Fist and Faith wrote:In LFB, SRD wrote:First he built the arch of Time, so that his creation would have a place in which to be, and for the keystone of that arch he forged the wild magic, so that Time would be able to resist chaos and endure.
Wild magic is essential for the survival of Law. Yes, it's Law's opposite. But is simply using it a "breaking of Law"? Clearly not. That is, not in the "It is forbidden" sense. The Creator chose Covenant to go to the Land, hoping he would save it
with wild magic. And would he have made it
possible to use wild magic if it was forbidden? I think mere use of it is not the breaking of Law Wildwood was talking about.
So is the problem nothing more than the fact that
Troy was using it? How do we explain all the talk about it being freely given? At first glance, as you said, I don't find SRD's answer sufficient. He put conditions on what "freely given" means. However, it
is an explanation
from the author, so I guess I'll accept it. Heh. It's entirely possible that none of the characters who talked about it had the fullest possible understanding of it. "Freely given" isn't the whole story, but there's no reason any of them would have been expected to know all there is to know about a substance and power that has never been seen in the world. When did Atiaran, of Foamfollower, or Amok, or Wildwood ever use, touch, or even see it? It's a legend to them. They didn't have operating instructions. So sure, "freely given" could have been only a part of the conditions.
I think we're getting side-tracked on this. The ring was freely given; it was not freely given back, however, and that is another issue altogether. I'm still looking for the idea that will change my mind on this. I agree that the Creator would not have minded at all if Covenant took up the ring against Foul. Perhaps that was His goal all along. If so, he chose the wrong person for the task, or he completely misunderstood Covenant and the law of leprosy. Perhaps the latter. Or, speculatively, maybe the Creator was hoping Hile Troy would use the ring against Foul.
Forestals have their own understanding of these issues. Wildwood could not have known the Creator's desire in this instance. All Wildwood knows is Law, and trees. The forests are a product of Law, and without Law they cannot last. Nothing can last, the very Earth itself is alive with Law. The use of wild magic is, by its very nature, a violation of Law, thus a significant threat to trees. Wild Magic is destruction incarnate, otherwise its possession would not form any part of Foul's intentions.
But then there is the Arch of Time. I think the whole idea is taken too literally. The ideas of an Arch and a Keystone were formed as symbols for human comprehension. I have no doubt that the song of wild magic is correct in that wild magic is "graven" (whatever that means) in everything. And that white gold can either unleash or control this wild magic. But in doing so, one must violate the strictures that keep existence itself from flying apart due to the dissolution of Law. One cannot release the hydrogen from water without also releasing the oxygen, and then you no longer have water because hydrogen and oxygen are essential to building the water, just as wild magic (Lawlessness, chaos) and Law (order) are essential to building the Land. Everything in the Land's universe is a product of opposites. The new Staff is a product of opposites, structure vs. fluidity.
Forestals live out their days fully aware of the stringent nature of their task, they live, eat and breathe by absolutes. But they are representatives of Law, not wild magic. They represent the Law of the Land's Creation and seek to further its preservation, by this means preserving the remaining forests. But the nature of wild magic and its summoning is not unknown to them by any means. They are fully aware that releasing of wild magic (as either unleashed or controlled) is a direct threat to the Law established at the Land's Creation, therefore either a direct or indirect threat to the forests.
By the time the Second Chrons comes along the issue becomes a bit more complicated. Suddenly we have the idea that Covenant is the "rightful wielder" of the ring. But we cannot apply this back to the 1st Chrons in retrospect because at the time SRD wrote the scene on Gallow's Howe he only had a certain idea to work with, not the later one. And that idea was not complicated by any "rightful wielder" rule. It was simply that Law and Wild Magic are exact opposites combined in one Creation. And further, that chaos, when released from the structure of the Land, which is Time, that binds it to Law, is destructive to order.
