TWL Chapter 16: The Weird of the Waynhim

[caamora]

The Weird of the Waynhim

This is probably one of the coolest chapters in all of the books. It shows the devotion of the Waynhim but it also gives hope that the Land could be preserved. Something, I think, is deperately needed in this book because the "death" of the Land is a hard blow.

And away we go......

Covenant awakens fighting until he sees a mans face who is trying to comfort him and calm him. THis is Hamako and he resides with the Waynhim. They live underground. One of their members saw Covenant and Vain being taken by the men of Stonemight Woodhelvin and brought back reinforcements. However, when they tried to give Vain the command to save TC, it did not work. They did not need Vain, however, because TC let loose the 'ol wild magic and saved himself. The Waynhim took the "mortally ill" Covenant to their home for him to recover.

After a short question and answer session, Covenant tells Hamako that he already used the command on Vain. Hamako gives Covenant something to drink - vitrim (is this our first introduction to vitrim? I cannot remember) and tells him to rest. He tells Covenant that the Waynhim are puzzled by Vain.

Hamako returns and says: "You know his purpose." Covenant admits that he does not, that Vain was given to him by his dead in Andelain. This seems to make a great deal of sense to Hamako. Covenant says: "You know his purpose." Hamako says that he does but to tell Covenant would be a disaster because it might keep that which is greatly desired from happening. Covenant gets no help there. Hamako says that the urviles desire it greatly. Questions to follow!!! Anyway. Hamako tells TC that the rhysh needs to discuss what it will do and to rest.

When Hamako returns, TC asks how long he has been there. Three days is the answer. TC is anxious to find Linden and Hamako assures him that he will "hold his days among us with scant regret." Hamako begins to take Covenant through the caves of the Waynhim. In these caves, Covenant discovers that the Waynhim have not been idle. Rather they have been busy at work preserving the Land. Great caverns are filled with the flora and fauna of the Land - being preserved and grown for the day that the Land in healed. Covenant is astonished at the love, devotion, and lore that went into the work of the Waynhim.

(I, for one, was almost in tears at this part of the book when I first read it! What the Waynhim do is truly and act of love. I would want to be like Hamako. This is truly the best way to serve the Land.)

They reach the top of the caverns to the outside and talk about Vain.
Hamako says:
"The numbers of the Waynhim are only replenished because the urviles continue the work of their Demondim makers. Much breeding is yet done in the deeps of the Earth, and some are urviles, some wayhim - and some are altogether new, enfleshed visions of lore and power. Such a one is your companion. A conscious making to accomplish a chosen aim."

Hamako goes on to explain the chosen work of Waynhim and how they have turned away from the self-loathing of the urviles to find their own answers to their existence. Covenant was awestruck and humbled by the work of the Waynhim but could find no words to express his appreciation.

As the sun rises, TC realizes that they are sitting in the middle of a wrecked Stonedown. It was Hamakos village and they had been chosen to defy the Clave. They failed, however, and became the sunbane-warped people who captured Covenant. Hamako was all who was left. Because the Waynhim accepted Hamako into their family, the Waynhim protect his people (Is there no end to their goodness?). Hamako goes on to tell Covenant that they are responsible for what happened to Covenant. Covenant protests but Hamako offers aid to Covenant and his companions. Overcome with respect, Covenant responds as Atiaran taught him:"I thank you. The giving of this gift honors me. Accepting it, I return honor to the givers. You've earned the right."

Hamako begins the giving: He slices Covenants wrist open but it does not bleed. Dhraga Waynhim approaches, cuts his hand and presses the wound to Covenants. Then another Waynhim does the same. And another. As they do this, Covenant feels strength rushing up his arm. He feels taller and stronger. As he looked down, the blood from the Waynhims is being sucked into his cut. Another Waynhim. Hamako tells Covenant that the power will begin to seem unbearable but to wait until it is finished. Another Waynhim and Covenant is giddy with strength. Another - this one he knows the Waynhim's name through the blood. He knows all their names. He cannot stand still. And yet, another Waynhim. Covenant is almost bursting at the seams with energy. His vision widened and his hearing articulated. He can barely keep himself from jumping about the energy is so great. Another Waynhim, and another. Covenant feels like he could crumble Mount Thunder with a word.

