50 pages • 1 hour read
Lloyd AlexanderThe Book of Three
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1964A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Myth and Reality of Heroism
All Taran knows is his life as a farm boy. He yearns to be a hero, like his idol, Prince Gwydion, but few opportunities for glory occur inside a horseshoe forge or a pig pen. Dreaming of great deeds, Taran imagines a hero’s life as a state of continuous daring, gallantry, and splendor. As the novel progresses, he learns that there’s a lot more to heroism than rippling banners, gleaming swords, and cheering crowds. Much of that life is, instead, thankless and tragic.
Taran learns that things are not always what they appear, including heroes. He stumbles onto Gwydion while the prince is tracking the Horned King. Expecting glowing robes and gleaming swords, Taran finds a disheveled man wearing rough clothes. Gwydion is working undercover, and says that not every hero looks like one.
At the beginning of their journey, Taran has a lot to learn. They set off in search of the oracular pig Hen Wen, but Taran knows little of overland treks, his senses and reflexes untrained, and he makes foolish mistakes. He stumbles, walks loudly near the enemy, gets knocked down by Gurgi, and nearly drowns during a river crossing, among other blunders. They’re overpowered by Cauldron-Born zombie-like soldiers and taken prisoner. To his credit, Taran fights bravely, if largely without effect. He’s thrown into a dungeon, where his anger and self-pity hold sway. He’s rescued, not by a shining knight, but by a young girl, Eilonwy. Like Gwydion, she is not a stereotypical, brawny hero. Her cheerful, inquisitive personality shows Taran that there are better ways to experience adventures than by being grim. She also shows him the power of thinking things through rather than acting impulsively and foolishly.
After their escape and the loss of Gwydion, Taran believes he must quest alone after Hen Wen. Three people—Eilonwy, Fflewddur, and Gurgi—offer to help, and he quickly finds that a group does better than a loner. Fflewddur proves invaluable as a trip planner and strategist; Eilonwy shows remarkable skill and courage in battle; and Gurgi proves loyal, hard-working, and good at gathering intelligence. Medwyn and Doli’s assistance adds to their strength.
Taran learns that being a hero is harder than he had imagined. Along the way, he makes many mistakes in judgment, decisions that sometimes get his group into trouble. His struggles help him to grow: He manages to recover, holding the group together. Still, the rigors, terrors, and suffering of a heroic quest wear on the boy. He believes it’s better to be a farmer safe at home than an endangered, suffering would-be hero in the wilderness: “The weeding and hoeing he had so despised at Caer Dallben now seemed, as he thought of his past journey and the journey yet to come, infinitely pleasant” (118).
Finally, Taran understands that his stilted idea of heroism doesn’t stand up to the reality: A hero isn’t a blowhard glory boy but a hard-working, caring person who takes risks and makes sacrifices for those he cares about. If he’s lucky—and respectful—perhaps he’ll also win the heart of the girl he loves.
From Bias to Love
Taran learns the importance of respect among friends, and especially between two people who are romantically interested in one another. He also witnesses the ill-treatment of gentle souls by the arrogant or power-seeking, and sees how love and respect solve problems where dominance and oppression fail.
Taran learns that people’s compassion matters more than their appearance. He meets the dirty, smelly, and eccentric Gurgi and immediately dislikes him. Gwydion says Gurgi is better than he looks, and Taran soon learns that Gurgi has a loyal heart, a willing head, and a great desire to be helpful. It’s an early lesson for Taran in the pitfalls of snobbery and overlooking those with good qualities who don’t fit in.
Eilonwy also teaches Taran that internal qualities matter more than what’s on the surface. Eilonwy is a superb friend and ally. He disdains her, though, because she’s a girl, and he assumes she’s weak and helpless. By the time he realizes she’s every bit as competent as he is, and perhaps even more so, Taran has strained nearly to the breaking point a potentially wonderful friendship. He learns through her that good team members come in any gender. He also learns, when Eilonwy tells him not to pull a magic sword out of its scabbard, that he should listen to her and save himself a good scorching.
