Amarantz

Amarantz once lived and worked in Del's largest pottery on Piper's Lane. She owned an old horse named Dolly, and often went to the forge to have its hooves shod, where she met Sharn.

After the invasion
Amarantz was captured by Grey Guards alongside her husband and taken to the Shadowlands. While she claimed to be beaten and abandoned by the Grey Guards near the border, she was actually taken to the Factory. Servants of the Shadow Lords experimented upon her with a prototype Carrier Worm that took away her hearing.

The Isle of Illusion
Under the supervision of the Shadow Lord, Amarantz returned to the Del Palace as a cook. As a cook, she easily poisoned the food of important people. Using her connections to her former friends, Amarantz was able to learn of Marilen through Josef. She attempted to poison her, but Marilen was warned by the great Amethyst of the poison, and Jinks later ate the poisoned food instead.

Thinking she had succeeded in killing Lief's bride, Amarantz then proceeded to poisoning Steven, Lindal, and Doom, using small poisoned cakes. Luckily Sharn was able to stop them before anyone could eat the cakes. Amarantz mocked everyone once she had been exposed, and dropped hints of the Carrier Worms. She told that 'many more' would come. After that she ate one of the poisoned cakes, and the Carrier Worm attempted to flee, only to be crushed by Doom.

Now freed from the Shadow Lord's control, Amarantz managed to speak to Sharn, expressing joy in waking from a horrible nightmare, before dying in her arms.

Physical appearance
Amarantz was thin and old. Her face was covered in scars because of the horrible time in the Shadowlands. She had faded blue eyes.

Personality
Amarantz was a kind-hearted and trustworthy woman. Sharn commented that she trusted Amarantz with her life.

Conversion Project
While under the control of a carrier worm, Amarantz had only one goal: to do the Shadow Lord's will. The carrier worm controlled her personality and how she acted. For example, she lied about how she managed to evade entering the Shadowlands. She also prepared poisoned food for Marilen and others.

Abilities
Amarantz was a reasonable skilled cook because Sharn offered her a job as palace cook. She also mastered the craft of potter since she had worked in the pottery for most of her life. It is likely that Amarantz was able to ride a horse since she owned one. However, it is never confirmed in the books that she could ride a horse.

Deltora Quest 2

 * The Isle of Illusion

Trivia

 * Amarantz is one of only two characters in the entire collective Deltora Quest series as well as the rest of the Roddaverse books to be shown committing suicide, the other character being Paff. However, unlike Amarantz who killed herself under influence of the Shadow Lord through a Carrier Worm, Paff killed herself to free herself of her miserable life. She was depressed, alone in the world after having her whole family wiped out by the Shadow Lord and had fallen into the claws of the Shadow Lord as he had given her some purpose in life. She took her own life as she saw no other way of getting out of the situation and the consequences of her crimes. Furthermore, she felt alone, but she was also not absolutely evil, only easy to tempt and corrupt for the Shadow Lord. However, there are other Carrier Worm-infested people who were implied or mentioned as having died like Amarantz, killing themselves, such as a babbling woman who turned her knife on herself when she had failed to kill King Lief in the hall of the palace in Del. There were others who were instead killed by other servants of the Shadow Lord quickly and secretly in public after having failed their assassination attempts. Though none of these deaths were ever shown directly in a book.