Summary:
This chapter starts with Linden still in the grip of her She Who Must Not Be Named nightmare. Parts of what transpired in the cave encroached on this nightmare, but only so as to enhance it. Elena becomes part of her nightmare in this way and the thought of her feeds Linden's guilt. She also has many insights into the nature of She during the first couple of pages, but we are unsure if this is her projection or objective truth.
Then, she awakens:
If the description of these hands is figurative, we do not know. However, as Linden awakens, she finds herself in a river with Pahni, Stave and Covenant nearby. Linden is exhibiting tremendous guilt over her life and the choices she has made. Her self-esteem is even lower than usual.Then hands lifted her. They were stronger than She Who Must Not Be Named. Strong enough to be the foundation-stones of reality: strong enough to draw her out of despair. Through a fading chorus of screams, they released her from the killing embrace, the smothering clasp.
Covenant is 'out' again. This instinctively hurts Linden on some emotional level as though it were an intended slap to her face. However, in relief for his brining her back, she uncharacteristically embraces his witless form. The white gold touched Covenant during the hug and he awoke:
Covenant immediately joins Linden's self-pity party on awakening and, though his method of awakening her was risky, Linden commends it. During this short period of self-blame and third party accusation, a revelation into Linden's ongoing need for some human connection is revealed:And as she held him, a spark of silver fire gleamed briefly where her breasts met his chest. It seemed to shine through her damaged shirt until it filled his face, and hers, with argent possibilities. Then it vanished.
Wild magic. Only a hint, but—wild magic.
Linden's emotional high lasted only moments, though, as Covenant immediately starts up his mind games again by pushing her away and hinting that he knows a lot more of what is to come than he will admit to:Even? Never! Linden wanted to launch herself at him again; to feel him return her embrace of his own volition. A part of her had spent years dying to be held as well as to hold; withering like a plant that could not live much longer without sun and rain. He was not Jeremiah: he could choose—
Linden immediately jumps to the conclusion that the problem is her. Of course, Covenant must have absolutely expected this from her and we are left wondering if he wants her in this state. Their situation is briefly explained to Linden- trapped in the middle of nowhere. No food. Linden's response to it all, and mostly to Covenant's rejection of her, is to get him out of her sight and to take a much needed bath with Pahni as her accompaniment.He raised his hands to ward her away; stumbled backward. “Don’t touch me.” Some private conflict undermined him: she felt its emanations. He was barely able to make himself heard over the fretted susurration of the current. “Linden, please. I’m not ready. I’ve lost too much of myself. I’m afraid of what I’m becoming. Or what I might have to be. I need to find that out before—” His voice faded. Pain blurred his gaze. The muscles of his jaw clenched. Obviously forcing himself, he finished, “Just don’t touch me. There’s too much at stake.”
During her washing up, we get yet another reminder that the bullet that shot her in 'the real world' had gone straight through leaving us to wonder if the 'dream' she had in Revelstone where she saw herself being rushed to hospital in an ambulance, still alive, had been real. Her bath time allows Linden to enter a sort of angry clinical mode. She decides to address the croyel. Also, this scene once again reminds us of the green stains on her pants, her promise to Caerrol Wildwood and the question he asked her and hints at future significance.
Pahni takes a turn with addressing Linden when they are alone. She talks about her fears regarding the Timewarden's prophetic words about Liand. Pahni belittles herself during the conversation, calling herself 'small' and so on. Linden reflects it back, saying that she herself is the small one. In the end, Linden hopes she has convinced Pahni that she doesn't know the meaning of the Timewarden's words.
Linden also fears that Covenant is not only rejecting her, but rejecting the responsibility she laid on him by bringing him back- that he will save the world, not her. She fears that, if it is the case, she has wakened the worm for no reason.
They rejoin the company and we immediately get another taste of how needy Linden is when Liand hugs her:
Linden's rejection by Covenant has, by this time, turned to anger. Covenant seems to want to reinforce the distance and hints again that he knows more than he is saying:His hug was brief, a momentary taste of the deeper embraces for which she was starving.
