Wilderness Wood enters the story as a place of uncertain danger and urgent royal concern. King Dagonaut sends Ristridin to investigate reports of robbers who avoid daylight, wild hunters, and Men in Green; the account presents these as rumors to be tested, not as confirmed descriptions of the wood or its inhabitants.

Reports and Royal Concern

The king’s concern is practical: he wants to know whether the reported activity poses a danger to the realm. He therefore orders Ristridin and Bendoe to investigate without delay. The assignment interrupts their pursuit of the Red Shield Knight, making the wood a new priority in the Grey Knights’ work rather than simply the setting for a private expedition.

Ristridin’s Mission and Route

Ristridin explains that he and Bendoe are old and proven knights, and that they had already considered visiting Wilderness Wood. The king allows one of them to continue the hunt for the Red Shield Knight while the other carries out the investigation. Bendoe goes south, while Ristridin takes the assignment to the wood; Arwaut is expected to join him with soldiers. Their intended approach runs through Robbers’ Wood and across the Green River, placing the investigation within a journey through several named landscapes.

Edwinem’s Connection and Narrative Role

Ristridin’s choice also carries the influence of Edwinem, who had urged him to go to Wilderness Wood and learn his own country. The royal commission thus gives practical force to an intention rooted in his friendship with Edwinem. The wood is introduced through Ristridin’s later account to Tiuri, after the Grey Knights have dealt with the Red Riders: it opens a further task for the knights while leaving the reports about its dangers unresolved.