Please note: This timeline is based on information originally compiled by MerlynPrime. Many of the dates are assigned or estimated rather than being directly from the books: such dates are footnoted as "Hypothetical date."[1] Other dates may be based on such dates, and are marked as such.[2]
Footnotes are used for the source of the event. If actual timeline information is available, it is explained below the entry and cited there as well.
This article plugs into the Timeline. The letters "AF" mean After the Founding of Valdemar.
The issue with creating a timeline for the much-beloved Vows and Honor series is a complete lack of dates in the stories. To present the sequence of events and stories, the wiki is based on Assumptions for the Vows and Honor timeline. However, each of the stories in Oathblood provides the children's ages and can thus be used for calculations based on an arbitrary starting date.
Works[]
The following works are set during this time frame:
- Oathblood: "Wings of Fire"
- Oathblood: "Spring Plowing at Forst Reach"
- Oathblood: "Oathblood" short story
Events for Orthallen, Elcarth, Henrick and Alberich occurring in this era are referenced in works set later:
1315 AF[]
♔ Reign of King Roald begins
Note: The first known events in Oathblood are arbitrarily assigned to begin here in 1315 AF. The other time gap data found in Oathblood stories has been used to assign dates by calculating forward from here. However, Kethry's youngest child Lenore did not appear in Oathblood, and thus her known life events are assigned guesstimated dates to bridge the gap to her daughter Kerowyn.
Future Shaman apprentice Ah'kela shena Liha'irden is born.[2][3]
Note: Ah'kela is 2 years older than Jadrie.
Date source: Oathblood collection: "Oathblood" short story
A daughter, Arboli, is born to Archduke Tilden, the Horsemaster of Rethwellan King Stefansen[2][3]
Note: Date basis - she is 13 years old the year her sisters are kidnapped.
Date source: Oathblood collection: "Oathblood" short story
1316 AF[]
1317 AF[]
Jadrie is born to Mage Kethry and Archivist Jadrek[1][2][3]
Note: She is 11 years old the year of the kidnapping.
Date source: Oathblood collection: "Oathblood" short story
By calculations, Kethry is thirty-one years old. She once told Clan Liha'irden that she could use her magic to extend her fertility.
Date source: The Oathbound, Chapter Four
1318 AF[]
Kira and her twin sister, Merili are born to Archduke Tilden, the Horsemaster of King Stefansen[2][3]
Note: They are 10 years old the year they are kidnapped.
Date source: Oathblood collection: "Oathblood" short story
1319 AF[]
1320 AF[]
Jadrie begins training with Tarma.[2][3]
Note: She is 4 years old
Date source: Oathblood collection: "Oathblood" short story
Future Sunpriest Henrick is taken into the service of Vkandis Sunlord.[2][4]
Note: He is eight years old.
Date source: Exile's Honor, Chapter One
1321 AF[]
Kira and Merili begin training with a retired acrobat and contortionist.[2][3]
Note: They are 3 years old
Date source: Oathblood collection: "Oathblood" short story
Late Fall
Master Bard Lauren arrives at Forst Reach to visit his cousin, Lord Kemoc Ashkevron. He will stay for the winter, as he has for the past ten years[2][5]
Note: Two years before Jadrie gentles her first horse
Date source: Oathblood: "Spring Plowing at Forst Reach"
1322 AF[]
Jadrek is born to Kethry and Archivist Jadrek[2][6]
Beginning of Spring
Lord Kemoc Ashkevron says that he dreads spring plowing. Bard Lauren has never stayed long enough to see it.[5]
The weather changes and the landscape begins to thaw[5]
Two Days Later
Lord Kemoc introduces Lauren to the absolute chaos of trying to plow with Ashkevron war horses[5]
Bard Lauren returns home to Haven[5]
Summer
Stormwing k'Sheyna is a powerful Tayledras Adept with the ability to control firebirds. He is kidnapped by Keyjon, who supplements her own weak magic powers by stealing spells from others when she observes them. She wants to enslave firebirds and needs Stormwing to demonstrate. When he refuses, she puts a shaman from Clan For'a'hier in a cage with firebirds, who lash him in their panic. As he is tortured, he tells the agonized Stormwing not to rescue him, to save the firebirds from enslavement.[6]
Date source: Oathblood: "Wings of Fire"
Tarma and Kethry and their family, who will re-found Clan Tale'sedrin, are camping on the Dhorisha Plains with Clan Liha'irden. The children of Kethry and Jadrek are: Jadrie (age 6), twins Lyan and Laryn, and Jadrek (6 months old)[6]
Date source: Oathblood: "Wings of Fire"
Jadrie finds the body of the Shin'a'in shaman who has been tortured. He dies minutes later. Tarma and Kethry ride out to discover what happened[6]
Two Days Later
Tarma and Kethry are captured by Keyjon. They use Need to escape their cages. To their surprise, Need acts to defend Stormwing as well - he is a perfect balance of male and female. They defeat Keyjon. Stormwing transforms her to live out her days as a fat spider[6]
1323 AF[]
Jadrie correctly gentles her first horse, a sort of rite of passage among the Shin'a'in[2][5]
Note: She is 7 years old
Date source: Oathblood: "Spring Plowing at Forst Reach"
Former Sunhawks Jodi n'Aiker and Beaker Bowman are visiting Tarma. Both are looking for work as horsetalkers, using the skills she taught them.[5]
Tarma receives a visitor sent by King Stefansen. It is Bard Lauren, who asks Tarma to help train the obstreperous Ashkevron horses. King Roald sent him to Stefansen, who sent him to Tarma[5]
The Next Day
Tarma gets Stormwing k'Treva to Gate her to a Vale on the border of Valdemar, along with Bard Lauren, Beaker, Jodi, Shin'a'in battlesteeds Ironheart and Hellsbane, and battlesteeds Graceless and Hopeless[5]
Note: In Exile's Valor, Chapter 13, Queen Selenay says that a Shin'a'in once "came as far as Lord Ashkevron’s manor ... to help the Lord with his horses, but it was before I was born."
