The Power that Preserves, Chapter 21: Leper's End

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Foamfollower1013
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Post by Foamfollower1013 »

He wanted rest; he had earned rest. But the release which had brought him to his present dim peace had been to expensive. He could not approve.

Foamfollower is dead, he murmured silently.

There was no escape from guilt. No answer covered everything. For as long as he managed to live, he would never be clean.

He did not think that he could manage to live very long.

Yet something obdurate argued with him. That wasn't your fault, it said. You couldn't make his decisions for him. Beyond a certain point, this responsibility of yours is only a more complex form of suicide.

He acknowledged the argument. He knew from experience that lepers were doomed as soon as they began to feel that they were to blame for contracting leprosy, were responsible for being ill. Perhaps guilt and mortality, physical limitation, were the same thing in the end - facts of life, irremediable, useless to protest. Nevertheless Foamfollower was gone, and could never be restored. Covenant would never hear him laugh again.
"I am Mhoram son of Variol, High Lord by the choice of the Council. I declare that from this day forth we will not devote ourselves to any Lore which precludes Peace. We will gain lore of our own - we will strive and quest and learn until we have found a lore in which the Oath of Peace and the preservation of the Land live together. Hear me, you people! We will serve Earthfriendship in a new way."

As he finished, he lifted the krill and tossed it high into the air. It arced glinting through the sunlight, struck water in the center of Glimmermere. When it splashed the potent water, it flared once, sent a burn of white glory into the depths of the lake. Then it was gone forever.

High Lord Mhoram watched while the ripples faded. Then he made an exultant summoning gesture, and all the people around Glimmermere began to sing in celebration:

Hail, Unbeliever! Keeper and Covenant,
Unoathed truth and wicked's bane,
Ur-Lord Illender, Prover of Life:
Hail! Covenant!
Dour-handed wild magic wielder,
Ur-Earth white gold's servant and Lord -
Yours is the power that preserves.
Sing out, people of the Land -
Raise obeisance!
Hold honor and glory high to the end of days:
Keep clean the truth that was won!
Hail, Unbeliever!
Covenant!
Hail!

They raised their staffs and swords and hands to him, and his vision blurred with tears.
Their voices drifted away, left Covenant alone in his bed.

He was thinking dimly, A miracle. That's what it was.

He was a sick man, a victim of Hansen's disease. But he was not a leper - not just a leper. He had the law of his illness carved in large, undeniable letters on the nerves of his body; but he was more than that. In the end, he had not failed the Land. And he had a heart which could still pump blood, bones which could still bear his weight; he had himself.

Thomas Covenant: Unbeliever.

A miracle.

Despite the stiff pain in his lip, he smiled at the empty room. He felt the smile on his face, and was sure of it.

He smiled because he was alive.
----------------------

What an ending...what an ending. It left me speechless and in tears.

~Foamy~
Tomcatter
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Post by Tomcatter »

Hi all

I am new to this forum and i have just finished the first Chronicals. I like to say that you guys are brill. After each chapter i have finished reading, i have then come here to check on the discussian. Good stuff, and brilliant books.

Regard

Tomcatter
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Furls Fire
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Post by Furls Fire »

Hail and well met Tomcatter! Be welcome and true to the Watch! Jump right in! :) :)
And I believe in you
altho you never asked me too
I will remember you
and what life put you thru.


~fly fly little wing, fly where only angels sing~

~this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you~

...for then I could fly away and be at rest. Sweet rest, Mom. We all love and miss you.

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DukkhaWaynhim
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Post by DukkhaWaynhim »

"You had already tasted the way in which a creator may be impotent to heal his creation."
When the Creator says this to TC, I think he could be referring to one of two possibilities:

1) TC as Writer: once any other person has read your work, you cannot un-write a work. So writing something which you deem to be flawed means being forever powerless to undo that in the mind of the reader (the reader who is paying attention. I might be plunging headlong into overanalysis here, but I think this is also SRD's philosophy on being a writer (Righter? I always questioned this Creek-y pun), and his way of talking about writing within the fabric of his tale. Once you ink, you cannot re-think. The amount of planning, plotting, and raw thinking that went into this work (all of them, really: Mordant's Need, Gap Cycle) never ceases to amaze me. :Hail:

