The Stephen R. Donaldson Universe Wiki
The Stephen R. Donaldson Universe Wiki
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Sandgorgons were monstrous creatures from the Great Desert of Bthrathairealm. Centuries of living in such extreme heat, sand, and gales left them tremendously powerful, and nearly invincible. In an effort to save the people of Bhrathairain, and earn himself a place of power and authority, Kasreyn of the Gyre entrapped them in the Sandgorgon's Doom. The Doom held until Nom of the Sandgorgons consumed the shredded remnants of a raver, gaining sentience. Since that time, the Sandgorgons have wandered far and wide, learning, and slowly falling to corruption, craving dominiance over land and people.

Physical Description[]

Centuries of living in the Great Desert have made the Sandgorgons nearly invincible. It is said they contained immense raw force, as powerful as a tornado or storm, violent and unstoppable. Interminable ages under the desert sun have bleached their hides of all color, leaving them pale as an albino. Slightly shorter than a Cavewight, but much broader and more strongly formed. Their knees flex backwards, supported by wide pads for feet, similar to a bird. It enables them to run across dunes and open plains with tremendous speed, Kasreyn claimed distance held no meaning to such creatures. In fact Nom appeared from across the Great Sea, and all the Land, very shortly after the Unbeliever's call. Their forearms grew into flexible stumps, like elastic truncheons, which could plow through sand or stone with great ease. And their faces held no features, apart from subtle ridges along their skulls and two barely visible slits resembling gills where a human's ears would be. They could use their forearms and their heads as weapons to clear through obstructions.

Entrapment and Freedom[]

The Sandgorgons once roamed free all along the Great Desert, wild as storms, with little purpose or intent. On occasion they would cross into Bhrathairain and wreck havoc among the people, causing death and destruction. The Unhomed came to their aid in their travels, helping to erect the great Sandwall, in hopes to deter the beasts, but it failed. A single Sandgorgon could break through the wall, and reach the town within, the wall merely slowed it down.

The people of Bthrathairealm were on the edge of extinction when Kasreyn of the Gyre came among them and began seeking ways to slay or entrap them. Originally Kasreyn sought ways to slay them, forming powerful spells, and more specifically, enchanted weapons to defeat them. But the Sandgorgons proved to be too powerful, even against his warped bestials soldiers, the hustin. After failed attempts to slay the monsters, he sought a way to ensnare or trap them, to this end he formed a great desert storm, a never ending hurricane of sand, gale force winds, lightning, and sheer power. He called it the Sandgorgon's Doom, and he placed one small flaw in his work, so that it would endure. The flaw was that anyone who spoke the name of a Sandgorgon would release it, but it would be compelled to slay the speaker. Once the speaker was dead, it was compelled back into the Doom.

The Unbeliever exploited this flaw, he spoke the name of a Sandgorgon, and defended himself from its attacks, but he refused to slay it. In this way the Sandgorgon's complusions were conflicted, it could not slay the speaker, and so was not forced to return to the Doom. Covenant offered Nom freedom, a chance to escape the Doom, and Nom accepted.

When Covenant returned to the Land, to fight the Sunbane and the Clave, he called Nom's name again, this time seeking aid. The Sandgorgon helped to break down the last gates of Revelstone, and later, slew the Raver Samadhi Sheol in the body of Grimmand Honninscrave. After rending the Raver's spirit, Nom was able to consume the essence, granting it intelligence, and the ability to speak mind to mind. With the Unbelievers permission, he returned to the Great Desert to undo the Doom and free his people, with the promise to leave Bthrathairealm in peace.

Corruption[]

In the later ages, several generations after Nom, the rent essence of Sheol was spread among the Sandgorgons, and the Raver's evil began to infect and taint the great beasts. His memories of dominance, and conquest, created powerful lusts in the Sandgorgons, as did images of the Land and its bounties. It is believed Sheol began to urge the Sandgorgons to cross the Sunbirth Sea, so that in the time of Linden Avery's return, they were close at hand. They aided her in memory of the Unbeliever, and in honor of all they had gained, but swore they would never again serve her, and any command would result in the deaths of those around her. A few days later they began to assult Salva Gildenbourne and the Andelain hills, wrecking such devastation even the Insequent wept to see it.

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