Line #40 Literature/ShandrilsSaga


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5bnzu0ytmzztity2i4yi00nmjhltg0n2etztdimwu4zmnjzdkzxkeyxkfqcgdeqxvymjkwotaymdu_v1_fmjpg_ux1000.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:The world's most dangerous teenager.]]
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4	The ''Shandril's Saga'' trilogy by Ed Greenwood covers the adventures of Shandril Shessair. It is part of the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' campaign setting. The second book was originally part of the loosely-connected Harpers series, but as the story of Shandril Shessair became more fleshed out and the books became more popular they were joined together as a separate series.
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6	Shandril of Highmoon is a young orphan girl working as a kitchen lass when she discovers she possesses the eldritch power called Spellfire. This automatically makes her one of the biggest threats to the forces of evil (or good) in the world and sends veritable armies after her.
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8	* ''Spellfire'' (August 1988)
9	* ''Crown of Fire'' (April 1994)
10	* ''Hand of Fire'' (September 2002)
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12	----
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14	!!These books contain the following tropes:
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16	* ActionGirl: Shandril mows down entire armies of evil doers. She's not alone either.
17	* {{Adorkable}}: Narm is a clumsy and socially awkward wizard apprentice who also happens to be quite handsome, brave and kind-hearted. No wonder Shandril quickly falls for him.
18	* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: The trilogy ends with Shandril being DrivenToSuicide and all the effort to protect her for naught.]]
19	* BattleAura: The Spellfire usually manifests itself as a silver flame surrounding the user.
20	* BodyBackupDrive: Manshoon makes ample use of this as an alternative to lichdom.
21	* BigBad: Manshoon serves as the closest thing the trilogy has to a central antagonist, though he is only part of a BigBadEnsemble, as Shandril is pursued by many villains from various factions and with various agendans.
22	* BigGood: Elminster serves as Shandril's mentor and biggest advocate, though he is hardly alone.
23	* BullyingADragon: The bad guys successfully turn a scared teenager into someone who wants to exterminate them all.
24	* ClothingDamage: Shandril frequently incinerates her own clothing during particularly intense battles. This is something of a RunningGag.
25	* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Shandril's parents were killed by the Cult of the Dragon.
26	* DangerousSixteenthBirthday: Shandril's spellfire powers come to her when she hits this.
27	* {{Deconstruction}}: Ed Greenwood says it himself:
28	-->"Just for fun, I wanted to blow holes in fantasy cliches. Let's see a heroine save the hero. Show a swaggering band of heroes do something wrecklessly stupid and (for once) get killed off as a result. Ever notice villains get attacked while asleep or in their homes but not heroes? Well, I wanted to fix that. Ever notice how heroes stride or gallop across a continent on scant sleep, never having to relieve themselves? I wrote scenes of blundering exhaustion and embarrassed searches for concealing bushes. I also included wizards hurling mighty spells and missing their targets and grand charges that ended in spetacular pratfalls."
29	* DespairEventHorizon: Shandril crosses this when she thinks she's accidentally killed Narm. [[spoiler: It results in her being DrivenToSuicide.]]
30	* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: The Company of the Bright Spear exists solely to illustrate how dangerous an adventuring life is.
31	* DiscOneNuke: Spellfire renders the most powerful and dangerous beings in the realm to be trivially easy to slaughter: dracoliches, beholders, and armies of mooks.
32	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Shandril is driven to a thoroughly unnecessary suicide after she thinks she's killed her love interest. He almost follows her before her ghost reveals itself and that they will be together forever. Still, it is one of the saddest endings in all of D&D fiction.]]
33	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Shandril is this after months of sleeplessness, believing she killed Narm, and losing her child.]]
34	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: There is, simply put, no way to replicate what Shandril does in the books with D&D rules at the time. Which is the point. She is an in-universe {{Gamebreaker}} and DiscOneNuke.
35	* HopeSpot: Shandril and Narm hope to make it to Evermeet where they will finally be safe. [[spoiler: They never make it.]]
36	* HandBlast: Spellfire gives the user the ability to convert raw magic energy into devastating blasts from the hands.
37	* IJustWantToBeBadass: Shandril originally wishes to be an adventurer and JumpedAtTheCall. She quickly changes her mind.
38	* IJustWantToBeNormal: Trauma and the deaths of her friends gradually drives Shandril to this.
39	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[spoiler: Shandril's ghost tells Narm to find another woman and remarry. Life is too long to live entirely in mourning.]]
40	* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne: Being the weilder of Spellfire causes Lots of troubles and suffering for Shandril.
41	* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Gorstag, the Company of the Bright Spear, Delg Hammerhand, and Shandril herself.]]
42	* LaResistance: The Harpers serve as this to the Zhentarim that don't rule the region but certainly exert a powerful control.
43	* ParentalSubstitute: Gorstag raised Shandril after her parents were killed. But not very well and treated her as a servant.
44	* PersonOfMassDestruction: Shandril can utterly break AD&D Second Edition rules to slaughter things well above her weight class. These include a ''dracolich''.
45	* PowerIncontinence: [[spoiler: Eventually, Shandril's Spellfire powers go out of control and seemingly kill her beloved Narm, which leads her to commit suicide.]]
46	* ProtectiveCharm: Shandril is given a magical amulet that will prevent enemies from learning her location. Unfortunately she destroys it when she uses her spellfire ability.
47	* RememberTheNewGuy: Despite being apparently one of the most powerful and feared leaders of the Zhentarim and a long-standing FriendlyEnemy with Elminster who was there all along, Hesperdan goes completely unmentioned until he emerges as a prominent antagonist in the last book.
48	* StandardPowerUpPose: The cover of the Ed Greenwood's ''Crown of Fire'' shows the main character Shandril Shessair using the title ability.
49	* SternChase: Essentially what all three books consist of. Shandril, once identified by the forces of evil, is constantly on the run from the people trying to hunt her down.
50	* UnfortunateNames: Narm is named...Narm.
51	* VillainDecay: The Zhentarim and the Cult of the Dragon come off as incredibly incompetent as well as unable to defeat a sixteen year old girl, no matter how powerful. This is due to ExecutiveMeddling according to Ed Greenwood.
52	* WeHaveReserves: The Zhentarim and the Cult of the Dragon send wave after wave of their minions after Shandril.
53	* ZergRush: Seemingly the only tactics the bad guys use, sending wave after wave of CannonFodder to be annihilated by Shandril's powers.
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Context Literature / ShandrilsSaga