2) TC's Child(ren): Roger's impact on 1st Chrons was to propel TC to an additional depth of loss from the societal death he underwent as a result of contracting leprosy. TC would never be able to participate in Roger's life, which had to gall him.
Losing Elena (She never even existed) was a monstrous addition to his guilt/sense of responsibility for the Land. She was flawed from birth, child of rape, and from Day 1 was instilled with a perfect Hatred :evil: of the Despiser, which of course made her into Despite's perfect tool :lf: and allowed both the breaking of the Law of Death and eventually the destruction of the Staff of Law. None of this would have been possible, however, without TC's help, because of his second self-bargain, which was to make Elena responsible in place of him. She, being a willing accomplice to this (speaking of willing, unless I'm tragically mistaken, there were also major incestuous vibes at some point, yes?), Elena jumped right in and made a big mess! In the end, TC was at least 2 times over guilty due to Elena.
Wait a minute.... let's overlook Elena's free will for the moment, and you can argue that TC is himself responsible for the destruction of the SoL and breaking of the Law of Death. I would say that what TC did (the rape which made Elena in the 1st place, and then all his bargains which seriously influenced both her life and death) made her a tool. And since his motives were shady, they made Elena a tool of destruction, all because TC thought he was (or was deathly afraid not to be) impotent.

[EarthBlood Side Bar: I always thought of Amok as Kevin's last jab at destroying the Land "OK, I can't beat Foul, so why don't I destroy everything that is beautiful? Hey, but before I do, why don't I copy down my recipe just in case I don't get it right the first time? Sure, and I'll make this little guy Amok as a guide so the blind followers in my footsteps can find the one piece of Power I didn't have the guts to use, since I had already chosen my suicide weapon." To me, Kevin is the ultimate example of power corrupting, and he proved in 2nd Chrons that even after death was working for the wrong team--he never does learn, does he? Some bitter or messed up people NEVER change, "the habit of despair" indeed.]

The central message I took from TCTC is what end's up being the creed of the anti-hero: [i'm paraphrasing SRD here] only the damned can be saved, and only the guilty can wield true power.
For me, that message means this: redemption can allow people to earn/learn their true purpose in life, but redemption only occurs when a person learns to accept themself, flaws and all, yet remain hopeful. And the price of redemption is two-fold: you become aware of your capacity for sin/evil/wrongdoing, and you accept responsbility for the outcomes of your actions.

DukkhaWaynhim
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danlo
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Post by danlo »

Incredible point! I have never even considered the possibility of Kevin being that crazy or "despite"-ful. :? 8)
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Fist and Faith
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Post by Fist and Faith »

:) That's a real cool theory about Kevin and Amok!

And welcome Tomcatter!!!!
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest
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shadowbinding shoe
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Post by shadowbinding shoe »

That was a great end for the series. No question.

I thought the granting of wishes by the creator at the end was a kind of test. He offers to TC to heal him from his leprosy and Thomas refuses. Instead the creator gives him without question a cure to his reaction to the anti-venom injection.

If he had accepted the cure to his leprosy instead he would have died from that allergic reaction I reckon. It's a christian motive about not asking God for things but instead accepting the things he gives us.

Don't know if I expressed this properly. Hope you understood it anyway.


-----

Did Foamfollower commits suicide by proxy at the end? I guess it was his right. He was a part of a great adventure and he has attained a pure spirit at this point. And of course all his people are dead and he would always be an outsider. After this his life could only go downhill. Or so he must have thought. Did he (and Covenant) realize that Covenant could save him by transporting him somewhere else with his Wild Magic? I think Foamfollower would have known it was possible. Do you think he should have tried to go on?
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Post by wayfriend »

Mr. Shoe, I hope your enjoying going through the old dissections!

Suicide? Foamfollower? Do you really see that in his character make-up?

If he didn't do it at his lowest point, after the Unhomed all were slaughtered and he was implicaed, do you think he'd do it upon tasting victory and vindication?

No. There was no suicide ... just the accpetance that destroying Foul was more important than saving his own Giant skin. His laughter at the end showed, among other things, that he had approved.

No one could have imagined that transporting Foamfollower out of the Creche was possible.
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Post by SoulBiter »

TC had never had the kind of control necessary to do something like that. Although the wildmagic is powerful, one of the most important themes of the series is that 'Power is a dreadful thing, its either not enough or the wrong type". I dont know that wildmagic has the ability to 'transport' people. However even if it did, in the heat of the moment, who would have thought of it?

