Runes of the Earth: Part One: Chapter 2: Caesure

[Warmark]

Ok, first of all, apologises for this being late, I attempted to post this on Thursday, however the Internal Server Error beat me and I couldn’t post anything on the board, and as I was away this weekend this is the first time I’ve been able to repost it.

Again, sorry and now onto the main event.



Runes of the Earth: Part One: Chapter 2: Caesure

The chapter begins with Linden, newly summoned to the Land for the second time in her difficult life. She has arrived on Kevin’s Watch, just as Thomas Covenant did six or seven millennia ago, just as she did several thousand years ago.
Linden’s immediate thoughts are of how different the Land she knew could be after such a long time since her last visit.

…the healing which she had began should have worked its way into every stretch of rock and blade of grass, every vein of leaf and trunk of tree, from the Westron Mountains to Landsdrop and beyond.

But thirty centuries and more were also time enough for Lord Foul to restore himself; and to devise a new corruption of this precious, vulnerable place

Her fears for the Land she has healed are evident.

And the prophetic figure who should have warned her of her peril had given her nothing. He had denied her any chance to protect her son.

Linden is still in a rage with the beggar for not giving her a warning as she had received the first time she was summoned. However Thomas Covenant was never warned more than once, I think Lindens anger towards the bagger is needless. If, as some people have suggested, the Final Chronicles ends with a battle between the cosmic powers of the Creator and a free Lord Foul, then Linden may be able to ask why the beggar never appeared.

Linden’s head is full of fear for her son, thoughts of his safety and Fouls actions race through her.

What had Lord Foul done?
What was he doing to Jeremiah right now?
She would not allow the Despiser to keep him.

However despite her urgency, she is able to realise that recovering Jeremiah will be no easy task.

Linden now thinks of her own plight and seems to flounder at the thought of doing this alone, without her beloved Thomas Covenant.

And this time she was alone. Entirely alone.

Once Linden remembers her Health-sense, we are given they first taste of danger in the Land.

Something threatened Kevin’s Watch.

She feels a ‘’suggestion of weakness’’ in the stone beneath her feet. This weakness in Kevin’s Watch is quite shocking for the reader, as the Watch as been on of the few incorruptible constants in the world of the Land. From the time of Kevin and possibly before it has stood through the Ritual of Desecration, of the Forming of the New Lords, The Illearth War, the Corruption of the Bloodgaurd and Giants, the Change from Lords to the Clave, the Sunbane and has proved stronger than all, however now its time as a bastion of incorruptibility is coming to an end.

After the initial shock of feeling a stress in the stone, Linden takes time to see what her physical condition she is in. She finds she has healed the bullet wound she thinks she has taken during the fire-fight in the woods behind Haven Farm. This subconscious healing of a life threatening wound with wild magic is yet another link to Thomas Covenant whose healing of his knife wound in the Second Chronicles astounded her.

Her healed scars gave her courage.

For some reason when I read this line I thought of Covenants removed fingers, his disfigurement gave the Lords courage as they thought he was a re-incarnation of Berek the Lord Fatherer.

In a possible bit of foreshadowing Linden muses:

…had never seen or heard what lay beyond the Southron Range.

Spoiler

We now know that the Ramen and Ranyhyn have been there for centuries.

Linden then thinks of the Haruchai, and thinks:

Had they survived uncounted centuries of her absence? If so, she could hope for help.

Spoiler

After meeting them she may not be so hopeful.

At this moment she felt, Thomas Covenants loss so acutely that it wrung her heart.

But Linden cannot afford to think of Thomas Covenant, she must focus on helping herself and helping her son Jeremiah.
Now Linden, for the first time, looks out over the parapet of Kevin’s Watch and gives us the first sight of the Land in over three thousand years.
The Land is covered in a think yellow smog, which SRD describes as ‘’industrial’’ and with a ‘’hue of pollution’’ these descriptions are at odds with everything in the Land, where even buildings seem natural such as Revelstone and Revelwood.

