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The Fionavar Tapestry

novel trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ524957
Source-derived summary

The Fionavar Tapestry is a book series of fantasy novels by Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay, published between 1984 and 1986. The novels are set in both contemporary Toronto and the secondary world of Fionavar.

Premise

Five University of Toronto senior law and medical students who are drawn into the 'first world of the Tapestry' by the mage Loren Silvercloak. Once there, each character discovers their own role and destiny in the framework of an ancient conflict.

Books in the series

Primary

The Summer Tree

The Wandering Fire

The Darkest Road

Secondary

Ysabel, while not part of The Fionavar Tapestry proper, features two of the same characters and often refers to the events of the trilogy.

Characters

The Five

University of Toronto students

Kevin Laine (Liadon) is described as witty, bright, outgoing, and spirited. He has fair-coloured hair, and is characterized to be often intensely and deeply affected by acts of love.

Paul Schafer (Pwyll Twiceborn) is described to be highly intelligent and withdrawn. At the beginning of the story, he is haunted by the death of his girlfriend in a car accident that he believes was his fault.

Dave Martyniuk (Davor) is a star basketball player who carries emotional scars from his Eastern European immigrant father's rough treatment of him as a child.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “The Fionavar Tapestry” as novel trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Fionavar, Tapestry and novel.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1984, 1986—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1984. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Fionavar, Tapestry and novel providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Fionavar Tapestry”, the useful work is to connect “novel trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q524957. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1984 and 1986.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Fionavar Tapestry”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Fionavar Tapestry primary sources, The Fionavar Tapestry archive and Fionavar research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Fionavar Tapestry”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from The Fionavar Tapestry” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.