Fantasy series. Village man becomes leader-Aragorn anologue lives in his village
This is driving me mad, so I'm desperately hoping this works
I read the book maybe 5 years ago?
The protagonist is a standard villager who provides goods/services to the village. There's no magic school or king or anything. It's a small village with a mayor.
In the village where the protagonist lives, there's also a rich person who comes and goes, who has a big house. That's the Aragorn analogue that saves him when the story begins.
In the first book, this guy teaches the protagonist the sword, and the love interest teaches him hand-to-hand and how to sneak in the forest.
Also in the first book, they hide in a temple where they meet an older woman. She's sharp-tongued and proper, and travels with them.
At the end of the first book, they reach a secret temple/fortress; the leader of this order turns out to be the Aragorn analogue's mother. They spend the start of book 2 reconnecting.
In the 2nd book, people arrive on ships from across the continent. 1012
These people know a magic that lets their ships go faster. One of their leaders is a girl who has feelings for the protagonist. She teaches him some stuff
She and him travel through a desert area to recover an artifact that's guarded by big lizards.
Right. Hopefully this jogs a memory or two.
It's not: - The Belgariad - Legend of the Seeker - The Sword of Truth - Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn
It's a pretty straight forward fantasy, so nothing that subverts the genre massively.
Thanks guys! I truly hope you can help because It's driving me mad.
Last little detail that MIGHT be the key, but isn't 100%: I kinda remember getting the title mixed up with either Legend of the Seeker or The Sword of Truth, so the title MIGHT be close to this. That's a maybe though.
Adding new info. Defector ex bad guy infiltrates army to get close to the bad guy and kill him. Fails.
Also the iirc the opening of the book informs us that the bad guy hates the gods. 1012