The End of Fatal Revenant: regarding Covenant

[Aleksandr]

Mod edit: sorry, changed the title of this thread. "Covenant's Resurrection" is a spoiler

Here's something to chew on: what's TC going to be like now that he's back. Same old TC? Unaffected by 3600 years as the Arch of Time avatar? Will he even rememnber that period, or maybe he just picks up where he left off when Foul killed him?

Also, TC's resurrection is fundamentally different from Hollian's, though both (presumably) were enabled by the breaking of the Law of Life. Hollian came back when a Forestal died, perhaps because the death of such a powerful being opened the barrier between Life and Death enough for Sunder to bring her back (and be transformed with her). Note that Hollian was suffused with Earthpower (and Anele still is of course). And Hollian could not leave Andelain, at least not while the Sunbane lasted (though Anele obviously can so maybe that stricture ended with the Sunbane?) Nor did Hollian's resurrection threaten to wake any Worms.

There's no trace of Earthpower glowing around Convenant. We're told that Linden "burned him to life", in fact it's compared to Lord Ford burning him to death which makes me wonder if Linden did some sort of time reversal on Covenant's spirit (and if she did-- what a law breaking that would be!) And another point: remember Elena summoning dead Kevin because she could not bear the burdens of the Land? Linden has been compared to Elena since the 2nd Chronicles, has she just performed a variation on Elena's profound error?
Just some thoughts for discussion.

[Ur Dead]

I asked basicly that same question in another thread.
Or in another that he may have full use of time travel. A Time Lore.

[[Syl]]

My first impression wasn't so much that Covenant was resurrected as he was kind of 'popped out' of the Arch of Time (of course, this might be due in part that I was thinking she might've been planning to pop out the jewel in the krill to fuse with the ring).

Kind of obvious from an outside point (in the sense that an author of SRD's caliber wouldn't do something just because it's cool), but I think this is necessary, and not just to stop it from being the Chronicles of Linden Avery. Foul wants to break the Arch. His plans all lead to breaking the Arch. Everyone's telling Linden not to break the Arch. But the first time around, Covenant surrenders to Foul, laughing him to death. The second time, he surrenders the ring, letting him beat himself to death. This time... I gotta think the Arch is going to be broken (Kevin's Watch being foreshadowing of this). Foul gets out, and presumably gets defeated. But someone's still going to be needed on the inside to make sure breaking the Arch doesn't get really bad. I'm thinking along the lines of Covenant beating Foul, and Linden making sure everything gets put together right. No Foul, no harm, and the world serving its purpose as mentioned in one part of the book.

[Edelaith]

We saw the effect of the breaking of the Law of Death. Satansheart could rip the dead up out of the ground and throw them at Revelwood and Revelstone.
We see the effect of the breaking of the Law of Life. Covenant could return and place himself between Foul and the Arch. The Dead in Andelain can forbid entrance, or evict anyone (even Elohim) they wish from the Hills.

Now enter Linden. Using Law (the Staff) and additional support from Wild Magic, and using the Krill to direct all this power for a specific purpose, she has resurrected Thomas Covenant.
It was obviously *not* within the Law, resurrection. Linden has violated the Law of Life far more than Caer-Caveral did, and the Law of Life was weakened badly by his actions. Now, I'm guessing it's safe to say the Law of Life is pretty well collapsed.

Does this mean that resurrection is now going to be easy, and anyone with a degree of power can do it?

Before you laugh, remember that if Linden wanted someone back for her purposes, there are others in the world who will want people back for their purposes, or just simply because they cherished them in life.
Examples include the Giants of the Grieve, the Lords, Caer-Caveral, Sunder, Hollian, and just about anyone else who is dead that someone thinks should be alive.
Given how powerful the Insequent and Elohim are, and the Croyel, and insane Kastenessen (not to mention Roger and Company, much less Lord Foul himself), why not start with the resurrections?

Even if Covenant and Linden somehow bottle up the Worm, I fear Pandora's Box is open.

I mean, what would *you* do, if you had a lot of power, and it was suddenly easy to resurrect things because Linden totally wrecked the Law of Life?

[Gravin Threndor]

Just a thought - but maybe there will not be terrible manifestations of the breaking of the law of death. After all, white gold is outside the law - and since only 2 folks have access to it, and one is patently insane, maybe the law of death will not be that badly damaged, and no one else will have power sufficient to duplicate LA's actions.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

As a being of pure Wild Magic, TC will be more dangerous alive then ever before.

