Elminster's Daughter
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''The Elminster Series'' is a series of
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
novels by
Ed Greenwood Ed Greenwood (born July 21, 1959) is a Canadian fantasy writer and the creator of the '' Forgotten Realms'' game world. He began writing articles about the Forgotten Realms for ''Dragon'' magazine beginning in 1979, and subsequently sold the rig ...
set in the ''
Forgotten Realms ''Forgotten Realms'' is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setti ...
'' setting, which was created by Greenwood for the ''
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...
'' fantasy
role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...
. The series focuses on the character
Elminster Elminster Aumar is a fictional character appearing in the ''Forgotten Realms'' campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. He is also known as the Sage of Shadowdale, and is depicted as a powerful wizard featured i ...
, a powerful wizard who is a key figure in the setting. This series presents the character's
backstory A backstory, background story, background, or legend is a set of events invented for a plot, preceding and leading up to that plot. In acting, it is the history of the character before the drama begins, and is created during the actor's prepara ...
and provides readers with details of events in the setting's history.


Works included

* '' Elminster - The Making of a Mage'' (1994); * ''Elminster In Myth Drannor'' (1997); * '' The Temptation of Elminster'' (1998); * '' Elminster In Hell'' (2001); * ''Elminster's Daughter'' (2004); * ''The Annotated Elminster'' (2007) – An anthology of the first three books in the series. * '' Elminster Must Die'' (2010) – The debut 4th Edition appearance of one of the Forgotten Realms world's most iconic characters. * ''
Bury Elminster Deep ''Bury Elminster Deep'' is a fantasy novel by Ed Greenwood, set in the world of the Forgotten Realms, and based on the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. It is one of the novels in "The Elminster Series". It was published in hardcover in ...
'' (2011) * '' Elminster Enraged'' (2012) * '' The Herald'' (2014) * ''Spellstorm'' (2015) * ''Death Masks'' (2016)


Plot summary


Elminster: The Making of a Mage

As a young boy, tending sheep in the fertile countryside of the nation of Athlanthar, Elminster has his first encounter with magic: the destruction of his entire hometown by a vicious dragon-riding magelord. The only survivor of the tragedy, Elminster joins a troupe of bandits and later a gang of thieves in the nearby city of Hastarl. Fed up with the rule and power of arrogant mages, Elminster sneaks into a temple of Mystra with the intent of defacing it, leading to a face-to-face confrontation with the goddess. Instead of unleashing her wrath upon the upstart youth, she questions him; based upon his wise and honest answers and his exceptional potential, Mystra instructs Elminster in the ways of magic. He becomes a powerful cleric and mage, one of her Chosen – a title rarely given and accompanied by a host of powers and duties.


Elminster in Myth Drannor

After winning the freedom of Athlanthar from the power-mad magelords, becoming king, and subsequently abdicating his throne, Elminster follows the edict of Mystra to enter the forest of Cormanthor. Stumbling upon a patrol of elves beset by monsters, he rescues the sole survivor and comforts him in his dying moments. Given a sacred duty to return the family's mind stone (kiira) to its rightful place, he sneaks into the City of Cormanthor under threat of death (as elves will kill any non-elves in Cormanthor on sight) to return the kiira and complete his vow. Though not accepted by most of the noble caste, Elminster convinces the ruling Coronal and the powerful guardian of the forest, the Shrinshee, to trust and teach him. Surviving many tests of strength and will, as well as attempts at assassination, he learns powerful elven magic and plays a large part in the eventual seeding of Cormanthor's Mythal.


The Temptation of Elminster

Tempted by Mystra and Shar, Elminster must choose to follow his heart or his goddess.


Elminster in Hell

Thrown through a portal into the Hell-plane of Avernos, Elminster is captured by the outcast archdevil Nergal and struggles to survive his memories being replayed and torn from his mind.


Elminster's Daughter

Through the lens of Elminster's daughter, Narnra, a thief from Waterdeep, the novel examines the long-term effect of Elminster's meddling with the nation of Cormyr, which he helped create and protect.


Elminster Must Die

When the goddess of magic is murdered, Elminster's world shatters. Once the most powerful wizard in the world, he is now a tired old man; his habit of saving the world has resulted in a number of enemies. Elminster is also feeding powerful magic items to the Simbul, his lover, to keep her sane, but collecting these items leads his enemies to him.


Reception

''Elminster in Hell'' was reviewed by
Don Bassingthwaite Don Bassingthwaite is a Canadian author from Toronto. Early life and education Bassingthwaite was born in Meaford, Ontario. He played ''Dungeons & Dragons'' in high school, attending the Georgian Bay District Secondary School where his project ...
in the Winter 2002 issue of '' Black Gate''. ''Bury Elminster Deep'' received a positive review from ''California Bookwatch'', which called it "a top pick for any fantasy collection". ''The Elminster Series'' appeared on the 2025 ''
Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and comic books. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publications including Comic Book Resources, Collider, MovieWeb and XDA Developers. ...
'' "10 Best Forgotten Realms Book Series, Ranked" list at #9.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elminster Series Forgotten Realms novel series