The Spellcoats
First edition
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| Author | Diana Wynne Jones |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Pamela Goodchild |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Dalemark Quartet |
| Genre | Children's, Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Macmillan Publishers |
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Publication date
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12 April 1979 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 256 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 59056937 |
| Preceded by | Drowned Ammet |
| Followed by | The Crown of Dalemark |
The Spellcoats (1979) is the third published novel in Diana Wynne Jones's series Dalemark Quartet, but chronologically the first. The story takes place several thousand years before Cart and Cwidder and Drowned Ammet. The time period is referred to as "prehistoric Dalemark" because by the time of the other books, only legends remain from this time. The people of prehistoric Dalemark do not have a written language, but some know how to write by weaving in a language of runes using yarn of many colors and textures.
Tanaqui, the narrator, is a young woman living in a small town called Shelling, which lies beside the Great River. She and her four siblings look different from the rest of the townsfolk, and instead of worshiping the River, their family has three idols—the so-called Undying. When the country is invaded by the Heathens (who are modeled after Europeans and are the ancestors of the people of Dalemark in the other three novels) who look like them, Tanaqui and her siblings flee to avoid being killed by the people of their own village.
Tanaqui's narration in The Spellcoats is not her diary, nor is it being "told" as many stories are. Rather, Tanaqui is weaving the story into a pair of "spellcoats" that she is making.
The first spellcoat tells of how the five siblings (Gull, Robin, Hern, Tanaqui and Duck) traveled downriver on their boat. First, they encounter the mysterious magician Tanamil, then the Heathen king Kars Adon, and finally, at the sea, the evil mage Kankredin, whose aim is to take over the power of the river by taking over the five children's souls. In the middle of this Gull was bound like the One, Tanamil (Younger Amil or the young one) and the Lady.
The second spellcoat tells how, after their escape from Kankredin, the five siblings are captured by their own King, "the king of the natives" (who are modeled after Native Americans and Hawaiians and are the ancestors of the Holy Islanders in Drowned Ammet) who has lost his kingdom and is drifting with the remains of his army trying to avoid the Heathens. The King keeps the children in his company because he needs one of the children's idols—the powerful One—to assist him in his pursuits. As Tanaqui continues to weave during her travel upriver with the King, she realizes that the spellcoats that Kankredin and his mages wore gave them the powers that were woven into their spellcoats. She becomes convinced that the words woven into her spellcoats will have the power to defeat Kankredin.
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