But . . .

[Alberich]

. . . why does she need power, if not to use it?

I would contend that it IS dangerous to set out to simply acquire as much power as possible before thinking about what to do with it or how to use it. Particularly if the acquisition of one such 'power' (Covenant) could potentially cause a lot of damage in itself.

I also agree that it seems unlikely that Donaldson as an author will 'approve' of Linden's attitude after Skyweir.

[SGuilfoyle1966]

Linden, with Ring, Staff and krill, is a dangerous thing, i guess. The bad guys fear it. they think she wants power just for herself, perhaps.
But she doesn't. She only wants the krill to balance the ability to use two different powers. Now that she's conceived of a specific purpose for all that power, and achieved it, I don't see her hanging on to the ring for long, nor the krill for that matter.
Or maybe she keeps the krill and Anele gets the Staff.

[Ur Dead]

Maybe Lord Foul has competition. Ask the THHOLAH people.

[wayfriend]

Stop Kastenessen. Stop Roger. Stop the skurj. Stop the Harrow. Stop Joan. Stop Foul. Free Jeremiah. Stop Kevin's Dirt. Stop the ceasures. Stop the Sandgorgons.

Which is the better plan:

Get power, and then figure out how to use it to do all of these things?

Figure out how to do all of these things, and then get the power?

Try to do it without power?

The last choice is a non-starter. And the second choice is not the way the world works - you gotta have the power before you can find the answers.

That leaves only one real choice.

Mhoram didn't know what the Lords would do with the Secret of the Ritual of Desecration. It was a big risk to give it out. But he did it. And he's a hero ... Covenant didn't know what he was going to do when he stepped forward and grasped the Illearthstone, unleashing the wild magic. And he's a hero. Let's be fair.

Remember, Linden knows the Staff of Law alone won't save the world. Wild magic won't either, not with Esmer around blocking her access to it. Even with both, the Harrow surpassed her, and she stalemated with Roger as well. What is she supposed to do, walk around and hope the problems go away by themselves?

Remember the Battle of Five Incomprehensible Armies? AKA The Everything but the Kitchen Sink Battle? You think it's going to get easier from now on?

Yeesh. People work too hard to find a problem with Linden sometimes.

[SGuilfoyle1966]

And I think it's not stated, but very obvious, Linden left her armored tank division in her other pair of blue jeans.
I always keep one around myself. You know.
Just in case.

[earthbrah]

Wayfriend wrote:

Yeesh. People work too hard to find a problem with Linden sometimes.

AMEN.

[earthbrah]

Wayfriend wrote:

Yeesh. People work too hard to find a problem with Linden sometimes.

AMEN.

[alanm]

I understood from my readings of the first and 2nd chrons that wild magic was able to do anything in the land, with or without the staff of law. That is the impression I get anyway.

[Seppi2112]

Alanm, the White Gold can do anything but it can't do it in a safe way. The white gold is like a nuclear bomb - it has enough energy to do anything, but it will probably destroy whatever it is you're doing in the process.

[shadowbinding shoe]

Alanm, the White Gold can do anything but it can't do it in a safe way. The white gold is like a nuclear bomb - it has enough energy to do anything, but it will probably destroy whatever it is you're doing in the process.

That was how it was presented in the last chronicles but were it always like that?

- Linden and Covenant use it multiple times to heal themselves
- Linden heals others as well (remember how Linden takes care of wounded giants?), a very delicate task I'd say.
- Covenant also healed the weather in LFB. One wrong butterfly flutter and the Land would've been doomed.
- He participated in the wraith's Dance of Spring. what could be more delicate?
- Linden creates the stuff of law and then heals the land of the sunbane with both powers. Both delicate and precise jobs though they were made on a vast level.

-Kasreyn of Baraithen covets the white gold because with it he can cast the magic that will give him flawless immortality.

Did Donaldson change his mind about the nature of Wild Magic or is Linden simply not good at using this power?

[Mr. Broken]

Kevins dirt hinders her health sense , so that the wild magic cannot be used in a precise fashion, let alone the interference caused by Esmer.

[sweetbread]

Did Donaldson change his mind about the nature of Wild Magic or is Linden simply not good at using this power?

Linden just hasn't RTFM yet.....

[Rigel]

Covenant's use in the first trilogy was always flawed due to his own preconceptions about power.

Linden's use in the second trilogy is flawed due to her not being the rightful owner of the Ring.

In fact, that's the reason that the Elohim fear her so much, now. Never has the full might of the white gold been available in this way, to someone with the will and understanding to unleash it.

[Seppi2112]

That's how SRD explained the white gold from The Wounded Land onward... in the first chronicles the ring wasn't hardly even used, in the second it kept spiralling upward and out of control (which was as much due to its essential nature as the venom), and in the third it has the potential to create a caesure (reave time itself in two) but also to destroy all time itself.

SRD's conception of the white gold has definately been refined over the years, but I don't think the newer books contradict the old ones at all... white gold was always the wild magic that destroys peace after all.