Blindness
Moderators: dlbpharmd, Seareach
Blindness
Blindness (and not seeing) seem to be a really big theme in The Third Chronicles.
Kevin's Dirt
Stave's Eye
Mahrtiir
Roger's Glamour
Anele
Anyone think this is building to something even greater, or just a bunch of Coincidences?
Kevin's Dirt
Stave's Eye
Mahrtiir
Roger's Glamour
Anele
Anyone think this is building to something even greater, or just a bunch of Coincidences?
I Never Fail To Be Astounded By The Things We Do For Promises - Ronnie James Dio (All The Fools Sailed Away)
Remember, everytime you drag someone through the mud, you're down in the mud with them
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain
Where are we going...and... WHY are we in a handbasket?
Remember, everytime you drag someone through the mud, you're down in the mud with them
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain
Where are we going...and... WHY are we in a handbasket?
- wayfriend
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I don't think past series is indicative of the Final Chronicles. But it seems like there's a possibility that the theme of blindness is something that is recurring but unconnected.In the Gradual Interview, Stephen R Donaldson wrote:I find it somewhat embarrassing to admit that until Anele came along I didn't actually realize that eyelessness or blindness formed such a recurring (one might almost say incessant) theme in the "Covenant" books. And yet the pattern continues, as you'll discover (if you haven't already) in "The Last Chronicles." Well, I like to think that my sub-conscious has a very good reason for insisting on this particular metaphor. Certainly one of the main subjects of the "Covenant" books is how perception creates reality. For one example, the Land becomes effectively real for Covenant when he "sees" that it is important to him. And for another, the ur-viles and Waynhim stand outside the governing forms of Law in part because they literally *don't* "see". Conversely, Hile Troy doesn't "see" the danger implicit in his attitude toward power: his inability/failure to perceive accurately threatens the survival of the Land. And so on.
(03/16/2005)
You could argue that Anele doesn't want to "see" what happened when he lost his staff, and that Mahrtiir doesn't "see" where his reckless desire for martyrdom will lead.
Kevin's Dirt, along with the Master's imposed ignorance of history, is, if I understand it correctly, about the people of the Land losing their ability to participate in the saving of their world; they have lost the epic vision that they had during the first Chronicles.
Roger's glamour seems like it is similar to Amok's ability to become invisible, or Findail's or Esmer's or any Elohim's. It's a common power among the superior beings of the Land, I guess.
.
I suppose it has always been there. For some reason, listening to Fatal revenant on the way to work this morning, it just smacked me in the face, for the first time.
I Never Fail To Be Astounded By The Things We Do For Promises - Ronnie James Dio (All The Fools Sailed Away)
Remember, everytime you drag someone through the mud, you're down in the mud with them
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain
Where are we going...and... WHY are we in a handbasket?
Remember, everytime you drag someone through the mud, you're down in the mud with them
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain
Where are we going...and... WHY are we in a handbasket?
- Krazy Kat
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Re: Blindness
No way!sindatur wrote:...or just a bunch of Coincidences?
Even Camerman Jenn's name appearing on the acknowledgements page of the Runes suggests something to do with the dilating, contracting, lens of the camera.
Full focus on sunshine causes blindness (of the film).
NOTE: CJ, I'm only thinking of the camera as an instrument and I'm not meaning to make comments about you personally.
- finn
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I can't help but think that the concept of sensory derprivation is a key element in the SRD psyche for obvious reasons stemming from his early years. "Blindness" can and is used to describe a range of sensory limitations, like the effects of Kevin's dirt or a glamour, for instance, which in that context puts "blindness" in the same realm of sensory deprivation as the effects of leprosy, ie it's a dulling or muting of the senses.
Other characters with blindness in one form or another.............
Ur-viles, Waynhim, Hile Troy (as mentioned above), but also the Sandgorgons, Skest, Jheherrin and I think (tho' it was difficult to get a proper reference on it), the Arghule. Cavewights have 'pupil-less' eyes and maybe the Fire Lions and Croyel are sightless too? Not sure on the last two......
The interesting thing is that those who are "blind" through a sight impairment, or having no eyes, seem to have a greater ability to "see" than those with healthy eyesight.
Bearing in mind SRDs comments about the Mahdoubt and the link to the Shadout Mapes, the vision of the "blind" Paul Atreides also comes to mind....as does the blindness of Paul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus.
Other characters with blindness in one form or another.............
Ur-viles, Waynhim, Hile Troy (as mentioned above), but also the Sandgorgons, Skest, Jheherrin and I think (tho' it was difficult to get a proper reference on it), the Arghule. Cavewights have 'pupil-less' eyes and maybe the Fire Lions and Croyel are sightless too? Not sure on the last two......
The interesting thing is that those who are "blind" through a sight impairment, or having no eyes, seem to have a greater ability to "see" than those with healthy eyesight.
Bearing in mind SRDs comments about the Mahdoubt and the link to the Shadout Mapes, the vision of the "blind" Paul Atreides also comes to mind....as does the blindness of Paul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus.
"Winston, if you were my husband I'd give you poison" ................ "Madam, if you were my wife I would drink it!"
"Terrorism is war by the poor, and war is terrorism by the rich"
"A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well."
"The opposite of pro-life isn't pro-death. Y'know?"
"What if the Hokey Cokey really is what its all about?"
"Terrorism is war by the poor, and war is terrorism by the rich"
"A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well."
"The opposite of pro-life isn't pro-death. Y'know?"
"What if the Hokey Cokey really is what its all about?"
- Vraith
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It probably means nothing, just one of those things...
But the line "Do you rave?" in my head has precisely the same intonation/implication as when people say "Are you blind?"
But the line "Do you rave?" in my head has precisely the same intonation/implication as when people say "Are you blind?"
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler]
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
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- <i>Elohim</i>
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Not exactly a blindness but certainly a sense of immobility the Harrow provided for Linden through his eyes as well.
It was the fetid halitus of the most diseased mortality condensed to its essence and elevated to the transcendence of prophecy, promise, suzerain truth—the definitive commandment of darkness.
- amanibhavam
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The loss of his eyes renders him second rate (or so he thinks) which will push his eagerness to achieve some heroic act to a desperate level, which in turn will make him to accept martyrdom more easily.dlbpharmd wrote:I still don't see a need for Mahrtiir's blindness.
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- finn
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I'd forgotten about that thread.......
I think there may be a case for Mahrtiir's Blindness be an essay in the "process of despair", which may lead him to fullfil the prophesy of his name. The purpose might be to use that essay to paint context to Kevin's despair and maybe understand the state of mind and motivations behind the Landwaster, especially if such a move is being contemplated by Linden or TC.
I think there may be a case for Mahrtiir's Blindness be an essay in the "process of despair", which may lead him to fullfil the prophesy of his name. The purpose might be to use that essay to paint context to Kevin's despair and maybe understand the state of mind and motivations behind the Landwaster, especially if such a move is being contemplated by Linden or TC.
"Winston, if you were my husband I'd give you poison" ................ "Madam, if you were my wife I would drink it!"
"Terrorism is war by the poor, and war is terrorism by the rich"
"A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well."
"The opposite of pro-life isn't pro-death. Y'know?"
"What if the Hokey Cokey really is what its all about?"
"Terrorism is war by the poor, and war is terrorism by the rich"
"A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well."
"The opposite of pro-life isn't pro-death. Y'know?"
"What if the Hokey Cokey really is what its all about?"