Herald-Mages are Heralds with the rare Mage-Gift -- allowing a Herald to be a Mage and perform True Magic in addition to their Mind-Magic Gifts. A Herald-Mage might have a strong Mage-Gift and a weak Mind Gift, or alternately a strong Mind Gift and a weak Mage-Gift.
In the past, Herald-Mages held many duties, including magical defense of Valdemar and training new Mage-Gifted Heraldic students. Up until Vanyel Ashkevron's time, four (in the seats of North, South, East, and West) chosen Herald-Mages also maintained the Web that alerted them to danger that threatened Valdemar. This duty was revised (in part due to the dwindling number of Mage-Gifted Heralds) when Herald-Mages Vanyel, Savil, Lissandra, and Kilchas (with the aid of their companions, overseen by Herald Tantris) set the Watch spell (linking all Heralds to Valdemar) and created the Heartstone, enlisting the vrondi to 'watch' for mage activity within Valdemar's borders and notify a Herald-Mage.[1]
Vanyel became the Last Herald-Mage due to the actions and machinations of Leareth: killing existing mages and trainees, and hunting down and killing children as soon as their Mage-Gift manifested. Not only would they not be Mages, they would also not produce the next generation of Mages.[2]
There were no prospects of Herald-Mages to support or replace Vanyel - nor would there be anyone to teach them. Unfortunately, most Valdemarans had come to believe that Heralds were not as good as Herald-Mages.[3] Vanyel tasked Bard Stefen to convince the people that the Heralds could still protect the nation,[4] but it didn't work. When Stefen died and joined Vanyel as a spirit, he convinced Vanyel to suppress the knowledge of True Magic from Valdemar.[5] The Companions covertly helped this conspiracy to continue. After the death of Vanyel, there were no new Herald-Mages until Selenay's reign, when his descendant Princess Elspeth became the first Herald-Mage in over 500 years.
While it is true that the Mage-Gift was essentially dormant since the time of Vanyel, it is speculated that many Heralds have had Mage-Gift and it was trained as something else. For example, Herald Mags could also use the Heartstone in the Palace at Haven. Further, when he invoked truth spell he and his mentor Jakyr both saw the vrondi instead of a blue mist. However, since Mags had his gift training mostly taught by his Companion, Dallen, and the Companions helped to suppress the knowledge of magic, it is not known if Mags was truly Mage-Gifted, or simply had the Mage-Gift in potential, albeit stronger than other known instances.
Notable Herald-Mages[]
- Vanyel Ashkevron
- Savil Ashkevron
- Jaysen Kondre
- Elspeth
- Tylendel Frelennye
- Lissandra
- Kilchas
- Mardic
- Donni
Other Herald-Mages[]
References[]
- ↑ Note: An unintended effect in the years after Valdemar's mages vanished was that the vrondi would continue to watch an invading mage with increasing intensity, which made the mage paranoid and disquieted enough to leave Valdemar. In effect, the vrondi made it "impossible" to do magic in Valdemar, thus protecting Valdemar from all such incursions.
- ↑ Magic's Price, Chapter 19
- ↑ Magic's Price
- ↑ Magic's Price, Chapter 19
- ↑ Winds of Fury, Chapter 5
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Blood Ties", by Stephanie D. Shaver in Sword of Ice and Other Tales of Valdemar, Valdemar Anthology, volume 1
- ↑ "Rebirth" by Judith Tarr in Sun in Glory and Other Tales of Valdemar, Valdemar Anthology, volume 2