Interview with a Leper

[Vain]

OK. So you're a reporter for your local sci-fi magazine and SRD is entering your sleepy hollow to address the local Varsity (For want of a better setting )

You've been selected to interview SRD - you may ask 10 questions.

Which 10 questions would YOU ask?.

[caamora]

I would want to know who he modeled TC after?

I know I have nine more questions but, on the spur of the moment, that is what I would want to know.

[Lord Mhoram]

Heres one of many, caamora mentioned one already...
Is the Land allegory?

[Guest]

Why in the heck does High Lord Elena want to have sex with her own father?
Why is Lena's rape necessary?
Why does TC's wife leave him right when he needs her the most (ie. is she just really really scared of the disease, or are there other problems/things going on)?
Why doesn't a dominatrix from the Land teach TC better manners (ie talk respectfully to the Lords, stop whining, and stuff like that)?

[Vain]

I had to look that up

Allegory
(n.) A figurative sentence or discourse, in which the principal subject is described by another subject resembling it in its properties and circumstances. The real subject is thus kept out of view, and we are left to collect the intentions of the writer or speaker by the resemblance of the secondary to the primary subject.

I'd be wanting to ask:

1. Why Reed Stephens?
2. Is he moving more into a Sci-Fi style?
3. Why is he so elusive?

That's not 10 either but I'm working on it

[JD]

The rape episode is used for various reasons, the fact that Covenant is healed and virile, the birth of Elena, the inner struggle that Covenant is going thru ie "Is the land real?" "Nerves don't regenerate!" and other things, to establish the fact that he can be an unbearable bastard at times, and its adds to thte total experience of the hell that Covenant has to edure in order for him to reach the conclusion of this great story.


JD

[Hile Troy]

The rape episode is used for various reasons, the fact that Covenant is healed and virile, the birth of Elena, the inner struggle that Covenant is going thru ie "Is the land real?" "Nerves don't regenerate!" and other things, to establish the fact that he can be an unbearable bastard at times, and its adds to thte total experience of the hell that Covenant has to edure in order for him to reach the conclusion of this great story.


JD

Excellent answer JD! Plus, I feel it makes Covenant far more real and complex that your average fantasy hero types/fodder. Not a stereotypical antagonist for sure and that is where some of SRD's great genius lies including his anthologies/scifi.

Back to the topic at hand! I would ask, what small details can you share with us concerning the third chronicles?

[aliantha]

I would ask him about some of the things we've discussed here on the boards.

1. Why didn't Joan try to find out more about leprosy instead of just leaving poor Tom?
2. Why the heck didn't Tom try to find Joan after she left?
3. Why does Tom have to rape Lena? Other than the obvious plot contrivance -- TC's got to become Elena's father somehow -- what was the reason for picking such a heinous crime?
4. What was the point of taking everybody on a cruise in TOT? I like the Giants as much as the next person, but the sea voyage seemed sort of out of place.
5. On the one hand, we have the Land, where the Lords battle Despite. But then we find out in TOT that there's this whole other part of the planet that's apparently never heard of Lord Foul. Why doesn't Foul try to take over the whole planet?
6. Where does Foul go after TC defeats him?
7. Why is Hile Troy such a berk?
8. What's the comparative time difference between the Land and our world?
9. You've said that the 3d Chrons will be about "acceptance". Elaborate. A lot.
10. When, oh when, please the Creator, will we get to read the 3d Chrons?

That's not a bad start....

[Guest]

why don't we ask him here for an on line chat and then ask him all of these things??

[Sivit na-Morham]

My first question would be "How do you pronounce Ranyhyn?"

[Landwaster]

My first question would be "How do you pronounce Ranyhyn?"

Not to mention Befylam.

[Michael Giantfriend]

My first question would be "How do you pronounce Ranyhyn?"

Ra-knee-hin (emphasis on the Ran)

Not to mention Befylam.

beh-Fill-am / beh-Feel-am (emphasis on the Fill/Feel, Beh pronounced like the "be" in "bed"))

At least, that's my theory...

[Landwaster]

My first question would be "How do you pronounce Ranyhyn?"

Ra-knee-hin (emphasis on the Ran)

Not to mention Befylam.

beh-Fill-am / beh-Feel-am (emphasis on the Fill/Feel, Beh pronounced like the "be" in "bed"))

At least, that's my theory...

Agreed in both cases!

[Sevothtarte]

5. On the one hand, we have the Land, where the Lords battle Despite. But then we find out in TOT that there's this whole other part of the planet that's apparently never heard of Lord Foul. Why doesn't Foul try to take over the whole planet?

Foul isn't interested in trivial things like world domination. He wants to break out, not rule. The Land is where all aspects of the world are focused, it's the heart of it all. So he has to strike there. Defeating the Giants or destroying Brathairealm wouldn't help him one bit to his goal. He might get rid of some 'potential for goodness' which might oppose him one time, but he would also lose things and beings which might help his purpose (sweethearts like Kasreyn).

[Landwaster]

And, while he's preparing to break the AoT ... it seems he concentrated around his own locality. There's a convenience factor, there. Of course he would have loved to have seen his malignances spread, and witness despair of other peoples, but I suppose that was more of a diversion for him.

The Sunbane was the only thing that was mentioned as likely to spread and consume the whole world.

But it seems that there is a core of power in the Land, and its that power that Foul wished to harness, in order to break the AoT. The Earthpower was being tapped by average Joes in the Land, and therefore they were ripe for the picking.

Does that sound feasible?

[Sevothtarte]

An afterthought: Foul's ultimate goal is to break free, for this he needs White Gold. The White Gold Wielder can only be summoned by use of the Staff of Law or at least someone who knows how to use Earthpower. From TOT it seems no one outside the Land does this or even knows about Earthpower - when the Giants talk about Cable's Earth-sight they seem to mean something slightly different, and anyway, it's only perception, not usage.
So Foul has to force inhabitants of the Land to summon Covenant, and in order to provoke/break him, he needs to harm what Covenant knows and loves - so there's no use in killing the Elohim or something else outside the Land.

Another, not that serious afterthought: Maybe Foul had a kind of unspoken agreement with the Lords - he wouldn't have the Ravers simply posess Sandgorgons in wartime and they didn't try to find the Giants to help them.

[Landwaster]

Yep, though the Elohim were supposed to be Earthpower, and perhaps the sandgorgons were, in effect, some expression or empowerment of it, the actual wielders of the Earthpower were only found in the Land. The Earth-sight seemed to notice Earthpower (and something untoward happening to it), rather than be a tool of it.