The Gem Guardians were the keepers of the Gems following the destruction of the Belt of Deltora. Each of the gems were taken to the most feared places in Deltora by the Shadow Lord's seven Ak-Baba. One to the Lake of Tears, the City of the Rats, the Shifting Sands, Dread Mountain, The Maze of the Beast, The Valley of the Lost, and the Forests of Silence. Each of the gems remained close to their territory and there the guardians were either entrusted with the protection of the gems by the Shadow Lord or simply unaware of the gems presence as they guarded their own territory.