As I re-read the Chronicles, we are given a number of clues that point to the ending. Like oracles, they say much but make little clear (as Mhoram pointed out).”But in the old lore-legend, the children of the Creator had hope He put rainbows in ur sky after cleansing rains, as a promise to the stars that somehow, someday, he would find a day to bring them home.” –Saltheart Foamfollower in LFB
The Lords' Song decrees the importance of Covenant (who is the white gold) to the arch and to the Creator's plan. Wild magic will have to come into play. Again:There is wild magic graven in every rock,
contained for white gold to unleash or control—
gold, rare metal, not born of the Land,
nor ruled, limited, subdued
by the Law with which the Land was created
(for the Land is beautiful,
as if it were a strong dream of peace and harmony,
and Beauty is not possible without discipline—
and the Law which gave birth to Time
is the Land’s Creator’s self-control)—
by keystone, rather, pivot, crux,
for the anarchy out of which Time was made,
and with Time Earth,
and with Earth those who people it:
wild magic restrained in every particle of life,
and unleashed or controlled by gold
(not born of the Land)
because that power is the anchor of the arch of life
that spans and masters Time:
and white—white gold,
not ebon, ichor, incarnadine, viridian—
because white is the hue of bone:
structure of flesh,
discipline of life.
This power is a paradox,
because Power does not exist without Law,]
and wild magic has no Law;
and white gold is a paradox,
because it speaks for the bone of life,
but has no part of the Land.
And he who wields white magic, wild gold
is a paradox—
for he is everything and nothing,
hero and fool,
potent, helpless—
and with one word of truth or treachery,
he will save or damn the Earth
because he is mad and sane,
cold and passionate,
lost and found.
I still haven't given up yet on the idea that the Creator could be Covenant. I was struck by the paragraph at the beginning of LFB that speaks of Covenant writing his novel as creating a beautiful land. "the Law which gave birth to Time is the Land’s Creator’s self-control." I'm not attached to the idea either, it has a lot of flaws (as in, how does he get back to the earth from the Earth, seeing as he's dead there). If TC is learning anything in the Land, it is self-control (along with many other things).”This the elder legends tell us: into the infinity before Time was made came the Creator like a worker into his workshop. And since it is the nature of creating to desire perfection, the Creator devoted all himself to the task. 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.Then within the arch he formed the Earth." Tamarantha in LFB
I will continue to post clues as I come across them. Not that I think I can figure things out, but because I trust SRD to elegantly resolve what needs to be resolved.
I think some conclusions are safe:
1. The end will not be complete darkness. There is too much promise implied for redemption of some kind. Not for humans, not for individual beings, but for the stars, for the Land.
2. The losses will be staggering. SRD is not afraid to sacrifice precious things to make the story move forward, or to maximize its impact.
3. The Creator has to show up in some form or another.
4. Both Linden and Covenant are necessary to its resolution, since both wild magic and Law are said to be crucial.