Where did Covenant's Leprosy come from ?

[iQuestor]

I have held the belief that TC was some sort of catalyst that caused the creation of the Land, and will likely be caught up in its eventual end. I believe that events in TC's life, up until the events of LFB, had analogous events in the Land.

Thomas Covenant had a primary case of Hansen's disease, a very rare occurrance, especially in the US.

My questions are:

1. where did his leprosy come from, and is it important?
2. Was this the event that caused the Land to come into being, or some other analogous event in the Land?
3. Will we find out answers about this in the 3rd chronicles?

[A Gunslinger]

The argument that TC created the land somehow prior to his leprosy event is an argument that some have made. I think if you look at LFB and determine the year the leprosy struck him, you might be able to see if there is any correlation to TC leprosy and any event that occured in the land.

i myslef doubt that TC created the land. His affect on the land, due to his chosen status/white gold paradox is clear, however.

[CovenantJr]

Indeed, some have postulated that the onset of Covenant's leprosy coincides with the Ritual of Desecration. Personally, I don't buy it, for no better reason than it doesn't feel right.

[dlbpharmd]

Indeed, some have postulated that the onset of Covenant's leprosy coincides with the Ritual of Desecration. Personally, I don't buy it, for no better reason than it doesn't feel right.

I was one of the first here to bring that up, and I asked SRD about it in the GI. He basically said that it makes sense but he didn't think of it at the time.

Some time ago someone spent considerable time and effort working out the timeline from the moment that TC was diagnosed to his first summons to the Land - and the timeline really doesn't fit.

As to where TC's leprosy came from - I don't think it matters. There are rare cases of Hansen's disease in the US every year (just as there are cases of anthrax here every year.)

[Kil Tyme]

I don't see how TC is the catalyst that created the Land, since there is more in that world than "just" the Land: the land of the Elohim, the land of the Bhrathrair (town and Sandhold, etc) which we only see a fraction thereof, the Isle of the One Tree, the origional land of the Giants. And those are only parts of the world shown in 1 and 2 Chron.

Therefore, his leprosy, which we read first manifested while he was writing in his little hut on Haven Farm, and its source was natural and not put there by the creator or any other supernatural agent; just bad luck (bloody dirty hut). TC's Leprosy did not cause the Land, and accordingly, the whole alternate reality World, Alternate Universe, in essense, to be created.

What will we find out in Chron 3? That TC's leprosy created the Land. And if we do, I'll be pissed. Naw, I have more faith in SRD's creativity than to have that be what sprung the land into being. Frankly, I hope it's creation remains a mystery and is unrelated to any RL person or event. It simply is.

[High Lord Tolkien]

I think most people, like me, get the idea from the very beginning of Lord Foul's Bane.
I don't have the book right now but in the review of TC's life it describes the time where he marries Joan, writes his book and Roger is born as a beautiful time of creation and passion (which sounds like the time of the Land from Berek to Kevin).
So the parrallel is there I think despite what SRD, the habitual liar, says!

BUT it doesn't explain the Sunbane during a time when TC's leprosy was in remission.

*BUT* wasn't Joan also with him during that beginning time and wasn't her life also devastated by TC's leprosy and wasn't she crazy during the time of the Sunbane.

**BUT** that doesn't explain the condition of the Land while Joan was

Spoiler

totally INSANE at the beginning of the 3rd Chronicles except for the fact that Ceasures are destroying everything. That trumps the desecration AND the Sunbane even if you put them both together!

So the conditions of the Land might be a better reflection of Joan than of TC.
The whole thing could be Joan's dream!

***BUT*** the above conditions that match with Joan ALSO match with Roger's life.

So there.
I hope that clears things up for everyone.

[Wyldewode]

I can't speak to the discussion above, but I did want to point out that armadillos are capable having and carrying leprosy. It is not beyond the stretch of imagination that the bacterium could have been present in many places that TC was, including the "bloody dirty hut."

If you'd like to find out more about how Hansen's disease affects the body, go here: www.angelfire.com/ok/ErnestKS/hansensbacillus.html


~Lyr

[dlbpharmd]

It is not beyond the stretch of imagination that the bacterium could have been present in many places that TC was, including the "bloody dirty hut."

Agreed.