Kevin's Watch

Possible SPOILERS lurk here!


So far it looks as if Donaldson is following his pattern of placing a Mind-Blowing Incident [TM] somewhere around midway in his novels. Let's see if we can find these MBIs, working backwards.

In AATE, we are given the race-car episode. I don't count the Cavewight army, there is always an army of some kind (or a Sandgorgon which is an army of one), and that's for a different topic.

In FR, the incident at EarthRoot.

In ROTE, hmmm, Linden creating her own caesure to travel into the Land's past to relocate the SoL.

In WGW, Hollian is resurrected, another Law is broken.

TOT, were there only minor (not outstanding MBI) moments? Or is there something I'm forgetting?

TWL, Vain is gifted to Covenant. Or was there something more unusual than that? Could there be anything more unusual? Talk about an original character...

TPTP, Elena reappears and the SoL is destroyed. This is definitely a biggie.

TIW - Earthroot again. And then, Donaldson immediately "killed" us by relocating the story on the other side of the Land, thereby putting off Earthroot's exciting denouement for half the novel. But that's a different point entirely.

LFB - Covenant reveals his white gold ring to the Council. Donaldson built up the tension by making us wait yet another day in Land time while Lord Tamarantha decides what Covenant is covering up with his incomplete story.

LD: Covenant wakes up.

High Lord Tolkien wrote:LD: Covenant wakes up.

Roger or Thomas? You have me at a disadvantage, I haven't read that one yet.

So you mean Thomas Covenant? Didn't he "wake up" at the end of AATE? That was his second resurrection.

I went to work briefly and suddenly I "GOT it."

TheWormoftheWorld'sEnd wrote:TOT, were there only minor (not outstanding MBI) moments? Or is there something I'm forgetting?

I'd say Covenant coming out of his stasis, speaking Nom's name, and then defeating the Sandgorgon and releasing it, to telling effect, qualifies as an MBI.

Yeah, not to mention him rampaging through the Sandhold, battling Kasreyn of the Gyre and jumping in his getaway dromond!

High Lord Tolkien wrote:LD: Covenant wakes up.

Please, I do not want a Bobby Ewing - ending!

DrPaul wrote:

TheWormoftheWorld'sEnd wrote:TOT, were there only minor (not outstanding MBI) moments? Or is there something I'm forgetting?

I'd say Covenant coming out of his stasis, speaking Nom's name, and then defeating the Sandgorgon and releasing it, to telling effect, qualifies as an MBI.

I was going to say this myself.
I mean, think about how he structured it. He ended a chapter with just the word, "Nom."
And then the next chapter starts with everyone either enraged, scared, anticipating doom for a while. And it didn't take a long time for Nom to show up.
And hell, Ceer's punishment, Linden's attempt on his life, that was pretty major too.

Worm wrote:

In AATE, we are given the race-car episode.

Which one do you mean? When Esmer fixed it, or when Jeremiah used it in his construct? Since the former transpires more in the middle of the novel, I'm guessing you mean that one...?

But both of them blew my mind.

earthbrah wrote:Worm wrote:

In AATE, we are given the race-car episode.

Which one do you mean? When Esmer fixed it, or when Jeremiah used it in his construct? Since the former transpires more in the middle of the novel, I'm guessing you mean that one...?

But both of them blew my mind.

Esmer fixing the car wasn't an MBI. Jeremiah attaining the stature of a forestal through contact with the car was an MBI.

Notice how Donaldson attempts to make this scene as puissant as one can possibly imagine it. The cavewight battle was closer to the middle of the book, however it wasn't so MBI. There is often a battle scene like that in each book.

I'd say the entire series is filled with MBI's, and they don't necessarily follow the "1 in the middle, 1 at the end" pattern either.

Did we ever find out the make of the car? It probably is a.....wait for it....Mustang!

Rigel wrote:I'd say the entire series is filled with MBI's, and they don't necessarily follow the "1 in the middle, 1 at the end" pattern either.

Can you give 3 or 4 examples?

I think I can...

As I said, both instances with the racecar blew my mind--when Esmer fixed it, and when Jeremiah used it in his bone construct.

