Jhereg

Jhereg has three meanings, all of which are linked to the fiction of Steven Brust:

Jhereg is the name of the first novel in the Vlad Taltos series, which was published in 1983. Steven Brust's JHEREG is a graphic novel adaptation published by Marvel Comics in 1987, and The Book of Jhereg is a slightly amended omnibus collection of the first three books in the series — Jhereg, Yendi, and Teckla — published in 1999.

A jhereg is an animal in the series' fictional world of Dragaera.

The House of the Jhereg is the Dragaeran Noble House to which Vlad Taltos belongs. Members of House Jhereg are referred to as Jhereg, not jhereg. The animal's name is not capitalized.

The Animal

Jhereg are small (40 cm) flying reptiles with leathery wings, sinuous necks, sharp claws, and a venomous bite. While cover art for the Vlad books depicts jhereg as lizardlike quadrupeds, they are described as serpentlike, and have two legs, like wyverns. They mate for life, with the larger females playing the dominant role. Jhereg were originally simple animals, but the manipulations of the Jenoine have given them intelligence comparable to humans. Despite their intelligence, they continue to live as scavengers and predators in the wild. Dragaerans hold them no higher than common animals. Vlad's jhereg familiar, Loiosh, has learned to appreciate the subtleties of human behavior and society through his telepathic link to Vlad.

Jhereg (novel)

Jhereg is a fantasy novel by Steven Brust in his Vlad Taltos series, originally published in 1983 by Ace Books. Ace later republished it in 1999 as part of the three-book omnibus, The Book of Jhereg. Marvel Comics adapted the story into a graphic novel titled Steven Brust's JHEREG in 1987.

The novel is named after House Jhereg, the Great House to which Vlad Taltos belongs. The House in turn was named after jheregs, tiny dragon-like creatures native to Dragaera, one of which Vlad keeps as a familiar.

Plot introduction

Vlad Taltos, a mobster and assassin in the magical metropolis of Adrilankha, is given the largest contract of his career, but the job is even more complicated than he expects.

Plot summary

The novel opens with a brief history of Vlad Taltos and a description of how he acquired his jhereg familiar, Loiosh. Despite being an Easterner in the Dragaeran city of Adrilankha, Vlad is a minor boss in the criminal activities of the Jhereg Organization. One day he is approached by an extremely powerful member of the Organization's ruling Council and offered an assassination job with a staggeringly large reward. The contract is to kill another Jhereg crime lord, Mellar, who has absconded with a fortune from the Jhereg treasury. Vlad accepts.