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Until now, not even I understood the strength of the spirit walker. Think what I can do with such power! I can learn the darkest secrets. I can bend all, all to my will! This is the will of the World Spirit! This is why it sent such a gift to me! With the spirit walker and the fire-opal I shall rule! All creatures, all demons will fear me and obey! Great power is bought with suffering, I know. But now you understand. You belong to me. Say it. Say that you belong to me!
~ Seshru gloating to Torak when she believes she has him under her thumb.
Seshru: A snake can still bite when you cut off its head. But what intrigues me is that you never confided in your wolf boy. You're good at secrets. You get that from me.
Renn: I get nothing from you!
Seshru: Daughter, why fool yourself? You can run all the way to the Edge of the World, it'll never be far enough! You can't run from what's in your marrow.
~ Seshru's dream version mocking Renn's resolve to be unlike her.

Seshru is a major antagonist in Michelle Paver's Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series (which takes place six thousand years ago in stone-age Europe). She is a Soul Eater who calls herself the Viper Mage. She serves as one of the two main antagonists (alongside Thiazzi) of Soul Eater, the main antagonist of Outcast and the overarching antagonist of Viper's Daughter. She is the mother and archenemy of the deuteragonist Renn, and her other children include Hord and Naiginn.

Biography[]

Past[]

The majority of the life of the woman who would be known as Seshru is unknown. What is known is that she was the mate of the brother of Fin-Kedinn, the Raven Clan chieftain. She bore him a son named Hord, but when the Healers were founded, she left her mate and son to join them. Changing her name and clan, she took up the alias of Seshru the Viper Mage. Everyone except her mate believed her to be dead. It is unknown if she ever truly was a member of the Viper Clan, for when asked in Outcast, several members of said clan deny ever having a mage who became a Soul Eater.

At some point before or after the Great Fire, Seshru returned to her mate in secret. She required a child to create her own tokoroth, but the six-year-old Hord was too old for that purpose. Seshru was impregnated by her mate, but she thanked him by leaving him again and shattering his heart. She gave birth to their daughter in secret. Before she could conjure an elemental (the strongest type of demons) and bind it in her newborn's body with the Fire Opal, Saeunn the Raven Mage sought her out and saved the child. Seshru disappeared again while Saeunn told the Raven Clan that the child's mother was a now deceased woman from the Deep Forest. The girl was named Renn and raised by her father, and after his death by her uncle Fin-Kedinn.

Renn learned her mother's identity at the age of seven from Fin-Kedinn after her father died. Unable to forget Seshru, he was searching for her and ended up being killed by a snowfall on the ice river beyond Lake Axehead. Though Renn had a gift in Magecraft, she refused to practice it because of her mother's legacy. Seshru herself did not keep tabs on her daughter, so when they first meet in Soul Eater, she does not know realize their kinship. She finds it out only during Outcast.

After the Great Fire, Seshru fled to the Far North in search of a refuge. She gained it by seducing Marupai, the mage of the Narwal Clan. When he was on fells, she walked towards him with sunlight behind her. Introducing herself as Ankanau, she said she came from the sun. Marupai believed her every word and soon shared a secret with her: he was the only Narwal who had found the Island at the Edge of the World where the Otherworld is close in the volcanic terrain. Seshru fooled him into taking her there, and there she birthed a son named Naiginn who was one year younger than Renn. She convinced Marupai that the son was his, even though the father was actually her fellow Soul Eater Tenris.

Seshru took Naiginn to the Island's ice mountain, telling Marupai that she needed to cast on the "child of the sun" a spell to hide his blazing spirit so that it cannot burn mortals. In a cave under the ice mountain, she snared a powerful ice demon and trapped it in her infant, finally gaining her own tokoroth. In order to hide Naiginn's demonic nature from everyone, she cast on him a spell that also prevented him from feeding on the souls of the living. She eventually left Naiginn in the care of Marupai who would spend the rest of his life longing for her and even blinded himself by staring at the sun for too long. When Naiginn was seven years old, Seshru came to visit him and told him what he really was. Before leaving again, she promised to return when he grew up and unleash him upon the world. This was the last time Naiginn saw her.

