Kevin's Watch

The Griffins AND all the other animals in the Land...

I distinctly remember Griffins being involved in the battle at Soaring Woodhelvin (or whichever one it was) in Lord Foul's Bane.. Ridden by an Ur-Vile.. Are they native to the Land? Did the Sunbane kill them all - or, with their flying ability - could they have travelled somewhere unaffected by the Sunbane?

I assume that's why there are no large mammals (apart from people, wolves and horses) in the Land...

I think it would be cool if there were Griffins in the last Chronichles too.. But I can't see it happenning.. SD is going to be working very hard to get it all to come together without having to bother including a creature only present in the first couple of books.. (think there were Griffins in The Illearth Stone too..)

And why not Dragons too???

I actually posted my only ever GI question to SRD about the Griffins, I put it to him that with all of the unique fantasy elements he'd brought to the genre, did he ever regret including these mythical beasts in his otherwise completely original TC stories - and he admitted/agreed that he did ! A rare concession from SRD !!
I always felt the Griffins seemed out of place; they took my mind away from the magical tapestry of the Land and forced me to recall other tales in which Griffins featured ..
SRD did make a fair counter-argument in saying that no-one ever complained about the Giants though, which are after all a bit of a fantasy staple .. so in answer to the question; I think SRD just grew to dislike the fact that he'd introduced the Griffins in the first place, and therefore phased them out ..
In a similar vein; I never really liked the idea of merewives and their distinctly Siren-like qualities too much either ..

Yet all these elements can be reconciled if we think that in one aspect at least the Land is a representation of Covenant's (and Linden's) mind/psyche, so it is maybe not so surprising that familiar elements pop up from the collective subconscious.

I think that's a faitr explanation..

They did seem a bit misplaced, which was probably why they stood out for me in the first place...

SleeplessOne wrote:I always felt the Griffins seemed out of place; they took my mind away from the magical tapestry of the Land and forced me to recall other tales in which Griffins featured ..

I think Donaldson recognizes that reasons for not liking the griffins are valid, and phased them out in complete agreement with reasons such as you've posted here. However, I think he justifies their appearance in the first place with something very similar to what amanibhavam said. In fact, I seem to remember him saying something very similar to both of these (and more) in the GI. But I'm too lazy to look it up right now.