Kevin's Dirt - or Foul's Breath?? (possible causes+++)

[native]

WHERE ARE THE FREAKING DEAD?????!!!!!!!!

Covenant is dead.

[I'm Murrin]

WHERE ARE THE FREAKING DEAD?????!!!!!!!!

Covenant is dead.

Technically, Anele is one of the Dead.

[native]

Technically, Anele is one of the Dead.

Because he died in his mother's womb you mean? I suppose you could argue that with the breaking of the law of life, he is no longer dead.

[Insanity Falls]

Kevin's Dirt prevents people seeing their Dead!!!

Perhaps with the both the Law of Death AND the Law of Life having been broken, it is easier than ever before for the shades of "the Dead" to pop into existence, and, well, haunt people. And with the Land all healed of the Sunbane, "the Dead" might pop up any where, and at any time.
And, it does becomes easier and easier - as more and more spirits pop back into existence - for this to happen. The Laws of Death and Life become weaker and weaker and weaker. The Land could very well come to be plaqued with the Dead - and this would de-stabilise life and society.
What's more, when people catch on that RESURRECTION is possible, things could escalate into a disaster.
You're wife died last week? No problem! We'll resurrect her!
You're kid fell out of a tree yesterday, and broke her neck? No need to bury her!
Missing grandma and grandpa? Call em' back, and they'll take care of the kids tonight!
I predict that in order to forestall this disaster, someone, the Elohim perhaps, stepped in with Kevin's Dirt to blind everybody in the Land, so that they (1) could not see the shades of the Dead, and (2) were disenfranchised from the power that could resurrect them.
In this manner, they purchased time for the Land, and delayed utter disaster.

Oh, and

Technically, Anele is one of the Dead.

I agree with native! Anele is, technically, and totally ALIVE! That is how the Law of Life was broken!!

[I'm Murrin]

I wasn't being entirely serious. I know he's alive, that's why I said 'technically'. He's one of the Dead, he just.. uh.. happens to have been alive the last 3500 years.

[Insanity Falls]

I believe he was NON-EXISTANT for several!!

[wayfriend]

Here is a fat, slow, and tasty theory for you theory carnivores to pounce on and toy with until you grow bored and crunch it up.

[ Edit: Okay, now I see that this is not a new theory. (Blast those Runes Spoilers who made me leave for a few months.) However, it's worth noting some additional arguments for it. ]

1. Considering what the Master's are trying to achieve in the Land, Kevin's Dirt is a considerable boon. How much easier is it to forget about Earthpower when no one can see it? In fact, the Haruchai might have been completely unsuccessful in eradicating the knowledge of Earthpower if it were not for Kevin's Dirt.

2. Who else but the Haruchai would have named it Kevin's Dirt? No one else in the Land can see it, or even knows that it exists (I presume). Refering to Kevin has a distinctly Haruchai flavor. And, to the Masters, Kevin represents the epitome of what it is they seek to prevent in the Land.

3. I would not say that Kevin's Dirt was constructed in a way to allow the Haruchai to be immune. However, given the history of the Haruchai and their immunity to the Sunbane and other arcane influences, one can certainly say that it would be predictable that the Haruchai would be immune. Whomever is responsible for Kevin's Dirt could have known it.

4. Despite their abhorence of lore and any power other than their inherent prowess, the Haruchai have been known to weild Earthpower. I'm refering to when they gathered in the Land to utter their Vow. So there is a precident of the Haruchai as a group manifesting their most fervant desire as a world-altering phenomenon.

Conclusion: The Haruchai created Kevin's Dirt, perhaps as a side-effect of their efforts, perhaps by design.

[High Lord Tolkien]

Wayfriend, sorry I just don't see it happening like that.

I don't think the Haruchai would ever use Lore in anyway.
Unless they are totally corrupted.
Which......is possible.

That the Huruchai call it Kevin's Dirt is significant though.
They wouldn't call it that if there wasn't a direct connection to Kevin.
It's either something he did or didn't do or a coruption of something that Kevin was involved with.
(Maybe the Haruchai found some EarthBlood and made one of those unforseen complications ala The IllEarth Stone? No. I don't see that either.)

[I'm Murrin]

I've never seen Haruchai as the lying sort, either. Stave says it was named 'Kevin's Dirt' because it seems to them to be a precursor to desecration. They wouldn't think that something they themselves did was a precursor to desecration, would they? They probably think Foul did it.

[drew]

I'm with the idea that the Haruchai would not create something like Kevin's Dirt...as it would take some sort of Lore, which they are against using.

But...remember their vow? Though, they said they used no Lore, the Vow was a thing of Earthpower, so strong it awoken the Lurker of the Sarangrave. So in their belief that they should be keeping the Land uncorupted from earthpower...Kevin's Dirt may have just made Itself.
It may have come from the Haruchai, without them even knowing it.


I beleive that Stave tells Linden that the Lurker is again awakened, well it only wakes in the presence of power.

[I'm Murrin]

...And Joan is served by creatures of the Sarangrave. And Skurj have found release in Mount Thunder. Could this alone not give reason plenty for the Lurker to awaken?

[drew]

Maybe it was the Lurkers awakening that brought the skest back. Or it was the effect of Kevins Dirt on the Sarengrave...as it was the sunbane on the Sarengrave that brought forth the skest in the first place.

[I'm Murrin]

I was using the example of Joan being served by skest to infer that Joan is in the Sarangrave, and therefore White Gold could be the power which has awakened the Lurker.

[High Lord Tolkien]

What the heck is the Lurker anyway? (HLT asks knowing that it has already been discussed somewhere else, besides the GI)

Kevin's Watch is really freaking big!
I haven't even browsed most of the chapter by chapter forums yet.

[dlbpharmd]

as it was the sunbane on the Sarengrave that brought forth the skest in the first place.

Which brings forth the question - why are the skest in the Sarangrave now?

[drew]

I guess they could have ceasured there

[I'm Murrin]

My opinion is that while the Sunbane created them, they may not need it to remain. They could have been there all along since the Sunbane stopped. Or perhaps it is their link to the Lurker that allowed them to remain, and they may have been dormant while it was.

[wayfriend]

My opinion is that while the Sunbane created them, they may not need it to remain.

I think that the skest existed before the Sunbane. They Sunbane made many things propogate rapidly in the sun of pestilence - scorpions, ants, other insects - and under the sun of fertility - trees and shrubs and such. All of these things existed before the Sunbane - the Sunbane just drew them out faster and larger than they would otherwise be. So why should the skest be any different?

[High Lord Tolkien]

Huh?
The Sarangrave was Sunbane free.
They saw the effects of the Sunbane diminish as soon as they got near Landsdrop.
The Skest are just nasty little critters.
Probably some kind of refuse that got dumped out of the Warrens that the Lurker figuered out how to control.

[I'm Murrin]

That the skest were Sunbane-related was inferred from the fact that they first appeared when the sun passed over Landsdrop and the sunbane hit the water of the Sarangrave.