Favorite passages (Too geeky? lol sorry)

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Mhoram

Favorite passages (Too geeky? lol sorry)

Post by Mhoram »

Sorry if this kind of thing is old hat, but I'm new here, and I don't see this topic listed. Anyway, here's a few of my very favorite moments. From the first chronicles anyway.


"Is this why you abandoned the telling of stories?"

"Indeed! No doubt that explains the slaughter of the Celebration. Tell me, Unbeliever - do you consider that a nightmare, or does your world relish such dreams?"

"I don't want to lose my mind just because some perfectly decent character in a dream needs something from me that I can't produce."

"And the glory of the world becomes less than it was."

"Is it possible? Can such worlds be, where you are not among the great?"
"Take my word for it."


"The Bloodguard with me were slain. But when <I>samadhi</I> Raver touched me, he knew me as I knew him. He was daunted."

"By hell. By hell."
"Indeed? Well, that is not for me to say."

"Amok, does the Seventh Ward contain knowledge of the Ritual of Desecration?"
"Lord, Desecration requires no knowledge. It comes freely to any willing hand."


With his new might, he gripped the <I>krill</I> and pulled it easily from the stone. Its edges were so sharp that when he held the knife in his hand he could see their keenness. His power protected him from the heat. He turned to his companions with a smile that felt like a ray of sunshine on his face. "Summon Lord Trevor," he said gladly. "I have - a knowledge of power that I wish to share with you."

The helplessness of Covenant's pain came out as anger. His own voice shook as he muttered to Bannor, "If you say one word to blame him, I swear-"
Then he stopped himself. He had accused Bannor unjustly too often in the past; the Bloodguard had long ago earned better treatment than this from him. But Bannor only shrugged. "I am a <I>Haruchai</I>," he said. "We also are not immune. Corruption wears many faces. Blame is a more enticing face than others, but it is none the less a mask for the Despiser."

"A costly choice, Unbeliever. Costly. Much harm might have been averted-"
Foamfollower interrupted him. "Costly! Might!" A fierce grin stretched his lips, echoed out of his deep eyes. "A child was saved! Covenant - my friend - even reduced as I am, I can hear joy in such a choice. Your bravery - Stone and Sea! It astounds me."

"Gently, my friend. He has turned his back on vengeance. Two thousand years and more of pure service were violated for him - yet he chooses not to avenge them. Such choices are not easily made. They are not easily borne. Retribution - ah, my friend, retribution is the sweetest of all dark sweet dreams."


And my signature quote.
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Post by Landwaster »

DEFINITELY love the comment at Bannor, which goes along the lines (can't remember the exact words) of : And stop giving me that blank look.
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Post by Michael Giantfriend »

And he wept tears of white fire.

8)
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Post by [Syl] »

This passage has always stuck out in my mind.
Foamfollower's question caught him wandering. "Are you a storyteller, Thomas Covenant?"
Absently, he replied, "I was, once."
"And you gave it up? Ah, that is as sad a tale in three words as any you might have told me. But a life without a tale is like a sea without salt. How do you live?"
Covenant folded his arms across the gunwales and rested his chin on them. As the boat moved, Andelain opened constantly in front of him like a bud; but he ignored it, concentrated instead on the plaint of water past the prow. Unconsciously, he clenched his fist over his ring. "I live."
"Another?" Foamfollower returned. "In two words, a story sadder than the first. Say no more -- with one word you will make me weep."
"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner
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Post by Landwaster »

Yep Sylvanus, loved that bit myself, great to see it quoted here.

Covenant shows a hint of his unlikely strength here, and SHFF shows immediately a hint of the impact that TC is going to have on the Land.
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Post by kaseryn »

So so so many aren't there ? So why cant i remember any NOW dammit! lol few that come to mind



Free my people. Their plight is an abomination.


Cant remember exact wording, but another that always resounded in me was SHFF to TC abt the meaning of power.. something like, what meaning has power when someone is more powerful etc



:D
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Post by Bannor »

You left out my absolute favorite...when Covenant first says, "NOM."
"Do you have a wife?"
"At one time."
"What happened to her?"
"She has been dead."
"How long ago did she die?"
"Two thousand years."
Mhoram

Post by Mhoram »

kaseryn,

I'm not sure what you mean. But you brought this to mind:

"Want? Want? Do not use such a word, my friend. <I>Wanting</I> is natural, and may succeed or fail without wrong. Say <I>covet</I>, rather. To covet is to desire something which should not be given. Yes, I covet your un-Earth, wild magic, peace-ending white gold:

There is wild magic graven in every rock,
contained for white gold to unleash or control-

I admit the desire. But do not tempt me. Power has a way of revenging itself upon its usurpers. I would not accept this ring if you offered it to me."


More of the fantastic first meeting between Covenant and Foamfollower. I had one quote from there in my first post above, and Sylvanus added more. I'm sure you all understand how difficult it was for me to NOT just type out all of the books in the first place!! :D
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Post by Fist and Faith »

A couple of passages showing that the <I>Haruchai</I> are the best!

"The <I>Haruchai</I> yet live within their mountain fastness. In their way, they know the name of the Earthpower more surely than any Lord."

