Kevin's Watch

I just finished The Power That Preserves (again) and have a concern to air.

From conversations with the jheherrin:

But there is another potency in that abyss. We are not slain. Instead we become the jheherrin - the soft ones. We are transformed. From the depths of the pit we crawl.

Somewhere in the book it is spoken that there are forces of the earth that are good to counter the illearth stone (because otherwise "the earth could not exist") - I wonder if this other potency is one of those things.

Then, possibly related,

Sure? Ah, no. There was great hazard - risk for the world which I made - risk even for me. Had my enemy gained the white wild magic gold, he would have unloosed himself from the Earth - destroyed it so that he might hurl himself against me. No, Thomas Covenant. I risked my trust in you. My own hands were bound. I could not touch the Earth to defend it. without thereby undoing what I meant to preserve. Only a free man could hope to stand against my enemy, hope to preserve the Earth.

"What about the creator. Why doesn't he despair?"
"Why should he despair? If he cannot bear the world he has made, he can make another. No, Thomas Coveanant." The voice laughed softly, sadly. "Gods and creators are too powerful and powerless for despair."

So, here's the crux. Covenant asks of the creator in third person and the voice which is speaking to him, which I heretofore had assumed was the Creator, responds in third person. However, according to the proceeding paragraph, the voice IS the creator of the world of The Land. But he took a risk to save his world which could have doomed him instead of abandoning it for another world - very generous, and not explained entirely. This must be a creator more invested in his creations than the creator he conjectures for Covenant. So is there another, greater creator above him?

Sorry if this is old news but I just discovered it now.

There may be more in there than you think...or perhaps you know it's there and wondering if peeps will spot it...
One thing is the dichotomy in kinds of creators. [I hate to do this, but again it relates to my personal grand theory of Ideal vs. material]
It's a distinction between creators of things and creators of organisms at first blush...but it's also the nature [and misunderstanding of the nature of] creators. The distance in the one quote seems to talk about the creator, but really talks about the limits of the intelligent creation.
It also seems to talk about the concerns of the creator...but there's no such thing as a creator who isn't invested in their creation. The problem is they're limited in influence on how it actually functions.
It doesn't require another creator above [though it doesn't exclude that, either].
There is simply a gap. TC is one of the fillers of the gaps.

The distance in the one quote seems to talk about the creator, but really talks about the limits of the intelligent creation.

But talking about a verb is talking about the nouns that do it, so I don't see how that's completely true. I mean, it's talking about both the creator and creation, not one or the other. You can't talk about running without talking about runners (though you can talk about runners without talking about running (though you can't talk about existence without existing, in both senses that that line can be taken in)).

It also seems to talk about the concerns of the creator...but there's no such thing as a creator who isn't invested in their creation. The problem is they're limited in influence on how it actually functions.

Sure there is. I thought up a story I was going to write about a library and began to create it - and TCTC at least agree with me that writing is creation, if not of organisms (somewhere in the cited conversation actually) - and I discarded the idea of materializing it because I didn't think it was going to be any good. There are a few other things I've written and forgotten about. When something is created, it becomes apart from oneself and can be ignored and forgotten about and divested from. In some instances, it can be forgotten about to the point of being completely abandoned.

It doesn't require another creator above [though it doesn't exclude that, either].
There is simply a gap. TC is one of the fillers of the gaps.

I agree that it doesn't require a creator above, the voice speaking to Covenant at this juncture could just be fantasizing. I also could see that Covenant is the character the creator is talking about, because we find out in TPTP that it is possible for him to deny the summons to the land (thus the line about turning away from his creation).

Perhaps there's a simpler solution. It may be... a paradox. He speaks in the third person to assuage and acknowledge his paradox. And even though He could repeat his creation, he doesn't wanna. Maybe there's limited space. Or maybe, he can't create unless Foul escapes. Since Foul seems to be his evil half, maybe, (spilt personality disorder much?) He can't create, because he's only at half strength, right? Or maybe, all his stuff is temporary, since balance is needed in all things, and he's creating perfection. Since his creations are perfectly good, he either needs a perfectly evil creation for balance, or it would dissipate to preserve universal balance.