Redden Ohmsford is a character in The Dark Legacy of Shannara trilogy. He and his twin brother Railing possess the power of the wishsong and are recruited by the Ard Rhys Khyber Elessedil for her quest to find the missing sets of Elfstones, which have been lost since the Age of Faerie.
Biography
Early Life
Redden and Railing are the children of Kierst Ohmsford and the Elf Sarys Starleigh. Sarys, who distrusted magic and those who used it, was distraught when it became clear her twin sons had inherited the Ohmsford legacy of the wishsong.
Redden and Railing grew up in Patch Run with their childhood friend Mirai Leah. When they were both very young their father died in an accident while flying with the Druids, which only increased the resentment their mother held toward magic users, particularly the Druid Order and the Ard Rhys.
Quest for the Missing Elfstones
Redden and Railing accompany Khyber Elessedil and other Druids to find the missing Elfstones. The quest goes horribly wrong when Redden and a group of Druids become trapped in the Forbidding, and Railing and Mirai are desperate to get him out.
Railing is told by the King of the Silver River that the key to Redden's return lies in bringing back Grianne Ohmsford, who had given herself to the tanequil over a century ago and become an aeriad, a spirit of the air. Despite being warned that freeing Grianne would have unintended consequences, Railing is determined to free his brother and he sets off on a quest to find the tanequil.
Meanwhile, while trapped in the Forbidding, members of the Druid company die one after another. Khyber and Redden are captured by Tael Riverine, the Straken Lord that had imprisoned Grianne Ohmsford in his fortress over a century ago. To prevent either Khyber or Redden from using their magic, the Straken Lord has conjure collars placed around their necks—collars which send debilitating pain through their body if they even attempt to use their magic.
Days of imprisonment and the painful effects of the conjure collar leaves Khyber weak and drained, but Tael Riverine invites her to a public duel. She is given a potion that restores her strength to normal, and while she is under the effects of the potion she turns out to be more than a match for the Straken Lord. However, the potion was rigged to wear off mid-battle, and once it does so Khyber is returned to her weakened state and unable to call on her magic. Redden is forced to watch as she is killed quickly by Tael Riverine, and he places her head on a spike on the walls of his fortress.
The killing of Khyber Elessedil and days of imprisonment begin to wear on Redden's mind, and he begins withdrawing into a shell. He is in danger of losing himself completely when he is eventually rescued by Oriantha, the shape-shifter daughter of the Elven Druid Pleysia Ariana, and Tesla Dart, an Ulk Bog creature who is a niece of Weka Dart, who had helped Grianne Ohmsford navigate the Forbidding over a century ago.
Redden is thrilled to be finally free, but is still weak and fragile from his time in imprisonment, and he wants nothing more than to leave the Forbidding for good. However, when he and Oriantha realize that Tesla Dart knows where the missing Elfstones may be hidden, he decides to remain in the Forbidding and travel to the Kroat Abyss, where Tesla Dart says the Stones are located. While revolted by the idea of staying in the Forbidding, Redden realizes that if he doesn't take the opportunity given to him to attempt finding the Elfstones, all the deaths he witnessed inside the Forbidding would have been for nothing.
With Tesla Dart leading, Redden and Oriantha go down into the Kroat Abyss, into an underground building containing all sorts of treasures from the Age of Faerie, before the Forbidding had been created. With Tesla's guidance the trio are able to easily avoid the multiple traps laid within the treasure house and Redden soon gains possession of a box containing the crimson, emerald, saffron, and white Elfstones.
However, a large contingent of Demons that had been tracking Redden also arrive at the treasure house, and Redden and his allies are trapped. Not knowing what else to do, he chooses the crimson Elfstones and unlocks their power using the wishsong.
Use of the Elfstones destroys the Demons utterly, disintegrating them into nothingness, but Redden is affected by their use, feeling the death of the Demons through the magic of the Elfstones and feeling a part of himself draining away along with the Demons' lives.
Redden, Oriantha, and Tesla Dart make their way out of the Kroat Abyss, and eventually out of the Forbidding itself. They emerge from the Forbidding in the Westland, at the place where the Straken Lord's army, freed from the Forbidding by the dying of the Ellcrys, have begun their invasion of the Elven nation.
Railing and Mirai Leah are there as well. Railing had been successful in finding and releasing Grianne Ohmsford from the tanequil, but she had been returned as the malevolent Ilse Witch, and she had voiced her intentions to kill Tael Riverine and take his place as ruler of the Demons to Railing himself.
The Ilse Witch confronts the Straken Lord and proceeds to do battle with him while Railing, Mirai Leah, the Demons, and the Elven army watch. She easily tricks the Straken Lord and traps him with his own conjure collar, and having rendered him helpless, she kills him with his own scepter. With her victory, the Demons acknowledge her as their new leader.
With the Straken Lord defeated, the Ilse Witch turns on Railing. However, Redden, who had just reunited with his brother, again uses a combination of his wishsong and the crimson Elfstones in a desperate attempt to stop her from harming Railing and Mirai. Although the magic of the wishsong and the Elfstones initially overpowers the witch, she recovers and begins to fight back.
The twin brothers are in imminent danger of being killed by the witch when Arlingfant Elessedil restores the Ellcrys and the Forbidding. Because the Ilse Witch had made herself one of the Demons, she disappears with all the other Demons when they are banished back into the Forbidding.
Redden is left catatonic and unresponsive due to his use of the Elfstones, and Railing takes him back to Patch Run to recuperate. Months pass with Railing, Mirai, and the twins' mother Sarys taking care of Redden, but he does not recover.
Finally, Railing remembers a talisman given to him by the King of the Silver River, a ring consisting of a gemstone set in a ring made of multiple threads. The threads are to be plucked off when the user gets lost and is in need of finding his way. Thinking to himself that he was in need of finding a way to get to Redden, Railing plucks off a thread. Nothing seems to happen, but over the course of months Railing persists in his efforts, plucking a thread off the ring from time to time to see if it will work.
Finally, when Railing is down to his last three threads, Redden comes out of his catatonia, and the brothers are reunited once more.
Legacy
Redden's descendant is Reyn Frosch, a young man with the power of the wishsong. While not explicitly stated, it is implied that Redden's use of the crimson Elfstones against Demons in the Forbidding and against the Ilse Witch infused his blood with the Elfstones' magic and passed it down to his descendants, just as the use of the blue Elfstones had similarly affected Wil Ohmsford's blood and resulted in the inheritance of the wishsong in Wil's descendants.
In Redden's case, however, the magic of the crimson Elfstones was passed down in combination with the magic of the wishsong, which was already in Redden's blood, meaning that Reyn inherited a completely new kind of magic in his wishsong. When Reyn loses control of the wishsong, a red light or haze appears. He also goes catatonic after losing control, just as Redden had done after his battle against the Ilse Witch.
Physical Appearance
Redden has red hair, like his twin brother Railing and grandfather Pen Ohmsford.