Andre Norton's Witch World

Adepts of the Witch World

What is an "adept"?

The word "adept" is taken from Latin, and means approximately "one who has grasped" or "one who has achieved". The Adepts have mastered the fundamentals of wielding and control the awesome powers that many of the peoples of Witch World draw upon.

The mark of the Adept in Witch World appears to be achieving control over the forces of nature itself. For example, many of the Adepts altered the genetic or biological design of their followers or children, thus creating new, often bizarre species. Many of the intelligent creatures of Escore are the product of Adept magical engineering.

When Kemoc rescued Kaththea from Dinzil (Cf. Warlock of the Witch World), she had been partially transformed into a hideous monster by the corruption she experienced in her studies of dark power. Dinzil and the dark adepts he emulated had learned how to mask or undo the physical aspects of corruption their bodies suffered.

The malevolence often associated with the Dark Adepts is similar to the hatred utilized by the Dark Lords of the Sith and the Dark Jedi in George Lucas' Star Wars universe. The evil expressed by the spirit within contorts and tortures the living body until it changes.

But some Adepts retained their human forms, or else they returned to those natural forms. Neevor and Hilarion are two adepts who did not assume or acquire inhuman characteristics. Some of the "good" Adepts, however, seem to have willingly pursued physical change. Landisl and his companions became the "Sky Ones" (Cf. Gryphon In Glory, Gryphon's Eyrie), self-associated with flying creatures. Landisl's servant was the gryphon Telpher, which presumably was a creature shaped or bred by magic.

The other almost universal mark of the Adepts was their ability to create and open gates to other worlds. It appears that not all of the Adepts were native to Witch World, or else their predecessors, while not having achieved full Adept status, nonetheless brought with them great knowledge of how to control the raw forces required to open gates.

Hilarion, in the dream Kaththea had about him (Cf. Sorceress of the Witch World), created a gate and then closed it. Having mastered the spell he needed to open a doorway to another world, he closed it down immediately and left the chamber where he had performed his enchantment. At some later time, he returned to the chamber and opened the gate again, venturing through.

The openers of gates for the most part seemed to be desperate to escape other worlds or curious to learn about them. A few of the openers, it is implied, sought to make allies with other powers, or to enslave other creatures. In Arvon, Gillan entered a world (Cf. Year of the Unicorn) which had apparently been created by one of the ancient dark Adepts for its own purposes. Her tormentors had hoped to trap her there because they feared her heritage.

The Adepts themselves don't seem to have been all-powerful. There are references to beings more ancient and greater than the Adepts who for the most part seem to take a neutral point of view, or who oppose the darkness. Volt, a mysterious inhuman creatures, is said to have been a friend of men. Simon and his friend Koris of Gorm found Volt's body in a hidden chamber (Cf. Web of the Witch World). Neave and Gunnora assisted the common folk but apparently became more withdrawn as time passed (Cf. Horn Crown, Year of the Unicorn, The Jargoon Pard).

The terrible wars which almost destroyed the Witch World were launched by the Adepts themselves. They therefore represent an elite class of wealthy, educated individuals who squandered their gifts in petty disputes. The Adepts must have been admired at one time, but eventually they became feared and dreaded by anyone who knew their history.

• Adepts of Arvon
• Adepts of Escore
• Near-adepts of Escore