Should Linden Avery be Forgiven?

Post by **Condign** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 5:51 am

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Revered elders of THOOLAH, I know I ask much. But deign to listen to one sentence which may redeem Linden Avery in our eyes.

Linden Avery brought back Thomas Covenant.

Can we abandon hope for The Chosen when her final act to date is to bring back the one true hope of The Land? Is she also not worthy of forgiveness? I think not. By this one choice, she has sent herself on a telic path to condign redemption? Let the Arch of Time crack, let Earthpower be devoured by skurj, let the Land wane - what a small price to pay for the return of Covenant, t-shirt, jeans, boots and all!

Post by **High Lord Tolkien** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:34 am

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Post by **Usivius** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:34 pm

Ahhh, I am going to utterly enjoy the fall of THOOLAH once the series is finished, for truly Linden, for all her human qualities/faults will show to be the hero she sees in TC.

Post by **ParanoiA** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 2:18 pm

I love Linden. She's better than Covenant. I wish SRD would just kill him off and get it over with. Should have been called the First Chronicles of Linden Avery, The Chosen. She gets it done the First time, instead of Covenant spending 6 books just to "slow him down"....what a loser.

Of course, I'm kidding. The whole THOOLAH thing is too hilarious.

Post by **Ur Dead** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 2:27 pm

I just like razzing THOOLAH..

(Lord Foul's advocate and all

)

Post by **wayfriend** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 2:32 pm

Condign wrote:Linden Avery brought back Thomas Covenant.

Join the Army. We shall teach you Defense Against the Dorks' Attacks, and we will vanquish They Who Shall Not Be Named, Only Acronymed.

Post by **Cleburne** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 2:46 pm

i think Linden is great having so much dission making to do with not much assistants and being brave enough to do what she did and she is bound to upset someone whatever she does .long live Linden Avery

Post by **A Gunslinger** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 2:58 pm

Forgiven? She should be lauded and praised for her theuragy! Linden is cool...cool says I!!!

Post by **Charles Timewaster** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:44 pm

Are we sure that she brought back Covenant? Here's my prediction for what happens next:

Covenant doesn't take much of an interest in defending the Land. Linden is confused: The Thomas Covenant she loved did have a shambling, robotic walk. But he was compassionate and self-sacrificing, and didn't go around killing people and eating their brains while saying, "Braiiiins, braiiiins." Unsure of what to do, she passively follows Covenant around for the first 300 pages of the book.

Near the end of the first half, Esmer shows up and tells Linden that she resurrected Covenant's body, but not his soul. Her traveling companion is in fact a mindless zombie who must be destroyed. In order to balance out the help he's given Linden, Esmer then releases the Ravers' three eviler sisters from their prison on the Mountain of the Illwood Tree.

Linden uses the Staff of Law to summon Sheriff Lytton, who defeats zombie-Covenant by blowing his head off with a shotgun.

Post by **High Lord Tolkien** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:57 pm

That plan is just so crazy....IT MIGHT WORK!

Post by **Skurj Scourge** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:03 pm

High Lord Tolkien wrote:Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

That's just cold

Post by **DukkhaWaynhim** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:11 pm

I think this thread's premise is faulty... what if she has done nothing in the Last Chronicles for which she needs to apologize - and wouldn't THOOLAH argue that she hasn't yet done anything (shades of the 'Queen of Inaction')?

Accept the love of Linden Avery that your heart craves. Set aside your THOOLAH discontent. Don't you feel better already?

dw

Post by **High Lord Tolkien** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:21 pm

DukkhaWaynhim wrote:I think this thread's premise is faulty... what if she has done nothing in the Last Chronicles for which she needs to apologize - and wouldn't THOOLAH argue that she hasn't yet done anything (shades of the 'Queen of Inaction')?

What has she done?
Other than sucking the life and fun out of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant?

Come on people, admit it.
You like this series in spite of her not because of her.
It's all the surrounding characters that you find intriguing.
Linden is like a boring literary sorbet to cleanse the pallet so as to let us appreciate all the other people around her more.

THOOLAH!!

(It's going to be a **long** time before the next book!

)

Post by **emotional leper** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:47 am

ParanoiA wrote:I love Linden. She's better than Covenant. I wish SRD would just kill him off and get it over with. Should have been called the First Chronicles of Linden Avery, The Chosen. She gets it done the First time, instead of Covenant spending 6 books just to "slow him down"....what a loser.