"Hamako snatched back his hand as if the power in Covenant burned him. "Go now!" he cried. "Go for Land and Law, and may no malison prevail against you!"
Covenant threw back his head, gave a shout that seemed to echo for leagues:
"Linden!"
Swinging around to the northwest, he released the flood-fire of his given strength and erupted, running toward Revelstone like a coruscation in the air."

Questions:

This may have been discussed in other threads but I want to talk about the urviles. Are they separate from Foul? Aren't they his army? Do they keep on breeding to keep Foul well garrisoned?

Also, do they know what they are breeding? Or do they just roll the dice, as it were, and this time they get an urvile, that time they get a waynhim?

And why, oh why, would they make Vain? Intentionally make Vain? Knowing what his purpose is, why would that be greatly desired by them?

[Furls Fire]

HAMAKO!!!

He is one of my favorite characters! I was astounded at what he and the Waynhim were doing, and I was so happy to see the Waynhim!! Not all the races of the Land of old had been altered!

"I am Hamako," the man said. "My former name was one which the Waynhim could not utter, and I have foresworn it. The Waynhim name you ring-wielder in their tongue-and as ring-wielder you are well known to them. But I will gladly make use of any other name you desire."

Covenant swallowed, took another drink from the bowl. "Covenant," he said hoarsely. "I'm Thomas Covenant."

The man accepted this with a nod. "Covenant." Then he returned to the question of Vain. "For two days," he said, "while you have lain in fever, the Waynhim have striven with the riddle of this Demondim-spawn. They have found purpose in him, but not harm. This is an astonishment to them, for they perceive clearly the hands of the ur-viles which made him, and they have no trust for ur-viles. Yet he is an embodiment of lore which the Waynhim comprehend. Only one question disturbs them." Hamako paused as if reluctant to remind Covenant of past horrors. "When you freed dhraga Waynhim from fire, thus imperiling your own life, dhraga spoke the word of command to this Demondim-spawn, ordering him to preserve you. Why did he not obey?"

The dark fluid salved Covenant's throat, but he still sounded harsh. "I already used the command. He killed six people."

"Ah," said Hamako. He turned from Covenant, and called down one of the entryways in a barking tongue. Almost immediately, a Waynhim entered the chamber. The creature sniffed inquiringly in Covenant's direction, then began a rapid conversation with Hamako. Their voices had a roynish sound that grated on Covenant's nerves-he had too many horrid memories of ur-viles -but he suppressed his discomfort, tried not to think balefully of Vain. Shortly, the Waynhim trotted away as if it carried important information. Hamako returned his attention to Covenant.

The man's gaze was full of questions as he said, "Then you came not upon this Demondim-spawn by chance. He did not seek you out without your knowledge."

Covenant shook his head.

"He was given to you," Hamako continued, "by those who know his purpose. You comprehend him."

"No. I mean, yes, he was given to me. I was told how to command him. I was told to trust him." He scowled at the idea of Vain's trustworthiness. "But nothing else."

Hamako searched for the right way to phrase his question. "May I ask-who was the giver?"

Covenant felt reluctant to answer directly. He did not distrust Hamako; he simply did not want to discuss his experience with his Dead. So tie replied gruffly, "I was in Andelain."

"Ah, Andelain," Hamako breathed. "The Dead." He nodded in comprehension, but it did not relieve his awkwardness.

Abruptly, Covenant's intuition leaped. "You know what his purpose is." He had often heard that the lore of the Waynhim was wide and subtle. "But you're not going to tell me."

Hamako's mouth twitched painfully. "Covenant," he said, pleading to be understood, "the Dead were your friends, were they not? Their concern for you is ancient and far-seeing. It is sooth-the Waynhim ken much, and guess more. Doubtless there are many questions to which they hold answers. But -- "

Covenant interrupted him. "You know how to fight the Sun-bane, and you're not going to tell me that either."

