Kevin's Watch

When Linden exerts earthpower through the Staff of Law, it clearly has the effect of draining her physically and emotionally - in fact, the use of power throughout the Chronicles consistently has this effect eg Sunder/Hollian using blood etc. She has to put herself into it too, in some sense, and this exertion tires her.

However, equally there are occasions where she draws strength from the Staff into herself to sustain herself.

I find this paradoxical. How can exertion of earthpower through use of the staff both drain her and revive/strengthen her. Does anyone else find this inconsistent? Seems to me they would at best cancel out (and given likely leakage of power, she'd be worse off).

No.
The Staff is a Power by itself.
An Earthpower battery.
Linden can tap into it freely with no cost to herself.

Barnetto wrote:When Linden exerts earthpower through the Staff of Law, it clearly has the effect of draining her physically and emotionally - in fact, the use of power throughout the Chronicles consistently has this effect eg Sunder/Hollian using blood etc. She has to put herself into it too, in some sense, and this exertion tires her.

However, equally there are occasions where she draws strength from the Staff into herself to sustain herself.

I find this paradoxical. How can exertion of earthpower through use of the staff both drain her and revive/strengthen her. Does anyone else find this inconsistent? Seems to me they would at best cancel out (and given likely leakage of power, she'd be worse off).

Off-hand, I would say that any exertion is tiring, whether it is physical, emotional, or magical. I suppose if Linden were competent enough to sustain herself with Earthpower while using it at the same time, she would do so. I don't know if the text indicates whether she becomes emotionally or physically drained, but she is a very emotional being after all.

TheWormoftheWorld'sEnd wrote:

Barnetto wrote:When Linden exerts earthpower through the Staff of Law, it clearly has the effect of draining her physically and emotionally - in fact, the use of power throughout the Chronicles consistently has this effect eg Sunder/Hollian using blood etc. She has to put herself into it too, in some sense, and this exertion tires her.

However, equally there are occasions where she draws strength from the Staff into herself to sustain herself.

I find this paradoxical. How can exertion of earthpower through use of the staff both drain her and revive/strengthen her. Does anyone else find this inconsistent? Seems to me they would at best cancel out (and given likely leakage of power, she'd be worse off).

Off-hand, I would say that any exertion is tiring, whether it is physical, emotional, or magical. I suppose if Linden were competent enough to sustain herself with Earthpower while using it at the same time, she would do so. I don't know if the text indicates whether she becomes emotionally or physically drained, but she is a very emotional being after all.

My thought is [actually, quite similar to HLT's I suppose] taking it in/opening up to it is sustaining [even exalting, at times]: it's willing it to do something/sending it out that is draining.

Vraith wrote:

TheWormoftheWorld'sEnd wrote:

Barnetto wrote:When Linden exerts earthpower through the Staff of Law, it clearly has the effect of draining her physically and emotionally - in fact, the use of power throughout the Chronicles consistently has this effect eg Sunder/Hollian using blood etc. She has to put herself into it too, in some sense, and this exertion tires her.

However, equally there are occasions where she draws strength from the Staff into herself to sustain herself.

I find this paradoxical. How can exertion of earthpower through use of the staff both drain her and revive/strengthen her. Does anyone else find this inconsistent? Seems to me they would at best cancel out (and given likely leakage of power, she'd be worse off).

Off-hand, I would say that any exertion is tiring, whether it is physical, emotional, or magical. I suppose if Linden were competent enough to sustain herself with Earthpower while using it at the same time, she would do so. I don't know if the text indicates whether she becomes emotionally or physically drained, but she is a very emotional being after all.

My thought is [actually, quite similar to HLT's I suppose] taking it in/opening up to it is sustaining [even exalting, at times]: it's willing it to do something/sending it out that is draining.

For example, the scene in which Trell "heals" the stoneware pot.

Barnetto wrote:When Linden exerts earthpower through the Staff of Law, it clearly has the effect of draining her physically and emotionally - in fact, the use of power throughout the Chronicles consistently has this effect eg Sunder/Hollian using blood etc. She has to put herself into it too, in some sense, and this exertion tires her.

However, equally there are occasions where she draws strength from the Staff into herself to sustain herself.

