TWL Chapter 13 Demondim-Spawn (The Un-Dissectable Vain!)

[Furls Fire]

yes..it was..and Foul cut off their fingers so they would resemble Covenant. They took it there thinking they could defeat him with it. That incident led to the breaking of the Bloodgaurd Vow.

[dlbpharmd]

To my knowledge, SRD never revealed the fate of the Seareach fragment of the Illearth Stone. Could it still be lying around somewhere? Hmmmm.....

[Fist and Faith]

I sort of figure Foul rejoined Kinslaughterer's fragment back with the Illearth Stone after the Bloodguard brought it to him.

SRD certainly could have said that several flakes survived intact when Satansfist's fragment exploded in Lord Mhoram's Victory, and used them in the 2nd Chrons. Glad we didn't have THAT to deal with!

[Dromond]

Well the best I can find on the subject is this - toward the end of the chapter:

But then another explanation occurred to him. At one time, the Despiser had given each of his Ravers a piece of the Stone. One of these Ravers had marched to do battle against the Lords, and had been met here, at the southwest corner of Andelain-met and held for several days. Perhaps in that conflict a flake of the Raver's Stone had fallen undetected among the hills, and had remained there, exerting its spontaneous desecration, until some unhappy Woodhelvennin had stumbled across it.

What battle is this?

[Furls Fire]

Can I quote now?? can I?? huh huh huh? pleaaaaaaaaase???

[danlo]

Go nuts! PM Foamy! Just don't do the whole chapter!

[Furls Fire]

YAY!! I have been wanting to quote this...

When he awoke, his face itched as if the grass had grown into his beard, and his back was warm with midmorning sun.

He raised his head. He was still atop the knoll where he had met Caer-Caveral and the Dead. Andelain lay around him, unfolded like a flower to the sun. But he observed the trees and sky abstractly; the Hills had temporarily lost their power over him. He was too full of ashes to be moved.

He remembered the previous night clearly. He remembered everything about it except the conviction of its reality.

But that lasted for only a moment. When he sat up, changed his range of sight, he saw Vain.

The Demondim-spawn made everything else certain.

He stood just as he had the night before, lightly poised and oblivious. Covenant was struck once again by Vain's physical perfection. His limbs were smooth and strong; his flesh bore no blemish; he might have been an idealized piece of statuary. He gave no sign that he was aware of Covenant's awakening, that he was cognizant of Covenant at all. His arms hung relaxed, with the elbows slightly crooked, as if he had been made for readiness but had not yet been brought to life. No respiration stirred his chest; his eyes neither blinked nor shifted.

Slowly, Covenant reviewed the other gifts he had been given. They were all obscure to him. But Vain's solidity conveyed a kind of reassurance. Covenant took his companion as a promise that the other gifts would prove to be equally substantial.

Seeking relief from his sense of loss, he rose to his feet, faced Vain. He considered the dark form briefly, then said, "Foamfollower says you don't talk. Is that true?"

Vain did not react. An ambiguous smile hung on his lips, but no expression altered the fathomless ebony of his orbs. He might as well have been blind

"All right," Covenant muttered. "You don't speak. I hope the other things he said are true, too, I don't want to test it. I'm going to put off commanding you as long as I can. If those ur-viles lied -- " He frowned, trying to penetrate the mystery of his companion; but no intuition came to his aid. "Maybe Linden can tell me something about you." Vain's black gaze did not shift. After a moment, Covenant growled, "I also hope I don't get in the habit of talking to you. This is ridiculous."

That last part always makes me laugh out loud.

[dlbpharmd]

Well the best I can find on the subject is this - toward the end of the chapter:

But then another explanation occurred to him. At one time, the Despiser had given each of his Ravers a piece of the Stone. One of these Ravers had marched to do battle against the Lords, and had been met here, at the southwest corner of Andelain-met and held for several days. Perhaps in that conflict a flake of the Raver's Stone had fallen undetected among the hills, and had remained there, exerting its spontaneous desecration, until some unhappy Woodhelvennin had stumbled across it.

What battle is this?

The best that I can tell, this was when Quaan and the mounted part of the Warward, along with the 200 Bloodguard and Lords Callindrill and Verement meet Fleshharrower's army south of Andelain in TIW. As to what part of the battle the act of "chipping" FH's Illearth Stone is not revealed to us by SRD.

