The Roots of the Mountains · Chapter
XLVII: The Kindreds Win the Mote-House explained
Face-of-god, Folk-might, and Hall-face lead the Host to storm the Mote-house of the Wolf, overcoming the Dusky Men in a fierce assault.
What happens
Face-of-god, Folk-might, and Hall-face lead the Host to storm the Mote-house of the Wolf, overcoming the Dusky Men in a fierce assault. They enter the Hall to find it defiled and the embalmed bodies of four ancient chieftains hanging from the roof, a sight that fills the Wolf kindred with rage and horror.
Themes in this chapter
War and Liberation
The chapter depicts the climactic battle to reclaim the Wolf's Mote-house, symbolizing the liberation of the kindred from the Dusky Men's oppression.
Honor and Oath-Keeping
Folk-might's determination to ascend the stair of his fathers and reclaim the high-seat reflects the deep honor and duty to ancestral traditions.
Characters to notice
- Face-of-god
War-leader who coordinates the assault on the Mote-house, taking the northern stair with Hall-face.
- Folk-might
Filled with grief and wrath over the Bride's wounding, he leads the charge up the southern stair, wielding the sword Sleep-thorn.
- Hall-face
Fights beside Face-of-god on the northern stair, crying 'For the Burg and the Face!'
- Sun-beam
Led into the Hall by Stone-face and Bow-may, pale but with gleaming eyes after the battle's climax.
- Stone-face
Leads the Sun-beam by the hand into the Hall after the stairs are won.
- Dallach
Among the delivered thralls entering the Hall, though hurt in the battle.
Key passages
“Now he lifted up his face, and put his hand on Folk-might’s shoulder, and said in a loud voice: “Kinsmen, it were well if our brother were to bid the banners into the Mote-house of the Wolf, and let all the Host set itself in array before the said house, and abide till the chasers of the foe come to us thither; for I perceive that they are now become many, and are more than those of our kindred.””
Face-of-god suggests they gather the banners at the Wolf's Mote-house and wait there for the pursuing enemy, noting that the foe's numbers have grown.
Face-of-god's strategic command to consolidate the Host at the Mote-house.
“But Folk-might tossed up his head and laughed, and cried out, “At last, at last!” And his sword was in his hand, the Sleep-thorn to wit, a blade of ancient fame; so now he let it fall and hang to his wrist by the leash, while he clapped his hands together and uttered the Wolf-whoop mightily, and all the men of the Wolf that were in the host, and the Woodlanders withal, uttered it with him.”
Folk-might laughs in triumph, draws his legendary sword Sleep-thorn, and gives the Wolf-whoop, which is echoed by all the Wolf and Woodlander warriors.
Folk-might's fierce joy and the rallying cry before his assault.
“For wretched and befouled was that well-builded house: the hangings rent away; the goodly painted walls daubed and smeared with wicked tokens of the Alien murderers: the floor, once bright with polished stones of the mountain, and strewn with sweet-smelling flowers, was now as foul as the den of the man-devouring troll of the heaths.”
The Hall was desecrated: torn hangings, defiled walls, and a filthy floor, transformed from a beautiful place into something as foul as a troll's den.
Description of the defilement of the Wolf's Mote-house by the Dusky Men.