WGW Chapter 12 - Those Who Part

[Earthblood]

After the emotional encounter between TC & Linden in the previous chap, we bigin this one with them, uhhh...., making up??

Linden & TC are desperate for each others touch and spend a sleepless night in Mhoram's former quarters.

At dawn, TC rises from bed and Linden follows him toward Glimmermere. They arrive at the "pure tarn of Glimmermere" (I love SRD's use of the English language!) and Linden notes the smooth surface, looking like a mirror of the world.

All the world except herself. To her surprise, the lake held no echo of her. It reflected Covenant at her side; but her it did not heed. The sky showed through her as if she were too mortal or insignificant to attract Glimmermere's attention.

(Again, SRD's style here is great - giving this potent source of untainted Earthpower "human" qualities!)

They proceed to strip down & dive into the cold, potent water. Linden is surprised to find she cannot see her body below the level of the water, yet she can clearly see TC's - How come? she asks.....

"I already told you!" he replied, splashing water at her. "Wild magic and venom. The keystone of the Arch." Swimming in this lake, he could say even those words without diminishing her gladness. "The first time I was here, I couldn't see myself either. You're normal!" His voice rose exuberently. "Glimmermere recognizes me!"

They climb out of the lake & TC tries to explain to Linden. He has become an imperfect metal, an alloy of wild magic & venom - exactly what Foul needs to destroy the Arch of time. But here is the paradox, as I see it. Yes, he has become a tool capable of destroying th Arch, but because he is an 'imperfect alloy' he can be used as a tool, but he can affect the outcome by the kind of choice he makes in becoming that tool. If he chooses to be used by Foul, but for the right reasons, he can change the outcome to his purpose, not Foul's:

"If I'm the perfect tool to bring down the Arch of Time, then I'm also the perfect tool to preserve it. Foul can't win unless I choose to let him."

So there!!!!

The pair make thier way back toward Revelstone and encounter Pitchwife, still drained from his part in the battle. He cannot reconcile the deaths he dealt to the innoccent inhabitants of Revelstone.

"I desire a better outcome."

He can't be satisfied with the victory over the Clave & the quenching of the Banefire. He will accompany TC to the end. GO PITCH!!!!!! You rock! We need your song to heal us all.

Covenant decides to leave Revelstone at noon, but first must go to pay homage to Honnisgrave. They arrive in the Hall of Gifts, finding it in ruin. Covenant can barely stand the sight of it - the damage he has done to it. And here we find Nom, surprisingly erecting a funerary pile over Honnisgrave. Nom then bows to Covenant, much to TC consternation.
Nom however, does not move untill Cail speaks for it, and Nom asks for its freedom - freedom to return to its kind & release the from Sandgorgons Doom. In an unmistakable act of kindness toward the new found intelligence & restraint of Nom, TC grants it's freedom, with the exception of leaving the Bhrathair alone.

"Nom hears you." Cail replied. To Linden's percipience, his tone seemed to hint that he envied Nom's freedom. "It will obey. Its folk it will teach obedience also. The Great Desert is wide, and the Bhrathair will be spared."

In a flash Nom is gone.

I will finish this summary tomorrow. Having already done the MN chapter tonite, I am running out of steam. Feel free to comment on anything I've commented on so far.....

[Revan]

Man, They must have really wanted each other to go without sleep despite the fact they were completely shattered...

again... I love the love story between Linden and Covenant. And it's beautiful here. And I like how Thomas has a smile he uses for only Linden.

[Earthblood]

Sorry for the delay. I should have the rest of chap up tonite

[matrixman]

Pitchwife playing the flute--or trying to play the flute--atop the promontory of Revelstone has remained in my mind a very touching scene from WGW. Touching because of the incongruous image of a Giant trying to hold such a tiny thing in his hands. Touching because the flute evokes memories of that Unfettered One in the long lost age of the Land who interpreted Covenant's dreams. And touching because of what the cracked sound of the flute represents in Pitchwife's hands. He has shed the blood of innocents, and has lost his way. He can find no music in the flute, only broken notes that speak of grief and loss.

[wayfriend]

C'mon Earthblood! You can do it!

- - - - - - - - - -

"Glimmermere recognizes me!"