Spoiler

This smog is, of course, Kevin’s Dirt. Linden sees this as wrong, just as the Sunbane and the Illearth Stone were wrong.

While thinking about this new ill in the Land, Linden hears a new and unexpected sound. The sound of someone climbing the stairs of Kevin’s Watch. This is clearly similar to Thomas Covenants meeting with Lena in Lord Foul’s Bane, and reminds us that Linden is in need of aid if she is to find her son.

This is the moment when, perhaps, the most important new character is introduced into the Third Chronicles.

When the figure scrambles over the parapet on top of Kevin’s Watch, Linden immediately sees what he is mad. She also thinks of Nassic, who met her and Thomas Covenant in her First visit to the Land, all those years ago in a Sun of Rain.

Upon further inspection she realises the man is brimming with Earthpower, without delay Linden thinks of Hollian and Sunder and the child which had been born of them.

Spoiler

This is clearly foreshadowing of Anele’s parentage.

The next noticeable part of Anele is his eyes. Lindens physician background tells her that he has cataracts, however her Health-Sense tells her that he has somehow ‘’willed himself blind’’.

Her next thought, and as a Doctor is it somewhat expected, is that she could attempt to cure him with Wild Magic, however she decides against this when she remembers that the White Gold is always ready to soar into destruction. It is not a tool for healing as her Staff of Law was. ‘It was called Wild Magic for a reason’.

When Anele speaks he confirms Lindens assessment that he is mad. He refers to himself in the Third person and also refers to ‘It’ and ‘Them’. We do now find out who ‘They’ are in this chapter.

Linden tells the man that he is ‘Not Alone’. To me it seems as though she took as much comfort as Anele did from being together. She needs someone to heal and something to focus on.

Linden tries to use her years of training with mentally ill people to question Anele, but this serves little purpose as she manages to extract very little information, due to Anele’s frightened state on mind.

Anele then tells Linden that ‘It’ is close. Linden is shocked to discover that her Health-Sense can discern nothing.

Spoiler

This is the first sign that ‘Kevin’s Dirt’ blocks Land born Health-Sense.

Then a movement in her peripheral vision catches her eye. This is the first mention of perhaps the most important change which has occurred since White Gold Wielder.

The Land now contains Caesures.

[it was] Hundreds of feet tall, it stood against the western edge of the blunt cliff face: a spinning chiaroscuro of multicoloured dots like the phosphene aura of a migraine. Towering in the shape of a whirlwind, it seethed and danced hotly, each spot of colour incandescent with force, each indistinguishable from the last. Its impact hit Linden so hard that she could not focus on it clearly; it appeared to be superimposed on the impenetrable shroud below her, as if it swirled in a different dimension. But then her senses sharpened, and she realised she was seeing the manifestation through the cloud.

This description is very different to anything we have ever seen in the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, and I think if we had seen on before Linden would remember it. Some have suggested that Sandgorgon’s Doom from The One Tree may be a Caesure; however after rereading the description of the Doom, it is not described in the same way.

Again Linden thinks that this Caesure is wrong, and says that in it reality looked ‘distorted and suspended.’

Spoiler

This description fits in with its time-warping abilities.

Then as the Caesure reaches the spire of Kevin’s Watch, it envelopes it and the one of the oldest and most recognisable pieces wonder from the Land splinters and falls thousands of feet to the valley floor below.


So there we have it. Runes of the Earth: Part One: Chapter 2: Caesure

Hope it was worth the wait. :p

[dlbpharmd]

Well done, Warmark! I added a few spoiler tags when you talked about things to come in later chapters.

[matrixman]

Good summary, Warmark!

She feels a ‘’suggestion of weakness’’ in the stone beneath her feet. This weakness in Kevin’s Watch is quite shocking for the reader, as the Watch as been on of the few incorruptible constants in the world of the Land. From the time of Kevin and possibly before it has stood through the Ritual of Desecration, of the Forming of the New Lords, The Illearth War, the Corruption of the Bloodgaurd and Giants, the Change from Lords to the Clave, the Sunbane and has proved stronger than all, however now its time as a bastion of incorruptibility is coming to an end.

