Why destroy the Watch?

Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:18 pm

Stephen R. Donaldson wrote: Did I "take pause" after the destruction of Kevin's Watch? No. a) I knew what I was going to do before I did it. b) I knew *why* I was going to do it before I did it.

Ok, so why did he do it?

Post by **High Lord Tolkien** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 12:31 am

This is the END.
Kevin's Watch has always been a starting point for each series.
I always assumed it's destruction was symbolic of that.

Post by **Zarathustra** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 12:31 am

I thought it really nailed home the point: this is the Last Chronicles. There's no going back. The Watch is where people usually go in their entrance to the Land. So destroying that seems to imply that no one is ever going there again. It's a powerful, poignant statement. And as an author, it makes perfect sense to take advantage of that dramatic image.

But maybe there is more. Maybe it's a plot point, too. Maybe Joan was trying to keep Linden from coming to the Land. Imagine if the Watch had been destroyed minutes before? Linden might have plunged to her death, too caught off guard to save herself like she did in Runes.

Post by **Zarathustra** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 12:33 am

No, HLT, you're wrong! I'm right! (Damn my slow fingers.)

Thu Jan 22, 2009 12:49 am

Probably not a plot point. I don't see Joan as being capable of directing her vorteces. Its destruction is significant that this is indeed the Last.

Post by **Ur Dead** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:06 am

uuumm.. Where did TC appear in TIW??

Post by **wayfriend** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 2:42 pm

TC was also summoned to Revelstone. And, in LFB, to Mount Thunder - he was then moved to Kevin's Watch. Hile Troy was summoned to some hills outside of Revelwood. And we've yet to see where Joan and Roger and Jeremiah were summoned to.

Admitted, Ur Dead, it's a literary entrance point, not one mandated by story mechanics. Every Chronicles begins with Kevin's Watch. Now it's gone; there will be no more Chronicles to begin. Seems simple enough.

I predict we'll also see the end of Revelstone in the next two books. Because that would signal something beyond the end of our visits to the Land -- it would signal the end of the Land itself.

Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:20 pm

wayfriend wrote:TC was also summoned to Revelstone. And, in LFB, to Mount Thunder - he was then moved to Kevin's Watch. Hile Troy was summoned to some hills outside of Revelwood. And we've yet to see where Joan and Roger and Jeremiah were summoned to.

Admitted, Ur Dead, it's a literary entrance point, not one mandated by story mechanics. Every Chronicles begins with Kevin's Watch. Now it's gone; there will be no more Chronicles to begin. Seems simple enough.

I predict we'll also see the end of Revelstone in the next two books. Because that would signal something beyond the end of our visits to the Land -- it would signal the end of the Land itself.

No, that would be Andelain's destruction, because it is the heart of the Land and its Earthpower.

Post by **kevinswatch** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 11:08 pm

SRD secretly wants to destroy this message board.

-jay

Post by **Rigel** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:36 am

He's sending a Ceasure right now!

Post by **AjK** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:09 pm

This is not a comment on "why" so much as a comment on the effect it had on me.

I felt that at the start of each of the three series my initial exposure to the Land brought a very strong emotional response. In the first chronicles it was the sheer beauty, uniqueness and magic of the Land. In the second it was due to the Sunbane's severe corruption of the Land that I loved. It was like a nightmare. Regarding the last chronicles, Kevin's dirt didn't really affect me too much on an emotional level nor did the Caesure (mostly because I didn't really understand what it was or its significance.) But the destruction of KW almost made me drop the book. I couldn't believe that it was gone.

I am not putting forward that these emotional jolts were some kind of intentional literary strategy by SRD. Rather, I am just describing the result for me.

Andy

Post by **wayfriend** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:01 pm

I felt the same way, AjK. I was shocked.

(I didn't put the book down, though. Only one book ever made me do that - the System of the World. And that was to savor the delight.)

Fri Jan 30, 2009 5:12 pm

wayfriend wrote:I felt the same way, AjK. I was shocked.

(I didn't put the book down, though. Only one book ever made me do that - the System of the World. And that was to savor the delight.)

I don't remember being shocked. I remember having the feeling that the end of the Watch will presage or forecast the end of everything - that the Watch acts as the Land's "anchor" without which it would be cast onto the rocks and destroyed.

Apart from that, I recall thinking throughout Runes: Gosh, this is formulaic.

Post by **ninjaboy** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 11:58 pm

The Watch, Mount Thunder, Revelstone.. They could all go, but the soil in which the flowers grow remains..

Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:32 am

ninjaboy wrote:The Watch, Mount Thunder, Revelstone.. They could all go, but the soil in which the flowers grow remains..

Soil, instead of soul? I thought someone might come up with a phallic version of the Watch which was then destroyed by that ball-breaking bitch Joan using TC's own wild magic against him.

Post by **Vraith** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 6:35 am

I think the "end" is coming, of course...but I also think the end will be a new beginning..something related but other. The destruction of the watch is, at least partly, an indication that the old lore will not suffice for either the salvation of this world or the genesis of the next. (I thought a similar thing was part of the reason for the first destruction of the staff of law, and the new staff hasn't changed my mind at all..it is both the same and different). In a way, it's like all original thoughts/things/creations. First it's an inspiration, then a foundation, then an artifact, then an anachronism..in the new world it might be a myth, carrying the weight of both wish and warning (it sort of does already, considering Kevin's story).[/i]

Mon Feb 02, 2009 7:18 pm

Jeff wrote:I think the "end" is coming, of course...but I also think the end will be a new beginning..something related but other. The destruction of the watch is, at least partly, an indication that the old lore will not suffice for either the salvation of this world or the genesis of the next. (I thought a similar thing was part of the reason for the first destruction of the staff of law, and the new staff hasn't changed my mind at all..it is both the same and different). In a way, it's like all original thoughts/things/creations. First it's an inspiration, then a foundation, then an artifact, then an anachronism..in the new world it might be a myth, carrying the weight of both wish and warning (it sort of does already, considering Kevin's story).[/i]

Old lore? I think you meant to say that no lore in the Earth is equal to the task. But good post anyway.

Post by **ninjaboy** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 1:59 am

Oh, Covenant's house at the beginning to ROTE was also burned down and destroyed. That's also quite significant.

Sat Feb 07, 2009 4:48 am

ninjaboy wrote:Oh, Covenant's house at the beginning to ROTE was also burned down and destroyed. That's also quite significant.

Your reminder of that scene caused me to go back and re-read why TC's old farmhouse burned down. It was due to a lightning strike. Some of that scene presages Kastenessen, in my own mind.

Post by **Ur Dead** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 12:36 am

Also, maybe destroying the watch is aquitting Kevin of the mayhem that has followed.

I mean, look at the magic that Kasternessen and Esmer wrought. And they call that Kevin's dirt.

You depair once in your life and your branded throughtout the ages for all the ills of the Land.

Some Land dwellers just can't let it go.
Sheeesh!