Bard Lauren introduces Tarma and Jodi n'Aiker and Beaker Bowman to Lord Kemoc[5]
The Next Day
Tarma, Jodi and Beaker use horse talking techniques, and with the help of their warsteeds get the worst of the horses in harness and plowing[5]
One Week Later
Jodie and Beaker are hired at Ashkevron Manor as horse trainers[5]
End of Spring
Tarma is back at the school[5]
Summer
Kethry's twins Lyan and Laryn secretly tame their own horses from the Tale'sedrin herd.[3]
1324 AF[]
Jadrie receives her first real weapons.[3]
Note: She is 8 years old
Date source: Oathblood collection: "Oathblood" short story
Kira and Merili begin training in dancing.[3]
Note: They are 6 years old
Date source: Oathblood collection: "Oathblood" short story
1325 AF[]
1326 AF[]
The adolescent future Lord Orthallen befriends "grubby little child" Prince Sendar before he is Chosen[1][7]
Note: Hypothetical date.
Kira begins training with her father's Weaponsmaster.[3]
Note: She is 8 years old
Date source: Oathblood collection: "Oathblood" short story
1327 AF[]
Early in the year
Ikan Dryvale is an instructor for a season at Tarma and Kethry's school[3]
Jendar is born to Kethry and Jadrek[1]
Note: Purely hypothetical date
1328 AF[]
Jadrie likes a boy, an apprentice shaman, named Ah'kela shena Liha'irden.[3]
Kira plans to be Merili's bodyguard when they grow up.[3]
Note: They are 10 years old
Date source: Oathblood collection: "Oathblood" short story
Merili has discovered a lifebond with her betrothed, Prince Albayah, the eldest son of Queen Sursha of Jkatha[3][8]
Note: Discrepancy: Sursha's "eldest" son should be King, not a Prince, under her Regency - that's why the Sunhawks were fighting for her in 1312 AF. The youngest of her three children by her husband would have to be 16 years old at this point.
Justin Twoblade is an instructor for a season at Kethry's School[3]
Larsh, Hesten and Belton are students at Kethry's School[3]
Kethry and Archivist Jadrek's son, Jadrek, is training to be a Shin'a'in Shaman.[3]
Note: He is 6 years old
Date source: Oathblood collection: "Oathblood" short story
Kethry's horse-mad twin sons Lyan and Laryn are students as well[3]
Kethry's newest son, a toddler named Jendar, seems interested in magic[3]
Justin is married to Estrel.[3]
Note: She is 17 years old
Date source: Oathblood collection: "Oathblood" short story
Justin and Estrel have a baby named Kethren[3]
Merili and Kira are kidnapped on their way home from the school for Midwinter holidays. Jadrie, who has pledged an oath to them, insists on coming with Tarma and Kethry and Warrl to rescue them. Merili and Kira use every opportunity to slow the kidnappers' travel and leave a trail for their rescuers. Jadrie performs as bait to lure away guards individually so they can be knocked out. Eventually the group defeats the kidnappers and frees the twins.[3]
1329 AF[]
1330 AF[]
Kethry gives birth to a second daughter[1]
Note: Date purely hypothetical. Birth is assumed because Need rejected all "four" of Kethry's daughters.[9]
1331 AF[]
1332 AF[]
Elcarth, future Dean of the Heralds' Collegium, is born[2]
Note: In Talia's third year at the Collegium, he admits under Truth Spell that he is fifty-seven years old
Date source: Arrows of the Queen, Chapter 11
Henrick is made a full priest of the Sunlord at the age of twenty.[2]
Date source: Exile's Honor, Chapter One
1333 AF[]
Sunpriest Henrick is ordered to Cleanse three children, but instead kidnaps them and escapes across the Border. He meets with a Herald there and is taken to a Temple of the Lord of Light[4]
Note: This happens the year after he becomes a priest. He is 21 years old.