However desperate the situation, Linden finds that she is the focus still and the group, for the most part, expects her to lead them. The group discusses their situation further, addressing the Ardent's assertion that Linden's actions in the cavern had altered the shape of things to come and that they, the Insequent, could not see the new paths.“Without you?” Covenant snorted; but his scorn was not directed at her. Instead he seemed angry at himself. “You forget who you’re talking to. One way or another, we’re all yours.” Abruptly he grimaced. “Or they are, anyway.”
The Ardent makes a surprise appearance bearing food and supplies. It is then discussed that Linden was only following what the Ur-viles had suggested in the cavern. This point is dismissed by the Ardent and he asserts that it is her power to attract aid and allies that is the real cause of her ability to defy fate. They say her fate is now writ in water as a sign that she has defied predictions. However, Lord Foul has been telling her that her fate was written in water all along, so we are left questioning the Ardent's conclusion that she has confounded Foul is correct. It is revealed that the Ardent is dying in whatever way that the Insequent die.
During this discourse, Covenant makes an attempt to learn the Ardent's name:
We are left to wonder if this was a moment of compassion or a cunning attempt to catch the Ardent with his defenses down so as to learn his name for some unknown purpose. However, the Ardent refuses the bait. He says his death is needed or his people would face dire consequence.“God in Heaven!” Covenant’s eyes glistened as if he were on the verge of tears. “You’re dying, and we don’t even know your name.”
Further, we establish Linden handing off the care of her son to others, saying she is afraid to get to close to him.
The Ardent departs again. Covenant loudly asserts that they will beat Lord Foul again because "no matter how he plots and manipulates, he's never ready for us."
They all have some food and sleep at this point. When Linden awakens, her immediate attention is given to Covenant and recognises that he is 'out' again. Only after reading Covenant with her senses, does she likewise check on her son.
She decides that they need to awaken Covenant from his elsewhere state. Mahrtiir does so with some of the horsie flowers. The present is again tied into hints of forestalls from old stories.
More emotional desperation is exhibited by Linden in her exchanges with Covenant.
She meant, Please love me. In spite of everything.
After a bit more food and lounging about, they decide to have a meeting to discuss what they are going to do. All of their enemies are mentioned, even Covenant's family is brought up angrily by Linden. Finally, they discuss the Worm and the little information they have about what they think its future moves might be based on the things Anele has said.Feeling suddenly estranged, like a ghost at a banquet, full of sorrows and fears that no one else recognized, Linden hesitated. Covenant knew Giants better than she did: he seemed to belong with them. And she was unable to match him. She had never been his equal.
They discuss the earthblood and Stave asserts that they cannot use the Power of Command to make the Worm stop since he feels that earthblood cannot command itself (the Worm also being earth power itself). Liand then ventures some speculation about how to stop the Worm:
Mahrtiir brings up the idea of a Forbidding which was also mentioned by Anele. Once again the Forestals are mentioned in relation to this topic, though the context is their ultimate failure. None of them can think of a reasonable way to expect to create a Forbidding. Also, Longwrath is mentioned again finally and there is speculation that his geas may no longer be functioning since he had failed.“Mayhap the insight we require lies elsewhere in Anele’s utterance. Did he not state that the Worm will bring destruction ‘If it is not opposed by the forgotten truth of stone and wood—’? What is this truth?”
Finally, the topic of the Timewarden's prophecy is brought out. Covenant claims to not know its meaning:
Covenant then goes into an explanation of how unearned knowledge is dangerous and so on, saying he has not lived events as they have- he only observed. Finally, he becomes very defensive and says:Then he raised his head, met the stare of Mahrtiir’s empty eye sockets. Compassion or regret blurred his gaze.
“I’m sorry. I don’t remember. And I’m afraid to try. Sometimes digging into the past makes me slip. When that happens, I don’t know how to bring myself back.”
At once, the Manethrall retorted, “Amanibhavam will restore you.”
“Sure,” Covenant answered like a curse. “And whenever you do something like that, another piece of what I’m trying to remember disappears. Permanently, as far as I can tell. Then there’s less of me, and I can’t recover what I was.”
