[ Finally finding some time to sit down and do this chapter some justice. ]
danlo, thanks for starting us off, but whoa, that thing at the beginning, I hope you got that out of your system.
The quote about knowledge, impotence, and basalt also caught my eye. Clearly that's one of themes that runs through all Donaldson's stories of the Land. What impressed me when I read it is this: what a marvelous thing Donaldson did when he let Covenant forget what he knew as the Arch of Time. The first time I read about that, I thought,
How convenient. Covenant's amnesia seemed like merely a way to let the plot go forward with questions still unanswered. But now I see that there's a lot more that's critical about this. It's all tied up with Linden and the others and the Necessity of Freedom. And, perhaps, it's part of the Final Answer.
That bit at the end, "Covenant's only real hope," tells me that Covenant sees an outcome. What's interesting is: although it's important to the story for Covenant to have forgotten what he knew, he does remember the fact that it's important that he forget it. (If you can follow that!) Once again, I see this as confirmation that the Timewarden had a plan all along, and that being resurrected (and forgetting) was a part of the plan.
The second part of the book is called "Only the damned". Which refers to, "only the damned can be saved". So, the more damned things appear for Linden's intrepid Army, the greator the chance for salvation, I suppose. In a way, this title is meant to give us hope, I think.
Covenant reaffirms, in this chapter, his relationship with his ring.
In [i]Against All Things Ending[/i] was wrote:As soon as the Ardent had brought the company here from the Lost Deep, Covenant had claimed Linden from Stave. Neither the former Master nor any of Linden’s friends had objected when he had seated himself spread-legged against the boulder so that he could hold her, curled into herself and unconscious, against his chest. Then he had lifted the chain holding his ring over his head, and had settled it around her neck.
The Humbled had expressed their disapproval; but he told them, “I never wanted all that power. When I died, I finally succeeded at giving it away.” He had tried to surrender it several times before then, and had been refused. “I don’t want it back. Not like this.”
Covenant had vowed he would never use power again. He seems to be reaffirming this here. That, and that the ring is now Linden's ring.
It seems that Covenant is going to acheive the Final Answer without using any power at all.
Except ... that "Not like this" at the end seems to leave the door open a little bit, doesn't it?
No one seems, as yet, to have touched on the the "Blame" scene in this chapter. As it can't have been thrown in for no reason, we should consider it.
In [i]Against All Things Ending[/i] was wrote:“The deed of her undoing was yours. Do not protest to me that you merely requested Anele’s sanity and service. I will not hear you. I grant that you did not or could not foresee what would follow.” The Manethrall seemed to bite down on each word, restraining an impulse to shout. “Still the deed was yours.”
Mahrtiir points out that Covenant is to blame for Elena's death-after-death, being fed to SWMNBN. Not for no reason: he sees it as an omen. More, he sees it as perhaps an "evil means" from which no good can be accomplished.
And Covenant agrees.
Both men are aware that the outcome of Covenant's actions could not be foreseen. And both of them, accurser and accusee, hold Covenant resposible anyway. Donaldson, here, is making sure he covers all of the readers possible objections, all potential points of view, so that the reader is convinced of his responsibility. He leaves no doubts.
But why?
This seems like a Hamako moment to me. What we learn here, I hypothesize, we will apply to something else that will happen later in the story. Donaldson readies his reasoning now, so that later, he can weild it more effectively.
Somewhere, somehow, something important will happen, and naming the responsible individual will be critical to how it develops.
In [i]Against All Things Ending[/i] was wrote:“No. Mahrtiir is right. Elena doesn’t deserve more torment. We all make choices, and none of us can guess how they’ll turn out. But we have to live with the consequences anyway. I didn’t know what would happen when I asked Anele to speak to the Dead, but that doesn’t make me any less responsible.”
“And did the Dead not choose?” countered Branl. “Did Elena Law-Breaker herself not choose?”
Covenant nodded. “They did. She did. And she paid for it. She’s paying for it right now. But that doesn’t change what I did. I asked for help. My part in this doesn’t go away just because I didn’t choose the kind of help I got.”
