The Old Lords

[Cmdr_Floyd]

Personally, I would like to read more about the Old Lords, see what power they wielded, how Foul managed to betray & kill most of them (bit like Star Wars episode3 there when all Jedi are betrayed & killed - is George Lucas guilty of plagiarism? - sorry about spelling) - sort of a Silmarillion for the Land....

[ur-bane]

IIRC, SRD has stated in the GI that he has no intention of writing any type of prequel to TCTC. So if we are to gain more knowledge of the Old Lords, it will have to be through tales in the Final Chronicles. Perhaps the Mahdoubt or Haruchai will enlighten us. But as far as a complete history, well, that's up to your imagination.

EDIT: Although, it may make for an interesting endeavor/contest. Choose an Old Lord, and in 10,000 words or less, make up his history.

[Waynhim Wedge]

Tell me about it. Each Old Lord had a cool edge to him. Berek was the Queen's hero (a powerful warrior?) and the first of the bunch. Damelon was the Giantfriend (Giants rock). Loric was the most mysterious: father of Kevin, messed with the Viles, had a krill, all that good stuff. And Kevin was the prodigy who was maybe too powerful.

I thought the Third Chronicles should be about them (like alot of people). But you would need over a dozen books to capture the essence all four of the big boys. Maybe we'll see at least one of them in the near future?

So much great history with the Old Lords. Maybe filling it in yourself makes it a better reading experience?

[onewyteduck]

I would love to hear the story of the Ritual of Desecration. Ah, well......

[Fist and Faith]

I'm willing to bet at least one Old Lord will play a fairly big role. No thoughts on who, or what the role will be, but wouldn't it be AWESOME if I was right?!?

[dlbpharmd]

Actually, SRD did give us a really big hint about the possible appearance of one of the Old Lords.

[Fist and Faith]

Cool!

[drew]

I would love to hear the story of the Ritual of Desecration. Ah, well......

That's SRD's point as the why he won't do prequils...because you already know the story of the ROD...sure he could add some stuff to it, but you know the outcome.

[onewyteduck]

But it's all those pesky little details that I would like to hear! (read)

[Warmark]

I'm willing to bet at least one Old Lord will play a fairly big role. No thoughts on who, or what the role will be, but wouldn't it be AWESOME if I was right?!?

Rune Spoilers!

Spoiler

I also think this will happen. Loric would be handy, with all those pesky Viles running about!.

[Furls Fire]

A comment by SRD from one of the conventions:

Spoiler

"We may even see Damelon Giantfriend, now wouldn't that be fun?"

[KAY1]

Although SRD states quite firmly he wouldn't want to write a prequel as everyone already knows how it turns out and that he hates the Silmarillion, maybe he will change his mind (faint hope). After all as Cmdr Floyd said, it worked brilliantly for George Lucas. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I was kind of hoping Anaking wouldnt become Vader!
I did actually ask SRD in the GI if (setting aside the fact he didnt want to write it), would he KNOW how to write a prequel?

[KAY1]

IIRC, SRD has stated in the GI that he has no intention of writing any type of prequel to TCTC. So if we are to gain more knowledge of the Old Lords, it will have to be through tales in the Final Chronicles. Perhaps the Mahdoubt or Haruchai will enlighten us. But as far as a complete history, well, that's up to your imagination.

EDIT: Although, it may make for an interesting endeavor/contest. Choose an Old Lord, and in 10,000 words or less, make up his history.

Oh and also, this idea has occurred to me. The short piece in fan fiction had me really intrigued!

[CovenantJr]

IIRC, SRD has stated in the GI that he has no intention of writing any type of prequel to TCTC. So if we are to gain more knowledge of the Old Lords, it will have to be through tales in the Final Chronicles. Perhaps the Mahdoubt or Haruchai will enlighten us. But as far as a complete history, well, that's up to your imagination.

EDIT: Although, it may make for an interesting endeavor/contest. Choose an Old Lord, and in 10,000 words or less, make up his history.

Oh and also, this idea has occurred to me. The short piece in fan fiction had me really intrigued!

If it wasn't for NaNoWriMo, I might have a go.

