Donaldsonian dreams

[Forestal]

or just buy some LSD, lol

[[Syl]]

I have that book. NLP stuff. Pseudo-science (not criticizing the substance, but rather the method), but interesting. Recommend also Way of the Shaman, or, for a more scholarly approach to waking altered (Beta?) states, Zen and the Brain.

[Durris]

Does anyone else here dream about the mythos?

Here are a couple of mine, one recent and one half my lifetime ago.

"Donaldsonian Timewarp"--January 26, 2004

[I dreamed this before I knew anything at all about the Last Chronicles.]

Dreamed of telling someone about (counterfactual) events in Donaldson's world: at one point much earlier in his life than the main action of the books, a juvenile Thomas Covenant briefly appeared in the Land, saying something in Haruchai that became part of that people's history without any awareness that Covenant was responsible for it. When Covenant made his foreground appearance in the Land later he encountered results of this earlier visit.



"The Death of the First Mark"--date unrecorded, ca. 1983

I dreamed of traveling on foot into the Westron Mountains. I was alone and saw no one until a messenger appeared, saying that Bannor had asked to see me. [In Land time, this was long after the action of TPTP, after he had gone home to die.] I crossed a ridge of foothills and eventually came to where an aged Bannor lay paralyzed and in great pain. I sat on the ground beside him; for many hours neither of us spoke. Finally I said, "You are not alone, First Mark." He didn't answer in words, but grasped my hand; his hand was much larger than my own and could have wrapped around it twice.

[Fist and Faith]

Man, I WISH I had dreams in the Land!!!!



(You know, like Covenant did. )

[Worm of Despite]

I had a dream once where I saw a huge hill and a valley from a bird's eye view, and there were unbroken rays of light shining across it. Looked so healthy that the green of the grass was almost too good to be true. I'm not sure if it was the Land in my dream, but it always makes me think of the Land.

[Loredoctor]

I dream about the Gap.

[Torrent]

This may not be the sort of dream you're asking for, but...

...after I had first discovered the Official SRD page, I had a very nasty dream about doing a karate session with SRD. We didn't do any sparring with each other, he just took part in the same class and I think we stood next to each other before the class started. It was embarassing, because I did a few months (and two grades) of Shotokan karate many years ago and finally quit. This was a really Freudian(?) experience...

[Fist and Faith]

Ah, Torrent, I'm afraid this is a sign of great neurosis!!! Wouldn't wanna be in your shoes!!

[Torrent]

I know, I know.

[Furls Fire]

After my first read of The Wounded Land. I dreamt constantly of Coercri. That should come as no surprise to many here

[matrixman]

Years ago, I had a recurring dream in which I would enter a bookstore or library and find myself picking up a Covenant book, though the book's title was always fuzzy and unclear to me. I had a funny feeling about the book, like it was very, very old--as old as the Land itself. Not fragile old, just representative of immense age. Next thing I know, I'm in the Land, and I always seem to end up going inside a mountain, whether it's Melenkurion Skyweir or Mount Thunder, I don't know. The feeling of ancientness around me is almost oppressive. There in the mountain, I'm always journeying upward toward its peak. I arrive at some kind of chamber within the peak, and I meet someone: it's High Lord Elena, and she speaks to me, although I can't understand her words. She holds in her hand what I assume is the Staff of Law. There is great sadness about her, but there is nothing I can do about it. She is ready to do something, but the chamber becomes very claustrophobic. I can't stand it...and the dream ends.

Maybe I stopped having that dream because I just couldn't bear it. But much of it is still vivid in my mind when I think about. I had another dream that involved Linden Avery, though the details escape me. I only recall a vague image of fire and burning. I don't seem to have happy dreams about the Land.

Which is why I'm a little scared at the prospect of reading the Last Chronicles. Who knows what nightmares my imagination might unleash on me after? I'll be a nervous wreck.

I don't know how SRD manages his emotions when he writes something as intense as the Chronicles. He must go through a thousand highs and lows himself, all in the name of a good story. Does he have dreams and nightmares about the Land, too, I wonder?

[Dragonlily]

I wonder if he would answer your question, if you asked it on his website, MM.

[matrixman]

SRD? Website? Oh. Yes, of course. That thing...

[Fist and Faith]

Very cool dreams, MM! Wow, I love the opressive ancientness!!!

Bit of a tangent here, but...

Years ago, I had a recurring dream in which I would enter a bookstore or library and find myself picking up a Covenant book, though the book's title was always fuzzy and unclear to me.

I guess my imagination is not up to the task of creating any text, so I've never been able to read anything in my dreams. I try and try, but, as you say, all fuzzy and unclear. Sometimes letters seem to be legible, but no meaning to them.

