I think many readers have been holding out hope that Linden may not be dead in her real world. That Jeremiah may not be dead.In [u]Fatal Revenant[/u] was wrote:Stave said, "[...] By the common understanding of the Lords, the death of the summoner ended the summons. So it transpired three times for the ur-Lord, the Unbeliever. Yet when Atiaran Trell-mate died in fire, Hile Troy remained.
"The Council of Lords believed that his summons was not undone because in his own world his death preceded that of his summoner. Therefore his spirit could not return to its former life, and his place in the Land was fixed."
However, Joan, their summoner, has died.
On the face of it, this means that Linden, Jeremiah, and Roger, are all dead. As Covenant is dead. Because otherwise they would have returned to their own world. Unless we discover in the Final Dark that any of them have indeed returned. But this doesn't seem likely to me.
What does this change?
As an advocate of something called Epic Vision, this seems to break Donaldson's rules. No one is returning to the real world: no one is bringing back to our world a better vision of what it means to be human. No one will demonstrate how what happens there is meaningful here.
However, even in simpler terms, we have to wonder what it means when everyone that the story is about is dead. If they are all dead, this must be pure fantasy; if pure fantasy, what has it all been about?
Then again, maybe we can wonder if the rules have changed.
Did Joan really summon the others? By which I mean, did she use the same ritual? Or is her summoning different for some reason?
Or is she not really dead? Remember, in WGW Lord Foul didn't really die, but it was "as if" he died as far as Covenant's summoning was concerned. So the opposite can be true: if Joan was transformed somehow upon her death, might it not be "as if" she hadn't died?
Maybe Linden or Jeremiah is clinically dead in the real world ... but they are resuscitated?
Could they go back in time to when they were alive in the real world? Would that change anything?
Is something really complicated going on which only the Timewarden understands, and that's the real reason why he had to slay Joan, so that some door has been opened for Covenant and Linden and Jeremiah that was not opened before?
Is there any hope here at all?