The Sword of Shannara

Herein lies the heart and soul of the nations. Their right to be free men, Their desire to live in peace, Their courage to seek out truth, Herein lies the Sword of Shannara.

Central governments have always been the greatest danger to mankind.

They became sleepwalkers in a world of half-dreams and rambling thoughts with no break in the wearing march or the never-ending, silent black trunks that came and passed in countless thousands.

Either you believed in something or you didn’t—you couldn’t have it both ways and be honest with yourself.

Truisms, my young friend, are the useless children of hindsight.

Shea, particularly, had passed the point where his chief emotion was fear; now he felt only a sense of numbness that dulled his mind into self-imposed surrender, a robot-like acceptance of the fact that he was being led to the proverbial slaughter.

We build too many walls to be honest with ourselves. -Allanon

He laughed in maddened frenzy, knowing somehow that he was no longer in a world of living creatures, but a world of death where soulless beings wandered in hopeless search of escape from their eternal prison. He stumbled on amidst them, laughing, talking, even singing gaily, his mind no longer a part of his mortal being. All about him, the creatures of the dark world followed in cringing companionship, knowing that the maddened mortal was almost one of them.

It’s more habit than stupidity when I laugh at these things. I laugh at them to stay a sane man.

... even a friendly smile shows the teeth behind!

Central governments have always been the greatest danger to mankind. Now there are none—small communities are the new rule of life. Some things are better left alone by everyone.

that the wars of the past were slowly being forgotten. Shea believed that one could turn his back on the past and build a new world with the future, never understanding that the future was inextricably tied to the past, an interwoven tapestry of events and ideas that would never be entirely severed.

The highlander seemed to float through life very much the same as a cloud in an empty sky, touching nothing, leaving no trace of his passing.

Il sole tramontava già fra le profondità verdi delle colline a ovest della vallata, e le sue ombre rosse e rosate sfioravano gli angoli più remoti della campagna, quando Flick Ohmsford cominciò la sua discesa. Il sentiero calava giù irregolarmente per il pendio settentrionale, serpeggiando attraverso i massi imponenti che costeggiavano il terreno, sparendo nelle folte foreste delle pianure per ricomparire a tratti nelle piccole radure e negli spazi liberi della zona dei boschi.

All those men had died for some senseless reason, died perhaps without ever knowing exactly what they had fought to accomplish.

—¿Qué hay de tu secuestro? —preguntó Menion mientras se vestía, mirando la esbelta silueta de la muchacha al otro lado de la habitación—. ¿Tienes idea de por qué querrían secuestrarte los norteños, prescindiendo de tu belleza? Sonrió con picardía. Aunque no podía ver su rostro, estaba seguro de que se habría ruborizado. Ella permaneció en silencio durante un rato antes de hablar.

En cierto sentido Shea parecía no ver que las cosas cambiaban ni incluso cuando el sol se movía desde el este al oeste en el cielo. No parecía darse cuenta de que los países y las gentes crecían y se expandían otra vez, que las guerras del pasado se olvidaban lentamente. Shea creía que uno podía volver la espalda al pasado y construir un nuevo mundo con el futuro, sin entender que el futuro estaba intrincadamente enlazado con el pasado, formando un tapiz de acontecimientos e ideas entretejidos que nunca podrían separarse del todo. Por su carácter, el pequeño valense era parte del pasado; sus creencias, un recuerdo del ayer más que una promesa de futuro.

For a moment the highlander lay quietly and studied the room in silent leisure, allowing the sleep to disperse and his rested mind to awaken fully.

The wind began to rush violently as he moved on, and he became aware of other creatures in the darkness. They came first as a vague awareness in his mind, then as soft cries that seemed to seep through the haze and cling inquisitively about him. At last they appeared as living bodies, touching softly with cringing fingers the flesh of his person. He laughed in maddened frenzy, knowing somehow that he was no longer in a world of living creatures, but a world of death where soulless beings wandered in hopeless search of escape from their eternal prison. He stumbled on amidst them, laughing, talking, even singing gaily, his mind no longer a part of his mortal being. All about him, the creatures of the dark world followed in cringing companionship, knowing that the maddened mortal was almost one of them. It was all a matter of time. When the mortal life was gone, he would be as they were – lost forever. Orl Fane would be with his own kind at last. Almost