Kevin's Watch

Something I keep considering is that the Demondim-spawn would like to harmonize their essence with the beauty and truth of the Land. I think that was nearly confirmed in AATE, but even if it wasn't, well, another option might be that they would like to use Jeremiah's power to open a portal to a different reality where their kind of life IS natural.

But now we also know that a precise sequence of events throughout history awoke the Worm, which Worm represents the pattern of life and death—and the events that awoke it were ultimately those involved in the breaking of the Laws of Life and Death (this break's apotheosis Covenant's resurrection). I didn't get the impression in the Second Chronicles that the Worm's awakening would lead to the destruction of Time (consider: the Elohim Appoint their kind to prevent the Worm from awakening; but the Sunbane, or so Linden thought, would not end Time if unredeemed, only devour the Earth; yet wouldn't that awaken the Worm?), and only thought in FR that Roger said it would in the past because it would've disordered history. But now evidently if the Worm drinks the Blood of the Earth, reality is over. So what I'm guessing is that the Despiser, if only as early as the Second Chronicles, realized that eroding the Laws of Life and Death translated into eroding the causal order that defined the Law of Time, so ultimately just waking up the Worm would be enough to end all Creation.

Why does Linden need the Staff, especially with runes connected to Life and Death? Why is the Staff required for her to stand against the Worm of the World's End?

I think what has to happen, or what will happen, or what could, is that Linden recreates the Laws of Life and Death. Maybe she'll need Jeremiah's power to help with that. But we know she can fix damage to the essence of the Earth. It stands to Chronicles logic, anyway, that resurrecting an entire universe is the ultimate solution to Despite. Anyway, if the Worm personifies Laws now violated, rendering them inviolate again might put it back to sleep.

Moreover, imagine how the Despiser might finally fail forever. Time ends. Jeremiah is given the task of imprisoning the Creator. For the same oblique reason that Covenant surrendered his ring, Jeremiah surrenders his powers to Corruption. Jeremiah makes a prison—a completely new Earth—where the entire world ends up like the Land because this time, the Creator is in the background, adjusting the Despiser's intent like his enemy did an eternity ago. The Despiser is locked out of his own universe for another eternity. QED

Despite(!) Infelice to the contrary, I still think the Despiser's deepest ambition might be to invade other worlds, too...

Mighara Sovmadhi wrote:Despite(!) Infelice to the contrary, I still think the Despiser's deepest ambition might be to invade other worlds, too...

Actually, I believe we get a clue to this at the end of TPtP: In Ridjeck Thome, we learn that (I think I have this right) "Lord Foul loathed life, not because it was any threat to him, but because its mortal infestations offended the defining passion of his existence." Given the creepy, preternatural perfection of his home, I've always assumed that what Foul wants is to be able to create perfect things, an act which is impossible within an Arch of Time. You'll notice that his chosen tool of power is a giant *emerald*, pure crystalline structure.

I'd say Foul's deepest ambition is to create entire worlds like the Creche: eternal, unchanging, lifeless, perfect.

Maybe another hint to that is the role of the Despiser in the eventual days of Kasreyn of the Gyre, who desired white gold in order to make something perfect. The Viles' dread emulation of Ridjeck Thome or whatever as a sign that they acknowledged some dark purity in it, maybe? I don't know. It still seems mysterious that the Despiser would be limited in his knowledge of what the shadow on the heart of the Earth implies he could try to do: attack other parts of the multiverse, raze them to darkness, and rebuild them with his sickeningly sweet light. Taking down *one* Creator is therefore not the worst he could do. But maybe the Elohim are just stupid about this kind of stuff.

Mighara Sovmadhi wrote:

resurrecting an entire universe is the ultimate solution to Despite.

Resurrection has become a very important part of AATE. Both TC and Jeremiah have been resurrected by extravagant expenditures of power. Earthpower played a key role in both acts. With enough of the right kind of power, anything is possible; like Jeremiah who, with enough of the right kind of materials, can build anything.

I don't think it will be "saved". At least not in the way we think or hope.

In Runes, we were shown the destruction of Haven Farm - TC's home. As per prior novels, this is a foreshadowing of a parallel event in the Land. So the rapidly cascading destruction of the Land/Earth, should come as no surprise. The titles of the books are themselves a confirming clue.

For me, part of the problem arose in having to change the title from SHALL PASS UTTERLY to AGAINST ALL THINGS ENDING. This seems to effect the reader in an unintended manner. It leaves a false hope that our "heroes" will somehow manage to maintain the status quo, even though the author has repeatedly shown the opposite.

Their - and our - insistence on fixing what is broken blinds the possibility of something better appearing. The warping and violation of natural Laws have left their mark on creation. The Worm could be the reset button which cannot be halted. Whenever there is an acceptance of the end, their focus should shift to another solution. Yes, it will end but does it have to be THE END?

TC is the white gold, who with the one Word {wurd/wyrd/worm?} of truth or treachery, he will save or damn the earth.

LA is the Healer. Elena said: Care for her beloved, for in the end she must heal us all.

Resurrection/restoration of the Land and Earth is possible. But first, everything SHALL PASS UTTERLY into THE LAST DARK.

The question is: Will it be Linden's darkness of the wightwarrens? Or Covenant's pure midnight of Andelain?

Prover of Life wrote:I don't think it will be "saved". At least not in the way we think or hope.

In Runes, we were shown the destruction of Haven Farm - TC's home. As per prior novels, this is a foreshadowing of a parallel event in the Land. So the rapidly cascading destruction of the Land/Earth, should come as no surprise. The titles of the books are themselves a confirming clue.

For me, part of the problem arose in having to change the title from SHALL PASS UTTERLY to AGAINST ALL THINGS ENDING. This seems to effect the reader in an unintended manner. It leaves a false hope that our "heroes" will somehow manage to maintain the status quo, even though the author has repeatedly shown the opposite.

Their - and our - insistence on fixing what is broken blinds the possibility of something better appearing. The warping and violation of natural Laws have left their mark on creation. The Worm could be the reset button which cannot be halted. Whenever there is an acceptance of the end, their focus should shift to another solution. Yes, it will end but does it have to be THE END?

TC is the white gold, who with the one Word {wurd/wyrd/worm?} of truth or treachery, he will save or damn the earth.

LA is the Healer. Elena said: Care for her beloved, for in the end she must heal us all.

Resurrection/restoration of the Land and Earth is possible. But first, everything SHALL PASS UTTERLY into THE LAST DARK.

The question is: Will it be Linden's darkness of the wightwarrens? Or Covenant's pure midnight of Andelain?

I more or less agree (therefore the title of my post).