What would YOU do after drinking Earthblood

[I'm Murrin]

I thought of this command quite a while ago: To seal the Illearth Stone's power within itself, so that it cannot be wielded by anyone. This would have weakened Foul, crippled his armies, would have stopped Foul's Winter from happening, driven the ravers out of the Giant bodies, and of course solved the difficulty of where the Illearth Stone's evil power would have gone had you simply ordered its destruction.

[CovenantJr]

I still like the idea of commanding the Illearth Stone to give Foul a vicious shock every time he tries to use it

[Akasri]

I still like the idea of commanding the Illearth Stone to give Foul a vicious shock every time he tries to use it

Or at least a wedgie

This is an interesting thread, and similar to speculation about what you would do with a Wish were you granted one, etc.

I think that anything, no matter how you thought it out and how carefully you phrased it, could turn out badly in the end.

If the Illearth Stone was truly a bane buried in the earth during creation and you make a Command regarding it, could you be endangering the Arch of Time? I doubt it, but it's something to consider.

[Zahir]

I'd be more worried about ordering the Illearth Stone to do anything simply because I'm not sure what it can do. Let us say you ordered a chipmunk to compose love poetry--well, that seems like a waste of time because woodchucks don't have what we would call a language. The creature would try, yes, but what are the odds of success?

Likewise, can the Illearth Stone not be evil and radiate power? Can it cease to be? Can it give Lord Foul a shock?

You might as well order Revelstone to relocate nearer Kiril Threndor. How could it do such a thing? Or command the Ranyhyn to fly.

[MrKABC]

I thought of this command quite a while ago: To seal the Illearth Stone's power within itself, so that it cannot be wielded by anyone. This would have weakened Foul, crippled his armies, would have stopped Foul's Winter from happening, driven the ravers out of the Giant bodies, and of course solved the difficulty of where the Illearth Stone's evil power would have gone had you simply ordered its destruction.

Foul's preternatural winter was caused by the Staff of Law, not the Illearth Stone.

[I'm Murrin]

Foul only got control of the Staff because Foul mastered Kevin with the Illearth Stone.

[MrKABC]

Foul only got control of the Staff because Foul mastered Kevin with the Illearth Stone.

Point taken!

BUT... the mastery could not have occurred without the breaking of the Law of Death, caused by use of the EarthBlood without being a prophet... Without knowing the consequences of your actions, who is to say that the Command employed would have benefited the Despiser in other ways?

[Lord Doom]

Yikes, that's a hard one.

I'd die like Kevin. No way would I use the power of command.

[BT Shire]

I thought of this command quite a while ago: To seal the Illearth Stone's power within itself, so that it cannot be wielded by anyone. This would have weakened Foul, crippled his armies, would have stopped Foul's Winter from happening, driven the ravers out of the Giant bodies, and of course solved the difficulty of where the Illearth Stone's evil power would have gone had you simply ordered its destruction.

It would have seemed like a pretty good idea at the time, but remember that ultimately Covenant wouldn't have been able to defeat Foul without being able to tap into the power of the Illearth Stone. Foul would then have probably gotten hold of the white gold, and then that's all she wrote for the Earth.

I think the best idea would have been to command the ravers to get lost for good, as someone suggested, but even that could have had unforeseen negative consequences. All in all, I think the Power of Command is best left alone, unless you want to be evil. Then go for it, Sauron.

[Kimi]

The Power of Command - biiiiig power, itty bitty people

You're all thinking too large. You can only make your own choices, not choices for anyone or anything else. I would use the Power of Command (assuming I had gone after it in the first place) to Command myself to do only the right things for the Earth.

Mind you, not what I THOUGHT might be the right things, but the actual right things. If I did nothing after the Command, I guess that would mean that nothing I could do would be right, or that doing nothing would be right. Instant guilt relief - no despite or despair.

[BraulioB]

"Without effecting Thomas Covenant's ring, create another white gold ring in my hand" then give it to Mhoram.

B

[The Pumpkin King]

Two ideas with serious consequences if you think about them...

1) Regrowth of the One Forest and restoration of a new generation of Forestals! Yeah! You've saved the Land from interference ever again by Despite (The Colossus would be strong once more), but you've consequently killed off every single Stonedown and Woodhelven within it.

2) Destruction of all passes up from Landsdrop, and total collapse of all passes, and tunnel openings on Mount Thunder--physically totally cutting Despite from the land. I'm sure there's consequences there I can't see, and whatever they are, they must be titanic...

[Gart]

How about commanding that all of the Lower Land south of Giant Woods slip 10 meters below sea level? Goodbye Sarangrave, Great Swamp, and most importantly Foul's Creche. And working along the natural fault line of Landsdrop should be a lot less harmful than some other possibilties.

[BraulioB]

Another question we need to ask ourselve is, are we doing a Command as a person from the Land or as a visitor like Covenant. Remember the Oath Of Peace and the reluctance for the Land people to damage Earth and Wood. Sinking parts of the Land under the ocean would kill so much vegitation. Also, making the caverns of Mount Thunder collapse would probably collapse Mount Thunder itself and maybe uncovering other banes like the IllEarth Stone. And if you just fill up the tunnels, where does the dirt come from?

All this reminds me of when I used to play Dungeons and Dragons in high school. One day, the group found a wand of wishes and whatever we wished for the Dungeon Master would totally twist and turn to find the most damaging outcome.

B

[SoulQuest1970]

I would command my ex to pay his child support.

DOH!

[Gart]

Sinking parts of the Land under the ocean would kill so much vegitation.

Agreed. That's why I specified the bits south of Giant Woods and east of Landsdrop. The Sarangrave is a dangerous semi-sentient swamp that wouldn't be missed, everything around the Creche is a brownfield site at best and the vegetation of the Great Swamp could probably swim for it if push came to shove...

[drew]

Just thought about this one the other day;
What about, if you asked for this:
"I comand that every warior in the Warward, for the remainder of this war be given the strength of ten giants"
That would have helped turn the tables eh?

[High Lord Tolkien]

Just thought about this one the other day;
What about, if you asked for this:
"I comand that every warior in the Warward, for the remainder of this war be given the strength of ten giants"
That would have helped turn the tables eh?

Define "war".


Hey, the EarthBlood is a tricky thing!

[drew]

I meant the Illearth War, the same time Elena drank the Earthblood.
C'mon you're supposed to read my thoughts!

[Grimmand Honninscrave]

Wish I hadn,t done it. It is a power that can come around and bite you in the butt. Look what happened to Elena. Some power is better off hidden from those who don't know how to use it.