In your minds eye

[hue of fuzzpaws]

"But the Power which upholds me has stood since the creation of Time. Therefore when Kevin dared me to unleash the forces that would strike the Land and all its accursed creations into dust, I took the dare. . . Together we stood in Kiril Threndor, blind Kevin and I. Together we uttered the Ritual of Desecration . . . "

LFB pg.45

[soft one]

I think Kevin awakened the Worm just enough for him to slough off the part of him which was the Land.
As far as Trell's fire being part of the RoD, I think it was part of HIS Ritual, but Kevin's Ritual was different, just like Mhoram's would have been. I believe it's distinct to the person invoking it. But Kevin's was big, so he needed help from the Worm.
Just my 2 cents.

[AjK]

Lorin, that was an absolutely excellent question with very interesting answers by all, especially hearthrall antonicus. I have to admit I had never actually pictured how it looked when it happened with LF and Kevin but I assumed it was a very sudden devastation (unlike Trell's more gradual build up.)

"Together we stood in Kiril Threndor, blind Kevin and I. Together we uttered the Ritual of Desecration . . . "

I did wonder, however, why LF and Kevin had to (or chose to) utter the ritual together. Was is to increase the intensity and thus the breadth of the destruction? Or did Kevin need some kind of help? I wouldn't think that he would need help since it seemed that anyone able to tap into Earthpower (like Trell) could do it if their despair was great enough. Perhaps LF was just mocking him, knowing it would not achieve Kevin's desired goal.

[Blackhawk]

For me the Desecration would have started with a blast spreading in all directions with a wall of fire to be followed by something comparable to a nuclear aftermath or radioactive wasteland. sterility and malignancy living side by side.

on the other hand as Trell created his own desecration it could have been something that kept growing on a gradual level possibly like the sunbane only being as powerful as the life and extremity of the person committing the desecration,..building until the life of the person enacting it died, growing to an almost arch breaking magnitude before it spread in all directions to ravage the land.

[hearthrall antonicus]

Good God guys! This is turning into a waaaayyyy cool thread! I ve got a lot to think about now, especially when faced with the thought that everyones R od D could be different when that person enacts it. In AjKs post the comment is made that Foul and Kevin were working side by side..Hmmm..I got the impression in the texts that Foul kinda became a member of the council...or was that Gibbon in the next series..I ll have to check that out or maybe Foul just may have influenced it during Kevins time. And I wonder how Foul would ve got Kevin to conspire to do this thing together?

[Earthfriend]

If memory serves, Foul was indeed a member of the Council of Lords during Kevin's time, hiding his true nature and pretending friendship in order to further his own goals. I think he only revealed himself as the Despiser once his plans for conquest of the Land were complete, thereby driving Kevin to dare the Ritual.

As to why Kevin would do such a thing, I think by the time he and Foul enacted the Ritual, Kevin had so fallen into Despair that he saw the Land's destruction as an inevitablity. And he saw the ritual as the only possible way of defeating Foul. As the Land was doomed anyway, (as he saw it,) if it's destruction could also be made to be that of the Despiser's, than all would not be lost. Of course, Foul knew his existence could not be ended by the Riual, only diminshed for a time, so he gladly accepted Kevin's challenge.

Or perhaps, Kevin's feelings were not so dissimilar to Trell's - perhaps he had come to believe that it would be better to destroy everything, (to leave nothing intact), rather than to preserve the Land for Foul's machinations.

[Demondime-a-dozen-spawn]

I did wonder, however, why LF and Kevin had to (or chose to) utter the ritual together. Was is to increase the intensity and thus the breadth of the destruction? Or did Kevin need some kind of help? I wouldn't think that he would need help since it seemed that anyone able to tap into Earthpower (like Trell) could do it if their despair was great enough. Perhaps LF was just mocking him, knowing it would not achieve Kevin's desired goal.

Kevin may not have needed/had Foul's help. To my knowledge, Dead Kevin never said anything about having Foul's aid/complicity in the Ritual of Desecration. The reader and the People of the Land have nothing but Foul's word that he was present and involved. Foul could be telling a lie that even he now believes.

