhabited ice desert and at certain times of the year. This means that Hintervold is dependent on the supply of food from Roland. Even so, it is a treasure trove for hides, ores and gold, as well as peat, which is used as fuel.

Book editions