Question about Chron Novels (possible spoilers!)

[Horrim Carabal]

Yeah, not to mention him rampaging through the Sandhold, battling Kasreyn of the Gyre and jumping in his getaway dromond!

Yeah that was cool. TC just went up there and killed that dude.

My memory is vague and I don't have the books in front of me but...

[Kemper's pitch explodes in a blast of wild magic]
[Someone]"What was that?"
[Someone else] "That was the end of Kaseryn of the Gyre!"

Badass.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

Yeah, not to mention him rampaging through the Sandhold, battling Kasreyn of the Gyre and jumping in his getaway dromond!

Yeah that was cool. TC just went up there and killed that dude.

My memory is vague and I don't have the books in front of me but...

[Kemper's pitch explodes in a blast of wild magic]
[Someone]"What was that?"
[Someone else] "That was the end of Kaseryn of the Gyre!"

Badass.

Sorry, but Covenant did not defeat Kasreyn by himself.

[edit - I omitted a crucial preposition!]

[earthbrah]

Worm wrote:

But what makes for an MBI? When you drop the book you're reading and stare unfocused into space for at least a few seconds because of something you just read.

THAT is an excellent question. Off the top of my head, I'd say that for me an MBI has to elude if not shatter some known or unknown expectation I have in my mind for what's supposed to happen. And when that expectation is met with surprise, then it at least borders on an MBI.

[Horrim Carabal]

Sorry, but Covenant did not defeat Kasreyn by himself.

uh yeah, I know that. But the people with Covenant don't know that. He didn't come down from the tower and explain what happened, that I recall.

So to them, he just said "I'll take care of Kasreyn" (paraphrasing) and then went up there and killed him.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

Sorry, but Covenant did not defeat Kasreyn by himself.

uh yeah, I know that. But the people with Covenant don't know that. He didn't come down from the tower and explain what happened, that I recall.

So to them, he just said "I'll take care of Kasreyn" (paraphrasing) and then went up there and killed him.

You should probably opt for a re-read of TOT, at least the chapter you're referring to. Because when it came down to it, Covenant was clueless as to Kasreyn.

[Horrim Carabal]

You should probably opt for a re-read of TOT, at least the chapter you're referring to. Because when it came down to it, Covenant was clueless as to Kasreyn.

Are you being purposefully obtuse?

*sigh* okay. I'm going to go dig out my copy of TOT. Hang on.

Beginning on page 337 of my copy. Covenant prepares to confront Kasreyn.

The First (to Covenant): "Where do you go?"
Covenant: "I'm going to bring this bloody rock down around his ears."

Badass.

Then Covenant meets Kasreyn in the tower.

Covenant (to Kasreyn): "You know I can kill you. Stop what you're doing. Stop the attack on the ship. Let my friends go. I'll burn every bone in your body to cinders."

Badass.

Then Kasreyn gets into his stupid chair. Covenant blasts him. Kasreyn absorbs the wild magic in his chair and circles, sends it back at Covenant. Covenant draws more power. They face each other down. Findail claims that the fight could damage the arch.

Covenant (to Findail): "Then you stop him!"

Findail kills the Croyel and hence kills Kasreyn.

Nowhere was Covenant "clueless". In fact he was the opposite. He was together, he was determined, and he had a plan to break the stalemate (get Findail to act).

When Linden and the Giants see the destruction of Kemper's Pitch, the blaze of wild magic and the tower falling to rubble...

The First: "Thus have the hustin lost their master".

Pitchwife: "Let us praise the name of Covenant Giantfriend."

Badass.

Then when they are reunited Covenant does not mention anything about Findail.

As far as the company is concerned, Covenant just went up there and killed Kasreyn. Which is pretty close to what happened.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

You should probably opt for a re-read of TOT, at least the chapter you're referring to. Because when it came down to it, Covenant was clueless as to Kasreyn.

Are you being purposefully obtuse?

*sigh* okay. I'm going to go dig out my copy of TOT. Hang on.

Beginning on page 337 of my copy. Covenant prepares to confront Kasreyn.

