Character integrity is the single most important thing to SRD as a story teller. The character arc of Thomas Covenant is the most important example of character integrity for this series. It would seriously undermine TC's integrity as a character to go backwards with his develop simply for the gimmick of having a young TC meet Linden. We've already seen them meet as strangers (in TWL). What would be the point of repeating such a meeting? What would be the point in bringing back a period in TC's life which has already seen its resolution (in TPTP)?wouldn't hold to this theory for literary reasons. Donaldson wants Covenant's story/journey/transformation to continue and conclude. He admits to hating prequels; for him, the value is going further, not going back.
I know that time itself is an issue in the LC. And I expect to see an examination on how "what it means to be human" (to quote SRD) is intimately tied to temporal existence--indeed, this is a major issue of existentialism, from which SRD has derived much inspiration. We might even see a present TC confront his own past selves and realize the failures of his previous solutions (much like Wayfriend's "fractured" TC theoy). But the main manifestation of TC in the LC will not consist entirely of a younger TC. There would be no literary point, in my opinion.
