The Illearth War: Chapter 14 Runnik's Tale

[FizbansTalking_Hat]

Ok, if it is possible to not spoil the story for me then I'd like that. I haven't read the other books yet, but I misunderstand what has happend int this particular chapter. Runnik has returned and is telling his story of what happened with the quest to the Giants and their overtaking and finding the lost Warmark.

What happened, what is this stuff about the Vow being their doom. I'm going to go back and re-read but I'm a bit lost here, if its cleared up later then no worries, but if someone can summarize just up until this point without giving away more, it'd be appreciated. Cheers.

[duchess of malfi]

Fiz, I went looking for Illearth War chapter 14 to bump it up, but couldn't find it, either. I did bump up one of the threads for Gilden Fire...

[danlo]

FMI I hate 2 b a pushy mod, but r u ever going 2 do chapter 14?

Well I guess I'm slacking in my old age fightingmyinstincts never did do this chapter. No wonder the dissusion in TCTC, at the time, looked SO unfamiliar-I was going, like, Runnick, when did we talk about Runnick?-way back then. Looks like I'll need to stick this topic and we'll need to work on it-Fiz-if you want to do it-go right ahead!

[Lament]

I shall endevor to follow In the footsteps of greater minds here and add an outline of this chapter.

The setting: Lord Foul once again seeks to wage war on the Land. His troop movements have finally begun and been spotted by scouts such as Manethrall Rue. In response the Lords have come from Revelstone to Revelwood to muster defenses and finalize preperations.

Let us look again to this fascinating and tragic chapter.

We begin with Hile Troy. His anxiety reaches one of many high points in the novel.

For a moment, Troy groped around him, trying to regain his balance.

SRD has Troy resuming his blind-man pattern-of-behavior during times of stress, much so like Thomas Covenant does with his VSE of leprosy. Troy gropes around him for the tactile reassurance of things. Something to anchor him when he is blind.

So Runnik's arrival here meant- meant-

Who among us has not been like Hile Troy? Over analizing and meticulously speculating the "what if's". Who has not tried their hand at a complex game of Chess?
Yet even if Hile Troy is a genius, able to reach levels of trancedence in his thoughts like some "super-computer" he is still human. And human beings are full of frailty and self doubt. He fears all the responsibility put on him. He fears being wrong and killing thousands of people. Who wouldn't?

His panic reaches a crescendo:

Troy found himself demanding in a constricted voice "What happened? What happened?"

In sharp contrast we have Thomas Covenant. Troy and TC are frequently matched up by SRD in this novel. Each character represents a differing and intuitive view of "the Land." One believes the Land is real, the other does not. One readily accepts the burden and trust of all the servants of the Land, the other viscerally fights against it and does not want it. "I'm not your bloody Berek."

He has the aspect of a man who wanted to know whether or not he had a terminal illness as he rasped at the bloodguard. "Are they dead?"

This fascinating depiction of TC also shows him with a level of anxiety, as many there must have had. Yet only the outlanders Troy and TC dared to give voice to them. TC does not focus on what Runnik's tale might mean to his plans, because he has no plans per-se. Instead he focuses on what the information might mean to him emotionally, and to the land itself. Troy takes the intellectual path, TC the emotional.

At this point High Lord Elena commands Runnik to speak and Mhoram also voices his wish.

Yet only Mhoram intuitively realizes what might be causing Runnik so much inner turmoil and halting his ability to communicate.

"Runnik" he said softly, "the mission to Seareach was given to the bloodguard. This is a difficult burden, for you are vowed to the preservation of the Lords above all things. There is no blame for you if your Vow and the mission have come into conflict, requiring that one or the other must be set aside. There can be no doubt of the bloodguard, whatever the doom that brings you to us thus battle-rent at the dark of the moon."

BEHOLD MHORAM! If I were really I Giant I would, at this moment, break into song and glorify him and his virtues. You also have to love SRD's use of language here, a true master.

