Sheruel

Sheruel's genesis. The transgenically-enhanced urgulnosti gurvani shaman Sheruel was beheaded by House Brandmount (Koucey's ancestor) after the first goblin rebellion two centuries before the events of Book 1; his disciples stole the head and embedded it in the single largest chunk of irionite ever found. That is what descends on Boval Castle in Chapter Fifteen, "The Dead God's Judgement."

He arrives like a meteor, snapping Minalan's wards and revealing himself:

A sphere, as wide as a large pumpkin. A sphere of clear, flawless irionite. It was a sphere so translucent that you could see the mummified skull within. The mouth was open in an eternal rictus of pain and rage, and the eyes were sunken and dead.

A "bright green glow" pulses through him. He takes mental control of Sire Koucey's body, freezing him in mid-charge, monologues his prophetic claim to divinity based on the cave-seer prophecy, and condemns Koucey to eternal servitude for his House's ancestral treachery. Threatens Minalan's party with "agony for weeks before sacrificed" if deemed in debt; a quick death otherwise. Thwarted only by the Alka Alon Aronin arriving out of time-stop with his Tree Folk court.

Voice: telepathic "hideous parody of my own voice," emotionless and flat. "Centuries ago a great shaman, Ula-telec, prophesied that we would lose the Valley to the unclean, and that all of my people would be in danger. I am the fulfillment of that prophecy. I alone shall lead my people to wipe yours back into the Void." "I am a god." "I sleep not, Spellmonger. I shall never sleep again."

Never physically present — directs the war from Boval Vale via his urgulnosti shamans, each bearing a shard of his sphere. Drives the invasion of northern Alshar, sends Koucey as his herald under parley at Timberwatch demanding "not just the northlands, but all of the Alshari Wilderlands as well." Builds the Umbric field via mass human sacrifice. Fuels a massive siege on Tudry. Uses the molopor to teleport troops in bulk.

Minalan forces a direct confrontation during Timberwatch by using a captured shaman Karshakos as telepathic relay. "Who summons me?" Sheruel demands. Told to pull back, he scoffs:

Pull back? On the brink of victory? Do you take me for a fool?

He boasts:

I have the sacred molopar, Spellmonger, the one you profaned. Beyond it lies countless worlds, with endless resources. You could slay every gurvan in my legions and still I would have power far beyond your wretched duchies.

Closing threat:

Look to the skies, Spellmonger. You wish to see my power? Look to the skies and see your doom!

— cueing the first dragons. His brain is now fully encapsulated in the irionite sphere, giving him "truly divine levels of magical power."

Background looming antagonist directing the gurvani invasion of Gilmora. No personal appearance but funnels gurvani troops via the molopor into Gilmora and controls a dozen dragons. Has hundreds of thousands of gurvani, "only a third of his total force is invading Gilmora; the rest are guarding his dark realm, overseeing the fields the Soulless tend, skirmishing with our northern command, or training." Recruits human renegade warmagi with tainted witchstones. Still openly threatening genocide of humanity. The Alka Alon are explicitly "afraid of Shereul."

Central off-screen power driving the Gilmoran invasion and the later Poros campaign that ends at Anthatiel. Allies with Korbal (revealed late). Engineers the fall of Anthatiel via magically freezing the Poros River to march a hundred thousand troops upriver, a feat of sorcery only irionite could fuel. Destroys the City of Rainbows and hands it to Korbal as Olum Seheri. Commands the field from the tower balcony with the dragon. His forces include Hulka Alon trolls and siege worms. Has "knight of the Penumbra" Sire Ralun speak for him under his new kingdom:

His Majesty, King Ashakarl, direct descendent of Shereul the Old God.

The Alka Alon Council formally declares him "the kulnuara known as Shereul, is a real and authentic danger to all of these lands. The Abomination wrought by the feral gurvani." Major climactic scene: "the grand army of Shereul, including his huge siege engines and terrible worms, had sunk beneath the black waves of the lake in the space of moments" — his army annihilated by the opening of the molopor at the bottom of Anthatiel.

Offscreen but thematically central. Minalan creates the Snowflake/Magolith precisely because "theoretically, it should be a powerful tool to combat Shereul." Briga warns:

Korbal is far beyond mere madness. He is as dangerous, in his way, as Shereul is. If he and Shereul align . . .

— meaning the alliance has formed. Sheruel sends one of his renegades (Mask) with a small hobgoblin army into the Penumbra; Minalan defeats her and lets her go as an object lesson to other renegades. "Wounded, but he's rebuilding his strength. Within five years there will be another horde coming out of the Umbra."

Offscreen; his destruction is increasingly a secondary priority because Korbal is emerging as the more dangerous foe. Dragons attack Vorone. Anguin:

Yes, Your Majesty, a dragon. More, a dragon sent by Shereul to punish me for the temerity of protecting my own lands.

Draugen and Nemovorti infiltrate Vorone; Ocajon identifies the gurvani agent Prikiven in the capital:

Let me introduce Prikiven, agent of Sheruel the Dead God, assigned to Vorone. The goblin bowed as perfectly as any courtier, a plum-colored doublet and hose in the southern style, complete with a well-made burgundy mantle.

Ishi describes Sheruel as a genocidal fanatic in contrast to the subtle Korbal:

Sheruel wanted to kill every human being on Callidore, and a fair number of Alka Alon.

Anthatiel is "enfiefed to Korbal by Sheruel." Now formally Korbal's overlord but functionally his junior partner. Rardine is captured and transported to Olum Seheri as a gift/exchange.