And how did everyone hold up during the trip through Morinmoss? "Only the Ranyhyn and the Bloodguard were unmarred by fatigue." Even Foamfollower was exhausted!

Yup! The <I>Haruchai</I> rule!

Hmmm... But then, there's those pesky Ranyhyn. "...I found I could not forget. I had ridden too many Ranyhyn. At night I saw them - in my dreams they ran like clear skies and cleanliness. Have you not beheld them? Without vows or defiance of death, they surpassed the faith of the Bloodguard." Could the <I>Haruchai</I> be a sham? Could "pride and folly" be a more appropriate motto than "fist and faith"?

My world is falling apart!!!!
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest
-Paul Simon

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Post by duchess of malfi »

We suffice. :D
Love as thou wilt.

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Post by Lady Genni »

For me it's just about everything in LFB. I just fell in love with the Land and it's people. The rest of the chronicles (1st and 2nd) have the land falling from or struggling to get back to that place. I really missed the Land as we knew it in LFB in the second chronicles.

I hope that SRD brings us back there in the third Chrons but doubtfull.
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Post by Landwaster »

duchess of malfi wrote:We suffice. :D
That is a GREAT quote!A very large deal could be read into it, and its just so bloody succint. Its akin to the feeling that must have hit the first person who ever thought to reply "Because. Thats's why".

THAT bloke/bird ought to be a billionaire!

Oh, and Lady Genni, I am also of the mind that (of course this is not exactly a revelation) the Land was missing all the fun, endearing things about it that were present in LFB. Stonedowns vaguely happy and moral, with decent people there. Nice lands with brooks and rivers and forests and stuff. Yep, SRD had no trouble at all getting us to feel the pain that TC felt when he returned to TWL.

And anger, to do all this to that place. It almost gave me as much anger as it did TC himself! :x
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Post by Damelon »

The sadness of Foamfollower telling the tale of the Giants at Coeceri
Ah, Covenant, how can I tell you of it? This tongue has no words long enough for the tale. No word can encompass the love of a lost homeland, or the anguish of diminishing seed, or the pride - pride in fidelity - That fidelity was our only reply to our extinction. We could have not borne our decline if we had not taken pride.
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Post by Lord Mhoram »

There is hope in contradiciton
My original KW quote! :-)
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Post by Fist and Faith »

The entire scene of Sunder and Hollian altering the Sunbane is too long to type out when I'm as tired as I am, but these couple of sentences are <B>so</B> awesome:
The Stonedowners chanted desperately, driving their exertion higher; but their voices made no sound. The incandescent beam absorbed their invocations directly into itself. Soundless force screamed across Linden's hearing.
How freakin' cool is that!!!


And this one that Damelon reminds us of:
"Ah, Covenant, how can I tell you of it? This tongue has no words long enough for the tale. No word can encompass the love for a lost homeland, or the anguish of diminishing seed, or the pride - pride in fidelity - That fidelity was our only reply to our extinction. We could not have borne our decline if we had not taken pride."
always reminds me of Mhoram telling Covenant about the Bloodguard:
"They were a hot-blooded people, strong-loined and prolific, bred to tempest and battle - and now made by their pledged loyalty ascetic, womanless and old. I tell you, Thomas Covenant - their devotion has has such unforseen prices- Such one-mindedness does not come easily to them, and their only reward is the pride of unbroken, pure service."
A couple of prideful races. No wonder they formed such a friendship.
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest
-Paul Simon

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Post by Foamfollower1013 »

You turn from us to save life in your own world. We will not be undone by such motives.
I love that line. :)

~Foamy~
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Post by fightingmyinstincts »

My two faves:

"Ah, my daughter, do not fear. You will not fail, however he may assail you. There is also love in the world. Be true."
--Old man to Linden Avery
"He has said to you that you are his Enemy. Remember that he seeks always to mislead you. It boots nothing to avoid his snares, for they are ever beset with other snares, and life and death are too intimately intergrown to be severed from each other. But it is necessary to comprehend them, so that they may be mastered. When you have come to the crux, and have no other recourse, remember the paradox of white gold. There is hope in contradiction."
--Mhoram to Covenant in Andelain, TWL
"Well of course I understand. You live forever because your pure, sinless service is utterly and indomitably unballasted by any weight or dross of mere human weakness. Ah, the advantages of clean living."
TC to Bannor, LFB
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Post by I'm Murrin »

What does he do for an encore, rape children?
Ah, the irony. Hinting at a comparison between Foul and Covenant, and a glimpse of Covenant's self-loathing beause of his earlier actions.
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Post by caamora »

My favorite part is in WGW when, after returning from the Isle of the One Tree and all of the giants and everyone is feeling low, Pitchwife tells stories and jokes to cheer everyone up. The First says, under her breath,
".....it is thus that I love you."
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Post by Dag son of Dag »

I like the scene in TPTP, when Revelstone is under siege, and Mhoram talks to the Raver. "Begone, Raver!" etc.

I wrote down that passage so I could read it during a math test. It`s very fitting to read something about steadfastness in the face of overwhelming odds then. :-)
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