A Collection of Ranger's Apprentice Theories

The Dark Side of Araluen (& other countries)

The Ranger's Apprentice and Brotherband series universe is aimed at kids more than adults—though readers can continue enjoying the series into adulthood. With greater world experience comes a realization at what some scenes and conversation actually mean even as they are glossed over to remain kid-friendly. This is a selection.

The most obvious references are those aimed at sex. Will once released a male and female rabbit into a room during springtime, and adult characters hedge around why this was very distracting ('The Ruins of Gorlan'). Another gag is Horace's cluelessness about why some girls in short skirts were waving to him, and how it was only much later that he figures out they were being paid, but not to run mail deliveries ('The Icebound Land'; 'The Kings of Clonmel'). In 'The Hunters,' Lydia is taken prisoner and told to wash up from a bucket and get changed—during which, her male guard tries to open the door and watch, though thankfully can't because she'd had the foresight to secure the lock shut from inside. 'The Hibernian' features Glyniss, a young woman who is pulled around and teased by brutish men under Morgarath's command, one ducking in to kiss her cheek without consent.

During 'The Icebound Land,' Will becomes addicted to warmweed as a coping mechanism for being a slave. Those are two very heavy topics where he genuinely suffers as much as a child-friendly book could allow, and many others suffer with him. After, the Skandians change their slave practices to be more humane and allow the slaves to live longer in dangerous positions like the paddles. In general, the slave practice continues, with Will gifting a man to Skandians rather than outright kill him ('The Sorcerer of the North'). An unspecified time later, the Heron crew has to save Araluens from the trade when another Skandian ship kidnaps them, violating the treaty between countries ('Slaves of Socorro').

The position of Ranger comes with authority over lives. They can hang those they deem worthy of it ('The Burning Bridge'), and the weapons they use are meant to debilitate or kill, coming in an armor-piercing variety of arrow. Missions sometimes contain life or death battles, where it's kill or be killed. The punishment methods can be less physically violent, but may instead involve humiliation techniques. For example, Gilan and Crowley both make robbers strip their clothes, the latter forcing them completely naked ('The Burning Bridge'; 'The Battle of Hackham Heath'). The King's Rangers are protectors of the Crown, no matter how far they must go; all Duncan asks of them is to have proof of wrongdoing before they start making arrests ('Purple Prose').

The world itself is cruel, too. Castle Araluen has cells for prisoners, but it also contains a dungeon which was active until Duncan's rule, since he personally does not believe in torture ('Scorpion Mountain'). Lord Depernieux apparently does like torture ('The Icebound Land'). Sexism is alive and well in Araluen during the series. Sir Montague, for example, called Lady Pauline several distasteful names while also telling Alyss what he believes women's place in the world involves—cooking, and babies ('The Burning Bridge'). In 'The Battle of Hackham Heath,' Woldon Abbey has developed a quick solution for feeding a motherless baby, and has a small cemetery, presumably for the patients who passed away in their care.

Although this theory is titled "The Dark Side of Araluen,' in reality, Flanagan brought the reality to his fantasy series. Most of these examples are not horrifyingly gruesome and extraordinary for the real world, as much as some of them should cease to exist. This helped ground the series, and make the main characters look all the more spectacular for their relatively better morals. A hero is made from the difference between good and bad, and overall, the characters we are meant to applaud do their best to make their world a better place, like we should attempt to help ours.