Culain

Culain is the mountain warrior who trains the boy Thuro in Ghost King. He is far older than he looks: one of the immortals who survived the fall of Atlantis and have since wandered the world, drawing on the power of the Sipstrassi stones and being worshipped as a god by Greeks, Romans and older peoples. By the time of the novel he is tired of living for ever and wants a mortal life. He is also Thuro's grandfather, and the one man who knows the secret of the Witch Queen who threatens Britain, because he once loved her, which makes the war personal. His friend Maedhlyn, the Merlin figure of this version of the story, belongs to the same ancient company. Culain gives Ghost King much of its weight, a trainer of kings with his own reckoning to face, set beside a boy who has not yet found out what he can do. He is also the clearest link between the Arthurian books and the wider Sipstrassi cycle.

Appears in

1. 1Ghost King (1988)Britain's king is murdered and the Sword of Power is lost. The heir is a sickly boy, and only an old mountain warrior can make him fit to rule.