Dardalion

Dardalion is a young priest of the Source, sworn to non-violence, when Waylander finds him tied to a tree by bandits and, after some hesitation, cuts him free. The friendship that follows changes both men. Dardalion has strong mystic gifts, and after an attack on his spirit by the Dark Brotherhood, from which Waylander saves him with his own blood, he comes to believe that pacifism in the face of annihilation is not what his god asks of him. He puts his powers at the service of the Drenai general Karnak and gathers other priests who feel the same, the first of the Thirty. In the Realm of the Wolf, ten years later, he heads their temple as Abbot of Swords, and he and his priests have to argue out whether killing can be justified at all before they ride to war. He is Gemmell's clearest study of faith under pressure, and a necessary counterweight to Waylander. Later Drenai books record that it was on his advice that the fortress of Dros Delnoch was built.

Appears in

1. 1Waylander (1986)The assassin who killed the Drenai king is asked to save the kingdom, by fetching the lost Armour of Bronze from deep in Nadir country.
2. 2Waylander II: In the Realm of the Wolf (1992)Ten years on, Waylander lives quietly in the mountains with his daughter Miriel, until the assassins' guild takes a contract on his life.