Worm at the End of the World

[shadowbinding shoe]

I don't recall the Creator creating the Worm. Those beings are found in two very different legends. Am I not right? Here is part of the legend of the Creator as told by Tamarantha in LFB:

This the elder legends tell us: into the infinity before Time was made came the Creator like a worker into his workshop. And since it is the nature of creating to desire perfection, the Creator devoted all himself to the task. First he built the arch of Time, so that his creation would have a place in which to be and for the keystone of that arch he forged the wild magic, so that Time would be able to resist chaos and endure. Then within the arch he formed the Earth. For ages he labored, formed and unformed, trialed and tested and rejected and trialed and tested again, so that when he was done his creation would have no cause to reproach him. And when the Earth was fair to his eye, he gave birth to the inhabitants of the Earth, beings to act out in their lives his reach for perfection-and he did not neglect to give them the means to strive for perfection themselves. When he was done, he was proud as only those who create can be.

In that legend, there is no mention of the Creator creating a Worm. The Worm was never mentioned until Pitchwife in TOT.

I once made a theory to explain how the two stories fit together (kevinswatch.ihugny.com/phpBB2/viewtopic ... highlight=) but rereading this tale made me see it in a new light.

We're told here that before the Creator started to create the Earth he made the Arch of time. This means that the creation and recreation of the Earth until he was satisfied with it didn't occur in some sort of limbo. It occurred within the arch of time. What remnants were there then for those imperfect Earths? This is the Worm. Every time an imperfection was found in a version of the Earth the Worm appeared and consumed it.

But we know the current Earth is not perfect. It's full of banes and problems. The Creator didn't stop working on it because he was satisfied with the result. He stopped because he didn't want Foul to get out. That is the reason why the Worm is not sleeping, but just being listless and gravid. It's purpose: to consume all the imperfect world until only a perfect one remains has not been satisfied.

This fits Donaldson's comparison of the Land to Platonic ideals well. There is only one true ideal of something, its imperfect reflections are all, imperfect reflections.

Looking at the Land's skies we can be relatively satisfied: where before there were multitudes of multitudes of these utter imperfections now there are only multitudes of small imperfections. Soon the skies will blacken and perfection would be here.

[Krazy Kat]

hi shadowbindingshoe

i enjoyed reading your speel on the creation of the elohim and all your thoughts were superbly

focused and to the point. i wish i could write with equal length and elaboration but

unfortunately my time is almost up.

if i may, i would like to say a few words to you on why i read srd he, shows me the solidity of

the natural world.
charles dickens once described one of his characters features, having one eye of a man while the

other twinkled. much like lord mhoram's crooked smile - allthough with a slight digretion, lord

morham's great study was how to harness electricity without the staff of law - wasn't it.

getting back to the topic, it occured to me that if lord foul has many names then wouldn't the

elohim have one for him too - but how can the elohim know about lf ? i don't think that the

giants would burden them with such dark stories so i'm inclined to think that perhaps it was amok

that cast doubts and murmurings among them. didn't he say to the council of lords that his

arrival was ill-timed and a mistake had been made.( the war had provoked some kind of secondary

function to his purpose.) a lost gift of the land - just like vain. well, almost!

but i've always felt that the elohim are confused with anything outside their demesne - as in,

the one word of truth that will save or damn the earth is not covenant's, i believe it's an echo

from an eon ago, to the time of the worm's ravishment.

you touched on a good point about the creator's ideas and craft. if at the end the creator is

ultimately srd then ultimately we are the creator's children. we open the book and are given a

gift: to each reader comes free, a wraith.

i have the utmost respect for the joy these books bring to everyone, but have now come to

understand that i am not a reader of fantasy. i prefer puzzles and games! and the fun they bring

to the end of a perfect day. seeya, take care!

one final word - was High Lord Kevin's despair so bad that he could only hide seven wards - my

god! i'm sure there're a few more than that!

ps i only know half as much as i think i know, and half of that is a fraction of all there is to

know, which isn't as much as i would like to think that i really know but is still more than

know.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

I don't recall the Creator creating the Worm. Those beings are found in two very different legends. Am I not right? Here is part of the legend of the Creator as told by Tamarantha in LFB:

This the elder legends tell us: into the infinity before Time was made came the Creator like a worker into his workshop. And since it is the nature of creating to desire perfection, the Creator devoted all himself to the task. First he built the arch of Time, so that his creation would have a place in which to be and for the keystone of that arch he forged the wild magic, so that Time would be able to resist chaos and endure. Then within the arch he formed the Earth. For ages he labored, formed and unformed, trialed and tested and rejected and trialed and tested again, so that when he was done his creation would have no cause to reproach him. And when the Earth was fair to his eye, he gave birth to the inhabitants of the Earth, beings to act out in their lives his reach for perfection-and he did not neglect to give them the means to strive for perfection themselves. When he was done, he was proud as only those who create can be.