Back to the story, the mention of the Vow must not be lost to us friends. We know that the Bloodguard know doubt because High Lord Kevin ordered them to safety, preserving their lives instead of allowing them to fullfill their vow and preserve him, and all of the Land. They blindly followed Kevin's orders because the Vow required it at that time yet in doing so they facilitated their own breaking of the Vow, failing Kevin when he may have needed them most. In a way the Despiser also planned this. In his machinations with Kevin, manipulating him to desecration he forced the Bloodguard also to hurt what they loved. Plans within plans.

So Mhoram knows that anything that touches on this inner shame for the Bloodguard brings immense inner turmoil for them, such as what may have happened on the mission to Seareach.

Runnik starts by explaining how Korik had ordered him, Pren and Porib to relay what had happened to them in the mission. Pren fell to "the lurker that has awakened" and Porib and his Ranyhyn fell in the Grimmerdhore so that Runnik could escape.

They move into another area where Runnik's wounds are tended to and he is questioned meticulously by the Lords to make sure they fully understand his loose narration of events.

To begin let's understand what they were getting into, The Sarangrave Flat.

It was a wet land, latticed with waterways like exposed veins in the flesh of the ground, overgrown with fervid luxuriance, and full of subtle dangers-strange treacherous, water-bred, and man-shy animals; cunning, old, half-rotten willows and cypresses that sang quiet songs which could bind the unwary; stagnant, poisonous pools, so covered with slime and mud and shallow plants that they looked like solid ground; lush flowers, beautifully bedewed with clear liquids that could drive humans mad; deceptive stretches of dry ground that turned suddenly to quicksand.

By heaven, this place without any sort of help from Lord Foul was already a death trap for the unwary.

Sarangrave flat was not naturally evil. Rather, because of the darknesses that slumbered beneath, it was simply dangerous---a wild haven for the misborn of the land, the warped fruits of evils past.

Fascinating. I find myself thinking of "the banes deep in the earth" when I read this passage. But these evils live closer to the topsoil and the marsh, and they could be more easily stirred. Also It leaves wonder as to how these "warped fruits of evils past" got there. Perhaps we will find out in the last Chronicles.

Suffice to say Lord Foul has been at work and when our heroes arrive, the slumbering evils have been stirred out of their slumber.

And though he was dismayed, Lord Hyrim did not propose that the mission should evade the danger

So they went onward despite the obvious danger.

Their progress was loud. They disturbed the Flat, and as they traveled they set waves and wakes and noise on both sides.

As they went on the Ranyhyn grew uneasy and the Bloodguard more tense, sensing an unseen threat drawing near.

The air was noticably warmer here and thicker than it had been in Landsdrop. It breathed as if it were clogged with invisible, damp fibers, and it seemed to leave something behind in the lungs when it was exhaled.

Obviously the crux of the plot has evolved into Man Vs. Nature. Instead of the benign and beneficial nature of "the Land" where things such as aliantha berries and hurtloam dwelled, they were against a force of nature, silent and deadly, that threatened every aspect of their lives including the very air they breathed. Let's not forget that the environmental conditions needed to maintain such lush plant life and moisture was usually humid in and of it's own, uncomfortable.

The mission was halfway down the ridge when the sound began.

It started low, wet and weak, like the groan of a dying man. But it seemed to come from the dark pool. It transfixed the riders. As they listened to it, it slowly swelled.

Once again you have to love SRD's use of metaphors. So the Lords, Bloodguard, and Ranyhyn were matched against a potent evil that surrounded them, went through them and permeated them.

The Lords spoke the seven words of power but they were outside of their element. It was for naught. The Ranyhyn bearing Tull broke off and sprang towards the blue pool. Can you imagine something that would cause the Ranyhyn to lose control? Yes, but it was young and the Ranyhyn, however infused with living earthpower are mortal.

In so doing the mature Ranyhyn followed the young, unhorsing the Lords and Bloodguard and forcing them off the Giant path.

After they trailed after the Ranyhyn, they found Tull's mount in the quagmire being rescued by the other Ranyhyn. It was horribly disfigured from the contact with the ill forces of the Flat.

