AATE, Part 2, Chapter 6: Parting Company

[wayfriend]

Fair warning: this is a long dissection. A lot of different, important things happen, and I don't want to give any of them less attention than they deserve.

Parting Company

Jeremiah is free.

Liand has been slain and Galt has sacrificed himself, and Anele lies dying having completed his life's task. One by one, Linden's army is parting company with its heroes, and the roll is not yet complete.

But Jeremiah is free.

Cavewights without number batter Linden's comrades, and Roger madly scourges them with magmatic theurgy. Esmer slumps, rendered impotent by the manacles of the ur-viles, while the Weird-weary Spawn, having accomplished their critical deed, now attempt to defend the company with their lore.

Linden has no choice. Jeremiah is free, but if she does not act, he will die with all the rest of them.

With Esmer impotent, she is free to call up the wild magic. And then "she became a holocaust of silver flame."

• It's horrible to see Linden to engage in this kind of slaughter. This is the blackness of her spirit, her Gallows How, unleashed. It's utterly necessary, but all the while, she can only think about how Covenant would have found a different way. She saves everyone, but only sees it as failure.

Cavewights are slaughtered; Roger can only flee.

At his escape, she raised a scream of her own into the air; a shriek of unconstrained wild magic that seemed to challenge the Despiser himself. She yelled for Liand, and howled for Anele, and cried out for the pain of her companions, until her strength failed. Then at last her world went dark. All of her burdens fell away, and there was no more power anywhere that could hurt her.

Moments later, she returns to herself. And is witness to the aftermath of the battle. The Giants, the Haruchai, the Ramen, all are seriously wounded and in great need of care. Stave weeps - weeps! - over the lifeless form of his now-proclaimed son. Weeps as no Haruchai has ever wept.

• Stave earlier had revealed that he has a son. We now learn it was Galt all along. It had seemed as if Stave chided and argued with Galt as if they were utterly opposed. Now we can see that, also, Stave may have been trying to help Galt as a father showing a son right from wrong. Certainly Stave cared about the choices Galt made in his life. And the tears not only show how Stave has become different than the Masters, than the Haruchai, but also that, in the end, he still loved his son. Stave offers an unprecedented expression of emotion to his son on his passing.
  
  What had Stave said earlier about his son? In FR, Stave informed Linden that his sons had every right to be themselves. (Yes, Stave talked about sons, so he has at least one other son among the Masters.) So we know that he respected Galt's choices even as he attempted to argue against some of them.

But Anele must claim Linden's attention now. He clings to life for only moments more.

“Thus I am made whole,” Anele sighed. The words were a hoarse rattle of fluids. “I am content.”

Anele has completed the work he has foreseen for himself, and considers his life well ended. Linden comes to understand that Anele's madness has all along been a disguise and a shield. It allowed him to reach Jeremiah with the orcrest without being stopped by Foul, or Kastenessen, or the Masters. "The hope of the Land," his entire life had been aimed like a sacrifice towards the slaying of the croyel and freeing Linden's son.

“Now I may stand with Sunder my father and Hollian my mother, and feel no shame."

And now Jeremiah is free.

• Jeremiah's freedom seems to be a play of three acts. He needed to be freed from the Lost Deep; he needed to be freed from the croyel; he yet remains to be freed from himself. Jeremiah has been an icon of imprisonment.
  
  Note that Jeremiah has inherited Anele's inner resources of Earthpower in some way. It is "vitality" and "new strength". So Jeremiah is not only saved from the croyel, he has been enhanced in a significant way. So, in a sense, Anele is not entirely gone.
  
  Now we have to follow the bread crumbs. Anele was "the hope of the Land". Apparently he was THOTL only because he would free Jeremiah and instill him with Earthpower. This makes it rather evident that Jeremiah will be instrumental in saving the Land. Which means that all the times Covenant spoke of how important Jeremiah was, and all the times he pushed for rescuing Jeremiah, he (or the Timewarden) must have known that Jeremiah would be instrumental in saving the Land. And so he pointed Liand at the orcrest. And so he wanted the Company to go into the Lost Deep after Jeremiah. And so he nudged Linden into a resurrection. All for Jeremiah.
  
