The Forest of Sorrows is a large woodland along the northern border of Valdemar, just before the Ice Wall Mountains. Anything coming through Crook Back Pass has to pass through the forest. After Herald-Mage Vanyel used Final Strike against Leareth and his army in the pass, he was given the option to continue protecting Valdemar's northern border by haunting the forest.[1] Yfandes stayed with him, and Bard Stefen joined them there after his own death.[2]
The wood was previously known as Wendwinter Forest, but was renamed to commemorate Vanyel's tragic death.
Travelers through the forest may have strange experiences, depending on their intentions. Bandits may be found dead, but innocents might receive mysterious aid or protection.
"Nothing that intends ill to this Kingdom or the people in it lives more than five minutes there ... I've seen bandits impaled on branches as if on thrown spears. I've seen outlaws who starved to death, buried to their waist in rock-hard earth, as if it opened beneath their feet, then closed on them like a trap. What's more—and this is what was more frightening than the other things—I've seen barbarian raiders dead without a mark on them, but their faces twisted into an expression of complete and utter terror. I don't know what it was that happened to them, but my guess is that they were truly frightened to death." - Herald Kyril[3]
Herald Kris and Herald Talia made an extended stay in a waystation in the Forest of Sorrows when they were stranded by an unusually severe blizzard. Talia's struggle to control her Gift drew the disapproving attention of the Forest;[4] however, the Forest also miraculously protected the waystation from being smashed by falling trees.[5]
In the series[]
The Forest of Sorrows appears or is mentioned in the following works:
- Magic's Price
- Arrow's Flight
- Winds of Fury
- "In the Forest of Sorrows" by John Helfers, Sword of Ice and Other Tales of Valdemar, Valdemar Anthology, volume 1
- "A Storytelling of Crows" by Elisabeth Waters, Changing the World, Valdemar Anthology, volume 5
References[]
- ↑ Magic's Price, Chapter 19
- ↑ Winds of Fury, Chapter 5
- ↑ Arrow's Flight, Chapter 3
- ↑ Arrow's Flight, Chapter 10
- ↑ Arrow's Flight, Chapter 8