Kevin's Watch

“The clenched igneous amalgam of extravagance and restraint which had carried her from the Land's past to her meeting with the Dead was changed. It had become something uncontainable and careless. If it claimed her now, she would indeed be compelled by rage, and contemptuous of consequence.”

While you could certainly make a point of Linden's already being in that state at the beginning of the book, in all fairness to her it just wouldn't be true (sorry, THOOLAH).

Yes, until now Linden has performed some extravagant feats. Yes, she has appeared reckless and “contemptuous of consequence.” But she, like Thomas Covenant before her, has always acted as a last resort. Not out of desperation; rather I would say that her she had no other reasonable options (desperation would lead her to unreasonable actions).


Oddly enough, I'm not certain of the meaning of the title. While certainly evocative enough, By Evil Means doesn't seem to fit... in fact, for the entirety of the chapter, there are only two things are may be considered evil means:

First, Esmer seeks to ameliorate his own pain through a combination of aid and betrayal. However, this is the theme of Esmer's entire existence, and not just this chapter.

Second, Linden makes a weak attempt at separating the croyel from Jeremiah by killing it. She is unsuccessful, however; additionally, it is not established that killing an evil being is evil (in fact, many evil creatures (including another croyel) are killed throughout the Chronicles).

Instead (and much to THOOLAH's chagrin), Linden is given a return to form, and we see a shadow of the heroine who succored Berek's army. She is more timid here, and less exhausting in her need to lesson pain and misery, but the same core desire is once again present. Despite her rage at Jeremiah's condition, we see a return of the woman who followed Covenant into the woods, the woman who saved Mistweave, the woman who expunged the Sunbane, and the woman who healed Berek's army. And Donaldson's treatment of her was perfectly matched to her actions; he teased and nudged her heart back into place as gently as Linden teased and nudged the shattered remnants of Liand's spine.

And now group is really f***ed, because the Ardent's magic is blocked by Esmer.

A good way to get us started, Rigel.

Linden's emotional state is indeed hard to follow in this book. It's fair to say she is on an emotional roller-coaster. An emotional triple-loop, zero-g, no-safety-bar roller-coaster.

In the last chapter, we have

In [i]Against All Things Ending[/i] was wrote:Part of her wept at her weakness. But that part belonged to the Linden Avery whom she had left behind under Melenkurion Skyweir. The Linden Avery who had stood with Caerroil Wildwood and the Mahdoubt on Gallows Howe did not hesitate.

And then in this chapter we have

In [i]Against All Things Ending[/i] was wrote:She needed to weep. If she did not, she would go mad with fury. The former granite of her heart had broken in Andelain, when she had seen and understood the outcome of Covenant’s reincarnation.

Well, which is it? Can she weep, or not? Is the granite from Gallows Howe broken, or not?

I don't think it's not an either-or question. I think she's shifting from one side to the other as events batter her, one step back after every two steps forward.

Of course, the important action of this chapter is the recovery after the battle in the previous chapter. Linden's Army believes that they have the luxury of time, but Esmer, like a thief, has robbed them and they don't know it yet. Time spent now will be regretted later.

A couple of details I find worth mentioning.

Covenant insists, with the same urgency as he insists that Jeremiah must be saved, with the same urgency that he insists Linden is the one to lead, that Liand is important, and must be saved.

In [i]Against All Things Ending[/i] was wrote:“Linden.” Covenant’s voice was a mere husk of sound. His pain ached in her arms. “Help Liand. We need him.” He was too weak and damaged to move. Nevertheless he seemed to push her away from him. “We need him.”

And we are also reminded that the Timewarden knows about Liand. I wish I could spare you. The Timewarden has seen Liand's future, knows what he will do.

In [i]Against All Things Ending[/i] was wrote:Covenant was right. If the croyel wanted Liand dead, Linden had to save him. He would be needed. Somehow.

Even the croyel knows that Liand is important.

If anyone ever had any doubt that the red toy racecar would be important, put it away. For Esmer thinks he has made restitution for all his latest crimes by fixing it. That's how important he thinks it is.

If anyone doesn't remember, we learned that the racecar was damaged when Linden cried, "Show me the truth," and Jeremiah was revealed to be croyel-ridden.

What is extremely interesting is that fake-Jeremiah had an undamaged racecar. The croyel hid the damage as well as itself.

There are hints from the earlier book that the croyel was the one who damaged it.

In [i]Fatal Revenant[/i] was wrote:Jeremiah wrapped his hand around his toy. For a moment, he appeared to consider trying to crush the racecar in his fist; and the pulse at the corner of his eye became more urgent.

I don't think that the croyel likes that racecar, no, no, no.

Lastly, Esmer links the Insequent to wild magic.

In [i]Against All Things Ending[/i] was wrote:Cail’s son lifted his shoulders: a shrug of disdain. “The conjoined powers of the Insequent have made you mighty, but they have not altered the nature of your knowledge. The theurgies by which you bypass distances are a wan mimicry of wild magic.” His scorn sounded like despair. “They are impotent in my presence.”

What the heck is a wan mimicry of wild magic? Something that's not actually wild magic, but which resembles it in some way, I suppose.

We do know that the Harrow was not blocked by Esmer in the last book, during the Battle of Five Incomprehensible Armies. Apparently, it is the theurgies which "bypass distance" which are mimicry, and not other things.

Maybe this is nothing more than a convenient means to explain why the Ardent is thwarted. Or maybe the entire story will turn on this point. Who can say?

The racecar does give us a little hope for Jeremiah, not much at all, but some...

Knowing what happens in the next few chapters, I think I can guess what the title alludes to.

Spoiler

Esmer radically changes the future by preventing the company from departing magically. It appears he dooms them with this action. This is the Evil. But the confrontation with the She-bane that follows from it is needful . They have to understand what they are facing in order to meet it properly. Also, and this is probably the Good hinted in the title, because they travel through the deep Whight-warrens the Demondim-spawn with Linden's help manage to drain that subterranean lake to the caves below and thus apparently erase the fate they were trapped in and enable impossibilities to happen. Thus Esmer doomed them in the immediate future but gave them the road to salvation in the longer term (though I doubt he could predict this.)