Waylander

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Waylander is a novel by the British fantasy author David Gemmell . It is the first of three stories in which the character Waylander the Butcher is the main character. Sequels are the books In the Realm of the Wolf and Waylander the Gray . After the novel was published, Gemmell was fired by his employer for using names of colleagues he disliked for the book's “bad guys”. The book was published in Germany in 1995.

action

Niallad , king of the Drenai , has been murdered by an assassin. Enemy troops overrun the lands of the Drenai. Your orders are to kill all men, women and children.

At the center of the plot of the book is the assassin Waylander, who is also the title hero of the story.

Waylander's career is portrayed in several flashbacks throughout the story. Once named Dakeyras, Waylander the Butcher was an officer in the Drenai army. After his service in the military, he wanted to limit himself to a simple life as a farmer with his wife Tanya and their children. Their happiness together was short-lived, however, as his entire family was killed by marauding mercenaries during Dakeyras' absence. On that event, Dakeyras broke and Waylander the Butcher was born. Blinded by pain, hatred and boundless vengeance, he went in search of the murderers of his family in order to judge each one slowly and in the most brutal way possible. After his vengeance, Waylander was unable to return to an ordinary life and hired himself as an assassin.

Twenty years after the murder of his family, Waylander receives an order from the Vagrian general Kaem to assassinate the young Drenai king Niallad. Kaem plans to invade the land of the Drenai. The murder of Niallad was intended to weaken and demoralize the Drenai people. After the offense, Waylander demands the agreed payment from Kaem. When the general refuses, however, this leads to a confrontation in the course of which Waylander kills Kaem's only son, making Waylander Kaem a mortal enemy.

From then on, Waylander is on the run from both Kaem and the Drenai, as he is responsible for the death of their king. On his journey through the country he meets the peace-loving priest Dardalion and the red-haired beauty Danyal , who are accompanied by three orphans whom Waylander will protect from now on.

When the priest's soul is magically attacked, Dardalion threatens to die from the attack. Only through Waylander's intervention can his death be prevented. Waylander pours a few drops of his blood into the young priest, which leads to a lasting change in Dardalion. From now on Dardalion is ready to defend himself violently and, if necessary, to kill him. The change in his character leads to the conviction that he must always fight for peace, which prompts him to convince other priests of his new views. Ultimately, together with 29 like-minded people, he founded an order of warrior priests, who from now on simply call themselves the thirty . The order also decides to aid the Drenai against the Vagrian invaders.

Waylander is asked by the blind Orien , the old king and father of Niallad, to look for the legendary bronze armor of the Drenai, as it represents a symbol of the invincibility of the Drenai. Waylander himself hopes to pay off part of his guilt for the disaster of the Drenai, for which he was partly responsible for the assassination attempt on their king.

Pursued by the warriors of General Kaem and threatened by dangerous advertising beasts, the warrior Waylander has to travel to the land of the Nadir to find the legendary bronze armor, as the fate of the Drenai can still be turned with it. He is supported by Danyal and the traitorous assassin Durmast .

Finally, Danyal brings the bronze armor to Gan Egel , the general of the Drenai, who subsequently succeeds in repelling the Vagrian invaders. Together with the surviving orphans Miriel and Krylla , whom she adopts as a child, Danyal settles in the Drenai city of Skarta . Six months later, however, the small family moves abroad - accompanied by the assassin Waylander.

literature

David Gemmell: Waylander. Bastei-Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1995, ISBN 3-86047-880-X

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David Gemmell ( Memento from December 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ David Gemmell ( Memento of November 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive )