She-who-must-be-obeyed?
Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 5:29 pm
Having recently read through H Rider Haggard's novel, She, I was wondering what others had made of this obviously direct relationship between SRD's [21st century] character,She-who-must-not-be-named and and HRH's [Victorian], She-who-must-be-obeyed?
I'm sure this has been discussed elsewhere on The Watch but I haven't been able to find anything on this specific topic.
For myself, a concrete link I could see in this is of course the 'ring' which Holly is wearing on his finger - when the White Sorceress removes her veil for the first time - and the face of Leo, her long awaited lost love is revealed to her.
And another important link to this line of thought is when She is leading Holly, Leo and Job, over the abyss on the windswept spur of stone. Halted in the darkness at the missing end of the spur of rock, they wait for the moment they can push the wooden plank they had brought so as to bridge the gap.
Then, suddenly, a white beam of light shines through a hole or cleft somewhere high up in the wall of the cavern and
What if the 3rd Chronicles is his way of zeroing in on the White Gold Magic far more closely than he could ever have done in the previous trilogies. As if Linden now has the power of vision at the microscopic level? Thomas Covenant's leprosy and his link to the White Gold Magic can now perhaps become intricately pierced and operated on in much the same way as Linden cut through the fine filligree of the forbidden?
One other thing I just thought of
Now that Elena is part of She Who Must Not Be Named, will she and Roger, who are in some certain way already connected, relatively speaking as step-brother/step-sister, will they shake on it perhaps or maybe fight it out hammer and tongs to the end?
OR...do we do as SRD suggests and let things be, leaving SHE un-named?
I'm sure this has been discussed elsewhere on The Watch but I haven't been able to find anything on this specific topic.
For myself, a concrete link I could see in this is of course the 'ring' which Holly is wearing on his finger - when the White Sorceress removes her veil for the first time - and the face of Leo, her long awaited lost love is revealed to her.
And another important link to this line of thought is when She is leading Holly, Leo and Job, over the abyss on the windswept spur of stone. Halted in the darkness at the missing end of the spur of rock, they wait for the moment they can push the wooden plank they had brought so as to bridge the gap.
Then, suddenly, a white beam of light shines through a hole or cleft somewhere high up in the wall of the cavern and
SRD has told us on numerous occasions of his high esteem for the works of Joseph Condrad (ie , The Heart of Darkness)! Could SRD be telling us something more important here than just paying homage to other writers?
'...in the opposing cliff, through which it pierced when the setting orb was in a direct line therewith. All [Holly] can say is, that the effect was the most wonderful that I saw. Right through the heart of the darkness that flaming sword was stabbed, and where it lay there was the most surpassingly vivid light, so vivid that even at a distance one could see the grain of the rock, while, outside of it-yes, within a few inches of its keen edge-was naught but clustering shadows.
What if the 3rd Chronicles is his way of zeroing in on the White Gold Magic far more closely than he could ever have done in the previous trilogies. As if Linden now has the power of vision at the microscopic level? Thomas Covenant's leprosy and his link to the White Gold Magic can now perhaps become intricately pierced and operated on in much the same way as Linden cut through the fine filligree of the forbidden?
One other thing I just thought of
Now that Elena is part of She Who Must Not Be Named, will she and Roger, who are in some certain way already connected, relatively speaking as step-brother/step-sister, will they shake on it perhaps or maybe fight it out hammer and tongs to the end?
OR...do we do as SRD suggests and let things be, leaving SHE un-named?