History Literature / TheSwordOfShannaraTrilogy

While the first book has been criticised for being too similar to ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', the later books are generally regarded as better, and the trilogy as a whole was very successful. It's best described as good quality pop-fantasy. There are now a number of short stories set within, just before, or just after the books in the trilogy. They include ''Allanon's Quest'', ''The Weapon Master's Choice'', ''Indomitable'', and the graphic novel ''Dark Wraith of Shannara''.

** BadassNormal: Garet Jax may well have been {{Batman}} in another life.

* FiveManBand: Jair's protectors both form one:

* ObfuscatingInsanity: The only explanation for Cogline's behavior in this book versus the ''Heritage'' trilogy. Also makes for a huge number of [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Crowning Moments Of Funny]], a rarity in this sort of HighFantasy.
** According to WordOfGod, he really was insane, courtesy of a screw-up with the Druid Sleep. By the time ''Heritage'' rolls around, he's back to normal and considers that time period his OldShame[=/=]NeverLiveItDown moment. Makes it even funnier in a way.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: The climactic duel between [[spoiler:Garret Jax and the second Jachyra]].

While the first book has been criticised for being too similar to ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', the later books are generally regarded as better, and the trilogy as a whole was very successful. It's best described as good quality pop-fantasy.

* AboveTheRuins: Of Skull Mountain

** TheProtectorate: Jair Ohmsford.
*** Brin's groups also forms one on the journey to Heaven's Well.

* KillEmAll: Not quite, but the last half of the book makes a valiant effort. [[spoiler: Helt, Edain Elessedil, Elb Foraker, Garet Jax, Allanon]], and pretty much every other named character bite the dust.

* MoreThanMindControl: TheBigBad pulls this on [[spoiler: Brin]]. It takes ThePowerOfLove to fix things.

While the first book has been criticised for being too similar to ''TheLordOfTheRings'', the later books are generally regarded as better, and the trilogy as a whole was very successful. It's best described as good quality pop-fantasy.

For those interested in the history of the fantasy genre, it should be noted that ''The Sword of Shannara'' was the first high fantasy novel not written for children to be a commercial success in its own time (that's right; ''TheLordOfTheRings'' was not a commercial success until many years after it was published), and ''Elfstones'' and ''Wishsong'' were numbers two and three, respectively; all three spent weeks on the ''New York Times'' best-seller list. This was largely what convinced publishers that fantasy could be a commercially viable genre separate from sci-fi, causing an explosion in the publication of fantasy.

* HollywoodCyborg: The insectoid monster they meet in the ruins is at least half machine. Might be a [[Literature/TheHeritageOfShannara Creeper]] actually, going from the description.

* TheLordOfTheRings: The first half of "The Sword of Shannara" is ''jarringly'' isomorphic to "The Fellowship of the Ring" — to the point that one notices as ''differences'' that there are only three "hobbits", and that in "Moria" it is [[spoiler:"Frodo" that takes the plunge]] — but then the second half subverts this by having people act much more like free will agents than as characters performing their destined roles. There the story thus deviates considerably from the [[FollowTheLeader Tolkien pattern]].

* DarkestHour: Things look pretty bleak about mid-book. On the one hand, Allanon has been killed, the Sword of Leah has been lost, and Brin is left alone trying to nurse the poisoned and dying Rone back to health. On the other hand, Capaal falls to the Gnomes thanks to the Mord Wraiths calling a Kraken (which seems to kill Garet Jax); Foraker, Edain, and Helt all seem to die; Jair gets separated from Slanter, who seems to abandon him; and he's captured by Stythys and taken to the prisons at Dun Fee Aran. The latter is subverted, however, when all the party members turn up alive and rescue Jair, and even Brin is able to heal Rone, then get her quest back on track by finding Cogline and Kimber Boh.

* DwindlingParty: Jair's party is reduced to [[spoiler: him and Slanter]] by the end. Played with at first, however--Brooks makes it look like each of the party members have died fighting the Kraken or the Gnomes at Capaal, thus leaving Jair alone as he ends up captured by Stythys and taken to Dun Fee Aran. Then [[SubvertedTrope all of them show up alive]] to break him out of prison. It isn't until the final assault on Graymark that the trope is DoubleSubverted.

* PlotParallel: Jair's growing friendship with Edain Elessedil is mirrored by Brin's with Kimber Boh. Edain eventually gives his life to save Jair so he can get to Heaven's Well; Kimber would have done the same, and even tried to, only to be tricked by Brin into being separated and left behind in a hopeless fight with her grandfather and Rone against the Mord Wraiths. The choices the Ohsmford siblings make, and the different results, are telling.

