Chronicles of Ancient Darkness is a series of historical fantasy novels by the British author Michelle Paver and her first books for children. The books chronicle the adventures of Torak, an adolescent boy, and his friends Renn and Wolf. The main story arc revolves around Torak and his quest to defeat the Soul Eaters, a group of power hungry mages who seek to destroy all life in the forest. Paver has called it simply "a single story: the tale of Torak's discovery of himself and his world."
Since the first book in the series, Wolf Brother, was released on the 30th of May in 2004, the series has gained critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide. Wolf Brother became a national bestseller in the United States, and the rights to the series were bought by 20th Century Fox to be made into major motion pictures. In October 2013, Nick Hirschkorn's production company Feel Films picked up the film rights, with Will Davies attached as screenwriter.
The books are set 6000 years ago in prehistoric Europe during the Stone Age. The main character, Torak, alone in the world, meets a lone, scared wolf cub, Wolf with whom he can communicate (having spent around three months in a wolf den as a baby). A girl named Renn, who is part of the Raven Clan, befriends them and supports them throughout the series. Torak's quest, along with Renn and Wolf, is to defeat the Soul Eaters, a group of former clan mages who have turned to evil, and who seek to control the forest. The story is told primarily from three different third-person narratives: Torak, Renn and Wolf. Later books introduce an additional third-person narrative from the perspective of Dark.
For the book Ghost Hunter (2009) she won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a book award judged by a panel of British children's writers.
In 2019, Paver announced that she would be returning to the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness with three further books, set after the end of the main series, once again following Torak, Renn and Wolf. The titles of the books were announced as: Viper's Daughter, Skin Taker and Wolfbane.
Main characters Torak, the main character, begins the series as a naive, defensive, and curious boy of twelve. This boy does not want to take on a quest but has to in order to save the world. Over the course of the novels, he acquires several spiritual titles, including "Spirit Walker", and learns of titles his late father had, including "Soul Eater": this last title causes numerous difficulties, due to his desire to end the Soul Eaters and the evil they cause. He is slow to mature emotionally, but from the fourth book on he is described as taller and brave, in sharp contrast to the short, scrawny boy portrayed in the first three books. He becomes protective of Renn in the later books as they grow closer: this often annoys and frustrates her. He has the power to vanquish the Soul-Eaters and at first despises his power: he eventually grows to accept it.
Renn, the niece of the Raven Clan's leader, Fin-Kedinn. She is a year younger than Torak and is described as slim and small in the first few books. Later on, she is portrayed as tough, courageous and is shown to be an expert in archery. She has been forced into becoming a mage all her life because of her skill with magic but, due to her mother being a Soul Eater, truly desires being a hunter. Torak, Wolf and Fin-Kedinn are her only true friends. Throughout the books, Renn is often described through Torak's eyes as older and beautiful, but is often frustrated by his seeming thoughtlessness. She also has a bad relationship with her brother, Hord, and disagrees with him many times throughout the first book.
Wolf, a wolf, is Torak's guide and adoptive brother. He grows from a wobbly cub to a young adult over the course of around a year, but stays with Torak and Renn throughout the series of books. As a cub his fur is grey, but as he matures his pelt molds into a golden grey tinged with white, with gold fur around his shoulders. At first he hates Renn intensely because of the way he treated her when he and Torak are first captured, and in the chapters that are written from his point of view, he initially refers to her as the "female tailless": as he develops affection to her, he begins to call her pack-sister. The author gives him an unusual vocabulary that often describes exactly what things are to a wolf or any other animal: for example, he refers to fire as the Bright Beast-that-Bites Hot. Wolf eventually finds a female wolf named Darkfur, with whom he produces cubs called Click, Shadow, and Pebble in one litter, Whitethroat and Blackear in the next, and Feather, Yip, Whitepaw, and Puff.
Fin-Kedinn is the wise leader of the Raven Clan, Renn's uncle and eventually Torak's foster father. In the past he was best friends with Torak's father and his brother Tenris, both of whom were ambitious to become mages. Fin-Kedinn was in love with Torak's mother, but she loved Fa, Torak's father, and followed him into exile when they fled the Soul-Eaters. Fin-Kedinn has won the respect of all the clans and even that of Wolf, who admires the 'lead wolf who smells of raven' because he has the habits of a wolf, such as only sleeping for short periods of time. Although impassive and refusing to show emotion, Fin-Kedinn cares deeply for both Renn and Torak.
The Soul-Eaters are a group of mages who united to combine their powers for the good of all people calling themselves the "Healers", but became corrupted and now wish to have power over everyone, using a crystal called the Fire Opal to make demons do their bidding. There were initially seven of mages in the group. Torak's late father, Fa, joined the group against his wife's advice, before rejecting their desire to take power. He summoned the seven together and shattered the Fire Opal into three pieces, causing a great fire that ripped across the forest. The Soul Eaters were scattered and Torak's father and mother went into exile. Torak's mother then gave birth to her son, and when she died shortly afterwards Fa continued his exile with his son for 12 years, before Fa's death at the beginning of the first novel. The seven mages were from the Otter Clan (the Walker/Narrander), Seal Clan (Tenris), Wolf Clan (Torak's Father), Bat Clan (Nef), Viper Clan (Seshru), Oak Clan (Thiazzi), and Eagle Owl Clan (Eostra).
