Shatahar

Shatahar is Zenophone's main agent for finding and destroying Madatar, and ultimately Ardora.

He is the most powerful of the Warlords, the strongest of Zenophone's servants. He is so powerful, in fact, that he has designs on usurping his master's position and becoming the Ruling Power over The Great Sea himself. Yet powerful as he is, he is terrified at the prospect of Madatar finding him first. This is his greatest weakness, and the reason he delays his own victory. Fear may be a powerful weapon, but it can also be a two-edged sword.

According to some archival writings, it was Shatahar who first discovered Elva's Children (Elves) and brought a host of Barbarians against them. But the Elves escaped, with the help of the Figgits and their sailing craft. For this reason Shatahar bears an especial hatred for Figgits.

In Pawns (a.k.a. Flames of Hatred), Shatahar makes a cryptic comment regarding Lord Kensington: Time moved forward. Time was his enemy. He was trapped in time, but to be anywhere else was to risk assault. In Time he would crush his enemy. He would crush all who opposed him. Meanwhile, what was he to do? He lacked advantage. It had been taken from him. Curse Kensington! This passage is very likely to disappear from the final version, but it seems to indicate that Kensington is the reason for Shatahar losing whatever advantage he had. It also hints at something Swords of Fire does not make clear until Book III: Time is a place. And, as a place, one can either be in time, or out of it. There were advantages and limitations to both. Regarding what Kensington did, this is what happened:

When the Children of Fire first walked upon the waters they generated a great cloud of condensation. This Cloud remained for the duration of The Great Sea's lifespan. It was held back from all but a few lifeless worlds at the command of Lord Kensington. When the Figgits took the Elves onto the ocean, Kensington released the Cloud and it blanketed all of The Great Sea. Even the Children of Fire had trouble seeing through the Cloud, and Kensington used this to scatter the Elves and hide them from Zenophone, Shatahar and the other Warlords.

Shatahar - and the others who sought Madatar's destruction - now had to begin from scratch, searching the worlds one by one to find their enemy. Since they were all terrified of their foe, this process was slow. Moving from world to world took time. It also took energy, and Shatahar soon learned it was seldom possible for him to enter a world unannounced. The power and anger he projected just could not be contained. The Warlords were hindered by something else: mistrust of their allies. They just did not share information with each other. Neither did Zenophone share with his Warlords. Although allied against a common enemy, the Warlords tended to act independently. This was another of their weaknesses.

Eventually, Shatahar would employ lesser beings than himself, called Titans, to make the world-to-world search. The Titans would travel at Shatahar's bidding, and since Shatahar was gifted more so than the other Warlords in understanding the minds of Kensington and Grenville, the leaders in the effort to help Madatar, Shatahar was able to stumble upon key places in Madatar's rise to power. Fortunately for Madatar, Shatahar didn't understand just how key his information was.