  I think anyone worried that Linden would damn the Land by trying to save her son should be pleased to discover that, all along, rescuing her son was saving the Land!

Then Esmer cries for Linden's attention. He craves for nothing more than Linden's admission that he has, in the end, helped her more than harmed her. When Linden grants him that one small boon, he requests his end. Before anyone can consider how to respond, Stave grants him the end he craves, at the business end of a hot, gleaming krill.

“It is not murder,” he pronounced, as rigid as any of his kindred. “It is mercy.”

And so two enigmatic madmen part company with Linden. Both brought harm as well as hope; both served Linden and the fate of the Earth in their own way.

When Esmer passed away, the manacles disintegrate and are gone.

• Esmer had been telling us more than we realized when in FR he told to Linden, "Their reinterpretation of their Weird was not yet satisfied. Therefore they have made - manacles." Even though both Joan and Longwrath seem to have some connection to manacles, it is not these manacles; they were destined to be Esmer's all along.

Linden then spends some time performing her life's chosen work: healing. Eventually, the Giants and the Ramen are restored. And when Covenant, who has recovered from his memories, insists, the Haruchai too are mended.

• Once again, Linden acts heroically, and achieves what no one else could do, rescuing the Company. But she feels no satisfaction, no joy.
  
  Interestingly, on Covenant's return, Linden correctly assesses his anger, understands that "it was recognition and compassion disguised as accusation". She had learned to love his anger.To Linden, Covenant's anger is not negative, but positive - a sign of both compassion and also of efficacy.

When Linden has an opportunity, she tries to express her sorrow to Stave. She wishes that Galt needn't have died saving her son. But Stave adjures her to have no regrets.

“Do not, Linden.” His voice was little more than a sigh; yet it silenced her. “Wish for nothing. Regret nothing. Has your long acquaintance with Haruchai not taught you that my pride in my son is as great as my bereavement?”

• As we have seen, they Haruchai believe in paying the cost for what they achieve. Even though Stave has relented in his opposition to those costs being erased by healing, he nonetheless respects those costs, and does not regret that they were paid.

When Linden's dwindling army has been restored as well as can be, they wash in the stream, and eat some food, and begin to consider what to do next.

To everyone's wonder, and the joy of the Giants, it becomes clear that, with Esmer's passing, the ban on the gift of tongues has been lifted. Grueburn attempts to translate the ur-vile's barking speech, and in this way, the ur-viles answer several questions.

They had built the manacles because they had forseen Esmer and the need to thwart him, in some way which cannot be completely conveyed. The ur-viles have ways of considering future events, and planning for them, that are steeped in their alien lore, which no one else can begin to understand.

The ur-viles also touched upon how they had recast their Weird. A combination of two things, the example of the Waynhim, and the recognition of Foul's intent, led them to consider a new life's meaning, one more similar to the Waynhim and less antagonistic to the Earth.

To Covenant, they relate that the "betrayal" Esmer spoke of in the Lost Deep was the betrayal of the Demondim-spawn. For they might have used the manacles then, and spared everyone considerable trouble.

The ur-viles had their reasons for waiting, and choosing the time that they finally chose to disable Esmer. However, they are complicated reasons, and can only be expressed in the ur-viles language for foreknowledge and potentialities. However, some ideas come across. That the ur-viles could have failed. And that they did not as yet understand Anele's purpose. So they made a tough call.

Linden offers them anything she can give them, but the Demondim-spawn want only to leave them. And so part company, following their own mysterious plans.

That's when the Ardent returns. Emaciated and cackling, he is falling apart before their eyes.

He has news. The sandgorgons have allied with the skurj, and together they build a cordon around Mt. Thunder, so that anyone trying to reach Kastenessen in the Wightwarrens must pass these ferocities.

• This is a rather significant clue that the finale of the Final Chronicles will probably be in Kiril Threndor, Heart of Thunder, one more time.

And he offers the last aid of the Insequent. There is no one in all the Land to call upon for help except the Masters in Revelstone. And as they will not harken to the Insequent, the Ardent will bring to them someone to whom they might listen.

Mahrtiir immediately offers the two Ramen, Bhapa and Pahni. Just as the Timewarden had foretold. Bhapa is reluctant, but Pahni is unexpectedly eager.

But Pahni swept forward as if she were pouncing. “Yes!” The eagerness of a hawk shone in her soft eyes. “I will lay Liand’s death at the feet of the Masters and compel an answer. They deem themselves the descendants of the Bloodguard. I will require of them a comparable service."

And so perhaps Liand's death will produce something important. And perhaps this is another facet of the Timewarden's plans.

Instantly, the Ardent whisks the Cords away. And two more of Linden's company have parted ways.

This is when Covenant shocks them all by announcing that he, too, will part company. He feels compelled to deal with Joan, and it must be done now, and it must be done by him, alone.

Sometimes we have to do things that are more important than saving the world.

He takes with him the krill, and the two remaining Masters. Two Ranyhyn, and the Harrow's steed, bear them away.

• Here is where we first discover that Joan has now become Covenant's next important task. More important than saving the world. Covenant has a responsibility. "She's my problem." After the earlier discussions about responsibility, we cannot help but think that they are related to this choice. How is it that Covenant is responsible for Joan? What choices did Covenant make that led to Joan being the way she is?
  
  And he says about her here, "It’s like Joan has me on a string. This time, she brought me back." What does he mean here? Has Joan been pushing Covenant into his reveries? Can she pull him back out?
  
  I have a suspicion he's not referring to falling into his memories here. This to me sounds like some sort of connection to the laws and rules of summoning. The "back" is "back to the Land" I think. But it's a weird connection, because Joan summoned Linden, and Linden resurrected Covenant. A trail of mysterious spiritual connections, a connection of responsibility maybe. But I do not doubt the connection now that it's been mentioned.

As he leaves, Linden forelornly thinks:

Perhaps that was why he had turned away from her. She had never been his equal.

- - - - - - - - - -

In this chapter, we have more passages describing Linden's internal struggles. I have passed them over above, in order to bring them forward in a more unified way. The last lines of the chapter, as I have quoted them above, serve to bring this to our attention.

We can see that Linden is horrified by her masacre of the Cavewights. To her, it is her inner Gallows Howe. But she believes that Covenant, in her place, would have found a better answer. By this, we know that she feels she is not finding the right answers. She judges herself by the outcomes of her choices.

But later, as she weilds her considerable gifts to heal, she fails to acknowledge to herself that she has done anything valuable. By this, we know that she is selecting among things to consider, and choosing only the things that reinforce her foregone judgement.

In the Second Chronicles (Linden's First, if you will), Linden struggled with having no power, and feeling ineffective. Now she has power, and is making the important choices, and she is dealing with new emotional and moral issues. For with all that power comes consequences.

If you are a person of momentous importance, all that you do has import. If you are forced to choose between love and the rescue of the Earth, the consequences of either choice are dire. If you release your anger, you unleash death. If you reach too far for love and support, you trigger the end of the World.

Linden is now caught up in the contemplation of consequences. She is focusing on the consequences of her actions, and not on the reasons for her choices. She sees only the negative consequences, and none of the positive ones. She is like a tightrope walker who is looking to hard at the ground, and not ahead, and so her balance is suffering.

It's no wonder she wants to give up making the big decisions.

She compares herself to Covenant, but, again, she sees only what she selects to see. Covenant succeeded - but he caused many disasters before he finally succeeded.

We have to remember that, prior to the Final Chronicles, she has never been the one to face Foul.

Covenant, though, finally acheived the eye of the paradox. He learned how to choose by being true to himself rather than by avoiding consequences. A lesson that Linden needs to learn.

So is it any wonder that Covenant is pushing Linden into the command position, time and time again?

In this chapter, he speaks to her in this way, before he departs.

“Linden, stop,” Covenant urged. His quiet restraint resembled a kind of flagellation. “You’re just intimidating yourself. Everything is simpler than you make it sound. I expect you to do what you’ve always done. Something unexpected. Which you are by God good at. You’ve surprised me more times than I can count. There’s no one else like you.

“Just trust yourself. That’s all. That’s all. Everything else will take care of itself.

“If it doesn’t—” Sighing, he shrugged again. “There was nothing you could have done anyway.”

Just trust yourself. Be true to who you are, and let who you are be your guide. Don't intimidate yourself by over-analyzing the consequences. Everything is simpler than you think. All you have to do is trust who you are.

I have no doubt that the Timewarden, if not Covenant, is taking Linden's state of mind into account when he creates his plans. And that, to a certain extend, he is even putting her into this state. We know he used, if not fostered, the helplessness that led her to resurrect him and rouse the Worm. And he continues to put her in the lead, make her choose. In some way we have yet to see, this is conducive to his designs.

Unfortunately, we have know way of knowing how much he intends to use her, and how much he is trying to help her.

[DoctorGamgee]

Wow, Wayfriend, it is really hard to add to this...

I think you are spot on about Linden intimidating herself. I have packed the book away in a move so don't have instant access to it, but if I remember correctly, the Masters didn't want to be healed and had to be coerced by Covenant to allow it to happen. I am sure Linden ignores that she did something good and maintains the fact that she violated their wishes. That is her way of dealing with things.

And Stave is simply heartbreaking in his pride and misery. It is nice for a change to see them as human beings. It makes them more real (if that is the word I am looking for).

As to TC and Joan...hmmm. That is tricky to deal with in terms of responsibility. I think there is a lot of backstory which needs to be figured out. We know Joan left him and feels guilty for that; therefore it is his responsibility to forgive her and let her know it. Likewise, when Joan was used as a tool in Chron 2, there was great damage done to her psyche, which was a result of TC not completely defeating Foul the first time; he would also have to let her know that this posession was not her fault as part of her entrancement seemed to stem from her abandoning TC in the first place, which also led to Roger being a halfhand as well (I think...). One must also consider that had TC not tried to keep a tie to a failed marriage vis-a-vis keeping the White Gold Ring, then he would never have been the WGW called upon by the Creator (though perhaps that was the plan of said Creator, so perhaps she should know that as well). In any regards, he is the one who must face her: White Gold Weilder to White Gold Weilder. Her insanity will rip the land apart if he doesn't, so again, there is nobody else who truly fits the bill, especially as Jeremiah needs Linden now more than ever, so he can't send her and leave this newly won victory rotting in the sun.

If that makes any sense. I have a fever and fear I ramble. I'll shut up now and let wiser folks respond.

Doc

[wayfriend]

Dr. G, some of those things that you point out about Thomas's responsibility do seem like good insight to me. I think that, if you apply the arguments about responsibility in the earlier chapters, you have to conclude that anything that stemmed from Covenant's choice would make him responsible, even if he could not foresee the outcome, and even if others made choices as well. So, for example, yes he is responsible for Foul possessing Joan - he chose not to destroy Foul completely.

Indeed, someone must tackle Joan, but I am curious why Covenant thinks that must be Covenant, and more importantly, why he thinks it's more important than saving the world.

Final thought: if dealing with Joan is more important than saving the world ... and if the Final C's end with the world ending, and thereby not being saved ... then this could be a cleverish clue from Covenant that dealing with Joan is about some end-game that occurs after the world ends. In other words, some things are more important than saving the world because they are about saving the whole cosmos.

