Snakebite: What would have happened if Covenant had died?

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aTOMiC
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Snakebite: What would have happened if Covenant had died?

Post by aTOMiC »

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Thomas Covenant was near death after he saved the young girl who had been bitten by the rattlesnake. His body in the real world was already in a highly depleted state. What if he had swallowed enough venom to be more immediately fatal?

Imagine if he had fallen in the woods, from exhaustion, and had never found the girl. He might have become so weak that he would have died from starvation and exposure. If so, how would the events of The Power That Preserves been altered?

Would Lord Foul have continued his aggression against The Land if there was no longer any way to obtain the white gold from Covenant?

Was there any way that the Lords (especially Mhoram) would have resisted they way they did without Covenant's presence and ultimate defeat of Foul?

Would the Elohim be compelled to try to intervene at some point if Foul ultimately posed a threat to the Earth itself instead of being freed by the breaking of the arch of time?

Only by the destruction of the Illearth Stone was the Land truly freed, was that possible without Covenant?

Could the Creator have chosen someone to take Covenant's place (not Linden Avery)? Would there have been time? Would anyone else make the same choices that Covenant did?

Could the Creator have ultimately chosen to destroy his creation rather than allow Foul loose to plague the rest of the universe?

Was Lord Mhoram's Victory possible without Covenant's presence and actions in the Land? Would the victory have mattered if the Illearth Stone was not destroyed and Foul hadn't been defeated?
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Post by DrPaul »

Imagine if he had fallen in the woods, from exhaustion, and had never found the girl. He might have become so weak that he would have died from starvation and exposure. If so, how would the events of The Power That Preserves been altered?
This is the key question. The answer to it depends on when Covenant dies of starvation and exposure in this scenario.

If he is still alive at the time Mhoram attempts to summon him to Revelstone, he is in no condition to refuse or resist the summoning. He would then presumably be nursed back to health in Revelstone, after which the problem facing the Lords would be much the same as they faced in TIW, namely how to get Covenant either to believe in the Land's reality, or to act as though he believes in it, and use the wild magic. The difference is that by this time Satansfist has Revelstone surrounded with no hope of escape, and therefore no prospect of Covenant making the journey across the south of the Land to Foul's Creche, with all the associated significant incidents along the way that contributed to the eventual outcome. Basically we are left with a completely different sequence of events than in TPTP, but one that - unless someone finds a way for Covenant to trigger the wild magic that is effective against Lord Foul himself - would presumably end in Lord Foul and Satansfist overwhelming the defenders of the Land by main force.

Last Chronicles spoiler warning:
Spoiler
If Covenant dies before Mhoram can summon him, we're in uncharted waters because in none of the Chronicles are we shown a person who is already dead in our world being summoned alive to the Land. We are only shown people being summoned at the moment of their death in this world.
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Post by DrPaul »

If Lord Foul did conquer the Land in the scenario that I have outlined, no doubt he would have ordered his servants to search for and pursue Covenant in the hope of obtaining the white gold. No doubt he would also have set in motion other plans with the aim of breaking the Arch of Time, or manipulating some other power into doing so.
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Post by shadowbinding shoe »

If Thomas Covenant arrived while dying, he'd make the same arguments he did in the canon version. He'd insist there was still time to save the girl no matter how unlikely. If they then tried to send him back and failed (because he was already dead) he'd go into denial. I can see him acting more and more wildly, hurting both friend and foe along the way. But the nature of Wild Magic would fit such a mood so Covenant would be like in the 2nd Chrons lashing out dangerously. Eventually he'd battle with Lord Foul and win but much of the Land would be destroyed along the way.

On the other hand, suppose Lord Mhoram waited a bit and summoned Covenant after he saved the girl instead of Saltheart Foamfollower and Triok. Then Covenant would willingly try to help them. I can see a long war, first defeating the raver army at Revelstone's gates and then fighting various small forces of monsters throughout the Land until eventually they made their way to Foul's Creche for the final showdown. Their big army would whittle away by Foul's forces along the journey until only a small company remained of them by the end.

Mhoram will try to spare Covenant from meeting Lena but Covenant will insist on going there. I wonder what Mhoram could say to him in such a scenario? Saltheart Foamfollower I picture trailing them from a distance completely out of his mind and full of self hate shouting invectives at them from afar. As for Elena, Mhoram would insist he should be the one to fight her. With his more perfect communion with the Earth he can wrest the Staff from her and free her from her enslavement.

Covenant could go out with a bang because Saltheart was eager to die but could he do the same with Mhoram and others with him? I think it would be beyond him so Covenant will leave his mortal coil in some manner to fight the Illearth Stone outside time or some such.
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Post by DrPaul »

Then again, Mhoram might have asked Covenant what he was going to do so save the little girl from snakebite.

Covenant: "I'm going to cut a cross-shaped incision on her leg where she's been bitten, and then I'm going to suck out the venom."

Mhoram: "Ur-Lord, I'm sorry but that's probably the worst thing you can do under the circumstances. We know a thing or two about first aid for snakebite here in the Land. I'm summoning you before you make things worse where you are." [Summons Covenant. They argue about the correct treatment of snakebite.]

Mhoram: "Check out this link. https://www.flyingdoctor.org.au/news/fl ... te-advice/"
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Post by Ur Dead »

At the end of the book Covenant is dying. Only by the intervention of the
Creator saved Thomas. The Creator wasn't in any way possible going to let
Foul bring in a new guy and manipulate that person to break the arch.
He gauged Covenant to be the one who could successfully thwart Foul plans.
He knew that Foul wouldn't stay down and placed his bets on TC for future
events.
The Creator may even postponed the effects of the poison so TC
could be sent to the hospital. (not written in storyline - conjecture)
Spoiler
The Illearth Stone was a minor bane to what could have been unleashed.
It ( Illearth Stone ) could have been a factor but pales to the other.
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