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Need (sword)

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For the song, see Need (song).

Woman's Need calls me; As Woman's Need made me; Her Need I must answer; As my maker bade me.
- Inscription on the blade of Need, the enchanted sword.

Need was an enchanted sword forged by the Mage-Smith Lashan[1] many years before the Mage Wars.[2] Lashan bound her own soul into the sword after the wizard Heshain attacked her community, an enclave of the all-female Sisterhood of Spell and Sword.[1][3] Due partly to this, using Need included a geas: to defend women in need of protection, hence the inscription on the sword's blade.

Need conferred varying benefits upon her wielder. For all wielders, the four original enchantments on the sword were available: Calm, Warding, Healing, and Luck.[3] Due to the passive nature of all but the healing enchantment, they were subtle enough to be unnoticed. The healing passive effect was slow acting; it was not enough to allow a wielder to ignore injuries sustained in battle. However, it could help one to recover from wounds after battle faster, and appeared to be capable of helping to heal wounds that would not heal with time alone.

In addition to these basic effects, Need provided either magical or physical protection to complement a wielder's skills. In the hand of a Mage, Need magically granted enhanced sword-skill to the wielder, enabling her to hold off multiple competent swordsmen. If her wielder was a swordswoman, Need rendered her virtually immune to magic, as best demonstrated on the rare occasions that Kethry's partner Tarma took up Need.[4] If Need's wielder was neither a mage or a swordswoman, Need would confer both abilities on her, as demonstrated on the occasion of Kerowyn's Ride, before Kerowyn had gained any skill in swordplay.

When awake, Need provided further assistance in addition to all the ones listed above, but was careful not to provide so much help that a wielder became dependent on her assistance. Instead, she tried to encourage and teach the wielder.[1]

Need also had some affinity for shay'a'chern males particularly those with "balanced" male and female natures, defending them as though they were women and fell under her protection. Watching Need protect Stormwing k'Sheyna, Kethry hypothesized that Need was confused and preferred not to risk being wrong.[5] Nyara said that Need worked well with Firesong because he was "completely balanced between his masculine and feminine sides."[6] However, Need herself said she has had male bearers [2] and while awake was not limited by gender.

History[]

Need pre-dated the Mage Wars and the Cataclysm.[2] She once said that she survived the Cataclysm "in a shielded casket in a shielded shrine in the heart of a triply-shielded Temple to Bestet, the Battle-Goddess." After which all the shields were gone, and Need herself felt as if she had "been drained to the dregs," and when she recovered years later, she had been stored in the Armory.[2] But in another story, her bearer for four decades (both before and after the Cataclysm) was a low level mage in Urtho's army, Melysatra. Together they survived the Cataclysm by jumping through a Gate, and managed to survive the consequent Mage Storms in the wilderness.[7] About the time Melysatra was hoping to retire, Need chose a new bearer, Pol, to all outward appearances a male. Need offered to drain the magic from a dangerous Changecircle to transform her new bearer to match Pol's inner self. Pol was desperate for the change, despite the risks. Need succeeded, but it took a lot out of her and she went to sleep,[7] which vastly reduced the discretion allotted to the wielder as far as the geas was concerned.[8]

When Elspeth mentions something else that Need has not explained:

"The blade may not have wanted you to know why," Tre'valen said smoothly. "Certainly, if you contradicted her will, she would not be so free with revealing secrets."[9]

Need was handed down from one person to the next; she notified her current bearer when she chose the next one.[10][7] Some time before 1315 AF,[11] White Winds School guard Baryl Longarm gave Need to Kethry when she completed her mage training.[4]

Moonsong k'Vala warned Kethry early in her adventures: "What you bear will bind you to herself, more and more tightly with each hour you carry her."[4] Kethry was indeed pulled around by Need's geas for decades.[12]

When her granddaughter Kerowyn came asking for help, Need "spoke" in Kethry's head, and she passed the enchanted sword on to Kerowyn.[10] After her first use of Need, Kerowyn set it aside and pursued sword training under Tarma. When she picked up Need months later, Kerowyn mentally fought against the sword, refusing to let it control her life. She won the struggle, possibly because she had not used it right away and had not developed a bond. Need went to sleep and did not drag Kerowyn around as she had done to Kethry. While on the run in Karse, Kerowyn kept dreaming about an old woman and a young girl (likely Lashan and her apprentice Vena), and each time a female Sunpriest would notice her the next day. When Kerowyn finally realized that the Sunpriests were tracking her and Eldan through Need, Kerowyn left so that Eldan could get away undetected.[10]

When Kerowyn came to Valdemar, Need signaled that she wanted to eventually be passed on to Elspeth.[10] When Elspeth left Valdemar to search for mages,[3] Need woke fully. She had remained mostly asleep during her time in Valdemar, due to the Vrondi Vanyel had tasked to watch the country.

Need later went to Nyara and helped the Changechild undo a large portion of the modifications Nyara's father, Mornelithe Falconsbane, had wrought upon her body, making her appear more human. Need also trained Nyara to cope with the world outside her father's control, and to fend for herself.

Need next went to Firesong at the ruins of Urtho's Tower during the Mage Storms. She snarkily suggested her selection was partly based on his preferences, but ultimately admitted her concern about the impending recurrence of the Cataclysm.[2]

Need was destroyed while working to stop it. Her flaming debris badly scarred Firesong's face. Need's spirit and maker, Sister Lashan, appeared on the moonpaths to say her goodbyes.

Music[]

In the series[]

Need appears in the following works:

Notes and references[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Winds of Change chapter 6
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Storm Breaking chapter 4
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Winds of Fate chapter 14
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The Oathbound
  5. ↑ Oathblood, "Wings of Fire"
  6. ↑ Winds of Change chapter 20
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Choices, "Woman's Need Calls Me," also by Mercedes Lackey
  8. ↑ It is unknown why Need told two different stories about surviving the Cataclysm. It may have been to protect Pol's privacy, or it may have simply been for her own amusement.
  9. ↑ Winds of Change, Chapter 2
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 By the Sword
  11. ↑ The specific time period, after 1270 AF and before 1315 AF, is calculated based on Tarma and Kethry's ages and adventures before their friend Roald was crowned King of Valdemar in 1315 AF. The time limit of 1270 was calculated for them to be young enough to be alive when Kerowyn, daughter of Kethry's youngest daughter Lenore, sought help decades later. Thus Need coincidentally came to Kethry during the reign of Roald's parents, King Arden and Queen Leesa.
  12. ↑ Oathblood, "Oathblood"
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