The War of the Ember (16 page)

EZYLRYB: Whiskered Screech Owl,
Otus trichopsis,
Soren’s former mentor, the wise, much-loved, departed ryb at the great Ga’Hoole Tree

Others at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree

OTULISSA: Spotted Owl,
Strix occidentalis,
chief ryb and ryb of Ga’Hoolology and weather chaws; an owl of great learning and prestigious lineage

MARTIN: Northern Saw-whet Owl,
Aegolius acadicus,
member of the Chaw of Chaws; a Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree

RUBY: Short-eared Owl,
Asio flammeus,
member of the Chaw of Chaws; a Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree

EGLANTINE: Barn Owl,
Tyto alba,
Soren’s younger sister

MADAME PLONK: Snowy Owl,
Nyctea scandiaca,
the elegant singer of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree

MRS. PLITHIVER: blind snake, formerly the nest-maid for Soren’s family; now a member of the harp guild at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree

OCTAVIA: Kielian snake, nest-maid for many years for Madame Plonk and Ezylryb (also known as BRIGID)

DOC FINEBEAK: Snowy Owl
Nyctea scandiaca,
famed freelance tracker once in the employ of the Pure Ones

Characters from the Time of the Legends

CRANK: Spotted Owl,
Strix occidentalis,
the first collier; friend to young King H’rath and Queen Siv during their youth; first owl to find the ember

HOOLE: Spotted Owl,
Strix occidentalis,
son of H’rath; retriever of the Ember of Hoole; founder and first king of the great tree

H’RATH: Spotted Owl,
Strix occidentalis,
king of the N’yrthghar, the frigid region known in later times as the Northern Kingdoms; father of Hoole

SIV: Spotted Owl,
Strix occidentalis,
queen of H’rath of the N’yrthghar; mother of Hoole.

KREETH: Female hagsfiend with strong powers of nachtmagen; friend of Ygryk, conjured Lutta into being

The Pure Ones

KLUDD: Barn Owl,
Tyto alba,
Soren’s older brother, slain leader of the Pure Ones (also known as METAL BEAK and HIGH TYTO)

NYRA: Barn Owl,
Tyto alba,
Kludd’s mate, leader of the Pure ones after Kludd’s death

DUSTYTUFT: Greater Sooty Owl,
Tyto tenebricosa,
low-caste owl in the Pure ones, friend of Nyroc since his hatching (also known as PHILLIP)

UGLAMORE: Barn Owl,
Tyto alba,
a Pure Guard sublieutenant under Nyra who deserts the Pure Ones

TARN: Burrowing Owl,
Speotyto cunicularius,
a Pure One commander under Nyra and a brilliant tactician

Other Characters

DUNLEAVY MACHEATH: treacherous dire wolf, once leader of the MacHeath clan in Beyond the Beyond

GYLLBANE: courageous member of the MacHeath clan of dire wolves, her pup Cody died keeping the Book of Kreeth from the Pure Ones (also known as NAMARA)

BESS: Boreal Owl,
Aegolius funerus,
daughter of Grimble, a guard at St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls; keeper of the Palace of Mists (also known as THE KNOWER)

BRAITHE: Whiskered Screech Owl,
Otus trichopsis,
owl from Ambala and a memorizer of books; flew with the Greenowls of Ambala to the great tree on Balefire Night

CLEVE OF FIRTHMORE: Spotted Owl,
Striz accidentalis,
of the noble family of Krakor, healer, pacifist

Blue Owls

STRIGA: Blue Snowy Owl,
Nyctea scandiaca,
a former dragon owl from the Middle Kingdom seeking a more meaningful life (also known as ORLANDO)

TENGSHU: Blue Long-eared Owl,
Asio otis,
qui master and sage of the Middle Kingdom

Greetings, Dear Readers!

I come to you not as a monarch, but as an old friend from the Great Ga’Hoole Tree. I write at Otulissa’s request. She asks that I give you news of the tree and introduce the tales she has gathered. And so I shall.