Under it's coat all the flesh of it's limbs and belly was covered with blisters and boils. Blood streamed from it's sores. Through some of them, the bone was visible. Despite the determination in it's eyes, it whimpered at the pain.

Then the old Ranyhyn reared; he stretched high in the ancient Ranyhyn expression of homage. When he descended, he struck the head of his injured brother powerfully with both fore hooves. The younger horse shuddered once under the force of the blow, and fell dead.

Hail noble Ranyhyn, HAIL! Mane of the sky and tail of the World!!

Ah Ranyhyn. They took care of their own. No human interference was needed. Neither Lord or Bloodguard, however potent could help because they took care of their own...

So the Lords and the Bloodguard moved by the plight before them, begin to argue as to the future path of the mission.

"Ride through, forsooth," Shetra snapped. "We do not know how to fight such a thing--or we would have given it battle already. I tell you plainly Korik--if we encounter that forbidding again, we will lose more than Ranyhyn. No! We must go another way."

So they braved a course which even the mighty Giants would not go. They went to the Defiles course river. For anyone except the very mighty it was a sentence of death. None could hope to try but the Lords would use their power by using their staves like Gildenlode rudders.

After allowing the Ranyhyn to roam free, the Bloodguard built a raft and they went on their way.

After some time they encountered the next event. A light.

As the raft approached the eyot, the Lords stared at it. Then Shetra whispered, "That is a made light. It is not natural to the Sarangrave."

They came closer to land to investigate.

In the rain the torch shone dimly, but it revealed the man. His face and limbs were streaked with dirt and grime, clotted with blood of numerous small wounds, cuts and scratches. Surrounded by dirt and blood, the whites of the eyes glistened. His clothes, like the wounds and mud on him, spoke of a long struggle to survive in the Flat. The remains of a uniform hung about him in shreds.

The man's skin was supernaturally cold. The Lords themselves had to wrap their hands in blankets to handle him so they would not be harmed. Lord Shetra surmised that the man was dead and that he yet lived. She was appaled and wondered what had been done to him.

After a time Korik spoke for the Bloodguard. "He is Hoerkin, a Warhaft of the Warward. He commanded the first Eoman of the tenth Eoward. The High Lord sent his command to seek out the Giants in Seareach."

They entreated the malignant soul to words:

"I am Shetra Verement-mate. Lord of the Council of Revelstone. I adjure you to speak."

"I am ahamkara, the Door. I am sent to bear witness to-to-"

"--the downfall of the Giants. There were three, brothers of one birth. Omen of the end. They serve Satansheart Soulcrusher"

I hear truth," Lord Hyrim said "Omen of the end"

The Bloodguard argued that it could not be so, Korik himself swore by his Vow.

Quickly Lord Hyrim said, "Do not swear by your Vow here."
His reproof was Just. The Bloodguard were ignorant of his meaning.

What meaning do you ask gentle reader? Why, the meaning of prophecy or foreshadowing in literary terms. It foretold how Korik himself would fall under the influence of the Illearth Stone fragment. It was the gloaming of the Bloodguard that Hyrim saw in his supernatural intuition. Ah Hyrim. Would that Korik had strayed from absolutes!

Lord Shetra took side with Korik in her unbelief that such a crime could be commited and entreated Lord Hyrim to answer.

"Hyrim we are speaking of the Giants! If such ill has come upon them, they would have sent word to us."
"Yes," Lord Hyrim said. "How was it done?"
"Done?"
"How were they prevented? What has been done to them?"
"To them?" said Lord Shetra. "Ask a more immediate question. What has been done to Hoerkin? What has been done to us?"
"It is the Despisers way. In the battle of Soaring Woodhelven-we are told-he damaged the Heer Llaura and the child Pietten so that they would help destroy what they loved."
"they were used to bait a trap, Hyrim, we are baited!"