[Vraith]

hmmmm...I think I have a couple problems with the responsibility/choice thing.
I mean...TC/Joan/LF's "possession."
TC isn't responsible in one sense, because he didn't "choose" not to destroy LF utterly. He realized that LF was indestructible without destroying everything [even that might not have worked, though, for LF...and it surely would not have magically "cured" Joan of her insanity...she wouldn't be ruining time, trapped in the Land...but she'd still be freaking crazy].
His responsibility, such as it is, is a different kind. It is rooted in voluntary commitment and compassion/love. Nothing with Joan is his fault, caused by, his actions/choices...he is not "guilty." [which is not at all the same as not feeling guilt for something...it's an actual difference in kind...being guilty/responsible for something is a matter of fact/causation, external in most ways...feeling guilty/responsible is personal/psychological, internal]. TC is responsible not because he is guilty, but because he promised to care for Joan [be responsible] whether he caused it or not. It isn't power or actual guilt that makes him responsible. It's because he is the only one who promised and understands and cares.
I also don't think it quite fits with a theme throughout...that, dissimilar in many ways to the real world, intentions are as important [often more-so] as outcomes. I harp on this a lot. There are two major illustrations of this issue...the Haruchai who judge with almost no consideration of intentions, only results matter [hell, to them, only results that are failures matter in most things] and the Elohim who exempt themselves almost completely from outcomes, only their own nature and intentions matter, they are never responsible/guilty in their own comprehension/actions/errors...ALL bad outcomes are only bad in relation to themselves, AND the results/responsibility belong to others.

[DoctorGamgee]

Dr. G, some of those things that you point out about Thomas's responsibility do seem like good insight to me. I think that, if you apply the arguments about responsibility in the earlier chapters, you have to conclude that anything that stemmed from Covenant's choice would make him responsible, even if he could not foresee the outcome, and even if others made choices as well. So, for example, yes he is responsible for Foul possessing Joan - he chose not to destroy Foul completely.

Indeed, someone must tackle Joan, but I am curious why Covenant thinks that must be Covenant, and more importantly, why he thinks it's more important than saving the world.

Final thought: if dealing with Joan is more important than saving the world ... and if the Final C's end with the world ending, and thereby not being saved ... then this could be a cleverish clue from Covenant that dealing with Joan is about some end-game that occurs after the world ends. In other words, some things are more important than saving the world because they are about saving the whole cosmos.

I am not sure that dealing with Joan is more important than saving the world; rather that dealing with Joan will allow Linden to take care of Jeremiah, which will (hopefully) result in the world being saved, as Jeremiah seems to be the key, and keeping the WG out of enemy hands (given to Roger for example would be problematic to say the least!). At this part of the story, Joan's caesuras are still a constant danger, come out of nowhere, and if he can make those stop, then Linden can focus on Jeremiah without needing to keep one eye open against Joan's attacks.

If that makes sense...

Doc

[wayfriend]

That makes sense to me, Dr. Certainly just by taking the krill away he lures the caesures away from Linden.

Vraith, on my initial reading, I had believed Covenant felt compelled to help Joan for compassionate reasons, obligation arising from relationship. But now I am wondering if there isn't more.

I don't think this is just delving into minutiae. I have suspicions that we can't fully understand the ending to come if we don't understand this.

Because Covenant had said, "Everything that he required of himself while life remained in his body depended on his ability to grip and hold." Therefore the krill must be an important element in Covenant's final fate. And he had absolutely wanted that krill when he set out for Joan. "I’ve been waiting for this." So Joan is also an important element, she's tied up with the krill.

There's probably a lot we cannot say about this until if/when Covenant does deal with Joan.

However, if dealing with Joan arises from a sense of obligation resulting from their having a relationship, then "more important than saving the world" means one thing. But if it arises from a game plan that goes beyond the end of the world, then it means another thing. Maybe Joan is just a girl with a rattlesnake bite. Or maybe Joan is involved in more things than we know of.

[Vraith]

There's a lot in there WF that is worth delving into...but I can't think how to approach it without getting into stuff we don't know yet. Hopefully I'll remember that post when we get there. For now I'll just say I agree there is "more to it than that," and understanding it in the larger is important...I suspect important for the whole story arc/ending as you suggest.