The First (to Covenant): "Where do you go?"
Covenant: "I'm going to bring this bloody rock down around his ears."

Badass.

Then Covenant meets Kasreyn in the tower.

Covenant (to Kasreyn): "You know I can kill you. Stop what you're doing. Stop the attack on the ship. Let my friends go. I'll burn every bone in your body to cinders."

Badass.

Then Kasreyn gets into his stupid chair. Covenant blasts him. Kasreyn absorbs the wild magic in his chair and circles, sends it back at Covenant. Covenant draws more power. They face each other down. Findail claims that the fight could damage the arch.

Covenant (to Findail): "Then you stop him!"

Findail kills the Croyel and hence kills Kasreyn.

Well there you go. Covenant was clueless as to the nature of the strange baby on Kasreyn's back. Furthermore, Covenant was unable to kill Kasreyn of the Gyre because of the chair-of-many-golden-hoops, but required Findail's services to complete the task. Covenant only served as a one-man wrecking crew after the fact. But nothing exploded, the tower merely crumbled away.

Nowhere was Covenant "clueless". In fact he was the opposite. He was together, he was determined, and he had a plan to break the stalemate (get Findail to act).

If you want to call crying for help a "plan."

When Linden and the Giants see the destruction of Kemper's Pitch, the blaze of wild magic and the tower falling to rubble...

The First: "Thus have the hustin lost their master".

Pitchwife: "Let us praise the name of Covenant Giantfriend."

Badass.

Then when they are reunited Covenant does not mention anything about Findail.

As far as the company is concerned, Covenant just went up there and killed Kasreyn. Which is pretty close to what happened.

And they were wrong. It was soon after, on the dromond, that Covenant admitted the true tale of the fall of Kasreyn to the Giants.

[Horrim Carabal]

Covenant was unable to kill Kasreyn of the Gyre because of the chair-of-many-golden-hoops, but required Findail's services to complete the task.

Untrue. He was more than ready to call up enough power to crispify K and his idiotic chair. It was Findail who claimed that he might damage the arch.

Let's parse that. First, Findail *claimed* the battle between TC and K would damage the arch. He might have been lying, he might have been guessing. After all Findail would have been just as clueless as TC as to how much power K's device could contain. Maybe it would have failed and exploded far short of the amount needed to damage time.

Secondly, Findail was terribly nervous of the white gold in any event. He didn't want TC to access his power at all. In fact if Findail had been around and Covenant tried to kill a fly with wild magic, the Elohim would have went apolplectic and claimed the arch was in danger.

These factors make it far from a sure thing that the continued fight between TC and K would have been a stalemate or an arch-destroying event.

Which means the idea that TC "needed" Findail to act is a shaky preposition. It might have been the wisest and the easiest way to kill Kasreyn, but it wasn't the only option.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

Covenant was unable to kill Kasreyn of the Gyre because of the chair-of-many-golden-hoops, but required Findail's services to complete the task.

Untrue. He was more than ready to call up enough power to crispify K and his idiotic chair. It was Findail who claimed that he might damage the arch.

Let's parse that. First, Findail *claimed* the battle between TC and K would damage the arch. He might have been lying, he might have been guessing. After all Findail would have been just as clueless as TC as to how much power K's device could contain. Maybe it would have failed and exploded far short of the amount needed to damage time.

Also, Findail was terribly nervous of the white gold in any event. He didn't want TC to access his power at all.

These factors make it far from a sure thing that the continued fight between TC and K would have been a stalemate or an arch-destroying event.

Which means the idea that TC "needed" Findail to act is a shaky preposition. It might have been the wisest and the easiest way to kill Kasreyn, but it wasn't the only option.

I have no doubt that Covenant could have killed Kasreyn himself. Obviously, if you want to take it that far, Covenant could have killed him simply by wielding enough power to take down the Arch. But that amounts to the same thing as defeat. In order to kill Kasreyn Covenant would have defeated himself in the process, whether this would have involved damage to the Arch or even something less. And there was always the strong possibility, because of the venom, that Covenant's wild magic would go completely out of control during the battle.