Throughout the series, the characters move through their lives, loves and conflicts, blithely unaware of this total doom hanging over their land – all but the wise magician Murgen who, as eventually turns out, is all too well aware of it, and has devoted his life to the effort of averting it. The name "Joald" is mentioned already in the first part as that of a mysterious being inspiring hush and fear. But only in the end of "Madouc" is Joald revealed to be a giant underwater being – "a strange gray creature, human in general configuration, with glistening gray skin, short hairy neck, heavy head with smeared features and the filmy eyes of a dead fish" – who seeks to destroy the Elder Isles by breaking down the submarine pillars on which they rest. Murgen keeps a simulacrum of Joald tightly bound, and he also devotes much of his time and effort to "guard Joald and soothe his monstrous hulk, and ward away whatever might disturb his long wet rest".