The moment of voice is given to Linden in the end and she had already chosen to attempt to do something with Jeremiah. She tells them that this choice is just for herself, that they should make their own choices.“I need to be a leper. I need my mind the way it is. I don’t have any other defenses.”
At the end of the chapter, Covenant jumps in to enthusiastically support Linden, but his voice "seemed to express satisfaction and alarm simultaneously." Linden heard the strangeness in his voice and we are left with her speculation:
Points for discussion:Linden recognized an undercurrent in his voice; a hint of complex intentions or desires. An ulterior motive? A specific hope or need which he kept to himself? She did not know—or other implications had more significance for her.
Just a few things that I thought were interesting in this chapter.
1- What a terrible match Covenant is for Linden. They are a nightmare matchup. She is so emotionally needy and he is a huge emotional manipulator. He has a long history of screwing with the head of every woman who shows interest in him. He manipulates them all into feeling insecure around him and, in the end, doing what he wants. He seems to like to keep women vulnerable. I know this is not a popular viewpoint on TC with the menfolks, but I think a lot of the female Watchers have dated this guy and know exactly what I mean here!
2- Is Jeremiah a surrogate for Covenant? She ran around for the first two books saying, "HE HAS MY SON!!!!" but the moment Covenant is back in the picture, her attention shifts to him. This quote really made me question her relation with her son:
She carried that ring around her neck for ten years after the man had died. It is implied that she never took a new lover. Was Jeremiah like the ring? A tangible keepsake of her time with Covenant? A deaf dumb symbol she could hug and love just as the ghost of Covenant? Jeremiah never returned any affection. I know some people do adopt special needs kids out of a desire to help, but she had a career. Her hired help spent more time with Jeremiah than she did, it felt like. She was running a hospital.Even? Never! Linden wanted to launch herself at him again; to feel him return her embrace of his own volition. A part of her had spent years dying to be held as well as to hold; withering like a plant that could not live much longer without sun and rain. He was not Jeremiah: he could choose—
I don't know. I'm not saying that I totally think this, but I had been getting that impression all along and the above quote really pushed me over to thinking it is probably the case. Jeremiah is a surrogate for her neediness and that neediness has not been fulfilled by Jeremiah's presence. She is still 'starving' for affection despite having him for 9 years.
3- Linden's descriptions of She in the beginning of the chapter… There are some of her thoughts there that, if taken as truth and not just her speculation, have to bear on the future.
If this is true, then can She not be redeemed? Do they have to either trap Her eternally or end Her?When all of creation had been unmade, She Who Must Not Be Named would remain. Her anguish would remain. She was an eternal being: a concept as essential and illimitable as Creation or Despite. Tortures would expand beyond the swallowed stars, beyond the salvific definitions of Time, beyond comprehension, until they filled the reaches of infinity. They could not die, and so they could not stop. The treachery which had formed the bane could not be healed.
And, a sort of tangent on this, but whose hands were "stronger than She Who Must not Be Named. Stronger than the foundation-stones of reality"? in this chapter? I assume they were Covenant's. Is this meant to be figurative or is this a nod to this whole experience still being a dream construct of Covenant's mind? Has SRD ever said that the definitely story is not all in TC's mind?
4- Does the mere touch of white gold bring Covenant back from his reverie? The ring reacted to his touch in the river and seemingly brought him back.
5- Fate writ in water… The Ardent and Covenant really are banking on Lord Foul being unable to cope with what will come, not having the facilities to understand the complexity of desperate behavior. But, Lord Foul has been saying Linden's far was written in water since RotE. Are our heroes correct, or does Lord Foul know more than they think this time?
6- What is Covenant becoming? He says, "I'm afraid of what I'm becoming." Is this just more of the crap that Covenant tosses out to confuse and manipulate, or is he really worried about something? If so, what? And, why does he need to be a leper still after being part of the arch of time? Surely he must be beyond that? He's only had an eternity to get over it.
He is also clearly either lying to his companions or just not telling them everything. He seems very manipulative just like with his former 'bargains'.