Chapter 1 (***yes, there will be spoilers!!!***)

[Zarathustra]

So Relayer, how did you notice? Just flipping through the book? Or have you started rereading, too?

[Relayer]

I guess you could say I was flipping thru audio tracks. Each CD is split into about 12 tracks, which makes 250+ in total, which is just cumbersome to listen to on an iPod. I wanted them to be 1 track per chapter, so I didn't have to guess where I was.

So while I was editing out the "end of disc x" and "disc y" comments (really easy to do in a program like Sound Forge) I happened to notice this phrase, which must've come right near the beginning or end of a disc.

And yes, I have too much time on my hands. But it's not a burden...

[dlbpharmd]

I loaded all of the CDs on my ipod. I actually prefer all of the tracks versus 1 track per chapter. Stopping and starting is so much easier.

[dlbpharmd]

Covenant tried to focus on Galt. But the krill plucked at his attention, luring him with images which had once been as familiar as Time. In shards and slivers, flaws, he caught glimpses of Loric’s prolonged, arduous search for a stone which could be shaped into the gem that formed the nexus of the dagger: a search which had taken him deep under Melenkurion Skyweir, following the Black River inward from Garroting Deep until he found a fragment of crystal made perfect by eons of contact with the Blood of the Earth. Like peering through cracked glass, Covenant saw Loric forge the metal of the krill, striving to emulate white gold. He lacked the raw materials to fashion white gold itself. But from his inherited and acquired lore, he had gleaned a comprehension of alloys: he worked with ores that could be transmuted and commingled until they became strong enough to sustain the pristine possibilities of the gem. If Covenant allowed himself to drift, he would be able to watch as though he stood at Loric’s side while the dour High Lord sweated over his incantations and fires—

Loric was the High Lord I most wanted to know more about, so this golden nugget of information floors me. But he roamed the depths of Melenkurion Skyweir alone? And no assistants helped him forge the krill? All this just reaffirms to me what a badass Loric was.

How is it that Loric can go into Melenkurion Skyweir from Garroting Deep?

[dlbpharmd]

On the last page:

"He can’t hold on. Something inside him is collapsing. I brought him back, but I didn’t do it right. He isn’t whole.
“And he has leprosy.”
To that, Covenant had no answer.

So after millenia of being the most powerful being (next to the Creator), all he gets to come back to is another leprosy-ridden body.
Sometimes it just sucks to be Thomas Covenant.

But there is Linden with the Staff to heal him - and if she can't, lots of hurtloam lying about.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

On the last page:

"He can’t hold on. Something inside him is collapsing. I brought him back, but I didn’t do it right. He isn’t whole.
“And he has leprosy.”
To that, Covenant had no answer.

So after millenia of being the most powerful being (next to the Creator), all he gets to come back to is another leprosy-ridden body.
Sometimes it just sucks to be Thomas Covenant.

I think Donaldson's point was to bring to reality an old adage: "How do you hurt someone who has lost everything? Give him back somthing broken." Linden has lost everything (her adopted son), now she's been given back something broken (Covenant).

[DrPaul]

Covenant tried to focus on Galt. But the krill plucked at his attention, luring him with images which had once been as familiar as Time. In shards and slivers, flaws, he caught glimpses of Loric’s prolonged, arduous search for a stone which could be shaped into the gem that formed the nexus of the dagger: a search which had taken him deep under Melenkurion Skyweir, following the Black River inward from Garroting Deep until he found a fragment of crystal made perfect by eons of contact with the Blood of the Earth. Like peering through cracked glass, Covenant saw Loric forge the metal of the krill, striving to emulate white gold. He lacked the raw materials to fashion white gold itself. But from his inherited and acquired lore, he had gleaned a comprehension of alloys: he worked with ores that could be transmuted and commingled until they became strong enough to sustain the pristine possibilities of the gem. If Covenant allowed himself to drift, he would be able to watch as though he stood at Loric’s side while the dour High Lord sweated over his incantations and fires—

Loric was the High Lord I most wanted to know more about, so this golden nugget of information floors me. But he roamed the depths of Melenkurion Skyweir alone? And no assistants helped him forge the krill? All this just reaffirms to me what a badass Loric was.