Of course, I'm kidding. The whole THOOLAH thing is too hilarious.

Hey, hey, hey!

This is the SECOND CHRONICLES of LINDEN AVERY.

Get it right.

Post by **ParanoiA** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:37 am

Emotional Leper wrote: Hey, hey, hey!

This is the SECOND CHRONICLES of LINDEN AVERY.

Get it right.

Oh, well I guess I was thinking since Covenant was in charge and all...

High Lord Tolkien wrote:What has she done?
Other than sucking the life and fun out of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant?

Come on people, admit it.
You like this series in spite of her not because of her.
It's all the surrounding characters that you find intriguing.
Linden is like a boring literary sorbet to cleanse the pallet so as to let us appreciate all the other people around her more.

That could be right, I'm not sure that doesn't fit quite nicely, but I do like having her in the story. Covenant needs a chick. Come on. Joan dumped him and Lena didn't exactly work out, and Linden is actually more his age and digs him even though he's half-handed. I guess she doesn't need as many fingers as Joan did...

Post by **MsMary** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 7:32 pm

I have to admit that The Last Chronicles is not making me any more of a Linden lover than I was before.

Sorry, Linden-lovers.

Post by **SleeplessOne** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 8:14 am

I still find it hard to be as engaged by Linden as I was when TC was the main POV character; a part of the problem/difference is that TC was as strange to the people of the Land as they were to him -
his very illness was alien to the people of the Land, as was his refusal to allow them to heal him; then of course there were the gruesome, foreign stories he imparted to Foamfollower and also to the Lords at the Rock Gardens of Maerl; his stance of Unbelief had the people baffled too - he was 'closed' to them ...
Linden's character doesn't provide for that kind of clash of cultures and ideals; the people largely accept her as a puissant figure unquesitioningly, and they can relate to her plight, she's almost condign in the Land, not the stranger in a strange land that TC was .. and that makes for a less interesting protagonist imo ..

Post by **storm** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 2:36 pm

For me its like this...in the first two chronicles, i wished to see what TC would do, seeing him grow and change and interact was some of the most brilliant writing i've read, it was done masterfully. With the last chronicles, i see a lot of LA whining, i really have lost interest in what she will do...the ranyhyn love her, she's gotten the Ramen to actually like a haruchai, she learned the 7 words, all the while all she can muster is "must...save...jerry...".

The last chronicles have become more about seeing what the inhabitants of the land will do to save it, how will Anele be the hope of the land, what will Stave's freedom from the constraints of the sleepless ones bring, etc. LA has been a vast disappointment, hopefully the last two books will make her character more interesting.

Post by **Stutty** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:30 pm

storm wrote:For me its like this...in the first two chronicles, i wished to see what TC would do, seeing him grow and change and interact was some of the most brilliant writing i've read, it was done masterfully. With the last chronicles, i see a lot of LA whining, i really have lost interest in what she will do...the ranyhyn love her, she's gotten the Ramen to actually like a haruchai, she learned the 7 words, all the while all she can muster is "must...save...jerry...".

I see this complaint a lot, and it's completely beyond my comprehension. "must...save...jerry..." is exactly what a parent would/should be obsessing on (unless of course the child's name is Bethany.)

My only hypothesis is that those who loathe this particular Linden litany are either childless (not like me), or had crappy parents (like me

)

My empathy with Linden on her need to save her child is no doubt one of the things that led me to leave the ranks of THOOLAH.

That said, she's still no TC.

stutt

Post by **The Humbled** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 6:48 pm

I'm glad this child isn't a "Bethany"!
(No offense to anyone whose kid is called that, but I'm not up for a four volume epic about rescuing Bethany.)

As for TC's POV, it was the frustrating way he interacted with the Land that made the writing so strong in the First Chronicles for me. When we leave his POV and enter Hile Troy for a time, I was jarred at first but still enjoyed Hile Troy's torment and also his reaction to Covenant- he was shocked and appalled at how graceless and ungrateful TC was being when the people of the Land were so good to him. He was even jealous of TC's power and (reluctant) status!

Things seem to be going more easily for Linden, but I think it's setting us up for a ride- unless SRD has changed utterly!

I believe Linden is on her way to becoming a much more conflicted character, and perhaps it will be after we leave her POV that the best will come. IMO things can get much more interesting motivation and behavior-wise once we are no longer privy to her thoughts...

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch