Risca
From The World of Shannara
Risca was one of the only Druids to survive the attack on Paranor by The Warlock Lord. Risca was the last, and one of the best, warrior Druids, the kind of Druid that mixed magic, knowledge and martial art together. He assisted Bremen in the defeat of the Warlock Lord in the Second War of the Races. He primarily helped the Dwarves in the Eastland, survive and delay the onslaught of the Northland army.
| Risca | |
|---|---|
| Race: | Dwarf |
| Gender: | Male |
| Hair color: | Unknown |
| Eye color: | Unknown |
| Loyalty: | Bremen |
| First appearance: | First King of Shannara |
| Birth: | In the Ravenshorn Mountains |
| Death: | In the final battle with the Warlock Lord, Second War of the Races |
Contents |
Description
Risca is described as:
| “ | He was a bearded bluff-faced Dwarf with tremendous shoulders, his compact stocky and broad heavily muscled. Arms like tree trunks...hands that were gnarled and callused. Risca was like a deeply rooted tree stump that nothing could dislodge, weathered by time and the seasons, impervious to age. | „ |
| -- First King of Shannara (1996), pp. 27 | ||
Risca was all "brawn and heat"[1]. A passionate, out spoken Druid who was a warrior through and through.
Origin and History
Risca was born and grew up in the Ravenhorn, son to parents who had lived their entire lives in the Eastland wilderness. His father was a scout and his mother was a trapper. His mother has seven brothers and sisters and his father had eight. Risca had been raised by all of them at one point or another due to the close proximity in which they all lived to one another. Risca was taught the fight and hunt at an early age. He discovered that he was better than most at fighting. He was quick and agile and strong beyond his years.
At twelve he was attacked by a Koden and killed the beast. At thirteen he was the sole survivor of a company of twenty that was ambushed and killed by Gnomes. His mother was killed while trapping when he was fifteen. He tracked down and killed those responsible himself. When his father died in a hunting accident, he carried his father's body deep into the heart of Gnome country and buried it there. Half of his own brothers and sisters where dead by that point.
Becoming a Druid
At twenty he came down to Culhaven to enter the service of the newly crowned Raybur. Raybur quickly sent Risca to Paranor to become and study with the Druids. He believed it would best serve the Dwarf people. Raybur know and admired Bremen, asking the druid to give Risca special consideration as a student. So off Risca went to Paranor and the Druids Keep, becoming a staunch follower of Bremen and practioner of magic.
As a Druid
Risca is a warrior Druid, the last of his kind. Steeped in the lore of all the great battles fought since the new Races had emerged. A master of all weapons and warfare in all its forms, made all the more dangerous by a masterful use of magic. Magic had but a single useful purpose and that was to protect himself and his friends and to destroy his enemies. All the other uses of magic did not interest him. He practiced his arms daily with Caerid Lock and the Druid Guard.
One of the only Druids to study magic, Risca was dear friends with the Elf Tay Trefenwyd. They both practiced their magical art. They also had in common their belief and trust in who and what Bremen stood for.
Second War of the Races
Joining Bremen
When Bremen came to warn the Druid Council about the threat of the Warlock Lord, Risca and Tay argued for listening to Bremen. Risca was very disgusted with the Council's unwillingness to listen to the threat. He was decided immediately to leave with Bremen and offer what support he could.
He traveled south with Bremen to the Hadeshorn. After the four visions, Bremen asked Risca to depart and warn King Raybur and the Dwarves, offering what support he could in keep the magic of the Warlock Lord and Skull Bearer's at bay.
Attack on the Warlock Lord
On Risca's way to the Eastland, he comes onto the great expanse of the Northland army. He decides to dispatch the Warlock Lord himself. He enters the camp of the enemy and travels all the way to the center of the camp where the tent of the Warlock Lord is. He pauses to ponder the reason for a lack of any guard around Brona's tent, but continues. He enters the tent and there realizes the power of the Warlock Lord, nearly meeting his death. Risca barely breaks the iron bands that are wrapping around him, and he flees. Creating enough confusion he manages to make it out of the camp and heads to the Eastland.
