"Paranor" is the fifth episode of the second season of The Shannara Chronicles, and the fifteenth episode of the series overall.
Synopsis[]
Allanon and Mareth manage to trap Bandon inside Paranor. However, as insurance Bandon has poisoned Flick, and only he has the cure that can save Wil's uncle from death. Lyria wants to help King Ander Elessedil fight the Crimson. Garet Jax visits the family of one of his slain men from the Border Legion. Cogline returns to tell Eretria about her past.
Plot[]
Garet and Eretria head to Paranor with Leah soldiers in pursuit. Garet heads off on his own despite Eretria's protests. The soldiers catch up with Eretria, who kills most of them before Cogline appears and takes down the remaining soldiers with Druid fire. Cogline insists that for the sake of the Four Lands, they must go to Leah and confront Queen Tamlin.
Back in Leah, Tamlin recognizes Cogline. She greets him familiarly and tells Eretria that she promised Lyria to spare her life, claiming that the soldiers chasing Eretria was just a mistake. Cogline asks why Leah was the only kingdom left untouched by the Warlock Lord when the King at the time had promised to fight the villain to the last man.
Tamlin admits she made a deal with the Warlock Lord: In return for Leah being spared and the King being killed so that Tamlin could become Queen, Tamlin would let the Warlock Lord drink from Heaven's Well, the source of the Silver River and the magic that sustains the Four Lands. Because the Warlock Lord was defeated before he he could drink from the Well, Tamlin's debt was never paid and Leah thrived in the thirty years since. However, Cogline warns that the Warlock Lord will come for the Well and that her deal will doom the Four Lands.
Also in Leah, Ander holds a memorial service for Catania, whose body he was not able to find. Along with Slanter, he mourns her and vows that the Crimson will pay for her death. Lyria urges Ander to let her help him fight the Crimson, arguing that she knows terrain of Leah well and that she has already been lying to Tamlin for ages.
As they approach Paranor, Allanon refuses to tell Wil his plan on confronting Bandon. When Mareth asks why only Wil and Allanon will go inside the Druid's Keep, Allanon claims that Mareth cannot be exposed to the Keep's magic because her own magic is too unstable. Mareth rides off, upset at the Druid's lack of trust in her. Allanon assures Wil that Bandon will not have Mord Wraiths with him as no creature of darkness can enter Paranor, causing Wil express surprise that Bandon was able to enter.
Inside they confront Bandon, who is holding Flick captive. Bandon reads Wil's mind and realizes his intentions are purely to save his uncle. However, because he can't read Allanon's mind, he slashes Flick's cheek with the Warlock Sword before handing him back to Wil. He says Flick has been infected with a poison only he can cure, and that he must have the skull of the Warlock Lord before he cures Flick.
Allanon leads Bandon to a raised platform and reveals the skull. However, it is only an illusion being created by Mareth, who had entered the Keep surreptitiously. Bandon notices the ruse, but Allanon rushes him and orders Mareth to touch certain runes, causing the Druid and Bandon to be trapped in a magical cage. Wil is stunned, realizing that Mareth and Allanon's earlier quarrel had been a setup and that they had both lied to him. Allanon tells Bandon that neither violence nor magic can be used in their cage, which is proven when Bandon tries to use the Warlock Sword against the Druid to no avail.
Eretria demands to know why Cogline never told her about Lyria being Tamlin's daughter. When Cogline says he had hoped the two women could build a life free of their parents' mistakes, Eretria presses him about her own background, including why the Druid Order had him protect her as a child.
Cogline reveals that the tattoo on Eretria's shoulder indicates that she is a descendant of Armageddon's Children, a sect that survived the Great Wars. Members of the sect were a hybrid of human and demon and therefore had the potential to be corrupted or controlled by dark forces. Eretria's mother was a member of the sect, and she and Eretria were hunted constantly. She handed Eretria over to Cogline before being fatally wounded by a demon. Cogline reveals that Eretria's mother convinced him that Eretria could just as easily be a force for good as well as evil, and the fact that the Ellcrys chose her to unlock the Bloodfire proved her mother right.
Eretria is stunned, saying that she had spent her entire life trying to break free from people's control. Cogline warns her that that if the Warlock Lord rises, he will sense Eretria's presence and try to use her. When Eretria questions his honesty, he takes her to an old police station from the Age of Man where he has a Mord Wraith trapped in a cage of magic and electricity. He orders Eretria to confront the beast, to train in case the Warlock Lord should rise and try to control her.
The Wraith senses the darkness in Eretria and tries to get into her head, but Eretria is stronger, asserting control easily and making the monster to bow to her. She is left disturbed, telling Cogline that when she use the darkness within her to control the Wraith, a part of her liked it.
