Status Anxieties

Book 4 of the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

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peter
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Status Anxieties

Post by peter »

Silly really, but what is the status of TC, Linden and Jeremiah at the end of the Chrons? They can't go home can they - what are they in the Land? Gods, normal people, what? Do they age, will jerry grow up, TC and Linden grow old together? How does it work?
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

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Post by wayfriend »

In short, if you die in the real world while you're visiting the Land, you stay in the Land forever.

There is also the possibility that they can become (or already have become) something transcendental - that beings "from outside Time" aren't restricted to mundane mortality in the Land, that they are, in fact, unleashed.
In the Gradual Interview, Stephen R Donaldson wrote:... But neither Troy nor Covenant actually died in the Land: rather they were transformed; became beings of an entirely different kind. In Troy's case, a series of transformations were involved, resulting in a new Forestal. In Covenant's case, the destruction of his mortality freed his spirit to support the Arch of Time (the fact that he retains some form of sentient identity is demonstrated by his ability to speak to Linden during her translation back to her "real" life). In both cases, huge powers were required to cause transformation instead of literal death. ...

(11/21/2004)
I don't think that there are specific answers provided by the author. But consider that Covenant has merged with both Lord Foul and (in a less explicit, more spiritual way) the Creator. I don't think such a person could not be special.

Personally, I choose to believe that they will be immortal, like forestals.
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Post by peter »

I find that if I over-think it, I get to places where I don't want to be and I guess that the best approach is to find an outcome that satisfies you and leave it at that. TC and Linden's very humanity is what draws me to them and I like the idea that they could retain some of this even in the altered state - they deserve this much at least. Jerry for his part has a life to live, and also requires more than to be frozen in time.......

But given the abilities they displayed at the end the world literally is their oyster and I guess in this respect their potential is unlimited.
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
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Mighara Sovmadhi
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Post by Mighara Sovmadhi »

Well for some reason Covenant thinks they still need to train, and he thinks the Insequent are their best bet on this score, so whatever task they find for themselves would presumably last a long time. Even if not immortal, I suspect that they will be long-lived.

IDK what would happen when they died but I suspect Covenant would resume his station as the Timewarden, Linden could conceivably do the same, and as for Jeremiah...

I see Jeremiah pulling off some ridiculous but beautiful miracle, like returning to life in the "real" world.
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Post by DrPaul »

Something else to remember is that after his resurrection by Linden at the end of FR, Covenant's leprosy is active again and is undermining his eyesight during AATE and most of TLD. His life expectancy would not be very long under those circumstances (and remember, too, that the action in the last two books all occurs over just a few days).

It is clear enough in the epilogue that Covenant is in better shape and is expecting to live much longer than if his leprosy were still active. This and other hints in the epilogue suggest that Covenant, Linden and Jeremiah have all experienced some transcendental transformation. Although we're not shown the specifics of what they do to save and restore the world after the Worm shatters the Arch of Time, we can confidently assume that it would have involved the greatest mustering of Earthpower by any beings other than the Creator - even greater than that of the Old Lords who lived for centuries and millennia as a result of their engagement with Earthpower.
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Post by DrPaul »

Mighara Sovmadhi wrote:I see Jeremiah pulling off some ridiculous but beautiful miracle, like returning to life in the "real" world.
Why would he want to do that after he has achieved a long and sublime life with his loving mother and stepfather, and a blossoming of his abilities including the overcoming of his demons, in the remade Land? What would there be left for him in the "real" world that could match that?
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Post by DrPaul »

There is another issue raised by this thread.

In the Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayyam we find this verse:

Ah, Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire!
Would not we shatter it to bits-and then
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!


In a way this is what Covenant, Linden and Jeremiah, struggling with Lord Foul and the Worm, have done. It then poses the question - in what ways might they have remoulded the world nearer to their hearts' desire? Which of the banes that Lord Foul planted, or that otherwise arose as a result of his imprisonment within Time, would they have eliminated or changed for the better in the course of restoring the world?
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Mighara Sovmadhi
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Post by Mighara Sovmadhi »

Maybe to help his sisters :P

Mwahahahaha, The Chronicles of Jeremiah's Unnamed Sisters.
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