I think you mean chapter 4, don't you? Not nit-picking ... I just didn't want anyone to think you'd reached 6 yet and start spoiling it (for you or me; I'm only halfway through 5).shadowbinding shoe wrote:
Chapter 6 - We get chapter-heading confirmation that what Linden just did was an Unwisdom.
I really liked how Donaldson doesn't let his characters make a choice without the ramifications being fully examined. As he holds his characters accountable for their choices, he simultaneously holds himself accountable for his own choices in taking them in these directions. He never lets a thread drop, and always lets us feel the weight of their choices. This is one of the reasons why Donaldson characters feel so real. Her new state of powerlessness is just another fine example of this.shadowbinding shoe wrote:
She has problems adjusting to her new state of powerlessness.
In the course of reading these first few chapters that seem to drag a bit, I'm always anticipating that climactic moment that will make the wait worth it. I'm glad the Humbled have taken their turn at serving this role this time around. They needed a cool scene, something that made them more than a nagging, complaining annoyance. Their entire race has turned a page with this scene.shadowbinding shoe wrote:
He, with the help of Stave manages to perform something even more dramatic and unlikely than Linden in the previous chapter: He changes the Masters' mind.
(I didn't fully understand Stave's comments, either. I thought I was forgeting something from a previous book. But rdhopeca is probably on the right track.)
I remember that his leprosy is rapidly spreading, but I don't remember that it would kill him in days. How could I have missed that? It certainly lends a sense of urgency to his condition! If you're right, I wholeheartedly argee that the Land and his leprosy are linked. In the GI a few years ago, someone pointed out this linkage to Donaldson in reference to events from previous books, and he said that he hadn't planned it, but it seemed pretty obvious in retrospect. Let's hope he's taking this idea and running with it now!shadowbinding shoe wrote:
We learn that Covenant's Leprosy is rapidly gaining hold on his body. He only has a few days to live. He will go blind even before that. This sounds terrible. I'm beginning to suspect that Covenant's body and soul are linked to the Land's existence somehow. He will die in a few days of Leprosy which will destroy his nervous system and the Land ('s world) will die in a few days because the Worm will eat the earthpower which give it life.
This speculation, tied to your previous insight, really got me thinking. What if Covenant's place in the Arch was symbolic of Linden's inability to get over Covenant? Just like the readers of this series, Linden wasn't ever able to really let him go, because he didn't really die. He was transformed. He could still be "brought back." So that in itself explains why there had to be a Last Chronicles, and why it's called, "The LAST Chronicles," and why Covenant and the Land finally have to die this time: Linden never really let him go. In fact, her main danger to the Land was an act that was the epitome of "not letting go," by literally bringing him back from the dead.shadowbinding shoe wrote:
It seems Covenant existence as Timewarden made the Land's world deterministic and now that he left his office uncertainties and free choice are running rampant. Is this the explanation for the Theomach's ability to know what the future holds? This makes me glad Covenant is no longer the Timewarden.
Seen in this light, Linden's actions causing the end of the world (or at least the Land's world) aren't destructive merely because she shouldn't have done it, but because once brought back into Time, Covenant (and hence the Land, which symbolizes him) is supposed to die. That's simply the natural course of his disease, just like the Worm is the natural course of the Land's world. So Linden's actions aren't evil, but actually they are finally authentic, because this way she'll be able to finally let TC go, instead of having her lover "frozen" in Time and still accessible to a resurrection.
His disease never killed him. That was wrong. It was supposed to kill him. It was his mortality. It was the natural course of his life.
I call it now: that's the redemptive ending of this series. Linden was supposed to bring Covenant back because he was supposed to die, not become a "Timewarden." She's not evil, she's simply coming to terms with his end.
I love them, but it is frustrating when I don't remember their exact source and context. I should have reread Runes and FR when I had the chance. They can be overused, and I would caution Donaldson to only use them when they reiterate a particularly significant point. But this technique is something I think is absolutely essential to Donaldson's style. (I have shamelessly adopted it in my own writing.)shadowbinding shoe wrote:
Question: how do you feel about the use of quotes from previous points in the books? I'm not too fond of them. They pop up way too often and I don't always remember where they came from. And they also feel like oversimplifications. As though a big scene or a central character can be summed up with a catchphrase.