Covenant should be travelling through a dreamworld, the paradise of the Land whose evaniscent life and health should be making every moment a thing of wonder. But his refusal to believe in the Land, his efforts to keep himself sane, to maintain the grip and discipline he needs to survive his leprosy in the "real" world, makes every moment for him a trial, a struggle full of people and acts that threaten his grip on reality, that challenge his sanity. Throughout his time in the Land, he feels he has lost control on his life, that he is following the course of this "dream".Covenant slept fitfully, as if he lay with the point of a spike against his stomach; and when the dawn came he felt as ineffectual as if he had spent the night trying to counterpunch hunger.
Covenant teeters on the brink of madness more here than in any other chapter so far. The walls of his unbelief are collapsing around him, his denial over his rape of Lena crumbles, and he realises what it was he did - no longer can he pass off responsibility, even in his "dream"....After a time, he dozed into a dream where he danced and wept and made love at the commands of a satirical pupeteer...
...Hell and blood. What are you doing to me. He had made no decision and now his capacity for self denial seemed spent.
The Ranyhyn. Throughout this chapter, we have seen how the Ramen culture is as attuned to the service of the Ranyhyn as the Gravelingas are to the power within stone, or the Lilianrill to the power within wood. The quest is greeted in Manhome with boquets of amanibhavam, the healing grass that is too potent for mere human stomachs; the Ramen songs evoke equine sounds, their dances create horse-like shadows, and even their scent is "grassy". And Covenant tells them to call the Ranyhyn. This, IMHO, is one of the crux moments upon which the rest of the Chronicles rotates."Forgive?" Covenant tried to shout. His legs failed under him, but he did not fall. Bannor held him erect from behind. "You can't forgive."
"Do you ask to be punished?" Mhoram said incredulously. "What have you done?"
"Ask?" Covenant struggled to recollect something. Then he found it. He knew what he had to do. "No. Call the Ranyhyn."
Spoiler
Compared to 19, chapter 20 is somewhat bereft of pivotal moments, but that is only comparatively. The Ramen join the quest for the Staff of Law, after seeing the Ranyhyn rear to Covenant. But Covenant is not yet done trying to straighten out the tangled web of his effects on the Land. He asks the Ramen to give a home to Llaura and Pietten, which the Ramen gladly accept.
Spoiler
But I'll leave the last word to Foamfollower. Asked by Covenant how he can hope, how he has faith, Foamfollower looks over at Mhoram and replies:
"Come - can you believe that Lord Mhoram will ever despair? That is the essence of the Oath of Peace. He will never despair, nor ever do what despair commands - murder, desecrate, destroy. And he will never falter, because his Lordship, his service to the Land, will sustain him. Service enables service."