The Shadow (moved from Runes forum)

[wayfriend]

Well, as I see it, the Würd of the Earth is that it is created, and that it will be destroyed eventually. And the very forces that created it provide the means for destroying it. Anything livng of necessarilly carries within it the seeds of it's own destruction, Donaldson has said in the GI.

The Worm, as a myth, is a way to embody those principles in a dramatic and accessible way. The Worm created the Earth, but it did so in a way that ensures that it will one day be destroyed.

So Würd and Worm are similar in sound, but they are also similar in terms of mythic allegory.

The correspondence works in the other direction as well. The Worm can be roused, and doing so will destroy the Earth before it otherwise would end. So: the Earth's inherent capacity for destruction can be triggered, and destroy the Earth before it otherwise would end.

Which is, of course, what Linden must have done. She didn't really rouse a giant Worm. But she did trigger forces, forces inherent in the Earth since it's creation and by its creation. Forces which can destroy the Earth.

Of course, if you believe as I do that the Würd is also the Arch of Time, in the same way that it is the Worm, then this becomes easier to imagine. The Arch of Time is already weakened by caesures. Awakening it's inner destructive demiurge is sure to split it wide open. This demiurge must come, of course, from wild magic. The Arch was built on wild magic, the keystone is made of wild magic, and wild magic can rive it to rubble. Awaken the wild magic of the keystone, and ... blam.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

Well, as I see it, the Würd of the Earth is that it is created, and that it will be destroyed eventually. And the very forces that created it provide the means for destroying it. Anything livng of necessarilly carries within it the seeds of it's own destruction, Donaldson has said in the GI.

The Worm, as a myth, is a way to embody those principles in a dramatic and accessible way. The Worm created the Earth, but it did so in a way that ensures that it will one day be destroyed.

So Würd and Worm are similar in sound, but they are also similar in terms of mythic allegory.

The correspondence works in the other direction as well. The Worm can be roused, and doing so will destroy the Earth before it otherwise would end. So: the Earth's inherent capacity for destruction can be triggered, and destroy the Earth before it otherwise would end.

Which is, of course, what Linden must have done. She didn't really rouse a giant Worm. But she did trigger forces, forces inherent in the Earth since it's creation and by its creation. Forces which can destroy the Earth.

Of course, if you believe as I do that the Würd is also the Arch of Time, in the same way that it is the Worm, then this becomes easier to imagine. The Arch of Time is already weakened by caesures. Awakening it's inner destructive demiurge is sure to split it wide open. This demiurge must come, of course, from wild magic. The Arch was built on wild magic, the keystone is made of wild magic, and wild magic can rive it to rubble.

Linden didn't rouse a giant worm or "worm"? Then I suppose her vision at the beginning of Runes was a mere allegory and not a vision:

She seemed to tumble as if she had been snared by breakers until she came down hard on a flash of vision like a shingled beach.
For the second time in her life, she stood with Covenant and the rest of their companions in the depths of the isle where the One Tree spread its limbs. There Seadreamer suffered and perished; and Vain met salvific harm; and her other companions came near to death. But this time...

Oh, this time it was not Covenant who raved with white fire, disturbing the Worm of the World's End in its slumbers, threatening to rouse the destruction of the Earth. Now it was Linden herself. In her hands she held more power than she could comprehend or control; and with it she lashed out in a frenzy of desperation, seeking to reclaim her son, and achieving only cataclysm.

Unchecked, her needs goaded the Worm to wakefulness. It lifted its vast head, seeking havoc. For a moment as terrible as eternity, it looked into her eyes with recognition.

No! she cried in protest. No! This was more of Joan's madness; more of Lord Foul's malice. But it was not: it was prophecy. She had regained her health-sense and knew the truth.

If she did not quail and flee, this augury could come to pass. With Covenant's ring, she might indeed be capable of rousing the Worm.

It would appear that she has. So for this prophetic vision has been dead on. "She has regained her health-sense and knew the truth."

[wayfriend]

Linden didn't rouse a giant worm or "worm"?

She didn't rouse a literal worm, no. That's what I believe. She roused something, assuredly, something which the Worm in the Worm myth represents.

Remember also, the Elohim have said that the Earth will be destroyed when the Würd is awoken.

Linden was told that what lie beneath the one tree is the Worm. By Findail. So: she things of that force as the Worm, even in her prophetic vision.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

Linden didn't rouse a giant worm or "worm"?

She didn't rouse a literal worm, no. That's what I believe. She roused something, assuredly, something which the Worm in the Worm myth represents.

Remember also, the Elohim have said that the Earth will be destroyed when the Würd is awoken.

Linden was told that what lie beneath the one tree is the Worm. By Findail. So: she things of that force as the Worm, even in her prophetic vision.

So the Elohim in TOT call this thing the Würd. They actually never call it 'a Würd,' as if it were a member of a species of Würds.

But then Infelice states in FR:

"Done, Timewarden?" Infelice snapped viciously. ''Done? She has roused the Worm of the World's End.

And then:

Because of her madness and folly, every Elohim will be devoured."

Apparently the Worm has a taste for Elohim. Do you think they'll scream or go quietly into the giant maw?

[wayfriend]

Infelice actually said "She has roused the Worm of the World's End. Such magicks must be answered. Because of her madness and folly, every Elohim will be devoured."

Don't you think that devouring the Elohim might answer the magick that Linden roused? And that that might quiesce the Würd?

Devouring Elohim doesn't require the world to end. Beings have been "devoured", or threatened with devourment, all through the C's. Nom consumed a Raver. The Harrow tried to consume Linden. etc.

[thewormoftheworld'send]

Infelice actually said "She has roused the Worm of the World's End. Such magicks must be answered. Because of her madness and folly, every Elohim will be devoured."

Don't you think that devouring the Elohim might answer the magick that Linden roused? And that that might quiesce the Würd?

Certainly. I had thought that the Worm might be put back to sleep somehow. But what I think Infelice meant by answering "magicks" was the rousing of the Worm by Linden's "magicks."

Devouring Elohim doesn't require the world to end. Beings have been "devoured", or threatened with devourment, all through the C's. Nom consumed a Raver. The Harrow tried to consume Linden. etc.

Not unless we want to speculate that the Worm can be put back to sleep,
a speculation I myself had offered some days ago here. But in my own "vision" of the future I see the Worm, as a living worm-like serpentine being about the size of the entire Andelainian hills, literally beginning to devour the Earth, and Linden attempting to stop its destruction. In the 2nd Chronicles Findail stated that one of Foul's ends was to manipulate Covenant into expending Arch-shattering amounts of wild magic attempting to prevent the Worm from destroying the Earth.

The Worm defends the One Tree! Have you learned nothing? Here the Despiser cannot fail! If the Worm is roused, the Earth will end, freeing Despite to wreak its vengeance upon the cosmos. And if the ring-wielder attempts to match his might against the Worm, he will destroy the Arch of Time. It cannot contain such a battle! It is founded upon white gold, and white gold will rive it to rubble!

Notice that even Findail calls it a Worm, and so far only Daphin has call it by the name "Wurd" both in reference to the Elohim as the Worm's "offspring" and to the Worm itself.