Also, the expelling of the croyel was, for me, MBI material. And of course, TC's use of the krill to heal his fragmented mind was likewise mind blowing.

And not to omit the traverse through the Lost Deep and their caverns...that segment blew me away probably more than anything else in AATE.

MBIs are subjective; what blows my mind may not blow anyone else's. So to list them as though they are textual fact is a mistake, in my opinion. If something blows my mind, then it's valid as an MBI.

TheWormoftheWorld'sEnd wrote:

Rigel wrote:I'd say the entire series is filled with MBI's, and they don't necessarily follow the "1 in the middle, 1 at the end" pattern either.

Can you give 3 or 4 examples?

Sure, just from one book to save time and space: TPTP.
TC refusing the summons.
Trell's RoD.
Lord Mhoram's Victory.
Bannor's refusing to accompany Covenant (this ranks much higher for me than the shattering of the SoL).
"I'm going to bring Foul's Creche down around his ears."
The crossing of Hotash Slay.
Foamfollower's laughter.

I could do this for every book in the series, but there's no point. I love Donaldson's writing because so much of it has a huge effect on me. Other writers seem banal and mundane by comparison.

Rigel wrote:

TheWormoftheWorld'sEnd wrote:

Rigel wrote:I'd say the entire series is filled with MBI's, and they don't necessarily follow the "1 in the middle, 1 at the end" pattern either.

Can you give 3 or 4 examples?

Sure, just from one book to save time and space: TPTP.
TC refusing the summons.
Trell's RoD.
Lord Mhoram's Victory.
Bannor's refusing to accompany Covenant (this ranks much higher for me than the shattering of the SoL).
"I'm going to bring Foul's Creche down around his ears."
The crossing of Hotash Slay.
Foamfollower's laughter.

I could do this for every book in the series, but there's no point. I love Donaldson's writing because so much of it has a huge effect on me. Other writers seem banal and mundane by comparison.

So you two don't see any such pattern in the chrons.

Myself, I see the point you're making, Worm. It's just that I don't see the "MBI in the middle" as a definite pattern in these books. Like Rigel, I find the books rife with MBI material.

TWL was the first of the Chronicles novels that I ever read. The very first MBI moment I had was when TC was infused with Waynhim blood and ran like the Flash to Revelstone. The gift of Vain didn't blow my mind at that point, because I had no background knowledge of the ur-viles. However, when Vain snuck into the Aumbrie to fetch the iron heels of the original Staff of Law did blow me away. And the caamora of wild magic that TC performed for the dead giants was an extremely powerful scene.

So more generally, I think the pattern of MBIs is less about where in the novels they occur, but rather that they occur with some frequency in each novel. It's one of the things that makes these stories so special, imo.

In WGW, Hollian is resurrected, another Law is broken.

For me, it's the climactic scenes in "The Banefire": the combat with Gibbon in the Hall of Gifts, Honingscrave imprisoning the Raver and dying by the Sandgorgon's violence; the Sangorgon becoming sentinent; Convenant walking into the Banefire (preceded by Findail's very uncharacteristic expression of respcet and near-compassion for him)

In TWL I'd put the Soothtell in that spot. The meeting with the Dead in Andelain was emotionally powerful, but the Soothtell gives us the truth about the Sunbane, followed by violent combat: not unlike, in the 3rd Chrons, Linden with Roger and Jeremiah at Earthroot.

Aleksandr wrote:

In WGW, Hollian is resurrected, another Law is broken.

For me, it's the climactic scenes in "The Banefire": the combat with Gibbon in the Hall of Gifts, Honingscrave imprisoning the Raver and dying by the Sandgorgon's violence; the Sangorgon becoming sentinent; Convenant walking into the Banefire (preceded by Findail's very uncharacteristic expression of respcet and near-compassion for him)

In TWL I'd put the Soothtell in that spot. The meeting with the Dead in Andelain was emotionally powerful, but the Soothtell gives us the truth about the Sunbane, followed by violent combat: not unlike, in the 3rd Chrons, Linden with Roger and Jeremiah at Earthroot.

Donaldson has to keep up the reader's interest somehow. But what makes for an MBI? When you drop the book you're reading and stare unfocused into space for at least a few seconds because of something you just read.