Yes, the collapse of the Watch is shocking -- and doubly so, for it to happen so early in the story! A rude awakening, times ten.

In the Second Chronicles, wood and soil were under assault by the Sunbane, while stone remained immune - a bastion of incorruptibility, as you said. (Thus the rituals across the Land of people standing on stone at dawn to protect themselves against "the corruption of the sun.")

But now even stone is in danger, its very "permanence" called into question after the all-too-easy destruction of the Watch. It seems SRD is not wasting any time in starting to "deconstruct" the Land.

[tonyz]

each spot of colour incandescent with force, each indistinguishable from the last.

I think this is important here: one of the keynotes of the Laws that uphold the Land is that things are distinct: wood is not stone, stone is not wood, sea and stone are distinct, each moment is divisible from those that come before and after.

Now all of that is breaking down.

I'm having trouble visualizing the caesures, though; the description puts one in mind of a rainbow crossed with a tornado, or a polychromatic hurricane. But somehow all the images I can come up with seem like they would look better in a Barbie cartoon. Anyone else have a better visualization?

Second question: the description of the caesura reminds me of the mysterious worms of fire that showed up in Linden's vision in the last chapter -- both of them seem to devour reality around them. Are they perhaps the same thing, or related in some way? I'm beginning to think that they are the same and that the vision was just a symbolic means of showing their effect -- any thoughts?


Tony Zbaraschuk

[dlbpharmd]

Good summary, Warmark!

She feels a ‘’suggestion of weakness’’ in the stone beneath her feet. This weakness in Kevin’s Watch is quite shocking for the reader, as the Watch as been on of the few incorruptible constants in the world of the Land. From the time of Kevin and possibly before it has stood through the Ritual of Desecration, of the Forming of the New Lords, The Illearth War, the Corruption of the Bloodgaurd and Giants, the Change from Lords to the Clave, the Sunbane and has proved stronger than all, however now its time as a bastion of incorruptibility is coming to an end.

Yes, the collapse of the Watch is shocking -- and doubly so, for it to happen so early in the story! A rude awakening, times ten.

In the Second Chronicles, wood and soil were under assault by the Sunbane, while stone remained immune - a bastion of incorruptibility, as you said. (Thus the rituals across the Land of people standing on stone at dawn to protect themselves against "the corruption of the sun.")

But now even stone is in danger, its very "permanence" called into question after the all-too-easy destruction of the Watch. It seems SRD is not wasting any time in starting to "deconstruct" the Land.

Agreed, that was a great "HOLY COW!" moment early on in ROTE. Excellent points about stone, MM!

[Avatar]

Man, I second that. The sheer shock of the Watch falling will live on as one of the most memorable moments in the Chrons for me. And so soon into the Land too.

The fall of the Watch was a climatic moment worthy of the end of a book as far as I'm concerned, and the speed and apparent casualness with which it was destroyed was my first hint that, as WayFriend keeps saying, "everything must go."

*shudder*

Great dissection Warmark. I agree with you about the beggar for what it's worth, although I doubt Linden will see it.

A good point about Anele actually providing Linden with a focus for her care, (and one she could especially relate to as a physician). His need made her more sensible to what was going on around her I think, rather than focussing so much on her son that she was oblivious to anything else.

--A

[wayfriend]

Not too shabby, Warmark; not too late.

In a possible bit of foreshadowing Linden muses

Yes, the author lays a lot of groundwork here, tying in the future events of the story, and tying in the past events. There are also references to Andelain, Mithil Stonedown, Revelstone, Landsdrop, the Sunbirth Sea. All of these places are probably important as the story unfolds.

But Linden cannot afford to think of Thomas Covenant, she must focus on helping herself and helping her son Jeremiah.

