The Birthgrave Trilogy by Tanith Lee
The Birthgrave Trilogy is a science fiction series that explores themes of identity, power, and destiny through the lens of its complex characters. The narrative unfolds across three books, beginning with The Birthgrave, where a nameless woman awakens in a cave beneath a volcano with no recollection of her past. As she navigates her newfound powers, she learns that she is Karrakaz, the last of an ancient race. The story follows her tumultuous journey as she grapples with her apparent divinity, encounters betrayal, and ultimately seeks a new life.
The second installment, Vazkor, Son of Vazkor, introduces her son, Vazkor, who inherits supernatural abilities and confronts his own challenges as he searches for his mother. The third book, Quest for the White Witch, continues Vazkor's journey as he seeks to understand his origins and the legacy of his mother, leading him through battles and complex relationships that blend power, manipulation, and desire.
The trilogy intertwines themes of immortality and the consequences of one's actions, reflecting on how the legacies of parents impact the lives of their children. With its richly woven narratives, The Birthgrave Trilogy presents a unique exploration of fantasy and humanity, inviting readers to reflect on the profound connections between history, identity, and the choices that shape our destinies.
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Subject Terms
The Birthgrave Trilogy
First published:The Birthgrave (1975), Vazkor, Son of Vazkor (1978), and Quest for the White Witch (1978)
Type of work: Novels
Type of plot: Fantasy—superbeing
Time of work: Undefined
Locale: Various provinces of a planet similar to Earth
The Plot
This story consists of three first-person narratives, the first told by the heroine and the second and third told by her son. Vazkor, Son of Vazkor and Quest for the White Witch may be considered as a single sequel to The Birthgrave.
In The Birthgrave, a nameless woman awakes in a cave beneath a volcano. She knows nothing of herself, her origin, or her reason for being where she is. As the volcano stirs, an enigmatic voice calling itself Karrakaz taunts her. She is evil and deserves death, it tells her. If she leaves the cave, the volcano will erupt, destroying a village and surrounding countryside. The voice adds that she is inhuman; her only kinship is with Jade. Bewildered and frightened, the woman flees to the village, where her healing powers and strange albino appearance convince the folk of her divinity. She learns that she never needs food or drink.
Soon after her arrival, the bandit Darak takes her from the village, before its destruction. She shares many adventures with him, the greatest of which is a grueling chariot race held in a town where Darak is discovered to be an outlaw. After he is hanged, the woman moves on. By now she has learned that she is immune even to mortal wounds.
In the city-state of Ezlann, she meets Vazkor, who resembles Darak. He has learned magic that is similar to her inborn talents. She hates him for using her apparent divinity to aid his greedy conquests of other towns. He impregnates her against her will. She kills him, and his empire falls.
Next, she joins a nomadic tribe and secretly bears a son at the same time that the chief’s wife bears a stillborn child. After exchanging babies, she escapes to the sea. She is attacked by a dragon but is rescued by a passing spaceship. The crew tells her that she brought the ship down herself. Aided by the ship’s computer, she learns that she is the last member of an ancient race destroyed by a plague. They had sought refuge in the cave, but to no avail. She survived by falling into a deep coma, in which she remained until awakened by the volcano’s eruption. Karrakaz is her own name, and Jade is a gem implanted in her forehead, marking her as royalty. As The Birthgrave closes, Karrakaz leaves the ship to find a new life.
Vazkor, Son of Vazkor links the first and third books. Although it does not significantly advance the plot, it introduces Karrakaz’s son, Vazkor. After his ritual tattooing leaves no mark, he fights several men at once, killing them all and emerging unscathed. When he raids a neighboring town with his tribe, Vazkor terrifies the defenders, who believe him to be the original Vazkor returned from the dead. Vazkor initially believes that his gift of immortality is inherited from his father; later he discovers that his powers come from his mother, not his father. Infuriated that her abandonment condemned him to a life of hardship with a nomadic tribe when he might have been a powerful and invincible king, Vazkor decides to find and kill the white witch.
Quest for the White Witch begins at the start of Vazkor’s journey. By the time he reaches the opulent city of Bar-Ibithni, he has come to be feared and respected. He makes an old woman (Lellih) young and beautiful but unwittingly gives her powers like his own. She becomes the leader of a cult that worships him. Lellih tries to seduce him, but Vazkor rejects her. He becomes a close friend of Sorem, the emperor’s son. He helps Sorem win a civil war against his rival siblings, but soon afterward he begins an affair with Sorem’s mother. Discovering this scandal, Sorem vows to punish his friend, but a plague (sent by an angry Lellih) kills the young ruler and most of his subjects before he can fulfill the vow. Vazkor finds and kills Lellih but is himself slain. When he rises again, he leaves the city to resume his search.
After a long journey, Vazkor arrives in the far south, where Karrakaz is worshiped; Vazkor meets several albino children who share her powers. One of them, lovely Ressaven, claims to be Vazkor’s sister. Despite this, they have sex. Ressaven tries to keep Vazkor from finding Karrakaz’s abode, but he overcomes all resistance. Finally, he confronts his mother, who has been masquerading as Ressaven. Shamed by his incest, Vazkor leaves, but ultimately he returns to Karrakaz, planning to breed a new race of immortals with her.