Companions and Heralds

Don't take my pic!


If you want a list of Heralds and Companions, visit this site: Herald List


ARROW CODE

White: nothing wrong; all is well, come ahead
Green: Healer
Purple: Priest
Gray: Herald
Brown: watch for message, mild trouble, may cause delays
Blue: Treachery
Yellow: Military Aid
Red: Great danger, come with all speed
Black Intact: total danger, help or rescue needed
Broken: disaster, all hope gone, do not attempt rescue
Headless: dead

GIFTS (MINDMAGIC)

Fetching
Farsight
Foresight
Empathy
Firestarting
Mindspeech (Thought-Sensing and Projecting)
Animal Mindspeech
Pain-blocking (wild magic)
Mage-gift (makes a Herald-Mage)
Healing (person becomes a Healer)
Bardic Gift (person becomes a Bard)

SOME COMPANION INFORMATION:

Companions are born in energy and live in it all the time, that's why they're white. That kind of energy bleaches every living thing that it contact after a time. That's why dyes don't hold.

This is very much like the magic that the Tayledras(Hawkbrothers) handle. Living in a Vale with an active Heartstone eventually bleaches their hair white and eyes blue. Mages who handle node energy go through this bleaching more quickly. However, the Tayledras scouts can dye their hair for camaflauge.

It is also safe to say that Companions are Heralds re-born. Kerowyn's Savil was most likely the Herald Mage Sayvil. Also Herald Daren's Jasan could have been the Herald Mage Jaysen. In other instances Heralds see a superimposed immage of a person when they look at their Companion(happended to Vanyel in several instances).

Of course not all Heralds come back as Companions. They seem to have a choice. But then not all Companions are re-born Heralds. There are the Grove Born which are the Companions of the King/Queen's Own. These don't appear to be reborn people since they have no previous knowledge to draw from. They are "born" fully grown from the grove in Companion's Field. They are special Companions in the sence that they can do more than the "average" Companion. At the founding of the Kingdom of Valdemar, the King Valdemar was given a groveborn Companion and was the only one given to a monarch.

This idea of a Companion being a reincarnated Herald didn't spring up until The Mage Storms Trilogy. Karl, a citezen of Karse, made some observations while in Valdemar and linked it to Karse's own history. Their government is ruled by the Son of the Sun which also had aid like Companions but take the form of large cats. These are reborn Sons of the Sun. Since there are more Heralds then Sons of the Sun, it's obvious why there are so many Companions and less of these large cats.

This secret that Companions are reborn was a closely guarded secret of the Companions. Whenever a Herald got close to this secret or, for that matter, when Heralds raise questions about the origins or powers of Companions, they mysteriously "forget" and move on. This is seen on page 28 of Arrows Flight. When Elspeth gets Chosen by the Grove Born Gwena, Talia is there and thinks it's odd that Elspeth would be Chosen by a Companion that was Grove Born when only the Queen's Own was the only one with a Grove Born Companion, Rolan. Rolan then invades Talia's mind and erases this thought and places false information about Gwena being one of the shy Companions and has been there the whole time.

It is seen by everyone who hold the Mage-Gift that Companions are seen as Guardian Spirits. They don't want to reveal this informantion to the heralds because they think if they don't already know, then it isn't their place to tell them informantion that Companions would like to keep to themselves.

Not all Companions are the same, the ones who are not Heralds re-born are then Grove Born. Meaning, they just appear in the Grove of Companions Field, tack and all, and Choose. The Monarch's Own that is Choosen are special people needing special Companions. However when the Mage-Gift reappears for the first time after Vanyel's time in Elspeth, it is deemed that her need is great enought to require being Chosen by a Grove Born Companion. Thus, Gwena is Grove Born but hid the fact from her Chosen and the others until they could make them aware of this information.

Apart from being Grove Born, these special Companions don't have the experiences that re-born Herald-Companions have. Where they get their wisdom...who knows...some deiety? But this just further seperates them from the "average Companion".


If you have anymore information about Companions and Heralds that you would like to share or anyother insight or comments, I'd love to hear them. So e-mail me : )



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