One thing that I picked up on here is that Linden feels an urgency. In the Second Chronicles, Covenant only had a matter of months before his death in the real world "caught up with him". I'm sure that Linden is under the same impression - she only has several months of effective existance in which to rescue Jeremiah.

Already she knew that any attempt to rescue Jeremiah might well require months. She could not simply descend from Kevin's Watch and step to his side. The place where Lord Foul had secreted her son could be hundreds of leagues distant. Hell, she might need days simply to gain an understanding of her own circumstances - and the Land's. ... She had no supplies or maps; no means of travel except her untrained legs.

This urgency speaks somewhat towards her perceived "recklessness", I believe. (Note also the foreshadowing hidden there ... hmm, if only she had a means of travel better than walking.)

Her next thought, and as a Doctor is it somewhat expected, is that she could attempt to cure him with Wild Magic, however she decides against this when she remembers that the White Gold is always ready to soar into destruction. It is not a tool for healing as her Staff of Law was. ‘It was called Wild Magic for a reason’.

Hold your friggin' Ranyhyn, Donaldson!

What's all this crap about Linden being unable to use the ring?

Last we heard in your previous Chronicles, "Linden had a better right to his ring than he [Covenant] did." She was healing Giants left and right, on a moments notice. She healed the whole Land from the Sunbane.

Now its "[She] was not even sure she could call it up at will" ?!?! And "her control would not be delicate enough" ?!?!

Now all of a sudden we are supposed to believe that Linden has problems using wild magic? Where does this come from?

I'm having trouble visualizing the caesures, though; the description puts one in mind of a rainbow crossed with a tornado, or a polychromatic hurricane.

This is weird, but I always think of a particular original Star Trek episode, where these clouds of sparkles were attacking the crew. (The Zetarians in "The Lights of Zetar", you trekie nerds.)

• 

In practical terms, I think that the best way to imagine them is as a dense cloud of multi-colored fireflies. ... except they're not lights, they're tiny distortions ... err, sort of.

Man, I second that. The sheer shock of the Watch falling will live on as one of the most memorable moments in the Chrons for me. And so soon into the Land too.

... and follows immediately after Haven Farm burning to the ground. This Chronicles is starting on a note of irretrievable loss. What else will be irretrievably lost?

as WayFriend keeps saying, "everything must go."

Yeah, me and Leland Gaunt.

- - - - - - - - - - -

In this chapter, and the previous, there seems to be quite a few "assertions". Things that Linden seems sure of, but which, if you think about it, you have to wonder how she knows it.

How does she know she is dead in the real world?
How does she know that Roger and Jeremiah were also summoned?
How does she know that Foul has Roger secreted away someplace distant?

This kind of stuff doesn't come through health-sense. It can be that the author is trying to move past this stuff fast, and wants us to accept it a priori. It could be that he's highlighting Linden making assumptions that will "collapse" (excuse the pun) later.

Frankly, I lean towards believing Linden, and am so assuming that this is a literary shortcut. Donaldson said that the Final Chronicles will explore the transformations that are possible after dying in the real world, therefore I think Linden really did die in the real world. I will take it on faith that Roger and Jeremiah are around, that Jeremiah is imprisoned somewhere distant.

- - - - - - - - - -

Other pointlets.

The yellow smog is wrong, a violence done unto the Land. We should not forget this as we spin our theories. It is intentional.

Anele is certain that the "fatal aura" is after him.

Interesting statement when describing the fatal aura: "reality seemed to flow and melt into itself like the confusion in Joan's mind".

[Relayer]

This is weird, but I always think of a particular original Star Trek episode, where these clouds of sparkles were attacking the crew. (The Zetarians in "The Lights of Zetar", you trekie nerds.)

• 

That's actually pretty close to how I picture it too... and shaped like a tornado. Although sometimes I find my mind picturing it more like a giant rectangular area like a huge doorway/portal that sweeps along the ground... even though I know that's not correct that's how I picture it.

