Runes, Part 1 Ch. 4: Old Friends

[Relayer]

Chatty Foul!!! I feel sorry for Anele ... but I do love Chatty Foul. It's so dang interesting that he actually is present during the Chronicles, and not just at the bookends. I hope Donaldson fulfills his promise of delving into Foul's character, respecting his character, this time around.

Other than that, does anyone wonder WHY Foul is speaking to Linden NOW? Is he setting the hearer on the path that he chooses for them?

Chatty Foul! Too funny.
Makes me think of the person who always wants to talk to you and won't shut up

But really, I love it too. I also hope we get a lot more of Foul.

"They will not return in your lifetime." I have no hope for Giants. But that's okay, its someone elses turn.

I agree, I'd love to see Giants but would be ok if they didn't appear. But Stave could be wrong -- another Giant could have Earth-sight, an Elohim might make a visit to a dromond, or there may be some other reason for them to return to the Land. We already have evidence of this w/ the Ramen returning from their wandering. Also, I don't remember the passage clearly, but I got the impression that the Masters are trying to discourage the Giants from visiting the Land -- what Giant would accept that?

And have you forgotten about the caesures? The story isn't limited to anyone's "lifetime" any more

[iQuestor]

Wayfriend wrote:

They seem to consider it a "foretaste of desecration" - interesting phrase. Can blindness and insensitivity lead to desecration?

But I don't think Stave claimed it was Foul's dirt. I nit pick only because it is significant I believe.

What strikes me is how nicely Foul's Dirt resonates with the Masters' plan. They consider earthpower bad, because it leads to descration. Kevin's dirt blinds people from earthpower. And it is a foretaste, a preperation, for descration.

Is there a contradiction in there somewhere? Wouldn't the Masters consider something that quells the use of Earthpower as helping prevent desecration?

Dang. I didn't catch that one, but it makes sense; what a paradox -- you would think the Masters would love Kevin's Dirt, because it makes their job easier to quelling the use of earthpower; if someone can't see the health of the land, are blind to it, then they are less likely to use it.

however, they have to know that it is bad news -- its too much like the sunbane. Someone posted somewhere that Linden's staff she used to heal the land was warped, because of the sunbane itself. It was a good post, but I forgot who wrote it. If that is true, it may have opened the door to the bad things Foul has been able to do to the Land, Kevin's dirt being one of them. I wonder if Kevin's dirt was meant to hide other things gradually working against the Land, or to numb the denizens of the Land to its Health and the ability to sense wrong... or something far more sinister.

As far as if the Covenant who spoke to Linden when Stave wapped her one upside the head like billy-Jack (I loved typing that) -- I have no clue. I do not think there is a precedent for this in the first two chrons, I do not know what to think. Likewise Covenant speaking through Anele, and also

Spoiler

and the dude riding up at the end.

...

At any rate, I guess we shall see.

[SoulBiter]

Someone posted somewhere that Linden's staff she used to heal the land was warped, because of the sunbane itself. It was a good post, but I forgot who wrote it.

I dont think there is anything wrong with the 'new' staff of law or that its warped. Matter of fact it is supposed to be better than the first one because it doesnt need runes on the outside of the staff to define its purpose. This time it was a living thing.

Spoiler

I think that Kevins dirt was only brought into play after the staff was recovered from the past. Its very paradoxial (is that a word?). Linden may have created the conditions under which Kevins dirt was created. She went back through a 'fall' to get the staff that was lost and in doing so.. the staff of law was not there anymore for no telling how many years.. Without that vital crux to support and define law (maybe some law regarding earthpower??) Kevins dirt was able to be created.

[Relayer]

Foul has been able to do to the Land, Kevin's dirt being one of them. I wonder if Kevin's dirt was meant to hide other things gradually working against the Land, or to numb the denizens of the Land to its Health and the ability to sense wrong... or something far more sinister.

But Foul says he didn't cause the dirt. I wonder if it's something like the silence that the Elohim imposed on TC... which was intended not only to prevent his use of wild magic, but also to protect him. Maybe the dirt is also intended to somehow preserve the people of the Land from some danger that having the Health-sense would open them up to?

[wayfriend]

Spoilerized theory about Kevin's Dirt relating to how I think the Chronicles will end:

Spoiler

I think, as I hinted above, that the Earth is preparing for it's end, and it is preventing the people of the Land from interfering with what Covenant will need to do - prevent them from trying to prevent the Earth's destruction. The Masters would try to prevent that destruction, and so they consider it a desecration.

[Avatar]

Great posts as usual WayFriend.

--A

[Zarathustra]

Kevin's Dirt has the effect of making everyone blind and numb. Like Covenant was himself before . . . rubbing some dirt into his wounds. I don't want to reopen that can o' worms (healthsense being connected to being healed by hurtloam). I just think it's odd that Kevin's Dirt has the effect of making everyone into "moral lepers." That's not really the right word, but I hope you see what I mean. It mentally "numbs" the peoples' senses in much the same way the leprosy physically numbs peoples' senses.

Is Kevin's Dirt related to Covenant himself?

And about the desecration: Part One is called, "Chosen for this desecration." So if there's going to be new desecration, and it's connected to Kevin's Dirt, then Linden has some role to play in causing the desecration. Perhaps

Spoiler

she removes Kevin's Dirt, allowing everyone to see, and this causes mass despair becuase it allows people to see how wounded the land really is?