Fatal Revenant Part 1 Chapter 9 -Along the Last Hills

[Cleburne]

OK guys and galls this is my attempt at a dissection I have kept it brief and simple and I left it open to further disscussion so I hope it hits the mark.

In chapter 9 we find ourselves northwest of Berek’s camp and three days ride also. Linden is suffering severely from the cold as well as their horses, with the proximity of TC and Jeremiah she could not use the Staff to warm herself or use it as it would harm TC and Jeremiah,but she taught to her self somehow TC had indured Bereck’s touch so why cant he endure the Staff .
TC and Jeremiah mounts were restive under them and made frail attempts to buck and Linden suspected that the horses sensed something in her companions which she could not.
Also they did not seem to suffer from cold or need to sleep but were quiet because Berek had sent Yellinin with them with extra mounts and food.
At the end of the third day Linden decided to send Yellinin back as time was running out and progress was slow, they had to ascend the Westron Mountains in order to avoid Garroting deep. She worried for Jeremiah and she came to the conclusion that she made most of her decisions when cold and she made up her mind she must trust Covenant.

Linden uses the stuff on Yellinin to heal her and convince her to go back to Berek’s camp. She seemed to be leaving behind her last ally as she rode away alone. When they remounted the fresh horses the instinctive repugnance of the beast disturbed Linden.

With the departure of Yellinin TC purpose became clear.

Jeremiah “How much longer do you think we have to do this?” “So far we are doing things his way. We aren’t attracting attention”.

Tc tells Linden not to worry about the Theomach that because of his trust for Linden and the fact that he is and will be busy teaching Berek thay will be able to do what they want to do without the Theomach noticing quiet soon.

They found a narrow ravine as shear as a barranca between two high ices draped shoulders of stones. “Shelter”.

Covenant tells Jeremiah“rocks a big pile put them right by the stream” “all this old granite. It will be damned near impossible for the Thomach to eavesdrop”.

Covenant uses his powers to heat the pile of stones and the heat radiates and fills the ravine, with them settled Linden asks questions

“I am curious what did you do to Inbull?”

Covenant’s attitudes then, like his misdirections and false hoods violated her memories of the man he had once been and she taught to herself it was not the Thomach who had objected to the idea of summoning the Ranyhyn, it was Covenant.

Covenant” personally I am going to be delighted when the bloody Thomach finally gets what he deserves”

Linden trying to be careful with what she says to TC she came to the most fundamental question.

Linden “ tell me if I have this right we are trying to find the blood of the earth you want to use the power of command to trap lord Foul and Kastenessen. Then I can use the same power to free Jeremiah and get back to where I belong.

She tells Jeremiah that with the Earthpower she will try to rescue him from Lord Foul and then he would be free to live his life because she cold not safe both of them.
In responce Jeremiah says

I want to stay here.With Covenant

Then tears burst from her eyes,her desire to put here arms around her son was so acute that it cut her heart.She clung to the Staff and recovered from her grief she asked of them.

What about Roger?

She knows he was killed in real life but knows he is here, Anele had told her. Seeking such havoc that the bones of mountains tremble to contemplate it.
Jeremiah responds that he thinks that Roger is of no treat.

When Covenant stops Foul,there won't be anything left for Roger to do.He's just a man.He doesn't have any powers.

She fears that he will get his hand on Joans ring and try to unleash wild magic but she keeps her toughts to her self. Covenant tells her to go to sleep as he plans to leave early the next morning and head towards Caerroil Wildwood domain.Linden askes him why does he want to go their as it will be dangerous and he replies.Covenant

There are times when its useful to be stuck between a rock and a hard place

[lurch]

Cleburne, Thank you very much. You've traced the ever downward spiral to despair that TC and Jerry have all along intended for Linden. Her sinking helplessness grows as choices are eliminated ending with,,,between a rock and a hard place..a classic metaphor for the diametrically opposed , black white,,right wrong,,perspective on Life. As a " rock and a hard place" Life is a choice of losing,,no winning,,and that is The Illusion.

This is a classic SRD chapter. It takes the reader to extra excruciating lengths of pain. After some uplifting, hopeful, reading in previous chapters, the author swings in contrast to even darker depths of despair. Again.. the intentions of TC and Jerry are made as tactile as looking at a rattle snake coiling up and shaking its tail. The author was successful with me in getting me to experience the queezy stomach churning revulsion of the seemingly sinking helplessness of Linden...As with The Thomas Covenant of the first two chronicles,,the extremity of the conflict is taken to a " feel' that is hopefully rare for the reader to experience, to know of, and at the same time,,for those who have never consciously experienced the despair of being,,between a serious rock and a serious hard place,,is allowed to get the feel of it, thru the authors characters.

