The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist
The Riftwar Saga is a fantasy series that chronicles a conflict between two worlds: Midkemia and Kelewan, connected by a magical rift. The story begins with characters such as Pug, an orphaned boy who becomes an apprentice magician, and his friend Tomas, who undergoes training as a guard. Their lives intertwine as they face an invasion from the Tsurani, an alien race seeking to conquer Midkemia. As the saga unfolds, Pug is captured and taken to Kelewan, where he discovers his magical potential and learns about a greater threat from a mysterious entity known as the Enemy.
The series delves into themes of personal growth and the struggle against overwhelming forces, with Pug and Tomas evolving into key players in the conflict. Secondary characters, particularly Arutha, face their own challenges as they seek to thwart an assassin linked to a dark figure known as Murmandamus. As the plot progresses, alliances are forged, and the characters embark on quests that reveal deeper layers of magic and intrigue. The climax brings together the forces of both worlds in a decisive battle against the Valheru, a powerful race seeking to reclaim their existence at the cost of all life. The Riftwar Saga combines traditional fantasy elements with rich world-building, offering a complex narrative that engages with themes of power, sacrifice, and the nature of good and evil.
On this Page
Subject Terms
The Riftwar Saga
First published:The Magician (1982; reprinted as Magician: Apprentice, 1986, and Magician: Master, 1986), Silverthorn (1985), and Darkness at Sethanon (1986)
Type of work: Novels
Type of plot: Fantasy—heroic fantasy
Time of work: Undefined but with a medieval social structure
Locale: Midkemia and Kelewan
The Plot
The Riftwar Saga chronicles the adventures of a number of characters as they become embroiled in a war between Midkemia and Kelewan, different worlds connected by a “rift,” or magical gateway. In the course of the struggle, it gradually becomes clear that another force poses a greater threat than the war itself. The action is centered in Midkemia, a world with a traditional fantasy milieu: Humans, elves, dwarves, and assorted “enemy races” exist in a quasi-European medieval social structure. Kelewan is a more exotic setting, reminiscent in many ways of medieval Japan.
Magician: Apprentice introduces the series’ main characters and describes the beginning of the Rift War. Pug, an orphan being raised at Crydee, the provincial seat of Duke Borric, is accepted as an apprentice by Kulgan, the duke’s magician. Tomas, Pug’s best friend, enters training as a guard. Both boys are swept up in events as they encounter a wrecked ship of alien construction. It becomes clear that the ship’s builders, a people who call themselves the Tsurani, have established a foothold on Midkemia and plan a conquest.
Borric assembles a party to travel east and warn the king. The party—Pug, Tomas, Borric, Borric’s sons Arutha and Lyam, and his huntmaster, Martin—are diverted from their intended route by attacking moredhel, or dark elves, apparently being displaced south by the actions of the Tsurani invaders. The party becomes split while traveling through abandoned dwarven mines to avoid groups of enemies. Tomas is left wandering the mines while the rest escape.
Tomas encounters a dying dragon, who gives him an ancient suit of magical armor before expiring. The armor infuses him with the spirit of its original owner, Ashen-Shugar, a member of a vanished, extremely powerful race known as the Valheru, or dragonlords. Although the armor gives Tomas fantastic fighting ability, it also leaves him on the brink of insanity.
Pug and the rest of the party, meanwhile, barely manage to acquire aid from the king, who is himself not sane, and return to fight the Tsurani. While en route, they encounter an enigmatic magician, Macros the Black, who hints that the conflict is not what they believe. Pug is captured in a battle with the Tsurani and is taken to Kelewan.
In Magician: Master, both Pug and Tomas achieve maturity in their respective fields while embroiled in the escalating war. On Kelewan, Pug is enslaved (the fate of all captives) along with Laurie, a bard who comes to be his friend. They gain the notice of the Shinzawai, the family of their owners, but seem destined to remain slaves forever. A visiting Tsurani magician—a “Great One”—detects Pug’s magical abilities, however, and spirits him away to the mage’s college. The Great Ones are above the law, and Pug’s former status is of no interest to them.
Renamed Milamber, Pug becomes a Great One himself. He learns that the Tsurani came to Kelewan through a rift millennia before, fleeing an incomprehensible opponent known only as the Enemy. Pug becomes powerful and interferes in the Tsurani war effort.
Meanwhile, Tomas finally achieves balance between his dual personae and is invaluable in defending Midkemia. The two sides finally meet to arrange peace, but the meeting is disrupted violently by the machinations of Macros, whose sole goal is to reach the rift and destroy it. Macros vanishes into the chaos of the rift, warning Pug that the rift itself is drawing horrible danger to both worlds.
Both of the Magician books focus on Pug and Tomas. Silverthorn expands the number of primary characters and focuses on Arutha, Borric’s son. During the Rift War, Arutha’s brother Lyam became king, and Arutha met his intended wife, Anita. They announce their intent to marry but are beset by problems. Arutha apparently has been targeted by assassins who have an unnerving tendency to reanimate. The assassins are somehow linked to an entity known as Murmandamus, an antichrist-like figure among the moredhel, and to the Pantathian Serpent People, a reptilian race of apocalyptic fanatics.
During the wedding, Anita is struck by a poisoned arrow and is saved only by being placed in stasis. The antidote to the poison is silverthorn, a substance of unknown provenance. Arutha, along with a number of associates, thus is propelled into a quest to find a sample of silverthorn. As with most quest stories, there are a number of stages to the search, but Arutha finally determines that silverthorn grows only near a lake in the heart of moredhel territory. The quest to obtain the herb brings Arutha and his comrades into direct conflict with Murmandamus. Although they are successful, Murmandamus survives to continue amassing a vast army.
Darkness at Sethanon further explores Murmandamus’ motivations and the threat facing both Midkemia and Kelewan. Pug and Tomas travel through a number of dimensions to locate Macros, who apparently holds the key to their dilemma, while Arutha and the other characters battle Murmandamus’ army. Pug and Tomas learn that the Valheru dragon riders, long trapped outside space-time in an ancient war with the gods, are both the Enemy that attacked Kelewan in the far past and the current power behind Murmandamus. Their goal is an artifact that will grant them existence again but would, in so doing, destroy all life on Midkemia. In a climactic final battle, the united forces of Midkemia and Kelewan succeed in defeating the Valheru.