le822

Heroine

Any of the three women in the story (Rohana, Magda and Jaelle) can be a heroine - each has a section of the book focused on her, after all. Still, I'm looking at this through Magda's viewpoint, as she's the outsider who goes further in than she ever thought she would.

Plot Summary

Lady Rohana Ardais organises an expedition with a band of Renunciates to rescue her cousin Melora Aillard, who was kidnapped by Dry Town raiders years before. They manage to get Melora and her daughter Jaelle away, but Melora dies in childbirth in the desert. Rohana takes Melora's son to raise, while Jaelle, despite being heir to the Aillard domain now, chooses to be fostered with the Renunciates.

Twelve years later, Terran agent Magda Lorne gets a visit from Rohana, who claims that mountain bandits have kidnapped her son for ransom, but her son is actually at home. It turns out that the kidnapped is Magda's partner, Peter Haldane, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Rohana's son. Following Rohana's advice, Magda disguises herself as a Renunciate and travels alone to ransom Peter, but she is discovered by a band of real Renunciates, led by Jaelle, and is forced to take the oath for real.

Magda saves Jaelle's life when they are ambushed, and Jaelle in return helps her complete her mission and get Peter away. The three spend the winter in the Ardais estate, where Jaelle and Peter fall in love, while Magda learns more about life on Darkover beyond the borders of the Terran Zone, as well as the psychic powers endemic among the population. In the spring, they all journey to the capital, where they have to face the governing council and make important decisions. Magda decides to abide by her oath and stay with the Renunciates, while Jaelle chooses to move to the Terran Zone to take Magda's place and marry Peter.

Departure

The Call to Adventure for Magda comes when word comes in that Peter is held hostage. Although they are no longer married, she's not about to abandon him. When the official authorities aren't helpful, Rohana suggests a course of action that places the burden on Magda herself.

Of course, Magda tries to avoid it (Refusal of the Call). Darkover is a closed world, Terrans aren't allowed to venture out beyond designated zones, and a woman travelling alone is just asking for trouble. Still, it is the only way anything can be done.

Rohana herself provides the Supernatural Aid. It doesn't seem very supernatural at the time, but her information on how to pass for a native out in the field is what saves Magda for a great part of her journey. Of course, it is also what lands her into trouble afterwards...

The Crossing of the First Threshold involves the pass that leads out of the city of Thendara towards the unknown. Incidentally, it is called Dammerung Pass. Coincidence? Bradley was a huge opera buff, so I think not.

One could argue that every step afterwards would count as the Belly of the Whale, but I think that moment, when Magda is cut off from all she knows, comes only when she meets Jaelle and her mates. A fake Renunciate among real ones, having to be what she was just looking like - it doesn't get more alienated than that.

Initiation

The line between the Departure and the Initiation stages blurs some. A couple of stages seem to be out of order, but the progression still makes ample sense.

The Road of Trials goes on from Dammerung Pass to Saint Scarp, where Peter is held, and Magda hopes to travel it alone, without attracting attention of any kind. The Meeting with the Goddess involves Jaelle and the women of her band, especially Camilla, who offers insight into some peculiarly Darkovan life truths that Magda would never hope to find from the outside.

This stage seems paused, though, as Jaelle momentarily assumes the role of Woman as Temptress: After taking the oath in Jaelle's hands and becoming a real novice Renunciate, Magda must be taken to the nearest Guild House to begin her training. She wouldn't be blamed if she abandoned her mission. Instead, she plans to run away, even stopping Jaelle by force from following her. That changes after they are ambushed and Jaelle is wounded. Magda's decision to stay and care for her, which earns her Jaelle's support to complete her mission, rounds of the Meeting with the Goddess.

Peter brings to pass the Atonement with the Father stage. Over their time recovering with Rohana's family, Magda and Peter resolve the remaining prickly points in their relationship, so Magda is able to let go of their own failed marriage and be happy for him and Jaelle.

Apotheosis comes through Rohana's agency, when she tests Magda for laran (the sum of psychic abilities that has been cultivated since ancient times among Darkovans). Learning that she has some ability of her own eventually finishes off the mundane Terran that Magda used to be and makes her Darkovan on cell-level.

By the end of winter, Magda has resolved that her Ultimate Boon is holding on to her Darkovan heritage. There are still powers at work that could deprive her of it, though, and before the final showdown, prospects look rather grim.

Return

As mentioned at the end of the previous section, Magda is unwilling to go back to the position she left for this adventure (not to mention she may not be able to, because the adventure broke about a million rules). There is no Magic Flight as such, although the ride back to Thendara is very different from the sneaky journey away.

Rescue from Without and Crossing the Return Threshold are again partly overlapping and partly reversed. During the Council hearing that will decide Magda's fate after such gross rulebreaking, as well as Jaelle's position between her domain and her Guild allegiance, Magda makes the decisive step to accept her oath and her place with the Renunciates, but suggest that using this as a bridge between the Darkovan and Terran cultures would be a benefit to everyone. On cue, Jaelle offers her own abilities in return for Magda's and brings in three high-rank Renunciate officials who explain how each one's specialty would gain from Terran contact. The Council's favourable decision marks Magda as a Master (Mistress?) of Two Worlds: the first Terran Renunciate and trainee laran worker.

In the end, as Magda and Jaelle say temporarily goodbye, one going to the Guild House for her housebound time and the other to the Terran Zone to plan her wedding, the Freedom to Live has been gloriously achieved against anyone's expectations.

Final Thoughts

I'm very happy I had the chance to do this project. Marion Zimmer Bradley is my favourite author of all time (her work as an editor is single-handedly the reason I got into fantasy literature and the largest source of my knowledge of how to write it). I find it sad that, only 15 years since her death, most of her work has been largely forgotten, and I enjoy every single opportunity to introduce it to someone new.

As a psychologist herself, I'm pretty sure MZB knew about Campbell's model, and although she tinkers a bit with the sequence, she has used it in several of her novels (the deviations often come from the fact that there is never one single protagonist in her stories; some, like The Forbidden Tower, are quite the ensemble jobs). The pattern is noticeable in City of Sorcery (another book featuring Magda and Jaelle), Sharra's Exile, and of course The Mists of Avalon - but those are stories for another time!