To some. this kind of chapter slows the action down, almost a repeat of what is already known. But for me..what the author is doing to me, like being in a boxing bout and taking a left jab to the jaw,,this chapter is the quick punch to the stomach right afterwards...with full intention to get my knees to wobble and go down for the count. Now i understand why boxers don't eat before they enter the ring.

Of course they eat afterwards...and the meal that follows is delicious.

[Cleburne]

You've traced the ever downward spiral to despair that TC and Jerry have all along intended for Linden. Her sinking helplessness grows as choices are eliminated ending with,,,between a rock and a hard place..a classic metaphor for the diametrically opposed , black white,,right wrong,,perspective on Life. As a " rock and a hard place" Life is a choice of losing,,no winning,,and that is The Illusion.

This is a classic SRD chapter. It takes the reader to extra excruciating lengths of pain. .

Agree with you there Lurch as the chapter progresses her despair increases and her control over thing decreases. While she was in Bereks camp she was in control of her own actions by being able the heal the wounded,but in this chapter she is the wounded one and is unable to heal the deep pain within.
But now she has decided to trust Covenant because he is the one in control of the situation and only by conceding to his plans may she have a chance of saving Jeremiah from Lord Foul. Even though she has many unanswered questions she is and knows that she is walking blind.
As Linden says to Covenant.

'All right. You can stop me if I ask anything dangerous . But this is'nt hard only on you. It's tough on me too.You at least have a plan. I'm just lost.'

[Relayer]

This was a hard chapter to read, and even harder to listen to last night... as Lurch said, SRD is really getting us to feel her despair and frustration. And what I actually felt was just emptiness. It's obvious Covenant is lying, but to what end? I kept wondering if he knows Linden is trying to play along and make him think she believes him, or does he know? (and does it matter?).

[wayfriend]

Hello everyone!

Thanks for a great start-off, Cleburne. It's too bad about summer... if that's what's going on. I know I've been hard pressed for time, and so I apologize for tardiness.

This is a short, connecting chapter. But, as I always say, there're no unimportant chapters.

But now she has decided to trust Covenant because he is the one in control of the situation and only by conceding to his plans may she have a chance of saving Jeremiah from Lord Foul. Even though she has many unanswered questions she is and knows that she is walking blind.

I think its the first time in the Story where she's been left alone, with no one to trust around her, since Mithil Stonedown. And then, she had no expectations placed upon her, like she does now. She's gotta make serious, eath-shattering decisions all on her own at this point. Self-reliance is an issue in this chapter. And loneliness.

Where we are - I mean, when - there's more of practically everything. More trees, more Forestals, more griffins, quellvisks, and other monsters, more Cavewights, more powers.

Quellvisks!

If Donaldson truly doesn't create unnecessary material, then we will be meeting some quellvisks.

And they don't sound nice. They are lumped in with "griffins" and "other monsters".

Anyone want to guess? I'm guessing tenticles and beaks, like a giant squid. Maybe from the Sarangrave. Maybe related to the lurker.

"There are a lot of springs under that mountain," Jeremiah continued. "They come out together at the base of the cliff. Most of them are just water, but one of them is EarthBlood. It's only a trickle, but it's intense—When the Black River pours out into Garroting Deep, it's full of Earthpower. That's part of why the Deep is so deadly. Caerroil Wildwood draws some of his strength from the river."

That's very illuminating. You can draw power from the Earthblood, not just Command it. That could be handy.

We're learning a lot about Wildwood in these chapters.

"Personally, I'm going to be delighted when the bloody Theomach finally gets what he deserves."

That's the second time that Covenant hints that something bad will be in store for the Theomach.

"Because," he told her without hesitation, "there are times when it's useful to be stuck between a rock and a hard place."

Which is our tie in to the next chapter. How omenous!

- - - - - - - - -

This chapter was short, and didn't have much meat dissectionwise.

But this leaves us a chance to ponder the bigger question: what is really going on? What is all this really about?

What is Foul up to?

You know, somehow, someway, he's chuckling to himself that it's all unfolding as he planned. Right down to the quellvisks.

One clue that I find myself looking at over and over is choice. This adventure Linden is on encourages her to think about how she must give Jeremiah a choice. And how some of the alternatives involve losing Jeremiah forever.

Perhaps that's Foul's plan. Perhaps he wants to put Linden in a position in the future, where she has to choose between Jeremiah and saving the Land. Knowing that she would choose Jeremiah, such a strait effectively eliminates Linden from being able to thwart Lord Foul.