His tone made Hamako wince. "Surely your Dead have given to you all which may be wisely told. Ah, Thomas Covenant! My heart yearns to share with you the lore of the Waynhim. But they have instructed me strictly to forbear. For many reasons.

"They are ever loath to impart knowledge where they cannot control the use to which their knowledge is placed. For the ring-wielder, perhaps they would waive such considerations. But they have not the vision of the Dead, and fear to transgress the strictures which have guided the gifts of the Dead. This is the paradox of lore, that it must be achieved rather than granted, else it misleads. This only I am permitted to say: were I to reveal the purpose of this Demondim-spawn, that revelation could well prevent the accomplishment of his purpose." Hamako's face held a look of supplication. "That purpose is greatly desirable."

This frustrated me so much. Clearly the Waynhim, and Hamako for that matter, knew what Vain's purpose was. Yet, Hamako's argument makes perfect sense.

He found himself in a corridor, scrupulously delved out of native rock, where he could barely walk erect. The passage was long, and lit at intervals by small censers set into the walls. In them, a dark fluid burned warmly, without smoke.

After some distance, the passage branched, became a network of tunnels. As Covenant and Hamako passed, they began to meet Waynhim. Some went by in silence; others exchanged a few comments with Hamako in their roynish tongue; but all of them bowed to the ring-wielder.

Abruptly, the tunnel opened into an immense cavern. It was brightly-lit by vats of burning liquid. It appeared to be more than a hundred feet high and three times that across. At least a score of Waynhim were busily at work around the area.

With a thrill of astonishment, Covenant saw that the whole cavern was a garden.

Thick grass covered the floor. Flowerbeds lay everywhere, hedged by many different varieties of bushes. Trees-pairs of Gil-den, oak, peach, sycamore, elm, apple, jacaranda, spruce, and others-stretched their limbs toward the vaulted ceiling. Vines and creepers grew up the walls.

The Waynhim were tending the plants. From plot to tree they moved, barking chants and wielding short iron staves; and dark droplets of power sprang from the metal, nourishing flowers and shrubs and vines like a distilled admixture of loam and sunshine.

The effect was incomparably strange. On the surface of the Land, the Sunbane made everything unnatural; nothing grew without violating the Law of its own being, nothing died without ruin. Yet here, where there was no sunlight, no free air, no pollinating insects, no age-nurtured soil, the garden of the Waynhim blossomed lush and lovely, as natural as if these plants had been born to fructify under a stone sky.

Covenant gazed about with undisguised wonder; but when he started to ask a question, Hamako gestured him silent, and led him into the garden.

Slowly, they walked among the flowers and trees. The murmurous chanting of the Waynhim filled the air; but none of the creatures spoke to each other or to Hamako; they were rapt in the concentration of their work. And in their concentration, Covenant caught a glimpse of the prodigious difficulty of the task they had set for themselves. To keep such a garden healthy underground must have required miracles of devotion and lore.

But Hamako had more to show. He guided Covenant and Vain to the far end of the cavern, into a new series of corridors. These angled steadily upward; and as he ascended, Covenant became aware of a growing annual smell. He had already guessed what he was about to see when Hamako entered another large cave, not as high as the garden, but equally broad.

It was a zoo. The Waynhim here were feeding hundreds of different animals. In small pens cunningly devised to resemble their natural dens and habitats lived pairs of badgers, foxes, hounds, marmosets, moles, raccoons, otters, rabbits, lynx, musk-rats. And many of them had young.

The zoo was less successful than the garden. Animals without space to roam could not be healthy. But that problem paled beside the amazing fact that these creatures were alive at all. The Sun-bane was fatal to animal life. The Waynhim preserved these species from complete extinction.

AWESOME!!!!!!!!! What creatures these Waynhim are, so rich in their lore and so dedicated to their service of the Land, even after all the ravaging the Sunbane had done, they still found a way to preserve the Land they loved.

