Kevin's Watch

I have commented before how Kevin's Dirt seems to be very helpful to the Masters' strategy. In fact, that strategy probably wouldn't have worked without Kevin's Dirt on hand.

Maybe all that unused earthpower is backing up in the drainage pipes and getting very nasty and spilling out onto the streets, like A Florida town during a Hurricane?

I think the Dirt is related to the loss of the Staff of Law for so long, combined with the lack of use of Earthpower. Perhaps the fact that people are forgetting about it is causing them to be unable to even use it?

Emotional Leper wrote:Maybe all that unused earthpower is backing up in the drainage pipes and getting very nasty and spilling out onto the streets, like A Florida town during a Hurricane?

Melenkurion Skyweir is venting earthpower in the form of KD..
Any large release of wild magic will set it off.

I agree with Relayer that the Haruchai named it Kevin's Dirt due to some memory before the RoD. It would seem that such a pall appears before some form of massive Desecration. However, Kevin's Dirt has been around for awhile, so perhaps whomever is enacting this new RoD is attempting something on a grander scale than what Kevin had done to try to destroy Foul.

[mod edit due to infamous SRD interview spoilers]

Spoiler

Recall also that SRD has stated that the Land will be "destroyed" at the end of the las chronicles, Kevin's Dirt could just be a foreshadowing of the apocolyptic desecration at hand.

Relayer wrote: But that still doesn't make a lot of sense. It certainly demonstrates how much judgement the Haruchai still hold towards Kevin (or to all those who despair).

Didn't the Bloodguard despair in a form when they dropped the Vow?

Stonemaybe wrote: Probably TC's fault. linden's too pure and too good to be assosiated with any type of dirt (Come on, where are you foolish Thoolah's?

What's THOOLAH?

The Holy Order of Linden Avery Haters...

Dear Foul, you people are harsh.

Has Foul even got into this little world too? Does Despite and Hate live within you all? If so...

I am pleased.

-Oh hellfire, I blew my cover..

Hell and blood! Ahh, no matter. I will posses you all in time. Moohoohah!

wayfriend wrote:(At the risk of being predictable) This was posted yesterday.

In the Gradual Interview was wrote:Jim K: As always, thank you for writing. I am reading Runes for the second time and want to know....
Are the Bloodguard part of the problem of Kevin's Dirt?
In other words, is their denial of Earthpower towards the common folk causing the phenomenon?
[...] thanks again. Jim K

• No, the Haruchai share no responsibility for the existence of Kevin's Dirt. They don't do any magic. Withholding or stifling knowledge isn't the same thing as manipulating or tarnishing Earthpower. If asked, they might say that they consider Earthpower sacred: too sacred to be (mis)used by fallible human beings.
  
  (02/28/2007)

Well, that busts a hole in my theory.

Kevin's Dirt is another arrogant product of Elohim, Inc.

Lord Foul the Despiser -
"The caesures are none of mine. Also I had no hand in your blindness, for I did not utter the fine riposte of Kevin's Dirt. If you fear what has been done, think on the Elohim and feel despair. They serve me as do the Haruchai, unwittingly, and in arrogance."

The name grates on my sensibilities. It seems almost juvenile and a little too pedestrian for SRD. If you're going to call it "Kevin's Dirt" why not just call it "Kevin's stuff that blinds your health sense"?!?!

I wish SRD could have come up with a more ominous appelation like "Kevin's Stain" or "Kevin's Shroud" or "Kevin's Pall". Anything but Kevin's "DIRT"!!!

I couldn't agree more, and until I read this comment was about to post something similar. To me it is another indication of SRD's rushed form of writing in the Last Chronicles, a lack of thought for applicable names and real story development. In the somewhat archaic fashion that the Masters/Haruchai speak, the word 'Dirt' is very unlikely to have been chosen. "Kevin's Bane" or "Kevin's Scourge" would seem more likely (or equally any of the above suggestions).

It's a pity, but I just see this as evidence that SRD is just trying to create an income for himself by shoehorning any idea that comes to him into an already perfectly complete saga.

TheSeventhWard wrote:

The name grates on my sensibilities. It seems almost juvenile and a little too pedestrian for SRD. If you're going to call it "Kevin's Dirt" why not just call it "Kevin's stuff that blinds your health sense"?!?!

I wish SRD could have come up with a more ominous appelation like "Kevin's Stain" or "Kevin's Shroud" or "Kevin's Pall". Anything but Kevin's "DIRT"!!!

I couldn't agree more, and until I read this comment was about to post something similar. To me it is another indication of SRD's rushed form of writing in the Last Chronicles, a lack of thought for applicable names and real story development. In the somewhat archaic fashion that the Masters/Haruchai speak, the word 'Dirt' is very unlikely to have been chosen. "Kevin's Bane" or "Kevin's Scourge" would seem more likely (or equally any of the above suggestions).

It's a pity, but I just see this as evidence that SRD is just trying to create an income for himself by shoehorning any idea that comes to him into an already perfectly complete saga.

Good lord. Is this what criticism of the Last Chrons has come to?

"Kevin's Dirt" sounds like what ordinary people would have called it. It's slang-y and slightly vulgar. Calling it something grand like "Kevin's Pall" would sould like it was named by the Lords or something. But they aren't around. It fits the state of the Land perfectly at the time it appeared.

Well, the people of the Land didn't name it, they don't even know it exists. The Masters did, and they don't use slang much.

That said, I don't have a problem with the name Kevin's Dirt, it even seems to fit the Masters quite well. Haruchai are pretty straight up, call a stone a stone guys. Stain, Shroud, Pall, Stain, Scourge...I dunno, I think they're just too literal minded. What does it look like? Looks like dirt. What does it do? It twists Earthpower into evil use. Oh, you mean like Kevin did? Let's call it Kevin's Dirt.

