Mapping the end

[Vraith]

And...will dealing with Worm, LF, SHE all happen at the same time/place? I wonder...

Probably so. What better way to resolve everything at once then by having all major players come together. Besides, I suspect Foul would like to see the Worm drink the Earthblood and become strong enough to break the Arch; tihs would make his victory and translation out of the Land more sweet.

Foul gloat??? Never!! I wonder if he has prepared a speech?

Probably just the worlds scariest MMWWWAAAAH-haa-haa-haa-HAAAaaaah.
Or, on second thought, not...he's pretty chatty at beginnings and endings so you might well be right. You think he'll thank his Mom? and all little folk that helped him, especially those nutty Ravers?

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

I think that's someone who'd rather thank himself)

[shadowbinding shoe]

It would definitely be the Lost Deep.

A lot of attention was given to the Viles and their descendants. Their constructs are connected to Jeremiah. We only rushed through this place and got a few hints at what's there. We will return to explore them in depth before the big finale.

The shattered Hazard, supposedly the only way in, logically makes this place inaccessible. All the monsters of the world who stand between it and the company (She!, Kasty, the Gorgons and Skurj...) make it utterly impossible. This should tell us it's where they should head to.

Kiril Threndor was important in the past but we have enough fiery beings in the story already. The fires of the mountain wouldn't scare them.

The Lost Deep has other, new things. The abyss at its entrance could well swallow some of the enemies of the Land if need be. Surely there would be place enough in it to contain the Worm for example.

[Mighara Sovmadhi]

It would definitely be the Lost Deep.

A lot of attention was given to the Viles and their descendants. Their constructs are connected to Jeremiah. We only rushed through this place and got a few hints at what's there. We will return to explore them in depth before the big finale.

Maybe Jeremiah can use those water sculptures for something...

[Tefazipipo]

I'm glad to not be alone in considering The Lost Deep!

[Zarathustra]

They've already gone to every place of importance. I just don't see Donaldson repeating himself. Maybe it will be somewhere new. The last time our gang ended up near the ocean, they took an ocean trip. But leaving the Land at this time seems unlikely.

We also have to ask ourselves: what's left to do? They found Jeremiah, they brought back Covenant. Now they have to stop the Worm. The Worm isn't going to KT or Revelstone or any of those other places. It's heading for the Earthblood. We almost have to have a final showdown there.

[Simanent]

but I agree that Revelstone will be a big part of the Last Dark. I am much loking forward to (hopefully) some real 'storytelling' re the Haruchai/Masters thread of the story, which to date has been hinted at but not explored.

Something, maybe a lot, but at least one major turning point, has to happen there for sure...I mean, the Ramen have been sent to persuade the Master's...but except, perhaps, Andelain all the other "important" locales seem too far away even if everyone is on Rany-back. considering there are only a couple days left...UNLESS the big event for the Har. involves use of power [or an alliance with the Insequent?...something else?]

Revelstone contains an unknown portion of Kevin's Lore. If the Masters are convinced of the need to use Earthpower, might their long collective memory of the Old Lords enable them to use Kevin's Law?

[SkurjMaster]

I voted for Rivenrock given the situation with the Worm and the Earthblood. I think Revelstone will be used as an instrument of Despair. Its destruction as the bastion of the Masters will be seen as something to bring the people of the Land, maybe even the Masters themselves, to their knees.

Also, there have been two major events at the Cave of the Earthblood. One a resounding defeat. The other, I think, was a misdirection of some kind. Or at least a near-miss. What better place for a once-and-for-all 'victory' than the Cave of the Earthblood? But I bet it will not be a victory like any we fans might map out. I predict that the Worm WILL get the Earthblood. Maybe Jeremiah even needs that to happen.

[wayfriend]

And...will dealing with Worm, LF, SHE all happen at the same time/place? I wonder...

Probably so. What better way to resolve everything at once then by having all major players come together. Besides, I suspect Foul would like to see the Worm drink the Earthblood and become strong enough to break the Arch; tihs would make his victory and translation out of the Land more sweet.

While I was dissecting the final chapter of AATE, I remembered Anele saying, in the Lost Deep, "Here it will discover its final nourishment."

So I got to thinking that, SWMNBN might turn out to be the source of Earthblood, the source of Earthpower in the Land. (What else makes the Land so special that Earthpower is more available here than elsewhere? And isn't "love" a good source of Earthblood?)

So we could have a Jeremiah/Worm/Foul/Covenant/Linden/She showdown here in the Lost Deep.

Seek deep rock.

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

...
So we could have a Jeremiah/Worm/Foul/Covenant/Linden/She showdown here in the Lost Deep.
...[/i]

Do you think we may be in for the most epic "You ruined my life!"?)

[dlbpharmd]

And...will dealing with Worm, LF, SHE all happen at the same time/place? I wonder...

Probably so. What better way to resolve everything at once then by having all major players come together. Besides, I suspect Foul would like to see the Worm drink the Earthblood and become strong enough to break the Arch; tihs would make his victory and translation out of the Land more sweet.

