Every time I listen to this song, I am more amused by all the stuff the guy offers rather than potentially have to fight him. That is a lot of stuff just to get at a bunch of assorted villagers.
@@jamesluckhurst8792 Oh sure. It's just that I find the immediate change from "Get out of my way or be destroyed" to "Here, take all of these riches, just please let me pass" at the mention of his name to be funny.
@@CrazaelMost definitely. It's the trademark of a coward and so it's always gonna be funny. It is better to be silent and stand your ground when faced with fear than it is to beg and try to reason with someone
Me after hearing Vanyel describe the event in the books: wait that's not how it happened at all.... I mean it was still badass, both in the books and in the song. And did lead to him being called Vanyel demonsbane throughout his life (afterwards he was mostly known as the last herald mage). But the details were very different For the curious: in the books Vanyel discovered that outposts along the Karsite border which were well behind enemy lines and undermanned were getting destroyed with no survivors (although the outposts themselves weren't damaged), Vanyel figured out the pattern and waited at Stony Tor, where he figured the next attack would be, and relieved all the guards. A Karsite wizard summoned a massive swarm of demons, thinking the garrison was still manned, and not realizing that Vanyel - one of the most powerful mages in the world - was there instead. Vanyel overcomes the hundreds of demons and turns them instead against the Karsite wizard and his forces (about 40 men) and the demons then proceeded to go into Karse itself and wreak havoc (Vanyel regretted that last part, musing to himself that it was not heraldic behavior). Although he was glad to finally have revenge on the wizard, as that particular wizard had murdered two of his close friends (the wizard called down a firestorm against a helpless village, and Vanyel's friends saw this and redirected the firestorms energies into themselves, saving the entire town at the cost of their own lives) Note: I still really enjoy the song.
Your mixing two events together, he earned the name Shadow Stalker from hunting down the demon summoner you mentioned at the castle which was unnamed in the book I believe. The wizard was by himself and did summon a hoard of demons that Vanyel turned back on him, killing him and they dispersed shortly after. He later gets the name Demonsbane when he turns back Lord Nedrons demons, demons that were summoned by an unnamed wizard, back at him while saving some farmers from Hardorn. He then sends the demons into Karse which he somewhat regrets.
You are actually confusing 3 different events. First, the incident with the swarming creatures that were being summoned into key strongholds that he caught wind of and stopped by shielding everything inside and leaving only 1 exit back towards their summoner, whom they then ate. Second, the shadow stalker incident were he hunted down the mage that killed his friends who died in a firestorm, and finally the demonsbane incident that happened pretty much as the song said, just with less drama. He found hardorn citizens fleeing a Karsite tyrant and fought him on stony tor. The tyrant had a mage that summoned demons, vanyel freed the demons from their control and set them loose on the Karsite's who summoned them
Along the road in Hardorn, The place called Stony Tor A fearful band of farmers Flees Karsite border war A frightened band of farmers, Their children and their wives Seek refuge from a tyrant who Wants more than just their lives Now up rides Herald Vanyel, "Why then such haste?" says he "Now who is it pursuing, Who's anger do you flee? You are all of Hardorn Why seek you Valdemar? Is Festel no protection Or bide all his men too far?" "Oh Vanyel, Herald Vanyel, We flee now for our lives Lord Nedrin would enslave us Our children and our wives He'd give our souls to demons Our bodies to his men King Festel has not heeded Or he happens not to ken!" Now up speaks Herald Vanyel "The border is not far But you are all of Hardorn And not of Valdemar You are not Randale's people Can call not on his throne -- But damned if I will see you left So helpless on your own!" So forth goes Herald Vanyel And onward does he ride On Stony Tor he waits then Yfandes at his side With Nedrin's men approaching He calls out from on high: "You shall not pass, Lord Nedrin Nay, I shall not let you by!" Now only Herald Vanyel Stands blocking Nedrin's way "Now who are you, fool - Nothing! That dares to tell me nay!" Now up speaks Herald Vanyel, His voice like brittle glass: "The Herald Mage called Vanyel And 'tis I you shall not pass!" Now there stands great Lord Nedrin Behind him forty men With wizard there beside him He pales and speaks again "So you are Herald Vanyel This place is not your land So heed me Herald Vanyel And now turn aside your hand! "Let be: I'll give you silver And I shall give you gold And I shall give you jewels fair That sparkle bright and bold And I shall give you pearls All treasures of the sea If you will step aside here Leaving these poor fools to me!" "What need have I of silver With sweet Yfandes here? And all the gold I cherish Is sunlight bright and clear The only jewel I treasure Is a bright and shining star -- And I protect all helpless Not just those of Valdemar!" "Now I shall give you beauty Women, slaves, and men And I shall give you power You'll never see again! And I shall give you mansions, And I shall give you land If you will turn aside this day Aside and hold your hand!" "Now beauty held in bondage Is beauty that is lost And land and mansions blood-bought Come too high at the cost The power I have already All power is a jade -- So turn you back Lord Nedrin If of me you are afraid!" Lord Nedrin backs his stallion, The wizard he comes nigh "Prepare yourself bold Vanyel, For you shall surely die!" The wizard calls his demons The demons he commands And Vanyel, Herald Vanyel Lonely raises empty hands! The wizard calls his demons, The sky above turns black: The demons strike at Vanyel - He stands and holds them back! The demons strike at Vanyel They strike and hurt him sore But Vanyel stands defiantly To raise his hands once more! The sky itself descends now Upon bare Stony Tor It hides the awful battle The watchers see no more The wizard shouts in triumph Too soon he vents his mirth For Vanyel calls the lightning down And smites him to the earth! The clouds of black have lifted And there on barren ground Stands Vanyel, hurt yet victor, The demons tied and bound He looks down on Lord Nedrin His eyes grow cold and bleak "Now I shall give you Nedrin All the power that you seek!" Now Vanyel frees the demons And Nedrin screams with fear He sets them on the Karsites Who first had brought them here He sets them on the Karsites And on the Karsite land They look down on Lord Nedrin And they do not stay their hand! Now Vanyel calls the farmers "Go tell you near and far How thus are served the tyrants Who would take Valdemar! I am the bane of demons Their quarry I defend Thus Heralds serve a foeman And thus Heralds save a friend!"