Soul Eater[]

Fourteen years after the Great Fire, Seshru joins forces with Eostra, Nef and Thiazzi to take over the Forest in wintertime. With one of the three Fire Opal pieces in their possession, they locate the Eye of the Viper, a mountain in the Far North. The mountain contains the Door, an underground place where the layer between the mortal realm and the Otherworld is thinnest. The Soul Eaters intend to find the Door and open it to release demons from the Otherworld. They would then bind the demons to their will with the Fire Opal and use them to force all the clans to submit to them.

In order to cast charms to protect themselves from demons, the Soul Eaters require nine predators as sacrifices. Seshru travels with Nef and Thiazzi to the Forest to hunt. After capturing Wolf, they start journeying back to the Far North and capture more predators along the way, unaware that Torak and Renn are pursuing them. In the Far North, Seshru uses a sleeping potion to sedate a polar bear, making it easier to capture. She also somehow steals from the Walker the claw-like stone he took from a cave that holds another doorway to the Otherworld. It is never revealed whatever or not Seshru recognizes the old mad outcast from the Otter Clan as the former Soul Eater Narrander.

Before dying during the plot of Spirit Walker, Tenris had sent for Seshru a message that said "The Wolf lives". Unsure of its meaning, the Soul Eaters keep Wolf separated from the other sacrifices. At one point, Seshru smears Wolf's pelt with elk blood while he is still defiant. She is revealed to have put something sedative in the blood after Wolf licks it and becomes drowsy. She also finds it amusing when he weakens enough to accept the meat Nef offers him.

When Torak and Renn track the Soul Eaters down to the Eye of the Viper, they encounter a boy from the White Fox Clan whom Nef has brought in to serve as an apprentice and one of the sacrifices. Torak takes his place, managing to fool the Soul Eaters who have hardly seen the White Fox boy's face. Seshru acts condescendingly towards Torak while she and the others reveal some information on the Soul Eaters' plans. By using the Walker's stone claw, she locates the Door in a ritual that ends with her falling unconscious. She and Nef later find Torak unconscious in the chamber where the predators are contained. Seshru senses souls in the air without realizing that they belong to Torak who is spirit walking. Nef checks on the animals to see if one of them is dead, almost discovering Renn who is hiding among them. Impatient to get some rest before the Opening of the Door, Seshru tells Nef to let the animals and Torak be before they leave.

While Torak and Renn find and free Wolf, the Soul Eaters slaughter the polar bear and a lynx as they are about to open the Door. During the rite, Seshru wears the lynx's skinned pelt while she and Thiazzi keep the slaughtered predators' vengeful souls away. After Nef realizes that Torak has released all the contained animals and raises the alarm, a fight ensues between the Soul Eaters and Torak, Renn and Wolf. While Nef and Thiazzi confront the heroes, Seshru rushes to the Door and opens it, releasing a flock of demons. This only lasts for a short while before Renn throws a torch in Seshru's back, causing her to close the Door. After Torak makes Eostra drop the Fire Opal, Renn takes it and flees with Torak and Wolf. Without the Fire Opal, the Soul Eaters cannot control the demons they have released.

Seshru, Nef and Thiazzi (along with Eostra's eagle owl) pursue the three heroes in order to reclaim the Fire Opal. They catch Torak after he has been separated from Wolf and Renn. When Nef finds and recognizes the ceremonial knife Torak's father passed down to his son, the boy's identity finally dawns on the Soul Eaters. Seshru considers it to be a disappointment that Tenris' message about the wolf living meant that they have the adolescent son of the turncoat Soul Eater against them. The three Soul Eaters then force Torak to lead them to Renn who has the Fire Opal, though not before Seshru forcefully tattoos the Soul Eaters' symbol on the boy's chest.

By the time Renn is found, she plans to jump in a chasm with the Fire Opal in order to destroy its power before the Soul Eaters threaten her with arrows. Lured by the scent of Torak's blood, a polar bear appears, and Torak spirit walks in it. When this happens, the enraged Seshru realizes that Torak is a spirit walker before the boy uses the bear's strength to send her flying through the air, knocking her unconscious. As Torak fights Thiazzi, Wolf drives the released demons there with the help of an arctic wolf pack. Nef takes the Fire Opal from Renn and sacrifices herself to repay her debt to Torak's father. The demons follow her down the chasm and end up being trapped under ice while the Fire Opal's power becomes undone. Seshru and Thiazzi flee to fight another day.