So the Lords and Bloodguard were found subject to the whims of the Despiser. Hoerkin was made to destroy what he loved. The faith and life of a Lord.

Shetra vaulted to ready the raft so they could flee. they all boarded it. In the chaos of the moment Hyrim spoke with the Bloodguard and reached an epiphany as the unholy wail began to spring from Hoerkin's mouth.

Korik struck Hoerkin off the raft and he sank like a stone, taking the scream with him.

"By the seven!" Hyrim said. "It was you! The Bloodguard! Not the Ranyhyn. This ill force listens to you--to the power of the Vow!"
The Blooguard had no answer.

Remember friends, the Vow of the bloodguard was made possible by Earthpower. And it is my belief that Earthpower never left them. It permeated their existence from then onward. In so doing it made them stand out from "mortal men". And on this occasion it left them vulnerable to tracking.

Remember how the Despiser operates. He forces those to destroy or hurt what they love. Once again, the unwitting Bloodguard were betrayed by their own Vow. Because the Vow could be tracked by the evils of the Flat they had inadvertently caused the death of one of the Lords.

While on the raft they all met with doom.

In that instant, the river erupted. Silently, water blasted upward, hurling the raft into the air, overturning it.

Behind the burst, a black tentacle flicked out of the water. It twisted, coiled, caught Lord Shetra."

Korik made his decision. The mission to Seareach was in his hands. In a tone that allowed no refusal, he ordered the Bloodguard out of the course."

Ah Bloodguard. Shetra's fate had been secured. Priority of action had been initiated. The mission must take precedence over the life of a beloved Lord.

But Lord Hyrim would not so easily leave Shetra and Cerrin.

A convulsion came over him. he threw his arms wide, and cried out in the rain "Shetra!" A bolt of power struck from his staff down through the water toward the river bottom. The he collapsed into Sill's arms.

His blast seemed to have an effect.

His blast brought forth chunks of meat and black blood to the surface. Down below a blue flash of light could be seen in the water's depths. The Bloodguard knew Cerrin was dead. Lord Shetra had passed but with Hyrim's help, so had a great evil. her death was not in vain.

Of the many parts of Donaldson's novels, this one brings me a great deal of pride and hope in the Lords. Hyrim was not your usual Hero. He was described as a Lord that loved life, and all it's pleasures. He loved food and he was doughty. Not your well muscled and strong protagonist. Yet he always remained a hero till the end, just as Lord Shetra was.

But the peril was not ended. For the sake of his Vow, Korik said to the Lord, "The lurker is not dead. it has only been cut back here. We must go on."
"Go?" Lord Hyrim said. "Go on? Shetra is dead. How can I go on? I feared from the first that your Vow was a voice which the evil in the Sarangrave could hear. But I said nothing," There was a bitterness in him. "I believed, that you would speak of it if my fear were justified."

Again the Bloodguard had no answer. They had not known beyond a doubt or possibility of error that the lurker was alert to their presence.. And so many manifestations of power were not what they appeared to be.

Thus Hyrim was carried, after having drank of the blackened waters of the Defiles Course and made sick by it. Yet the mission went on. I shall end this with words spoken more mighter than I... the words of Lord Mhoram.

Death is passing on-
the making way of life and time for life.
Hate dying and killing, not death.
Be still, heart:
make no expostulation.
hold peace and grief,
and be still.

[FizbansTalking_Hat]

I re-read the chapter last night and finally understood it, but thank you for the summary and outline. For some reason this was a difficult chapter for me to get through, don't know why, just was. Cheers.

[danlo]

Wow! A suprise and quite eloquent new "Read-Lead": thanks VERY much Lament!! I love this chapter! One of the most intense in the series. Sadly, if you've read Gildenfire, it makes Lord Shetra's passing even more difficult to bear...

[Durris]

The Bloodguard argued that it could not be so, Korik himself swore by his Vow.

Quickly Lord Hyrim said, "Do not swear by your Vow here."
His reproof was Just. The Bloodguard were ignorant of his meaning.

