In their beginnings, Garten and Sméagol-later Gollum-were known for their intelligence. But both seem to have eventually deviated from the course of what was right. Garten, according to his brother Wilfred, became more concerned with his own accomplishments than with the Cause those successes were meant to serve. Sméagol, meanwhile, became so absorbed in his search for roots and beginnings that “his head and eyes were downward.”

Both of these characters then came to a point of crisis. Garten found himself rejected by the doe he was supposedly in love with. What’s more, she turned him down in favor of his own brother. Sméagol, in his turn, witnessed his friend discovering the One Ring. And when Sméagol asked to be given it, his friend refused.

Sadly, both characters let their respective disappointments lead them to dark deeds. Garten was so hurt by Sween’s choosing Whittle that he sought out the…

Be Pacer:

Is Lord Rake's lieutenant

Has secondary role on book

Is gone after the Attack on Cloud Mountain

Said to have betrayed the rabbits

Never appeared ever again

So I was browsing the site recently and came across an old post that questioned whether the Green Ember series had a “Chosen One” character. Smalls was naturally suggested as the most likely candidate. And he certainly plays a key role, what with striking the fatal blow to Morbin and being instrumental in stopping the dragon resurgence. But in my opinion, not everything in the Green Ember does hang on Smalls. Indeed, there are several important individuals to the Cause, all seemingly chosen for particular roles and endowed with particular gifts.

You can’t talk about Smalls, of course, without mentioning Heather. Smalls may be the blood and rightful heir of Flint Firstking, but Heather is very much the spiritual successor of Fay Firstmother. It is she, not Smalls, who has the gifts of a seer as defined in the world of the Green Ember. And of course, she is not…

Well, it's clear that the rabbits under Whitson Mariner got into shipbuilding, if it hadn't been an art they practiced previously. Obviously they used ships to travel to Natalia, then on Ayman Lake, and later as they made their way from Ayman Lake to the Great Wood. Judging by Helmer, Hewson, and Picket's conversation in *Ember Rising*, the navy by the time of Helmer and Hewson's youth was a virtually unchallenged force dominating Natalia's waters. From the map of Natalia as we have it, these may have included:

Ayman Lake itself

The Rivers Flint and Fay, except those stretches that were under Preylord control

Lake Merle

The Goforth River, which flowed out of Lake Merle

Black Lake