Questions:

This may have been discussed in other threads but I want to talk about the urviles. Are they separate from Foul? Aren't they his army? Do they keep on breeding to keep Foul well garrisoned?

Also, do they know what they are breeding? Or do they just roll the dice, as it were, and this time they get an urvile, that time they get a waynhim?

And why, oh why, would they make Vain? Intentionally make Vain? Knowing what his purpose is, why would that be greatly desired by them?

I think Hamako answered some of that for you caam...

"A vast gulf," he breathed, a darker shape amid the dark crouching of the night, "lies between creatures that are born and those that are made. Born creatures, such as we are, do not suffer torment at the simple fact of physical form. Perhaps you desire keener sight, greater might of arm, but the embodiment of eyes and limbs is not anguish to you. You are born by Law to be as you are. Only a madman loathes the nature of his birth.

"It is far otherwise with the Waynhim. They were made-as the ur-viles were made-by deliberate act in the breeding dens of the Demondim. And the Demondim were themselves formed by lore rather than blood from the Viles who went before them. Thus the Waynhim are not creatures of law. They are entirely alien in the world. And they are unnaturally long of life. Some among this rhysh remember the Lords and the ancient glory of Revelstone. Some tell the tale of the five rhysh which fought before the gates of Revelstone in the great siege-and of the blue Lord who rode to their aid in folly and valor. But let that pass.

"The numbers of the Waynhim are only replenished because the ur-viles continue the work of their Demondim makers. Much breeding is yet done in the deeps of the Earth, and some are ur-viles, some Waynhim-and some are altogether new, enfleshed visions of lore and power. Such a one is your companion. A conscious making to accomplish a chosen aim."

In the east, the sky slowly blanched. The last stars were fading. The shapes around Covenant and Hamako grew more distinct, modulating toward revelation.

"That is the Weird of all Demondim-spawn. Each Waynhim and ur-vile beholds itself and sees that it need not have been what it is. It is the fruit of choices it did not make. From this fact both Waynhim and ur-viles draw their divergent spirits. It has inspired in the ur-viles a quenchless loathing for their own forms and an overweening lust for perfection, for the power to create what they are not. Their passion is extreme, careless of costs. Therefore they have given millennia of service to the Despiser, for Lord Foul repays them with both knowledge and material for their breedings. Thus comes your companion.

"And therefore the Waynhim have been greatly astonished to find no ill in him. He is an-an apotheosis. In him, it appears that the ur-viles have at last transcended their unscrupuling violence and achieved perfection. He is the Weird of the ur-viles incarnate. More of him I may not say.

"But the spirit of the Waynhim is different entirely. They are not reckless of costs; from the great Desecration which Kevin Landwaster and Lord Foul conceived upon the Land, they learned a horror of such passions. They foresaw clearly the price the ur-viles paid, and will ever pay, for self-loathing, and they turned in another way. Sharing the Weird, they chose to meet it differently. To seek self-justification."

Hamako shifted his position, turned more squarely toward the east.

"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.

"In their loneness, they have chosen to serve the Law of which they do not partake. Each rhysh performs its own devoir. Thus the garden and the animals. In defiance of the Sunbane and all Lord Foul's ill, this rhysh seeks to preserve things which grow by Law from natural seed, in the form which they were born to hold. Should the end of Sunbane ever come, the Land's future will be assured of its natural life."

[dlbpharmd]

Nice lead-in and follow up, caamora and furl's!

The Waynhim are simply beautiful - like the Unhomed, they were so giving and expected so little in return. Throughout the 1st and 2nd Chronicles, the Waynhim demonstrated their perfect service to the Land.

[Dromond]

And in this chapter we see the results of a nightmare the Clave uses to keep people of the Land in fear, and subjective to their rule, the Grim, it can be sent over long distances and ruin a Stonedown.

Houses lay in rubble; lone walls stood without ceilings to support; architraves sprawled like corpses; slabs of stone containing windows canted against each other. At first he guessed that the village had been hit by an earthquake. But as the light grew stronger, he saw more clearly.