Is this the same episode where the crew and Klingons kept being made to fight each other by the being that fed upon hatred, until at the end they all laughed together? (I always wondered if that episode was an inspiration for the end of TPTP).

In this chapter, and the previous, there seems to be quite a few "assertions". Things that Linden seems sure of, but which, if you think about it, you have to wonder how she knows it.

How does she know she is dead in the real world?
How does she know that Roger and Jeremiah were also summoned?
How does she know that Foul has Roger secreted away someplace distant?

This kind of stuff doesn't come through health-sense. It can be that the author is trying to move past this stuff fast, and wants us to accept it a priori. It could be that he's highlighting Linden making assumptions that will "collapse" (excuse the pun) later.

I noticed a number of these too... This also ties in w/ how she assumes the Creator has abandoned her, etc... (although possibly he has ) Whether or not this is an authorial device, we'll have to RAFO... but every time she thinks to herself "Surely, bla bla bla..." I find myself thinking, probably NOT!

I also found it interesting that she immediately decides to help Anele, at all costs... It could be that she just trusts her health sense that much, that she sees the Earthpower in him and knows he isn't a threat... but it always seemed strange to me that she would commit herself immediately, without knowing anything about her situation, who or what now lives in the Land, etc. Although in this case, I believe she made the right decision.

[dlbpharmd]

Hold your friggin' Ranyhyn, Donaldson!

What's all this crap about Linden being unable to use the ring?

Last we heard in your previous Chronicles, "Linden had a better right to his ring than he [Covenant] did." She was healing Giants left and right, on a moments notice. She healed the whole Land from the Sunbane.

Now its "[She] was not even sure she could call it up at will" ?!?! And "her control would not be delicate enough" ?!?!

Now all of a sudden we are supposed to believe that Linden has problems using wild magic? Where does this come from?

My thoughts exactly!

[tonyz]

Pretty much mine as well -- she was using Staff and ring together with no problems when she healed the Sunbane. Maybe this is another clue that she's not quite as all-together as she thinks she is.

[Believer]

Wasn't there a GI question where someone asks this, and SRD responds that in the 2nd Chrons she was mainly using the white gold through TC via possession, and using it directly is not as easy?

My own explanation is that over the years she has taken more of TC's attitude about the white gold, and forgotten the control she had over it... but it's not a very good explanation, I'll admit.

[matrixman]

Is this the same episode where the crew and Klingons kept being made to fight each other by the being that fed upon hatred, until at the end they all laughed together? (I always wondered if that episode was an inspiration for the end of TPTP).

That episode with the Klingons was "Day of the Dove."

I also found it interesting that she immediately decides to help Anele, at all costs... It could be that she just trusts her health sense that much, that she sees the Earthpower in him and knows he isn't a threat... but it always seemed strange to me that she would commit herself immediately, without knowing anything about her situation, who or what now lives in the Land, etc.

But what's so strange about a compassionate response to a (seemingly) frail old man? Linden's reaction was consistent with her character: she's a doctor and healer, she can't stop herself from helping those in need. Anele certainly touched that part of her.

[Relayer]

That makes sense. I just remember when I first read it, I kept thinking "Wait! Don't make any decisions until you know what's going on!"

[CorruptionWearsManyFaces]

Pretty much mine as well -- she was using Staff and ring together with no problems when she healed the Sunbane.

On this point a possible explanation could be that since she had the Staff of Law, that helped guide her to control the white gold. Now, without the Staff her control could be lessened.

T

[dlbpharmd]

Spoiler

Unfortunately, that explanation does not hold up in later chapters.

[iQuestor]

Warmark, good summary


Question: Is it coincidence that the ceasure happened to be so near the Watch as Linden arrived? We know the ceasures have something to do with Joan, that she is causing them in her mad rages; Does Joan's proximity to Linden in the Woods at Haven, and the ceasure appearing so close to Linden's arrival mean anything?

[Zarathustra]

Wasn't there a GI question where someone asks this, and SRD responds that in the 2nd Chrons she was mainly using the white gold through TC via possession, and using it directly is not as easy?

