TWL Chapter 16: The Weird of the Waynhim

[Furls Fire]

Hmmm...I don't know Window, I thought it was fantastic myself. And it was very unexpected. To see this group or Rysh of Waynhim as they are called, perserving what they could of the Land of old, brought tears to my eyes. When I read the part about the animals, I went "Oh, yes, oh yes yes yes." And had to put the book down and go for the kleenix (which was very embarrassing because I was sitting in a study period at school at the time).

Original or not, I think Donaldson accomplished what he intended to do with that part. And that was to give us hope, a "fool's hope" as Gandalf would say, however faint, that the Land could be saved.

[Window]

What purpose does the wanyhim doing the noahs ark thing if Andelain is unharmed and everything is alive in there?

[Furls Fire]

Andelain may not stay that way. Caer-Caveral himself says he is "doomed to fail this war". And not all animals lived in Andelain. No cattle in Andelain, or horses, or sheep. And the Waynhim know things, they know about Vain, they know about Covenant's wild magic. And they know if the Sunbane is not stopped, Caer-Caveral and Andelain will fall. Their purpose is to serve the Land, in their unique vision, they see that perserving the animal and plant life of the Land is the way to go about their purpose.

[caamora]

Thanks, Variol-Son. I don't get to the Watch as much as I would like to.

[kastenessen]

Window, yes there's a biblical reference to Noah's ark, but as discussed in other threads on the watch(i.e. Tolkien v. Donaldson), the similarities are superficial. Again it's the way SRD uses a theme and changes it to his own ends that makes the idea stand on it's own

Furls Fire wrote

Original or not, I think Donaldson accomplished what he intended to do with that part. And that was to give us hope, a "fool's hope" as Gandalf would say, however faint, that the Land could be saved.

I agree...

kast

[duchess of malfi]

I also love that quote...

This is the paradox of lore, that it must be achieved rather than granted, else it misleads.

This was so important in the First Chronicles, as exemplified in Kevin's Lore, and the truth of that statement is made graphically true by Elena and the Seventh Ward.

"The Raver?" Covenant gritted.
"All spoor of him is gone," Hamako replied quietly. "I fear his purpose was accomplished."
Or else he is afraid of me, Covenant rasped inwardly. He did not see Hamako leave the chamber. He was consumed by his thoughts. Damnation! First Marid, then the bees, now this. Each attack worse tha nthe one before. And a Raver involved each time. Hell and blood! Why? Bile rose in him. Why else? Lord Foul did not want him dead, not if his ring might fall to a raver. The Despiser wanted something entirely different. He wanted surrender, voluntary abdication. Therefore the purpose of these attacks lay in their effect on him, in the way they drew power from his delerium, violence over which he had no control.
No control!
Was Foul trying to scare him into giving up his ring?

"In the Waynhim tongue, Weird has several meanings. It is fate or destiny - but it is also choice, and is used to signify council or decision-making. It is also a contradiction - fate and choice. A man may be fated to die, but no fate can determine whether he will die in courage or cowardice. The Waynhim choose the manner in which they meet their doom."

...isn't Hamako toatally cool?

[E_T]

SPOILER QUESTION I theenk it is...
We learn later on (?) that

Spoiler

the Sunbane comes UP out of the Earth rather than shining down on it. In effect it's a corruption of Earth-power. If that's true then wouldn't it have affected the animals and plants in the made caverns of the Wayhim?

Spoiler

Because the Sun acts as a catylist for the warping effects of the Sunbane. The Initial rays of the light start the prosess (which is why you need stone to protect you at sunrise OR first light), which continues on thoughout the day.

I imagine that the amount of each sun's "violation" over the day's span of that sun, is the same over the suntype timespan. Sunder spoke of longer suntype spans, in the past. But as the Corruption gets stronger, the days are getting shorter, but the amount of damage, over the suntype remains the same.

Atiaran explains in LFB about the Wayhim and their devoted service to the Land and it's people by creating Waymeets to "repent" of their past. So this act of preserving the remaining true life forms of the Land isn't (or shouldn't) be a surprise. Seemingly that Covenant forgotten this little detail.

More likely, he had thought that they had surcomed to the Sunbane, as a lot of other things in the Land had done. And then, his only pervious contact with them had always been fleeting and singular, giving TC an impression of "improvishment" (best word I can come up with) and seeing the effort and devotion, with the numbers of them doing it, this is something entirely new to him.

And it gives him some hope...

E_T

[E_T]

"In the Waynhim tongue, Weird has several meanings. It is fate or destiny-but it is also choice, and is used to signify council or decision-making. It is a contradiction-fate and choice. A man may be fated to die, but no fate can determine whether he will die in courage or cowardice. The Waynhim choose the manner in which they meet their doom.

Spoiler

This has a huge foreshadowing for TC. This lets him know that even though he is a Tool of LF, he still can deside to "fulfill his purpose" in the manner that he wants. But then, somethings MUST still be done, so that those choices are open to him.