The Lake of Tears

The rise of a powerful sorceress in Deltora’s northeast was first noted in The Deltora Annals during the last years of Queen Elspeth, the present king’s great-grandmother.

The Sorceress Thaegan is said to have inherited her magical abilities from her mother, a wisewoman named Tamm. Tamm was much respected by her neighbors in the northern village of Nest, for she could make successful love potions and cast healing spells. It was also said that she could transform herself into a blackbird at will.

Thaegan’s powers were much stronger than Tamm’s, however, and, unhappily, though the girl was beautiful to look upon, her nature was cruel and spiteful. Bored by her mother’s simple life, she turned to dark magic to satisfy her taste for power. Tamm tried to reason with her, and finally to control her, but to no avail. Thaegan broke through the shutting spell Tamm had woven around their cottage, and fled into the mountains that separate Deltora from the Shadowlands.

We cannot know what happened to her there, or what hideous bargain she may have struck with the evil forces she summoned to her hideaway. We only know that when she came down from the mountains again, seven years later, she was more powerful than any sorceress Deltora had ever seen, and her reign of terror over the north began.

Nearly a hundred years have passed, but the Sorceress Thaegan is today still alive and more powerful than ever. Her malice has increased with age. She is said to relish blackbirds for food — no doubt in spiteful memory of her mother. Despite a life of wickedness that has spanned over a century, she continues to have the appearance of a beautiful woman. The dread horror that must lurk beneath this illusion can only be imagined.

Witches, it is said, can be killed by drawing blood, but Thaegan is free from the fear of injury, for she is armored by magic. Her body shines green as glass — protected by a surface that no arrow or spear can injure. The only exception is the tip of one little finger, the finger with which she casts her vile spells.

Though the king continues to be unaware of her existence, the people know of her only too well. Few now dare to travel through her territory. Those who have done so in the past have either never returned, or crawled back to their homes stricken in body and mind. Vast areas of countryside in the north have been laid waste. Notable among these wastelands is the hideous Lake of Tears, which floods the place where once shone the golden towers of D’Or.

Thaegan destroyed D’Or out of pure hatred — hatred of its beauty and its people’s happiness. When the neighboring folk of Raladin cried out against the destruction, she took away their voices so they could speak no more.

The Sorceress Thaegan has thirteen children, all of them foul, monstrous beings which aid her in her tyranny and plunder the countryside. They are not as powerful as their mother but like her can create illusions and transform their shapes at will. Whether they were fathered by the forces of darkness or simply brought forth by Thaegan on her own account is not known.