Enchanted Forest Chronicles
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The Enchanted Forest Chronicles is a series of four young adult fantasy novels by Patricia C. Wrede entitled Dealing with Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, and Talking to Dragons.
Dealing with Dragons and Searching for Dragons were also published in the UK under the names Dragonsbane and Dragon Search.
Contents |
[edit] Synopses
[edit] Dealing with Dragons
In which Princess Cimorene of the kingdom of Linderwall decides that being a princess is too boring and confining, and leaves home to work for the dragon Kazul.
[edit] Searching for Dragons
In which Cimorene meets the King of the Enchanted Forest (Mendanbar) and they collaborate to rescue Kazul from the wizards who have captured her.
[edit] Calling on Dragons
In which Morwen discovers that the wizards have stolen Mendanbar's sword, which keeps them from stealing the Enchanted Forest's magic, and works with Cimorene to retrieve it.
[edit] Talking to Dragons
In which Daystar, Cimorene and Mendanbar's son, is sent off into the forest with his father's sword and no knowledge of his heritage. Written and published first, and then revised later to better fit with the prequel books.
[edit] Main characters
People
Cimorene - A highly intelligent and strong-willed princess of Linderwall. The youngest of beautiful seven sisters, she is unlike them in both personality and physical appearance, being tall and black-haired rather than blonde and petite.
Zemenar - Head Wizard of the Society of Wizards, given to being devious and under-handed. Grey-haired with a long, grey beard.
Antorell - Son of Zemenar and a fairly incompetent wizard, with brown hair and beard. Antorell is consistently referred to as not being very smart, or intimidating, and is easily manipulated by others.
Morwen - A practical-minded and highly sensible witch who lives in the Enchanted Forest with her nine cats. She is short, with ginger hair and small square glasses.
Telemain - Academic magician whose goal in life is to discover the inner workings of every existing type of magic, and has a particular interest in learning the ways of the very secretive wizards. Moderate height with black hair and beard; has a tendency to indulge in overly long and complex technical explanations.
Mendanbar - King of the Enchanted Forest, an intelligent young man who doesn't particularly enjoy being king or "being 'Your Majestied' every third word". Tall and black-haired.
Alianora - Princess of Duchy of Toure-on-Marsh, captured by Woraug, becomes friends with Cimorene. Petite with apricot-coloured hair. A major character in the first book.
Vamist - Arona Michaelear Grinogion Vamist is a middle-aged, balding campaigner for traditional magic, causing many citizens of the world of the Enchanted Forest to go into hiding, and forcing the rest to conform to his ideas of normalcy. A major character in the third book.
Daystar - Cimorene and Mendanbar's only child, fairly tall with black hair like his parents. Daystar is raised in secrecy by Cimorene, thus does not know his heritage, and is caused a great deal of confusion when the Society of Wizards deem him a threat.
Shiara - A fire-witch who aids Prince Daystar in his quest. She isn't particularly polite, and frequently mouths off or bursts into tears at the slightest hint of stress due to her unstable fire-witch powers.
Dragons
Kazul - A high-ranking female dragon, with bright green scales, who Cimorene runs away to work for.
Woraug - A distinctly unpleasant bright green dragon, who apparently dislikes Cimorene from the start.
Tokoz - King of the Dragons.
Roxim - An older dragon with a manner much like a favored uncle. His allergy to wizards (and their staffs) is particularly severe.
Unnamed young dragon - Kazul's grandchild, arguably her "most irriting" one, and too young to pick a permanent name; travelled with Prince Daystar.
Animals
Murgatroyd - one of Morwen's cats, male, quiet and reserved attitude.
Fiddlesticks - one of Morwen's cats, seal brown male, large appetite (particularly for fish), fairly nosy when he's not involved in a conversation.
Miss Eliza Tudor - one of Morwen's cats, white and fluffy female with blue eyes, polite.
Scorn - one of Morwen's cats, calico female, forms a relationship with Horatio.