Cambo wrote:Well, the people of the Land didn't name it, they don't even know it exists. The Masters did, and they don't use slang much.

That said, I don't have a problem with the name Kevin's Dirt, it even seems to fit the Masters quite well. Haruchai are pretty straight up, call a stone a stone guys. Stain, Shroud, Pall, Stain, Scourge...I dunno, I think they're just too literal minded. What does it look like? Looks like dirt. What does it do? It twists Earthpower into evil use. Oh, you mean like Kevin did? Let's call it Kevin's Dirt.

Spoiler

Tsunami.

TheSeventhWard wrote:

The name grates on my sensibilities. It seems almost juvenile and a little too pedestrian for SRD. If you're going to call it "Kevin's Dirt" why not just call it "Kevin's stuff that blinds your health sense"?!?!

I wish SRD could have come up with a more ominous appelation like "Kevin's Stain" or "Kevin's Shroud" or "Kevin's Pall". Anything but Kevin's "DIRT"!!!

I couldn't agree more, and until I read this comment was about to post something similar. To me it is another indication of SRD's rushed form of writing in the Last Chronicles, a lack of thought for applicable names and real story development. In the somewhat archaic fashion that the Masters/Haruchai speak, the word 'Dirt' is very unlikely to have been chosen. "Kevin's Bane" or "Kevin's Scourge" would seem more likely (or equally any of the above suggestions).

It's a pity, but I just see this as evidence that SRD is just trying to create an income for himself by shoehorning any idea that comes to him into an already perfectly complete saga.

"Dirt" also seems a lot less threatening then "Bane" or "Scourge" or "Pall". If it's just Dirt, it may be inconvenient, but it can be lived with.

Also, if he were just writing these to make money, I'm sure he wouldn't take three bloody years to write them. That's not good practice when other writers come out with at least a book once a year.

TheWormoftheWorld'sEnd wrote:

Cambo wrote:Well, the people of the Land didn't name it, they don't even know it exists. The Masters did, and they don't use slang much.

That said, I don't have a problem with the name Kevin's Dirt, it even seems to fit the Masters quite well. Haruchai are pretty straight up, call a stone a stone guys. Stain, Shroud, Pall, Stain, Scourge...I dunno, I think they're just too literal minded. What does it look like? Looks like dirt. What does it do? It twists Earthpower into evil use. Oh, you mean like Kevin did? Let's call it Kevin's Dirt.

Spoiler

Tsunami.

Agree with Cam...to those who see it, it looks like dirt. If we're gonna argue mundane...well, dump Kevin's WATCH...and how boring to call great big folk Giants.

Spoiler

There's nothing exotic or unusual in the word tsunami, Worm. It is, quite literally, what it is, and common even in English, and succinct.

And, Seventh Ward, you're perfectly free to think what you said...but I'm perfectly free to say it's a bunch of malarkey.

Vraith wrote:

TheWormoftheWorld'sEnd wrote:

Cambo wrote:Well, the people of the Land didn't name it, they don't even know it exists. The Masters did, and they don't use slang much.

That said, I don't have a problem with the name Kevin's Dirt, it even seems to fit the Masters quite well. Haruchai are pretty straight up, call a stone a stone guys. Stain, Shroud, Pall, Stain, Scourge...I dunno, I think they're just too literal minded. What does it look like? Looks like dirt. What does it do? It twists Earthpower into evil use. Oh, you mean like Kevin did? Let's call it Kevin's Dirt.

Spoiler

Tsunami.

Agree with Cam...to those who see it, it looks like dirt. If we're gonna argue mundane...well, dump Kevin's WATCH...and how boring to call great big folk Giants.

Spoiler

There's nothing exotic or unusual in the word tsunami, Worm. It is, quite literally, what it is, and common even in English, and succinct.

Try 30 years ago.

TheWormoftheWorld'sEnd wrote:

Vraith wrote:

TheWormoftheWorld'sEnd wrote:

Spoiler

Tsunami.

Agree with Cam...to those who see it, it looks like dirt. If we're gonna argue mundane...well, dump Kevin's WATCH...and how boring to call great big folk Giants.

Spoiler

There's nothing exotic or unusual in the word tsunami, Worm. It is, quite literally, what it is, and common even in English, and succinct.

Try 30 years ago.

Spoiler

You mean it was common thirty years ago? I hear about tsunamis all time, I'm living in a city at great risk from them. A few years ago one of our neighbouring countries suffered from what came to be called "The Boxing Day Tsunami." Also, I agree with Vraith: there's no simpler way to say it that accurately conveys what it is. Like Dirt.

Cambo wrote:

TheWormoftheWorld'sEnd wrote:

Vraith wrote: Agree with Cam...to those who see it, it looks like dirt. If we're gonna argue mundane...well, dump Kevin's WATCH...and how boring to call great big folk Giants.

Spoiler

There's nothing exotic or unusual in the word tsunami, Worm. It is, quite literally, what it is, and common even in English, and succinct.

Try 30 years ago.

Spoiler

You mean it was common thirty years ago? I hear about tsunamis all time, I'm living in a city at great risk from them. A few years ago one of our neighbouring countries suffered from what came to be called "The Boxing Day Tsunami." Also, I agree with Vraith: there's no simpler way to say it that accurately conveys what it is. Like Dirt.

No, I'm saying that the word has only recently come into parlance.

Oh, I see. Well, what did they call it before they called it a

Spoiler

tsunami?

Cambo wrote:Oh, I see. Well, what did they call it before they called it a

Spoiler

tsunami?

In which country?