I went searching for this song because I remember listening to it ages ago when I originally read the Herald-Mage trilogy in the early 2000s. I'm so happy to see that people are still reading these books and falling in love with the music.
My partner read these books in the early 90s, and I'm reading them for the first time in 2023, and fallen in love with them. I just finished the trilogy. I'm so delighted this music exists, that they actually made an album of these bard-songs, as Vanyel would have wanted
You know, even though I knew what would happen to Vanyel when I started Magic’s Pawn becuase of what was said in Arrows of the Queen, I still cried when he died in Magic’s Price. Listening to this song for the first time still makes me a little teary-eyed. Vanyel was such a wonderful and kind person who didn’t deserve his fate.
People who live to protects other and die doing so should not be mourned but celebrated as the greatest heroes, because no one have ever given their loved ones a greater proof of that love.
I felt more than Vanyell didn't take Moom Dancers advise soundly enough over the years. 17 years he had known of this day and 17 years to potentially change the outcome and yet it's like not once did he ever seem to search or inquire if anybody knew an approximate location of this pass. Just knowing all that could have potentially changed everything
Me before reading the books: Wow, stefan sounds like an awesome friend! I wish i had friends like that! Me after reading the books: OH OK HELLO REPRESENTATION WASNT EXPECTING YOU HERE
SPOILERS BELOW I just finished reading Magic's Price and I already knew this song, and finding out that Stefen wrote this for him broke my heart... I was in the gym as I was listening to the audiobook and I started crying
I've been reading the Last-Herald Mage trilogy. I'm on the second book at the moment. Just the first one had me sitting up late into the night bawling several times at various parts. I can hardly imagine how the third one will make me cry - even knowing what's going to happen!
Hey Savitar! Just wanted to say thank you so much for all the songs you upload. It has really changed the way i view music and i absolutely love all of it! Because I've been haunting your channel for like two years now and it just occured to me I've never thanked you for basically changing my life. So thank you! ^.^
jerry jordan In this case the price isn't quite so high as it seems because it's unclear as to whether Vanyel Dies or just becomes something else but he certainly doesn't die in the traditional sense the best explanation is that his 'spirit' becomes bound to the Forest of Sorrows which is why the forest lashes out at people who mean to harm Valdemar but it protects Heralds except in one very specific circumstance where he gets confused.
Not always, sometimes they defeat the dragon, marry the princess and live happily ever after ;) Edit: unless you mean the price for hiring heroes. In this case it is generally true, but there are always these selfish assholes who save the village for free, thus driving the prices of heorism down (grumble, grumble)
Im 32, reas this as an early teen because it looked cool. Started reading it enjoyed it, uncle told me lead is gay, not into that but thiught fk it we will give it a whirl its good so far. End up binging this andnthe other aeries with the female lead both cases challenged my world view. Teared Up a few times. I was so happy when i found aomething taatefully done tht i could enjoy as a straight man. Nothingbwas overbthe top it was taateful resoectfully and romantically done .. sorry for speeling .. found this went through old feels cryint about a book i havent read in oger a damn decade. Pretty blurry This damn breeze, must be raining or something 😅
just finished reading the last herald mage and found the last story very moving especially where Van is tortured after being captured by a gang of bandits and Steven sorry if I got his name wrong here, is allowed to ride a companion.
I have to say, I'm kinda a sap for last stands but this one really hitsa home. I still have yet to decide who my favorite of all the heralds is, Firestarter or Vanyel
@@user-vz3xv8kb3xSpoiler warning if anyone intends to read the books. At the end of Burning brightly Lavan's only appearance, his companion is killed by Karsite assassins. This removes a lot of his control over his Firestarter gift. He lets it go entirely consuming the whole valley including himself.
@@jameskurth3560 i understand that he was life bonded with his companion i understand she saved lavan from getting shot full of arrows by the castle's guards
I literally just finished chapter 1 of Magic's Pawn, my first book of Lackey. I really love it so far! If the whole book is as great as the first chapter, it's a great work ^^
@@addygil5000 I've finished chapter 5 yesterday and it's basically my life story so far. Kinda healing to read through it, really. It gives me some new perspectives which I can immediately apply to my own life. It's good stuff.
@@reddir I get what you mean, I think. For me it's the realism of the characters, it's like they are really there. But the story itself is so simple, it took me a while to figure that out.
