Last Stand of Dead Men recap

Foreign Sanctuaries move against Ireland, and political pressure becomes open war. Skulduggery reunites the Dead Men while Valkyrie struggles with Darquesse and her former reflection, now living independently as Stephanie. The conflict has been engineered by Erskine Ravel, the long-hidden man with the golden eyes, who wants sorcerers to rule mortals. When Ghastly Bespoke and Anton Shudder uncover his betrayal, Ravel murders them and his allies seize Roarhaven. His victory collapses as Charivari's warlocks attack the city. Ordinary defenders cannot stop them, so Valkyrie deliberately surrenders control to Darquesse. Darquesse destroys Charivari and the invading force, then turns on Ravel and refuses to return Valkyrie's body. The Sanctuary war ends amid the exposure of Ravel's conspiracy and the deaths of two Dead Men, but Darquesse is now free, with Valkyrie conscious and trapped inside her.

Previously: Valkyrie knows that her true name is Darquesse, the sorcerer Sensitives have seen destroying the world, and Darquesse has now surfaced more than once despite the name being sealed. Skulduggery's own hidden identity is Lord Vile, Mevolent's former Necromancer general. Argeddion's attempt to give magic to humanity was stopped after Valkyrie used Darquesse to defeat the teenagers he empowered. Tanith remains possessed by a Remnant and travels with Billy-Ray Sanguine. Valkyrie's reflection has become an independent person and secretly killed Carol Edgley, while Erskine Ravel continues to lead the Irish Sanctuary with Ghastly Bespoke and Madame Mist as his Elders.

The Irish Sanctuary faces increasing hostility from an international Supreme Council that considers Ireland poorly governed and dangerously independent. Diplomatic incidents and attacks deepen mistrust on both sides. Ravel argues for Irish sovereignty while Skulduggery and Valkyrie investigate signs that someone benefits from provoking the Sanctuaries against one another. Valkyrie is also losing control of her ordinary identity: her former reflection now calls herself Stephanie, regards the Edgleys as her own family and wants a life that cannot simply be handed back when Valkyrie comes home.

Attempts to prevent a wider confrontation fail as agents are attacked and each side blames the other. Skulduggery's old wartime unit, the Dead Men, begins to reform around him: Ghastly, Ravel, Anton Shudder, Dexter Vex and Saracen Rue bring skills and loyalties formed before the modern Sanctuary system. Their reunion gives Ireland an experienced field team but also shows how isolated it has become. Valkyrie and Stephanie negotiate an increasingly unstable division of one life, while the possibility that Darquesse may surface again remains known to only a few.

The dispute becomes a war of the Sanctuaries. The Dead Men conduct operations beyond Ireland while Roarhaven prepares for attack and the Irish Council tries to hold together its alliances. Evidence suggests that the conflict has been deliberately escalated, but the hidden organiser has spent years placing people and grievances where they will do the most damage. Valkyrie learns from Dusk that her blood ties her to the Faceless Ones rather than to the last of the Ancients, overturning the family history on which she based much of her identity.

Fighting spreads and both coalitions suffer losses, while the Dead Men try to identify the conspiracy behind the war before Ireland is overwhelmed. Roarhaven, built as a centre for the Irish magical community, becomes the strategic prize. Stephanie's independence is now impossible for Valkyrie to dismiss, and the killing of Carol stands between them even as both are needed by the same family and friends. Ravel continues directing Ireland's defence, apparently carrying the strain of a war that may decide whether the Sanctuary survives.

A warlock host under Charivari advances toward Roarhaven, creating a threat separate from the foreign Sanctuaries and more destructive than either side expected. The city's defenders are forced to fight while the political structure around them fractures. Ghastly and Anton discover that the betrayal comes from inside the Dead Men themselves. Erskine Ravel is the long-hidden man with the golden eyes, and the war has served a plan prepared over generations: dismantle the existing order and place sorcerers openly above mortals.

Ravel murders Ghastly Bespoke and Anton Shudder after they uncover him, then brings his conspiracy into the open and takes control of Roarhaven with allies embedded throughout the Sanctuary. The surviving Dead Men are devastated by betrayal from one of their own. Ravel expects the crisis to establish his new order, but Charivari's warlocks do not remain a manageable part of the plan. Their attack tears through the city and leaves the divided defenders unable to stop them by conventional force. Valkyrie sees only one remaining weapon powerful enough to prevent the city's destruction.

Valkyrie deliberately surrenders control of her body to Darquesse. Darquesse overwhelms Charivari and destroys the warlock attack, saving the surviving population of Roarhaven through the same power the Sensitives warned would one day destroy the world. She then turns on Ravel, punishing him for his betrayal but leaving him alive, and refuses to let Valkyrie return. Ravel's conspiracy is exposed, the Sanctuary war collapses and Ghastly and Anton are dead. Skulduggery, Dexter, Saracen and the other survivors are left facing a worse crisis than the one they fought: Darquesse is free, and Valkyrie remains conscious but trapped within her.

The war between the Sanctuaries is exposed as part of Erskine Ravel's long plan to break the existing order and establish sorcerer rule over mortals. Ravel reveals himself as the man with the golden eyes and murders Ghastly Bespoke and Anton Shudder when they discover him. His conspiracy seizes Roarhaven, but the warlock army led by Charivari turns the city into a battlefield beyond his control. With the defenders losing, Valkyrie deliberately yields her body to Darquesse so that Darquesse can destroy the warlocks. Darquesse kills Charivari and breaks the attack, then refuses to give Valkyrie control back. She punishes Ravel but leaves him alive, while the surviving Dead Men and their allies are left with Ghastly and Shudder dead, the Sanctuary system shattered and Valkyrie trapped inside the being foretold to end the world. The war is effectively over; the larger Darquesse catastrophe has begun.