Ragged holes the size of his palm riddled all the stone as if a hail of vitriol had fallen on the village, chewing through the ceilings until they collapsed, tearing the walls into broken chunks, burning divots out of the hard ground. The place where he sat was pocked with acid marks. Every piece of rock which had ever stood upright in the area was sieved into ruin.

[danlo]

This is one of the coolest and trippyest chapters in the entire series. Waynhim! Environmental engineers of the Land! Weird stuff! The Viles must have been strange critters indeed...What a severe and stark juxtaposition (always a cool occasion when allowed to use such a word) between this chapter and it's predecesor. Hopefully they won't make a horrendous rollercoaster at Disneyworld based on this horrendous emotional rollercoaster of a book...

[DukkhaWaynhim]

The Vile-Spawn, both Ur-Viles and Waynhim, are technological creations that, though not of nature, can act to preserve or destroy it.

I think it's interesting to contrast this depiction with the way that technology is presented in LOTR; an inevitable death to the old ways of life and a disruption to the ecosystem. Rather, the unnatural creations in TCTC can either work for or against, because they have been given the power of free will, similar to The Matrix, or AI.

To me, this chapter provides more 'relief' in 2nd Chronicles---after Andelain, this is maybe the only stronghold left where hope against the Sunbane persists, let alone memory of a world without the Sunbane, and it gives us the reader more hope that maybe all that beauty is not permanently lost. It gives a face to the Land's real struggle, and adds more fuel to TC's outrage at what Foul has done.

IMO, Hamako's treatment of him also prepares TC for the gentler hand that he will need to use with Memla to persuade her that she has been living a lie.

DW
[Weird, warped, and Waynhim-Proud!]

[Dromond]

Hamako.

A truly indomitable character. Like Sunder (and the Waynhim) and some others (though too few in regards to what the Land once was) We see the spirit of the Land somehow not broken in Hamako. He is a personification of the Land.

[Seafoam Understone]

Hamako is one of my favorite literary characters as well.

Spoiler

His heroic and horrifying demise in White Gold Weilder was sad to read

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?

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.

I was thinking when reading the scene of Hamako slicing open Covenant's wrist to allow the Wayhim's blood to seep into the wounds what effect it would've had on Linden. Surprised that Covenant didn't go nuts because of his Leper's need to avoid any type of bodily injury. Yet as we learned the wound heals and Covenant blasts off ala Roadrunner after his friends.

SRD's development of characters have definitely shown growth as evident of our love for Hamako and Sunder and other characters to follow in the second chronicles.

Glad to see the dissection moving along again... there was a wee bit of a lag that caused a deal of impatience on my part.

[danlo]

I'm so glad things happen in the order they do in the Chrons:

Spoiler

Wouldn't it just suck if the "blood-sped" TC ran into Nom approaching from the opposite direction? OUCH!!!

[caamora]

I got a great visual of that, danlo!

[Earthblood]

Finally SRD gives us a little hope that the Land MIGHT be able to be restored. What a twist of the plot - the Ur-viles and Waynhim the potential saviors of all that was good & healthy in the land!!! Another reason I love SRD's writing style!

And then the whole giving scene:

Hamako begins the giving: He slices Covenants wrist open but it does not bleed. Dhraga Waynhim approaches, cuts his hand and presses the wound to Covenants. Then another Waynhim does the same. And another. As they do this, Covenant feels strength rushing up his arm. He feels taller and stronger. As he looked down, the blood from the Waynhims is being sucked into his cut. Another Waynhim. Hamako tells Covenant that the power will begin to seem unbearable but to wait until it is finished. Another Waynhim and Covenant is giddy with strength. Another - this one he knows the Waynhim's name through the blood. He knows all their names. He cannot stand still. And yet, another Waynhim. Covenant is almost bursting at the seams with energy. His vision widened and his hearing articulated. He can barely keep himself from jumping about the energy is so great. Another Waynhim, and another. Covenant feels like he could crumble Mount Thunder with a word.

