Well see, you're saying that Joan is not the ring's rightful wielder, yet that's not the case. It is Joan's ring, after all, she's had it since before the events beginning the first Chrons. Now someone else has the ring who is not the rightful wielder, just as Linden is not the rightful wielder of the ring she bears.Endymion9 wrote:I've seen that opinion expressed and believe it possible but don't totally accept that TC and Foul are the same yet. Unless I've missed something in the GI threads that directly says that.TheWormoftheWorld'sEnd wrote:I think you're taking "you are the white gold" too literally. Are you suggesting that Covenant should be able to wield wild magic without white gold because he is the white gold? And I'm not sure that Covenant went to the Arch, that assumes the Arch is a literal thing existing somewhere. Covenant was able to absorb Lord Foul's attacks at the end of WGW because Foul was attacking 'himself' - there would have been no difference, I suppose, if Covenant had attacked Foul with wild magic. Covenant and Foul are one.Endymion9 wrote:One of my other problems with this book. In WGW it was shown that TC is the white gold. The ring just helped him access his power until he was "ready" to accept that he is the white gold. So why would going to the arch and coming back strip him of being the white gold? Makes no sense to me to have this powerless TC now.
I'll be working my way back thru this and other threads, so if this is answered elsewhere, I apologize for asking it again.
As for a powerless TC - his resources are not limited to wild magic, as we have seen. Leprosy gives him another source, albeit non-magical, but magical power is not the solution to every problem. Internal resources are even more important, and that's where TC's greatest strengths always lie.
I think Foul couldn't get past because he was attacking himself makes no sense at all. What makes sense is Foul was using the white gold ring, which does confer power to others as it does Linden, and TC was able to absorb it because he is white gold and more powerful than the ring along. Then TC went to the Arch where he could use his power being the white gold to protect the arch from further attacks. That's my take on it, at least where things stood at the end of WGW.
One of the things that has confused me in the last chronicles is Joan having so much power. In the first two chronicles white gold power all seemed to eminate from TC. I wasn't under the impression that any white gold ring would have power. That his ring only had power because he *is* the white gold. I can see Joan's ring having some power only because it is connected to TC, but it should not be equal to the white gold power in TC, but lesser. As Linden's power is lessor not being the rightful ring owner. Just seems like a fundamental shift in the world view from the 1st and 2nd chronicles to me, and not one I particularly like.
As for Covenant and Foul being one: It doesn't matter if that is on the GI, maybe it is, maybe it isn't. However, it is at the end of WGW. Covenant said it to Foul. And then, he proved it to Foul, even if he still doesn't accept it as fact.
The ring is a metaphor for Covenant because Donaldson himself is using the ring to symbolize TC's freewill ... his authentic, passionate choices. It's exactly that part of himself which he's keeping bottled up in order to protect himself from "dangerous" hopes, in order to live by the Law of Leprosy. By the beginning of LFB, TC has made himself into a survival machine and nearly succeeded in stifling the part of himself which loves and feels. That's why he has trouble accessing the white gold once he gets to the Land. And that's why Mhoram must remind him that it's not really about this hunk of metal, but really about himself. I agree with Horrim's point that Mhoram was giving Covenant some encouragement, but I disagree that this encouragement came in the form of a comparison between the ring's properties and TC's properties. It's not just a similarity Mhoram is trying to get across, but an identification. Not a simile, but instead a metaphor. Mhoram isn't saying that Covenant is *like* the white gold, but rather that he *is* the white gold. This moment in the book feels transcendentally important because it is: Mhoram is stepping into the symbolic structure of the narrative itself, which requires that he simultaneously step out of the level of the literal story. It's almost as if Mhoram realizes that he is part of Covenant's dream, and is telling Covenant what his dream means from the inside (that's a metaphor, but I, too, mean it literally as well 
...I know, I know...I need a life! 
