The End of the Earth

[thewormoftheworld'send]

Linden is faced with a terrible dilemma: which should she choose, her son Jeremiah? or the Earth, the Land, and all the beauty found there? I believe that Linden's vision at the time of her second translation to the Land was prophetic, and half of it has already occurred:

She had seen herself rouse the Worm of the World's End. She had witnessed monstrous creatures devouring the ground as though they fed on life and Earthpower.

The latter event has not occurred yet, it involved the devouring of Andelain.

Linden is destined to suffer the same fate as TC in the First Chronicles: to watch as the consequences of his sins are paraded in front of him time and time again. This time around, we are given Linden Avery who is not so much an Unbeliever as she is a believer in her child. She was not, after all, the Earth's Creator, only her son's 'creator.' She has made her choice, and she will pay for it by watching everything of beauty in the Earth being destroyed little by little as the story progresses. Her son Jeremiah already seems to be lost to the Croyel, but she will never give him up until there is nothing left to lose.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

It occurs to me that the reason the Arch of Time is an arch and not a circle is that a circle is eternal, while an arch has a beginning and end analogous to a beginning and an end to time.

If the Arch of Time is destroyed the Earth does not necessarily follow along with it.

It would be necessary to destroy the Arch in order to release LF. Lacking
an Arch, temporal consequences of actions (due to causality) would be prevented from coming true, which in this case would be the awakening of the Worm. A new Arch of Time could then be set in its place, which would herald a new era for the Earth, a new set of Laws, and a new beginning without LF who would then be unable to return even if he wanted to.

[Rigel]

It occurs to me that the reason the Arch of Time is an arch and not a circle is that a circle is eternal, while an arch has a beginning and end analogous to a beginning and an end to time.

I think you're mixing your metaphors.

An arch built out of stones has a keystone or capstone at the very top. Typically, the sides would both be built up while being supported by scaffolding. Once the keystone was placed, however, the scaffolding could be removed as the keystone would hold everything in place.

Wild Magic is the keystone of the Arch of Time, in that it holds everything together. It used to be a common saying to say that one thing was the keystone of something else, if the first were essential to the second in a similar way.

The AoT is not literally an arch.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

It occurs to me that the reason the Arch of Time is an arch and not a circle is that a circle is eternal, while an arch has a beginning and end analogous to a beginning and an end to time.

I think you're mixing your metaphors.

An arch built out of stones has a keystone or capstone at the very top. Typically, the sides would both be built up while being supported by scaffolding. Once the keystone was placed, however, the scaffolding could be removed as the keystone would hold everything in place.

Wild Magic is the keystone of the Arch of Time, in that it holds everything together. It used to be a common saying to say that one thing was the keystone of something else, if the first were essential to the second in a similar way.

The AoT is not literally an arch.

I didn't say it was literally an arch.

[Rigel]

I didn't say it was literally an arch.

But you drew conclusions about it based on it's geometric shape.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

I didn't say it was literally an arch.

But you drew conclusions about it based on it's geometric shape.

I really draw most of my conclusions from the GI:

I grant you that the word "Arch" suggests a created beginning and a (perhaps simultaneously) created end connected by a (once again, perhaps simultaneously) created sequence of events.

The way I understand it, the idea of an "Arch" forms a useful and beautiful metaphor for the idea that time has a beginning and an ending (but it is not a created sequence of events, I'm not saying events are predetermined). The Law of Time is like an arch. This arch has something analogous with a keystone, and wild magic forms it.

The idea that there is a beginning and an end to Time is not found in the text. But there is a beginning to time in the Land, correct?

[Vraith]

I think it is likely important that, in addition to the other aspects already discussed, an Arch also often implies a door. Ways in and out.
Of course, it also implies support, which has been discussed in detail in various places (maybe the door has also...I don't recall)
Anyway, the arch is both a gate between time/no time, and support for the law of time.
The original post says Linden is doomed, which I think is partly true...but I think the tools and powers imply the seeds of a succeeding world.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

An arch can imply a door, as in an archway, or it can imply other useful architectural structures. Sometimes the spaces beneath arches are filled in.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_arch

I think in the case of the Land it is merely symbolical. But if this Arch acted as a door then the Creator would have no problem interacting with his Creation, and LF would be free.

[Vraith]

I agree it's completely a metaphor, but metaphors are meant to imply things...though not necessarily what you (or I) think they imply
I think it is, at least partly a door but it is 'locked' so that, as you say, LF can't get out (nor the creator in).
If we want to get ridiculous about the metaphor we might say the summoners to that bring the outsiders have the key to open the door, but it's got a wild magic trap that springs on "eternals" like Creator and LF.
Probably best to just let it stand as metaphor, though, not make it a device.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

I agree it's completely a metaphor, but metaphors are meant to imply things...though not necessarily what you (or I) think they imply
I think it is, at least partly a door but it is 'locked' so that, as you say, LF can't get out (nor the creator in).
If we want to get ridiculous about the metaphor we might say the summoners to that bring the outsiders have the key to open the door, but it's got a wild magic trap that springs on "eternals" like Creator and LF.
Probably best to just let it stand as metaphor, though, not make it a device.

As SRD would say, Creator stories (which may or may not include an Arch) are partially products of the people who invented them. And so the Arch is a metaphor for whatever those people want it to be.

However, for LF it is a very real thing although not a physical thing. The Arch of Time was a place for the Earth to reside in, according to legend. That could be simply the vault of the heavens surrounding the Earth.
Looking up at it, it does appear to be a kind of bowl-shaped arch.

I don't know how it is that people from the "real" world are able to translate to the Land. At this point all we can say is that the Land is part of someone's subconscious mind, an iconic representation of the subconscious archetypes of innocence, peace, and beauty - and sometimes, of their opposites.