The King of Elfland’s Daughter · Chapter
X: The Ebbing of Elfland explained
Alveric, frantic after Lirazel's disappearance, searches all night and seeks the witch Ziroonderel, who cryptically tells him she has gone 'the way of the leaves.' He follows the last leaves southeast toward Elfland, but finds the Elfin Mou
What happens
Alveric, frantic after Lirazel's disappearance, searches all night and seeks the witch Ziroonderel, who cryptically tells him she has gone 'the way of the leaves.' He follows the last leaves southeast toward Elfland, but finds the Elfin Mountains have vanished. Visiting the old leather-worker, he learns that many years have passed. Crossing the former border, he discovers a desolate, disenchanted plain littered with lost memories and childhood toys, realizing Elfland has ebbed away. Despite waving his magical sword, he cannot bring it back, and ultimately accepts that he has lost Elfland.
Themes in this chapter
Longing and Loss
Alveric's desperate search for Lirazel and the loss of Elfland dominate the chapter, as he confronts the ebbing of magic and the disappearance of all he loved.
Time and Change
The chapter explores the baffling passage of time—years have passed on Earth while Alveric was in Elfland, and the landscape itself is transformed by the ebb.
Characters to notice
- Alveric
Frantic and weary after Lirazel's disappearance, he searches all night and then follows the leaves southeast, only to find Elfland has ebbed away.
- Ziroonderel
The witch whom Alveric consults; she mournfully tells him Lirazel has gone 'the way of the leaves.'
- Orion
Present in the tower when Alveric speaks to Ziroonderel; he knows his father's fears.
Key passages
“The way of the leaves. The way of all beauty.”
Ziroonderel tells Alveric that Lirazel has departed like autumn leaves, following the path of all beautiful things.
Ziroonderel's cryptic answer to Alveric's question about Lirazel's whereabouts.
“And Alveric found that today as all those years ago, this old man still refused to speak of Elfland.”
Alveric realizes that the leather-worker, now greatly aged, still will not discuss Elfland, just as he refused years before.
Highlights the passage of time and the old man's persistent silence about Elfland.
“Then Alveric drew his magical sword from its sheath. But though that sword had power against enchantment it had not been given the power to bring again an enchantment that was gone.”
Alveric unsheathes his magical sword, but it cannot restore the lost enchantment of Elfland.
The sword's limitation underscores the finality of Elfland's ebbing.