His team, meanwhile, learns that dark forces mean to conquer Prydain and dominate its people. Such a regime, based on cold contempt for others, would cause immense suffering. Even the Sons of Don, the region’s good rulers, preside over a human citizenry that treats the Fair Folk as second-class and worthy only of providing treasure on demand. Humans also mistreat animals. Medwyn, who protects all creatures, deems his hidden nature preserve off-limits to most humans: “This is a place of peace […] and therefore not suitable for men, at least, not yet” (121).
Taran grows throughout the novel. He realizes that he cares for animals, respects the Fair Folk, and would be friends with all who wish no harm on others. He helps to heal a wounded gwythaint, a dangerous bird that the others don’t want to work with, and the bird repays the kindness in a way that later helps save their lives. Taran’s biggest goal, though, is to help protect the leaders of his country from a forthcoming attack by armies of evil.
The result is that he begins to treat his team, not as assistants, but as friends and loved ones who deserve both his respect and compassion. He transforms from an ambitious boy who dreams of glory to a compassionate person willing to perform great deeds only if they help others. It’s a great change for someone who once showed little concern for anyone other than idealized heroes. By the end of the novel, Taran feels a warm regard for everyone and a willingness to defend others against those who would harm them.
The Power of Heart
During their adventure, Taran, Eilonwy, Fflewddur, and Gurgi each learn who they really are. In every case, it’s not who they expected. On their journey, they travel deep into Prydain territory, but they also voyage into their own hearts, where they find treasures they yearned for but had all along.
Gurgi, an unusual creature, has suffered rejection from both humans and animals. Expected to be “savage,” he behaves that way until Taran’s group accepts him as he is. Gurgi reveals his true nature: He is loyal, generous, self-sacrificing, and enthusiastic. He also has a streak of humor with his singsong way of referring to things with rhyming gerunds, or nouns of verbs ending in “ing”: ”crunchings and munchings” for food (27), or “shakings and breakings” for earthquakes (81), for example. He’s happiest when he’s himself and appreciated for it.
Other characters also learn the power of heart. As they discover more things about themselves, they also realize the importance of friends and community. Fflewddur Fflam, ex-king and current bard, feels he must exaggerate his exploits to be admired. During the trek, he shows intelligence, courage in battle, and a competent hand at harp-playing. By the story’s end, he has realized that he doesn’t really have to make up a glorious past to friends who love him just as he is.
Eilonwy is a princess who grates against her family’s wish for her to study magic with the evil queen Achren or someone equally unpleasant. She’d much rather puzzle things out for herself. What she discovers, though, is that her life is much more satisfying when shared with a group of friends, especially Taran. Eilonwy learns that, princess or not, she’d rather be with him and the rest of the team at Caer Dallben than perform her royal duties back home. The real Eilonwy is less a princess than an adventurer, and she likes that just fine.
Even Gwydion, a hero for the ages, learns more about himself and helping others during the story. Imprisoned, he tests his resolve against Queen Achren’s tortures and discovers wisdom about life and death that transforms his ability to understand the world and respond to its dangers. His newfound knowledge of how to communicate with animals widens his attitude: He’s less a cardboard hero and more a nuanced man of many skills with a greater ability to aid his people.
Taran finds that heroism isn’t all he thought it was, and that judging others leads, not to feelings of superiority, but to loneliness. His time with Medwyn teaches him about the wisdom and intelligence of animals, who deserve respect not often granted to them by people. Finally, he learns that his leadership abilities serve him better than any athletic feats he expected to perform as a hero. It’s his leadership, compassion, and love for the world and its many wonders that really define him. Through him, the novel shows its value of connecting with others and protecting the vulnerable.
By the time he returns home, Taran holds a new appreciation for his simple life on a farm, his ability to have good friends, and the knowledge that he doesn’t have to be a hero to be worthy. For him and his team, deeper truths are more defining than older, somewhat artificial aspirations. The characters have learned to accept themselves. In doing so, traits they once shunned come to be seen in a new light as worthy and even heroic.
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By Lloyd Alexander