Outcast[]

Manipulating from the shadows[]

When it is two months since the ending of Soul Eater, Seshru sets in motion her own plans to gain power. After Aki , the son of the Boar Clan's chieftain, finds some red deer antlers and marks them as his claim, Seshru rubs the mark off. Torak finds the antlers and takes them, leading to Aki accusing him of stealing them. As Aki attempts to fight Torak, he accidentally exposes the latter's Soul Eater tattoo. This leads to Torak being branded as an outcast who must be killed on sight and cannot be helped by anyone under the threat of being cast out as well.

For the next two months, Seshru spies on Torak from a distance. Having stolen from the Otter Clan's healing spring their sacred green clay, she uses it to conceal herself. This makes Wolf unable to recognize her from her scent, and he refers to her as "Other" or "the Otherness" because of this. When Torak cuts off his Soul Eater tattoo in a rite, Seshru tampers with his special herb drink. As the result, he spirit walks in an elk and attacks Renn while he sleeps. He later sneaks into a clan meet and takes back something he made for Renn in Spirit Walker: a pebble on which he daubed his so-called clan tattoo in perfect detail. He ends up leaving it in a tree's cleft, allowing Seshru to claim it. She uses the pebble and Torak's cut Soul Eater tattoo to torment him through his dreams and make him suffer from soul-sickness that leads to him driving Wolf away from him while they are at Lake Axehead.

By stealing the sacred green clay from the Otter Clan's healing spring, Seshru makes Lake Axehead sick. The lake offers only deformed fish, making it hard to feed the Otter Clan. The lake's water level lowers because the eastern ice river does not provide meltwater for it as it normally does. Seshru takes credit for all of this, attempting to scare the lake's inhabitants to submit to her.

Renn and Bale arrive at Lake Axehead to help Torak. Renn is eventually forced to use her gift in Magecraft and send help for the sick Torak. Seshru attempts to prevent this from a distance, but Renn succeeds by sending two young ravens — Rip and Rek — for Torak to take care of. This sets in motion his healing process, allowing him to reconcile with Wolf and spend time with a wolf pack that limits Seshru's movements.

The final confrontation[]

Seshru contacts Torak in his dream, posing as Renn. She advises him to go to the healing spring and bathe it in order to heal his festering wound that was left from the removal of the Soul Eater tattoo. Torak climbs to the cliff where the spring is located and bathes his chest. He also eats crowberries without realizing that Seshru has poisoned them and falls asleep.

Upon waking up, Torak finds himself paralyzed and Seshru preparing her spells next to him. She heals his festering wound, having decided that she no longer needs the boy's cut Soul Eater tattoo to draw him to her. She shows Torak his name-pebble which she has adorned with a green clay snake. She says that it allows her to control him so that she has no need to take his spirit walker power for herself. When she finds out from his thoughts that he had made the pebble for Fin-Kedinn's niece, she finally realizes that Renn is her daughter, though she does not tell this to Torak. The Viper Mage then reveals that she wants to find one of the two remaining Fire Opal pieces. She forces Torak to spirit walk in a viper and orders him to kill Renn. Before the snake can bite Renn, Rip and Rek chase it away. Torak returns to his body and tells Seshru that he bit Renn. Seshru is too ecstatic about her apparent control over Torak to realize Renn is still alive.

Torak escapes while Seshru sleeps and finally reunites with Renn and Bale. However, when they discover that the wolf pack has left, Seshru confronts them at the abandoned den. She renders Bale and Torak reluctant to attack her by appealing to her apparent unarmedness. She then reveals in sadistic delight Renn's kinship with her. Shocked and feeling betrayed, Torak runs away with Bale pursuing him. Renn runs in another direction and steals the Viper Mage's boat. Seshru appears at the shore and trades words with her daughter. She reveals that she birthed Renn just to make her a tokoroth, shocking Renn who was only being told that Seshru intended to sacrifice her. Warning that Renn is powerless against her, Seshru disappears.

