and proof of Geraden's perceived incompetence. She must deal with the ever-earnest Geraden, the (seemingly) senile King Joyse and his headstrong daughters, the mad Adept Havelock, the inimical Castellan Lebbick, Geraden's mostly-well-meaning brothers, the lascivious Master Eremis and the rest of the disorganized group of Imager masters Geraden belongs to known collectively as the Congery. Unsurprisingly, the story twists and turns, very little is as it seems in Orison and various groups plot to depose King Joyse and take over Mordant. The mysterious rogue Imager is still sending magical creatures to cause destruction seemingly without rhyme or reason; the High King's Monomach, the best swordsmen in the land, appears in Orison by seemingly impossible translations; and Geraden remains firmly convinced that he has not made a mistake and that Terisa definitely is to be Mordant's champion and salvation despite her own doubts, protests, and debilitating passivity. Main characters Terisa Morgan Geraden King Joyse Elega and Myste and Torrent, the King's daughters Adept Havelock Castellan Lebbick Master Eremis Prince Kragen Artagel Master Quillon Gart Themes The story deals deeply with themes of what reality is, and how we can know what is real. Terisa is a troubled young woman who doubts the reality of her own existence, even before she is summoned to Mordant, where the prevailing belief among Imagers is that the things they summon from their magic mirrors (such as Terisa) do not actually exist before Imagery brings them into the world of Mordant. There is a similarity between the handling of this theme in Mordant's Need and in Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series, where Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever, commits at least one reprehensible act because he refuses to believe that the world he perceives around him could be real. Mordant's Need can be read as a reflection, or mirror image, of the Covenant story, where the reality questioned is not the fantasy world and the reality of those around the male protagonist, but the original world and the female protagonist's own reality. The dynamic between the aged King Joyse and his daughters strongly echoes Shakespeare's King Lear. The author has written in an interview: Books The Mirror of Her Dreams (1986) A Man Rides Through (1987) References External links Series listing on SciFan Fantasy Finder "Mordant's Need" Summary Fantasy novel series Novels by Stephen R. Donaldson Del Rey books