And we've all been arguing that very question since Runes. That Linden is dangerous because she would put her son before the Land. This makes her reckless.

Maybe that's Foul's plan. Maybe by kidnapping Jeremiah he's going to set Linden against the Land in the End, against Covenant. That would be dark... the final dark.

[Cleburne]

"Personally, I'm going to be delighted when the bloody Theomach finally gets what he deserves."

That's the second time that Covenant hints that something bad will be in store for the Theomach.

And we've all been arguing that very question since Runes. That Linden is dangerous because she would put her son before the Land. This makes her reckless.

Maybe that's Foul's plan. Maybe by kidnapping Jeremiah he's going to set Linden against the Land in the End, against Covenant. That would be dark... the final dark.

At this stage I had more time for the Theomach that for TC at least he offered her support while TC just offered doom and gloom. AS for Linden been reckless concerning Jeremiah I found that she has no other choices concerning his safety and is heading in the direction of making those reckless choices to save her beloved son.And even the Land will have to suffer the consequences of her choices for whom shall she put first her son or the Land And Jeremiah is putting his trust in TC more than Linden which is driving her mad and to despair,and when a person is in despair the results are usually ugly.

[Zarathustra]

I agree with Wayfriend and Lurch that there are no unimportant chapters. This one is deceptively simple. Almost uneventful. Certainly the least exiting chapter so far.

Yet, in terms of the characters, this is a big one. I love the slow progression of Linden's unease concerning Covenant (chapters 1-5) turning to outright doubt (6-7), and now finally to secret opposition. She has made up her mind not to trust Covenant, and is now trying to hide her turn. Donaldson handles this nine-chapter progression believably and reasonably. He gives Linden exactly the evidence she needs to come to such a decision, without being too overt about it. There was the jarring differences from the beginning, but those could be "explained away." We were all expecting Covenant to be a little different after his time in the Arch, anyway. But then came the realization that he was lying to her, which precipitated her outright doubt. Next came his actions in Berek's camp. " . . . repay some of this pain." His disdain for Berek, for Wildwood, for Garroting Deep, for . . . just about everyone and everything. This man is different.

However, that's not the biggest character change. This entire Chronicles is the story of Jeremiah and Linden. That's the central crisis. As others have pointed out, we finally know what Jeremiah wants to do. We are finally starting to glimpse what it will mean for her to "save" her son. The most important thing about this chapter is the choice she gives her son. And from his answer, we can see this is not going to end well. This chapter moves the central crisis of these two characters one step forward. Like I said, deceptively simple, but very important.

Concerning the Theomach,

"He's where he has to be. Where he's supposed to be. He would have gotten there anyway, but you made it easier for him. He should be grateful."

So Donaldson is reiterating that Linden wasn't necessary for the Theomach's relationship with Berek. It would have happened anyway. Time travel isn't necessary to explain key events of the Land's past.

I'm a little confused why she thinks she would be trapped in this time without Covenant. The Theomach obviously has some power over time. And she obviously has more power than Covenant and Jeremiah combined. Why does she come to the conclusion of being trapped without even considering the possibility that the Theomach could teach her how to return to her own time with the powers she has? And there's the Earthblood, if that wouldn't work.

This is just about the most pathetic image in this book:

"Jeremiah held him down while I kicked him a few times. I wanted to break some of his ribs. But he's too tough. I just bruised him a bit."

PATHETIC! No one who has saved the world twice would kick a man while he was being held down. That's pure playground bullying. It's so simple, and so antithetical to how Covenant should actually behave, I really have a hard time accepting it as part of the Chronicles. Sure, it's a great clue. But, oh my God! It's unlike any act of violence we've seen in 8 books of this Land. It's simultaneously ineffectual and petty. It's so small. Both in its intent and its effect. I can't decide if it's pure genius or should have been left out completely.

An important question--Linden asks Covenant:

". . . why you wanted to reach the EarthBlood when Damelon first discovers it?"

The reasoning behind this entire detour is still an issue. Donaldson still feels like he needs to explain it--or alternately make the incongruity explicit. It still doesn't make sense that Covenant would have risked meeting Damelon, putting two Staffs that close together, when he could have just gone there a little bit before Damelon. Covenant's answer doesn't satisfy Linden, or me. He says that going back this far--500 years ealier--was inherently more dangerous because it's further back from their "proper" time. But it's only a 5% difference. Linden is correct to note that this shouldn't make much difference. But she fails to point out that Covenant's reasoning could be undermined simply by suggesting that they could have approached the EarthBlood a day or a week before Damelon.

