Does the Despiser have a physical body right now?

[Mighara Sovmadhi]

One of my main objections to a showdown with the Despiser at the end of The Last Dark (or wherever) is that I don't think he has a body at this time. I don't know what happened after the Ritual of Desecration, but if it only took him 1000 years to regenerate himself after that, he must've still had something to work with. But his losses at the end of TPTP were only recuperated due to the Sunbane, it seems to me. Having expended his physical essence at the hands of a white gold ring, and having no corrupted Earthpower to replenish himself with, how's he gonna assume a body again to fight and be fought with?

Or is it gonna be like how the Dark One fights Rand in A Memory of Light, on some transcendent plane where no actual "battle" does take place?

[shadowbinding shoe]

It should play out similarly to Hactar's tale

[wayfriend]

I think it's an open question as to whether Foul has a body during the Last Chronicles.

But each assault hit nothing except the specter, hurt nothing except Covenant. Blast after blast, he absorbed the power of Despite and fire and became stronger. [...] In accelerating frenzy, he flung rage and defiance and immitigable hate at Covenant. Yet each failed blow cost him more of himself. His substance frayed and thinned, denatured moment by moment, as his attacks grew more reckless and extravagant. Soon he had reduced himself to such evanescence that he was barely visible.

If you follow that, you can see where Foul went. Who's to say he ever left that abode?

[High Lord Tolkien]

At the end of the First Cron, it was only after TC beat him with the Stone that he went from a spirit form to a physical one of an old man and then the laughter faded that for away.

Which....i never really liked how that went.

[Vraith]

I suspect he does, cuz he seems to always end up with one as his strength grows...so I'd surmise a firm probably.

Whether bodiless or not, he does tend to localize himself, though...which may be just a necessary thing for any being with a personal identity in a physical, time-shaped place...at least for some kinds of effective actions.

But the Sunbane wasn't the cause of his ability to get a body. The breaking of Law made it so he could snuggle up with earthpower to heal himself and to enable the Sunbane.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

He probably does but my real answer would be "it doesn't matter". He probably has Lore sufficient to possess someone in the manner of a Raver, should he desire a physical body. Of course, he could be like the Elohim and be able to take physical form if he wants to. We have no way of knowing what secrets he learned in his time before coming to The Land.

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

He probably has Lore sufficient to possess someone in the manner of a Raver, should he desire a physical body.

If I'm not mistaken, LF did try to possess TC by the end of TPTP.

And I agree that it doesn't really matter currently - he acts through proxies anyway, now that matters.

[Mighara Sovmadhi]

Maybe Kastenessen allowed himself to be possessed by a Raver at some point, or maybe a Raver will possess the skurj like it has the kresh and, in a way, the Sandgorgons. (Really, killing Sandgorgons is not necessary even if they have done evil now. When ever has Covenant demanded death for an entire species? More likely, they will be redeemed somehow in the end.)

[Vraith]

A Raver and Kasty merging, a Raver/skurj merging?
Those are both firsts I've seen...and both pretty scary ideas.
I don't think likely...but still gave me a shiver.
I'm really hoping for a Sandie redemption...almost as much as a Haruchai redemption.

I suspect LF is capable of something like possession [my memory may be faulty...didn't he speak through Anele at some point?]

But maybe not...
There's something here that may be readable in different ways...
He uses intermediaries so often.
I'm sure it is, in part, cuz he CAN and it suits his "personality."
It's much more enjoyable for him to "persuade" beings to revile and defile themselves.
But perhaps also, if he "uses" them directly, he becomes vulnerable.
Perhaps he is "defiled" in return.
Because, it seems to me, in several twisted ways, LF is all about "purity."
It ain't purity as we may think of it...but a kind of purity nonetheless.

[wayfriend]

Lord Foul's physical form:

[Mighara Sovmadhi]

Or is it...?

[earthbrah]

This thread is making me wonder whether Foul is stronger with a physical form or without one...

[earthbrah]

Wayfriend: Is that image from "Amazing Stories?" From that ghost train episode?

[I'm Murrin]

I thought it was the guy from Home Alone.

[earthbrah]

Ah, you're probably right, Murrin.

[wayfriend]

It's the guy from Home Alone.

I don't think Foul is stronger with a physical form, so much as, when he is stronger he chooses a physical form. Certainly, it's strategic: it was surely useful when infiltrating the Council of Lords and leading armies of mutants and stuff like that.

[Krilly]

Wayfriend makes a good point.

It disturbs me that LF has not made an appearance yet. All we have are a couple of instances we hear his "speech". In fact, I remember one such time was heard inside Covenant's head while slipping through mind-fissures. Curious.

It's written Linden brought TC back "fully intact". Leprosy and... all?

[Savor Dam]

It's written Linden brought TC back "fully intact". Leprosy and... all?

Definitely. In fact, he said in AATE that his leprosy is critical to his being able to do what he has to do...in the cogent moments when he remembers what that is.

[dlbpharmd]

It disturbs me that LF has not made an appearance yet. All we have are a couple of instances we hear his "speech". In fact, I remember one such time was heard inside Covenant's head while slipping through mind-fissures. Curious.

We didn't see him very much in the 1st or 2nd Chronicles either. I'd go so far as to say we've actually heard MORE from him this time, especially at the beginning in ROTE, than ever before.