The Fall of the Land: Sad Musings

[ur-monkey]

This is a particularly fine thread, think ye not? Let's try and keep it going...

I've always regarded the Chronicles as bittersweet as opposed to simply sad - and much of what I would have said has already been pointed out here. Lena's song at the beginning of LFB, I believe, will indeed prove to be prophetic - and, I suspect, possibly the finest compendium of Donaldson's lesson to us all: That the seeds of Beauty will survive, though the Beauty may die, or the flower may die, or the beholder may die.

Lurch put it well when he said that the only constant in life was change (or something to that effect). In as much as Beauty or perfection can manifest itself in our lives, and has the power to take our breath away (like the artistry of these books) we should all understand and bear the burden of knowing that it cannot last, that it must change form, and that an important part of what made it so precious was its fragility and vulnerability...and the paradox of Beauty's transience and eternity.

I expect Donaldson will demonstrate this beautifully in the 3 forthcoming books!

[exnihilo]

This thread makes me think of a line from "Excalibur":

"Forgive me, my wife, if you can. I was not born to live a man's life, but to be the stuff of future memory. The fellowship was a brief beginning, a fair time that cannot be forgotten; and because it will not be forgotten, that fair time may come again. Now once more I must ride with my knights to defend what was, and the dream of what could be." -- Arthur to Guenevere

I'm a sentimental bastard, that's sure.

[jwaneeta]

Variol wrote (and others said much the same):

What my gut tells me is that the Land is indeed going to end, and that it will go down in the fine style of Edna St. Vincent Millay

Gah, I can't stand it. I read the references to SDR

Spoiler

wanting to end the CoTC universe definitively so it wouldn't be abused after his death, and it's certainly his right,

but ouch. Ten books and the Land snuffs out? No more Land, by authorial intent? Wah.

I tell you, the place is cursed. Nothing ever goes right there. No matter what anybody decides, it's the wrong decision. The Land's been on one long downhill slide since Lord Foul's Bane.

Tell me what has gone right. I beg thee. Tell me one character who's made the right call, ever -- bad guy or good. Elena breaks the Law of Death, Caer-Caveral breaks the Law of Life, Covenant incinerates the Staff of Law, the Lords abandon Earthpower and on and on. No matter how selfless the motive, no matter how noble the sacrifice, nothing works -- in fact, every action seems to have dreadful consequences. It's dizzying.

I like Noble Death, I really do. Noble Death is my favorite. But when the Noble Die-ers are characters you care about, you'd kinda like their ends to have meant something -- in this case, the salvation of the Land they died for. Alack a day.

Don't mind me. I'll still read it and all. But wah.