As promised last week, I am spending the next five weeks exploring the use of five throughout the Mull-tiverse. This week, we’re exploring the overt use of five (and one less overt that just dawned on me this week, but that I am very excited about).
In quick review, before diving in: five crowns for five
races in the Fablehaven universe; five powerful artifacts featured in the same
series; five kingdoms within the Outskirts for magic that works in five
different ways. These are the topics
that lead me to believe that there are five major “realms” or realities within
the Mull-tiverse. Also mentioned were
the five pieces of the Eldergem, which seems like its own thing, but, hey, a
reference to five, so we’ll see what we can do with that.
Let’s start with the five crowns and five races:
Fairies: The fairy crown is one of the original
two. Fairies are beings of light and
guardians of The Source. “Fairykind”
includes not only all types of fairies of all sizes, but astrids, unicorns,
nymphs, nayads, dryads, satyrs (indirectly) along with several others I am
likely missing. Their magic centers on
the use of light and healing or purifying.
Often this transfers into the physical beauty of nature—light helps plants
grow, etc. Often, fairykind are the ones
that take action to restore balance when things start to go wrong.
Demons: Although the demon crown was not one of the
original two, for a long time I saw the demons as the primary enemy of the
fairies. Since the climax of the
Fablehaven series centers around the demon prison, this makes sense. Their magic also seems to contrast in some
regards since all demons are corrupted forms of other beings. Humbuggle teaches us in “Champion of the
Titan Games” that nobody is born a demon and that all demons become such as a
matter of choice. They establish magical
contracts—bargaining is a big deal, and information is one of their biggest
bargaining chips. They are cunning and
deceitful, always trying to withhold what they know through trickery. Their interest is in justice and power rather
than balance.
Undead: The undead are the true opposites of fairykind. The Underking possesses the other original
crown, and the undead (wraiths, phantoms, etc.) are guardians of The Void, so
to speak. They are the true source of
darkness. There are a few significant
moments where the undead are featured throughout Fablehaven and Dragonwatch,
but it is interesting how little that happens.
This is because the undead are stuck.
They cannot change, and are trapped between life and death. They seek their own interests, and will still
act on their own desires, but nothing changes when they do—nothing ends their
misery. And the more likely scenario is
that they are used as the objects of an agreement rather than one of the
participants. Even when Kentra faces the
Underking in “Master of the Phantom Isle,” the confrontation amounts to nothing
on his part. He moans, groans, and
threatens and then… nothing. He just
wants his secret kept that he can’t actually do anything.
Dragons: Dragons have always been a favorite topic of
mine, and I love what Brandon Mull does with them. They are apex predators that nobody wants to
mess with in a fight. Their magic,
mostly seen through their breath powers, is more elemental. Mortals who don’t “drink the milk” see them
as strange weather patterns rather than some other kind of creature, and the
mass destruction they have caused in the past has been attributed to natural
disasters and plagues. It is driven home
many times through the Dragonwatch series that they are meant to be solitary
creatures, not beings that congregate, and when they do congregate, things get
messy really fast.
Giants: Giants are an interesting topic in this
because some are incredibly good, and some are incredibly bad. They had their own realm (Stratos) for a time
before it crashed and landed on New Zealand.
They are obsessed with size, for obvious reasons, and are considered
expert in a very unique type of magic: truth-revealing magic. Many of the magical devices they use are meant
to reveal truth and honesty: candles that burn out when you lie, scales that tip
when you lie, and even the Waystar, which is always appears as the observers
favorite color, even if they don’t know what that color is before seeing it, is
meant to reveal a map. Truth and light
are powerfully connected, despite there being evil giants as well. However, the giants from Stratos (sky giants)
seem to be the best at truth-telling magic.
In picking this apart, these five became less about the
beings themselves and more about different purposes of magic: Light,
Bargaining, Darkness, Elements, and Truth.
Seems pretty random, but we’ll explore that more in depth next week.
So what about the five artifacts:
1: The Chronometer manipulates time in a variety of ways.
2: The Font of Immortality grants immortality… sort of… you
have to drink from it at least once a week in order to gain immortality.
3: The Oculus allows you to see everything and everywhere
all at once.
4: The Sands of Sanctity has healing power
5: The Translocator can take you anywhere you have already
been.
These don’t exactly play nicely with the five beings in
terms of any solid connections, although there are a few: the Oculus could be
very beneficial in truth-telling, the Sands of Sanctity heal and purify, which
could be seen as a connection to fairy magic.
Before our heads get spinning too much, though, let’s explore the five
kingdoms.
The Outskirts are an off-shoot of the Echolands created by
six “shapers” after a few failed attempts.
(Side note here—the fact that they were all in the Echolands to start
means they were all dead. It is said
several times throughout the Five Kingdoms series that the place was never
meant to exist).
