Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2014 9:41 pm
OK, let's look at Covenant's reasons now for treating (or not) Roger the way he did.
When we first meet him in LFB, his character feels childlike in some senses. He really likes Joan but the prospect of fatherhood is kind of fuzzy for him. When he loses them only Joan's loss is meaningful to him but Roger is an afterthought. He did not form any attachments to the son he was about to have. He actually wanted to concentrate on his novel while his wife was pregnant with him and from my memories of that section (it's been a while) seemed envious of this embryo who was taking Joan's attention away from him in a kind of big sibling baby-envy.
In the years before Covenant's first visit to the Land he was very self centered. Maybe he had to be to survive his excommunicated status but we have to face the facts on this. Covenant couldn't let go of his ex-wife. She was his and he deserved that she'd take care of him like the marriage vows promised. And the justification she gave for abandoning him was Roger. He was stealing her from him for real now. Covenant denied his existence. Was he subconsciously hoping that if he believed hard enough, Roger would disappear and Joan could come back to him? He wouldn't let go of her. He clung to his marriage ring. He could've probably found someone else if he tried. Maybe one of the other patients in the Leper treatment center he was in but he wouldn't let go of the injustice she committed against him. Thereafter he never tries to contact his wife (or his son). They were in the wrong so they had to make the first move. Roger get lumped in the same boat. Covenant has only room in his mind to think about himself. Understandable where his ex wife is concerned. Not so much where his son is.
What happens after his first adventure in the Land? He had some experience in parenting with Elena. But Elena was the one taking care of him more than the other way around, not to mentioned the twisted incest angle their relationship had. Is it a coincidence that Elena functions as a sacrifice for his sake? He even burns her up with his wild magic in TPTP. Did he learn how to be a parent from his experience with her. I think not. After returning to his life in the real world he stops being dead inside but he doesn't try to reform his contacts with the rest of humanity. He has learned to become self sufficient without being filled to the brim with hatred to them. His focus has turned inward toward his experiences and friends in the Land. Dr. Berenford I believe was the one who initiated contact. If it was up to Covenant he would have had no one in the real world. And so, again, he made no effort to contact his son.
And so we reach the Last Chronicles. In his absence and as a result of Joan's weakness Roger has become a selfish servant of Lord Foul. Now does Roger mean nothing to Covenant because he never knew him? Elena seems to negate this line of thought. He met her as a full adult as well but he did form an attachment to her. So why her and not Roger?
After sacrificing himself for the sake of his commitment to their marriage vows at the beginning of TWL, Covenant says he has paid enough for that old attachment. He wants to go on with his life and eventually starts a relationship with Linden. Roger is part of that old baggage. He has never formed an attachment to him in the first place, he blamed him for his misfortunes for a long time and he could see the traces of Joan in his features just like he could see the traces of Lena in Elena's features. Where the second filled him with guilt and a need to pay back for what he did, the opposite was true for the first. He reminded him of Joan's betrayal of him and how much he paid in blood and tears for her sake. What's more, his features were also a twisted mirror of his own, mocking his great deeds with his littleness. Roger learned the lesson of Power from his father's example and Thomas wished, like always, that he would just go away.
When we first meet him in LFB, his character feels childlike in some senses. He really likes Joan but the prospect of fatherhood is kind of fuzzy for him. When he loses them only Joan's loss is meaningful to him but Roger is an afterthought. He did not form any attachments to the son he was about to have. He actually wanted to concentrate on his novel while his wife was pregnant with him and from my memories of that section (it's been a while) seemed envious of this embryo who was taking Joan's attention away from him in a kind of big sibling baby-envy.
In the years before Covenant's first visit to the Land he was very self centered. Maybe he had to be to survive his excommunicated status but we have to face the facts on this. Covenant couldn't let go of his ex-wife. She was his and he deserved that she'd take care of him like the marriage vows promised. And the justification she gave for abandoning him was Roger. He was stealing her from him for real now. Covenant denied his existence. Was he subconsciously hoping that if he believed hard enough, Roger would disappear and Joan could come back to him? He wouldn't let go of her. He clung to his marriage ring. He could've probably found someone else if he tried. Maybe one of the other patients in the Leper treatment center he was in but he wouldn't let go of the injustice she committed against him. Thereafter he never tries to contact his wife (or his son). They were in the wrong so they had to make the first move. Roger get lumped in the same boat. Covenant has only room in his mind to think about himself. Understandable where his ex wife is concerned. Not so much where his son is.
What happens after his first adventure in the Land? He had some experience in parenting with Elena. But Elena was the one taking care of him more than the other way around, not to mentioned the twisted incest angle their relationship had. Is it a coincidence that Elena functions as a sacrifice for his sake? He even burns her up with his wild magic in TPTP. Did he learn how to be a parent from his experience with her. I think not. After returning to his life in the real world he stops being dead inside but he doesn't try to reform his contacts with the rest of humanity. He has learned to become self sufficient without being filled to the brim with hatred to them. His focus has turned inward toward his experiences and friends in the Land. Dr. Berenford I believe was the one who initiated contact. If it was up to Covenant he would have had no one in the real world. And so, again, he made no effort to contact his son.
And so we reach the Last Chronicles. In his absence and as a result of Joan's weakness Roger has become a selfish servant of Lord Foul. Now does Roger mean nothing to Covenant because he never knew him? Elena seems to negate this line of thought. He met her as a full adult as well but he did form an attachment to her. So why her and not Roger?
After sacrificing himself for the sake of his commitment to their marriage vows at the beginning of TWL, Covenant says he has paid enough for that old attachment. He wants to go on with his life and eventually starts a relationship with Linden. Roger is part of that old baggage. He has never formed an attachment to him in the first place, he blamed him for his misfortunes for a long time and he could see the traces of Joan in his features just like he could see the traces of Lena in Elena's features. Where the second filled him with guilt and a need to pay back for what he did, the opposite was true for the first. He reminded him of Joan's betrayal of him and how much he paid in blood and tears for her sake. What's more, his features were also a twisted mirror of his own, mocking his great deeds with his littleness. Roger learned the lesson of Power from his father's example and Thomas wished, like always, that he would just go away.