I find this paradoxical. How can exertion of earthpower through use of the staff both drain her and revive/strengthen her. Does anyone else find this inconsistent? Seems to me they would at best cancel out (and given likely leakage of power, she'd be worse off).

I thought about this some more.
Are there any examples of Linden using the Staff where she is weakened by doing so?
(I have no idea. Maybe?)
No examples in the 2nd.
By the time the New Staff was created she was fading back to reality so I don't think that's a good example.

I like thinking of the Staff like super-Hurtloam, it's mere existence heals. But unlike Hurtloam it's power never fades. That's why Linden can use it and be sustained by it at the same time.

I'd guess warming herself up or replenishing herself is a smaller task than say fighting Ur-viles or jumping through time. Also the drawing of strength from the staff is an internalisation whereas the use of power an externalisation. An Earthpower battery? Maybe... how about a pilot light, a small flame you can warm yourself with but run a stream of fuel over it and it becomes a flame thrower.

I also had a stray thought about that and the runic stains on her clothes...what if she becomes the staff, a bigger better version to compliment the TC-fused arch.....just a random whimsey.

High Lord Tolkien wrote:Are there any examples of Linden using the Staff where she is weakened by doing so?
(I have no idea. Maybe?)
No examples in the 2nd.
By the time the New Staff was created she was fading back to reality so I don't think that's a good example.

One obvious example is when she is healing the injured at Berek's camp. The effort of healing exhausts her utterly.

You might argue that it isn't the drawing of Earthpower via the Staff that tires her but the applyication of it (as indeed you have). It could simply be the effort of applying her healthsense that tires her. (Though perhaps she would still have to apply it in self-healing/sustenance.)

I'd have to have a closer look at the text to see if it gives any indication either way.

It seems like Linden doesn't really know how to use the Staff. Or she applies it's use the wrong way round. What is obstructing her? Like Covenant's dead nerves stopping the use of Wild Magic, Linden can't channel the true flow of Earthpower.

Because of this, LF just waits to pounce.

Also, the Staff of Law has history more connected with Covenant and the Old Lords than with Linden and the peoples of the 2nd Chronicles. In time I think she'll realise this and take possession of her Right to be in the Land.

I have only thought that the Staff can sustain Linden, but not indefinitely. That much healing in Berek's camp comes with a cost that can't be paid by the Staff over so long a time.

There's also some question in my mind if Linden, dedicating herself to the healing of others, worried about herself as much as she could have.

If Jeremiah weren't locked in a prison cell somewhere Linden might be more wreckless with her use of powerful Staffshine. She's being careful to survive only for Jeremiah's sake. After all, she does have a bullet scar.

I think that she will realize that to find Jeremiah she will have to reshape the Land some more, and I can only think of the crack that separates the lower Land from the Upper Land as being under Mount Doom where Jeremiah is.

Yeah ok, I know Mt.Doom hasn't got prison cells but then I've never been much good at translating the Chronicles

EDIT: Sorry folks, slight lapse of dyslexia. Should have written, Mount Thunder, but I'll leave it be as it still makes some sort of sense.

I always thought that drawing power through the SOL would be draining as well. If the power drawn is used externally, the user is drained. If the power is used internally, then the user could restore themselves. This makes sense to me, because it draws upon a power larger than the individual, so should be able to replenish the user. Theoretically, if the user was proficient enough, the restoration and exertion could happen at the same time.

Unfettered One wrote:I always thought that drawing power through the SOL would be draining as well. If the power drawn is used externally, the user is drained. If the power is used internally, then the user could restore themselves. This makes sense to me, because it draws upon a power larger than the individual, so should be able to replenish the user. Theoretically, if the user was proficient enough, the restoration and exertion could happen at the same time.

Thanks, that's the best answer yet to this.

In my view there are two sorts of weariness at play here. There is a physical weariness in which the muscles become sore, the eyes tend to lose focus and close and the body reacts more slowly. This can be combated with the Staff.

But there is also a weariness of the will and the mind. The day(s) impressions keep on coming without the time to sort or organize them and the will must be constantly focused at sucking power from the Staff (to go on functioning) and fighting the lure of rest and dark thoughts. This cannot be fought with the Staff or at least Linden doesn't know how to go about it.