Linden Avery's Brilliant Strategy

[thewormoftheworld'send]

It occurred to me lately that LA is just putting us all on with her "dumb blonde" act. Her actions have been informed by the Creator all along. That Creator would, in fact, be SRD. So to denigrate LA would be the same as denigrating her Creator, SRD.

SRD gives the illusion that LA is just fumbling around the Land asking everybody dumb questions, when in fact they are building us up to the most brilliant strategy since Hile Troy suckered the Raver's army into entering Garroting Deep.

Keeping this in mind, Linden brought TC back to life because she needed him - and also because SRD needs him.

SRD cannot have TC dead, or whatever state they call "non-alive" in the Land, because he is not done with him yet. As a non-alive being, TC cannot possibly be of any use in completing his own story, he is held back by too many laws and other powerful forces which prevent him from acting. Completing his personal story requires being alive in the Land. SRD is not finished with TC yet, but neither is Linden Avery. With a single stroke, she has solved both hers and SRD's dilemma.

TC's own story will culminate, in whatever fashion, such that he will learn to accept his inner Despiser. In doing so, he will solve the problem of Despite and LF's eternal presence in the Land once and for all. As a non-living being, he is fighting a losing battle. He will hold the Arch for as long as he can, but eventually it will fall, and Despite will win. By removing the Time Warden, the Arch's last line of defense is gone, and Despite will win as if by default.

This is actually desirable. Consider Brinn of the Haruchai battling against the old Guardian. Brinn did not achieve the position through battle, but through acceptance of defeat by an infinitely more powerful opponent. By accepting defeat, Brinn vanquished his opponent and achieved supreme ak-Haru status, transcending normal Haruchai bounds. His achievement was not so much a victory over but an acceptance of despair and defeat.

All of the real battles in the Land have thus far been internal. Despair appears to be undesirable, but there is a certain potency to be found in it. It has the power to bring about unheard of levels of accomplishment. Kevin's RoD was certainly his highest accomplishment, although self-destruction is not the only answer. This is the lesson that TC has yet to learn: as long as there is life, there is hope.