Kevin's Watch

It sure does sum up Covenant the way he relates to the world. *sigh*

And welcome to the Watch, Troll!

Linna Heartlistener wrote:"It isn't like salad dressing-- you can't just spoon it around. You're human. You weren't born to be immortal."

Comparing "so much existence" to salad dressing... such... genius on the part of SRD.

I agree! I love the salad dressing line!

My favourite bit was when the teenagers went up to Joe the Beggar (who told Covenant to be true) and sheepishly gave him high fives.

A group of teenage guys walk by, and one dashes over to Joe and gives him a high-five, then re-joins his group. Then two of his friends sheepishly turn around, run up to Joe, and high-five him as well.

Brilliant!

shur-Lord Gudatetris wrote:

Linna Heartlistener wrote:"It isn't like salad dressing-- you can't just spoon it around. You're human. You weren't born to be immortal."

Comparing "so much existence" to salad dressing... such... genius on the part of SRD.

I agree! I love the salad dressing line!

I wonder if this was a conscious or unconscious allusion to The Fellowship of the Ring.

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote:'I am old, Gandalf. I don’t look it, but I am beginning to feel it in my heart of hearts. Well-preserved indeed!’ he snorted. ‘Why, I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over too much bread. That can’t be right. I need a change, or something.’

wayfriend- that's a good observation. I also like the butter line, but I never realized how similar the two were.

Someone already mentioned this here or elsewhere, but for some reason, this thread has been stuck on my mind lately, and I feel like I should mention this one. One of the "greatest" lines in the book (if it can be called such a thing) is

"..but that is a juiceless pleasure"

from Kasreyn of the Gyre. That is very gross and worthy of the Chrons both at the same time.

shur-Lord Gudatetris wrote:

Linna Heartlistener wrote:"It isn't like salad dressing-- you can't just spoon it around. You're human. You weren't born to be immortal."

Comparing "so much existence" to salad dressing... such... genius on the part of SRD.

I agree! I love the salad dressing line!

One of the things I love most about it is... in addition to the quirkiness of the metaphor - what are the chances Bannor even knows what salad dressing is?!?

I love it as dialogue; it's just another example of the mis-match between Covenant and Bannor!
Covenant repeatedly is being (kinda harshly) inconsiderate / not viewing Bannor as a person, and only catching himself after the words come out of his mouth.
I think things he intends to have one effect often end up having a totally different effect in that conversation!

So the real question is, did the Bloodguard ever eat salad?

I think the answer is no. If Earthpower gave them long life and no need to sleep, certainly it also gave them a days supply of essential vitamins and minerals.

And remember when Bannor met the Ramen in Lord Foul's Bane?

In [u]Lord Foul's Bane[/u] was wrote:But Bannor stepped over to the dead wolf and pulled Grace's rope from around its neck. Holding the cord in a fighting grip, he stretched it taut.

"A good weapon," he said with his awkward inflectionlessness. "The Ramen did mighty work with it in the days when High Lord Kevin fought Corruption openly."

Then, on the spur of an obscure impulse, Bannor tightened his muscles, and the rope snapped. Shrugging slightly, he dropped the pieces on the dead kresh.

"Salad eater," he chided. Without a glance at Cord Grace, he left the hilltop to mount the Ranyhyn that had chosen him.

Oh gosh, you're killing me... Bad, so bad!
(It's like the Bad Writing Contest + the Mis-Quotes Thread rolled in to one influencing this place!)
This flagrant misquoting of SRD is gonna confuse some newbs someday!

The truly weird thing is... I -just- read that chapter today, and stopped to re-read those lines, thinking "I know I'm missing something" and wondering whether it was indeed a prophesy.
(kinda chilled by SRD's using so many words on something that was "supposedly" metaphor. He doesn't waste words.)
Oh wait, where's the word prophesy? ...I must have made that up!

I may have woken my flatmates laughing when I read the "salad eater" line.

I like that part at the end of the second, that whole, "mighty bulwark" thing. It's pretty cool. And I gotta say, I like the second "Nom" more than the first, personally, although both are awesome.

Just finished another re-read of LFB. Three lines really stuck with me, and I listed them below in bold, along with the context.

