Prophecy of the Seven Swords
The “Prophecy of the Seven Swords” is, together with “The One About the Woods,” one of the foundational myths of The United Kingdom of Wonderland. It celebrates the power of the the common folk to resist tyranny, subjugation, and unwanted change.
The Prophecy
Early in the Second Age, the citizens of the Edenian South adopted seven “national swords”—one for each kingdom. It was believed that these swords could only be wielded by the just and the true, and that the swords would change their allegiance should their bearers seek to do more harm than good.
These seven swords were:
- Kester’s Blade, the sword of Promiseland;
- The Nutcracker’s Saber, the sword of Motherland;
- Tëjk ës Fjafü, the sword of Yesterland;
- Vaters Fluch, the sword of Fatherland;
- The Sword of the River, the sword of The Realm;
- The Spaniard’s Katana, the sword of The Highlands; and,
- Pan’s Dagger, the sword of Neverland.
In the year 133, seven seers saw the same vision: seven women emerging unscathed from a burning forest, each of them wielding one of the seven swords. And behind these women, marching through the same conflagration without harm, were the huddled masses of the Edenian South.
The Prophecy Fulfilled
The popularity of this prophecy, combined with the continued failures of the False Kings, led directly to the spread of the related myth “The One About the Woods.” And in 137, following Gretel der Jäger’s slaying of the Watersmeet yeti and Daisy Rampion’s escape from the tower she had long been imprisoned in, The Great Abdication Movement began.
Through a series of labor strikes and peaceful protests in the capital cities of each kingdom, the people forced the remaining False Kings to commit to:
- abdicating their thrones within five years;
- marrying their heirs to “women of character” who were nominated by the people; and,
- presenting one of the Seven Swords as a wedding gift to each new queen consort.
The last requirement was originally phrased in a different way, requiring that each abdicating king hand over their nation’s adopted sword to their new daughter-in-law. But when the sleeping beauty Aesling O’Briar emerged from her 100-year slumber and married a Neverlander instead of a Promiselander, Promiseland handed over the sword that had belonged to Aesling’s mother and a series of “sword swaps” took place.
By 142, when all of the False Kings had been stripped of their power, the swords had been distributed as follows:
- Marnie Miller, whom the halflings of Eden strongly suspected of having some measure of halfling blood in her veins, was given The Sword of the River;
- Gretel der Jäger wielded the Nutcracker’s Saber, though she still preferred her bow to any blade;
- Ella of the Ashes, a pacifist by nature, shared custody of Tëjk ës Fjafü with Todd—who used it to patrol the Gate of Eden as one of the world’s primary guardians;
- Sadie Winters wielded Vaters Fluch—though she kept using the hammers gifted to her by the seven dwarves, as well;
- Daisy Rampion was the nominal owner of Pan’s Dagger, a gift from Neverland to thank The Realm for letting Promiseland have the Sword of the River so that Neverland could have Kester’s Blade—but Daisy returned the dagger to Peter Pan and only borrowed it back on very special occasions, since her prehensile hair was all the weapon she needed most of the time;
- Bonnie MacAdam was the master of the Spaniard’s Katana, though like Gretel she preferred the feel of a bow and arrow; and,
- Aesling O’Briar wielded Kester’s Blade, also called the Vorpal Sword, which her mother had used in the legendary Battle of Frankburg Bridge.
For two years, the South was at peace. Some began to wonder if they had avoided the future the seers had seen altogether, if just by giving the swords to the queens they had made sure there would never been a great trial by fire after all. But then, in 143, the False Kings struck back—together with two discarded and disgruntled queen mothers at their side.
Emboldened by Oscar Diggs’ successful invasion of Oz, the False Kings plotted a coup d'état. Together with an army of artificial life they had built with their embezzled fortunes, the group would retake the South and re-establish their dominance.
Or, well, that was the plan. But when Sadie Winters’ seven dwarves uncovered the plot and the ne’er-do-wells failed to kill all of them, word reached Sadie in Frankburg. As quickly as she could, she gathered the other queens—and all seven swords—and they marched together to put down the uprising.
At Watersmeet, the capital of Motherland, the two sides met. And though the False Kings managed to burn much of the city to the ground, the Seven Queens prevailed and led the commoners to safety—just as the prophecy had predicted they would.
I always love that prophecies get fulfilled partly because of people trying to stop them. This is a great story.
Thank you! I had a lot of fun with this one and it will be very important further down the line in the comic book.