Foul's Power

[Rukh]

Spinning off here from a discussion about the above; I posted it as a new topic because I would like some feedback from you all. The last post on this discussion went in the direction of saying that besides his intellect, and what he draws from Banes of the Earth, Foul has no power. Actually, I don't believe that is true; though SRD is certainly vague about the extent of his abilities, there are indications, and even out right statments, in the first series that Foul does posses power of his own. In the Illearth War the Lord's spoke of Foul's own power being enhanced by the Illearth Stone, not being the source of it. And when Covenant battled Foul, SRD made mention, once again, of this. When he brought Covenant to the Land, via Drool Rockworm, he did not possess the Staff or the Stone; Drool did, but it was obvious that he did possess some power on his own; he offered to cure Covenant of his leprosy. Also, it is true that Foul corrupted the Earthpower when he made the Sunbane, and that he drew strength from it, but he must have possessed some innate ability that made this possible. In addition, if he possessed no power of his own, how could he have mastered the Ravers, and even Earthpower when he was one of the Lord's of Kevin's Revelstone? I think another aspect of Foul's power is that he must be immensely Lore wise; in the chronicles you seldom encounter an entity of power that does not combine knowledge and force; Esmer is a great example, as are the Elohim.

[Variol Farseer]

I suspect that the essence of Foul's power is that he is a master parasite. He schemes, he manipulates, he corrupts, he whispers words of despite in people's ears; but whenever we see him wielding direct physical power, it always comes from another source. You could say that he has perfected the lore of turning other people's power against them: a sort of moral aikido, used for immoral ends.

When Foul offered to cure Covenant's leprosy, by the way, that was a trivial gift: a bucket of hurtloam would have done the trick. It wouldn't have cured Covenant outside the Land, but that's just the way Foul works. We often see him deceive people with half-truths, knowing they're so eager to believe the true part that they won't notice the lie.

[Stave]

I think that SRD does hint at Foul having physical powers and a deep understanding of earth lore, however, that is not what makes Foul so "powerful". It is his ability to manipulate adn indirectly cause so much damage that is the greatest threat. His ability to add the power of others to his own without even tapping his resources is frighteningly important. He can in a sense be related to Saruman of Lotr, who even though he has many "magical powers", relies mainly on the use of his tongue to accomplish his goals. Lord Foul raises the use of power from a constructive level to a formal level, and it is this "effiency" that is the deadliest of his abilities.

[Variol Farseer]

Exactly, Stave!

[CovenantJr]

Indeed, Stave.

[Zahir]

Well, a couple of things...

Foul is effectively immortal. He was at ground zero for the Ritual of Destruction and survived. This weakened him, but even so he was able to bend the Ravers and Illearth Stone to his will.

Also, given the events with Kevin, we've never seen Foul at full strength. Recall that the Old Lords were vastly more powerful than the Lords of Mhoram's time, yet he bested them totally. These Lords were able to make Vain! And the Krill! They knew of the Earthblood! Yet Foul deceived them all, and when the time came he wiped the floor with them.

Which isn't intended to lessen the sheer power of Foul's lore knowledge. He surpasses the Elohim! Think about that!

[Warmark]

These Lords were able to make Vain!

do you mean Amok?

i also think Foul relies heavily on tools such as Drool and the clave and the ravers we have never seen him go against a Lord power for power except Kevin and that wasnt really a fight.

[Zahir]

Yeah I mean Amok. Oops.

And yeah, Foul uses others because that is simply more efficient. Recall we're talking about something like six thousand years of people trying to fight Lord Foul and still not getting rid of him completely. That is staying power!