[burgs]

But if he is corporeal, can he be a *pure* being of Wild Magic? When Foul blasted him into the Arch of Time, he was most certainly *pure*.

I'm not so sure about now.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

But if he is corporeal, can he be a *pure* being of Wild Magic? When Foul blasted him into the Arch of Time, he was most certainly *pure*.

I'm not so sure about now.

There are certain things to be taken literally versus figuratively. When Linden traveled back in time she became the AoT in the figurative sense. Covenant was blasted into the AoT and became a being of pure wild magic in the literal sense. The resurrected TC is a being of pure wild magic in the figurative sense, but no less powerful, and his role has reversed: instead of being the Arch's Guardian, he is now its worst nightmare.

[burgs]

When Linden traveled back in time she became the AoT in the figurative sense.

[native]

Now enter Linden. Using Law (the Staff) and additional support from Wild Magic, and using the Krill to direct all this power for a specific purpose, she has resurrected Thomas Covenant.
It was obviously *not* within the Law, resurrection. Linden has violated the Law of Life far more than Caer-Caveral did, and the Law of Life was weakened badly by his actions. Now, I'm guessing it's safe to say the Law of Life is pretty well collapsed.

Didn't Hollian get resurrected?

[thewormoftheworld'send]

When Linden traveled back in time she became the AoT in the figurative sense.

Sorry, but I'm not willing to research this in FR. But the quote (Theomach's?) read something like "you are the Arch of Time now." I certainly don't take that literally. Would you?

[dlbpharmd]

When Linden traveled back in time she became the AoT in the figurative sense.

Sorry, but I'm not willing to research this in FR. But the quote (Theomach's?) read something like "you are the Arch of Time now." I certainly don't take that literally. Would you?

I don't remember this.

[Zarathustra]

Yeah, the Theomach said something about her knowledge being the Arch, while she was in the past. It was give as the reason why she couldn't be told key information. Yet another reason. Donaldson is very good at inventing reasons why Linden must be kept ignorant--which is one of my complaints about this book. The reasons aren't very convincing.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

Yeah, the Theomach said something about her knowledge being the Arch, while she was in the past. It was give as the reason why she couldn't be told key information. Yet another reason. Donaldson is very good at inventing reasons why Linden must be kept ignorant--which is one of my complaints about this book. The reasons aren't very convincing.

On page 125, the Theomach said to "Covenant," "In this circumstance, her mind cannot be distinguished from the Arch of Time." (Then there was something about how giving Linden certain knowledge would create a paradox.)

If Linden's mind cannot be "distinguished" from the Arch, then they are identical, metaphorically speaking.

[StarRider]

This is assuming this isn't another misdirection and Covenant isn't really back from the dead. We could just as easily find out he refuses the summoning or somehowe reverses it. Hellfire, Donaldson could make it happen in a number of ways.

It's something to think about.

[wayfriend]

If Covenant was not really restored to mortal life, that would mean that Caerroil Wildwood's runes didn't function as they were supposed to.

No, I think it really is Covenant this time.

As for Linden being the Arch, I'm afraid I didn't really understand it. I was left assuming that it was something like, Linden represents the Arch in that they could destroy the Arch by telling her the wrong things. How they treated her translates directly into how they treat the Arch.

But we don't really know everything implied by "In this circumstance". The Theomach can see the future - he may be taking into account things we as readers don't know about yet.

[Scott]

Hi, first time posting.

IIRC Linden was able to resurrect TC BECAUSE the laws of life and death were already broken.

[wayfriend]

Hi, first time posting.

IIRC Linden was able to resurrect TC BECAUSE the laws of life and death were already broken.

Not necessarilly. Consider Caer Caveral: he resurrected Hollian (and Anele) when the Law of Life was not broken; the result was its breaking, yes. But it wasn't a precondition.

So there's nothing to say that Linden's feat, which seemed to me to use immeasurably more power than Caer Caveral's, would not have been able to resurrect Covenant even had the laws been in tact. It probably would have broken those laws, but it could be done nonetheless.

[I'm Murrin]

Did anyone else get the impression, when Linden saw that the Runes on her Staff spoke of the Laws of Life and Death, that she was supposed to use it to repair them? Caerroil Wildwood seemed to see a specific purpose to her Staff when he examined it.

[callback]

Frankly, I think Linden just popped TC out of the Arch of Time and his "Time Warden" status when she resurrected him.

Nothing is protecting the Arch of Time now....

Oops!