Kevin's Watch

Linden said that it was not hunting, was wandering aimlessly (has no conscious will in order to hunt specific people) - in fact I believe in one moment of clarity Anele himself said the idea of it hunting him was ridiculous, that he didn't remember saying it. I think that in certain phases of his madness, and when near a caesure, he is so terrified of it that he convinces himself it is after him.

^ yes but hunting implies a conscious will, if it is just acting like a magnet to earthpower then it would be right to say it is not 'hunting' him.

High Lord Tolkien wrote:Different Anele question:

Why did he think the Ceasure was after him specifically on Kevin's Watch?

Now, this is simply my opinion. But I feel that Anele is the Land. As I have stated before, As Anele goes, so goes the Land. That is my opinion base on what I have read in RotE

Taking that assumption a step further, since the caesures are an attack on the Arch and the Land, they would in a sense be "after him specifically."

Of course, the whole idea is blown to pieces if my original assumption is incorrect.

Thats an interesting opinion ur-bane. Do you think that somehow Anele has been CHANGED from what or who he was, to REPRESENT what is happening to the land. Or do you think he is the Land "incarnate" so to speak. There is a problem with this second theory of course, because how then do you explain away Anele's past and history. But the first idea could possibly work.

Hmm. I actually thought that Anele and Esmer were both incarnations of different elements of the White Gold (going back to the "Save or Damn" poetry from the First Chronicles).

Anele especially, given Donaldson's love of wordplay in naming.

I think that they are random, but may repeat the same path. Linden says that's the reason that Kevins watch is so weak. The Ceasure had hit the Watch before. Now we don't know that Anele has ever been on the Watch before? But through Lindens 'sight' she sees that it has hit the Watch before.
Anele is able to read the Runes of the Earth (the various rock or stone he sees) He is the pivotal part of the book. From him we learn about all of the threats.

Kast is the third possessor of Anele. Upon first meeting Esmer Linden opines that "There is no doubt he served the fiery possessor, but did not hold the power to possess anele himself." Later upon questioning, Esmer says that he serves his grandsire in everything he does..

Game set match.

Funky Staff of Law wrote:I thought the ceasures pursued him becase he was very Earthpower-ful and they were attracted to that. Did someone not say that in the book?

If the ceasures ARE attracted to everything Earthpower-ful, it would make what the Haruchai are doing understandable.

And perhaps Joan now thirsts for Earthpower, the way she thirsts for blood.

ur-bane wrote:

Now, this is simply my opinion. But I feel that Anele is the Land. As I have stated before, As Anele goes, so goes the Land. That is my opinion base on what I have read in RotE

Anele's mind has been shattered by his passage through a Fall.

My Dad has dementia, and Anele's plight reminds me very much of this.

In dementia, a person rambles off on things unconnected to what is happening around them, but often can be brought a bit back to themselves and their surroundings when they interact with people they know, or have their established interests evoked by what happens around them, or have their sense of self evoked by surroundings and things with which they were once aquainted.

Anele gains a part of himself when he is on rock.

I reckon that the rock, with its record of what has been, is acting as a memory for him, replacing his own memory which has been shattered. And with this, he is able to gain a bit of functional ability.

Now because it is the ROCK's memory he is using, he APPEARS to be an avatar of the Land.

Yet he is not. It is just that its memory has replaced his own.

Anele is Anele.

A fantastic thing about this book, is that it is a thrillingly exciting adventure, and yet it speaks so much about REAL human conditions that it comes across to me as something that has REAL worth, over and above being an exciting adventure story.

Yup. SRD really has a keen insight into the human soul and I expect he himself has gone through the varying emotional states of his characters. As have many of us.

I think that Anele is suffering from a self-inflicted madness, to keep his real purpose or identity a secret. Since he is susceptible to possession, his derangement is probably a defense mechanism similar to Covenants in TOT. The "insanity until he redeems himself" may be a red herring, meant to throw us all off.

Also, can someone tell me how to put spoilers in a message?

Thanks!

{spolier}text here{/spoiler}

Replace { and } with [ and ], and you then get:

Spoiler

text here

I'm not sure who the heck the third possessor is, but here's my crackpot theory:

Spoiler

The real Covenant isn't the one at the last page of Runes; the real Covenant is the third possessor; Covenant's become crazy/evil somehow. His "Foul and I are the same" (or equivalent statement) always struck me as a foreshadowing of that. He's been dead in the Land for thousands of years; how can we even fathom what a human being's personality/disposition can evolve into over such a long time? *shrugs* "Hey, I've been dead for thousands of years, but I'm still the same old TC!"

/end crackpot theory

Actually, the more I think about it, the less I believe my own theory, but, hey, at least it's out in the air.

So, are you saying all of Anele's possessors are Covenant (in some way)?

Didn't Linden state that the posessor who caused the burning and the fire breath was Esmer? I didn't see anyone mention this obvious point in this thread yet (unless I missed it somewhere ... it's hard to catch up if you're away a while.)

Lord Foul wrote:but here's my crackpot theory:

BTW, your crackpot theory sounds like mine. I posted it in the "The Mahdoubt" thread and in the "The ending ... was it really ..." threads.

I don't know where she said that? She did gleen that Esmer was the one who stopped Anele from talking (head in teh rock), and that Esmer was the 'He' who was to strong here, when TC was talking through Anele. I assumed that the Fiery possesor was the Skurj, of course I also assume that the Skurj are the fiery worms that Linden sees eating the Land. They could be under the power of the Croyel.

In fact Linden said Esmer was destinctly 'not' the being of fire that had possesed the old man (Anele)

But it was mentioned that while Esmer isn't the being itself, Linden thought he does serve the possessor, which lends credence to the Kastenessen theory.

Yes Linden thinks that he serves Kassy and Esmer says that he serves his Grandsire like he serves Linden.

Why do we have to put spoiler tags in this forum? Isn't this a seperate forum so that we can discuss Runes without having to worry about spoiling it?

Do you think Kassy could be a raver? Is that the corruption that was eating the Elohim? They are all linked you know, maybe sitting on the fire for all those years, it was only a matter of time before he became weak enough to submit to a Raver. Or maybe he became so desperate, he allowed a raver to take him so that his appointment would end. Maybe he made some kind of bargain with foul or the Raver.

Spoiler

On a side note, it is mentioned in Runes that Moksha (that was the one inside Gibbon right?) has been forever rent. Is this true? Did Nom make him buy the farm?