Each of the five kingdoms represents some kind of “space
between,” and magic works differently in each kingdom:
Sambria, introduced in Sky Raiders, is seen as a
space between wakefulness and sleep. In
Sambria, magic is called shaping, and it enables its users to create anything
they imagine. One of the most dangerous
places to be in Sambria is known as Brady’s Wilderness, where a young boy named
Brady imagined up a delicious but treacherous landscape of giant desserts
inhabited by dinosaurs and skeleton warriors.
It is also stated that shaping in Sambria is closest to what they call “raw
shaping” or the original power that created the Outskirts.
Eloweer, introduced in Rogue Knight, is seen as a
space between reality and imagination.
In Eloweer, magic is called enchanting and works similar to Sambria, but
the creations are not tangible. People
can also change their physical appearance in Eloweer. Places called confidence lounges are unique
to Eloweer. These locations allow people
to mingle in disguise and exchange information, which is seen as very valuable
currency.
Zeropolis, introduced in Crystal Keepers, is seen as
a space between virtual reality and tangible reality or a space between
technology and sorcery or magic. In
Zeropolis magic is called tinkering, and thins the line between technology and magic. Magic here is directly connected to
crystals. Tinkers can manipulate these
crystals. Zeropolites enjoy the closest
connection to Earth via the internet by the use of what they call thruports.
Necronum, introduced in Death Weavers, is seen as a
space between life and death. In
Necronum magic is called weaving, and enables clearer communication with the
Echolands. Necronum also has the closest
connection with the Echolands themselves.
One form of weaving allows living beings to enter as “bright echoes.”
Creon, introduced in Time Jumpers, is seen as a space
between time and… well… space. In
Necronum magic is called wayminding and enables its users to travel across
space or through time through wayports.
Wayminders are able to open wayports to earth, where they kidnap people,
usually children, to be slaves. It is
the most mysterious of the five because once you leave its borders, it becomes incredibly
challenging to remember details of your time there.
Other fans have speculated that there is a connection
between the artifacts featured in Fablehaven and the kingdoms in the
Outskirts. I love this idea, but it also
gets tricky. Especially with Junction—the
city in the middle of the Outskirts where all forms of magic are useable. Junction also houses the foundingstone, which
operates much like the oculus. Also, two
of the artifacts seem to have the strongest connection to Creon: the translocator
and the chronometer. But let’s give it a
try just for fun:
Since Creon is the only kingdom affiliated with time
manipulation, we will say that the chronometer is the artifact for Creon.
This leaves us to tackle the problem of the translocator. Two other kingdoms could claim this one:
Necronum due to its connection to the Echolands, or Zeropolis due to its
connection (virtually) with Earth. Since
the Outskirts were designed from the Echolands, I am going to make the
argument that they are part of the same larger realm, especially since the
Outskirts were “never supposed to exist.”
This, I would argue, makes Zeropolis the more likely candidate to be
connected to the translocator.
That leaves us with the oculus, the sands of sanctity and
the font of immortality.
The next somewhat obvious connection is between the font of
immortality and Necronum. Those seeking
the font of immortality are seeking to cheat death, so the connection with the
Echolands and the ability to go there alive makes a pretty strong case for this
artifact.
The oculus, which reveals all, would be strongly coveted in
Eloweer, where they treat information as currency within the confidence
lounges. But does that just mean Sambria
is left with the spoils with the sands of sanctity? Not necessarily. the Sands of Sanctity have healing power, but
think of the name: Sanctity. Why do they
use sanctity to connect with healing?
Sanctity has to do with being holy or sacred. Healing helps with that because it makes you “whole.” It fits.
But it had to be given the name for more than just that. It’s not a far stretch from “sanctity” to “sanctuary”
which is a holy place, or a place where you feel safe. Where is the most important place for you to feel
safe? The place where you are at your
most vulnerable: when you are asleep.
Maybe it’s a bit of a stretch, but I really don’t think so. Sleep is also one of the most healing things
for us! What do we need when we’re
sick? Sleep! What do we need when we’re troubled? Sleep!
So here’s the breakdown:
Sambria: Sands of Sanctity
Eloweer: Oculus
Zeropolis: Translocator
Necronum: Font of Immortality
Creon: Chronometer
But where does that leave us with the five crowns and the five
races? Well, the connection wasn’t very
clear between the artifacts and the races, but what if we match the races with
the kingdoms? Let’s give it a whirl:
Fairies: Beings of light, protectors of The Source
and… healers. Well, that connects fairies
with Sands of Sanctity, but just to make sure, can we connect it with the
Shaping of Sambria where you can create anything you want, like beautiful gardens,
or… oh, that would work! And if that’s not
enough, Sambria, again, was said to be the closest to raw shaping or shaping from…
The Source!
Demons: The confidence lounges of Eloweer made me
think of the demons immediately because of their use of knowledge as currency
for their bargaining chips. But then I
wondered if giants would be a better option due to their knack for truth
magic. However, since confidence lounges
are still filled with secrets, and there is still much cunning in the magic of
Eloweer, I am sticking with my original connection: demons and the magic of
Eloweer.