While I was dissecting the final chapter of AATE, I remembered Anele saying, in the Lost Deep, "Here it will discover its final nourishment."

So I got to thinking that, SWMNBN might turn out to be the source of Earthblood, the source of Earthpower in the Land. (What else makes the Land so special that Earthpower is more available here than elsewhere? And isn't "love" a good source of Earthblood?)

So we could have a Jeremiah/Worm/Foul/Covenant/Linden/She showdown here in the Lost Deep.

Seek deep rock.

It's a bit of a stretch, but you may be on to something.

[deer of the dawn]

And...will dealing with Worm, LF, SHE all happen at the same time/place? I wonder...

Probably so. What better way to resolve everything at once then by having all major players come together. Besides, I suspect Foul would like to see the Worm drink the Earthblood and become strong enough to break the Arch; tihs would make his victory and translation out of the Land more sweet.

Foul gloat??? Never!! I wonder if he has prepared a speech?

I predict multiple scenes/viewpoints stretching the tension to the throw-the-book-across-the-room point.

Or else, some completely unthought of mindshag for an ending:

- the Land is the Creator's estranged wife and He made the Arch of Time as a beautiful prison for her insanity/suicide which is personified in Foul. Covenant will realize this and convince the Creator that it's time to let her go... in the Last Dark of his accession, Linden and Covenant will be the new Arch and recreate the Land in their image...

- Cov is the Creator, but much older, having been the Arch for millennia upon millennia. Foul is his leprosy. The three come together for a group hug involving mixed levels of enthusiasm, resulting in Creator 2.0 (beta).

- With the Arch falling, persons and creatures of all epochs of the Land come forth for a final smackdown. (Let the chair-throwing begin.)

Or some other unforeseen complications... but I suspect SRD will do what he always does, and surprise and challenge and completely floor us with his choices in bringing it all to a close. However it happens it will be bittersweet.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

However it happens it will be bittersweet.

I don't think SRD has ever really liked the "and they all lived happily ever after" ending. Those are okay for children's stories, but for adults that kind of ending is so unreal as to be unbelievable--no one ever lives happily ever after and we know it.

[rdhopeca]

However it happens it will be bittersweet.

I don't think SRD has ever really liked the "and they all lived happily ever after" ending. Those are okay for children's stories, but for adults that kind of ending is so unreal as to be unbelievable--no one ever lives happily ever after and we know it.

To counter that assertion, may I present Geraden and Terisa of Morgan?

[deer of the dawn]

However it happens it will be bittersweet.

I don't think SRD has ever really liked the "and they all lived happily ever after" ending. Those are okay for children's stories, but for adults that kind of ending is so unreal as to be unbelievable--no one ever lives happily ever after and we know it.

To counter that assertion, may I present Geraden and Terisa of Morgan?

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Okay. I stand corrected.

[DrPaul]

I picked "Wherever dreaming goes" because I'm pretty certain that the Worm will have done its vermicular duty and destroyed the world (including all the other places mentioned) before the conclusion, and the stakes in the final denouement involving Foul the Creator, She, Covenant, Linden and Jeremiah will be whether, and on what terms, a new time and reality are created.

Remember that in ROTE Foul predicted the destruction of the Arch of Time by forces that had been unleashed, and then said "There is more, but of my deeper plans I say nothing" (or words to that effect). The pattern in the previous Chronicles is that Foul's early predictions that bad stuff will happen do come true, but he is ultimately thwarted in his more fundamental ambitions.

Remember, too, that in Pitchwife's account of the Elohim's cosmology in TOT, the expectation is that the Worm will be aroused and destroy the creation sooner or later before contributing to a subsequent new creation, and we also learn in this account that the Worm has apparently done this in previous ages.

[TheRegan]

Probably so. What better way to resolve everything at once then by having all major players come together. Besides, I suspect Foul would like to see the Worm drink the Earthblood and become strong enough to break the Arch; tihs would make his victory and translation out of the Land more sweet.

I've never been convinced that the Arch of Time can be broken by the Worm, even with Earthblood powering it. I've always felt that If the Arch of Time is held together by the Wild Magic, the only thing that could destroy it must be either Wild Magic or the removal of the Wild Magic. Since I don't really see how the Wild Magic could be destroyed using Wild Magic (Unless there's a way to destroy the rest of the Arch with it.), I think removing the Wild Magic from the Arch would be the only way to destroy the Arch. How this would be accomplished I don't know, but with Donaldson, I never seem to anyways. Perhaps could Covenant or someone else could integrate themselves into the Arch and then remove themselves from the Land, taking the Arch of Time with them.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Well, Covenant is the white gold and he did spend several millenia as the Timewarden, an integral part of the Arch of Time. Of course, that which we call "the Arch of Time" is actually the foundation of the reality of the Land; in our universe we would call this the space-time continuum. In short, Thomas Covenant is the Land...or, at least, he was.

I wonder if he'll figure out how to use wild magic to translate himself back into the Arch to stop the Worm?

2013 will be an interesting year. The Last Dark and Wasteland II. I can hardly wait.