@@veliqnespa just did, still huzzah and if you think about saying who he is and then re-repeating it doesn’t make sense even for the speech of the songs time period. Perhaps you need the re-listen for help 1:56 :-)
@@nevaeha4048 Same, I've listened to it before commenting each time here, because I know I've been wrong at other times with lyrics before. However, it says 'tis I, not huzzah. Also, I never remember any of the books this song is based on having Huzzah written in them, it's just not the speech pattern of the writer. There are no words wasted, each is a statement being made. Agree to disagree as songs are personal when it comes down to it and it doesn't matter what is said, just the emotion they invoke.
Wow. I think this is my favorite of all the Valdemar songs. Except for maybe Battle Dawn from one of the first albums. They’re all great, but this one is just amazing. That may or may not have to do with the fact that I have a crush on Herald Vanyel and I don’t care if he’s gay, he’s still hot.
OH MY GOD! IT'S A SUPERMUTANT! KILL IT! Yeah, he really is. His three best though are Sun is also a Warrior, Don't split the Party, and that one he sang to his Queen. Wouldn't mind him singing the Blind Guardians Skalds and Shadows.
Hey man, we can coexist, right? I'll trade you some of MY human meat, and you trade me some of YOUR human meat. That's fair, right? Oh, I definitely agree with that. Those three were great moments in the story. And holy shit I just listened to The Blind Guardians Skalds and Shadows and yes he definitely should.
Huh. Never heard of the thing you two are talking about, looked it up. All I can say is that any SI who sings filk has my interest piqued. I actually have one who might be going to sing the Sun Is Also a Warrior in RWBY.
Yup, and now it’s a song. I love how they actually made the songs that Van and the others talk about. All Valdemar music is good, but Shadow Stalker album is especially great.
Given the art style the album cover art was likely done by Jody A Lee who does all of Lackeys book cover art as well. This album came out in 1994 in case you were wondering heh he looks like a more clothed version of the men on many romace novels at the time lol.
I don't remember the specifics, but this reminds me of that time a town in the US asked the soviets to build them a bridge because the local government wouldn't
+Craig taylor The Heralds of Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey the songs pretty much cover the events in some of the books though a lot more condensed and slightly vague at times. There are like 20 or more books in the series they are done in sets of Trilogy's covering different times they jump around like the LOTR books so like them when a book was published doesn't mean that is the book that comes next at least not going by a timeline anyway.
I hated the first book so much. Didn't read further. Such a good idea, and so badly executed - still didn't get over that. This song is still one of my favourite ballad type things on youtube.
I was lucky that i read the first book when i would most closely understand him. So like 5th or 6th grade. When i read the other two, it was just a good read. Then, as i got older, i empathized more with the other books. Vanyel is still pretty much number one on my favorite character list, followed closely by the fool in robin hobb's series of books
The only gold he treasures is sunlight, what a joke. He's clearly never spent the night next to a blonde, gold will have more value to him then. Tylendel was blond, what about him? And what about yellow onions, golden delicious apples and gold potatoes? The world is full of gold to be treasured.
I mean, gold's a pretty specific color, right? Light brown and yellow aren't really gold. I guess sunlight isn't technically gold either but it contains every single visible color and thus does, in fact, *contain* gold. Besides, it was a clever lyric - Lord Nedrin offers Vanyel gold as in the currency, and Vanyel plays off the multiple meanings of "gold" to tell Nedrin that he doesn't want *anything* Nedrin could give him. Cut Valdemar's mightiest Herald-Mage some slack, eh?
@@That_One_Kobold Lavan scorched one army, and one pass, in one battle.. Van single-handedly kept the entire border for months, blasted several armies in his career, and in the moment of death grew a murder-forest around where he fell to continue protecting Valdemar for the next several centuries.
@That_One_Kobold No. The only distinction between a herald and a herald-mage is that mages have a magegift, which admittedly is more versatile than the other gifts. But at the end of a day, a gift is a gift, it comes in degrees of strength. And there has never been another herald with any gift as strong as Van's ever. Because he already had strong potential, and then the event blasted all of his channels wide open
