Kevin's Watch

So after reading all of the last 4 books, just one question; how did LF survive at the end of WGW?

As he did at the end of TPTP. He can be reduced (as he was by the Ritual of Desecration, by a combination of wild magic and laughter at the end of TPTP and by his own use of wild magic rebounding on him at the end of WGW), but he can't be destroyed. Over time (and this is one of the paradoxes) the Earthpower itself restores him, as we learned in TWL. However, now that he has been absorbed by Covenant at the end of TLD this process may not recur, or may take a different course.

are you sure? the only reason LF survived at the end of TPTP was because the staff of law got destroyed. At the end of WGW when LF has dropped the ring (ok we assume then that he does not exist) a new staff is created. LF therefore surely cannot come back into existence?

Well, first of all, Lord Foul wasn't restored because the Staff of Law was destroyed. The weakening of Law allowed Foul to use Earthpower to heal himself, and to corrupt it in turn. But this is not to say that he would have died otherwise.

I am not aware of any passage that describes how Foul survived his second diminishment. We only know that he was diminshed, not destroyed. And that he was not able to corrupt Earthpower again. It may be that the weakening of the Laws of Death and Life, and thus of Time, helped him this time.

I think Roger is his bridge to a physical presence in TLD. Prior to that, he avers only that he has whispered a word of counsel here and there, and awaited events---even his imparted vision of the Worm is more of the same.

Another thing is, maybe the new Staff only prevented the Despiser from recorrupting the Earthpower, not drawing on to heal himself. But anyway he seems to need a conduit of some kind, to maintain a physical presence. Like the Illearth Stone or the white gold ring itself for that matter.

But so anyway also, then, Roger has Kastenessen's hand, which is both Elohim and skurj in essence. The latter are like compacted instances of the Sunbane of pestilence, diseased and yet natural in some sense, so maybe the Despiser could draw on the Earthpower of the Appointed and the corruption of the skurj to replenish his physicality?

Foul is like a water bottle. Squeeze the bottle and it loses liquid. A water bottle
is only useful if there is water in it. Take away the water and you just have an empty container. Only when it is refilled does it become a water bottle again.
Put the container in a foggy enviroment and over time water condenses into the bottle. If it long enough the bottle become filled.

Foul is the same way..
He has power, he can use that power any way he wishes. He doesn't like using
his power but uses others to expend their power in his cause. The chronicles shows that.
Drool, Satanfist, Fleshharrower and the Illearth Stone.
His battle with TC in TPTP he had to use the stone and his power.
He mainly used the stone until TC pry him away from the stone then he's
on his own reserves. He depletes his power is then is defeated. He reduced by the laughter that he despises and it reduces him more.

He uses Earthpower to refill his container and uses it to corrupt Earthpower
for his own designs,
The Clave, ravers and the Sunbane.
He uses his power to fire off bolts of wild magic and is intercepted by TC.
The more TC intercepts the madder Foul gets and uses his power faster
to overcome TC. Thus he defeats himself. TC is in the arch preserved and Linden takes the ring and retard the summoning and creates the staff and
heals the Land.

Again the third chronicles Foul isn't active until the end of the fourth book.
He been using other to do the deeds he wants done.
When he get smashed it cracks the container and allows TC to merge with him.

It took the same amount of time to pass for Foul to get back to power from
the first chronicle to the second as it did from the second to the third.
His battle with Kevin was using Earthpower and not wild magic. That may
have been the difference in his power being restored faster.