# VI: The Rune of the Elf King explained — The King of Elfland’s Daughter > Chapter companion for The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany. ## What happens The Elf King, standing on his high balcony, sees his daughter Lirazel has passed into the mortal world. Grieving over her inevitable mortality and the doom of all mortal things, he weeps, causing all Elfland to shiver. He then writes a rune on parchment to summon her back, but finds his guard slain by Alveric's magic. Using one of his three most powerful runes, he revives the eldest knight, then sends a troll to deliver the rune to Lirazel in the fields of men. ## Themes in this chapter ### Longing and Loss The Elf King's profound grief and yearning for his daughter as she faces mortal decay and separation from Elfland. ### Mortal vs. Immortal The contrast between Lirazel's immortal nature and the mortal doom she now faces, and the Elf King's sorrow over the fragility of mortal life. ### Time and Change The disruption of Elfland's timeless calm by Alveric's intrusion and the Elf King's actions, illustrating the tension between eternal stillness and the passage of time. ## Character check-ins ### The Elf King Stands sorrowful on his balcony, weeps for Lirazel, writes the rune, revives his guard, and dispatches the troll. ### Lirazel Has passed into the mortal world; the Elf King mourns her fate and seeks to bring her back with the rune. ### Alveric His passage through Elfland troubled the wood and slew the four knights of the guard. ## Key lines > He had lifted his head to chant the rune that should hold his daughter in Elfland, and in that moment had seen her pass the murky barrier; which on this side, facing toward Elfland, is all lustrous with twilight, and on that side, facing towards the fields we know, is smoky and angry and dull. He had raised his head to sing the spell that would keep his daughter in Elfland, but at that instant saw her cross the dim boundary—on the Elfland side glowing with twilight, on the mortal side murky and harsh. _Describes the moment the Elf King sees Lirazel leave Elfland._ > He knew that there hung over her now the doom of all mortal things. He thought of her perishing soon, as mortal things must; to be buried amongst the rocks of a land that scorned Elfland and that held its most treasured myths to be of little account. He understood that she was now subject to the fate of all mortals: she would soon die and be buried in a land that despised Elfland and its cherished legends. _The Elf King's realization of Lirazel's mortality and the harshness of the mortal world._ > Then the King turned and left his balcony and went in great haste down his brazen steps. He came clanging to the ivory doors that shut the tower below, and through them came to the throne-room of which only song may tell. The King then hurried down his brass steps, passed through the ivory doors, and entered the throne-room that can only be described in song. _The King's urgent descent to prepare the rune._ > And there he took a parchment out of a coffer and a plume from some fabulous wing, and dipping the plume into no earthly ink, wrote out a rune on the parchment. He took parchment from a chest and a feather from a mythical bird, dipped it in otherworldly ink, and wrote a magical rune. _The creation of the rune that will summon Lirazel back._ > Then raising two fingers he made the minor enchantment whereby he summoned his guard. And no guard came. He raised two fingers and cast a minor spell to call his guard, but no one arrived. _The Elf King's failed attempt to summon his guard._ > And the Elf King now had only one rune left that was mightier than any magic we know. The Elf King now possessed just one remaining rune more powerful than any magic known to humans. _The depletion of the King's most powerful runes._ > The King gave it the parchment with the rune written thereon, saying: 'Scamper hence, and pass over the end of the Land, until you come to the fields that none know here; and find the Princess Lirazel who is gone to the haunts of men, and give her this rune and she shall read it and all shall be well.' The King handed the parchment to the troll, instructing it to hurry beyond the land's edge to the unknown fields of men, find Princess Lirazel, and give her the rune so that she may read it and everything will be set right. _The Elf King's command to the troll to deliver the rune to Lirazel._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_king_of_elfland_s_daughter_se/chapters/vi-the-rune-of-the-elf-king - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_king_of_elfland_s_daughter_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_king_of_elfland_s_daughter_se/chapters