The ice river releases a flood to cleanse the area of Seshru's taint, and the clans that are present are saved when they take refuge on the Hogback ridge. Though they are warned of the danger by Torak, most of the clansmen still want to kill him. When he shows them the Fire Opal piece he has found hidden in the hilt of his father's knife, Seshru appears, adorned in the green clay. The men are too frightened to attack her as she closes on Torak, demanding the Fire Opal for herself. Pretending to relent, Torak places it on a boulder between them, and Seshru smiles triumphantly. To her horror, however, Torak takes a lump of granite to smash the Fire Opal. This prompts the Viper Mage to draw a knife and leap towards him. Bale takes Renn's bow and shoots an arrow in Seshru's chest as Torak shatters the Fire Opal at the same time. Renn places the shards in Seshru's palm and forcefully clenches the hand in a fist, allowing the Opal's power to die with the Viper Mage who can only swear with her dying breath that it is not over. Torak helps Renn to draw the Death Marks on her mother while Wolf drives the Viper Mage's souls away.

Legacy[]

With Seshru dead, Torak is accepted back by the clans, and he reconciles with Renn. The Otter Clan takes Seshru's body to a remote bay of Lake Axehead for funeral rites. Rip and Rek find Torak's name-pebble and return it to him, and he lets it sink in the lake. The Fire Opal piece that Seshru unwillingly took with her to her grave leaves only one to be destroyed.

Seshru's spirit appears briefly in Ghost Hunter when Eostra summons her with the other deceased Soul Eaters. They are all under Eostra's control because the Eagle Owl Mage possesses their hair. When the spell is broken, they vanish.

In Viper's Daughter, three years after Seshru's death, her tokoroth son Naiginn has become at the age of sixteen the best hunter in the Far North, with no-one aware of his true nature. He longs to be free of his mother's masking charm so that he can feed on the souls of the living, but he was told by Seshru that the charm can only be broken by a mage related to her in the ice cave were it was cast. Unable to do Magecraft himself, Naiginn decides to take his half-sister Renn to the Island at the Edge of the World. He stages accidents that cause her to believe that she is subconsciously trying to hurt her mate Torak. Thinking her mother might be influencing her beyond the grave, she sets alone on a journey to the Far North in search of a solution.

Leaving Torak without telling him anything and adopting a fake identity on her journey makes Renn fear that she is turning out to be like her mother. Before meeting Naiginn, she has a dream in which Seshru gloats about their similarities and warns her that what Renn will be up against is worse than the Viper Mage was. It is implied that Seshru's spirit is contacting her daughter, for when Renn wakes up, she finds evidence of the charm she supposedly made in her dream to hurt Torak.

Naiginn manages to take Renn to the ice cave where he was created, but she outsmarts him by taking an example from their mother's deceptive skills. She afterwards defeats him with Torak's help, and he gets attacked by a mammoth's spirit. The adventure teaches Renn that even if she has similarities with her evil mother, she can use them for good purposes, so she starts doing Magecraft more. However, she has another dream of Seshru who questions if Naiginn is truly dead and repeats her last words in life that it is not over.

In Skin Taker, Seshru's warning bears true when Naiginn is revealed to be still alive, and he has discovered another way to break Seshru's charm: by eating the brains of still living creatures. Following the destruction a meteor known as the Thunderstar causes in the Forest, Naiginn becomes a cult leader and tries to have his revenge on Torak and Renn. After they expose his lies to his followers and save the Forest by bringing the First Tree (the aurora borealis) back with Wolf's help, Naiginn pursues the latter for having the brightest souls in the Forest. At the end of Wolfbane, Naiginn is finally killed at the cost of Fin-Kedinn's life, and his demon souls are banished to the Otherworld, ending Seshru's legacy for good.

Appearance[]

Seshru is a slender and attractive woman. She has a long black hair and slanting lynx eyes that are dark blue. Her beautiful mouth and small, pointed tongue are dyed black. It is for this reason that Wolf calls Seshru "Viper-Tongue". Like her daughter Renn, she has a pale skin and high-boned, regular features. She often smiles in a mocking sideways manner, and her soft voice reminds Wolf a little of Renn.

Seshru's supposed clan tattoo is situated on her high brow. It is a stark and vertical black line of arrowheads that resembles the markings of a snake. Like the other Soul Eaters, she has a three-pronged black fork tattooed over her heart. In Soul Eater, she wears a supple seal-pelt tunic. In Outcast, she wears a tunic made out of supple buckskin that is fringed with snakeskin that caresses her bare arms and calves.