[wayfriend]

Kevin may not have needed/had Foul's help. To my knowledge, Dead Kevin never said anything about having Foul's aid/complicity in the Ritual of Desecration. The reader and the People of the Land have nothing but Foul's word that he was present and involved. Foul could be telling a lie that even he now believes.

Well, there were only two witnesses, and one is dead.

But wasn't it common knowledge among the Lords that Kevin and Foul did it together?

[hearthrall antonicus]

Wayfriend, I need to do a speed read through again on the Kevin-Foul thing...but if I am not completely out of my mind, I thought that in was in a story/song told to a group of people in the first series also as well as the Lords knowing about it.

[Ur Dead]

I always envision that Kevin raised his staff and attached a U2 Space Modulator and struck the ground to light it.

[hue of fuzzpaws]

". . . he had a momentary vision of what the Land must have looked like after Kevin had unleashed the Ritual of Desecration. Behind the luminous morning, he saw hills ripped barren, soil blasted, rank water trickling through vile fens in the riverbed, and over it all a thick gloom of silence - no birds, no insects, no animals, no people, nothing living to raise one leaf or hum or growl or finger against the damage. "

LBF pg.50

[Demondime-a-dozen-spawn]

Kevin may not have needed/had Foul's help. To my knowledge, Dead Kevin never said anything about having Foul's aid/complicity in the Ritual of Desecration. The reader and the People of the Land have nothing but Foul's word that he was present and involved. Foul could be telling a lie that even he now believes.

Well, there were only two witnesses, and one is dead.

But wasn't it common knowledge among the Lords that Kevin and Foul did it together?

Wayfriend, I need to do a speed read through again on the Kevin-Foul thing...but if I am not completely out of my mind, I thought that in was in a story/song told to a group of people in the first series also as well as the Lords knowing about it.

Yes, just two witnesses, one of whom is dead. The Lords "common knowledge" and songs and legends can only be based on Foul's testimony as far as I can see.

I'm not saying Foul wasn't there or didn't assist, just that that possibility exists.

[hearthrall antonicus]

Right you are Demondim Spawn, the possibility does exist...maybe if we get lucky we ll find out via a "flashback type thing in the next two books

[Demondime-a-dozen-spawn]

Right you are Demondim Spawn, the possibility does exist...maybe if we get lucky we ll find out via a "flashback type thing in the next two books

To be honest, we'd have to get extremely lucky.

It's not important. The Desecration occurred with or without Foul. I think we've seen the last of Kevin too. Poor bastard.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

I have always envisioned the Ritual of Desecration as a one-shot, ultra Sunbane-type violation of Law. Kevin's emotion powering Law through the Staff and Foul's Despite working together, causing a wasting blight that destroyed/warped/sickened everything it touched.

I suspect Kevin was hedging his bets that Earthpower and Law would result in the eventual healing of the Land, especially with his knowledge in the hands of new Lords actively healing all they could. He could not forsee that they would unable to understand his lore because of their own self-blindness.

[Shuram Gudatetris]

That is fire raining down from the sky. I drew this pic up in about ten minutes using Paint. I am thinking of getting something like this tattooed on my shoulder. See, I used to cut myself a lot when I was younger and my arm has a bunch of scars on it. Kind of like a Ritual of Desecration. But I somehow managed to survive that bad period of my life and now am happy and strong. I am happy now, but had to get through that bad period to get where I am today. That is why I think that would be a good tattoo for me.

[Shuram Gudatetris]

Oh yeah, I also see Foul's laughing yellow eyes glowing in the fire or maybe in clouds, but haven't quite figured out where to put them.

[Rocksister]

I picture something like the shows on NatGeo where they are explaining how the topography of the world was formed. Fire, ice, wind, rain, snow, sleet, the whole shebang. I also see hurricanes and tornadoes, floods and drought, electrical storms, and volcanoes hurling lava. Cool.....

[Krazy Kat]

I see fire lions pouring out of Mt. Thunder, thousands and thousands of them. Kevin's fatal mistake was that he didn't enact the "ritual of desecration" in the safety of Andelain.

[Rocksister]

kat, that's a thought. What would have happened if Foul had gone into Andelain? Wonder if Foul has EVER been in Andelain? I know you will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall that ever being mentioned. And it's right on his doorstep part of the time. I have a feeling this will be central to what's to come. Not a spoiler, just speculation.