Jasmine - one of Morwen's cats, ginger female, lazy.
Trouble - one of Morwen's cats, a large grey tom with a crooked tail and ragged ear, expresses some jealousy towards Horatio, generally lives up to his name.
Jasper Darlington Higgins IV - one of Morwen's cats, cream and silver male.
Chaos - one of Morwen's cats, grey long-haired tabby male, described as fat.
Aunt Ophelia - one of Morwen's cats, spiky tortoiseshell female, speaks like a Southern Belle.
Quiz - one of Morwen's cats, child of Scorn, also known as the Grand Inquisitor.
Cassandra - one of Morwen's cats, child of Scorn, grey female, not very noticeable. (Possibly a daughter of Trouble, as Horatio and Scorn would have produced only black and white offspring.)
Grendel - cat belonging to Archaniz, black male, not very intelligent.
Horatio - cat belonging to Brandel (a fire witch), black male with white paws and chin, forms a relationship with Scorn.
Nightwitch - kitten belonging to Shiara, gifted by Morwen to her. She appears similar to Horatio and Quiz, is more than likely one of their descendants.
Killer - rabbit that is affected by a number of spells throughout the book Calling on Dragons, by the end being a six-foot tall, blue, floating, insubstantial winged donkey.
Suz - a jumpy and observant lizard who is very keen on the Enchanted Forest's goings-ons. Appears in the fourth book
[edit] Minor characters
People
(Various elves, giants and dwarves appear throughout the series, and are considered as people.)
Ballimore the Giantess and Dobbilan the Giant - Along with her husband, one of Kazul's friends. Her Cauldron of Plenty comes in handy several times throughout the series, whether making a banquet for dragons or simply feeding her 12-headed son-in-law, although it fails at dessert. Her husband Dobbilan gives up his pillaging lifestyle after meeting Mendanbar. While mentioned several times in other books, she makes her first appearance in Searching for Dragons (along with Dobbilan).
Herman (the dwarf) - Herman is a descendant of Rumpelstiltskin, with the same talents, but keeps ending up with children after no one was able to remember his name, even after he changed it. He lends Cimorene and Mendanbar the use of a scrying window in Searching for Dragons. He is acquaintances with Telemain, having bought his former home.
Gypsy Jack - A (human) trader who operates from a multi-colored wagon, specializing in the repair of magical goods; Cimorene and Mendanbar make use of this talent when needing repairs for their magic carpet. Jack is a friend of the magician Telemain; first appears in Searching for Dragons.
Brandel - A (human) fire-witch who lives in the Smoky Swamp, having moved there to get away from Vamist and his pursuits. Like most fire-witches, he can set his hair ablaze without a thought, usually when he gets worked up and angry over a slight. Brandel aids Morwen and Cimorene in Calling on Dragons.
Willin - Mendanbar's steward, and undoubtedly the hardest-working employee of the castle. Willin is a pleasant elf who enjoys formal occasions and is annoyed when the King leaves without warning (which appears to happen often enough that he has a valid complaint). Willin spends much of his time in the books chastising the King and Queen.
Archaniz - Chairwitch of the Deadly Nightshade Gardening Club; maintains the "traditional" witch look (black hat, hair, eyes, long nose, etc). Grows ordinary daisies in her garden (as well as Giant Weaselweeds), and dislikes Vamist's intentions as she believes he will cause witches to be viewed as benevolent instead of maligning (though Morwen is fairly benevolent).
Wully and Kanikak - Two other witches mentioned briefly as part of the Deadly Nightshade Gardening Club. One grows smokeblossoms and the other Midnight fire-flowers.
Dragons
Marchak - Kazul's useful aide during several events of the books, a middle-sized dragon.
Others
Gargoyle - The gargoyle in Mendanbar's study frequently yells and curses at him for not listening, which only perpetuates the issue. He is made of wood, unlike the stereotypical gargoyle, and his main peeves seem to be getting wet and possibly rotting, and when no one dusts him.