I've had dozens of dreams with tornados in my life. (Many more snake dreams, though.) I've always wanted to see a tornado, and am always so disappointed when I wake up and realize it didn't really happen. So, I figured any time I see a tornado, I'll find a book or magazine, and try to read it. If I can, I'm awake, and really seeing one! If I can't, I'll know it's a dream, and see where it goes from there.

But, though I don't have the imagination to create text, it seems that I have the ability to fool myself. Several times, I've seen a tornado, picked up a book, and thought I was reading it! I was soooo happy! Then I wake up, realize I was fooled yet again, and realize that I hadn't read anything after all, I just believed I did in the dream.

[Dragonlily]

Come on, Fist. You read it, you just forgot.


Ahem, now back to work...

[Reisheiruhime]

Well, as my dreaming system is highly advanced.....

[Cail Fluffy]
Once, I dreamed that I was in Cail's current room. He was wearing bright pink pjs with duckies on them. He was, oddly enough, reading a book upside down. The book looked like Shatterglass, a book that I hadn't even heard of back then. He had a dictionary beside him. I just stood there for a while, until he threw the book at me.

[Raver Council]
Well, I did something in this dream. I invented diamondraught flavoured lipgloss, and we Ravers went slightly insane. We seemed to be speaking German, and I don't know a word of German.

[Lonny]
Avalon Avery has been subjected to my dreams a lot. She's Linden's kid in this dream I had. This was a very long dream, and I didn't even know that I wasn't in rl. Avalon got Summoned by us Ravers (Lord Foul had gone kablooie again) and we, of course, turned her evil. Imagine it, an evil 5-year-old.

[Giant's Child]
This dream was, of course, about the First and Pitchwife's kids. The boy was better with a sword, and the girl was good at sailing. I just spied on them for a while, until I ran into a rock whilst following Sunwave's little ship.

Oddly enough, when my dreams don't let me participate, any contact with anything wakes me up. Insomnia sucks.

I have dreams about the Land and other countries in that world a lot.

[Durris]

Turiya Foul wrote:

Once, I dreamed that I was in Cail's current room. He was wearing bright pink pjs with duckies on them.

ROFLMAO!!

I should have sent a telepathogram to the Haruchai Embassy for such an ethnic insult, but I was too incoherent with laughter to create a coherent signal.

He was, oddly enough, reading a book upside down.

Well, how do you know his language isn't written in the opposite direction from ours?

[hierachy]

Nope never, no land dreams for me. I hardly ever have (remember) dreams, and I can never once remember having a nightmare... maybe once... the queen came round and wanted to behead my sister.

but no land dreams.

[Reisheiruhime]

I should have sent a telepathogram to the Haruchai Embassy for such an ethnic insult, but I was too incoherent with laughter to create a coherent signal.

It wasn't an insult. He looks very fetching in pink.

Well, how do you know his language isn't written in the opposite direction from ours?

I don't. He looked confused, though.

[Brinn]
Ok, this one was last night. It's one of those repeating dreams. Brinn was sitting in the One Tree, high in its branches. He was humming a song by Chumbawamba, Tubthumping, I think. Instead of pink pjs, he wore blue, solid blue. One of those pants-n-short-sleeved-shirt sets. He started to talk to himself, and some of the subjects were odd. He was taking about Covenant and Linden, and he got very vulgar about Linden. I finally slid through the floor and woke up. The floor is the only thing that works.

[Sammy 98.9]
I walked in on Sammy Raver while he was doing his radio show. He had rigged up a radio broadcaster, and was, well, broadcasting. He had summoned some Weird Al cds, and was playing them. The odd thing was, people from beyond the Westron Mountains kept calling in and requesting Hay Ya (that weird Outkast song) and Sammy got up and he was dancing to it, and singing to it. This, I am glad to say, was not last night.

[Quest]
You wouldn't think that ur-viles went on quests, would you? They do. It is not fun to meet an ur-Vile Quest.

[Edited because I cannot spell quote.]

[Durris]

Turiya Foul wrote:

He looks very fetching in pink.

Fluorescent fuchsia would work: according to the color schemes in Color for Men, most if not all Haruchai are Winters. I've never figured out why they always wore ochre and brown in the books.

Instead of pink pjs, he wore blue, solid blue.

Yep, another Winter color.

He was taking about Covenant and Linden, and he got very vulgar about Linden.

Well, I always wondered whether the Haruchai thought it rude that Covenant and Linden, and Sunder and Hollian, were conspicuously paired while they were (perforce, being loyal husbands on foreign soil) celibate. Of course they would never deign to say such a thing, but maybe they discreetly took cold showers.