[kastenessen]

Great discussion here guys! A little late to partake in this specific chapter but my take on Vain is this:

The Ur-Viles have reached very far in their magic since Vain could:

From a distance of twenty paces, he closed his fist. Her arms froze in mid-plunge. The knife tip strained at the centre of Covenant's shirt; but she could not complete the blow.

This is indeed powerful magic and I know no-one ever said the Ur-Viles didn't posess this kind of magic but it resembles things TC does when using the white gold. That with a thought affect something...

kast

[Dromond]

It's never late, Kastenessen!

And you bring up something I've not considered. How could the Ur-Viles impart this power to Vain when they did not possess it themselves?(I don't think they did when they were at war under Foul)

Or did they? They learned a lot over the last 3000 - 4000 yrs. After Foul's defeat in TPTP, they turned from him. And how fortunate for the Land.

[Dromond]

And dlbpharmd:
Yes! That was it. I'd forgotten about that battle starting there and how they were chased all the way to Doom's Retreat. Thanks!

[duchess of malfi]

Just a question here -- is Vain the only ur-Vile in the history of the Land to have eyes?
Aren't all of the others eyeless? It seems to me that they use their sense of smell as their primary sense?

[dlbpharmd]

To my knowledge - yes, he's the only Demondim-spawn (i.e., ur-viles and waynhim) to have eyes.

[duchess of malfi]

Why does he need them when the others do not?
And how did they figure out how to give them to him, when it has been said in the books that the ur-Viles hated themselves due to their

unseen eyelessness

-- why him and not all?

[Furls Fire]

He was their ultimate achievement, all their Lore cumulated into creating Vain. Giving him eyes just added to his perfection.

[duchess of malfi]

I wonder what species they got the eye DNA from for his eyes...

Wouldn't it be cool if they gave him the eyes of an eagle?

[duchess of malfi]

By noon, he had eaten enough of the aliantha to comprise a feast, and had begun to recover his joy. Andelain did far more for him than give comfort to his eyes and ears and provide solace for his loss. Lord Foul had deprived him of the most exquisite pleasure of his previous visit here - the ability to feel health like a palpable cynosure in every green and living thing about him. But the Hills seemed to understand his plight, and adjust their appeal to offer him what he could enjoy. The air was refulgent with gay birds. The grass cushioned his feet, so that his knees and thighs felt exuberant at every stride. Aliantha niurished him until all his muscles were suffused with vitality. Thus Andelain transformed his grief, melded it into a sense of purpose. He considered the hazards ahead of him without dread, and swore an implacable oath without fear or fury, an oath that Andelain would not fall while he still had breath or pulse to defend it.

That last bit reminds me of the heart and soul of the Oath of Peace...

But this night was the dark of the moon...

So many important things happened on the dark of the moon in the middle night of spring in the First Chronicles -- the desecration of the dance of the Wraiths by Drool, the signalling of the war with the green moon in TPTP...now, once again it is the dark of the moon -- but the Land no longer knows seasons...

And here is a great piece of foreshadowing, a description of the people of Stonemight Woodhelvin:

Yet in other ways they did not appear to be careless. Their eyes smoldered with an odd combination of belligerance and fright as they regarded him. They reminded him strangely of Drool Rockworm, the cavewight who had been ravaged almost to death by his lust for the Illearth Stone.

and the Graveler couldn't be more different from Sunder:

She held a long, iron knife, single-edged and hiltless. the black metal appeared baleful in her grasp. her visage had not lost its misery; but it also wore a corrupt exaltation which he could not distinguish from madness.

His question reached her. He saw at once that she could not refuse to talk about the Stonemight. A nausea of love or lust came into her face. She lowered her knife; her eyes lost their focus on him. "Stonemight," she breather ardently. "Ah. The Stonemight." Her breasts tightened under her greeen robe as if she were remembering rapture.

For all the world like a woman remembering and describing her lover...

And my favorite quote of the chapter:

"Listen to me. This world's going to change. Not just here - not just because you lost your bloody Stonemight. The whole Land is going to be different. You've got to learn to live like human beings. Without all this sick killing."

GO TC GO TC GO TC!!!!!!!