First in-person appearance in many books — reconned by Tyndal and Gatina at Olum Seheri. "A green sphere just a bit larger than a human head floated above the ground, surrounded by a half-dozen of his skull-faced priesthood." Holds court at Olum Seheri beside Korbal, chanted to by urgulnosti ("Shere-ul! Shere-ul! Shere-ul!"). Tyndal says:

That's far worse than any goblin. That's the abomination that is leading this entire war. We need to leave!

Minalan's aside:

No one had seen Sheruel in almost five years. Now the old scrug was visiting his vassals.

The visible alliance/subservience to Korbal is now witnessed; together they personally inspect Rardine in her tower cell.

The pivotal book — Sheruel is betrayed, imprisoned, and reduced to a staff-mounted tool by Korbal during the climactic parley. Pre-battle: Sheruel's sphere travels via hoxter pockets ("Korbal summoned Sheruel to his side, I think he did it through a hoxter pocket"). Powers the magical block that prevents the Ways from functioning inside Olum Seheri.

"The disembodied goblin head floated serenely over the battle, next to the Necromancer." Pale and malevolent against the hellish landscape. Minalan exploits the hoxter-summoning weakness by provoking Korbal publicly and forcing Sheruel to interrogate his "ally" in front of witnesses. Sheruel devastates Korbal's cover:

You promised to aid us in their extinction. They were cheated of long life to make them more useful to the Alka Alon. They cannot wait ten thousand years for their vengeance. That was not our agreement. He cannot betray me. He has not the power to contend with me.

Korbal then swings his oversized iron staff — a device "designed specifically with Sheruel's dimensions in mind" — and clamps it around Sheruel's sphere, trapping him. "It took a few seconds for the metal bands to encircle and entrap the Dead God, during which he shook and struggled at the end of the rod. But once the last one was in place, Sheruel quieted." Korbal:

You forced me to use this before I was ready, Spellmonger. I had planned on utilizing Sheruel's leadership for a while longer, yet, but it makes no difference. His folk will do as my people bid them to.

From this point Korbal uses the Dead God's power to operate hoxters and the molopor at scale.

Post-Olum Seheri form: the staff looks "like a kind of sea axe with the head twisted off and put on backwards" with elegant curves and jagged elements; the sphere now caged in the mechanism.

Offscreen; now an inert mount on Korbal's oversized staff, contemptuously called "Sheruel-on-a-stick" and "a fashion accessory." His power is at Korbal's disposal for operating hoxters and the molopor. His former worshippers (the urgulnosti) are being purged by the Nemovorti. The Goblin King Ashakarl (supposedly "a direct descendent of Sheruel") is in exile at Mekadarshku. Gurkarl the gurvani emissary notes:

It helped that Korbal betrayed Sheruel. Apparently that betrayal undercut the potency of the missionaries' message.

Lomanca — a young Farisian woman, competent and reliable, employed in Minalan's Farise operation.

Offscreen. Ameras (daughter of the Aronin) hears the update:

Alas, he was taken by Sheruel and then imprisoned by Korbal.

The Enshadowed-created nature of him is reiterated: "Sheruel is the result, and the invasion."

Offscreen. The Nemovort Karakush reveals in a negotiation: "Korbal and Sheruel will be coming right to Darkfaller in the spring" — Korbal is wielding Sheruel at the new fortress. Minalan's plan gels: "Korbal and Mycin Amana, deliver Sheruel the Dead God to us for judgment for his crimes" is among the demands. Noutha is a former "renegade Lady Mask" who took service with Sheruel — biographical reference.

The liberation. Sheruel is on Korbal's staff during the Darkfaller parley; Korbal now uses the staff as a brace "to convince his decrepit joints to work." Then Minalan releases him:

reached out with Avalanche and lightly struck Korbal's oversized staff. Not the shaft, nor the head, but the mechanism that conjoined them. Then I gave it a little push . . . the inert sphere of irionite containing Sheruel's head fell out of the metal cage that had contained it. It plummeted toward the cobbled bailey below.

"The decapitated head encased in irionite was a prize I coveted" (Minalan admits). Recovered by a desperate Enshadowed sorcerer on the battlefield, then again by fanatical gurvani who charge their own lines to get him:

A rugged-looking gurvan finally emerged from the scrum clutching Sheruel's green sphere in his hands, holding it triumphantly over his head.

The sphere begins to glow, twitches, moves of its own volition, then rises into the air. Emits a pure-instinct concussive force wave that blows a ring 500 feet wide, killing a thousand gurvani. "I am free, it said, without apparent emotion." Flies off into the sky "like an arrow shot from a bow," west toward the Black Vale. Minalan says:

I will need Sheruel later. I am wagering that he will be more angry with Korbal than us. For a while, at least.

Astyral says:

Gratitude is not Sheruel's strong suit. Retribution is.

Offscreen, holed up in the Dark Vale rebuilding. Per Lilastien's clinical assessment: "brain damaged" from the embedding process. "The process of embedding it in irionite and subjecting it to necromantic spells was traumatic enough. But the resulting abomination isn't merely horrifically undead, it is brain damaged, and in such a way that predetermines Sheruel's ability to respond to a complex situation." His "neural pathways have been calcified by the irionite process. They will not change. He cannot be persuaded, educated, or enlightened."

Rebuilding his power base. "It will take years for him to rebuild the forces he once commanded" (Micrethiel). Expected to focus vengeance on Korbal and the Nemovorti, not on humans. Sandoval worries:

Yet he persists. He will undoubtedly attempt to rise again. Does that not concern you?

Minalan theorizes he could be useful as a distraction:

Acting independently, might be as much of an ally against the remaining Nemovorti as we could ask. Believe me, he can hold a grudge.