Perhaps Covenant wasn't the First White Gold Weilder?

[Sharguild]

Well, think on this, Kevin yearned for it, EVERyBODY in the land seems to recognize it on Covenant's hand when they see it but there is none to be found in the land. Hell, they've even got a poem memorized by half the population.
So was Thomas's calling perhaps the second go around?
Let's look at the Ritual of Desecration. Just how powerful could Foul have become that Kevin himself couldn't take him out, standing in Mount Thunder with the guy. Kevin created Amok, He should have been able to take Foul's lunch money and give him a permanent wedgie.
Drool summoned Covenant but Drool wouldn't know white gold if he had chunks of it in his cocoa puffs. Obviously Foul said "hey, Drool, nice stick but I got me an idea..."
Did Foul almost gain access to white gold and THAT's why Kev freaked out?
I think Donaldson owes us a prequel, heh.
note - I have NOT yet read the latest series, waiting for book 3 so if I'm touching on something close, circuit it please.

[rdhopeca]

I don't know about this theory so much....but I did immediately wonder...how DID wild magic get graven in every rock?

Spoiler

Perhaps by the destruction and rebirth of the world by someone wielding a white gold ring?

[theDespiser]

wasnt it actually in the books that somone had already wielded white gold?

[deer of the dawn]

I don't remember that. Maybe the Creator, in his life on this planet, was married. So white gold was actually involved in the Land's creation.

Poor guy, being immortal, maybe his wife died a long time ago, which is why he's so out of sorts, wandering around in an ochre robe carrying signs and begging for change.

[rdhopeca]

I recall people knowing about white gold, but no stories of anyone ever actually using it or seeing it before...

[wayfriend]

Whatever theory there is, it has to be one that is based solely on the First Chronicles, I surmise, since Donaldson did not have the Second in mind when he laid out the whole Creator/Foul/Kevin/Covenant/WhiteGold storyline.

The Creator used wild magic to create the Arch. So there's a basis; someone could concievably learn of wild magic, if not white gold, since it is part of the physics of the Earth.

However, I think the simplest solution is this: There have been seers and oracles in the Land. Thet could have seen Covenant and his white ring coming long before he came. Visions and premonitions.

I think that that song about white wild magic gold is a prophesy. Notice the future tense, as well as the ambiguity.

As for Foul obtaining the white gold during Kevin's time... doesn't that undermine the premise of the story?

[Ur Dead]

The Creator used wild magic to create the Arch. So there's a basis; someone could concievably learn of wild magic, if not white gold, since it is part of the physics

This is the crux of the question. What is known as the "Wild Magic" was the source of power to create the world. It's essence is embedded into everything. It's the binding force. To fully unleash it would destroy the world. But the question arises to where must a lifeforce be at to unleash it. There may be a limitation on how much can be release when a person is on the object of creation. In the case of these Chronicles, only enough is needed to break the Arch of Time, where the world would then collaspe upon itself. But to destroy it outright, may be beyond any character who is on the inside, where the Creator is on the outside and is powerful enough to shatter everything.

White gold is a substance that is not known upon that world. It is known that gold is around but very limited. So the ability to make "White Gold" may be impossible within the land itself. But the knowledge of "white gold" is known. It is the key to release the energy that is graven into every object upon that world. And there may lay the paradox.

[drew]

... Maybe the Creator, in his life on this planet, was married. So white gold was actually involved in the Land's creation.

Uhhh....Yeah....and his wife's name was Joan.

[deer of the dawn]

Uhhh....Yeah....and his wife's name was Joan.

I believe that in the GI, Donaldson stated emphatically that Covenant would not turn out to be the Creator. I was just kidding, really. Unless we learn more in the Last Chronicles, it's pure speculation.

[drew]

It depends on your reality of the Land if Cov is the Creator or not.

Which is why this is the best fantasy series of all time...because you don't every really KNOW do you!!

[Rocksister]

Thanks, Shar, for bringing up something I have wondered for years. There is a whole legend built up around white gold. Lena, the very first person to see Covenant in the Land, knows white gold as soon as she sees it. How can she know what it looks like? No one alive has ever seen it. White gold is not actually white, it has a silver color to it. White is the color of this background I'm typing on right now. So how did she know? How did she know it was gold and not some other metal? As we all know, legends, differently from myths, are based on partial fact. So where did the "facts" about white gold come from? There is gold in Brathair, but no one outside there had seen it. Very interesting and thought-provoking question, Sharguild. Maybe we will find out in 2010 or 2013.

[wayfriend]

How did Lena recognize white gold? Health sense. How did she know what it was? Her mother went to Revelstone and learned a lot of lore.

[SoulBiter]

How did Lena recognize white gold? Health sense. How did she know what it was? Her mother went to Revelstone and learned a lot of lore.

I dont think Lena did.... She saw his halfhand and thought he was Berek reborn.. she brought him to her mother who said something like.

Im paraphrasing here White gold? Perhaps I alone in all of mithil stonedown know the import of this

[AjK]

I wasn't going to reply based solely on my aging memory. Rather I was going to go home and check out the book first. However, I also thought that she recognized the legend rather than the white gold. I still would like to go back tonight and re-read that passage.

[Rawedge Rim]

>Mod edit--this post can be construed as a Final Chrons spoiler, please reference such "experiences" in the appropriate forum-d<

Spoiler

Or perhaps either Linden or Covenant will, in the course of their time travels, interact with someone in the past, who will in turn pass on the legends and lore concerning it to the decendants in the Land.

[Rocksister]

I thought health sense was the ability to discern whether something was ill or good, not to identify what something WAS. I also have not read LFB in a few weeks, so I don't specifically recall Lena reacting to the ring, so perhaps I jumped the gun there, relying on my fading memory.

Spoiler

I'm a little surprised RR's post about time travel didn't get marked as a spoiler. But that is a good theory; how else can they know, unless someone else really DID have white gold in the past? And could that person be TC himself? Hmmmm.......

It has been, some of us were busy and didn't catch until now-d

[Relayer]

I thought health sense was the ability to discern whether something was ill or good, not to identify what something WAS.

I think it's both; for example, the Lords or Elders can sense things like a Word of Warning. So someone could likely feel the latent power of a white gold ring. I think it was Atiaran, not Lena, who recognized it.

Spoiler

Another example would be that even Berek, who barely knew anything about power, can sense Linden's ring.

[Rocksister]

Yea, but does anyone remember that Covenant was the one who saw the Word of Warning (or was it a Forbidding?) on Wightwarren Bridge before anyone else did? "Hold it, there's something up there." No one else saw it. They were headed across and he said that. He hadn't been in the Land that long, but it was HIS vision that caught it, not the Lords'. I always wondered about that one myself. And I still think white gold was there before. All legends are formed from some kernel of truth. All will be revealed..........

[Rigel]

I also have not read LFB in a few weeks

For any other author, you would have to replace "weeks" above with "years"

[Rocksister]

Rigel, yes, you are correct. I read the Chronicles at LEAST once a year, no fooling. I never get tired of it, I hit upon new thoughts each time I read them, and SRD's genius is new and fresh each and every time. I really wish the rest of the Chrons were not three years apart. I'm sure SRD has little control over publication dates, but could he be writing something else in the meantime? Like several volumes about the Giants? Hear you, Donaldson?