The Wishsong of Shannara
US first edition cover
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| Author | Terry Brooks |
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| Cover artist | Darrell K. Sweet |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Original Shannara Trilogy |
| Genre | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Del Rey Books |
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Publication date
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April 12, 1985 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback, Mass market paperback) |
| Pages | 467 |
| ISBN | (hardcover) |
| OCLC | 11316592 |
| 813/.54 19 | |
| LC Class | PS3552.R6596 W5 1985 |
| Preceded by | The Elfstones of Shannara |
| Followed by | The Scions of Shannara |
The Wishsong of Shannara is an epic fantasy novel by Terry Brooks. It is the final novel in the Original Shannara Trilogy, with the other two being The Sword of Shannara and The Elfstones of Shannara. The story revolves around Jair and Brin Ohmsford, the children of the main characters from The Elfstones of Shannara: Wil Ohmsford and Eretria. The siblings, each possessing an inherited magic, must save the Four Lands from the evil magic within a tome called the Ildatch.
Before the dawn of mankind, Demons created a book of dark magic, called the Ildatch. This book was so full of their dark essence that it became a living thing, with a will of its own. When the Druids gathered all knowledge and lore of the Old World to themselves in the aftermath of the Great Wars, the book of Ildatch was uncovered after countless millennia. It remained harmless until the Druid Brona found it in the halls of Paranor and began to read and unlock its terrible secrets. Brona was eventually subverted by the very power he sought to control and thus the Warlock Lord was born. Allanon thought that the dark book had been buried in the destruction of the Skull Kingdom after Shea triumphed over the Warlock Lord in The Sword of Shannara, but it soon became apparent that the survivors of the calamity recovered the book, and delved into its arcane knowledge.
Allanon returned to the world due to the presence of a new evil, and once more he needed the aid of another generation of Ohmsfords. It is revealed that the Ildatch possessed a new generation of mortals, the Mord Wraiths, to pick up where the Warlock Lord left off. From their stronghold in the Eastland, the Mord Wraiths enslaved many Gnomes and sent them against the Dwarves. Allanon needed Brin's magic, the Wishsong, to enable him to enter the Maelmord, which is a living jungle that kills anyone who sets foot in it, and destroy the Ildatch. Helping her is Rone Leah, who is the great-grandson of Menion Leah. He wields the Sword of Leah, which is an "ordinary" sword until Allanon dips it into the waters of the Hadeshorn to help him to protect Brin. Jair was left at home, despite his pleas to go with his older sister, but he ran north when Gnomes begin searching Shady Vale itself. Allanon explains that Jair's command of the Wishsong only lies in illusion, where Brin's command of the Wishsong lies in reality.
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