[drew]

Did anyone have a go at The Tale of Baghoon?

[matrixman]

Nope, not me, drew. I'd have to be a...a Giant to tell the Tale of Bahgoon. I'd be more interested in Thelma Twofist anyway.

Each Old Lord had a cool edge to him. Berek was the Queen's hero (a powerful warrior?) and the first of the bunch. Damelon was the Giantfriend (Giants rock). Loric was the most mysterious: father of Kevin, messed with the Viles, had a krill, all that good stuff. And Kevin was the prodigy who was maybe too powerful.

Succinct synopsis, Waynhim.

The time of the Old Lords seem to roughly alternate between eras of peace and conflict. At least that's the sense I get from what little info there is on them.

Berek - conflict
Damelon - peace
Loric - conflict
Kevin - long peace, long conflict

Berek, like WW says, seems to represent the heroic ideal of the Land - the traditional champion of good who fought for Queen and Country. He also had bragging rights as Lord-Fatherer and maker of the Staff of Law. He was the standard that all subsequent Lords would measure themselves against. (Except the beautiful, talented and loony Elena who only had eyes for Kevin.)

Damelon's was a peaceful reign, if only because I've never heard that he actually fought anybody. I might say his was also the era of grand engineering works: Revelstone came into being during his rule...and possibly also the great Audience Hall and other vast chambers inside Melenkurion Skyweir, guarded by the Door he created (pure wild speculation, of course).

Loric's reign I imagine was a time of strife, because of the threat of the Viles. Like WW says, Loric remains a mystery: we don't have any "Legend of Loric Vilesilencer" tale like we have the Legend of Berek Halfhand. Why was Loric's war against the Viles so poorly documented? What made the Viles so dire and dangerous that required Loric to conceive a special weapon--the krill--just to combat them? I picture Loric the same way I picture the painting of "Lord Mhoram's Victory": wielding the krill while surrounded by darkness and Demondim-spawn. Loric's victory over the Viles must have been great indeed, since his son Kevin inherited from him an age of peace and prosperity in the Land that lasted for centuries.

Kevin we all know and, uh, love. Or pity anyway. He's the only one of the Old Lords whose lifespan we roughly know--around a thousand years. That is an insane amount of time for a human being to live. (Maybe not as insane as the Bloodguard, but were the Bloodguard really human? ) So I'm guessing the first half of Kevin's long reign was total glory; then Lord Foul infiltrated Kevin's Council and became a trusted friend over the course of the next few decades or maybe even centuries; the last centuries or decades of Kevin's rule saw the Land plunged "unready" into war against Foul, and Kevin himself plunged into the despair that would lead to the Ritual of Desecration. I asked myself why the Land was so "unready" for war against Foul, but then I remembered the ur-vile ambush at Mt. Thunder that had slaughtered many of Kevin's closest friends and strongest allies, so that may have substantially weakened the Council's ability to wage an effective war.

In conclusion...I'm not sure I have a point. I just like to babble on about the Chronicles.

[KAY1]

Wow. Great summarizing there Matrixman. I keep thinking about starting one of the Old Lord's tales myself but can't seem to get the motivation yet!

[Nerdanel]

I think the lifespans of the Old Lords increased as their power and knowledge grew, so that Berek for example might have been the High Lord only for a hundred years or so. We don't know how long Kevin could have kept going since he didn't die or abdicate of old age. Perhaps Lord Foul wouldn't have done things the way he did if Kevin was near the end of his term. In that case Foul might have waited a while and tried to become the next High Lord himself, but for all we know he would have had to wait a thousand more years or even longer.

About Loric:

Spoiler

I think his association with the Demondim and their lore is the reason why his great victory got so little publicizing. I think he had to use some rather dark means the kind of which the Lords don't like to make legends about. For example, I think the krill was a product of the Demondim lore he learned.

This is getting a little Hounds of Tindalos, but I've been starting to think that shapes just might be significant in the sense that circles have different powers than angles, circles representing a more natural sort of power. (This might merit a thread for itself.) The krill, being shaped like a cross, would be pretty much the opposite of a circle, and therefore an epitome of unnatural power. Or else it would be something to the effect that circles bind and angles cut.