* DwindlingParty: Jair's party is reduced to [[spoiler: him and Slanter]] by the end.
* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: The Mord Wraiths summon a Kraken to help them take Cullhaven. Garet Jax kills it. With a spear. BadAss!

* RefugeInAudacity: During the Culhaven company's encounter with the Gnome army at Capaal, Slanter and Helt accidentally tumble off a cliffisde and land right in the middle of the enemy troops. What do they do? [[DressingAsTheEnemy Dress Helt up in dark robes like a Mord Wraith]], with Slanter as his Gnome attendant, then walk right through the camp until they can get to the fortress walls and reveal their identities to be let inside. ''And it works''.

* LamarckWasRight: Using magic created by another race, when you've only got maybe one-quarter blood of the creator race in the first place, can cause some problems. Wil Ohmsford was actually damaged by use of the Elfstones, along with passing on some of the magic to his children in the form of the Wishsong. {{Justified}}, since this is magic we're dealing with.

* GiantMook: The Ogres, and a huge, [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent lizard-headed]] Demon all serve this roll on occasion, breaking through the Elven lines and inflicting serious damage until they encounter one of the main characters. The Dragon may actually be the closest example, relying solely on brute force and utterly destroying the Elves until Allanon confronts it.

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Twenty years after that, the Mord Wraiths appear. In possession of the Ildatch, the same TomeOfEldritchLore that corrupted Brona, they seem poised to destroy the Four Lands. Even Allanon cannot penetrate the defences they have raised around the book, and all seems hopeless. Falling back into his old habits, Allanon calls upon Brin Ohmsford, who, thanks to her father's use of the Elfstones, possesses the [[RealityWarper Reality Warping]] Wishsong. Unlike Allanon, Brin will be able to use the Wishsong to enter the [[GardenOfEvil Maelmord]] and destroy the Ildatch; she and her LoveInterest Rone Leah set off with Allanon in order to do so.

Wil soon agrees. He and Amberle set off, with the HighOctaneNightmareFuel-inspiring [[TheDragon Reaper]] in hot pursuit. In the meantime, Allanon, Elf King Eventine, and Eventine's son Ander gather what few allies they have and prepare to fight a delaying action against the armies of the Demon Lord known as [[BigBad The Dagda Mor]]. In the end, a new Ellcrys is created, the Demons are banished, and all is well.

* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway ?: Shea is understandably distressed when he learns that [[spoiler: the Sword's power is to make any living being it touches accept the truth about itself. Of course since Brona is DeadAllAlong...]]

* DeusExMachina: Wil, Amberle, and Eretria escape Safehold, only to find the sun is already setting--on the last day [[ChildProdigy Perk]] said he would fly over the Wilderun. Wil, worn out from overuse of the Elfstones, tells Eretria to blow the whistle. Nothing seems to happen...then, at last, just when the sun has vanished and it seems they can never make it back to Arborlon, Genewen appears: Perk just couldn't leave them, especially after he saw the smoke from Mallenroh's tower, so he waited an extra day, and even past sunset. This rescue, in turn, allows them to be the DeusExMachina for the defenders of Arborlon, winging in just as they're about to succumb to the Demon horde.

* NothingIsScarier: Part of what makes The Reaper so frightening, as it is utterly silent (and most likely [[TheVoiceless cannot even speak]]), has a hood which may very well be completely empty, and it will always [[ImplacableMan inexorably pursue]] until it catches you--but you will never know where or when it is coming. Crossing this with the silent, empty darkness of the Pykon may explain why that chapter is so subtly terrifying to some.

* SleepCute: Amberle and Wil get a moment like this in the Matted Breaks.

** According to WordOfGod, he really was insane, courtesy of a screw-up with the Druid Sleep. By the time ''Heritage'' rolls around, he's back to normal and considers that time period his OldShame/ NeverLiveItDown moment. Makes it even funnier in a way.

* TheAragorn: Balinor and the Border Legion, who delay the Warlock Lord's armies until Shea can get his hands on the Sword.

* TheAragorn: Ander and Allanon.

While the first book has been criticised for being too similar to TheLordOfTheRings, the later books are generally regarded as better, and the trilogy as a whole was very successful. It's best described as good quality pop-fantasy.

* SlasherMovie: The Reaper's pursuit of Wil, Amberle and Crispin's men through the Pykon is so very much this.