This is how I pictured vanyel's final moments. He is standing wearied, bloodied, and tired after battling 4v1 against leareth's underlings. Finally, leareth steps up to either convert him or kill him. He knows that vanyel is on his last leg and he is untouched and is being fed power by several others. Leareth knows that not even a final strike would be enough the way things are now. He makes another offer to lure vanyel to his side, tempting him with raising his long dead lover, not realizing that every word he says only disgusts vanyel further. Then, out of the darkness comes yfandes, winded but strong to stand behind vanyel. The two partners reaffirm their bond and all but say farewell. Then in a single motion vanyel mounts the saddle and turns to face leareth and rejects everything he offered and everything he stands for with a single word, "no". Together, yfandes and vanyel have the strength to call a final strike down on leareth that shatters crookback pass and takes the lives of all present. But that still left the army, so vanyel makes a deal with the shadow lover to remain as ghost with yfandes in the forest to protect valdemar forevermore, but he wants payment for his service. His payment is that Steffan is to be given the same choice when his time comes
That was only fair, Vanyel gave up everything for duty and Valdemar, even his eternal rest. Permitting his lover to join him in his eternal watch was really only fair.
don't you mean the star eyed Goddess of the Hawk brothers? I understand that it was partially her magic that the Companion's where originally created from. she has aided Valdemar before
@eliotreader8220 she didn't make companions, in oathbreakers, we see the star eyed manifest before a sword sworn and a herald. She jokes that she wishes she thought of companions and asked the herald what he thought if she made black companions for the sword sworn of the shin'a'in to matches the white heralds of valdemar
@@xqiuvmah In her new book series Mercedes Lackey has put a lot of effort into explain the origins of the Companion's and the first generation of Heralds. apparently she was one of the Gods that the King prayed to for help. it sounds like she might have been the one who saved Valdemar from being destroyed by evil magic that had been sent over by a evil hawk brother mage who wanted to destroy them. it was from this formally evil magic that the companions where given life.
IIRC, it really wasn't. he sent his lover out to bring the cavalry, and promptly proceeded to blow himself up. throw a shitload of fire and lightning, and then blow himself up, and somehow save just enough in reserve to "with dying breath command the trees". worth the song, yes, but not really climactic battle, just "welp, taking you with me."
mikato2 There was a lot more going on there that wasn't really explained in that book it was more explained slowly in the Mage Winds Trilogy but even then you had to be paying very close attention to the implications of what is said but basically Vanyel didn't really cast a spell to command the trees he kind of possessed the forest of Sorrows in the moment of his death and then as a spirit cast the spells that animated the forest in Valdemar's defense which is why the Forest in conflicted on whether it will Kill Thalia in the second book of the Arrows trilogy. I mean there is of course a lot more to it and while I would be happy to go over the rest I think I'll wait until I'm asked ti go farther
Well some other interesting details are that Leareth his enemy is a hell of a lot more complicated than meets the eye. In the Mage Wars series the main enemy is Ma'ar The Mage Of Black Fire a very evil and very skilled mage who found a way to cheat death by creating a kind of spirit sanctuary in Void where he would hide out until one of his offspring who met a rigid set of criteria casted the spell to call down fire. Then Ma'ar would possess them and live his life in their body. In both the Mage Winds and the Mage Storms trilogies it is stated a few times the Leareth is in fact one of these incarnations hence the line "Vanyel looked and Vanyel knew an ancient evil's face". Another thing of interest is that Vanyel's possession of the forest is implied to have a degree of divine influence attached to it. Such a stance is reinforced when you consider that In Storm Breaking the last book of the Mage Storms trilogy the Teleporting Firecat Altra can't bring Vanyel's ghost from the Forest of Sorrows because Vanyel had been kept there by the power of some other deity, thus prompting the Karsite Sun Priest Karal to petition Vrkandys to allow Altra to bring Vanyel to him.
The only thing that takes me out of the story is the name of the kingdom. I know it is named after the first king and all, but it's like calling a country "the Kingdom of Walter".
I went searching for this song because I remember listening to it ages ago when I originally read the Herald-Mage trilogy in the early 2000s. I'm so happy to see that people are still reading these books and falling in love with the music.
My partner read these books in the early 90s, and I'm reading them for the first time in 2023, and fallen in love with them. I just finished the trilogy. I'm so delighted this music exists, that they actually made an album of these bard-songs, as Vanyel would have wanted
It’s 1 am and I’ve just finished the books, many feels have been felt and I don’t think I’ll listen to these songs the same way again.
You know, even though I knew what would happen to Vanyel when I started Magic’s Pawn becuase of what was said in Arrows of the Queen, I still cried when he died in Magic’s Price. Listening to this song for the first time still makes me a little teary-eyed. Vanyel was such a wonderful and kind person who didn’t deserve his fate.
most mages dont but then again that is magic's price
People who live to protects other and die doing so should not be mourned but celebrated as the greatest heroes, because no one have ever given their loved ones a greater proof of that love.
I really wish there were more stories set in Vanyel's time. He was such an interesting character that really resonated with me.
he was a gay character before it was popular and cool. it was an important part of his character without being shoehorned in or use for comedy.