Fa is Torak's father, the former Mage of the Wolf Clan, and one of the seven Soul Eaters. Although he only appears briefly at the start of Wolf Brother when he is killed by the demon bear, his legacy is the driving force behind the whole of the books. His name is never revealed, but is always referred to by Torak as 'Fa'. Once a young man coming from the secretive Wolf Clan, Fa's ambition was to become a Mage and he eventually succeeded, becoming the Wolf Clan Mage; in the words of the Clan Leader, Maheegun, Fa was the greatest Mage the clan ever had and succeeded in 'becoming wolf for a few heartbeats'. However, Fa was also naive and easily fooled in his youth and he blindly believed the promises and good intentions of the Soul Eaters. When they revealed to him their true natures, Fa tried to leave but they refused to let him. Determined to undo the evil he had unintentionally created, he summoned all of the Soul Eaters together and tried to kill all seven with fire before going into hiding with his wife. The World Spirit, angered by the Soul Eaters' crimes decreed that, Fa's son would be the one to destroy them and he granted him the ancient power of the spirit walker to help him accomplish his task. Fa raised Torak away from the clans after his wife's death to prevent the Soul Eaters from finding out about him and instead of teaching Torak magecraft, he decided to teach him important hunting and tracking skills, which would prove invaluable in Torak's quest to defeat the Soul Eaters.
Hord is Renn's brother. He unknowingly helps Tenris, who's acting as a 'crippled wanderer' create a demon by capturing a young bear. Throughout the first book Hord behaves stubbornly, and fueled by guilt, believes that he must deliver Torak's blood to the World Spirit himself. In the end, he follows Torak to the Mountain of the World Spirit and tries to kill him, he fails and he and the bear are killed by an avalanche created by the World Spirit.
Bale is a young man from the Seal clan who is also Torak's kinsman as Torak's paternal grandmother was from the Seal Clan. They initially get off to a bad start as he captures Torak and takes him to Seal Island, but later become friends. Bale first appears in the book Spirit Walker. Bale is killed in the beginning of the book Oath Breaker by the Soul Eater named Thiazzi, which sets Torak off on a quest for revenge.
Dark is a boy from the Swan Clan, who was abandoned by them at seven years old, for having pale skin, white hair, and the ability to see ghosts, causing his clan, and father, to believe him an omen of bad luck. Dark spent eight years living in The High Mountains, where he met Ark, a white raven who would become his companion. He initially runs into trouble with Torak, who he captures and traps in a mountain cave, but is eventually convinced to let him free, and he goes with him to the Mountain of Ghosts, where they are separated and he meets Renn. At the end of Ghost Hunter, the first book Dark appears in, he is made the mage of the Raven clan, following the death of Seaunn, the previous Raven Mage. From Vipers Daughter onwards, Dark is portrayed as naïve, as he's not used to living among people, or being a mage. He also develops a knack for carving animals, which he personifies and talks to when he's alone. In Skin Taker, Dark briefly leads a group of survivors in Fin-Kedinn's absence, and helps Renn perform the rite to bring back The First Tree. In Wolfbane, Dark makes best friends with, and later falls for, a boy named Kujai from the Sea-Eagle clan, who lends Torak and Renn a boat. He is also made Leader of the Raven Clan, alongside being mage, after Fin-Kedinn dies at the end of Wolfbane.
Story
Wolf Brother
Torak is twelve years old when his father is killed by a bear that is possessed by a demon. As he is dying, he tells Torak to swear to find the Mountain of the World Spirit and ask for the Spirit's help in destroying the bear. On his journey he encounters Wolf, a lone wolf cub whose family has been killed by a flash flood. Wolf becomes Torak's guide in finding the World Spirit. Torak and Wolf are captured by the Raven Clan for hunting a deer on their land; they are befriended by Renn, the prickly and outspoken niece of the clan's leader Fin-Kedinn. Torak appears to be the fulfillment of a prophecy about a "listener" who will give his heart's blood to the Mountain of the World Spirit, kill the bear and defy the Soul-Eaters, a group of erstwhile Mages who were once healers but became power-hungry and now use their magic for selfish ends. Torak, Wolf and Renn journey to the Mountain, collecting the three parts of the Nanuak (the world soul in everything) that Torak needs to offer to the World Spirit. When Torak sets off to the Mountain with only Wolf to fulfill the prophecy, Renn's brother Hord follows Torak. Hord, who makes his dislike of Torak clear when they first meet, believes he must kill Torak and take his blood, as well as the Nanuak, to the Mountain. On the Mountain, as the bear gets closer, Torak and Hord fight. Torak realizes Hord unknowingly helped the Crippled Wanderer, one of the Soul Eaters, and his father's sworn enemy, create the bear. Torak also realizes that the heart's blood in the prophecy means Wolf. Knowing he must sacrifice Wolf for the World Spirit, Torak tells Wolf to run away. Wolf takes the three pieces of Nanuak to the mountain, as Hord and the bear are killed in an avalanche. Wolf leaves to join a pack of wolves and Torak, knowing his pack-brother still lives, returns to the Raven Clan.
Spirit Walker