It seems we have entered a time of blessed peace. The Striga and his vicious Blue Brigade fell in defeat many moon cycles ago. Nyra and the Pure Ones are gone. The dedication to learning fostered at the great tree has spread throughout the kingdoms, bringing with it the fresh breeze of knowledge and banishing the dank residue of ignorance, superstition, and malice. The arts of reading and even writing are no longer rare beyond the tree. Deep in the forest of Ambala, a simple printing press has been
built with the help of the newly established research-and-printing chaw from the great tree, so that in that hidden dell where great works are chanted into the emerald air, they are now put down in printed scrolls and books as well. This new press, and our own press at the great tree, supply a small but growing number of lending libraries that have been established in the owl kingdoms, so that great works from the tree, from the Glauxian Brothers’ and Glauxian Sisters’ retreats, and from the library of the Others in the Palace of Mists, may be studied in distant dens and hollows by furred, scaled, and feathered scholars alike.

It is perhaps natural that in such times of outward peace, we look inward. And so it is that the personal and, in some cases, secret histories of our own Guardians and others close to the tree have now come to light. Otulissa has studied, researched, and sometimes simply listened with a wise and sympathetic ear slit, and set down the tales for all to learn from. As you read these tales of personal history, private anguish, and worldly adventure, remember that not all battles are fought in the air or on the ground. Some, perhaps the most difficult of all, are fought in our own gizzards, hearts, and brains.

I submit these tales to you with respect and affection.

Soren

Guardian Among Guardians

As in previous Guardians of Ga’Hoole books, I have taken much inspiration from history. In Chapter 15 the speech given by the H’ryth is based on one given by Winston Churchill in 1940 in the House of Commons during World War II.

The final battle in the War of the Ember is modeled after the famous battle of Thermopylae in the year 480 B.C., where the Spartan soldiers at a rocky mountain pass in northern Greece stood three hundred strong against the invading Persian army who outnumbered them many times over. When Nyra warns Coryn that his strategy will not work without the sun and Coryn replies, “Then we shall fight you in the shade,” these are the same words that the warrior Dienekes replied to the threat delivered by the Persian king Xerxes as reported by Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian. Similarly in the epilogue of
The War of The Ember
when Otulissa begins to write the history of this great battle, one of the sentences in the last paragraph is an adaptation of the words of the fifth-century Greek lyric poet Simonides, words that can be found today on
the memorial epitaph at the site of the battle of Thermopylae.

Being a writer is not really as lonely a job as many people might think. In the end, writing a book is truly a collaboration. I have acknowledged history and then people such as Winston Churchill, whose use of language I find profoundly moving. I have recognized my readers, who through their enthusiasm have sustained and stirred me to keeping writing more in this series. And now I must speak briefly of my four muses.

Ann Reit loved my idea for the Guardians of Ga’Hoole and is responsible for bringing it to the attention of the people at Scholastic who were so important in giving it the great launch.

Joy Peskin edited the first five books. I am so grateful to her for her unmitigated optimism when I often faced what I thought were insurmountable problems as we sought to establish an overall narrative arc for these first books.

Maria Weisbin, who edited the last ten books, has the most extraordinary editorial eye I have ever encountered in my thirty years of writing. Her ear for language, her sense of plot and pacing is simply unmatched. She is
a woman of profound sensibilities, and her contribution to these books is beyond measure.

And finally there was, and is, the late Craig Walker, who was truly my Ezylryb. May he be ever happy in glaumora.

Book One:
The Capture

Book Two:
The Journey

Book Three:
The Rescue

Book Four:
The Siege

Book Five:
The Shattering

Book Six:
The Burning

Book Seven:
The Hatchling

Book Eight:
The Outcast

Book Nine:
The First Collier

Book Ten:
The Coming of Hoole

Book Eleven:
To Be a King

Book Twelve:
The Golden Tree

Book Thirteen:
The River of Wind

Book Fourteen:
Exile

Book Fifteen:
The War of the Ember

A Guide Book to the Great Tree

Lost Tales of Ga’Hoole