How is it that Loric can go into Melenkurion Skyweir from Garroting Deep?

The most probable explanation is that Loric would have been able to do so on the basis of some kind of understanding with Caerroil Wildwood, either because Loric or, more likely, his father and grandfather had convinced the Forestal of the worth and sincerity of their Landservice, or because the Forestal wanted Loric to succeed in quelling the Viles and/or Demondim and thus eliminating a threat to the forests (or some combination of these possibilities).

[Zarathustra]

Just reread the 1st chapter last night. What an amazing piece of writing. An opening chapter with this much intensity and density could only come at this point in any given series. You don't just resurrect a main character who has spent the past few 1000 years as the world's most powerful being, a character whom readers have been eagerly anticipating for several decades, without sufficient preparation and trial. That shit has to be earned. And Donaldson has earned it. Only at this point could a writer give us such a self-indulgent romp through the entire breadth of his (arguably) greatest work, unveiling and revisiting some of its greatest moments in random glances, all while simultaneously grinding the plot to a virtual halt [I mean seriously, the action/dialog in this chapter could take less than 60 seconds to depict in real time]. Just about everyone who has ever mattered to the plot--or a representative from every race who has ever mattered--is there to witness the reunion of the series' two protagonists, lovers separated across a gulf of time, space, and realities. I agree with Romeo ... I don't think this could have been done any differently. Or if it had, it would have sucked. This moment deserved two books worth of foreplay, even if those books didn't meet the standards of some readers (I have my complaints with them, too). This moment is damn near perfect.

As for the complaints about Linden "regressing," I don't know what books you guys are reading. As Covenent said (or thought), "... she had become capable of deciding the outcome of worlds." [p. 5] A loser (as one poster said)? Hardly. She has grown tremendously since we first met her. Sure she still has issues to resolve. She wouldn't be much of a character if she didn't. But Covenant still had issues to resolve in the 2nd Chrons, too. Hell, he still has issues to resolve in the 3rd. [Remember, this is a three-part movement that explores three different strategies to the Problem of Evil.] Yes, Covenant had grown in the 2nd, but so has Linden in the 3rd. She’s making decisions on her own, with very little information, and standing up to a host of bad guys. Yes, she’s making mistakes (it seems), but she has also made herself into something that is powerful enough to destroy the world. No, that’s not necessarily good, but it is growth!

[aliantha]

As for the complaints about Linden "regressing," I don't know what books you guys are reading. As Covenent said (or thought), "... she had become capable of deciding the outcome of worlds." [p. 5] A loser (as one poster said)? Hardly. She has grown tremendously since we first met her. Sure she still has issues to resolve. She wouldn't be much of a character if she didn't. But Covenant still had issues to resolve in the 2nd Chrons, too. Hell, he still has issues to resolve in the 3rd. [Remember, this is a three-part movement that explores three different strategies to the Problem of Evil.] Yes, Covenant had grown in the 2nd, but so has Linden in the 3rd. She’s making decisions on her own, with very little information, and standing up to a host of bad guys. Yes, she’s making mistakes (it seems), but she has also made herself into something that is powerful enough to destroy the world. No, that’s not necessarily good, but it is growth!

I'm in total agreement.

[SkurjMaster]

Dear All,

Got my copy yesterday. Have been reading at every opportunity, but slowly. The book is great so far, but the urgency has scaled way up in the story. My only complaint/disappointment has been that the mechanism of conflict, time, creates some very tough problems. I can get over that. However, the change of mythology has bothered me for some time, because it disrupts what I originally admired about SRD's world-building. The purpose of the Elohim is tied to the Worm. Originally they were just the living manifestation of the creation of the Earth and Earthpower. Now they actually have a purpose. Does this mean that they are liars, or that they have been AFRAID to reveal their true purpose?