Kevin's Watch

Ha ha alanm, my lazy leopard beats your lazy Tigger avatar!


Re Foul:
He wasn't really defeated as such; he seemed to expend himself (by attacking Covenant/The Arch) in the most utterly physical way possible for a being of his power.
I think he made himself insubstantial, faded out, in the same way TC translates to and from the Land.
The power was still there, but had no way of manifesting itself.
He was kind of stuck in the limbo between material and invisible parts of the Land (or something!).

He already had practice at leeching the Earthpower for sustenance (mmm, earthpower), so maybe over thousands of years he regained tiny bits of his substance in a similar way.

Most of Foul's power seems to manifest itself in his "presence" anyway. No distinct form, just malice and spite that has such a weight and gravitas that it is unbearable to be around.
(Not that I've met him in person or anything. I'm sure he's a lovely bloke! )

And of course, you can't get rid of him!
Lords and beings of power including White Gold weilders have been trying to banish him for millenia.
Something bad will happen if you try to get rid of him, and if you don't....... something BAD will happen! Or the other way around...

Either way it doesn't bode well for a happy ending



[edited to include even more rambling]

he took a long nap.

Yeah Foul seems pretty grumpy first thing in the morning!

Often like it myself after oversleeping.
Though I've yet to attempt slaughter and ruination of an entire reality!

a lazy tigger is cool.

the only reason foul came back at the end of TPTP was because he was able to connect with earthpower because the staff of law was broken. This was not possible at the end of WGW, we have a new staff so earthpower was better and the only other possibility, corrupt earthpower, was restored by linden together with the new staff and white gold.

alan

Correct. Which is why I think the answer lies in the breaking of the Laws of Death and Life, and (almost) of Time. Seems sufficient to me.

Hmmm... could some insane individual have "resurrected" Lord Foul?

I don't think Foul feeds, sustains or replenishes/restores himself with Earthpower at all. It would be like poison to him- he's corrupt and Earthpower is good and pure. I just think it's the nature of his(relative) immortality that (automatically) restores him.

Yes, but Earthpower can be corrupted, eg. the Sunbane.
Lord Foul maybe can absorb or utilise it in this way.
As Wayfriend said, the Laws of Life & Death are broken.
The old rules no longer apply.

I am scared!


(ok alanm, I'll admit Tigger is cool!

It's possible TC took Foul into himself along with the wild magic.

Major Runes spoiler...

Spoiler

Remember: We've yet to actually see Foul or exactly what this TC is at the end of Runes. Perhaps they're now more connected than ever... or one in the same.

danlo wrote:Another reason why I love that cartoon is that he's originally traveling with Buggs underground and Buggs pops up, looks around, and says, "I must have taken the wrong turn at Albakooky."

Well I still laugh my head off at the "Duck Season / Wabbit Season... Elmer Season" episode when the following took place...

Elmer: Now I got you, ya Scrooey Wabbit
Bugs (calm): Ok, doc you got me, would you like to shoot me now or wait til you get home?
Daffy (excited!): Shoot him now! Shoot him now!"
Bugs (angrily): You keep out of this! He does not have to shoot you now!
Daffy (defiant): I say he does have to shoot me now. So shoot me now!
BOOM!
Daffy: Lets, try, that again.
Bugs (bored): Ok, Ok, doc you got me, would you like to shoot me now or wait til you get home?
Daffy(calmly): Shoot him now. Shoot him now."
Bugs(just as calm): You keep out of this. He does not have to shoot you now.
Daffy: AH HA! (looks at camera -- at you)Pronoun trouble. (back to Bugs) It's not he doesn't have to shoot you now, it's he doesn't have to shoot me now... so shoot me now!

BOOM!

Let me preface this by saying: I haven't read FR Chapter 1 yet, and I'm not sure I will. So no spoilers, please.

This is something I thought up a couple of days ago.

Look at the following lines:

In [u]White Gold Weilder[/u] was wrote: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. Surrendering to their savagery, he transcended them. Every blow elevated him from the mere grieving spectation of the Dead in Andelain, the ritualized helplessness of the Unhomed in Coercri, to the stature of pure wild magic. He became an unbreakable bulwark raised like glory against destruction.

At the same time, each attack made Lord Foul weaker. Covenant was a barrier the Despiser could not pierce because it did not resist him; and he could not stop. After so many millennia of yearning, defeat was intolerable to him. 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.

Is it possible that, during this scene, Lord Foul poured himself into his blasts, blasts which Covenant's spectre absorbed? Could the result be that Thomas Covenant now contains the Lord Foul?

At this time, Covenant is no longer mortal, he is a spirit - he is the Arch of Time. He is now at Lord Foul's level, or perhaps even greater, as the Arch dominates Foul. So it could be possible in a metaphysical sense.

Each of Foul's blasts diminishes him. And they make Covenant stronger. Something is clearly transferred.

And did Covenant not say to Foul, "You're just another part of me" ? And later, to Linden, "He and I are one"? These words could prophesy, could underscore, just such an outcome.

Other actions in the story have set a precident for such unification. Nom and samadhi. Vain and Findail. Covenant and the Arch and venom. Ravers and their victims. Even Earthpower and the Staff. The Land is filled with the capability of spiritual unity.

So Covenant absorbs Lord Foul. Lord Foul would at first be dissolute. But over time, he could be restored, as part of Covenant himself. They are one. Lord Foul is not an alien entity in Covenant; they partake of each other. He would be restored.

And what would happen as a result? There are lots of clues in Runes that point to such an outcome.

Spoiler

Consider the matter of Anele's possession. Who are his possessors? Two, whom we know. Lord Foul, and Covenant. And I have always wondered, why would Covenant agree to possession? And some of the words that Covenant speaks make you doubt it is him, this has been remarked on before. But, if Covenant and Lord Foul were now the same person, this could be explained.

And Foul said to Linden about Jeremniah, "Yet this I vow. In time you will behold the fruit of my endeavors. If your son serves me, he will do so in your presence. If I slaughter him, I will do so before you. Think on that when you seek to retrieve him from me. If you discover him, you will only hasten his doom. While you are apart from him, you cannot know his sufferings. You may be certain only that he lives." In other words, Jeremiah is safe as long as Linden doesn't find him, and if she does, Foul will either demonstrate Jeremiah's service to him, or slaughter him."

How do we reconcile this vow with the ending of Runes, where we see Jeremiah riding up to Revelstone with Covenant? Linden has apparently found Jeremiah. How can Foul fulfill his vow, if he is nowhere around?

If Lord Foul and Covenant are now one, then Lord Foul is riding up to Revelstone, too. That is how he would fulfill his vow.