The third and final book chronicling Morgon of Hed, Harpist in the Wind brings an answer to Morgon’s questions: why does he have three stars, where is the High One, and why has he not lifted a finger to help Morgon? Morgon leaves Anuin with Raederle and the dead of An to bring the dead to protect Hed. Then he and Raederle travel to Lundgold to protect it against the coming attack by Ghisteslwchlom. They travel on foot, as Raederle refuses to shape change, even to speed the journey. Before long Morgon as drawn to Deth’s plaintive harping (Ghisteslwchlom maimed his hands forcing him to play a harp of fire), betrayed a second time, from which he escapes and draws Raederle to Lungold with wizardry, eventually persuading her to change shape.

They arrive in Lungold where Morgon discovers the wizards in the ancient school and helps prepare the city for the coming attack. That attack is not long in coming. Ghisteslwchlom and Morgon duel, with Morgon searching the wizard’s mind to learn that he built Lungold to find out about the Star-Bearer and that he destroyed it to hide that memory. That he went to ask the High One a question but found no one, so he took up residence there. The shape-changers attack and Ghisteslwchlom discovers that they are far more powerful than he imagined. His mind is captured and Morgon flees.

Morgon is driven through many shapes by the shape-changers, until he is imprisoned once again within Erlenstar Mountain. Here he realizes that both Ghisteslwchlom and the shape-changers had been using him as bait to draw the High One to his destruction so that they could take his power. Eventually Morgon takes the shape of wind and with help from Raederle he escapes, forgetting himself, fleeing into the wilderness, where he harps to the sound of the wind. Raederle finds him there and tells him of the wizard Yrth’s harping, harping that is oddly reminiscent of Deth’s harping. Morgon returns to Isig to discover the riddle of Deth—who is this man who can prevent Morgon from killing him with a mere riddle, who can draw him with broken harping?

Yrth urges him to strengthen his power, to learn the land-law of Isig. Successful, he determines to fight the shape-changers  in Wind-Plain in Ymris (where the battle has been going rather badly), but not until he has learned the land-law of Oesterland, Herun, and Ymris. While in Herun, he tells the Morgol, who had gone to Lungold to seek Deth, as they had loved each other, that Deth had given up his life to keep Ghisteslwchlom to keep him from using the Morgol as bait for Morgon. Impulsively Yrth, who by his own admission plays the harp badly these days, plays the beautiful harping that the High One’s harpist enchanted kings with. Then he plays a song that Deth made only for the Morgol, vanishing into the fire as he finishes. Morgon discovers the answer to his riddle—Deth and Yrth are the High One, hidden in the tower of the endless stair on Wind Plain.

Morgon climbs the tower, dispells the illusion to find himself standing in front of the High One. Deth explains that the Earth-Masters grew into their power, but that their power had no limits. He realized that there must be limits and began to create the land-law, to prevent the other Earth-Masters from abusing their power. War ensued and while the Earth-Master-shape-changers were bound by the High One, he did not have the strength to withstand them. So he hid, became Yrth the wizard and Deth the harper to await the Star-Bearer, his land-heir. When the Star-Bearer arrived, a Prince of Hed who know nothing of his power, Deth led him in the path to ensure that he would be capable of receiving the transfer of land-rule when the High One died. He let Ghisteslwchlom teach Morgon the path unfettered power takes. And he gave Morgon a choice—a choice to follow Ghisteslwchlom who took his land-law, or follow Deth, who stole his love and trust by betraying him to Ghisteslwchlom. Morgon chose the latter and eventually ends up in the tower on Wind Plain.

The foreseen battle comes about swiftly; the High One lets Ghisteslwchlom kills him with Morgon’s star-sword and the land-rule of the realm passes to Morgon. The shape-changers take from him much of his inherited knowledge, but Morgon can control the winds, which was the power that the High One tamed and used to keep the shape-changers at bay. Morgon drives them into Erlenstar Mountain, imprisoning them there (they are kept alive because he sees their beauty in Raederle), and turns to the task of consolidating his land-rule. Finally, after having searched a long time, he finds Raederle, who has found a love of the sea. But through it all, they both have found a love for each other.

Harpist in the Wind is a satisfying conclusion to the questions raised in the previous two books. The telling of the answers to these questions reveals a thoughtful consideration of them by McKillip and this book, more so than the others, bears the marks of a deep questioning of life. Here, too comes a rather Christian theme of a god dying for the realm, of a god who for two thousand years hid his power to find and protect his heir from the powers of evil that would destroy everything. It is a book of haunting dialogue and a story of compelling thoughtfulness.