The Forests of Silence is a fantasy novel written by Australian author Emily Rodda, and is the first book in the eight-volume Deltora Quest series.

Jarred goes to the library and later learns that the evil Shadow Lord, a Sauron-like intelligence located in the Shadowlands, once tried to seize the land in which is the kingdom of Deltora.

Jarred learned that a blacksmith named Adin gathered the sacred talismans from each tribe and attached them to a chain of steel medallions.

The people's trust in Adin, channeled through the gems, was powerful enough to drive back the Shadow Army into its own dark home, the Shadowlands.

Jarred also realises that the Shadow Lord sent many spies to act as advisors, secretly ruling Deltora with an iron fist.

Then, the Shadow Lord posted Grey Guards on the road to Del, the capital city, ready to kill anyone that dared anger or pass them.

His parents told him the history of Adin in great detail, but the time just before Lief was born they refused to tell, claiming that a spy might be listening to them right now.

They said that the Shadow Lord had invaded the land, who already had a cowardly ruler, Endon, and Lief hated the old royal system as a result.

Jarred says that the Shadow Lord sends Deltora's military might to neighbouring continents, seeking land and power.

The wall of vines was guarded by a Jalis knight called Gorl, who sought to drink of the Nectar of Life and become immortal but killed his two brothers' millennia ago because they stood in his way.

Under their questions, Gorl narrates all, while Barda strives to break the psychokinetic control held by the knight over their bodies.

As he is about to kill Lief, Jasmine persuades a tree to drop a limb onto Gorl, thus destroying him and breaching his wall.

The three relax and recuperate, while animals from all over Mid Wood enter the breach in Gorl's wall and devour the vines.