Personality[]

While not necessarily a born member of the Viper Clan, Seshru is very much like her supposed totem and does everything sideways. She injects her venom into her victim and patiently allows it to slowly weaken them before she finishes the job, like she does with Torak in Outcast. When she changed her name (which is said to mean the same as death), she changed her old identity for another like a snake sheds its skin. When Eostra summons Seshru's spirit in Ghost Hunter, the Eagle Owl Mage calls her a seducer who is subtle as snake.

Seshru is ruthless and has no morals. She is not afraid to use her beauty to her own advantage. She broke the heart of Renn's father by leaving him when he was of no use to her anymore, and she did it again when she returned to him just to have a baby. She ruined Marupai's life by making him love her fervently and take care of a demon-possessed son that was not even his. She uses her beauty to try and make Torak fall under her charm. She also feigns being a helpless woman when she confronts Bale, using his reluctance to attack an unarmed woman against him.

Seshru is a skilled liar and willing to take credit for actions that are not her own, like with some of Lake Axehead's events. Like the other Soul Eaters, she claims that they alone know the will of the World Spirit and considers herself above the laws of the clans. She claims in Outcast that Torak was led into her clutches by the World Spirit's will and that they are not different due to being outcasts whom the clans fear because of their power. Making the masses obey her through fear — like with the title of a Soul Eater — ecstasies her, but she considers Tenris' Demon Bear, which was too powerful for him to control, to have been a piece of magnificent madness.

Seshru enjoys making others do her bidding. When she has a chance to eat Torak's heart and take his spirit walker power for herself while he sleeps, she chooses to take control of him and force him to use his power in her name instead. She also has two vipers under her command. They disappear after she dies, though, not giving the impression of being evil. While nightshade is favored by the Soul Eaters, Seshru likes using the toxic plant even more so.

Seshru is highly vain and considers herself to be superior to everyone else. She often taunts Torak and Wolf as well as sneers at Nef's consideration towards Torak and the sacrifices. When she tells Torak Renn's secret of being the Viper Mage's daughter, Seshru delights in driving a wedge between them. She is implied to have a friendship with Thiazzi, and she is shown to get along with him well. For all her bravado, however, she tends to overlook things in her arrogance and impatience.

Seshru does not seem to have any maternal instincts. She abandoned her son Hord to join the Soul Eaters and is never shown making any mention of him. She birthed Renn and later Naiginn only so that she could create a tokoroth, sparing Hord from such a fate only because he was too old for that. Her first act upon learning that Renn is her daughter is to force Torak to bite her in the body of a snake. She considers Renn to be weak for having her father's heart, but she does give some acknowledgement for Renn's skill in Magecraft, saying that perhaps she should be proud of her. She also loves to point out the similarities between them, something Renn hates to acknowledge. However, Renn admits that as much as she hates Seshru, the Viper Mage is determined like herself.

Powers and Abilities[]

Seshru's special ability as a Soul Eater is her extensive knowledge about herbs and potions. She can sense spirits around her, like when Torak spirit walks. She can communicate with others on a psychic level, like she does with Renn and Torak. She is also a master of illusions. While having Torak at her mercy in Outcast, she demonstrates the ability to get tips of information from his thoughts. She was also able to cast on Naiginn a charm that conceals his true nature as a tokoroth even from Wolf.

Quotes[]

Soul Eater[]

