By Mike McCarthy
Demons are real and they are starting to appear all over the Four Lands. The true power of the Ellcrys is coming to light as the third episode of Shannara Chronicles has come and gone. “Fury” isn’t just the name of the episode, it’s also the name of the actual demons that are attacking the lands and hunting down Wil and Amberle to end the line of the Chosen. As the premiere episode ended A fury had just killed Amberle’s aunt, kicked Allanon over a ledge and was about to attack Wil and Amberle. Now if that’s not a cliffhanger for the premiere, I don’t know what else would be.
Wil being of the Shannara bloodline, whether he know’s it or not is bound for greatness and by putting himself between the fury and Amberle, it really shows that. Now, Will didn’t kill the fury himself, since Allanon chopped the head off but he is still showing his courage and willingness to protect the princess. While Allanon was protecting the two kids, he gets some pretty bad gashes from the fury and needs to be taken to the Druid’s cave where he was awoken a few days previously. After telling Amberle about the death’s of all of the other Chosen, to earn her trust back Wil decides to tell her about the death of his mother and that he knows about the loss of loved ones like Lorin. To try and help the healing process, Wil and Amberle disobey Allanon’s order to return to Arborlon and go looking for mud that has incredible healing powers. Along the way, Wil tells Amberle that Allanon believes he is the last of the Shannara bloodline, which Amberle is very enthusiastic to hear, since all Elves know about the legend of Shannara. When Wil comes out of the river with the mud, Eretria has now taken Amberle at knifepoint and Amberle is quite shocked to find out that Wil and Eretria have already met. She takes them both back to the rover camp where her father Cephalo have some plans for them.
Cephalo’s plan was to have Eretria fight Amberle to persuade Wil to show him how to use the Elf Stones. Eretria doesn’t kill for sport, only to survive and decides to cut Amberle loose and give her the choice to run. Amberle had a different idea and put a knife to her Eretria’s throat and brought her out into the camp, threatening to kill her if they weren’t set free. Eretria flipped the script and forced Amberle to the ground, making Wil decide to try and do whatever he could to save Amberle. Cephalo wants Wil to show him how to use the stones, and Wil has no idea how to, but it is buried inside of him, which shows right after. A fury attacks the camp and once again, Wil is between the fury and Amberle and Eretria. With the Elf Stones in his hand he starts to feel the power of the stones surging through his body with a blue glow flowing this veins and into his eyes. The power of the stones shoots out of his hand like laser pulses and incinerates the fury. Cephalo once again tries to take the stones from Wil, this time Allanon shows up after the Druids cave healed him, and he wasn’t happy that they weren’t at Arborlon.
On the venture back to Arborlon, the three travelers come upon a farm that has all of the livestock massacred and find a young man chained in the barn and his mouth with a large gag over it. Amberle decides to bring the young man, Bandon back to arborlon with them and Wil has some doubts about bringing him with them. Allanon has the same doubts since he can’t read his mind his thoughts are that he has magic and is hiding it, or that he has magic and doesn’t know about it. Bandon is fully aware of his magic, when Amberle touches him to get him loose, Bandon sees Amberle’s death.
The four of them return to Arborlon where the Elven council is meeting to decide what to do with Amberle and deserting her post as a member of the Chosen. Instead of going to the council with her, Wil decides that it is time to leave and go back to his normal life, much to Amberle’s dismay. On his way out, Bandon stops Wil and let’s him know about what he saw in his vision about Amberle which convinces Wil to go back .
While in the council chambers, Amberle tells them about the furies and what they have encountered since she left the castle. Allanon backs her story and tries to convince them of the demons and that magic does in fact exist. The middle son of King Eventine, Arion is very skeptical of these stories and shows zero faith in Allanon and his niece. Wil shows up to corroborate the story and is met with some resistance from Arion, until Allanon makes it known that he is the last son of Shannara, and is allowed to speak. The King announces that the Ellcrys will produce a seed and only a chosen can bring it to Safehold, but first since Amberle left her post, she must pass a test inside the Ellcrys. If the Ellcrys produces a seed then she has passed, if it doesn’t and she fails, then she dies…pretty big circumstances ahead in the coming episode.
Courage, friendship and loyalty were all shown during this week’s episode of Shannara. Wil shows his courage when he repeatedly protects Amberle at a drop of a hat and learns that he in actuality does have some magic that is dying to come out within himself. He also shows his loyalty and friendship to Allanon when he knows he needs to help him as soon as possible and attempts to get the mud from the Silver River. By returning to be by Amberle’s side against the council, the friendship he has with her is evident. They protect each other and rely on one another to get through this quest that lies ahead of them. We are three episodes into the first season and if you aren’t hooked on this show already then please tell us why.