Undead: This is a no-brainer: Necronum, the space
between life and death, is definitely the kingdom with the strongest
connections to the undead. There isn’t
much else to say here.
Dragons: This one was a little trickier. My initial thought was Zeropolis, but this
was just because Roxie, the personification of Princess Harmony’s shaping
power, takes the shape of a giant mechanical dragon. It seemed like too much of a stretch. But then on considering the traits of the dragons,
or at least their use of magic, I wondered if there was something more. Dragon magic is elemental. It is found in their breath powers. Not very techno-savvy. But then, no magic is in
Fablehaven. If that’s all it was based on,
nothing else could connect with Zeropolis.
It’s all about technology—their magic is useless without crystals… And
that’s the thought that got me back on the dragon track. Dragon magic is elemental, and crystals are
an element. Tinkers are basically
manipulating elements with the purpose of advancing technology. Dragons don’t exactly manipulate elements,
but to the untrained eye, they are tampering with the elements (I could blame
last night’s storm on a dragon with an icy breath power since I haven’t drinken
any milk). So I am sticking with Dragons
and Zeropolis. Roxie is simply a nice
bonus as far as that goes. She combined
a lot of elements, and it was a big mess.
Giants: Facing the same problem again. Do giants just get the scraps left over from
the other connections? How could space
between time and space relate to giants and their power? I have to admit, this one stumped me. I wasn’t at all sure what to do about this,
and it really did feel like Creon was just the one that was left, which is so
sad since Creon is such a fascinating place: it stands apart from the other
kingdoms—not necessarily geographically, but still—when you leave it you lose
your memory of it, or it at least goes fuzzy, and you can jump through space
and time through wayports. Elegance’s,
the princess with wayminding abilities, power takes the form of a giant snake
that exists in all time—it’s just cool.
Determined to not make this a throw-away I started thinking
about magic within the Fablehaven/Dragonwatch universe that operated the way wayminding
operates, and it certainly exists: Seth loses his memory during Humbuggles game
at Stormguard castle while they are seeking to win the Wizenstone, and the
protections guarding the ethershard automatically transport you into a cage to
trap you if you so much as touch the Ethershard. Kendra uses a banishing rod to remove the
Wizenstone to a place she doesn’t know.
Humbuggle, who possesses the Wizenstone, can pop up, seemingly wherever
and whenever he wants.
This drew me to review the history of the Wizenstone and the
Ethershard. Bother were part of the
Ethergem: the Wizenstone the largest, and the Ethershard the smallest. We actually have a lot of details on the
Ethergem: It came from The Source as a
gift to the giants. Its intended purpose
was to create a crown for the giants to set them apart from other beings in
their sky realm of Stratos. The demons
and dragons had other plans for it, though.
They wanted their own crowns, and, long story short, it got broken into
five pieces. The breaking apart of the Ethergem
is what caused Stratos to fall. The
giants, determined to not let anything like that happen again, guarded the
Ethershard in Stratos using the magic that transported those attempting to
steal it in cages.
So the power that acts in the same way wayminding in Creon
works came from the Ethergem, which was a gift to the giants! And Stratos was meant to be set apart from
the rest of the kingdoms of Earth! As
stumped as I was, I didn’t expect to find anything solid, but this is now one
of my favorite connections across series.
Here’s the breakdown again:
Fairies—Sambria—Sands of Sanctity
Demons—Eloweer—Oculus
Undead—Necronum—Font of Immortality
Dragons—Zeropolis—Translocator
Giants—Creon—Chronometer
The only thing that disappointed me is that I wasn’t able to
connect Lyrian from Beyonders yet. I
actually started rereading Beyonders this week in hopes of discovering
something. And between that, and looking
at a fan Wiki, https://beyonders.fandom.com/wiki/Wizardborn,
I’ve got a start. Determined to find a
significant “five” within Beyonders, I decided a good place to start would be
the Wizardborn races. On the fan Wiki,
there are six. This bummed me out until
I read the list: the giants created by Zokar, the Treefolk created by Certius,
the Drinlings created by Eldrin, the Displacers created by Zokar, the Amar
Kabal created by Eldrin and the Manglers, where were “evolved by Maldor.” I am making the argument that “evolving”
and “creating” are not the same thing. Maldor used magic to change a type of being already in existence while Certus Zokar and Eldrin created entirely new beings. So, apologies to the writer on this Wiki, but I will not be including
manglers as a Wizardborn race. I wasn’t
able to tie these in yet, but hope to make those connections in the coming weeks
as the exploration of “five” continues! The working theory is that since these races are all a product of magic rather than users of magic or the magic itself, the connections are going to be different.
I hope you enjoy these connections! Next week, I’ll be looking more at the
different ways magic is used and how that ties in to themes in the Mull-tiverse.
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