From the back cover: It is the time before Myth Drannor, when the Heartlands are home to barbarians, and wicked dragons rule the skies. In these ancient days, Elminster is but a shepherd boy, dreaming of adventure and heroics. When a dragon-riding magelord sweeps down upon him, though, the boy is thrust into a world of harsh realities, corrupt rulers and evil sorcerers.

It is the time of the great elven city of Cormanthor, when the Heartlands are home to barbarians, wicked dragons rule the skies, and the elven people trust no one. Wizards and warriors alike threaten their civilization in vain, arrogant, and ignorant quests for glory. Thus it was that Elminster was guided to Cormanthor, the Towers of Song, where Eltargrim was Coronal. There he dwelt for twelve summers and more, studying with many mighty mages, learning to feel magic and know how it could be bent and directed to his will ... It is recorded that when the Mythal was laid, and Cormanthor became Myth Drannor, Elminster was among those who devised and spun that mighty magic. Antarn the Sage The High History of Faerunian Archmages Mighty

How do you tempt an archmage who has everything? From a dark and dusty tomb, Elminster emerges, seeking the guidance of Mystra, and finds only silence. He is drawn into the clutches of the mysterious and sinister Lady of Shadows. The path he takes will lead to a Realms-shaking confrontation where Elminster has to make the most important choice of his long life. Whatever he decides, the Realms will be forever changed . . . How do you tempt an archmage who has everything? From a dark and dusty tomb, Elminster emerges, seeking the guidance of Mystra, and finds only silence. He is drawn into the clutches of the mysterious and sinister Lady of Shadows. The path he takes will lead to a Realms-shaking confrontation where Elminster has to make the most important choice of his long life. Whatever he decides, the Realms will be forever changed . . .

Taken prisoner by a powerful demon, Elminster, the legendary wizard, finds himself imprisoned in hell, where he is tortured for his powerful mind and confronts the awful choice between death or madness. Reprint.

A woman scorned. All her life, Narnra of Waterdeep has wondered who her father is. Amid the squalor of the streets, through the danger she faces daily as a thief in the City of Splendors, she speculates on whom the mysterious wizard might be who left her mother to raise a fatherless child. Now she's discovered that it's no less a person than Elminster of Shadowdale, mightiest mage in all Faerûn. And her anger is as boundless as his power. Like a silken shadow, the thief Narnra Shalace flits through the dank streets and dark corners of Waterdeep. Little does she know that she's about to come face-to-face with the most dangerous man in all Faerûn: her father. And amidst a vast conspiracy to overthrow all order in the Realms, she'll have to learn to trust again—and to love.

Elminster Returns! Elminster Must Die is the debut 4th edition appearance of one of the Forgotten Realms ® world’s most iconic characters, written by the creator of the original Forgotten Realms campaign setting. An instant classic, and a must-read for every Realms fan. When the goddess of magic was murdered, Elminster’s world shattered. Once the most powerful wizard in the world, immortal, beloved of the goddess of magic, and the bane of villainy, he is now a tired old man. He is powerful but mortal, and with all the enemies a man who makes a habit of saving the world tends to accumulate. To make matters worse, Elminster has needs—feeding powerful magic items to the Simbul, his lover, is the only thing that keeps her sane—but their increasingly risky collection leads his enemies right to him.

Elminster's archenemy, the vampiric Lord Manshoon, thinks he has destroyed Elminster at last. But Elminster survives in the form of magical ash, and with the help of his scion, a fop who is growing into a true nobleman, and his longtime companion Storm, he still has a chance to counter Manshoon's insidious plots.

Commanded by the vestige of Mystra to work together, Manshoon and Elminster engage instead in a ferocious battle that sends the Sage plummeting into the Underdark as a cloud of ashes. Elminster soon inhabits the body of a fallen dark elf, so that he can begin carrying out Mystra's orders to rally Cormyr's Wizards of War, seek blueflame items to mend immense rifts throughout the realms that are releasing deadly monsters, and prevent the ancient Primordials from rising and unleashing their rage. But his sworn archenemy, Manshoon, has plans as to conquer Cormyr and be the new Emperor, and hunt down the Sage's clones. The battles are fierce, the stakes have never been higher, and the fate of Cormyr is on the line. Meanwhile, War Wizards are being mysteriously assassinated . . .

Rumors race around Cormyr regarding the mythical Lost Spell, a powerful enchantment designed centuries ago by the presumed dead god of spells—a spell long thought lost to the ages. Found by some magic-less merchant, rumor has it the Lost Spell is to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. It is a powerful lure, and archwizards of every stripe descend upon the merchant, only to be trapped with him inside his manor by a vicious spellstorm—escape impossible, and their magic useless with the interference from the storm. Moreover—they find themselves faced with the infamous Elminster of Shadowdale, who claims he’s just there to decide who gets the Lost Spell, but who clearly has an agenda of his own. But before Elimster can put whatever plan he has in motion, archwizards start dying.

Ed Greenwood, who is synonymous with the Forgotten Realms, leads readers through a story that combines the rollicking fantasy adventure for which he is famous with a murder mystery-thriller. THAT'S WHAT, FOUR LORDS DEAD? Revealed in death to have been Masked Lords, three more citizens had been murdered over the preceding day and the Sembian wine-seller and collector Oszbur Malankar; the half-elf sorceress and artisan Dathanscza Meiril; and the moneylender, landlord, and investor Ammasker Gwelt. All of Waterdeep now knew someone was killing the Lords of Waterdeep, one by one. Yet that was about where truth ended and speculation—however plausible—began. The broadsheets were full of wild conjecture. Who's behind this? The ousted Lord Neverember? The Zhentarim, the Cult of the Dragon or some other Outland Power? The Xanathar? Some cabal of guilds or nobles planning a coup? The rumors would rage on, whether the Open Lord Laeral Silverhand did something or not. That was the trouble with rumors; once loosed, they roamed free like snarling, untamed beasts, with no simple way of stopping them. And all rumors aside, Waterdeep has become . . . A CITY OF MURDERERS!

In the 6th and final book of the multi-author Sundering series launched by New York Times best-selling author R.A. Salvatore, Ed Greenwood, the creator of the Forgotten Realms®, further chronicles the exploits of Elminster as he fights for the future of Faerûn. Chaos grips Faerûn as vainglory, prophecy, and ancient forces comingle in the shadows cast by war. Agents of the Shadovar lurk in the corners of Candlekeep in search of the arcane secrets that will power their war machine toward Myth Drannor. Gods and their Chosen run amok, all in a gambit to seize power. And a threat foretold by an ancient seer stirs. At the heart of it all, Mystra, the great Goddess of Magic, has withdrawn from the world. Without her protection, Elminster, her greatest champion, fears for the nascent Weave, the fabric of magic Mystra wields to bind Faerûn. Will the Nightseer Shar, mistress of the great and fearsome Shadovar, seize the opportunity to blanket the world with her Shadow Weave? With the help of Storm Silverhand and his protégé Amarune, Elminster works frantically to strengthen the Weave’s tethers and forestall what seems an inevitable reckoning. But other interests machinate for their own sinister ends. As the Sundering draws nigh, Elminster and his heroic cohort must see the signs for what they are. The choice of worlds lies in the balance.