It seems as if, in this chapter, we're receiving a lot of mixed signals hinting at the outcome of Covenant's transmogrification. Here is one of them. Glimmermere represents a last bastion of Earthpower in the land; here, we see that the Earthpower is cognizant of Covenant's new stature.

But what does this tell us? Is it a sign of hope? "Power is power. Its uses are in the hands of the user." Earthpower does not have a moral stance. We don't know if it respects the arch of time, the white gold ... or venom.

"I desire a better outcome."

He can't be satisfied with the victory over the Clave & the quenching of the Banefire. He will accompany TC to the end. GO PITCH!!!!!! You rock!

Here, too, is an ambiguous omen. What has happened to our Pitchwife? He has unfailingly been a Giant of good humor, compassion, and support. He had always been the one to care for the Searchers, leaving caring for the Search in the capable hands of the First. Now here he is: unsettled, depressed, dissatisfied, wracked with conflicting concerns. Judgemental even.

Pitchwife is beginning to see that he must suspect Covenant's direction.

Coming as it does from Pitchwife, this doubt hits us the harder.

In an unmistakable act of kindness toward the new found intelligence & restraint of Nom, TC grants it's freedom, with the exception of leaving the Bhrathair alone.

"Nom desires you to comprehend that it acknowledges you. It will obey any command. But it asks that you do not command it. It wishes to be free. It wishes to return to its home in the Great Desert and its bound kindred. From the rending of the Raver, Nom has gained knowledge to unmake Sandgorgons Doom—to release its kind from pent fury and anguish. It seeks your permission to depart."

"Tell it, it can go. I understand it's willing to obey me, and I say it can go. It's free. But," he added sharply, "I want it to leave the Bhrathair alone.

Who can read these words, and not think of the Ranyhyn bargain?

Covenant continues to be in a position to alter the fundamentals of the Earth. He's only mortal: he makes what seems like good choices, and then he hopes. Like the Ranyhyn bargain, his commands to Nom seem like a good choice ... now.

For Nom, like Covenant, is an amalgamation now, and, like the venom, part of his aspect is a Raver.

[dlbpharmd]

Earthy, where are you?

Who can read these words, and not think of the Ranyhyn bargain?

Covenant continues to be in a position to alter the fundamentals of the Earth. He's only mortal: he makes what seems like good choices, and then he hopes. Like the Ranyhyn bargain, his commands to Nom seem like a good choice ... now.

For Nom, like Covenant, is an amalgamation now, and, like the venom, part of his aspect is a Raver.

Well said, Wayfriend.

[I'm Murrin]

There's a great rant in this chapter I want to comment on, but I'll leave it until the rest of the chapter is up.

About Covenant's transformation I will comment. Glimmermere recognises Covenant. Covenant is never going back to his world, we know that - he is dead to his world. But this severing allowed him to become something else. The part of Covenant which is in the Land becomes part of the Land - becomes the Wild Magic, the keystone of time which holds the world together. Glimmermere must recognise Covenant. Thinking of it this way suggests another thing - Hile Troy was able to become what he did because he died in the real world. He died when Caerroil Wildwood took him, and became something else, something greater than himself.

And on the comparison with the Ranyhyn bargain - there is one extremely important distinction. When the Ranyhyn offered themselves to Covenant, they did it out of fear - fear of the type of person that controlled the Wild Magic at that time. Nom offers himself to Covenant out of awe and respect - Covenant is a different person by then, and because of this the nature of his bargain with Nom is very different.
I'll come to the subject of repurcussions of bargains and commands in this chapter later.

[Earthblood]

Comment away - I will get thte rest up this evening. Sorry to hold you all up/ RL has not been kind lately.

[Durris]

And on the comparison with the Ranyhyn bargain - there is one extremely important distinction. When the Ranyhyn offered themselves to Covenant, they did it out of fear - fear of the type of person that controlled the Wild Magic at that time. Nom offers himself to Covenant out of awe and respect - Covenant is a different person by then, and because of this the nature of his bargain with Nom is very different.

Fascinating point, Murrin! Nom fears--and loves, if a Sandgorgon can; at the very least, exceedingly honors--Covenant because Covenant has demonstrated that he can destroy Nom but won't.

If Covenant's dealings with sentient nonhumans are any indication, he's undergone very significant moral growth between his first visit to the Land and now. (His ontological power in the First Chronicles, though lacking the enhancement of the venom, was still more than enough to terrify the Ranyhyn; so it's not anything different about the wild magic itself that makes the difference in the bargains.)