Battles in the Eastland
Battle in the Wolfsktaag Mountains
Risca helps the King of the Dwarves Raybur come up with a preemptive plan to slow down the Northland army in the Wolfsktaag Mountains. The Dwarves set up defense in the Pass of Jade with the bulk of their forces, and have a smaller holding party in the more easily defended Pass of Noose. They lure the Northland army into combat into the passes, where their superior numbers cannot be brought to bear as effectively. Risca helps considerably in the defense of the pass, giving ground slowly the Dwarves hold for a few days. At one point, he creates a bunch of illusionary wraiths and such that freak out the Gnomes and have them running in terror.
Eventually are pushed out of both passes. With no where to run and both forces of Dwarves getting pushed together, the Northlanders are eager for victory. At one point, Risca is almost caught of a fierce band of Trolls and Gnomes, but he manages to break out from the attacks coming on three sides. He feels exillerated at the heat of battle doing what he was born to do. At the last minute of the Northland trap, unbeknownest to the enemy the Dwarves slip out and south of the passes by a route discovered eight years previously by a tracker named Geften.
Stedden Keep
The Dwarves were forced to retreat continuously through the Anar. Soon they reached the fortress of Stedden Keep north of the Lake, Cillidellan. However their numbers had thinned out and they where unable to man the keep in the way they had hoped. Within a short time, the Northland armies battering of the front gates paid off, and the gates began to buckle.
Raybur ordered the retreat, and turned to stand by himself in front of the gate to give his Dwarves time. Risca called him off and told him to lead the retreat, and that he would stand at the gate. Risca was very nearly surrounded and killed when he waited a moment too long in front of the gate. However, with his skill and his magic he was able to break free of the enemy and kill a great number of the enemy. Fleeing to his escape with Druid fire burning, he dove through the door into the tunnels and raced through the tunnels into the hills beyond.
Battle of the Rhenn
After the Northland army left the Eastland, the Dwarves remained in hiding in the Anar. Kinson and Mareth discovered them finally. On telling Risca of the need of the Elves, what happened and the charge of Bremen, it is Risca that convinces Raybur of the need to march the rest of the army to the Westland.
They travel north through the Rabb and Jannison Pass, into the Streleheim. The Dwarf army was a day out when the final night attack in the Battle of Rhenn happened. Risca lead a scouting party of 200 Dwarves, along with Kinson and Mareth, in search of a route around the Northland army to make contact with the Dwarves on that night. As they where nearing, they heard the battle cry of the Elves and the confusion in the camp. It became obvious that the Elves where attacking the Northland army. Risca made the immediate decision to help the Elves with his small command.
On leading out and starting the attack on the Northeast end of he camp, they where immediately set upon by Trolls, Gnomes, and creatures summoned be Brona. It seemed that they where in the path of the retreating elements of the Northland army. The group was seperated, with Kinson, Mareth and a small group of Dwarves one way, and Risca with the rest of the command another. Risca tried to halt the fleeing of Brona's guard, but failed. He was the only Dwarf to make it through the fighting that night.
Epilogue
Risca finds death at the end of the Second War of the Races. When the final battle approaches Risca is with the Elven force as they find the remnants of the Warlock Lord's forces. They are in the Sterelheim fleeing north. They are trapped between the Elves and the last of the dwarves with Raybur. Risca joins the fray with the Elves. At some point during the conflict he is killed, how and why remains a mystery. He face in death registers surprise, whether it is surprise that he dies, or surprise at what brought his death remains unknown.
References
- ^ Brooks, Terry (1996). First King of Shannara pp. 42
| Major Characters in First King of Shannara |
|---|
|
Bremen · Jerle · Kinson · Mareth · Risca · Tay · Minor Characters |
