The is the principal villain of
Terry Brooks ' novel
The Sword Of Shannara .
The Warlock Lord was formerly the Druid Brona. He desired power, and delved too deeply and quickly into forbidden knowledge and was corrupted by the dark power of Ildatch, a book of magic said to have a mind of its own. He first attempted to subvert the
Four Lands during the time of
Jerle Shannara . Jerle was given the Sword of Shannara by the Druid Bremen, and with its power he defeated the Walock Lord. But because he doubted himself, he could not unleash the Sword's full power, and Brona's spirit survived and fled.
Several hundred years later, it quickly becomes apparent he still existed, marshalling his evil forces to once more make war on the Four Lands. He sent his Skull Bearers to seek out and slay all descendants of the Shannara line, as they were the only ones who could wield the sword that had nearly destroyed him centuries earlier. Because The Warlock Lord did not initially know that
Shea Ohmsford even existed, Shea was the last one alive. The Druid
Allanon came to Shady Vale and warned Shea of the impending danger, and eventually Shea and his brother
Flick fled from their home when a
Skull Bearer came hunting for Shea. Shea later recovered the Sword of Shannara, which had been stolen by the Warlock Lord's minions, and the descendant of the house of Shannara comes face to face with the Warlock Lord. Until that point, Shea had not known exactly the true power of the sword. However, upon wielding it, he realized the sword's only power was to reveal to those who touch it truths about themselves. After struggling with his own inner demons revealed to him by the sword and against the mental assaults of fear from The Warlock Lord, Shea finds the strength to strike him with the sword. Because the nature of the Warlock's sorcery was based on belief, Brona had kept himself alive for hundreds of years through denying his own death. The Sword was able to destroy him by revealing to him the truth of his false existence, that he was, in fact, dead.
When
Grianne Ohmsford is trapped in the
Forbidding several hundred years later, she comes upon a darker version of the
Hadeshorn where the malevolent spirit of Brona is bound for eternity, like his Druid counterparts back in the Four Lands. Although he is angered at being summoned, he does not attack Grianne, and in fact offers her advice on what to do before returning to his rest under the Hadeshorn.