I felt more than Vanyell didn't take Moom Dancers advise soundly enough over the years. 17 years he had known of this day and 17 years to potentially change the outcome and yet it's like not once did he ever seem to search or inquire if anybody knew an approximate location of this pass. Just knowing all that could have potentially changed everything
Me before reading the books: Wow, stefan sounds like an awesome friend! I wish i had friends like that!
Me after reading the books: OH OK HELLO REPRESENTATION WASNT EXPECTING YOU HERE
SPOILERS BELOW
I just finished reading Magic's Price and I already knew this song, and finding out that Stefen wrote this for him broke my heart... I was in the gym as I was listening to the audiobook and I started crying
I've been reading the Last-Herald Mage trilogy. I'm on the second book at the moment. Just the first one had me sitting up late into the night bawling several times at various parts. I can hardly imagine how the third one will make me cry - even knowing what's going to happen!
Ki
Where did you find the audio books? Cause I couldn't find them on audible
@@Drake_Aedus they should be there.
@@Drake_Aedus I bought them on iTunes. And Kobobooks has them as well
Hey Savitar! Just wanted to say thank you so much for all the songs you upload. It has really changed the way i view music and i absolutely love all of it! Because I've been haunting your channel for like two years now and it just occured to me I've never thanked you for basically changing my life. So thank you! ^.^
I've only been here a few months, but This. ^^ Exactly this.
JamenofPern
JamenofPern
3 months ago
I've only been here a few months, but This. ^^ Exactly this.
The Shadow stalker song got me to read these books, but having finally finished them I think this might be my favorite
The price is always high for heroes
jerry jordan this is true.
A lot of time, the hero never see the good they had done.
jerry jordan In this case the price isn't quite so high as it seems because it's unclear as to whether Vanyel Dies or just becomes something else but he certainly doesn't die in the traditional sense the best explanation is that his 'spirit' becomes bound to the Forest of Sorrows which is why the forest lashes out at people who mean to harm Valdemar but it protects Heralds except in one very specific circumstance where he gets confused.
Not always, sometimes they defeat the dragon, marry the princess and live happily ever after ;)
Edit: unless you mean the price for hiring heroes. In this case it is generally true, but there are always these selfish assholes who save the village for free, thus driving the prices of heorism down (grumble, grumble)
There are old men, and there are bold men. But there are no old, bold men.
This really does hit hard love it
Im 32, reas this as an early teen because it looked cool.
Started reading it enjoyed it, uncle told me lead is gay, not into that but thiught fk it we will give it a whirl its good so far.
End up binging this andnthe other aeries with the female lead both cases challenged my world view. Teared Up a few times. I was so happy when i found aomething taatefully done tht i could enjoy as a straight man. Nothingbwas overbthe top it was taateful resoectfully and romantically done .. sorry for speeling .. found this went through old feels cryint about a book i havent read in oger a damn decade. Pretty blurry
This damn breeze, must be raining or something 😅
just finished reading the last herald mage and found the last story very moving especially where Van is tortured after being captured by a gang of bandits and Steven sorry if I got his name wrong here,
is allowed to ride a companion.
i got a solid CD of this at ovff 2022 i love it so much. wish i bought more valdemar CDs... next time!
I'd still love to see this on the big screen...it would never be as good as the books, but it would make me happy as long as Ms. Lackey had final say.
I have to say, I'm kinda a sap for last stands but this one really hitsa home. I still have yet to decide who my favorite of all the heralds is, Firestarter or Vanyel
Hard choice but I think it's Vanyel for me. He went into it willingly and knowingly for his duty to Valdemar. Lavan's death felt more sad.
@@jameskurth3560 Which book did Lavan die in?
@@user-vz3xv8kb3xSpoiler warning if anyone intends to read the books. At the end of Burning brightly Lavan's only appearance, his companion is killed by Karsite assassins. This removes a lot of his control over his Firestarter gift. He lets it go entirely consuming the whole valley including himself.
@@jameskurth3560 Thanks!
@@jameskurth3560 i understand that he was life bonded with his companion
i understand she saved lavan from getting shot full of arrows by the castle's guards
Sad and beautiful.
haven't even read the books (on my to read list, don't worry) and this song still makes me really sad.
I literally just finished chapter 1 of Magic's Pawn, my first book of Lackey. I really love it so far! If the whole book is as great as the first chapter, it's a great work ^^
@@TreespeakerOfTheLand I got the E-book fairly shortly after commenting this, and I absolutely agree.
@@addygil5000 I've finished chapter 5 yesterday and it's basically my life story so far. Kinda healing to read through it, really. It gives me some new perspectives which I can immediately apply to my own life. It's good stuff.
@@TreespeakerOfTheLand I found it so captivating when I first read it. I had no idea why it touched me so strongly.
@@reddir I get what you mean, I think. For me it's the realism of the characters, it's like they are really there. But the story itself is so simple, it took me a while to figure that out.
