Kevin's Watch

Sorry, I guess I'm confused between the Land and the Land's Earth - obviously gold does exixt in the Land's Earth, because as Burg pointed out, Kaseryn had gold in ready supply. But my question is, are we ever told that gold can be found in the Land itself?

burgs66 wrote:Regarding yellow gold - white gold has significance in The Land only because it doesn't exist in The Land. Yellow gold already exists. It would have no power, or we would see lots of Lords running around with rings on their finger with inscriptions like: "One ring to rule them all..."

Based on The One Tree, yellow gold has some fairly significant power, but not on the scale of white gold. White gold allows you to get rid of Lord Foul while properly used yellow gold only imprisons some Sandgorgons. We also learned that while yellow gold exists in the Earth, it's incredibly rare. The Lords in the Land might well have never even heard of it, and anyway they had orcrest and other powerful substances instead.

Actually, Kasreyn didn't have gold in 'ready supply'; his ocular may have been the only bit of gold in Bhrathairealm.

In [i]The One Tree[/i], SRD wrote:"You have seen," the Kemper continued as he worked, "that I possess an ocular of gold. Purest gold-a rare and puissant metal in such hands as mine.

In [i]Lord Foul's Bane[/i], SRD wrote:Gold has never been found in the Earth, though it is said that Berek knew of it, and made the songs.

The latter is Atiaran speaking to Covenant. I suspect Kasreyn, like Berek, was a bit of a prophet, though his inspiration was rooted in malignity; and he probably had to go through some mighty strange contortions to get the gold for that ocular. Who knows? Maybe he discovered the Philosopher's Stone and made the gold from scratch. But there's little to suggest that he had quantities of the stuff just lying about.

I used Amazon's "search inside the book" feature, and searched on yellow gold. Those two words never appear side-by-side. So, I guess, no?

Thankfully there are members like Variol who have either very good memory, or too much time on their hands.

Kaseryn had other gold besides his ocular. The chair that he strapped Covenant into had small golden loops. Kaseryn himself sat in this chair during his showdown with Covenant, and with the power of the gold loops he channeled wild magic back at Covenant. TOT chap 19.

As to the presence of gold in the Land, I can find no reference to yellow gold, however:

There is wild magic graven in every rock
Contained for white gold to unleash or control.
Gold, rare metal, not born of the Land....

If you read the poem in its entirety, it seems to me that he's referencing white gold specifically.

dlbpharmd wrote:Kaseryn had other gold besides his ocular. The chair that he strapped Covenant into had small golden loops. Kaseryn himself sat in this chair during his showdown with Covenant, and with the power of the gold loops he channeled wild magic back at Covenant. TOT chap 19.

Good eye, dlbpharmd! Thanks for catching that.

Still, it's a small amount of gold all told — perhaps no more than a few ounces. I find it easy enough to believe that gold as such is a foreign substance to the Earth, and only seer-prophets like Berek or consummate theurgists like Kasreyn have ever found the secret of it.

Perhaps I ought to put a question into the GI and wait a few months.

burgs66 wrote:If you read the poem in its entirety, it seems to me that he's referencing white gold specifically.

You're probably right.

A few points:

1. Covenant gave Linden the ring - his shade told her to pick it up while she was fading out cradling his dead body. I don't have the book handy, but he may have even used the words "it's yours, now". On the other hand, while he did place the ring in Foul's hand, this was more of a "loan", as he knew exactly what Foul would do with it, and Covenant had no intention of letting him keep the ring forever.

2. The "organic" connection between a tool and its wielder - the ring's "mark" was "deep" within Covenant, according to the Elohim. I don't think an object loses the connection when it is given voluntarily, rather that connection grows to encompass both. (Remember, "the acceptance of a gift returns honor on the giver")

3. No matter who takes it on later, the Staff is and always will be Linden's tool first and foremost. It was made by her, given its purpose by her, through her own intrinsic power as channeled through the white gold.

4. Pure Gold - probably native to the Land, but quite rare, just as are any of the substances of true power (Orcrest, hurtloam), and requiring of special lore to enable the wielder to manifest through them effectively. Of note, the purity of pure gold prevents "perfect" works from being made, as that would conflict with the intrinsic impurity of the White Gold foundation of the Arch, and therefore all existence, meaning that such works must eventually deteriorate.

As far as the Ravers go, the only extensive conversation we have with a Raver trying to conceal its presence is Herem's conversation with Triock in TPTP... and I don't think it actually <i>lies</i> anywhere there, though a lot of its stuff is rather ambiguously phrased. Have to go back and recheck.