Softly, at first, Covenant said to the river, "I gave Joan a pair of riding boots for a wedding present." Then, shaking his fists wildly, he shouted, "Riding boots! Does my impotence surprise you?!"

The harsh facts of leprosy do not only make Covenant feel like he has lost his place as a valid human being, it casts a depressing light on everything that has gone on before in his life, makes him question whether or not he was ever worthy.

....But the face he saw in the fire-stones was his wife's. Joan! he cried. Was one sick body more important than everything?

He tore open his shirt as if he were trying to bare his heart. From the patch of clingor on his chest, he snatched the wedding band, jammed it onto his ring finger, raised his fist like a defiance. But he was not defiant. "I can't use it!" he shouted lornly, as if the ring were still a symbol of his marriage, not a talisman of wild magic. "I'm a leper!"

I could have just as easily called "He tore open his shirt as if he were trying to bare his heart." or "I can't use it! I'm a leper!" my favorite quote of that section.... I just really enjoyed the passion and pain of that part of the story. It really hits home how his impotence is the result of not only society's, but more importantly his wife's, verdict of invalidation of him as a human being, and the pain, as a result of the verdict, he tries to bury in order to survive.

"Help him?" Mhoram's eyes glinted dangerously. Pain and raw restraint sharpened his voice as he said, "He would not welcome my help. He is the High Lord. Despite my oath"--he choked momentarily on a throat full of passion--"I would crush Drool." He invested Drool's word, crush, with a potential for despair that silenced Covenant.

A glimpse into the fiery passion of Mhoram. A foreshadowing of the Lord his will become in The Power That Preserves. It gives me chills....

Something there is in beauty.

I have been searching ever since.

Two favourites, both from TIW:

Lord Callindrill leaned forward to ask, "Amok, why were you made? What purpose do you serve?"

"I wait," said the boy. "And I answer."

Callindrill accepted this with a glum nod, as if it proved an unfortunate point, and said nothing more.

and:

Mhoram spoke to him carefully, "My friend--this is the knowledge which I have withheld from you. The witholding gave you unintended pain. Please pardon me. The Council feared that this knowledge would cause you to abominate the Unbeliever."

"Damn right," Troy panted. "Damn right."

And also from TIW is moksha Jehannum hyperventilating:

I will destroy you! I will burn and blast your homes. I will make Revelwood a charnal, and use Revelstone for an offal ground. I will wreck and ravage the Land until Time itself breaks! Hear me and despair! Surrender or die!

I read something fun today that I never noticed before. Kasreyn told Linden that she would have to pierce Covenant's veil for him, and....

At that, her heart leaped. But she strove to conceal her tension, did not let her angry glare waver. Articulating each word precisely, she uttered an obscene refusal.

LMAO, I can imagine what it was. Go **** yourself

Shuram Gudatetris wrote:I read something fun today that I never noticed before. Kasreyn told Linden that she would have to pierce Covenant's veil for him, and....

At that, her heart leaped. But she strove to conceal her tension, did not let her angry glare waver. Articulating each word precisely, she uttered an obscene refusal.

LMAO, I can imagine what it was. Go **** yourself

That's my interpretation also.

Lena says that Cov fought a grey cloud. Trell's response is amazing because it's not what you'd expect and adds character to his,err, character: "Which was the victor?"

"My heart has rooms That sigh with dust and ashes in the hearth."

Always stuck with me... I can't even remember the book it's from.


Together they tuned and climbed arm in arm up the ravine towards Saltheart Foamfollower.
When They reached him, they found that his buttressed visage was still wet from weeping. Gray ice sheened his face, hung like beads from his stiff beard. His hands were gripped and straining across his knees.

"Foamfollower," Lena said in surprise, "This is a moment of happiness. Why do you weep"

His hands jerked up to scrub away the ice, and when it was gone, he smiled at her with wonderful fondness. "You are too beautiful, my Queen," he told her gently. "You surpass me."

It may not be one quote but to me this entire passage (didn't write what was before and after it because I didn't want too spend an hour doing it) radiates the deep emotions found in the land... it's hard for me to explain... it's just that when I read this part I get all chokey and stuff.

"Laugh, Covenant," Foamfollower whispered hoarsely. "you have told us the end of all things. Now help us. Laugh."

Covenant replied dully, "You laugh. 'Joy is in the ears that hear.' I can't do it."