This is how I pictured vanyel's final moments. He is standing wearied, bloodied, and tired after battling 4v1 against leareth's underlings. Finally, leareth steps up to either convert him or kill him. He knows that vanyel is on his last leg and he is untouched and is being fed power by several others. Leareth knows that not even a final strike would be enough the way things are now. He makes another offer to lure vanyel to his side, tempting him with raising his long dead lover, not realizing that every word he says only disgusts vanyel further. Then, out of the darkness comes yfandes, winded but strong to stand behind vanyel. The two partners reaffirm their bond and all but say farewell. Then in a single motion vanyel mounts the saddle and turns to face leareth and rejects everything he offered and everything he stands for with a single word, "no". Together, yfandes and vanyel have the strength to call a final strike down on leareth that shatters crookback pass and takes the lives of all present.
But that still left the army, so vanyel makes a deal with the shadow lover to remain as ghost with yfandes in the forest to protect valdemar forevermore, but he wants payment for his service. His payment is that Steffan is to be given the same choice when his time comes
That was only fair, Vanyel gave up everything for duty and Valdemar, even his eternal rest. Permitting his lover to join him in his eternal watch was really only fair.
It's pretty much confirmed that staying was Van's choice. The Kondice himself said that he wasn't the one holding Van back.
don't you mean the star eyed Goddess of the Hawk brothers? I understand that it was partially her magic that the Companion's where originally created from. she has aided Valdemar before
@eliotreader8220 she didn't make companions, in oathbreakers, we see the star eyed manifest before a sword sworn and a herald. She jokes that she wishes she thought of companions and asked the herald what he thought if she made black companions for the sword sworn of the shin'a'in to matches the white heralds of valdemar
@@xqiuvmah In her new book series Mercedes Lackey has put a lot of effort into explain the origins of the Companion's and the first generation of Heralds. apparently she was one of the Gods that the King prayed to for help.
it sounds like she might have been the one who saved Valdemar from being destroyed by evil magic that had been sent over by a evil hawk brother mage who wanted to destroy them.
it was from this formally evil magic that the companions where given life.
Must have been a great mage battle.
IIRC, it really wasn't. he sent his lover out to bring the cavalry, and promptly proceeded to blow himself up. throw a shitload of fire and lightning, and then blow himself up, and somehow save just enough in reserve to "with dying breath command the trees". worth the song, yes, but not really climactic battle, just "welp, taking you with me."
mikato2 There was a lot more going on there that wasn't really explained in that book it was more explained slowly in the Mage Winds Trilogy but even then you had to be paying very close attention to the implications of what is said but basically Vanyel didn't really cast a spell to command the trees he kind of possessed the forest of Sorrows in the moment of his death and then as a spirit cast the spells that animated the forest in Valdemar's defense which is why the Forest in conflicted on whether it will Kill Thalia in the second book of the Arrows trilogy. I mean there is of course a lot more to it and while I would be happy to go over the rest I think I'll wait until I'm asked ti go farther
*asks you to go farther*
Oh please do. I love analysing stuff
Well some other interesting details are that Leareth his enemy is a hell of a lot more complicated than meets the eye. In the Mage Wars series the main enemy is Ma'ar The Mage Of Black Fire a very evil and very skilled mage who found a way to cheat death by creating a kind of spirit sanctuary in Void where he would hide out until one of his offspring who met a rigid set of criteria casted the spell to call down fire. Then Ma'ar would possess them and live his life in their body. In both the Mage Winds and the Mage Storms trilogies it is stated a few times the Leareth is in fact one of these incarnations hence the line "Vanyel looked and Vanyel knew an ancient evil's face". Another thing of interest is that Vanyel's possession of the forest is implied to have a degree of divine influence attached to it. Such a stance is reinforced when you consider that In Storm Breaking the last book of the Mage Storms trilogy the Teleporting Firecat Altra can't bring Vanyel's ghost from the Forest of Sorrows because Vanyel had been kept there by the power of some other deity, thus prompting the Karsite Sun Priest Karal to petition Vrkandys to allow Altra to bring Vanyel to him.
Nice. Thanks for posting.
What a lad
I understand that Van fore saw his fate in a dream?
magic trees came to the aid of the mage
we die my liege
I weep
The only thing that takes me out of the story is the name of the kingdom. I know it is named after the first king and all, but it's like calling a country "the Kingdom of Walter".
Lots of countries/states have this. Think of it more as Walterdom or Waltervale or Walterstan.
Think of it like Bohemia, odds are that place was named after some crazy pendejo named Bohemond.
@@jeffreygoodrich1732 Yes. the problem isn't calling a kingdom the king's name. It's calling a kingdom a boomer name.
@@marcusc9931 if i am recalling my history correctly Valdemar the Great was one of the finest kings Europe saw. Think he was Danish or Polish.
@@jeffreygoodrich1732 Yes, he was Danish!