Now we get to the choice Linden offers Jeremiah. While I said it was the most important thing about this chapter, it's also the most puzzling. She assumes that she can't save herself and Jeremiah with one Command. But why can't Jeremiah save himself? Why does he need her to do it for him? Why does she only consider the possibility that she and Covenant will drink, but not Jeremiah? Three people, three Commands. Simple. She doesn't have to ask him what he wants--he can Command anything he wants.

But taking her assumptions at face value, she thinks that the EarthBlood can alter the rules that force Jeremiah out of the Land once Joan dies. Of course, this rests on the assumption that Joan will die once Foul stops keeping her alive, which rests on the assumption that Covenant is going to actually do what he said he'll do. That's a lot of assumptions. She already knows he's lying to her. Why believe that he still wants to trap Foul? Why doesn't her doubt cause her to doubt this assumption? Also, why assume Joan will die at that time? And why assume the EB can alter the rules governing translation between the two worlds?

She says,

"I might be able to protect your mind. Keep it the way it is now," although she could not be confident that any Command of Earthpower would survive the translation between realities.

So if she doubts that Commands can be sustained between realities, why assume it can alter the rules governing that translation itself?

That's a LOT of "ifs" that don't even seem to bother Linden.

However, none of this alters the magnitude of Jeremiah's answer. The fact that he'd rather stay with Covenant and completely ignore the sacrifices she has made/is making to save him, shows without a doubt that he does not love her. Worse, he doesn't even like her. Or feel any gratitude. Or any sympathy. This kid is almost not worth saving. In terms of developing Linden's character, this moment is devastating. It fundamentally alters the entire plot of these books, the entire motivation for Linden's Quest. The thing she wants the most--saving her son--now seems absurd and pointless. And yet she still wants to save him. How could she not? She's his mother. Mothers of serial killers still cry when their sons are sentenced to death. They still care, so why not Linden? The tragedy of her love is both heroic and heartbreaking.

The only thing that mars this beautiful moment of writing is the cost to Jeremiah's character. I hate this little shit. I don't even want Linden to save him at this point. So there is a little bit of "reader disengagement," at least for me. The main goal of this series now seems empty.

[lurch]

..malik..so you are brought to the same place as Linden is..? I ask this somewhat rhetorical question because from Runes on..it seems to me that there is a metaphoric " bond' , established by the author ,on purpose,,between the character Linden and the reader. He thematically treats Us as Linden. We, to a large degree, are Linden., from the author's perspective.We are dealing with the same mystery, as she is. So, i am back to a early question,,concerning Lord Foul...Lord Foul as the Author?

" the cost to Jeremiah's character"..hhmmm..what character? He's been " autistic" ever since Linden took him on..Granted, in the next chapter or two..this issue is given depth not quite explored yet, but up to now,,I agree, every utterance from this Jeremiah has been aimed at hurting Linden...driving her to despair. It is a heart break that every divorced mother or father knows of,, when picking up their off spring after their weekend with the other parent,,and the child goes on to tell about all the cool things they did. Yea, both heroic and heartbreaking,,,and this central conflict is The conflict that Linden has to rise above. Again, the next couple of chapters seem to bring this central issue to the forefront. Her and our " emptiness" is but an Illusion...masterfully created.

[Zarathustra]

" the cost to Jeremiah's character"..hhmmm..what character? He's been " autistic" ever since Linden took him on..

The cost is his sympathetic potential. Even as an autistic child--barely there--we could still feel sorry for him and want him to be rescued. But there is very little reason for readers to feel any sympathy for him at this point. In fact, we're given explicit reasons not to like him. So, to answer your rhetorical question, no, I'm not at the same point as Linden. She still wants to rescue him, but I don't care. So killing the reader sympathy for this little brat also undermines our need to see Linden succeed. I'm still synpathetic for her, but in the same way I'd feel sorry for a woman stuck in an abusive marriage. I certainly wouldn't cheer on her desire to rescue her abuser, even if I could see the abstract nobility of such selflessness.

It's Angus all over again--rescuing people who don't deserve it. However, even though Angus's abuse of Morn was orders of magnitude worse than Jeremiah's emotional rejection of his mom, Donaldson was still able to sell that because at least Angus seemed to care for Morn, on some level.

Now I know there's a chance to redeem all this, based on what's actually happening to Jeremiah. I'm just trying to pretend like I don't know what's coming.

[lurch]

Cool..I was beginning to wonder if you had actually read FR before now..Then I guessed at what you were doing,,and threw in the line.".masterfully created."

Yea,,Jeremiah being rescued...the central conflict. Sympathy towards that end is being weighed on the scales of Linden's and ours, sense of Justice. Quite the paradox... just remember it is based on the same " Or" that the Ravers sold to the Vile.