What meaning do you ask gentle reader? Why, the meaning of prophecy or foreshadowing in literary terms. It foretold how Korik himself would fall under the influence of the Illearth Stone fragment. It was the gloaming of the Bloodguard that Hyrim saw in his supernatural intuition. Ah Hyrim. Would that Korik had strayed from absolutes!

Amen!

Korik swears by the Vow at least twice in TIW: here, and then in "Tull's Tale"

Spoiler

when he is protesting Sparlimb Keelsetter's blasphemous acceptance of the Giants' genocidal fate.

Korik's readiness to swear by the Vow is not merely a literary device. It shows that he is of all his brotherhood the most determined to trust in his own incorruption--or perhaps the most brittlely driven to reaffirm it constantly.

Spoiler

Eternal rest grant unto him, whatever powers there be, and let light perpetual shine upon him.

"Do not swear by heaven, for it is God's throne; do not swear by earth, for it is God's footstool; do not swear by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.

Spoiler

[Do not swear by the Vow, for you do not know if you can keep it.]

Let your Yes be Yes and your No be No; anything more than this opens the door to Corruption."

[Seafoam Understone]

Surely the Bloodguard and the rest of the Haruchai race developed an undying respect for Lord Hyrum after this warning. Still they are what they are. They are the Bloodguard.

[Lament]

Korik's readiness to swear by the Vow is not merely a literary device. It shows that he is of all his brotherhood the most determined to trust in his own incorruption--or perhaps the most brittlely driven to reaffirm it constantly.

Well said Durris my friend. And that in of itself is a sort of ethical lesson. It was said that the downfall of the giants lay in their pride. Pride in the three sons born to Wavenhair Haleall and Sparlimb Keelsetter and pride in their fidelity.

Perhaps the pride of Korik and the Haruchai in their Vow also lead to their corruption just as it did with the Giants of Coerci. If so then "Pride goeth before the fall" entertains a unique and prevalent underlying theme in TIW and other novels.

[Cord Hurn]

Lord Hyrim answered her, "That is true. The Ravers do not suffice. They do not explain. But now Lord Foul has possession of the Illearth Stone. That was not so in the age of the Old Lords. Perhaps the Ravers and the Stone together--"

"Hyrim, we are sopeaking of the Giants! If such an ill had come upon them, they would have sent word to us."

"Yes," Lord Hyrim said. "How was it done?"

"Done?"

"How were they prevented? What has been done to them?"

"To them?" said Lord Shetra. "Ask a more immediate question. What has been done to Hoerkin? What has been done to us?"

"It is the Despiser's way. In the battle of Soaring Woodhelven--we are told--he damaged the Heer Llaura and the child Pietten so that they would help destroy what they loved."

"They were used to bait a trap. Hyrim, we are baited!"

She did not wait for an answer. She sprang to the rear of the raft, jammed her staff between the logs, began her song. Strength ran through the ironwood; the raft moved forward through the rain. "Join me!" she called to Lord Hyrim. "We must flee this place!"

Lord Hyrim climbed wearily to his feet. "At Soaring Woodhelven, the trap was complete without Llaura and Pietten. They were an arrogance--a taunt--unnecessary." As he spoke, his breath began to labor in his chest. The muscles of his neck corded with the strain of inhaling.

Hyrim's remark makes me wonder if it would have made any difference if he and Shetra had just ignored the ghostly light that came from Hoerkin's presence in the Sarangrave. Maybe Hoerkin's sorry condition and the tidings he had to bear were no more than a taunt from Lord Foul to make the Lords despair. As far as what happens next in this chapter, the lurker was already aware of their presence in its domain, being able to follow their movements by the presence of the Bloodguard. If they hadn't stopped to encounter Hoerkin, hear him and attempt to heal him, they still would have been attacked. It seems strange that Lord Foul would waste time and energy on a mere "taunt" when the lurker was going to do his work for him. This whole "Hoerkin episode" puzzles me for that reason.

