Gem Guardians

The Gem Guardians were the keepers of the Gems following the Shadow Lord's destruction of the Belt of Deltora. Each of the gems was taken to one of the most feared places in Deltora by the Shadow Lord's seven Ak-Baba. Each gem remained within its natural territory, with the Topaz taken to the Forests of Silence, the Ruby to the Lake of Tears, the Opal to the City of the Rats, the Lapis-lazuli to the Shifting Sands, the Emerald to Dread Mountain, the Amethyst to the Maze of the Beast, and the Diamond to the Valley of the Lost. While some guardians were knowlingly entrusted to protect the gems for the Shadow Lord, others simply guarded their own territory unaware of the gems' presence.

Gorl
The guardian of the Topaz, located within the depths of the Mid Wood of the Forests of Silence (known as "The Dark" by Jasmine), was a golden knight by the name of Gorl. Once a Jalis warrior, Gorl came to the Forests seeking the famed Lilies of Life with his two brothers before the seven tribes were united by Adin. Enchanted by the Lilies' promise of immortality, Gorl killed his brothers so he could be the soul recipient of the nectar and resolved to protect the Lilies from intruders until they bloomed again, serving as their guardian ever since. Gorl grew a protective wall of vines around the Lilies and used the blood and bodies of slain intruders to strengthen them.

When an Ak-Baba dropped the Topaz in Gorl's territory during the scattering of the Gems, Gorl set the Topaz in the hilt of his sword, probably unaware of its great value and power. When Jasmine led Barda and Lief to his territory early in their quest to restore the Belt of Deltora, Gorl magically controlled their movements and overpowered them. Lief and Barda distracted Gorl with talk of his past and tried to attack him to no avail. Jasmine crushed Gorl by felling a tree branch from above and opened his territory by cutting away the vines.



Soldeen
The guardian of the Ruby was Soldeen. He was a giant eel-like-beast who guarded the Lake of Tears. Soldeen was turned into a monster by the sorceress Thaegan.

Soldeen offered to trade the Ruby in exchange for Manus, a young Raladin boy who accompanied Lief, Barda and Jasmine to the Lake. Lief refused the offer and proceeded to attack Soldeen, defending his friend. Weakened by Lief's determination to die for a friend and the will of the Topaz, Soldeen agreed to hand over the gem to Lief. The gem was hidden in the hands of a weeping rock. Thaegan then appeared, ready to kill the adventurers. Thaegen was ultimately killed by Kree, who drew blood on her magic-wielding finger; her only weakness. This, in turn, broke the curse on Soldeen, D'Or and the Raladin race. Soldeen was freed, later revealed to be Nanion - the leader of the D'Or people.

Reeah
The guardian of the Opal, dwelling within the City of the Rats was the giant serpent, Reeah. The rat-catchers of Hira (later known as the Ra-Kacharz of Noradz) snuck him into the city and fed him rats until he was big and strong. He eventually took control of the city, driving out the Hiran people. Later, he was given the Opal by the Shadow Lord and was tasked with protecting it. Reeah talked to Lief telepathically upon the trio's entry to the city, claiming that the power of the opal imbedded into his crown told him of their arrival. He tried to convince Lief to remove the Belt since he feared the ruby. Lief resisted and outwitted Reeah, provoking an attack. During the battle, Lief was almost killed but was saved by the bottled nectar of the Lilies of Life. Reeah was defeated by Jasmine, who slit his throat.

The Hive
The guardian of the Lapis-lazuli, hidden in the centre of the Shifting Sands, was the Hive. Residing under the sand, the Hive is a swarm of bee-like creatures. The only entrance to the Hive was through a rocky cone which Barda at first mistook for a volcano. The Hive’s creatures cause sand storms, shifting the sands, and collecting anything in their path. Gold, jewels, glass, bleached-white bones make up the structure of their giant pyramid of death that houses their young and queen.

