First let me state that i have read the first two chapters of fatal revenant, however, i have been able to restrain myself from any recent spoilers since the early copies of FR have become available. That being said, I have observed 2 interesting trends in Donaldson's writing which many of you may be familiar with.
The first is his tendency to mislead. His narrative style depicts not only the progression of the story in a disembodied perspective, but also from the perspective of the Primary View Point Character (or however SRD phrased that in the GI). This character perspective offers us great insight into the characters thoughts, feelings, soul? but at the same time it misleads. "How so?", you may ask. Often, the characters thoughts on a subject, whether it be another characters motive, an insight into the workings of the universe, whatever the case may be, these thoughts are often just that, thoughts! Opinions of the character, often educated guesses, that are worded in such a way that it gives them the sway of FACTS.
For the sake of time and my laziness in referencing other samples i will stick with the case i am building here and use my primary reference as my only example for the time being. Linden's Staff was created in the end of the second chronicles, at the time of it's forming, donaldson made sure to give detail to the physical representation of the staff as well as its nature. He stated that "the old staff had Runes, this staff did not require runes, blah blah blah" (Can't find my copy of WGW, so excuse the crude reference) Yet it im sure most of you are familiar with this. Now, here is where the plot thickens. In the GI SRD refers to the new staff's lack of runes is Important, and if you have read Danlo's Excerpt from a later chapter in FR from about six months ago,
[MOD EDIT: Spoiler used in Runes Forum for FR related comments]
Spoiler
you know that the being Theomach states that the staff is "Incomplete to me" or something like that. Being that SRD had conceived of his Second and Last chronicles at the same time, i will venture a guess that all of these things are not simply a coincidence, Yes? Those of you who are as obsessive as I am about these things have probably drawn similar conclusions about all of this with the excerpts from FR pretty much sealing the deal.
I have read ROTE 3 times and listened to the Audio version almost a dozen, going over and studying small things that i just couldn't get over for one reason or another. and in the middle of all of this, i stumbled onto something that i hadn't really thought of as significant before that point. HERE i must make mention of one thing, and that is that i have scoured the forums on KW and discovered no mention of what i am about to propose, so if i missed it and someone has already brought it into discussion then.... well shit.
How many of you remember Linden's trudge to the Verge of Wondering after her encountering the Ramen? Her trek through that regions left her with grass stains on her pants. Whoo hoo... big deal right? so why does donaldson keep referring back to these stains? and how many of you remember HOW those stains were described? for the sake of my proposition and the refreshment of memories, i am posting the quotes from ROTE, there were Five distinct references involving her molestation at the hands of the fertile grass at the VoW if my memory serves, yet there are two, possibly three which bare the strongest significance for my purposes.
"In addition, her
trudge across the vale had left a latticework of grass
stains on the legs of her jeans.
The Ramen were able to move without disturbing the lush,
tall grass. The stains which she had acquired in their
company might have been the map of her limitations, or an
augury of her fate."
and
"she could not remove
the grass stains from her pants. They had become part of
the fabric, indelible, and cryptic as runes."
Having listened to the audio book as many times as i have, know that there is a third quote describing the stains as "a script which she could not read or decipher" something like that.
my hypothesis is simply this.... the stains on her pants will be the means for her completing the staff, inscribing the pattern, latticework, or Runes of the Earth onto the new staff, and thus completing it. How will this happen? when? did it happen in FR? i have no clue.
There is one more thing i am amending to this post, and that is a comment on Donaldson's ambiguity or duality in his titles. As i'm sure you can see from above, I have found a new personal meaning for ROTE, as well as some others, but that will be addressed at another time, or perhaps not at all, if my guesses about the course of FR are at least somewhat correct. All i will say is "Find me"