That's not bad. If TC is the white gold, then using it without him might be problematic. Certainly SRD has said elsewhere that while others can use the ring, only TC can bring about its full puissance, implying that something is missing without TC in the equation.

It reminds me of TC needing a trigger to call up the wild magic. Linden herself was that trigger in the 2nd Chronicles, entering Covenant and calling up the fire that was already latent within him (indeed, it was hardly latent at all, given the additional trigger of the venom). But a trigger isn't exactly the same as the source. A catalyst can't be its own catalyst.

But then, she DOES

Spoiler

end up calling forth the wild magic in order to create the ceasure.

So it would seem these rationalizations are pointless. Maybe Donaldson should have made it clearer that her restraint is more emotional rather than logical. She's scared to take action, even when the past has shown her that such action is possible. The one small concession I'll give SRD is that during this chapter he DID suggest that Convenant himself came to the conclusion that wild magic wasn't something to be used all willy-nilly. So Covenant's final attitude towards white gold may affect her more strongly than her previous experience with it. After all, her previous experience DID involve possessing the man she loved. So an argument could be made for her to be hesistant in using this mysterious and personal power.

But I'll be the first to acknowledge that there's internal consistency problems all over the place with this issue.

[Avytaya]

I kind of picture the caesure as the "nothing" from the Neverending Story. I don't know if this is what SD intended, but that's the image that comes to mind.
On Anele..... I'm sure this has been discussed in Runes discussion thread, but Anele is Elena backwards. There's got to be something there, no?
-Avy

[Avatar]

SRD swears not apparently. (I personally didn't notice until somebody mentioned in the discussion forum. )

--A

[wayfriend]

Wasn't there a GI question where someone asks this, and SRD responds that in the 2nd Chrons she was mainly using the white gold through TC via possession, and using it directly is not as easy?

That's not bad. If TC is the white gold, then using it without him might be problematic. Certainly SRD has said elsewhere that while others can use the ring, only TC can bring about its full puissance, implying that something is missing without TC in the equation.

That is the explanation that I hope for. But I believe it is a false one.

For at the end of WGW, after Foul is gone, and Covenant has been dismissed, Linden picks up her ring for the very first time.

Findail was scarcely a step from the ring. Vain could not hold him back.

But the Appointed did not reach it.

Linden grasped Covenant's wedding band with the thin remains of her health-sense, drew fire spouting like an affirmation out of the metal. It was her ring now, granted to her in love and necessity; and the first touch of its flame restored her with a shock at once exquisitely painful and glad, ferocious and blessed - Suddenly, she was as real as the stone and the light, as substantial as Findail's frenzy, Vain's intransigence, the Giants' courage. The pressure thrusting her out of existent did not subside; but now she was a match for it. Her lungs took and released the sulfur-tinged air as if she had a right to it.

With white fire, she repelled the Elohim. Then, as kindly as if he were alive, she slid her legs from under Covenant's head.

Leaving him alone there, she went to take the ring.

For an instant, she feared to touch it, thinking its flame might bum her. But she knew better. Her senses were explicit: this blaze was hers and would not harm her. Deliberately, she closed her right fist around the fiery band.

At once, argent flame ran up her forearm as if her flesh were afire. It danced and spewed to the beat of her pulse. But it did not consume her, took nothing away from her: the price of power would be paid later, when the wild magic was gone. Instead, it seemed to flow into her veins, infuse vitality. The fire was silver and lovely, and it filled her with stability and strength and the capacity for choice as if it were a feast.

She wanted to shout aloud jor simple joy. This was power, and it was not evil if she were not. The hunger which had dogged her days was only dark because she had feared it, denied it. It had two names, and one of them was life.

The explanation for Linden's sudden reticence must come from elsewhere.

Perhaps, in her heart, she no longer believes that the ring is hers. Perhaps she lost the connection somewhere in the intervening years. Perhaps her pining for Covenant has done her some harm after all.