Kevin's Watch

Hey, didn't I tell you to go read those books again right now???

Spoiler

Brinn and Cail are the only two Haruchai left on Starfare's Gem at that point, and they both leap to the merewives.

I-I'm s-sorry...I'll remove myself from this forum until I have read all six books cover to cover without stopping... then I'll be m-more qualified to participate without looking like a freaking idiot!
I find myself appalled at myself on my misquotes and sequences of events because I have read the entire series once a year for the last 10-15 years and here I go suffering my ever-present foot-in-mouth disease which gets worse with every post... lol

Seafoam Understone wrote:... misquotes ...

Nothing a good can of insect repellent couldn't fix.

Landwaster wrote:

Seafoam Understone wrote:... misquotes ...

Nothing a good can of insect repellent couldn't fix.

Or better... pepperspray!

Heh. Don't worry about remembering something wrong. A lot of us have done some pretty good ones!

*bump*

Wow! I had forgotten how awesome this thread is. Fist, that first post is just amazing!!


Thanks!

Aw, shucks.

Thanks

Hey, I just noticed your title. Good one.

LOL Thanks, it was inspired by Brinn. He asked me what was that mysterious shadow, and I thought it sounded like a good title.

Fist and Faith wrote: Sounds like the Haruchai to me!! Who has greater certainty than the Haruchai? And they are immune to "spells and abilities" like the sunbane, the Ravers, Kasreyn and his geas, and physical forces that would destroy legions of other people.

Agreed, in general; but I need to make a distinguo.

Korik, Sill, and Doar have the certainty that they can fight
Foul at last, but they aren't immune to the Illearth Stone.

And in the Second Chronicles, no Haruchai is immune to the
Clave's ability to control minds telepathically.

The certainty of the Haruchai can be a brittle certainty
outside its sometimes narrow range of operation. Isn't Korik
described as fending off all questions from the ambit of
his certainty? The certainty required considerable energy
to maintain...look again at the exchange between Covenant
and Bannor in Lord Foul's Bane where Covenant says,
"Maybe your Vow is mocking you" after Bannor tells about
Kevin's saving the Bloodguard from the Desecration.

Even in the "real" world, militant certainty is sometimes driven
by doubt that can't be even thought about out loud.

*bump*

OK, here's my question.
Since surviving in the mountains was extremely hard, what did the Haruchai do with their oldies? I've heard of a tribe somewhere that live in the mountains, and when they are too old to look work, they just walk out into the snow, and die - because it is too hard for their tribe to look after them. Were the Haruchai like that?

Excellent question. I imagine the shame of not being able to keep up with the demands of life there made some step off a cliff. I also imagine many worked themselves to death, keeping up long past the time when their bodies could take it, until they just dropped in their tracks.

I don't, however, imagine that adults in their prime practiced coercive triage of any kind upon the elders. Why? Not because my flatlander scruples can't take the thought, but because of the extreme value the Haruchai attach to memory. I imagine that any ancient who chose to step off a cliff--or who simply decided that a certain breath would yield up his or her spirit, as Numenoreans of virtue in the Tolkien world are reported to have done--would first convey a complete mind-download to someone mature enough to receive it and vigorous enough to carry it for another generation.

OK, thanks Fist.

Very nice thread. It's been a while since I read Covenant (my brother lost my single volume copy of 1st Chrons... waaah), but the First Chrons was ... *intense*. The Second was a bit disappointing (though the appearance of Starfare's Gem: a ship carved of *STONE*!! A STONE SHIP! ... delighted me).

That first post describing the Haruchai lifestyle applies to Frank Herbert's Fremen as well, I think. If the Donaldson's Haruchai were inspired by Herbert's Fremen, then he did a magnificent job of making them his own, compared to how Robert Jordan simply pilfered the concept to create the Aiel.

I recall reading a book about Amerindians (Man's Rise to Civilzation, by Peter Farb), that among the Inuit, if a person felt he was no longer capable of hunting and providing for his family and clan, he would take his own life.

But now I feel awkward comparing Inuits to Haruchai.

I look forward to posting some more. This place is nice.

Ah, the legendary Bahgoon! Good to have you with us!

Please send my regards to Thelma!

I would if I remember who Thelma was... like I said it's been a while. A worthy Giantess, no doubt

What are White Gold Dollars?

You don't remember Thelma Twofist? She must have really knocked you senseless.

There's a topic for White Gold Dollars in the Q&A forum and the Announcements forum. I'll be lazy and put up danlo's explanation for you:

About white gold dollars: you get 3 WGDs for every post you make and something like 4 or 6 for every new topic you create. If you go to the "Bank" function above you can save and gain interest on your WGDs--when you have enough then you can purchase the real-estate: Andelian, Coecri, etc..foodstuffs: aliantha, diamondraught, etc, aquire knowledge from the Lorestaat: wards, whitegold, etc...and even gamble them in the Casino--to do this you go to the "Shop" function above--and if you go to "Effects" you can pay to customize your name and title.

As far as I know, all the real estate has already been acquired (and has been that way for a while). Don't know about the Casino--never been there myself.