POV for the last two books

[storm]

Just imagine if the last two books were in Stave's POV, where he could actually hear the mind speech of the haruchai...*sigh*

[The Humbled]

I'm not so sure that we won't have some TC POV- maybe I'm delusional.

SRD's answer says that Linden will continue to be AN important POV character, not the only one. (As previously mentioned here by Xar.)

And his point about surviving the story seems to me to indicate that the POV character survives to the point at which they cease to be the POV character, or can continue narration beyond that point.

I think the best example being Hile Troy's POV, it ends with his appointment with the Forestal. Perhaps Linden's ends when her bargain with The Harrow is finalized, heh. POV is as much a tool of the author as anything, and can be just as useful for obscuring events as it is for revealing them.

I'm not counting TC out yet as POV. Just because Roger played him as a know-it-all doesn't mean that his new human form will be.

[SGuilfoyle1966]

There are some general guidelines about point of view. (Exceptions exist, of course, but they're rare.) 1) Stories should be told from the POV of the person who has the most at stake. 2) Stories should be told from the POV of the person who serves as the best surrogate for the reader, either because the character needs to know the same things the reader needs to know, or because the character can tell the reader the things the reader needs to know. 3) Stories should be told from the POV of someone who *survives* the story. By all three standards, Linden's role as a POV character is, has been, and will continue to be essential.

I think to read that Linden survives from this is perhaps dangerous. SRD is a fan of Wagner and might burn the whole thing down. But it could be read exactly that way, as well.

I don't think Linden is a good surrogate for the reader, at least not in the Second Chronicles. She is now "mother love" and more approachable in Final. She definitely has the most at stake.

So does she "survive"? Sure. But in a Donaldson book, what is survival?

Covenant was able to explain some things, sing a song to Linden before he vanished and she returned to the real world. Yet he was the major POV character of the Second Chronicles.

Did he survive it?

A bit.

That could be what's in store for Linden.

And in one previous comment, someone said Joan probably doesn't survive. Joan was incinerated. Phooom. Gone. No more. Bleeding demised.

[Relayer]

Yes, but to what extent "survived" ? Triock and the Healer didn't survive TPTP.

Edit to spoiler Gap and MN references:

Spoiler

Many POV characters in the Gap didn't make it to the end... Nick, Liete, Dolph, Sorus, even Holt and Warden (?). Nor did the Tor or Castellan survive MN.

I'm fairly certain he's not suddenly going to start bouncing around from POV characters the way he does in those two series... they're a different kind of story. But he certainly could balance it w/ TC and LA and perhaps a chapter here or there from someone else, for example if Mahrtiir needs to go off on some journey

[emotional leper]

[]edited

My virgin eyes!

[Relayer]

Sorry EL. I almost spoilered it too...

Think I'll do so now so you're the only one who wants to lobotomize me.
Will you spoiler yours too? Won't do much good if only I do it

[tgcali]

Nevertheless I promise you--as I've been promising everyone since I started on "The Runes of the Earth"--that this story isn't called "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" gratuitously. The title isn't a trick, or a marketing ploy: it has substance. Give me time, and I'll prove it to you.

I read this to mean TC's POV is coming back. Maybe not substantially, but SRD says himself, it's not called "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" for nothin'.

[earthbrah]

Well, what about a Foul POV section or chapter? Supposedly, (I can't recall where I heard this...) we're going to learn more about Foul as a character, his motivations and such. He was so archetypal in the first two trilogies, it's been said that he'll be more of an actual person in these last books. Of course, we haven't seen that yet, but a POV segment for him might be fascinating.

[Relayer]

Yes, I'd love to read that too.

[dlbpharmd]

So would I!