Seshru: What's this, Nef? Have you brought us your fosterling at last?
Torak: No, no, don't make me look upon the face of power!
Nef: Not that again! He won't even dare look at me!
Seshru: If he daren't look at Nef the Bat Mage, dare he look upon Seshru, the Viper Mage? (*removes her hood and sizes Torak up*) He's thin for a White Fox. Nef, you disappoint me. You've found us a runt.
~ Seshru meeting Torak for the first time.
Poor Nef! Always so eager to play the mother!
~ Seshru mocking Nef when the latter tells Thiazzi to leave Torak alone.
The mistake others made in the past was to overreach themselves. Our brother who is lost summoned an elemental and trapped it in a great bear. Of course he couldn't control it. It was a magnificent madness.
~ Seshru talking about Tenris' demon bear.
The Door — is — found!
~ Seshru upon finding the Door.
Seshru: So you found him.
Nef: I can't wake him up.
Seshru: He took too much root. Leave him. We don't need him till tomorrow. What are you doing?
Nef: Turning him over. Can't let him sleep on his back. If he's sick, he'll choke.
Seshru: Oh Nef, why bother? He isn't worth –
Nef: What is it?
Seshru: I feel something. Souls. I feel souls, in the air around us.
~ Seshru dismissing Torak's well-being before sensing his souls spirit walking.
Thiazzi: The Wolf lives. That was the message from our brother across the Sea. What did it mean, we asked ourselves.
Seshru: Then a boy came. A boy who wore the tattoos of the White Foxes, but didn't look like one. I felt souls in the air around me. What does this mean, I asked myself.
Thiazzi: Who are you?
Seshru:
What are you?
~ Seshru and the other Soul Eaters confronting Torak after he has released the remaining animals.
"The Wolf lives." (*gives her sideways smile*) So that's what it means. What a disappointment.
~ Seshru upon discovering Torak's identity.
Your father tried to trick us, and we killed him. If you trick me, I shall make sure that you will never be free of me.
~ Seshru threatening Torak after he swears to take the Soul Eaters to Renn and the Fire Opal.
This mark will be like the harpoon head beneath the skin of the seal. One twitch, and it will draw you, no matter how hard you struggle…
~ Seshru tattooing Torak with the Soul Eaters' symbol.
The boy! The boy is the spirit walker!
~ Seshru realizing that Torak is a spirit walker.

Outcast[]

