Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:24 pm
Iquestor, I think your reasoning is well thought out and highly insightful. None of this ever occurred to me. I especially like your treatment of their logic in going to Foul's Creche. It does indeed make it seem like the inevitable, though doomed, choice. In a sense, they were doomed as soon as Hyrim killed the Giant Raver.
I don't think it is merely drama that Hyrim tells them not to take it, for the only possible drama is precisely the danger that they can become corrupted (it's not like he's worried they'll make jewelry out of it). So while yes, it is there for dramatic effect, it is also an implicit revelation of SRD's reasonging: if they take it or touch it, they'll be corrupted. That IS the implication: Hyrim knows the danger. So therefore, it must be something fairly straightforward, such as Iquestor's idea of Earthpower-Vow being tainted.
Now while this may very well be a incongruity in Donaldson's work--it wouldn't be the first time he messed up--I think the point is so pivotal to the series that he must have at least settled it in his own mind. Perhaps his thinking along these lines was very much like yours, Iquestor.
But here's my theory: we can also think of it as something close to what happened at Melenkurien Skyweir: the paradox of the Vow. Because of their Vow, they are forced into doing something which causes harm. They can't leave the fragment without causing harm, and they can't take into the heart of Revelstone without causing harm. Either choice represents a breaking of their Vow, and perhaps this very breakdown is the door which allowed the Stone fragment to corrupt them because their Vow had a flaw to begin with. It exposed the flaw through revealing a paradoxical choice which could not be explicitly decided by consulting the terms of the Vow. So it wasn't the proximity of the Stone which undid the Haruchai, but rather the breakdown of their Vow. Their own choice led them into betrayal--but it couldn't have been avoided. Just like giving Elena the key to the 7th Ward. They couldn't serve both the old lords and the new lords at the same time. Their Vow didn't cover this possibility. Either choice was a breaking of the Vow, which is corruption.
I don't think it is merely drama that Hyrim tells them not to take it, for the only possible drama is precisely the danger that they can become corrupted (it's not like he's worried they'll make jewelry out of it). So while yes, it is there for dramatic effect, it is also an implicit revelation of SRD's reasonging: if they take it or touch it, they'll be corrupted. That IS the implication: Hyrim knows the danger. So therefore, it must be something fairly straightforward, such as Iquestor's idea of Earthpower-Vow being tainted.
Now while this may very well be a incongruity in Donaldson's work--it wouldn't be the first time he messed up--I think the point is so pivotal to the series that he must have at least settled it in his own mind. Perhaps his thinking along these lines was very much like yours, Iquestor.
But here's my theory: we can also think of it as something close to what happened at Melenkurien Skyweir: the paradox of the Vow. Because of their Vow, they are forced into doing something which causes harm. They can't leave the fragment without causing harm, and they can't take into the heart of Revelstone without causing harm. Either choice represents a breaking of their Vow, and perhaps this very breakdown is the door which allowed the Stone fragment to corrupt them because their Vow had a flaw to begin with. It exposed the flaw through revealing a paradoxical choice which could not be explicitly decided by consulting the terms of the Vow. So it wasn't the proximity of the Stone which undid the Haruchai, but rather the breakdown of their Vow. Their own choice led them into betrayal--but it couldn't have been avoided. Just like giving Elena the key to the 7th Ward. They couldn't serve both the old lords and the new lords at the same time. Their Vow didn't cover this possibility. Either choice was a breaking of the Vow, which is corruption.
can't wait. will do a re-read of all three parts when it comes out!