So what's holding up the arch? (poss spoiler)

[dlbpharmd]

But nothing's that simple anymore. The wild magic has been fused into me. I am wild magic. In a sense, I've become the keystone of the Arch. Or I will be — if I let what I am loose. If I ever try to use power.

Now that I am looking at this again, I catch myself on the words 'or I will be'.

'If I ever try to use power.'

Now I look again at Donaldson's words:

because this is magic rather than technology (because it deals in symbolic unities rather than in discrete mechanisms), the Staff cannot be inherently separate from the forces and rules which it exerts.

The Staff unified with the Law and Earthpower because it exerted that power. And Covenant will be unified with the keystone if he exerts that power.

The parallelism here is making more and more sense to me.

The question now, is: in the 3,500 years since, has this unification occurred? Or, maybe, just maybe ... it's about to. Bwa ha ha ha HA.

IIRC, one of the reasons Covenant refrained from using power from this point in WGW on is that he was still full of venom - the caamora in the Banefire had fused the venom into him. He did not want venom to become part of the AoT. However, when Lord Foul attacked Covenant, the venom was burned away. So would Covenant still be as reluctant to use power?

[finn]

Good comments guys....

I wrote earlier (still can't get my head around doing the quote thing!!!)

"...............he can be the keystone without having to have his entity, 'in situ' so to speak. Of course this could risk the entity and thus the arch. "

The idea of fusion appeals. TC as the White Gold/Wild Magic could now BE the Arch of Time. If that were the case then as above and as Wayfriend has also pointed out, the Arch could be imperilled by TC "coming out to play"; what we in effect will have is an embodiment of the Arch. In my mind I'm seeing this as playing a game of Chess but with the mind of one of the players actually on the board as a piece in the game...if that piece is taken......

However Wayfriends idea is also attractive that TC never did 'actually' become the keystone, as such maybe he will be able to take up where he left off, assuming he can become corporeal again and there seems to be a few ways that that can happen.

The Physical/Metaphysical comment is also interesting...is there another plane a sort of semi-metaphysical place like Valhalla or Olympus or even Heaven and Hell as per Dante etc. As the Guardian of the arch might he come down from Olympus as the Greek Gods did, is he Baldir in Norse legends.

**************

There are a few threads exploring the 'greater universe' in which the land is contained, this I think is becoming more and more necessary as the Creator, Foul (who's clearly more than just a bad character in the play) and TC (who is now some kind of spiritual entity) are all in play and have been introduced as characters interacting with the story in Chronicles I&II. Include the Elohim and the "real' world and even the dead, we are starting to open up lids on cans: there is a whole level of existence on another plane which is now starting to directly impact on the storyline.

A part of this 'whole' is the actual nature of the AoT, how TC interacts with it and how that interaction may effect his ability to function in this series. I'm thinking to continue the series, SRD has to again up the stakes.

[ur-Vile Lore Master]

This is going way deeper than I ever thought it was going to.

I believe that a keystone is just the right piece that holds the rest of the work together. So in this sense, WM would be the thing which is placed in the right spot (it's own element would be enogh) and the only way to destroy the AOT was to remove it (use the power of WM). And the reason that Foul couldn't destroy it was because TC was absorbing the power because he was part of the AOT already, having been released from the ties of life so that he could.

As for him coming back, I have only 1 idea: If I remember correctly, somewhere in one of the Second Chronicles, it was said that WG was a part of everything. That was one of the reasons that TC wouldn't use his power too early in the books, he had the venom in him. If he were to become part of the AOT, he would have made WG and venom part of everything and then it would all be evil. Or something like that. But as for him coming back, he should have been part of everything, so he could easily recreate himself as he saw fit and out of anything he wanted. Thats all I can think of.

[Nathan Brazil]

So who's to say he cannot be in two places at the same time.

No one said from when he came . . .

First thing that struck me about seeing those words on the page is that TC is a paradox himself.

[NightBlaze]

TC had the venom in him. He couldnt get rid of the venom though he took a major risk in the banefire to try to remove it. He knew he was going to die, and made a concious choice to"jibe" at Foul. Thus LF did the one thing TC couldnt do. That was burn out the venom.
TC IS the white gold, or rather, he IS the wild magic. That power, even in death cannot be taken from him. Its a part of his being. At this point I find it safe to say that IS his revenant riding towards Revelstone. Further, Im gonna go out on a limb and say I think HE is the one that will get the Haruchai to see what a mistake they are making, not Linden.
Can he be the essential force of the arch and be riding towards Revelstone? I say yes he can. He made the choice to be a part of the arch and keep foul imprisoned. The sentence he stated at the end of TPTP to LF makes even more sense now. He told Foul, "you've used your filthy power, now it's me. Its my will that makes a difference." Sorry, thats not the exact quote, but TC's will to preserve the land is essential. Thats what the risk both the creator and Foul had to take. If he remains unbroken by despair and anger, LF is screwed.

[Aleksandr]

Here's a thought: the caesures create cracks in the Arch. Maybe TC returned out of one of those cracks somehow?
Not sure how Jeremiah plays into this. He wasn't in the Land before, unless there's some backstory we aren't aware-- something will add to the story of the 2nd Chronicles.

[alanm]

However come what may I have yet to see a coherent theory about how our hero can be in two places at the same time.

Yet in the 1st & 2nd Chrons, he is clearly both present in the Land and in the "real" world.

(Don't know where I'm going with this. Observation more than anything else.)

--A

Yes but in the 1st and 2nd chrons he was also alive in the 'REAL WORLD'. now he is dead in the real world.

[NightBlaze]

A quote from White Gold Weilder on page 451. Paragraphs 1 and 2.
'Every blow elevated him from the mere greiving spectation of the dead in Andelain, the ritualized helplessness of the Unhomed in Coerci, 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.'
Reading that sentence brings 2 different theories, but the one I consider most when I read those paragraphs is that TC is blocking any direct attack against the arch. Maybe the caesures are what Foul hopes will weaken the arch, but he will have to get past TC to escape.

[Fist and Faith]

Covenant is wild magic, but the Arch - and its wild magic - was there before he joined with it, and there's no reason to think it can't exist without him again. He melded himself with the Arch's wild magic so that he could absorb Foul's bolts. He should be able to be separated from it again. (And apparently, he is able. heh)

[ur-bane]

"Remember that I am dead."