When reed quakes, when storm breaks, remember me
When thunder growls, when wind howls, remember me
I am the reed and the storm, the thunder and the wind
I summon you, I bind your souls to mine
You can never be free
You belong to me
~ Seshru casting her spells to blight Torak.
I feel your purpose… You shall not succeed. You shall not succeed.
~ Seshru trying to prevent Renn from casting a spell to aid Torak.
Torak: I knew you'd find me.
(* Torak realizes he's talking to Seshru instead of Renn*)
Seshru: I knew I'd find you too. How you've grown since last we met!
Torak: The crowberries. You poisoned them.
Seshru: But I'm not going to hurt you.
Torak: Why would I believe that?
Seshru: Because I would have done it by now. I could have cut out your heart and eaten it. Not even your wolves could have reached you up here. But I want you alive!
~ Seshru having the paralyzed Torak at her mercy.
All the tiny creatures. The wolves, the frightened little Otter people. They belong to me now. They must submit — or I will empty the Lake. (*touches the green clay on her arm*) This — this has power! When I wear it, those I meet see only a woman masked in green: sick, frightened, like them. Not even your wolf knows my scent. (*hears Wolf's howl and smiles*) Now he knows me! I've shed my mask. He knows who has defeated him!
~ Seshru gloating to Torak.
Seshru: Ah, but you're strong! To have spirit walked in an ice bear! Brave, too. To cut out the mark of the Soul-Eater. Who taught you the rite? It must have been a Mage of great power.
Torak: You — stole the red deer antlers. You poisoned the drink when I did the rite. You made me spirit walk in the elk.
Seshru: So strong. And to fight off soul-sickness!
Torak: The F-Far North. How did you get away? Where is the Oak Mage — the Eagle Owl Mage?
Seshru: Ah, we're so alike, you and I! Both outcasts, both unimaginably strong. That's why the clans hunt us. The weak will always fear the strong. So alike. Why fight it? Why not accept it?
Torak: No. We're not alike. You've killed people. You've broken clan law.
Seshru: But that's all it is, the law of the clans. Only the Soul-Eaters know the law of the World Spirit. That's why it delivered the spirit walker to me.
~ Seshru trying to charm Torak.
Do not imagine you can hide from me. You cannot defy me! Not while I have this! (*reveals Torak's name-pebble*) Have you any idea of the power this gives me? With this I blighted your souls! You have no will of your own. You belong to me!
~ Seshru threatening Torak with his name-pebble.
Seshru: You wanted this, spirit walker. You put yourself in my power. You left the stone for me to find.
Torak: No.
Seshru: Then why make it?
Torak: A — a present.
Seshru: For whom?
Torak: — A girl.
Seshru: Why take it back?
Torak: To tell her I was gone.
Seshru: (*discovers Renn's name from Torak's mind*) Her name is Renn. Who is she? (*notices Torak's gaze settling on Fin-Kedinn's axe*) Fin-Kedinn's. She's Fin-Kedinn's child.
Torak: — His brother's.
(*Seshru turns to look away after a moment of stillness*)
Seshru: — His brother's child. Of course. He would have cared for his brother's child.
~ Seshru figuring out that Renn is her daughter.
Torak: Why do you want me alive? What do you want?
Seshru: You know what I want.
Torak: My power. You want to be the spirit walker.
Seshru: I have that already. I can make you spirit walk whenever I wish. I want more. I want — the fire-opal.
Torak: It — it was lost in the ice.
Seshru: Don't lie to me. I am a Mage, don't you think I have ways of knowing? When your father shattered it, three pieces were left —
three! One held by the Seal Mage, one taken by the black ice. One remains. Your father must have told you before he died.
Torak: No.
Seshru: He hid it. He hid it and he told you where, as he lay dying —
Torak: No —
Seshru: — as he lay in agony, his life bleeding away, his guts ripped out by the demon bear —
Torak: No!
~ Seshru interrogating Torak about the whereabouts of the second Fire Opal piece.
Your body can't move, but your souls can. Your souls will go wherever I command. Your souls will do whatever I want.
~ Seshru forcing Torak to spirit walk in a viper.
Bale: Torak, don't you see what this means? If the wolves have left the island, it means —
Seshru: Yes, it does. The wolves are gone. I sent them all away.
Renn: Don't listen to her.
Seshru: Why, what harm can I do? It's three against one, and I have no weapons. No weapons, not even a knife. Not even a knife.
~ Seshru confronting Torak, Renn and Bale at the empty wolf den.
Seshru: You lied to me. You deceived me and ran away. I thought you were braver than that.
Torak: You can't make me go with you.
Seshru: Ah, but I can.
Renn: Don't listen to her.
Seshru: So this is Renn. What a little vixen! It was you who helped him resist me, wasn't it? You must have some small talent for Magecraft. But of course you do! And we both know why.
~ Seshru addressing Renn for the first time.
Oh, she won't shoot! She can't. Can you, Renn? (*Renn lowers her bow*) I knew she wouldn't.
~ Seshru being amused as Torak and Bale tell Renn not to shoot her.
To kill a weaponless woman… who could do such a thing? Could you? (*Bale drops his axe*) I didn't think so. That would be the mark of a weak man, and you're not weak. You're a Seal Clan hunter. You're strong.
~ Seshru using her charm to render Bale reluctant to attack her.
Torak: I — won't go with you. I won't help you find the fire-opal.
Seshru: Oh, but you will. When you know the truth, you will!
Torak: No.
Seshru: You see, I can make you leave your friends — I can cut you out from your safe little herd — just as easily as snapping my fingers.
Torak: No.
Renn: She's lying. That's what she does, Torak, she lies! She takes credit for things she didn't do; she denies the crimes she did. You can't believe anything she says!
Seshru: Some things you can. We both know that, don't we, Renn? Although I must say, I'm surprised that you never told him. If he's your friend — if you care for him as much as he cares for you — and he does care, he really does… Not to have told him!
Such a mistake! But then, you already know it was a mistake. Don't you, Renn?
Torak: (*notices that Renn has paled*) Renn? What's wrong?
Renn: I was going to tell you. But I could never… It was never the right time.
Torak: Tell me what?
Seshru: Haven't you guessed?
Torak: Guessed what? Renn, what is it?
Seshru: Tell him, Renn. Tell him!
(*Renn is unable to make a sound*)
Torak:
What?
Seshru:
She is my daughter!
~ Seshru telling Torak in Renn's stead that the latter is her daughter.
Renn: What do you want?
Seshru: Nothing you can give.
Renn: Then why are you here? Haven't you done enough?
Seshru: You disappoint me, daughter. I'd hoped for less passion. More control.
Renn: I hurt him. I hurt my best friend.
Seshru: What a pity, you have your father's heart! Although — you have your mother's courage.
Renn: I have
nothing of yours!
Seshru: Ah, but we both know that isn't true. You have my talent for Magecraft. You did well to help the spirit walker resist me. Perhaps I should be proud of you. He belongs to me, daughter. He is my reward for the long winters of waiting.
Renn: He belongs to no-one but himself.
Seshru: Don't fight me. It would be fatal to pit your power against mine.
Renn: Maybe. But you're not invincible. Saeunn's power was less than yours, and yet she triumphed over you once.
Seshru: Not in Magecraft. She was nothing but a thief. She stole you from me.
Renn: She saved me! I was a baby and you were going to sacrifice me!
Seshru: Is that what she told you? Why would I carry you for nine long moons, if only to kill you? No, you were destined for greater things. You were to have been my finest creation — you were to have been my tokoroth! I could have done it. The fire-opal would have drawn the mightiest demon — a very elemental — and I would have trapped it in my newborn child!
My thing, my creature! With such power, what could we not have achieved! Instead, the old crone "saved" you. And there you sit: weak, powerless, wondering if you have the courage to kill me.
Renn: I could. I could shoot you right now.
Seshru: (*laughs*) Never make a threat you can't carry out, daughter! Against me you have no power. You cannot vanquish me and you cannot kill me! Remember that.
~ Seshru having a private confrontation with Renn.
I see you… I know the limits of your power… I am the reed and the storm, the thunder and the wind… You cannot prevail…
~ Seshru psychically confronting Renn again.
Give it me. Stay back. Death shall come to any who attempt to harm me. Give it me.
~ Seshru demanding the Fire Opal piece from Torak while warning the terrified clansmen to keep away from her.
This — is not the end.
~ Seshru's dying words.

