Shardik

Shardik

First edition cover
Author	Richard Adams
Illustrator	Rafael Palacios (map)
Cover artist	Martin White[1]
Country	England
Language	English
Series	Beklan Empire
Genre	Fantasy novel
Publisher	Allen Lane
Publication date	1974
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	526 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	0-380-50997-0 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC	1130141
Followed by	Maia

Shardik is a 1974 fantasy novel by Richard Adams. Shardik is his second novel, and first of two novels set in the fictional Beklan Empire. Events revolve around the discovery, capture and military and symbolic uses made of an incredibly large bear, called Lord Shardik by those who subscribe to a set of religious beliefs in the novel.

Plot summary

Kelderek is a hunter nicknamed "Play-with-the-Children" because of his simple nature and love of small children. In the forest near his home on the river island of Ortelga, he sees an enormous bear. When a tremendous fire ravaged the forest, the bear managed to flee, to be found almost dead by Kelderek, who thinks the bear may in fact be an incarnation of Lord Shardik. The Ortelgans worship Shardik as "the Power of God". Once, they ruled the entire territory now known as the Beklan Empire, but their territory and religion are now limited to a small barony of river-islands on the empire's outskirts.

Convinced of the bear's divinity, Kelderek shares his belief with the local priestesses and barons, eventually resulting in a military campaign to retake Bekla. The bear is sedated and caged by the priestesses (against the wishes of the Tuginda, or high priestess) to be carried forward with the Ortelgans but awakens from his slumber during a battle they are losing. As if by divine intervention, he breaks free, demoralising and helping to rout the opposing army.

Shardik's worship is restored to central prominence in Bekla with Kelderek as the high priest to the recaged bear and king of Bekla itself, though his temporal power is largely delegated to the military barons. Still idealistic and unworldly, Kelderek is dismayed by the brutality and corruption that quickly surrounds him. When the bear escapes and flees again, it is Kelderek alone who follows in pursuit. The two of them stagger through the wilderness for a long time. Behind them, the capital city is torn apart by factions of rebels, and lawless chaos spreads through the entire empire.

On the brink of madness after days alone with no sleep, Kelderek follows the bear to a mysterious place called the Streels of Urtah. Here, Shardik enters one of the ravines comprising the Streels, and is presumed dead. A shepherd (later revealed as a guardian of the Streels) informs Kelderek that any who enter there are beings of great evil who are destined to die, with one past exception: a woman who entered the Streels but was able to climb out again, doomed to die horribly but by her death bring about greatness. This woman gave birth to a son as she left the Streels, a son who later grew to be a great hero who led the ancient overthrow of the Ortelgans from Bekla. As this story is told, Shardik emerges from the ravine and flees again into the woods.

Kelderek continues to follow Shardik, meeting many foes along the way, until he reaches Zeray, an outlaw town beyond the borders of civilisation. Here he re-encounters Melathys, a former priestess of Shardik. Having lost Shardik and his faith, Kelderek is captured by Genshed, a cruel slave-trader who already has a large group of children to eventually sell but is meanwhile tormenting them for his own amusement. Treating the children with his customary kindness, Kelderek is mocked and threatened by Genshed, who is on the point of killing him when Shardik erupts from the woods, mad and half-starved. The bear attacks Genshed, mortally wounding him before itself collapsing in the river. Kelderek, his faith and kindness restored but now tempered with knowledge of the world, returns to the town of Zeray with the children and attempts to re-establish a lawful society.

The epilogue skips forward a number of years. It is told from the perspective of a newcomer from Zakalon, a distant kingdom to the east of Bekla. This man, Siristrou, is the leader of the first embassy from Zakalon sent to reciprocate the first visit of a Beklan to their country. The formerly lawless border town is now the home of hundreds of orphans and refugees working together to build a better future. Kelderek is its mayor, widely regarded as a fair and wise leader, and is married to his love, Melathys. Kelderek takes the traveller into his home and tells him of the bear Shardik, now known as a great animal who taught the people of the land the meaning of both kindness and hardship. In the final passages, Siristrou stirs the logs in the fireplace and plays a game of spotting images in the flames: an island, a glowing knife, a barred cage, an old woman, a deep ravine, a shaggy bear; he recognises these images in turn, and finally remarks "That's a beautiful fire."

Characters

Shardik An enormous bear more than twice as tall as a man, with huge curved claws longer than a man's head. Shardik first appears in the opening chapters, when a forest fire forces him out of the wild lands north of the River Telthearna onto the island of Ortelga. Unlike the animals in Adams' earlier book Watership Down, Shardik does not speak or appear to have conscious thought, and apart from the opening sequence the story is not told from his perspective.

Kelderek The main protagonist, an Ortelgan hunter and later king of the Beklan empire. Often nicknamed Zenzuata ("Play-With-The-Children") as he seldom socialises with other people his age but instead prefers to play with the children. It is he who first sees the enormous bear, setting in motion the events which lead to the Ortelgans taking Bekla and he being crowned king.

The Tuginda High priestess of Ortelga, she opposes the capture of Shardik for the purposes of aiding the conquest of Bekla, and so is made a prisoner on the island of Quiso by Ta-Komininion (an act to which Kelderek is begrudgingly complicit).

Melathys A priestess second in authority to the Tuginda, who flees and abandons her position at the sight of Shardik but plays a role later in the novel. Some of her backstory is explored in Adams' other Beklan book, Maia.

Bel-ka-Trazet High Baron of the Ortelgans when Shardik is first discovered, and later ruler of the lawless outpost of Zeray. He is a pragmatic ruler and a rational man who does not take religion seriously. He was disfigured by a bear when he was a young hunter.

Ta-Kominion A charismatic young baron who usurps power from Bel-ka-Trazet and directs the campaign to take Bekla for the Ortelgans in its early stages and directs the Tuginda to be taken in chains when she disagrees with using Shardik. He dies as a result of refusing medical attention to treat his wounds.

Elleroth Baron of the southern province of Yeldashay, seemingly loyal to the Ortelgans, but actually working for the rebel baron Santil-kè-Erketlis. He opposes the widespread slavery now practiced throughout the empire, and in particular child slavery, his own child having become a slave.

Santil-kè-Erketlis Baron who leads the rebellion against Ortelgan rule. He is an excellent military leader and succeeds in forcing the Ortelgans to recognise his rule over the southern provinces of what was the Ortelgan empire, and also rule over the province of Transvrako in the north. He directs Elleroth in his rebellion.

Genshed Sadistic child slaver who has Elleroth's son in his service, and tries to ransom Kelderek when he falls into Genshed's hands.

Siristrou A metaphysician from the empire of Zakalon and the first ambassador to the Beklan Empire.

Related works

Adams later wrote a novel called Maia that takes place earlier in the same world. Several characters appear in both novels.

Influence

The bear Guardian in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series is named for this Shardik.^[2]

See also

• The Clan of the Cave Bear, a novel about a prehistoric people who have a cave bear and other animals as personal totems

References