Foamfollower knew he couldnt get out in time to save himself so he chose to stay there and to witness the end of a great story. (What a 'giant' thing to do). And TC wanted to save him so bad that when he was granted a wish from the creator, his first thought was 'Save the giant. Save Foamfollower".

No there was no deathwish involved nor was there a thought of suicide. Just an accepting of his fate and the knowledge that he was witnessing the end of the despiser (or so he thought).
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Post by Cord Hurn »

"Ah, but you were--free of my suasion, my power, my wish to make you my tool. Have I not said that the risk was great? Choice-less, you were given the power of choice. I elected you for the Land but did not compel you to serve my purpose in the Land. You were free to damn Land and Earth and Time and all, if you chose. Only through such a risk could I hope to preserve the rectitude of my creation."
There's something profound about this. Covenant being free to go either way in his response to the Land's need made any response he made truly effective. And now he's truly done thinking of himself as impotent (and he never really was, was he?--it was just a defense).
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Post by Cord Hurn »

He had to agree with the nurse; he was in rotten shape.

Then he found the doctor near him again. The man seemed young and angry. Another man entered the room, an older doctor whom Covenant recognized as the one who had treated him during his previous stay in the hospital. Unlike the younger man, this doctor wore a suit rather than a white staff jacket. As he entered, he said, "I hope you've got good reason for calling me. I don't give up church for just anyone--especially on Easter."

"This is a hospital," the younger man growled, "not a bloody revival. Of course I've got good reason."

"What's eating you? Is he dead?"

"No. Just the opposite--he's going to live. One minute he's in allergic shock, and dying from it because his body's too weak and infected and poisoned to fight back--and the next-- Pulse firm, respiration regular, pupillary reactions normal, skin tone improving. I'll tell you what it is. It's a goddamn miracle, that's what it is."

"Come, now," the older man murmured. "I don't believe in miracles--neither do you." He glanced at the chart, then listened to Covenant's heart and lungs for himself. "Maybe he's just stubborn." He leaned close to Covenant's face. "Mr. Covenant," he said, "I don't know whether you can hear me. If you can, I have some news which may be important to you. I saw Megan Roman yesterday--your lawyer. She said that the township council has decided not to rezone Haven Farm. The way you saved that little girl--well, some people are just a bit ashamed of themselves. It's hard to take a hero's home away from him.

"Of course, to be honest I should tell you that Megan performed a little legerdemain for you. She's a sharp lawyer, Mr. Covenant. She thought the town might think twice about evicting you if it knew that a national news magazine was going to do a human interest story on the famous author who saves children from rattlesnakes. None of our politicians were very eager for headlines like 'Town Ostracizes Hero.' But the point is that you'll be able to keep Haven Farm."
It seems ironic that the older doctor talks about not believing in miracles when he was getting ready to go to church to commemorate the miracle resurrection memorialized by Easter. Perhaps he just goes to church for approval and recognition by his fellow townspeople, but otherwise doesn't take it seriously.

The information about Megan Roman stopping the town council from rezoning Haven Farm wraps up this story very nicely, showing that TC can carry on with his old life again, though he no doubt has to face a long physical recovery at this point.

Thomas Covenant's victory for the Land has given him a spiritual strength that will sustain him in his life in our world; you can just FEEL that!

What a wonderful book TPTP is! :mrgreen:
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Post by wayfriend »

Cord Hurn wrote:Thomas Covenant's victory for the Land has given him a spiritual strength that will sustain him in his life in our world; you can just FEEL that!
That, to me, is the most important aspect of the story. That the things that Covenant learns in the Land are things that he can take back. Because they are things he has learned about himself.

Looking back across the story, you can see that Covenant never mastered any aspect of the magic of the Land. He never learned how to use graveling or the high wood, never rode (and bonded with) a Ranyhyn, never trained with the Warward, never learned any lore from the Lords. This reinforces the idea that all he ever needed was himself.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

wayfriend wrote:
Cord Hurn wrote:Thomas Covenant's victory for the Land has given him a spiritual strength that will sustain him in his life in our world; you can just FEEL that!
That, to me, is the most important aspect of the story. That the things that Covenant learns in the Land are things that he can take back. Because they are things he has learned about himself.

Looking back across the story, you can see that Covenant never mastered any aspect of the magic of the Land. He never learned how to use graveling or the high wood, never rode (and bonded with) a Ranyhyn, never trained with the Warward, never learned any lore from the Lords. This reinforces the idea that all he ever needed was himself.

I like this! :clap:
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