A pedantic observation

Book 2 of the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

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DrPaul
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A pedantic observation

Post by DrPaul »

In the chapter "Interference" the bogus TC (Roger) tells Linden that they and Jeremiah have re-emerged "two hundred leagues" (IIRC) from Revelstone.

Now it is far from uncommon for characters in epic fantasy to use archaisms such as "leagues" and "ells" to describe distances, and the characters indigenous to the Land and surrounding lands would certainly be likely to use such terms. However, TC, Hile Troy, Linden, Roger and Jeremiah are all 20th century Americans who converse with each other and with other characters in late C20 American English. This is one of the key devices by which we are reminded that they are from outside the Land. It therefore seems slightly anomalous that Roger/fake TC would say "two hundred leagues" rather than "six hundred miles", especially in conversation with Linden.
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dlbpharmd
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Post by dlbpharmd »

It's consistent with "true TC," who used the term 'leagues' throughout the entire Chronicles.
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shadowbinding shoe
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Post by shadowbinding shoe »

Or maybe Roger got an F in his Physics class and couldn't for the life of his figure out how many miles (or kilometers for that matter) 200 leagues are.
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ninjaboy
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Post by ninjaboy »

Also, would Roger even know the conversion rate of Leagues into Kilometres.. Oh wait, miles?

And how would he have knows the distance anyway? Presumably the Croyel or Foul would have told him, given him an idea how far away things were.. How would they even know the conversion rate?
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francois60
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Post by francois60 »

I'm actually surprised that after months at a time in the Land that the "real world" characters don't start adopting the mode of speech of the people of the Land. So for me, Covenant and Linden adopting leagues as a measurement of distance is no great stretch.
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Cord Hurn
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Post by Cord Hurn »

It's probably a sign of the croyel's influence on Roger that he uses the term, "leagues".
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