Viper's Daughter[]

Renn: I hated you when you were alive, I still do. You broke my father's heart. If he hadn't gone looking for you he wouldn't have died on the ice—
Seshru: Your father was weak.
Renn: You wanted to put a demon in me and make me your tokoroth: your creature, to obey your every command.
Seshru: And now look at you. A snug little mated pair with your wolf boy! Although we both know that's not perfect. You want to be with your clan. He can't wait to leave. It'll never work. And now you've left him, as I left your father.
Renn: I had to, he was in danger—
Seshru: Yes, from you. All that rage bubbling inside you.
Renn: I'm not angry with Torak.
Seshru: Really? Those "accidents" in the Forest? That charm just now, burning his mark?
~ Seshru's dream version trying to convince Renn that the latter is responsible for Naiginn's staged accidents.
Seshru: Do you remember the day I died? You knelt beside me as I lay with an arrow in my breast. Your face was wet-
Renn: With rain, not tears.
Seshru: Oh, I know! You'd have shot me yourself if someone hadn't beaten you to it. People were frightened, they didn't dare come near me. But not you and the wolf boy. You heard what I said as I died.
This is not the end…
Renn: What do you mean? You're dead. The Soul-Eaters are dead, so are their tokoroths. You don't exist!
Seshru: There will come a time when you'll wish I did: when you'll wish you were only up against me. At least I was human.
Renn: Is that why you're here? To warn me?
Seshru: What do you think?
~ Seshru's dream version giving Renn a subtle warning about what kind of an enemy the latter will face.
Seshru: I'm not a Lost One. And I'm not a demon or a ghost.
Renn: You're a dream.
Seshru: Well
done! But don't you know what that means? It means I'm inside you. You can't ever be rid of me. I'm part of who you are…
~ Seshru's dream version answering Renn's question about what she is right before the dream ends.
Seshru: You've been doing Magecraft. Can this mean you've accepted that we're not so very different?
Renn: No. I have your marrow, I can't change that. How I use my skill is up to me.
Seshru: But you still tell lies. You lied to the Narwals about your brother.
Renn: Half-brother.
Seshru: You told them he'd gone hunting.
Renn: I couldn't tell them he'd died. And they'd never have believed us if we'd told them he was an ice demon.
Seshru: How do you know he died? You never saw the body.
Renn: He was trampled by a mammut. We heard it.
Seshru: (*laughs*) You didn't see it!
Renn: But he's dead, I know he is!
Seshru: I told you before.
It isn't over!
~ Seshru's dream version taunting Renn once more.

Gallery[]

Navigation[]

            Chronicles of Ancient Darkness Villains

Soul Eaters
Eostra | Thiazzi | Seshru | Tenris | Nef

Demons
Demon Bear | Tokoroths (Naiginn)

Clan members
Hord | Aki | Chosen One | Realvi

Animals
Eostra's Eagle Owl | Eostra's Dogs

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