Just what did Covenant cause to rise out of the Wightbarrow?
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Sunbaneglasses
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Just what did Covenant cause to rise out of the Wightbarrow?
In the epoloque of WGW as Linden is being transported back to her own reality,when TC and LA are having their little chat in the limbo between worlds,TC says that he made something rise out of the Wightbarrow and the Cavewights started bowing to it,but he did not know what it was.This was of course a distraction so the Giants could escape.Is this just a throw away line?It has caused me to pause and think on it on more than one read,could whatever TC caused to rise in the Wightbarrow play a part in the Last crons?ANYONE ELSE EVER PAUSED AT THIS LINE AND GIVEN IT ANY THOUGHT?
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The Pumpkin King
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The Pumpkin King
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Grimmand Honninscrave
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Grimmand Honninscrave
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I agree with Warmark (at least until someone convinces me differently 
). I always figured it was some horrifically misshapen überzombie-Drool, warped and corrupted by hellish powers gained in the Land of the Dead. Or something. Sorry. Been reading too much Lovecraft lately.
). I always figured it was some horrifically misshapen überzombie-Drool, warped and corrupted by hellish powers gained in the Land of the Dead. Or something. Sorry. Been reading too much Lovecraft lately.Halfway down the stairs Is the stair where I sit. There isn't any other stair quite like it. I'm not at the bottom, I'm not at the top; So this is the stair where I always stop.
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It's possible that Covenant's perceptions of the thing weren't enough to really see at the time that "it didn't last long". Perhaps that first burst of energy given by Covenant's awakening of the monstrosity wore off, but it doesn't necessarily mean the creation wouldn't recover after some time, if there was just one lingering spark of life in it. I think it's perfectly feasible that the 'thing' could be still around - no idea what it is, though.
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Grimmand Honninscrave
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drew
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I'd say it deffinatly has import to the 3rd chrons...or TC would have said "I caused something to rise, it was just a pile of rocks though" rather thatn "I don't even know what itwas"
SRD is not one to leave things like that hanging.
SRD is not one to leave things like that hanging.
I thought you were a ripe grape
a cabernet sauvignon
a bottle in the cellar
the kind you keep for a really long time
a cabernet sauvignon
a bottle in the cellar
the kind you keep for a really long time
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Variol Farseer
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I doubt whether it was anything more than a kind of marionette constructed out of bones, with wild magic instead of strings. As soon as that power was withdrawn, the bones would collapse.
And when Covenant said 'it didn't last long', I think he knew exactly what he was talking about.
And when Covenant said 'it didn't last long', I think he knew exactly what he was talking about.
Without the Quest, our lives will be wasted.
I agree it was probably a meaningless creation really, just the bones moving about for a few moments. I know it said in WGW that the Cavewights were trying to summon Drool but that if they succeeded it wouldn't have actually been Drool but 'something monstrous'. Probably as someone said some horrible zombie creature which would have probably rampaged all over the place. The Cavewights weren't exactly Lore wise so even with the Law of Death (and Life) broken I doubt they really knew what they were doing.
Well, we don't know how Drool interacted with the Cavewights - it could be that, during LFB, he passed on some of the lore Foul taught him in order to wield the Staff of Law. Or maybe he learned some Ur-vile lore, given that he seemed to command them (Celebration of Spring).
Regardless, I think the point is not what the Cavewights would have raised - but rather what Covenant raised. Note that Covenant used the word "raise" himself; if he had just rattled some bones or made them dance with wild magic, why use that word and not, say, "I used that wild magic to make some bones move"? Why "I raised something, I don't even know what it was"?
The idea is that Covenant's attention at the time was (understandably) focused on Kiril Threndor; his discharge of wild magic was mostly unfocused and with the single aim to help the Giants escape while simultaneously releasing the built-up wild magic running through Covenant's soul. Such a blast of unfocused wild magic could have easily "overcharged" the wightbarrow, especially if combined with the commenced ritual of the Cavewights; and without Covenant's full attention to direct it and fine-tune it, it could have simply increased the ritual's power beyond the "critical threshold" required to actually raise the monstrosity. As Nerdanel said in the other thread then, most of the wild magic was probably expended in the raising itself: the remaining animated the monstrosity, but it eventually dissipated (this might be why Covenant thought "it didn't last long" - because he didn't pay too much attention to what was happening there, he simply felt wild magic dissipate and thought that was the end of it). However, if the monstrosity managed to hold onto a spark of (a semblance of) life, it could have eventually recovered, without Covenant's knowledge.
Regardless, I think the point is not what the Cavewights would have raised - but rather what Covenant raised. Note that Covenant used the word "raise" himself; if he had just rattled some bones or made them dance with wild magic, why use that word and not, say, "I used that wild magic to make some bones move"? Why "I raised something, I don't even know what it was"?
The idea is that Covenant's attention at the time was (understandably) focused on Kiril Threndor; his discharge of wild magic was mostly unfocused and with the single aim to help the Giants escape while simultaneously releasing the built-up wild magic running through Covenant's soul. Such a blast of unfocused wild magic could have easily "overcharged" the wightbarrow, especially if combined with the commenced ritual of the Cavewights; and without Covenant's full attention to direct it and fine-tune it, it could have simply increased the ritual's power beyond the "critical threshold" required to actually raise the monstrosity. As Nerdanel said in the other thread then, most of the wild magic was probably expended in the raising itself: the remaining animated the monstrosity, but it eventually dissipated (this might be why Covenant thought "it didn't last long" - because he didn't pay too much attention to what was happening there, he simply felt wild magic dissipate and thought that was the end of it). However, if the monstrosity managed to hold onto a spark of (a semblance of) life, it could have eventually recovered, without Covenant's knowledge.
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The Somberlain
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That seems so... contrived, to me. I'm all for speculation, and of course this board'd be nothing without it, but... I think that's reading too much into it. I kind of hope it doesn't return in the Last Chronicles. To have some unknown creature appear would be fine, but then to say "And it just happens to be the pile of bones that Covenant animated at the end of the last book."
I know SRD planned the two series at the same time, but they are still separate series and... to me, it just doesn't really fit that he'd have this sort of link between them. I dunno.
I know SRD planned the two series at the same time, but they are still separate series and... to me, it just doesn't really fit that he'd have this sort of link between them. I dunno.
