Lord Foul's Bane Chapters 19 & 20

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danlo
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Post by danlo »

Yeah, but the way the people on Townfulosombitches USA treated him up 2 and thru the accident, or his collaspe, if u will, was 1 of the worse things 2 happen 2 any1 in the social arena. Who wouldn't have gone mad right then and there?
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Post by duchess of malfi »

I really like your name for that place, Danlo, it really fits!! :-x
Very few people could come out of an experience like that without taking permanent emotional harm from it. :(
Maybe it speaks of TC's strength that there was still so much that was both worthy and salvagable in him by the time he got to the Land. :?
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Post by Cord Hurn »

I like this passage, because it told me that regardless of Foamfollower's dismay at his lust for killing the Cavewight, his essential positive spirit still had a lot of strength to it. Also, the passage instantly made me like and sympathize with the Winhome Gay character, because she shows both empathy and resiliency.
In Chapter 19 of [i]Lord Foul's Bane[/i] was wrote:Covenant climbed off Dura, and found a shy-bold Ramen girl no more than fifteen or sixteen years old standing before him. She had fine black hair that draped her shoulders, and soft wide brown eyes. She did not smile; she seemed awed to find herself greeting the Ringthane, the wielder of the white gold. Carefully, she reached out to put her flowers around his wrist.

Their smell staggered him, and he nearly retched. The band was woven of amanibhavam. Its tang burned his nose like acid, made him so hungry that he felt about to vomit chunks of emptiness. He was helpless to stop the tears that ran from his eyes.

With a face full of solemnity, the Winhome girl raised her hands and touched his tears as if they were precious.

Behind him, the Ranyhyn of the Blood guard were galloping off into the freedom of the Plains. The Cords were leading the company's horses away to be tended, and more Ramen cantered into the glade in answer to the news of the Quest's arrival. But Covenant kept his eyes on the girl, stared at her as if she were a kind of food. Finally she answered his gaze by saying, "I am Winhome Gay. Soon I will share enough knowing to join the Cords." After an instant of hesitation, she added, "I am to care for you while you guest here." When he did not respond, she said hurriedly, "Others will gladly serve if my welcome is not accepted."

Covenant remained silent for a moment longer, clenching his useless ferocity. But then he gathered his strength for one final refusal. "I don't need anything. Don't touch me." The words hurt his throat.

A hand touched his shoulder. He glanced around to find Foamfollower beside him. The Giant was looking down at Covenant, but he spoke to the pain of rejection in Gay's face. "Do not be sad, little Winhome," he murmured. "Covenant Ringthane tests us. He does not speak his heart."

Gay smiled gratefully up at Foamfollower, then said with sudden sauciness, "Not so little, Giant. Your size deceives you. I have almost reached Cording."

Her gibe appeared to take a moment to penetrate Foamfollower. Then his stiff beard twitched. Abruptly, he began to laugh. His glee mounted; it echoed off the cliff above Manhome until the mountain seemed to share his elation, and the infectious sound spread until everyone near him was laughing without knowing why. For a long moment, he threw out gales as if he were blowing debris from his soul.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

In Chapter 20 of [i]Lord Foul's Bane[/i] was wrote:Covenant closed his eyes momentarily. He felt he had survived a gauntlet. And he had an unfocused sense that his bargain was going to work. When he looked up again, he asked, "How long have I been asleep?" as if he had just been aroused from the dead.

"Hail and welcome, my friend," returned the Giant. "You make my diamondraught appear weak. You have slept for only a night and a morning."

Stretching luxuriously, Covenant said, "Practice. I do so much of it--I'm becoming an expert."

"A rare skill," Foamfollower chuckled.

"Not really. There's more of us lepers than you might think." Abruptly he frowned as if he had caught himself in an unwitting violation of his promised forbearance. In order to avoid being taken seriously, he added in a lugubrious tone, "We're everywhere."

But his attempt at humor only appeared to puzzle the Giant. After a moment, Foamfollower said slowly, "Are the others-- 'Leper' is not a good name. It is too short for such as you. I do not know the word, but my ears hear nothing in it but cruelty."

Covenant sat up and pushed off his blankets. "It's not cruel, exactly." The subject appeared to shame him. While he spoke, he could not meet Foamfollower's gaze. "It's either a meaningless accident--or a 'just dessert'. If it were cruel, it would happen more often."

