So this chapter starts off with a bang as we find someone I never expected to see again, in the last place I would have thought to look for him.He was Bannor of the Bloodguard.
I see this chapter as being about fidelity, and about it being intact even when it seems to have been broken. We start off with Bannor, last First Mark of the Bloodguard.
Obviously TC doesn't understand why the Bloodguard can no longer serve the Lords, or does understand it as I suspect, but just hasn't stopped to think about it yet. What helped me to understand was the following heartbraking statement made by Bannor:'Why aren't you with the Lords?'
'The Vow was Corrupted. We no longer serve the Lords.'
The depth of regret in that one statement, the realization coming to Bannor that even though Kevin Landwaster may have been worthy of the Vow, the people that he had served after that for who knows how many thousands of years may not have been. This comes through in his distrust of Foamfollower:...'The Lords spoke of her. They were unable to heal her.' He shrugged slightly. 'They were unable to heal many things.'
This is something that even TC notes.'Yet you know me,' Foamfollower said to Bannor. You know that I am not one of the three who fell to the Ravers.'
Bannor shrugged noncommittally. 'Two of the three are dead. Who can say where those Ravers have gone?'
'I am a giant, Bannor!' Foamfollower insisted in a tone of supplication, as if that fact were the only proof of his fidelity. 'It was I who first brought Thomas Covenant to Revelstone.'
Bannor was unmoved. 'Then how is it that you are alive?'
At this, Foamfollower's eyes glinted painfully. In a thin tone, he said, 'I was absent from Coercri - when my kindred brought their years in Seareach to an end.'
The Bloodguard cocked an eyebrow, but did not relent.
Even more saddening than all this however, is Bannor belief that he and his fellow Haruchai were unworthy....'Give it up! Admit you know him. Hellfire! Bannor - you bloody egomaniac! You're so proud - after the Bloodguard failed you can stand to admit that there might be faithfullness left anywhere. It's you or nothing. But he's a Giant, Bannor!'
'Ur-Lord, I say to you that the Vow was broken. Many things were broken. You were present. We could not - ur-Lord, I am old now. I, Bannor, First Mark of the Bloodguard. I require sleep and hot food. Though I was bred for mountains, this cold penetrates my bones. I am no fit server for Revelstone - no, nor for the Lords, though they do not equal High Lord Kevin who went before them.'
As well as TC trying to make sense of Bannor and what happened to the Bloodguard, a lot of this chapter is dedicated to Foamfollower trying to prove himself to Bannor and the Ramen. He eventually does this by enduring an unplanned caamora at the campfire, while TC tries to help out by yelling at Bannor.'I have come to share the work of the Ramen. A few of the Haruchai - I know not how many - a few felt as I did. We had known Kevin in the youth of his glory, and could not forget. Terrel is here, and Runnik. There are others. we teach our skills to the Ramen, and learn from them the tending of the great horses. Perhaps we will learn to make peace with our failure before we die.'
There are three other key things that happen in this chapter. First is the Ramen's distrust of TC, and the fact that the Ranyhyn are only still living on the Plains of Ra because of the promise they made to him.'Wasn't Elena enough for you?' Covenant hissed. 'Are you trying to make another Kevin out of him?'
Shortly, out of the shelter of a frozen gully came tow Ranyhyn, a stallion and a mare...They hardly seemed able to hold up their heads. But they nickered to the Cord. With a stumbling gait, they trotted forward, and began at once to eat the flowers he offered them. In three bites the food was gone. He hugged them quickly, then turned away with tears in his eyes.
Without a word, Manethrall Kam gave the Cord the bedraggled circlet from his hair, so that each of the Ranyhyn could have one more bite.
This chapter made me think of the Ramen as being very much like the Bloodguard, each giving their entire existance to serving someone or something greater than themselves. In the Ramen's case it was the Ranyhyn, in the Bloodguard's case it was High Lord Kevin and then the new Lords. I also had a lot of respect for the ways in which both dealt with failure. I think it took a lot of courage to abandone the Vow after so long, but it also took courage to keep serving the Ranyhyn in the face of such insurmountable odds.'We will not contradict the Rabyhyn concerning you. I saw - I would not have believed if I had not seen. To rear! Hurt as they are!...'
Second we have Pietten. Although his warping isnt TC's fault, he did blame himself for what happened to Soaring Woodhelven, and Foamfollower gave the hurtloam saved for him to a cavewight rather than to the young boy. The two also asked the Ramen to care for Pietten and Llaura, and so it is because of them that he lives in Ra.
'Because of his great skill with the Ranyhyn,' Bannor went on, 'and because of old promises made in the days of the Quest, the Ramen share their lives and work with him. But he is feared for his wildness. Therefore he lives alone. And he abuses the Ramen as if they have outcast him.'
If I were not the best runner and Ranyhyn-tender in the Plains of Ra, you would slay me where I stand without a moments concern for promises.'
Darrkly, Kam muttered, 'We are not so swift to forget promises.'
Lastly, just before the covert is betrayed and TC and Lena run off into the night, we have Lena discovering that Elena is dead, perhaps not for the first time.'He licks the wounds of the Ranyhyn to clean them!'
...'Elena - my daughter - What has happened to her?'
...'He said she fell!' she cried at him. 'What have you done to her?'
...'Dead,' she echoed emptily. 'Fault.' As Covenant watched her, the light of consciousness in her eyes seemed to falter and go out.
It's done! Sorry that it's so long, but I just kept finding new things. When you're dealing with the fidelity of the Giants, the Ramen, the Ranyhyn, and the Bloodguard, as well as with an ur-vile afflicted madman and a rapist and his victim who is in love with him, nothing is going to be short. Chapter 10 will arrive in a couple of days.
Sum sui generis
Variol son
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