Garet Jax arrives at an isolated home on the coast to see Sheema and Desmin, the widow and son of a Border Legion soldier he used to know. He barely has time to remind Sheema of his promise to take care of them when Valcaa arrives and kills the boy without mercy. Garet kills the soldiers that arrived with Valcaa but leaves Valcaa alive, saying that death is too good for him. However, when he turns to Sheema, she slaps him and tells him to leave her forever, calling him cursed.
In Leah, Lyria and Garet present Ander with a captive Valcaa. Lyria points out that Valcaa can lead them to General Riga and that they could prevent a civil war. When Ander asks what Lyria wants in return, she proposes that they go ahead with their marriage and that she become Queen of the Elves. Garet refuses monetary compensation for his trouble when Ander offers, saying that Valcaa had made things personal. When Slanter suggests that Lyria leave the room as Garet begins interrogating Valcaa, Lyria refuses.
Wil is incensed at being betrayed, but a weakened Flick tells him that Allanon was right to do as he did. When Wil uses the Elfstones to heal Flick, it only makes the poison stronger, and he vows to get the skull of the Warlock Lord for Bandon. Allanon urges Mareth to free him from the cage, but Mareth wavers. When Allanon points out that only a Druid and a scion of Shannara can unlock the path to the skull, Wil says he will use Mareth, since she claims to be his daughter.
Wil uses the Elfstones to retrace Allanon and Shea's steps, illuminating runes that Mareth presses to reveal a portal and a pedestal. They place their hands inside two openings in the pedestal, ignoring Allanon's protests that both will die if Mareth wasn't his daughter. However, they are successfully transported to another place, and when they awake Wil congratulates Mareth on having her identity confirmed. Back inside the cage at Paranor, Bandon taunts Allanon, arguing that the Druid is using his daughter just as he used Bandon, that she turned against him in the same way, and that Bandon should train Mareth instead.
Wil and Mareth realize they've been sent to Shady Vale but wonder how the village seems intact and peaceful when they last saw it in flames. Wil doesn’t recognize any of the villagers, and they don't recognize him either. It is only when the pair save a young man named Shea Ohmsford from being beaten up by other men for being half-Elf that they realize they have gone back in time to meet Wil's father.
Shea thanks the pair and says he was being beaten up for dating one of the men's sisters, Heady, who would later become Wil's mother. Shea also mentions that he is adopted, and that the rest of his family are of the Race of Man like everyone else in the Vale. He invites the pair to have lunch with him.
Wil is tempted to warn Shea of his future, but Mareth stops him, pointing that he could rewrite history if he did so. They realize that Shea is key to finding the skull since the portal brought them to him. Wil mentions that when he was a child Shea would hide things in barn that he didn’t want Wil to find, and he heads to the barn to look for the skull.
Shea returns and asks Mareth how long she and Wil have been together, and when she protests he says she looks at Wil the way Heady used to look at him. He encourages her to tell Wil her feelings.
A woman catches Wil rummaging through the barn, but when Wil says he helped Shea fend off his attackers the woman thanks him and reveals herself to be Shea's girlfriend, Heady. Heady reveals that her problems with Shea are deeper than just outside prejudice, and that she's distraught because Shea has been hiding things from her. As she wonders out loud if she can continue seeing Shea, Shea walks into the barn. Angered and hurt, he breaks up with Heady and runs off.
Mareth, Wil, and Heady search for Shea. Wil tells Mareth to stay with Heady, saying he has a hunch where Shea might be and that they must find the skull. However, Mareth points out that they also need to save Shea and Heady's relationship to ensure that Wil doesn't disappear in the future. She admits she'd miss Wil if he was gone, causing Wil to smile.
Wil goes to the grotto near the swimming hole where his father used to take him and finds Shea there. He dissembles when Shea asks how he found him, and as they talk, Shea expresses his concern that he might be bad for Heady, saying that he's been having realistic visions of monsters trying to kill him. Wil reassures Shea, saying that the creatures are real and called Mord Wraiths. Wil tells Shea he is having visions of the future.
Wil's words frighten Shea, but as he tries to get away he trips and falls, seeing visions of Mord Wraiths, of a bleeding Heady, a field of corn, and a skull. He realizes Heady is in danger and runs out of the grotto. Wil chases after him through a cornfield. As Shea emerges from edge of the field, a Mord Wraith appears, growling "Shannara."
Wil catches up to Shea and destroys the Wraith. He urges Shea to follow him quickly, but Shea demands to know what a "Shannara" is, prompting Wil to say: "You are."
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