"More often?"

"Sure. If leprosy were an act of cruelty--by God or whatever--it wouldn't be so rare. Why be satisfied with a few thousand abject victims when you could have a few million?"

"Accident," Foamfollower murmured. "Just. My friend, you bewilder me. You speak with such haste. Perhaps the Despiser of your world has only a limited power to oppose its Creator."

"Maybe. Somehow I don't think my world works that way."

"Yet you said--did you not?--that lepers are everywhere."

"That was a joke. Or a metaphor." Covenant make another effort to turn his sarcasm into humor. "I can never tell the difference."

Foamfollower studied him for a long moment, then asked carefully, "My friend, do you jest?"

Covenant met the Giant's gaze with a sardonic scowl. "Apparently not."

"I do not understand this mood."

"Don't worry about it." Covenant caught his chance to escape this conversation. "Let's get some food. I'm hungry."

To his relief, Foamfollower began laughing gently. "Ah, Thomas Covenant," he chuckled, "do you remember our river journey to Lord's Keep? Apparently there is something in my seriousness which makes you hungry." Reaching down to one side, he brought up a tray of bread and cheese and fruit, and a flask of springwine. And he went on laughing quietly while Covenant pounced on the food.
Covenant is serious so often that it really disquiets him when his uncommon attempts at humor are found to not work. I think Foamfollower's accurate perception that Covenant uses hunger to avoid discussing issues the Giant takes seriously is funny, especially as it shows the Giant takes no offense at Covenant's transparent efforts at distraction.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

Nevertheless, TC is made to confront the Giant's seriousness in the interesting discussion they have about hope.
In [i]Lord Foul's Bane[/i] Chapter 20 was wrote:He [Covenant] stifled a groan. As if he were articulating a principle, he said, "All you need to avoid despair is irremediable stupidity or unlimited stubbornness."

"No," insisted Foamfollower. "The Lords are not stupid. Look at the Land." He gestured broadly with his arm as if he expected Covenant to view the whole country from border to border.

Covenant's gaze did not go so far. But he looked blinking beyond the green flat toward the Plains. He heard the distant whistles of the Bloodguard call to the Ranyhyn, and the nickering answer. He noticed the fond wonder of the Winhomes who came out of the cave because they were too eager to wait in Manhome until the Ranyhyn appeared. After a moment, he said, "In other words, hope comes from the power of what you serve, not from yourself. Hellfire, Giant--you forget who I am."

"Do I?"

"Anyway, what makes you such an expert on hope? I don't see that you've got anything to despair about."

"No?" The Giant's lips smiled, but his eyes were hard under his buttressed brows, and his forehead's scar shone vividly. "Do you forget that I have learned to hate? Do-- But let that pass. How if I tell you that I serve you? I, Saltheart Foamfollower, Giant of Seareach and legate of my people?"

Covenant heard echoes in the question, like the distant wrack of timbers barely perceived through a high, silent wind, and he recoiled. "Don't talk like a damned mystic. Say something I can understand."

Foamfollower reached down to touch Covenant's chest with one heavy finger, as if he marked a spot on Covenant's mapped robe. "Unbeliever, you hold the fate of the Land in your hands. Soulcrusher moves against the Lords at the very time when our dreams of Home have been renewed. Must I explain that you have the power to save us, or orphan us until we share whatever doom awaits the Land?"

"Hellfire!" Covenant snapped. "How many times have I told you that I'm a leper? It's all a mistake. Foul's playing tricks on us."

The Giant responded simply and quietly. "Then are you so surprised to learn that I have been thinking about hope?"
A quiet chapter that's actually illuminating. I agree with the posters here who years ago argued that Covenant is suffering from PTSD as well as guilt, and his guilty feelings are certainly increased by his recall of what he has done to Lena. It's no wonder he feels unsuited to the role of savior that Foamfollower and others wish to assign to him. And it's also no surprise to see Foamfollower questioning that his hopes for his people reaching their long-lost Home may be unachievable due to Lord Foul's plotting.

Foamfollower is kindly towards Covenant about expressing his doubts as to Covenant's ability to save the Land and his people, but he certainly shares those doubts!
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