One other final point added here. Responsibility is not zero sum game. Others are responsible for their actions, but that does not detract from your responsibility for your actions. One doesn't preclude or diminish the other. Responsibility is not spread around, getting thinner the more it covers. Responsibility is always served to each person as much as is needed.
I just found this funny after having recently reread the Dark Tower series.
In [i]Against All Things Ending[/i] was wrote:But when Branl found none, the Manethrall said unsteadily, “I cry your pardon, Timewarden. I am answered."
[...] As if he were delivering or receiving a blow, he rasped, “Master, I find that I must cry your pardon also.
Perhaps Donaldson has been reading some King between chapters.
Just need to throw out something pro-Linden here.
In [i]Against All Things Ending[/i] was wrote:Like Jeremiah in the aftermath of his maiming by fire and Despite, she had found a way to survive when every other form of continuance had become unendurable.
If anyone is seeing a weak, pathetic Linden here, think again. Her catatonia is not about her falling short, it is about the unendurability of her dilemma. "She has found a way to survive", where maybe no one else could have.
And more.
In [i]Against All Things Ending[/i] was wrote:And Covenant grasped a truth that she might not recognize, even though she had experienced it before. When she returned to herself, like a butterfly she would unfurl different strengths than those which she had possessed earlier. She would be an altered woman. Even she might not know what she had become.
Wow.
Different strengths. She had experienced it before.
We need to watch Linden now, that's for sure. She had been a stone; who will she be now?
This bit is curiously intriguing to me. It's when Covenant is speaking to as-yet-catatonic Linden.
In [i]Against All Things Ending[/i] was wrote:“But you won’t take credit for any of that. You’ll say you didn’t do it on your own, you had help, you couldn’t have done it alone.
“Well, I’m not going to argue with you. Of course you had help. We’ve all had help. It doesn’t diminish what you’ve done.”
What I find intriguing is that this seems to be a bookend with the "deed" argument earlier, between Covenant and Mahrtiir.
It seems to me that the notion expressed here is a corollary of the other: if one's responsibility is not diminished because others also had a part, then neither is the credit one is due.
This also sounds like Stephen King's writing.
In [i]Against All Things Ending[/i] was wrote:Water, he insisted in silence. Water was the answer. How? He did not know.
Out of the blue, the answer comes to Covenant. Convenient. When King writes this way, I take it as King not wanting to bog the story down in details. Mystical knowledge floats in, and things move ahead ... don't think about it.
Except that's so not Donaldson. Which can only mean ... this is some spark of knowledge that he had retained from his Timewardenness.
This, I think, is the most critical clue we have found in a long time. I have highlighted it as I think is appropriate.
In [i]Against All Things Ending[/i] was wrote:“And I only have hands I can still use because you healed them. For that alone, I’m so grateful I don’t know how to contain it.”
Everything that he required of himself while life remained in his body depended on his ability to grip and hold.
Oh, that's fun to think about! The
krill? The Staff? Of what are we speaking here?!?!?!
But ... again ... looks like Timewarden has a plan.
.
OK that was fun, better than making some lame disclaimer and begging Wayfriend or someone else to come in and rescue me. In a way I wanted to do this chapter, in a way I had, as moderator, to come in and fill . So: Ardent drops everyone somewhere in the lower land southeast of Landsdrop and Mt Thunder where it would take time for the company's scores of enemies to reach them so at least they can recoup. Linden can't wake up, everybody else slowly begins to wake up only to find they have no food or water. Mahrtiir send his Cords out in search of water and when they finally return from finding a non-polluted stream they contrive a means of beginning water back to everyone using the Giant's armor as vessels. Stone and Sea! Everything in the chapter is about rock and water!
then went on to define it as "enchantment, sorcery", but wasn't it really used, in the Harrow's case, as insurance or restriction? Dictionary.com defines stricture as "restriction" but the archiac is probably more of what SRD had in mind: "the act of enclosing or tightly binding." Then I thought about the Ardent again and said, "...wait a minute that's the exact opposite of his nature, his ribbands open, envelope and stream forth." Huh?
), but haven't contributed further because I need to re-read the chapter and don't own the book. (My first read was courtesy of the library and too long ago for me to retain the details. Heck, two days is too long ago for me to retain details 
