Once again we are back to a question of earthpower. This is really a question of physics in the Land. However I have a few points that I think are worth considering: Earthpower is not just one thing. It seems to me that earthpower is a sort of common name for most powers that are a natural part of c...

What is the connection between Lord Foul and earthpower? I have proposed the theory, in another thread, that the staff of law was necessary to keep earthpower stable because it is the nature of earthpower to change. The implication of this is that earthpower and the law is really the same thing. The...

Like we've all said, even if the New Lords had NOT sworn the Oath, there's no reason to think they would have defeated Foul. Kevin, who was much more powerful, could not do it, and that was when Foul did NOT have the Illearth Stone, and was not able to take advantage of the broken Law of Death. Mho...

An on a related note, does anyone know if the "After the King" anthology was the first publication of "Reave the Just"?

You will find that my belief in my own arguments are not quite as easily defeated. :) First: This tells us that earthpower is not inherently "good" power. We see several examples of earthpower being used for "non-good" purposes in the chronicles. (Blasting Ur-Viles etc.) In my op...

But I think we disagree on how to view this necessary condition of existence. I'm not entirely clear about your view, so I'll just give mine. We can attempt to do only good. We know that even if our intentions are entirely, purely good, we will nevertheless weaken/destroy some things in the process...

Ok I found it, its the c-word ... and its spoken by Adept Havelock JUST before Gilbur finds her in the room full of dead Imagers' mirrors. SEE! I was right! It seems to me as if Havelock aquired a severe case of mental disorder and the swearing was just a sort of nervous reaction. But then I am nev...

I quite like Mordants Need and one of the reasons that I like it is that the characters are not quite as obviously damaged there as they are in the chronicles. But then again there is plenty of pain to go around there as well. The one I remember best is Lebbick, but most of the others have issues as...

I always imagine one of those flat mirrors as being kind of like having a television set that only shows real images, always the same image too. Boring :!: But if I had the power to change to image to whatever I liked/transmit my self through it as I desired and then back again it could be a little ...

Who is Shippey and what kind of Tolkien books is he writing?

Now, when to get the time for it. My reading list has grown rather long lately. :) And if you are in the mood for recommendations add "Gardens of the Moon" and "Deadhouse Gates" to the list. I just finished the last of these and they were excellent. I will start on "Memorie...

Hmmm. Central time is about 8 hours behind CET (where I am) and this makes it about 08:30 and onwards over here and although I am literally speaking at a computer at that time I rarely browse these forums then.

Difficult question, but I would probably spend most of my time trying to figure out why the staff was working over here. Apart from that I am sure that the capability of wielding earthpower in a meaningful way could be put to any number of uses from curing cancer to putting words of warding on my fr...

Vain wrote: Is the hardcover aspect more a purist thing?

I almost never buy any hardcovers, but they are quite a bit more practical than paperbacks. Trade paperbacks especially.

So I would not call it a purist thing.

Bear in mind that although I have not read it, Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human is a book about a "gestalt" being. I would think that this would qualify as a gestalt being. There is a short reference in LOTR as well: "For they did not move or speak with mouth, looking from mind to ...

Well done! You know your stuff. From this day forth you may be known as "Master of Epic Fantasy, Balrog Level." You have little to learn and much to feel smug about! May men, women and various smallfolk continue to fall at your feet.

I guess a couple of lucky guesses is all it takes.

I would guess that SRD's borrowing from Norse mythology is rather loose. For instance, I may be wrong, but aren't the Giants the enemies of the Norse gods? The giants or norse mythology, more accurately termed jotun, are indeed the enemies of the gods. But as I understand it their size is not the p...

You should try some Stephen Brust. Not all his work is equally good, but I will recommend The Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years after, which is a kind of The Three Musketeers, in a fantasy milieu. He has other works from the same world, but at a different time. The most well known is probably th...

Hey duchess, Have you read the latest Earthsea stuff? After <U>Tehanu</U> (which didn't do much for me, although it is extremely important later on) was <U>Dragonfly</U> and <U>The Other Wind</U>. The last two are <I>fantastic</I>! As is the <U>Tales from Earthsea</U> collection of short stories. I...

Although I have not read The Unlikely Ones I would move it up ahead of the Assassin's Apprentice triology. I have read those books and I did not like them. The first two were okay, but then it just went bad. I cannot exactly remember what I did not like now, but I remember being disappointed.