Blindness in the Chronicles

[Zarathustra]

Has Donaldson ever said why he has so many blind and/or eyeless characters in the Chronicles? Hile Troy, waynhim, urviles, Nom, etc. Even the old man (creator) was described as someone who had been staring at the sun too long. Covenant himself stumbled around in the dark of Mount Thunder. Is there some connection between loss of vision and despite?

And on the other hand, Donaldson stresses vision or eyes in other characters: Lord Foul's eyes like fangs, Linden's special sight ("Because you can see"), the glowing eyes of cavewights, Elena's disfocused gaze, the Appointed's yellow eyes, the na-Mhoram's red eyes, etc.

Is there some sort of scheme that can relate all this vision and blindness? Or is it just some quirk of his imagination? I feel like there is a pattern there--like the architecture of Revelstone--that is just beyond my ability to grasp.

[KAY1]

I guess the eyes are supposed to be the 'window to the soul'. Also 'sight' is a many sided concept. just because you see with your eyes, doesnt mean u see the true meaning of something. Perhaps not being able to see in some situations gives u keener 'sight' when it comes to 'seeing' the truth?

[Zarathustra]

Hmm . . . interesting. Of course the eyes (and the senses in general) can mislead us into thinking we are seeing The Truth. But the senses are falliable and ultimately do not reveal unmediated reality (in other words, our concepts and preconceptions will impose interpretations upon our what our senses present to us.)

I was just thinking about the urviles and waynhim. I wonder if their blindness is a symbol of their self-despite? They can't stand to look at themselves. They are by definition creatures who hate their physical forms. So is their blindness just an outward manifestion of this?

[Nerdanel]

An important point is that the eyecolor can be related to magical alignment. Certain colors are used over and over in the same context. Lord Mhoram has golden spots in his eyes, signifying his connection to the Earthpower. Cavewights and Gibbon na-Mhoram had red eyes because red is the most common color for non-Illearth evil magic.

Fatal Revenant spoiler:

Spoiler

The red flash in Covenant's eyes in the chapter we know about may indicate that Covenant has turned to evil means to resurrect himself.

The Runes of the Earth spoilers follow:

Spoiler

Esmer's sea-green eyes are evocative of how dangerous and unpredictable he is. But green is also the color of the Illearth Stone. Linden wasn't there during the First Chronicles, so she it's no wonder if she doesn't recognize the hue if it's the same. Note also how the Illearth Stone quickly entered the story through an action of Esmer's.

The Mahdoubt's violet and orange eyes are very mysterious, but should be and have been discussed in the Mahdoubt thread.

Sometimes SRD just gets descriptive and uses eyecolor in a metaphorical sense so that the actual color remains mysterious.

Spoiler

Thomas Covenant has eyes the color of madness and prophecy, just like Roger. I don't know what color that's supposed to mean. I imagine it gray.

I read somewhere in the Gradual Interview that the blindness in the ur-viles and the Waynhim is metaphorical of the metaphorical blindness that shuts them out of the happy mainstream society of the Land. The Demondim were also eyeless. Hile Troy's war plans suffered from a metaphorical blindness too. The blindness equals blindness metaphor seems to be really common.

The eyelessness of the Demondim-spawn also serves to enhance their mystery, along with them never having spoken in English (or whatever the common language of the Land is) thus far, even if they seem to understand it.

[tbsteph]

Don't recall specifially but in either LFB or the IW I believe TC's eyes are identified as being gray.

[Nerdanel]

I just bumped into the bit in Illearth War that says Covenant's eyes are gray. Also, Lord Amatin's eyes are hazel. I think hazel could be interpreted as basically a darker shade of gold.

[Xar]

I noticed this as well, and decided to turn to the source for more info... SRD published my answer in December:

Pier Giorgio (Xar): Hello Steve! As I write, you just answered my question about Stave (thank you!), and here I am again already... What can I say, I love your books

Anyway, I replied to a Kevin's Watch thread about Covenant giving the ring to Foul in the Second Chronicles, and a thought stroke me as odd - which perhaps correlates a bit with what you once said about the recurring theme of blindness in the Chronicles.