I'm also noticing that the Haruchai of various epochs have special rapport with both the Ranyhyn and Nom; it's curious that although they can't exchange mindspeech with flatlander humans (Land-born or strangers) except in extremis (as in the soothtell), they readily communicate with sentient creatures of nonhuman species.

[dlbpharmd]

Fascinating point, Murrin! Nom fears--and loves, if a Sandgorgon can; at the very least, exceedingly honors--Covenant because Covenant has demonstrated that he can destroy Nom but won't.

Durris is on to something here - there's another correlation between Nom and the Haruchai. Just as Kevin refused to destroy the Haruchai army, thereby prompting the Vow, Covenant could very easily end Nom's life. There is no life altering Vow here - or is there?

Just what role will Nom and the Sandgorgons play in the Last Chronicles?

[Durris]

Wow. A Sandgorgon Vow! The mind quails.

Though Nom speaks Haruchai as a foreign language, if its first contact with a human mind as it became self-aware was with Cail, who knows what it has absorbed of the Haruchai world view? Though Cail is so distant in time from the Vow, the entirety of his people's history is inside him in, excuse the figure of speech, real presence; and it could have been available to Nom in that first contact.

[I'm Murrin]

Comment away.

Will do.

The following excerpt is fairly large, be warned. This is Covenant's rant to the Haruchai when they once again offer their service to him.

'Have you forgottn why the Vow was broken?
'I'll tell you why. Three Bloodguard got their hands on a piece of the Illearth Stone, and they thought that made them powerful enough to do what they always wanted. So they went to Foul's Creche, challenged Corruption. But they were wrong. No flesh and blood is immune. Foul mastered them - the same way he mastered Kevin when Elena broke the Law of Death. He maimed them to look like me - like this' - he waved his halfhand stiffly - 'and sent them back to Revelstone to mock the Bloodguard.
'Are you surprised the Vow was broken? I thought it was going to break their hearts.
'Bannor didn't turn aside. He gave me exactly what I needed. He showed me it was still possible to go on living.'

[Small point - The Haruchai act as though they need to serve others in order to give value to their lives - Covenant, from the example of Bannor after the Vow was broken, knows this is not true - they can go on living without a Vow.]

'The fact is, you've been wrong all along. You've misunderstood your own doubt from the beginning. What it means. Why it matters. First Kevin, then the other Lords, then me - ever since you people first came to the Land, you've been swearing yourselves in service to ordinary men and women who simply can't be worthy of what you offer. Kevin was a good man who broke down when the pressure got to be worse than he could stand - and the Bloodguard were never able to forgive him because they pinned their faith on him and when he failed they thought it was their fault for not making him worthy, not preventing him from being human. Over and over again, you put yourselves in the position of serving someone who has to fail you for the mere reason that he's human and all humans fail at one time or another - and then you can't forgive him because his failure casts doubt on your service. And you can't forgive yourselves either. You want to serve perfectly, and that means you're responsible for everything. And whenever something comes along to remind you you're mortal - like the merewives - that's unforgivable too, and you decide you aren't worthy to go on serving. Or else you want to do something crazy, like fighting Foul in person.'

Covenant has always understood the sacrifice the Bloodguard made for their service to the Lords - the first time he talked to Bannor about it, he understood. And his understanding of them grows the more he is around them. He showed this on Rivenrock, when he forced them to choose between Kevin and the new Lords. The problem is in how the Haruchai respond when he expresses his understanding. More than once in the first trilogy Covenant outlines their plight to them, and why their Vow doesn't work, because it doesn't allow for those served to have flaws - but in the end it is Covenant's insight into the Vow that causes their doubt to become worse, and allows for its breaking. He means well, and what he says to them is true, but the the effects are not always what he desires - he does not know them well enough as a people, so cannot know how they will respond - though their response often ends up being of great importance to the future of the Land.

'You can do better than that. Nobody questions your worth. You've demonstrated it a thousand times. And if that's not enough for you, remember Brinn faced the Guardian of the One Tree and won. Ak-Haru Kenaustin Ardenol. Any one of you would've done the same in his place. You don't need to serve me anymore.