In that legend, there is no mention of the Creator creating a Worm. The Worm was never mentioned until Pitchwife in TOT.

I once made a theory to explain how the two stories fit together (kevinswatch.ihugny.com/phpBB2/viewtopic ... highlight=) but rereading this tale made me see it in a new light.

We're told here that before the Creator started to create the Earth he made the Arch of time. This means that the creation and recreation of the Earth until he was satisfied with it didn't occur in some sort of limbo. It occurred within the arch of time. What remnants were there then for those imperfect Earths? This is the Worm. Every time an imperfection was found in a version of the Earth the Worm appeared and consumed it.

But we know the current Earth is not perfect. It's full of banes and problems. The Creator didn't stop working on it because he was satisfied with the result. He stopped because he didn't want Foul to get out. That is the reason why the Worm is not sleeping, but just being listless and gravid. It's purpose: to consume all the imperfect world until only a perfect one remains has not been satisfied.

This fits Donaldson's comparison of the Land to Platonic ideals well. There is only one true ideal of something, its imperfect reflections are all, imperfect reflections.

Looking at the Land's skies we can be relatively satisfied: where before there were multitudes of multitudes of these utter imperfections now there are only multitudes of small imperfections. Soon the skies will blacken and perfection would be here.

But there are actually three versions of the creation story - let's not forget Foamfollower's tale in LFB.

It is said that in the dimmest past of the Earth, there were no stars in our sky. The heavens were a blankness which separated us from the eternal universe of the Creator. There he lived with his people and his myriad bright children, and they moved to the music of play and joy.
Now, as the ages spired from forever to forever, the Creator was moved to make a new thing for the happy hearts of his children. He descended to the great forges and cauldrons of his power, and brewed and hammered and cast rare theurgies. And when he was done, he turned to the heavens, and threw his mystic creation to the sky-and, behold! A rainbow spread its arms across the universe.
For a moment, the Creator was glad. But then he looked closely at the rainbow-and there, high in the shimmering span, he saw a wound, a breach in the beauty he had made. He did not know that his Enemy,
the demon spirit of murk and mire that crawled through the bowels of even his universe, had seen him at work, and had cast spite into the mortar of his creating. So now, as the rainbow stood across the heavens, it was marred.
In vexation, the Creator returned to his works, to find a cure for his creation. But while he labored, his children, his myriad bright children, found the rainbow, and were filled with rejoicing at its beauty. Together, they climbed into the heavens and scampered happily up the bow, dancing gay dances across its colors. High on the span, they discovered the wound. But they did not understand it. Chorusing joy, they danced through the wound, and found themselves in our sky. This new unlighted world only gladdened them the more, and they spun through the sky until it sparkled with the glee of play.
When they tired of this sport, they sought to return to their universe of light. But their door was shut. For the Creator had discovered his Enemy's handiwork--the cause of the wound-and in his anger his mind had been clouded. Thoughtless, he had torn the rainbow from the heavens. Not until his anger was done did he realize that he had trapped his children in our sky. And there they remain, stars to guide the sojourners of our nights, until the Creator can rid his universe of his Enemy, and find a way to bring his children Home.

How many creation stories do the Giants have anyway?

[shadowbinding shoe]

Foamfollower's creation story in my opinion is a synthesis of the other two stories we saw. The giants who came to the Land heard the Worm story from the Elohim (we're told they visited their island) and then another one from the inhabitants of the Land. Over time the two combined to what we heard from Foamfollower.

Krazy Kat - Thank you. That theory took some work to make.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

Foamfollower's creation story in my opinion is a synthesis of the other two stories we saw. The giants who came to the Land heard the Worm story from the Elohim (we're told they visited their island) and then another one from the inhabitants of the Land. Over time the two combined to what we heard from Foamfollower.

Krazy Kat - Thank you. That theory took some work to make.

So the Creator created the Arch of Time and then formed the Earth inside of it. Strange, I thought the Creator couldn't influence anything within the Arch he created.

[Krazy Kat]

I'ts alright WURM, these concepts are too simplistic to worry about.
The Creator can make the Arch upside down if it willed his need.
Pouring everything into it like a bowl may even be easier than the complex jigsaw of creation

[thewormoftheworld'send]

I'ts alright WURM, these concepts are too simplistic to worry about.
The Creator can make the Arch upside down if it willed his need.
Pouring everything into it like a bowl may even be easier than the complex jigsaw of creation

I agree in that SRD doesn't want us readers to worry about it, but just to enjoy the stories.

Do you think the rainbow in Foamfollower's version is the same thing as the Arch?