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Record of Lodoss War

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French VHS edition.
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French VHS edition.


Promotional poster.

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Promotional poster.








Pirotess in the Legend of Crystania manga.

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Pirotess in the Legend of Crystania manga.








Record of the Lodoss War videogame.

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Record of the Lodoss War videogame.








is a series of fantasy novels by Ryo Mizuno based around work he originally created for a role-playing game system. There have since been multiple manga, anime and computer game adaptations, several of which have been translated into English. The plots generally follow the conventions and structure of the Dungeons & Dragons system, being based around a party of several characters of distinct types undertaking a specific quest.





Contents





Novels


Began in the 1980s, the earliest novels ran in serial form in the magazine Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko (角川スニーカー文庫), published by Kadokawa Shoten. The first novel, The Grey Witch (灰色の魔女 Haiiro no Majo) forms the basis for the manga series of the same name, and the first eight episodes of the Record of Lodoss War OVA. The second, The Demon of Flame (炎の魔神 Honō no Majin) was also adapted in manga form, and as a 4 CD radio drama. The final five episodes of the OVA series are based on the story told in across the third and fourth novels, Karyū-san no Maryū (火竜山の魔竜 lit. The Demon Dragon of Fire Dragon Mountain). Mizuno continues writing Lodoss novels to this date, in addition to creating other series, including the sci-fi series Starship Operators which has recently been adapted into anime form by J.C.STAFF.



Anime





Manga



CPM Manga are currently publishing translations of several of these series.



Games




The Dreamcast installment is the only game to receive an English release, one year later in 2001.



Characters


Parn: Warrior.  Parn is the main character of the series; a Holy Knight of Lodoss and the son of Tessius, a disbarred Holy Knight.  Parn wears his father's armor and carries his father's sword.  Parn is an impulsive and angry youth at the start of the series, but grows in age and experience, becoming more wise and mature.  Similarly, Parn's swordfighting skills, which are laughable at first, advance to such a degree that he is able to stand toe-to-toe with some of Lodoss's finer swordmen later in the story.


Etoh: Cleric.  Etoh is a priest of Falis, the supreme god of the Lodoss world, and Parn's friend.  Etoh fights with a scepter-like mace.  His mature wisdom provides a cool contrast to Parn's hotheaded aggressiveness.


Slayn: Magic User.  Slayn is a young wizard whose practice as a country wise man is interrupted by his friend, Ghim the dwarf.  He focuses his magical powers through his staff.


Deedlit: Elf.  Deedlit, or "Deed," is the youngest of her clan of Silvan Elves, and a skilled magic user and fighter.  Deed fights with a rapier. She loves Parn.


Ghim: Dwarf.  Ghim is questing to save the daughter of his lover, the high priestess Neese.  His weapon is a broad, double-bladed axe.  Ghim bickers frequently with Deedlit and belittles Parn's fighting skills, but he is a strong and loyal warrior in a fight.


Woodchuck: Thief.  Wood was saved from a fate of languishing in a prison by Parn's kindness, and because of this, the honorable thief feels he owes a debt of gratitude to the young warrior.  He carries a long fighting knife.


The party is opposed by Karla the Grey Witch, a powerful and mysterious woman whose goals are known only to herself, and by Ashram, a strong black knight.



[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.


Later in the series, Ghim is killed by Karla the Grey Witch and replaced by Leylia, another Cleric (Leylia, the daughter of Ghim's lover, Neese, had been possessed by Karla for five years and was freed by Ghim and Slayn).  Meanwhile, Parn and Deedlit befriend two new characters (who incidentally represent character classes from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, rather than the basic version of the game):


Shiris: Shiris, like Parn, is a Fighter.  Like Deedlit, she uses a rapier as her primary weapon.


Orson: Orson is a Berserker whose special ability is a nearly unstoppable berserker rage in which he cannot tell friend from foe.  He uses a massive greatsword as his weapon.

Spoilers end here.



Significant locations/entities

Kardis: Dark goddess, also called the destroyer. At the beginning of time she battled Marfa, and the resulting cataclysm formed the island of Lodoss, called the Cursed Island.


