11 Jul 2023
D. T. Kane’s Epic Fantasy Book Club, McKillip, Riddle-Master of Hed Discussion-Episode 67 (2:40)
D. T. Kane presents a new segment with his fantasy discussion group. On this episode, we discuss the first book in Patricia A. McKillip’s epic fantasy Riddle-Master Trilogy, The Riddle-Master of Hed.
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Below are D. T. Kane’s notes for the episode. This is not an exact transcription of the audio.
Discussion of Riddle-Master of Hed, By Patricia A. McKillip
Page references are to the 1999 printing of the complete trilogy by Ace Books. Book 1, The Riddle-Master of Hed, is from pages 1-187 of that volume.
Reference: Three-Act Structure https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/story-structure/three-act-structure/ (https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/story-structure/three-act-structure/)
SPOLIER WARNING: There are lots of spoilers for Riddle-Master of Hed, below.
Synopsis
* We open with our main character, Morgon of Hed, discussing what to purchase from trade ships that just docked at Tol, a port city on the island of Hed, of which Morgon is the prince. Morgon’s “Shire”
* He has two younger siblings, a brother, Eliard, and a sister, Tristan. They all seem to have grown up a bit too fast, as their parents died last year and Morgon suddenly became prince. Eliard is headstrong, broad of shoulder, and Tristan tried to fill the place of their mother, scolding and keeping the house clean. Morgon has hair and eyes the color of light beer, slender, proud, a trick of looking at people, remotely like a fox glancing up from a pile of chicken feathers. No one seems to take his leadership entirely seriously yet. Eliard gives him a hard time when told to ride and let a farmer know he has to get his grain to port, later gets into a fistfight with him.
* Tristan reveals that Morgon has been hiding a crown under his bed for six months. Morgon says that he won it from a ghost in a riddle-game. Apparently, the ghost would have killed him if he’d lost, but he knew a riddle the ghost couldn’t answer. Eliard and Tristan are angry that Morgon took such a risk when they need him farming at Hed, and just after their parents died.
* Eliard: “How will I know, now, that when you leave Hed, you’ll come back?”
* Morgon: “I swear this: I will always come back.”
* We learn that Morgon’s father let him go to the College of Riddle-Masters is Caithnard, which apparently is out of the ordinary for anyone on Hed, much less its heir. It seems people on Hed keep to themselves and don’t go on adventures. (Sound familiar?)
* Later, Morgon is playing his harp and meets the “High One’s Harpist,” whose name is Deth. The High One seems to be a god/mythic figure/ruler of the known world. He (allegedly) sent his harpist to express sorrow over the deaths of Morgon’s parents.
* Deth reveals that the King of An, Mathom, has promised his daughter’s hand to whoever won the crown from the ghost, who was his ancestor. Her name is Raederle, and Morgon knows her because he was good friends with her brother, Rood, at college. Inciting Incident
* Doesn’t seem Morgon knew about that reward, but he is interested in Raederle.
* Travel to An to claim Raederle’s hand. Stop in Caithnard on way, which is where the college is to talk to her brother, Rood.
