The Mahdoubt Poll

Book 1 of the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

Moderator: dlbpharmd

The Mahdoubt is...

Thomas Covenant
2
2%
Esmer's female relative
7
8%
one of the Dead (not Thomas Covenant)
4
5%
an Elohim
9
11%
an embodiment of an abstract principle
11
13%
a constructed being (not a Demondim)
12
14%
ordinary
7
8%
the Creator himself
1
1%
something else (please specify)
31
37%
 
Total votes: 84

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Anele
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Post by Anele »

She was a dusky, loamy woman, with hair like tangled brown grass, and an old face uneven and crude of outline, as if it had been inexpertly molded in clay. The hood of a tattered fallow-green cloak covered the crown of her head. And her eyes were the brown of soft mud, an unexpected and suggestive brown, as if the silt of some private devotion filled her orbs, effaced her pupils-as if the black, round nexus between her mind and the outside world were something that she had surrendered in exchange for the rare, rich loam of power. Yet there was no. confidence, no surety, in her gaze as she regarded him; the life which had formed her eyes was far behind her. Now she was old, timorous. Her voice rustled like the creaking of antique parchment
She sounds very earthy to me.
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Post by KAY1 »

She seems very familiar to one of the Unfettered.
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Post by KAY1 »

I meant similar to! I have just read back through this thread and realised other people have quoted the description of the healer from TPTP (which is who the Mahdoubt reminded me of). She also had a robe given to her by the people of The Land in thanks for her healing help.
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wayfriend
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Post by wayfriend »

Froggis0 wrote:Interestingly, however, was the origin of the word. From Dictionary.com, [Hindi mahāvat, mahāut, from Sanskrit mahāmātraḥ, one having great measure, mahout : mahā-, great; see meg- in Indo-European roots + mātram, measure (from mimīte, mā-, he measures; see mē-2 in Indo-European roots).], specifically the "one having great measure". I'm not sure if the Mahdoubt has anything to do with this, but the words just seem so similar to me.
So it could mean "one of great girth", right? Could Mahdoubt merely mean "fat lady"?

But seriously, if you combine that information with the fact that Donandson clearly stuck the word 'doubt' in there, it might point to someone who has great doubts, or even someone who has encompassed (and surpassed) great doubts.
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Post by Relayer »

So if the Mahdoubt starts to sing, it's all over? ;-)

Remember that he also is echoing the name "Shadout Mapes" from Dune, so "doubt" may or may not have relevance. Although it is SRD, who rarely places a letter by accident...
"History is a myth men have agreed upon." - Napoleon

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Post by wayfriend »

Relayer wrote:So if the Mahdoubt starts to sing, it's all over? ;-)
Of course. It's called the "final" chronicles for a reason.
Relayer wrote:Remember that he also is echoing the name "Shadout Mapes" from Dune, so "doubt" may or may not have relevance. Although it is SRD, who rarely places a letter by accident...
I think it's relevant, because it's spelled with a "b". It could just have easily not been.

As for Shadout, I am sure that Herbert was, in turn, inspired from middle-eastern cultures, and it could easily be that he was thinking, too, of mahout. Although he tended to borrow more from the Arab world than the Hindu world.
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Post by Relayer »

Well, now that I think of it, she does plant doubt in Linden's mind (a number of times ;) ) but especially right before the final scene when she says "Beware of Love..."
"History is a myth men have agreed upon." - Napoleon

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Anele
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Post by Anele »

I'm starting to think the Mahdoubt is more about when rather than who.
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Blackhawk
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Post by Blackhawk »

Maybe i shouldnt be here. are these answers coming from people who read fatal revenant or is this a Runes question? if its runes alone because i havent read FR then i will answer saying that the Mahdoubt seems to have something to do with the Healer in Morinmoss and Memla, all having this in common

Morinmoss healer - She was a dusky, loamy woman, with hair like tangled brown grass, and an old face uneven and crude of outline, as if it had been inexpertly molded in clay.

Memla - revealing the lined face and gray-raddled hair of a middle-aged woman. Something black was draped around her neck.
She triggered an obscure memory in Covenant. He felt he had seen someone like her before, but could not recollect where or when.


Mahdoubt - a short dowdy figure apparently well past middle age, with a crow's nest of hair askew on her head, plump flesh hanging from her arms, and features which might have been sculpted by an unruly child during a tantrum.

this also leads me to believe that she is possibly a prisoner as they are trying to make of Anele.

could there be a connection? and if so does the Mahdoubt have long to live?..it seems the first two had sacrificed themselves for TC or his purpose....then again i could just be clutching at straws SRD had not intended on setting.
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Post by dlbpharmd »

This is a Runes question only.
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deer of the dawn
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Post by deer of the dawn »

maybe one of Kevin's Wards of Lore or a guide to it.
I was thinking something along that line. She has that ageless quality, and that she "serves Revelstone"... it seems to fit. And she's too friendly to be an Elohim.
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drew
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Post by drew »

deer of the dawn wrote:
maybe one of Kevin's Wards of Lore or a guide to it.
I was thinking something along that line. She has that ageless quality, and that she "serves Revelstone"... it seems to fit. And she's too friendly to be an Elohim.
Kind of Amok-like huh?
I thought you were a ripe grape
a cabernet sauvignon
a bottle in the cellar
the kind you keep for a really long time
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Seeker of Truth
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Post by Seeker of Truth »

Mahdoubt = older version of Linden that came back in time through a ceasur...
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Post by Seeker of Truth »

or possibly one of the missing Wards of kevin??? (like Amok!!)
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