It is startling to notice how Chronicles characters who have a "keener" sight than others (Kevin's oracular abilities, Linden's earthsight, Hile Troy's "Land-given sight", Elena's "second sight", Foul's "surveillance") almost always tend to blind themselves or fool themselves (Kevin's belief that Covenant would damn the Land, Linden's inability to see even a hint of Covenant's true intentions about giving the ring to the Despiser, Hile Troy's incapacity to believe in Covenant's role as a savior of the Land, Elena's unwillingness to believe Covenant's warning about the EarthBlood, Foul's inability to see Covenant's lack of true despair when receiving the ring, and so on) whereas characters who are "blinded" in some way - that is, unable to perceive the full depth of the world (Covenant without earthsight, innocent Lena, the Unfettered Healer, blinded Troy realizing the only way to save his army) often develop a clearer understanding about what is truly happening (or what will happen), and what to do - even of the sacrifices those actions might entail. Do you think this is actually a plausible consideration, especially after noticing the recurring theme about blindness and sight (which I find a very interesting theme, considering you said yourself you are not a "visual" author)?

(The fact that I’m not a visual person probably explains why I use so many visual metaphors.)

I don’t “see” how anyone could argue with the interpretation you’ve suggested. I don’t think in those kinds of thematic terms when I’m actually writing a story; but I certainly become aware of the story’s themes, and develop them consciously, while I’m rewriting. And you’re bound to have noticed that the theme of *paradox* is everywhere in the “Chronicles”. Somewhere in what I’ll call my apprenticeship (everything that I produced before I started on “Lord Foul’s Bane”), I wrote--although I no longer remember where or why--“The back of blessing bears a curse/For taking comfort one is worse/And promise is its own reverse.” Stating the same insight in terms that better suit my current thinking, I now believe that every weakness is a strength misapplied, and every strength is a weakness which has found its proper use. In one form or another, you’ll find such notions throughout the “Chronicles”.

[wayfriend]

The world is filled with sight-is-thought metaphors. When we understand something, we say "I see" and "that's clear". Etc. It's almost universal and almost unconscious.

It's fairly consistent for the Chronicles that characters who are blind can "see" in some other way. Which of course signals to the reader that these characters "think" in some different way than we do.

Petar Belic:Mr Donaldson,

I know you hear this a thousand times, but I'm sure every little bit helps: thanks for the effort you've put in to enriching our lives.

I have a simple question: where comes this fascination for physical blindness - or a lack of eyesight - you have in your story-telling? Nom. Waynhim. Hile Troy. There are probably more references, of which I am too lazy to research. However, there does seem to be a pattern here...

I know you are busy. Thanks for taking the time to read.
_____________

I find it somewhat embarrassing to admit that until Anele came along I didn't actually realize that eyelessness or blindness formed such a recurring (one might almost say incessant) theme in the "Covenant" books. And yet the pattern continues, as you'll discover (if you haven't already) in "The Last Chronicles." Well, I like to think that my sub-conscious has a very good reason for insisting on this particular metaphor. Certainly one of the main subjects of the "Covenant" books is how perception creates reality. For one example, the Land becomes effectively real for Covenant when he "sees" that it is important to him. And for another, the ur-viles and Waynhim stand outside the governing forms of Law in part because they literally *don't* "see". Conversely, Hile Troy doesn't "see" the danger implicit in his attitude toward power: his inability/failure to perceive accurately threatens the survival of the Land. And so on.

(03/16/2005)

[Guest]

I just bumped into the bit in Illearth War that says Covenant's eyes are gray. Also, Lord Amatin's eyes are hazel. I think hazel could be interpreted as basically a darker shade of gold.

I believe you are thinking of Amber, which is a darker shade of gold. Hazel is more of a lighter shade of blue.

Cool thread - I have always enjoyed the paradox of "sight" in SRD's stories...the sightless having greater vision and understanding (Troy being a major exception) and those thought to be visionary being blind to very dire consequences. Mhoram seems to be one of the few, who in spite of his oracular powers, is able to avoid a hideous, land-damning fate.

Spoiler

Anele!! Anele!!! Anele!!!

[Variol Farseer]

Hazel is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as 'a light brown or yellowish brown'. When eyes are described as hazel, they usually have a greenish tinge as well. But it fits 'a darker shade of gold' well enough.

[Guest]

Major revelation - people have been telling me they think I have hazel eyes all of these years because they think I am full of S#&t!