[SleeplessOne]

Lord Hyrim answered her, "That is true. The Ravers do not suffice. They do not explain. But now Lord Foul has possession of the Illearth Stone. That was not so in the age of the Old Lords. Perhaps the Ravers and the Stone together--"

"Hyrim, we are sopeaking of the Giants! If such an ill had come upon them, they would have sent word to us."

"Yes," Lord Hyrim said. "How was it done?"

"Done?"

"How were they prevented? What has been done to them?"

"To them?" said Lord Shetra. "Ask a more immediate question. What has been done to Hoerkin? What has been done to us?"

"It is the Despiser's way. In the battle of Soaring Woodhelven--we are told--he damaged the Heer Llaura and the child Pietten so that they would help destroy what they loved."

"They were used to bait a trap. Hyrim, we are baited!"

She did not wait for an answer. She sprang to the rear of the raft, jammed her staff between the logs, began her song. Strength ran through the ironwood; the raft moved forward through the rain. "Join me!" she called to Lord Hyrim. "We must flee this place!"

Lord Hyrim climbed wearily to his feet. "At Soaring Woodhelven, the trap was complete without Llaura and Pietten. They were an arrogance--a taunt--unnecessary." As he spoke, his breath began to labor in his chest. The muscles of his neck corded with the strain of inhaling.

Hyrim's remark makes me wonder if it would have made any difference if he and Shetra had just ignored the ghostly light that came from Hoerkin's presence in the Sarangrave. Maybe Hoerkin's sorry condition and the tidings he had to bear were no more than a taunt from Lord Foul to make the Lords despair. As far as what happens next in this chapter, the lurker was already aware of their presence in its domain, being able to follow their movements by the presence of the Bloodguard. If they hadn't stopped to encounter Hoerkin, hear him and attempt to heal him, they still would have been attacked. It seems strange that Lord Foul would waste time and energy on a mere "taunt" when the lurker was going to do his work for him. This whole "Hoerkin episode" puzzles me for that reason.

The Hoerkin/Amhakara episode is another of those wonderfully horrific moments that comprise Korik's mission to Seareach.
You're right, too, Cord Hurn - it would have made no difference as to whether or not the company took the 'bait' of Hoerkin's presence in the Sarangrave; the power of the Bloodguard Vow had already betrayed the them.
So why would Foul 'waste time and energy on a mere taunt'?
I can only suggest he simply gets off on provoking despair in his enemies - Hyrim describes this trait of Foul's as an 'arrogance', and it is this disdain for his opponents that often undoes much of his meticulous planning and manipulation.
You can go all the way back to Covenant's initial meeting with Foul to see the seeds of Foul's hubris; at one point during his speech his offer of health nearly succeeds in winning Covenant over to his side. But he cannot help but taunt Covenant by calling him a 'groveller', an indulgence which ultimately sets Covenant on the path to opposition.

God I love the Illearth War.

Korik's mission to Seareach is just incredibly well written; even before the appearance of the Hoerkin and the Lurker, SRD paints such a vivid, eerie picture of the swamp-y landscape that I find myself completely transported there each and every time I read those passages.
Gibbering Monkeys and Iridescent Birds, Oh My!

[wayfriend]

Remember this?

First she had been given knowledge which might have saved the Lords-and then she had been made unable to communicate that knowledge. And her struggles to give the warning only ensured her failure by guaranteeing that the Lords would attempt to understand her rather than ride away. Yet what had been done to her was unnecessary, gratuitous; the trap would have succeeded without it. In every facet of her misery, Covenant could hear Lord Foul laughing.

That's the way Foul works. He isn't content to just spring a trap. He's milking it for all the despair he can get.

[Cord Hurn]

I can only suggest he simply gets off on provoking despair in his enemies - Hyrim describes this trait of Foul's as an 'arrogance', and it is this disdain for his opponents that often undoes much of his meticulous planning and manipulation.

..And I find that to be one of the most hopeful and entertaining paradoxes of the Covenant books!

Spoiler

I just HAVE to love it when Despite manages to spite itself!