Note: Henrick has been in Valdemar for "better than 40 years" when Alberich meets him
Date source: Exile's Honor, Chapter One
Jadrek is sixty years old.
Note: Based on being forty the year before the coup
Date source: Oathbreakers, Chapter Nine
Kethry gives birth to a third daughter[1]
Note: Date purely hypothetical. Birth is assumed because Need rejected all "four" of Kethry's daughters.[9]
Note: Discrepancy. A third daughter plus Lenore would give Kethry a total of eight children. Tarma only mentions seven children: five that went to the Plains, Mage Jendar, and Lenore.[10]
1334 AF[]
1335 AF[]
An'desha shena Jor'ethan is born to a Shin'a'in father and an "outsider" mother, making him an outcast.[1]
Note: His body is "over half a century old"
Date source: Winds of Fury, Chapter Seven
Note: "he was still the young Shin’a’in of fifteen summers who had run away"
Date source: Storm Warning, Chapter Two
Hypothesis: Estimates his age as fifty years plus the fifteen before Mornelithe Falconsbane took possession of him.
1336 AF[]
1337 AF[]
Lenore is born to Kethry and Archivist Jadrek. She is their youngest daughter.[1][10]
Note: Date purely hypothetical.
Lenore's upbringing is somewhat neglected. Her father, Jadrek, died when she was small, and Tarma and Kethry have problems with the school, distracting them from her. She is scared of horses, uncomfortable with Clan life on the Dhorisha Plains, appalled by Tarma,[11] and an unexceptionable scholar. Her main interest is romantic tales and marriage. She spends all of her time at a neighbor's place.[10]
1338-1344 AF[]
1345 AF[]
Alberich is born the bastard son of a tavern worker in Karse[1][2][12]
Date source: Exile's Honor, Prologue
Note: Hypothesis. For explanations of assumptions that determine Alberich's age, see Calculations and assumptions for the ages of Elspeth, Talia and Alberich
Alberich's mother only had one lover, Alberich's father.[4] She admits his identity only to her priest[13]
Alberich's father is a prominent citizen, and a married man. His wife's family eventually has him put away as being "mad."[4]
1348 AF[]
Alberich and his mother move from their little hut to a little inn where his mother works as a serving girl and cook's helper
Note: Alberich is three years old
Date source: Exile's Honor, Chapter 3
1350 AF[]
Kethry sends Lenore to foster with the Lythands, who prepare her to be a lady.[10]
Note: Hypothetical date
Mornelithe Falconsbane takes over the body of fifteen-year-old mage-gifted Shin'a'in An'desha.
Note: "he was still the young Shin’a’in of fifteen summers who had run away"
Date source: Storm Warning, Chapter Two
Note: His body is "over half a century old"
Date source: Winds of Fury, Chapter Seven
Hypothesis: Estimates his age as fifty years plus the fifteen before Mornelithe Falconsbane took possession of him.
1351 AF[]
Elcarth is Chosen.
Note: He is "nearly twenty" according to Sherrill
Date source: Arrows of the Queen, Chapter 4
1353 AF[]
Lenore returns home from fostering when she is sixteen. She has been thoroughly prepared for life as a lady, and is unsuited to anything else. Kethry's only hope is to find her a husband.[2][10]
Lenore's first suitor is Reichert (who later becomes a Baron), a debauched and greedy man who only wants her dowry lands and sees her physical fragility as a plus[10]
Note: Date purely hypothetical.
1354 AF[]
Mercendary Rathgar is the escort for the last young mage that Kethry will teach before retiring. Kethry wants someone to marry Lenore to protect her from Reichert, and Rathgar's qualities will make him an ideal match for Lenore. Kethry has Lenore pretend to be the housekeeper's daughter so that Rathgar will be encouraged to court her. They are unaware of his prejudice against mages. Lenore and Rathgar fall in love and get engaged - but Rathgar is outraged when he finds out her mother is a mage. He expects Kethry to manipulate and control him.[10]
Note: Date purely hypothetical.
Herald-in-training Elcarth graduates to full Herald in just three years.
Date source: Arrows of the Queen, Chapter 4
Herald Jadus is counselor to Elcarth during his internship[2][14]
1355 AF[]
The timeline continues with the Reign of Sendar
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Hypothetical date
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 Based on other hypothetical dates.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21 Oathblood collection: "Oathblood" short story
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Exile's Honor, Chapter 1
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 Oathblood: "Spring Plowing at Forst Reach"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Oathblood: "Wings of Fire"
- ↑ Exile's Honor, Chapter 13
- ↑ Oathbreakers
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 By the Sword, Chapter 7
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 By the Sword, Chapter 6
- ↑ By the Sword, Chapter 3
- ↑ see Calculations and assumptions for the ages of Elspeth, Talia and Alberich
- ↑ Exile's Honor, Chapter 10
- ↑ Arrows of the Queen, Chapter 10