With only four chapters left in the book ... in the Last Chronicles ... in the entire series(!) ... all this battling vexes me. Exciting action is one thing, but it is the thoughts and the emotions of the main characters that
really matter here. It's hard to focus on that unless you really go slow and pay attention, because otherwise you're carried away by the fight.
Cord Hurn wrote:Concerning this chapter's title: Against All Things Ending has a chapter with this exact same title, where Covenant and the Humbled leave the rest of the company to deal with Joan.
There are many more partings this time.
+ Covenant and Branl have gone into Kiril Threndor.
+ Grueburn and Coldspray and Canrik and Samil stay in a cave with Jeremiah.
+ Stave and Linden have gone to face ... something.
+ Bhapa and Pahni and Bluntfist and Stonemage and a ton of Masters volunteered to be left on the other side of the cave-in with the Cavewights.
And then there are the hallowed dead, whom we are forrever parted from: Cirrus Kindwind, Baf Scatterwit, Far Horizoneyes. And Handir, by right of years and attainment the Voice of the Masters.
What's interesting is that Covenant and Linden and Jeremiah have all gone their separate ways, as if to seek an individual, private conclusion to their particular dilemmas. If they have needed each other, that need has been fulfilled - they are now as ready as they'll ever be.
- - - - - -
Jeremiah seems to be going through some sort of transformation.
In [i]The Last Dark[/i] was wrote:The boy’s elsewhere gaze was changing: his whole face seemed to be changing. The silted hue of his eyes had acquired a crimson tinge, as if his irises were bleeding. And his visage looked leaner, deprived of its youthfulness by dismay and nascent horror. His hands no longer gripped the Staff tightly, no longer spilled the black flames of his transformed legacy. He may have forgotten that he held it.
The Jeremiah that emerges from this has power.
He poured out power in a convulsion of killing. Jeremiah has found the dark side of his power.
Meanwhile, Covenant has found his way into slaughter, too. His wild magic
krill sword saves the day. But it is also a way for Covenant to unleash his power without killing everyone around him. It is his eye of the paradox solution to his need.
Bu he knows that unleashing his dark side like this will have a cost.
In [i]The Last Dark[/i] was wrote:There was a price to pay for such deeds. He intended to pay it - as soon as he could breathe again. As soon as he found his way to Kiril Threndor.
There are echoes of Banefire and apotheosis here. Of sacrificing himself to cleanse himself of guilt.
Meanwhile, Linden merely watches the battle and fears for her loves. But she has sworn to never fight again.
- - - - -
Later, when Jeremiah has retreated into visions of Wormdeath again, Covenant reaches him by raising the spectre of
uselessness. Jeremiah's fear.
In [i]The Last Dark[/i] was wrote:Jeremiah looked like he wanted to weep. In a different voice, abused and abject, he whimpered, “I can’t—”
As if he had lost patience, Covenant retorted, “You can. You have that right. You were born with it. All you have to do is choose,” must or cannot. He pushed his fingers through his hair, tried to harden his heart. Deliberately harsh, he rasped, “Otherwise you might as well go back into hiding. You’ll be useless.”
All you have to do is choose. In the Gradual Interview, Donaldson once said, "self-mastery (the ability to choose one's own thoughts and emotions) is the only truly human form of power." This theme is on display here. No matter what Foul does, Jeremiah gets to choose how he feels about it. Merely because he's human.
You have that right. You were born with it.
Covenant brings Jeremiah back around. Linden is impressed and grateful.
Ever since Covenant has been resurrected, he's been the spiritual guru for the company. He always knows the right way to look at the situation, keeping people on a healthy and promising course. Imparting life lessons left and right. It's like he's paying forward everything he ever learned in his first life.
- - - - -
deer of the dawn wrote:On the last bridge they are reinforced by 200 Haruchai who have ridden from the ends of the Earth "to oppose the Worm of the World's End with their bare hands". I love that.
I am afraid you have misread that bit, deer.
In [i]The Last Dark[/i] was wrote:He and those with him were only able to gain the fifth level because new groups of Masters entering the habitation converged where they were needed. Fresh and unbloodied, they threw their lives into the mass of Cavewights. They were Haruchai. In a distant region of the Land, two hundred of them rode to oppose the Worm of the World’s End with their bare hands. Fighting and dying like men who had never known fear and did not count the cost, they helped Rime Coldspray and Frostheart Grueburn clear the top of the span.
The company was reinforced by more Masters. But these are not the ones who had set out to face the Worm. The author is merely pointing out that, in facing certain death without hesitation, the
Haruchai here are like the
Haruchai there.
- - - - -
deer of the dawn wrote:Stave chooses to go with Linden to certain death. Covenant makes a circle of wild magic around Linden and Stave, and they vanish from sight.
Covenant makes a cryptic comment here, which is another clue as to where Linden is going.
In [i]The Last Dark[/i] was wrote:Elena, he thought obliquely, I’m so sorry. I’m doing what I can. Somebody else has to care for you.
Linden's greatest fear. And caring for Elena. If we remember where Elena is, the clues should be enough now.
- - - - -
deer of the dawn wrote:Covenant needs Jeremiah to distract the Despiser until Covenant can execute his plan.
Does Covenant have a plan? It sounds like, for the first time, he doesn't have one.
In [i]The Last Dark[/i] was wrote:“I need your help to keep him busy. If we can, I want to make him miss his chance. As long as he’s stuck here with us, he’ll be vulnerable. Then I might be able to find an answer of my own.”
"And then I think of something" isn't a plan! He's just hoping for an opportunity to think of one.
- - - - -
In [i]The Last Dark[/i] was wrote:The Haruchai as a people did not know that smell. They had never confronted the Despiser.
Think on that! The
Haruchai had ever dreamed of confronting the Despiser. But it never happened until now. Branl.
I wonder about the significance of this.
- - - - - -
deer of the dawn wrote:He still wears Kastenessen's hand, and a new look for him-- Lord Foul's yellow, fang-like eyes.
Does this not mean that Roger is possessed by Foul? I think it does.
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So the thoughts and emotions of the characters ... remember I said that was the important part? ... and that it'd be tough to focus? ....
Covenant has confidence born from experience ... but has no clue what to do.
Branl is at his side, culminating the dreams of all
Haruchai.
Linden has gone to face her greatest fear. Her fear for her son and her husband is pretty great, so this one must be a doozy.
Stave fulfills his vow to never leave her side. By grief and regret, he knows himself now.
Jeremiah prepares to face the most dire peril he has ever faced. Covenant reminds him to believe in himself and he'll find a way, but he cannot give him any specific hints. That's how life works, Jeremiah; join, as you say, the club.
And after talking that talk, Covenant walks that walk.