Kevin's Watch

The Other Ur-Lord wrote:Am I misremembering (which is totally possible, I haven't read the books in a while) but didn't Elena break the Law of Death by ordering Kevin to destroy Foul? Hile Troy broke the Law of Life by bringing back Hollian, didn't he?

No You are right.

I suppose it's possible to claim that the Illearth War pushed Elena into a corner where she dared to summon Kevin... but really, I see that happening without Foul's army attacking the Land. It came about by the awakening of the krill, and Covenant's bargains, and the infirmity of his ill-conceived child, and the horserite of the Ranyhyn, and the Bloodguards' choices. Any looming threat from Lord Foul would have sufficed, and he is a threat merely by existing.

But Amok only returned to Revelstone to guide Elena because he saw How much Danger the Land was in from Foul.

Without Foul's threat of Attack, the LoD would be intact.

Oh, excellent point. But still, could Foul have planned on that?

Maybe. Foul could have been there when Kevin created Amok, and knew what he was "programmed" to do.

Or Foul could have even helped in creating Amok. A being whose purpose is to lead someone to the Earthblood... which Kevin himself chose not to use. Why would Kevin create such a being, if he felt the Earthblood was too dangerous? IIRC, Elena's answer was that Kevin hoped that someone greater than himself would come along (and she thought she was that person ) But what if at least the part of Amok's programming that brought him back, after he left because it was clear the Lords hadn't mastered the Sixth Ward, was Foul's doing?

That was my line of reasoning, now that I've actually gotten some sleep, and thought about it more with a clear head

With the scope of the threats to the Land: LF holding the Stone, 3 Giant-Ravers each wielding a fragment of the Stone, a vast army, etc. it seems a very safe bet that the Lords, in desperation, would use the Seventh Ward as Elena did, to break the Law of Death by summoning Kevin. But then again, that's just my take on things.

While it worked out that way, I wouldn't think that that particular event would have been part of Foul's plans though. Hell, if he'd known about the Earthblood, wouldn't he have been even better served by using it himself?

(Or maybe not...given the law of unintended consequences.)

--A

There were limits to the Power. The Earthblood could not be used to Command either Despite or the White Gold, so clearly things sourced outside of the Arch of Time were not within its scope.

It seems, however, that ANYTHING within the arch was maleable, including the Law itself. This is what made the Power too dangerous to use - ever.

break the Law of Death by ordering Kevin to destroy Foul? Hile Troy broke the Law of Life by bringing back Hollian,

As for the breaking

Elena broke the Law of Death by Summoning Kevin, not by what she ordered him to do. The Law would have been just as broken no matter who she Summoned, or to what purpose.

The Law of Life was broken to enable Hollian to be resurrected. It was broken by the passion of Sunder, channelled through the Krill*, to release the power of the Forrestal, which in turn was channelled through the Krill to perform the actual ressurrection.

* We have to assume here, that the activation of the Krill was "Sixth Ward" level lore. Why else would the Krill's activation have been the trigger for Amok? If the lore of the Seventh was capable of rending the Law almost without effort, you have to assume the lore of the Sixth would have enabled significant manipulation (and as shown, even breaking) of the Law with sufficient motive of the wielder.