"Hamako snatched back his hand as if the power in Covenant burned him. "Go now!" he cried. "Go for Land and Law, and may no malison prevail against you!"
Covenant threw back his head, gave a shout that seemed to echo for leagues:
"Linden!"
Swinging around to the northwest, he released the flood-fire of his given strength and erupted, running toward Revelstone like a coruscation in the air."

what an image SRD has painted in my mind - TC "bursting at the seams" with energy from the Waynhim and then just exploding across the landscape - "LINDEN!!!!!"

[variol son]

Hey Caamora, very cool indeed. I will have to read it again when I have the time. By the way, we all miss you lots.

Sum sui generis
Vs

[TRC]

I got a great visual of that, danlo!

As did I. What a great thougt though.


I loved the underlying theme of this chapter, I thought it would have been more inspirational than Andelain for TC. By seeing that Outside of Caer Caverals protection of Andelain other peolpes of the Land had Power against the Sunbane to Protect and preserve the beauty that he once knew, and that the possibility for rebuilding the land was still viable after the destruction of the Sunbane.

Hamako says:
"The numbers of the Waynhim are only replenished because the urviles continue the work of their Demondim makers. Much breeding is yet done in the deeps of the Earth, and some are urviles, some wayhim - and some are altogether new, enfleshed visions of lore and power. Such a one is your companion. A conscious making to accomplish a chosen aim."

Why weren't there any others ever mentioned ? I kept expecting Covenant to meet up with a Counterversion of Vain.

[Dromond]

I always thought Amok was kinda an anti-Vain

"Oh, I'm here to help! Absolutely! Just tell me what you want! No, that's not what you want, you just don't know it yet! Tell me! No, Tell me in the secret way I need to hear! No problem, eh?"

Anyway, they seem like opposites to me.

[kastenessen]

Yes, great lead-in Caamora, and all other comments.

Awesome chapter and awesome race these Waynhim. Gardeners and zoo-keepers of the Land. And a lot of interesting metaphysics given to us through Hamako. (Quoted so nicely by Furls) What a humble and sincere man! Full of wisdom...

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

Think of the Seventh Ward...

And at the end of the chapter we get a glimpse of Waynhim magic. The sharing of blood is also a sharing of knowledge. In blood there is knowledge. Love this!

kast

[Dromond]

And yet this sharing of blood has no relation to the Sunbane! Gotta love that! The Waynhim are so worthy of their existence, yet must prove it to themselves constantly.

[kastenessen]

And yet this sharing of blood has no relation to the Sunbane! Gotta love that! The Waynhim are so worthy of their existence, yet must prove it to themselves constantly.

No just some strange old magic of their own, and as humble as Hamako but on a totally different level, or more correctly he, as humble as the Waynhim. So worthy...

kast

[dlbpharmd]

And at the end of the chapter we get a glimpse of Waynhim magic. The sharing of blood is also a sharing of knowledge. In blood there is knowledge. Love this!

I've always wondered if perhaps this was how Hamako came to learn so much about the land (including a mastery of the Waynhim language) in such a short amount of time - perhaps there was a previous infusion of Waynhim blood that gave him that knowledge and wisdom. For example, Hamako has a complete understanding of the history of the Land (the reference to the "Blue Lord" who rode out to fight with the Waynhim at Revelstone in TPTP.) And Hamako, through the Waynhim's example of service to the Land, has developed the same love and hope of the Land's restoration that the Waynhim (and TC for that matter) also share.

[kastenessen]

Yes, of course! Never thought of that. Hamako shared blood and gained knowledge. So it must have happened...

[Window]

Yeah it was nice to see the wanyhim still alive after their courageous fight in TPTP. I could have sworn that they were all destroyed by the raver so this surprised me.

One thing that just got on my nerves was the fact that the wanyhim had all the animals in pens and in pairs saving them from a world devastating event aka: the story of noah in the bible. I dunno if I was the only one to see this allusion but it really threw me off for the rest of this chapter becuase it seemed like it was thrown in to give them a purpose. Very unorginal.