I just read the chapter today. Everyone here is making valid points. However, as usual, I can't help but look at this from the perspective of the writing itself.
It feels forced. It feels like Donaldson is trying too hard to make this the old Tommy Covenant we all remember--replete with a "hellfire" here and a "bloody damnation" there. We even get the old standard, "Don't touch me!" All in the space of a few paragraphs. It's like this version of Covenant is a cliche, a narrative device used to conjure up the
memory of Covenant, not Covenant himself.
Yes, I know that this is part of the point, to cast doubt on the reality of this apparition. However, it comes off cheesy and forced, rather than mysterious and alarming. He beats us over the head with both Covenant's familiar quirks and the uncertainty of his identity. This isn't necessary. We already want to believe this is Covenant; we're dying for some TC! But we also already suspect his identity . . . because he freakin'
died in the previous Chronicles. Donaldson doesn't have to beat us over the head to make these points. Linden suspects Foul waaayyy too easily, even though TC's explanation for his own behavior seems reasonable enough. And then we get Anele's not-subtle-at-all comments about not seeing TC. Oh, and even though Linden is waaayyy too suspicious, she doesn't give Anele's not-subtle-at-all comments another thought. "Oh there goes that silly Anele again. Always babbling about something vitally important. I'll just ignore him for now, even though his claim precisely confirms my own unjustified suspicions."
And what was up with that torch trick? That's supposed to prove that TC was real? In a fantasy Land where the entire issue of its reality is at stake, Covenant tossing around a torch is supposed to be conclusive? In the previous Chronicles, he told Linden that he couldn't prove whether or not all this was in their heads, but now he expects her to base ontological decisions upon his ability to move ordinary objects? The Reality Question has certainly diminished for Donaldson.
After showing how ineffectual the Demondim were in the last book, it's going to take a lot more than Covenant saying that "the shit will hit the fan," in order for me to get worried about them. Just because there's some half-ass explanation for their ineffectiveness doesn't remove the feeling that these guys are wimps. I'm simply not worried about them. At all.
God, I hate to say it, but this feels like a parody of the Chronicles. Or even worse--it reads like fan fiction.
Wow! after rereading my account of SRD's read last August (ch. 6) and '05's ch. 2--things really begin to click (a little 
