Ogre, Ogre

Ogre, Ogre
Smash on the cover of Ogre, Ogre.
Author(s)	Piers Anthony
Cover artist	Darrell K. Sweet
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Xanth series
Genre(s)	Fantasy
Publisher	Del Rey Books
Publication date	October 1982
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	307 pp (paperback 18th printing)
ISBN	0-345-35492-3
OCLC Number	8389131
Preceded by	Centaur Aisle
Followed by	Night Mare

In Ogre, Ogre Smash goes on a Quest to protect Tandy from the demon Fiant.

Plot

Tandy, 19, the human daughter of Crombie the soldier and Jewel the Nymph is being bothered by the demon Fiant. Fiant wants to rape Tandy.

Fiant comes in the night to Tandy's room, but is narrowly stopped by one of Tandy's tantrums. Night mares visit Tandy the following evening, and Tandy hurts one with another tantrum.

Tandy wants to go to Castle Roogna to be with (and presumably be protected by) her father, so she attempts to steal a ride on a night mare to get there.

She is successful at mounting the night mare, and the night mare takes her as far as the Good Magician's Castle, where she is admitted without the usual challenges (due to her harrowing night mare journey).

One year later...

Smash travels to the Good Magician's Castle to ask a question. Smash wins entry into the castle, but doesn't know exactly what his question is. Humfrey gives Smash an Answer without a question: "You will discover what you need among the Ancestral Ogres."

Smash's service, and the answer to Tandy's question (though we don't know her exact question), is for them to travel together. Tandy needs protection, and Smash is obliged to protect her.

So they travel south to lake Ogre Chobee, where they meet the Siren, the Gorgon's sister. The Siren joins them on their journey, hoping to find a mate along the way.

Tandy becomes trapped by a hypnogourd. When her physical body is rescued by the Siren and Smash, they realize her soul is still trapped in the gourd. Smash enters the gourd to rescue Tandy's soul, and is only able to release it by offering a lien on his own soul. Smash is able to keep his soul for the time being, but the lien is to come due in a matter of months.

Continuing their travels, the party is joined by John the fairy. She is a female fairy who's name was accidentally switched at birth. She is searching for the male fairy that received her name, so that she can swap back with him.

Next, the party is joined by Fireoak, a hamadryad (wood nymph) who wants to travel to Castle Roogna to convince the king to save her tree from neighboring villagers. Then they are joined by Chet centaur, who wants to map the inner Wilds of Xanth. Chet, who is delivering Chem to the group, returns to Castle Roogna with Fireoak's plea, and the group continues toward the hamadryad's tree.

The group then collects Goldy Goblin, who needs to be taken to a northern goblin tribe. Goldy knows a lot about the hypnogourds. She gives Smash hope that he can win his soul by facing the Night Stallion's challenges.

Smash re-enteres a hypnogourd to win back his soul. In the process, he accidentally brings back Blyght Brassie (later called Blythe). She becomes the seventh, and final, female of the group.

Smash is able to protect Fireoak's tree until Dor, Irene and Grundy show up to talk to the villagers and give it official protection from the king.

After traveling through several of the inner Wilds, Blythe is returned to the City of Brass and Goldy is safely delivered to the goblin tribe in the north. John meets with her namesake (name-mistake?), Joan, and experiences "love at first touch." She stays with him in the ???land of birds???. The Siren meets a ???merman??? in ???the land of water??? and stays with him there.

The remaining party gets stuck in the region of the Void. While his body is in the void, Smash enters the gourd again, and is able to pass all of the challenges set by the Night Stallion and wins back his soul, only to give it up again to pay the night mares to take Chem and Tandy out of the Void. Chem, Tandy and Smash end up paying 1/2 a soul each for their rides out of the Void instead.

Chem sets out alone, once past the void.

Smash finds the ogres of the Ogre Fen and is forced into a fight. In his weakened state (having only 1/2 a soul) he is outmatched, but Tandy offers him her remaining 1/2 soul and Smash is able to win the fight.

Later, Tandy's 1/2 remaining sole is returned, and she convinces Smash that he is more than just an ogre (just as she is more than a human, being 1/2 nymph), and that he should accept his human part, rather than continuing to deny it. Smash realizes he has been changed by the journey, and they each profess their love for one another. They are each what the other needs, and Humfrey's Answers to them have allowed them to see that.

Smash returns Tandy to her home, where Fiant waits. Smash's ogre-self is able to defeat Fiant by shoving him into a hypnogourd. The Night Stallion returns Smash and Tandy's 1/2 souls in return for the demon (it's not clear whether the demon had a soul that was worth that exchange, but it's a good excuse to get Smash and Tandy their soulds back).

Characters

Major Characters

• Tandy
• Smash

Minor Characters

• D. Fiant
• Sirene
• John/Joan the fairy
• Fireoak the hamadryad
• Chem Centaur
• Goldy Goblin
• Blythe
• Night Stallion

Mentions\Cameos

• Crombie
• Jewel Nymph
• Gorgon
• Humfrey
• Mare Imbrium
• Chet Centaur

Locations

• Nether-regions of Xanth
• The dream world of the hypnogourd
• The "inner Wilds of Xanth"
• Good Magician's Castle