Leylia: In the original OAV and manga, she was the host body of the Gray Witch. It was Ghim's quest to free her, and he did so, but died in the attempt. In the second series, she is a priestess of Marfa, and is married to Slayn and has a daughter, Neese.


Lodoss: An island upon which most of the action takes place. Maps can be found either online at fansites, or in the soundtrack leaflets.


Marmo: A dark island south of the island of Lodoss. It is the headquarters of the villains; namely, the Dark Emperor Beld, his lieutenant Ashram, and the evil wizard Wagnard. It is a foul land, desolate and overrun with hordes of goblins and demons.


Beld: Originally one of the Six Heroes, Beld is the evil ruler of Marmo. His Demon Sword, bathed in the blood of the Kardis, allows Beld to use the fearsome Soul Crusher technique. Additionally, Beld controls the many creatures of Marmo, including Narse, one of the five ancient dragons.


Pirotess: Female dark elf who serves Ashram, dark warlord of Marmo. Although it seems that he has no real emotions toward her, she loves him. She appears to be killed late in the first series, but returns in the second series, as liberties were taken with the plot of the manga series for the shorter OVA as she never died in it.


Wagnard: He is an evil priest that seeks to raise the dark goddess Kardis, also called the destroyer. In the first series, he seeks to do this by sacrificing the elf, Deedlit, and is thwarted by Parn. In the second series, he tries to summon Kardis into the body of Neese, a young priestess of Marfa, daughter to Leylia and Slayn, and is thwarted by Spark, a young knight trainee of Flaim, and his party of misfits, which includes Parn and Deedlit from the first series.


King Kashue: The King of Flaim, Kashue fights to save his people and Lodoss from falling under Marmo's control.  He also assists Parn and his party on their quest and is a pivotal character in Parn's development.  Spark from the second series idolizes him.


Bramd: One of the five ancient dragons that had one of the governor's treasures, Bramd is the white dragon.  His curse was broken by Neese, and in turn he gave her the Staff of Life.  However, the Staff of Life was sent to the Temple of Falis to be protected.  Bramd is speculated to be the dragon counterpart of Marfa.


Abram: One of the five ancient dragons that had one of the governor's treasures, Bramd is the blue dragon.  Abram resides on blue dragon island, where he leisurely swims from to attack and destroy sailing vessels.  Abram protects the Soul Crystal Ball, an artifact that can restore life.


Narse: One of the five ancient dragons that had one of the governor's treasures, Narse is the black dragon.  Narse resides underneath Marmo itself, where he sleeps awaiting the proper day to awaken.  Narse protects the Ferronierre of Knowledge, however his artifact still lays unclaimed and unfound under Marmo.  Narse is the dragon counterpart of Kardis.


Shooting Star: One of the five ancient dragons that had one of the governor's treasures, Shooting Star is the red dragon.  The most powerful of the dragons, Shooting Star protects the most powerful artifact, the Scepter of Domination.  Shooting Star resides in flame dragon mountain, not far from the city of flame.


Mycen: One of the five ancient dragons that had one of the governor's treasures, Mycen is the golden dragon.  She resides in Moss, guarded by a fortress of dragon rider knights.  Mycen's treasure is the Mirror of Truth, the least powerful of the treasures.  However, she is by no means the least powerful dragon.



OVA (1990) Episode Guide

Central Park Media has released the anime in America on a two disc set entitled "Record of Lodoss War." It contains episodes 1-13. The episodes are:




Chronologically, episode 1 fits between episodes 4 and 5.


It should be noted that the second Lodoss anime, "Chronicles of the Heroic Knight", overwrites the final five episodes of the OVA.  The proper chronologic order of the two series is OVA episodes 2-5, OVA Episode 1, OVA Episodes 6-8 (omitting Shiris' and Orsen's appearance in the beginning of episode 8), and finally the entirety of the "Chronicles" series.  After the two Lodoss series, the Legend of Crystania series further chronicles the adventures of Ashram and Pirotess as they travel to find a new home for the warriors of Marmo.


The comedy manga/anime series Rune Soldier, also created by Ryo Mizuno, is set in the same world as the Lodoss and Crystania series, on the northern continent of Alecrast; this is only made explicit in the manga, however, and the series is otherwise unconnected to the story of Lodoss.



External links


















 





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