When the Lapis-lazuli was dropped in the sands, it was taken to the Hive and used as a part of the pyramid. Lief descended down into the Hive with a smoking torch to calm the creatures after remembering advice from his encounter with Queen Bee. Lief found the Lapis-lazuli carefully supporting the roof of an empty cell. He realised that removing the gem would cause the structure to collapse and bring the Hive’s fury upon him, so he used Jasmine’s small wooden bird as a replacement to retrieve the Lapis-lazuli.

Gellick
The guardian of the Emerald, sat amongst mountains of the Dread Gnome's treasure, was the great Gellick. He was a vast Ooze Toad who cruelly ruled over the enslaved gnomes in Dread Mountain. Long ago he offered the gnomes access to his poison which killed creatures instantly in return for their servitude. He forced the gnomes to farm thousands of fattened flies in breeding caves to feed him. The emerald was given to him by the Shadow Lord and Gellick wore the gem upon his brow. Lief, Barda and Jasmine fell for one of the Dread Gnome's traps and found themselves sealed within an air-tight room. Using the Dreaming Spring water, the companions watched and learned as the gnomes scurried about Gellick's disgusting form collecting the poison in vials and feeding him the bred flies. They used what they found out to escape the room and convince the gnomes to bring them to their lord. During the fight, they found out that the poison collected by the gnomes were in the Grey Guard's blisters, which had no effect on Gellick. Lief in a last ditch effort, threw his water bottle into the beast's gaping maw. Gellick then turned into a tree and the Emerald fell into Lief's hand.

The Glus
The guardian of the Amethyst is the Glus, a giant slug-like-beast who lurked in the wet, blue-lit depths of the Maze of the Beast. Lief, Barda and Jasmine were thrown into the Maze of the Beast and immediately hunted by the Glus. Lief realised that every splash they made drew the Glush towards them as that was how it found its prey. They stood still while the pirate, Milne that had been thrown in with them splashed loudly as he ran away from the monster. The Glus was quickly upon him, spraying silky threads upon him that were to bind him. Lief found the Amethyst hidden within a pillar of stone. He chipped away at the stone until he finally grasped the gem. Lief, Barda and Jasmine fled through a hole that Lief made bigger. The Glus made no attempt to come after them, instead focusing on resealing its lair.

The Guardian
The Guardian of the Great Diamond.

Anime
In the anime, how the fights play out and the Gem Guardians' fates are a bit different.

Gorl
Gorl, after getting crushed by the fallen tree branch cut loose by Jasmine, gets back up. He sees the Lilies of Life have bloomed and races off into the light. His armour crumbles by the sunlight and Lief makes a comment that since his body had long since turned to dust, he couldn't exist in the light.

Reeah
Lief fights Reeah after the Topaz breaks him free of the guardian's control. He stabs Reeah in the side which makes the guardian turn into three snakes. Lief gets knocked around a bit by the guardian before knocks the crown, holding the Opal off Reeah's head. This made Reeah freak out, bringing down the building onto himself.

The Hive
The Hive is depicted as a colony of bees rather than bee-like creatures. They are sentient and formed human faces when interacting with the companions. The Hive frequently tried to talk Lief into giving them the Belt but was unsuccessful. After retrieving the Lapis Lazuli, Jasmine threw a blister at the bees, burning most of them.

Trivia

 * Though it's never stated in the book series, Gorl was a member of Jalis. The story known as The Tale of the Three Knights, which is one of the Tenna Birdsong Tale, tell of Gorl's journey into the Forests of Silence with his brothers Greddock and Gudden.
 * The Gem Guardians all parallel recurring tropes in the fantasy genre. Gorl is a knight, Thaegan is a sorceress/witch which are the two most common character types; Reeah is a snake, Soldeen is a sea monster, both of which are considered sources of fear, symbols of evil and obstacles of overcome in western literature; the Guardian and Soldeen are cursed to be evil which is a common trope for the anti-hero character archetype; the Glus, Reeah and Gellick are abnormally large animals that are also highly intelligent and powerful foes; the Hive shares its name and sake with the concept of a Hive minded species, which is a species of a multiple conscious entity split between more than one body, yet in this case it is more akin to the bees that it is based off and it is never fully revealed if the Hive is in fact a hive minded species of bee.