And there he releases them from service to other men and women - they have proven themselves, they need serve no longer. Instead, he gives them something greater to serve, something that would not be destined to fail them, as mortal humans would. He charges them with the keeping of Revelstone, and defence of the Land - and it doesn't take much thought to conclude that this charge may ultimately shape the Land that we will see in the Third Chronicles.
I believe that this speech by Covenant is one of the most important turning points in the history of the Haruchai people.

[dlbpharmd]

Good post, Murrin - I agree with you, and believe that Covenant's charge to Durris may be one of the open ends left by SRD in anticipation of the Last Chronicles. We'll soon see!

[matrixman]

Great insight, Murrin! I'm just dying to see what role the Haruchai will play in the Last Chronicles. And I'm sure there must be a whole lotta dying in them books...it's a Covenant story, after all.

[Earthblood]

Thanks Murrin - I had a major comp meltdown at home - not sure what is going on with my ISP. I tried 3x to get this chap finished, but I cant do it at work & I don't know if my home comp will cooperate - sorry folks
Don't let me hold up the continuation of the dissection - carry on!!

[Durris]

Covenant has always understood the sacrifice the Bloodguard made for their service to the Lords - the first time he talked to Bannor about it, he understood. And his understanding of them grows the more he is around them.

Although Covenant understood enough when he first talked to Bannor to experience a painful sense of recognition, I think his understanding of the Vow--or is that his empathy for the Vow--evolves significantly. In his first conversation with Bannor he's offended at the thought of so much (as he perceives it, empty) survival, and says so rather rudely. By "The Spoiled Plains," his understanding has taken a more brotherly direction--perhaps because TC no longer needs to defend against the recognition he feels.

He showed this on Rivenrock, when he forced them to choose between Kevin and the new Lords. The problem is in how the Haruchai respond when he expresses his understanding. More than once in the first trilogy Covenant outlines their plight to them, and why their Vow doesn't work, because it doesn't allow for those served to have flaws - but in the end it is Covenant's insight into the Vow that causes their doubt to become worse, and allows for its breaking. He means well, and what he says to them is true, but the the effects are not always what he desires - he does not know them well enough as a people, so cannot know how they will respond - though their response often ends up being of great importance to the future of the Land.

Just as Covenant's pact with Nom is more constructive in both intent and results than his bargain with the Ranyhyn, I think the results of his dealings with the Haruchai on this issue reflect the changes in his motivations.

Covenant's retelling of this history to Durris is completely free of any ulterior motives on Covenant's part; far unlike when he adjured Bannor and Morin by the Vow to tell him and Elena the name of the Seventh Ward. Because Covenant isn't using his understanding as a weapon this time, hearing that understanding becomes redemptive rather than traumatic.

[danlo]

Sorry! just popping in here as a mod right now! Tho I really want to get into the discussion (I'm too dang busy )--this is such a cool chapter...

Anyway, Earthy thank you VERY much for filling in as a sub and doing a great job. After your monumental dissection in Casting the Augury I'm surprised you could do anything here the same day. RL happens and I'm opening the floor to whoever wishes to dissect, or start the conversation on the 2nd half of the chapter (if you haven't done so already! ). Wayfriend-if you're still itching to dissect have at it!

[wayfriend]

And there he releases them from service to other men and women . . . it doesn't take much thought to conclude that this charge may ultimately shape the Land that we will see in the Third Chronicles.

Has anyone ever given any thought to what would have happened to the Land if the Haruchai had not served?

The way I think about it is, they essentially volunteered to ally themselves with the Lords, and moreover essentially decided to let the Lords do all of the big thinking. Good thing! I don't think there's a heck of a lot anyone could have done about it otherwise. It wasn't until the Clave came along that they were finally defeated, and even then, they might have eventually caught on to anti-mind-control thing.

It seems to me that the Haruchai would not be fun to live under if they were in charge.

"Excuse me, sir, but I cannot plow this field all by myself!"

"You will suffice."

"You're just punishing me for drinking too much at the Celebration of Spring!"

"We do not forgive."

"Can't I at least have tomorrow off so that I can go and visit wife's family? I'll be in the dog-house if I can't get some time off."

"Corruption wears many faces. Mother-in-law is one of them."

[dlbpharmd]

"Corruption wears many faces. Mother-in-law is one of them."

Amen, brother!

ROTFLMAO!

[Earthblood]

When, exactly, did you meet my mother-in-law, wayfriend?????