THE ONE TREE, Chapter 11 “A Warning of Serpents”

[Dragonlily]

I have a puzzle about this title. You know those weird names for animal groups, like “a flock of sheep” but strange, like “an unkindness of ravens” or “a murder of crows”? I’m wondering if “a warning of serpents” is another of those phrases. I think it would be just like SRD to do that without any indication to us. He only mentions serpents twice in the chapter, and they are dream and metaphor, not real.

We open with the Quest fleeing or being pushed from Elemesnedene, we aren’t sure which. It seems the winds wouldn’t mind wrecking Starfare’s Gem on the reefs, off the coast where it won’t bother the Elohim, but can’t be troubled to do a thorough job. Honninscrave and the crew are equal to the winds, and the ship becomes cheerful again as they win free of Elohim influence.

Now Linden is free to worry about the mindless Covenant.

... Nothing assuaged the fathomless plunge which lay beyond his gaze.

This time Linden is determined to make every effort to heal him, but she is aware that she went at it with the wrong attitude the last time she tried to enter his mind. She tries to compose herself for the next attempt, but focuses on Seadreamer’s mute distress instead. Anything to avoid facing Covenant

sitting in his chamber exactly as he sat within his mind, uttering the litany of his bereavement in that abandoned voice.

Linden is having trouble with the responsibility of command for the Quest, which she has taken on, not just because of Covenant’s inner departure, but because of the status forced on her when the Elohim dubbed her Sun-Sage. Too, she has the Haruchai staring her failures at her wherever she goes. Looking for distraction, she gets more than she bargained for, when Pitchwife describes to her the properties of his craft:

... “The power of pitch arises as does any other, from the essence of the adept who wields it. All power is an articulation of its wielder.”

To illustrate his point, Pitchwife tells Linden of his test by the Elohim. It was essentially an Elohim pretending to be Pitchwife, but beautiful and healthy instead of crippled. Pitchwife recognized that the fake Pitchwife could not disguise his cold eyes, because he lacked the essential warmth of the real one. It is an illustration, not only of the qualities for which Pitchwife could love himself, but of the limitations even to the overwhelming power of the Elohim.

SRD is pointing out three things here. 1) the generosity of Pitchwife, who urges Linden not to blame the Elohim for not solving her problems, 2) the fact that no one can express his powers in ways alien to his essential nature, and 3) the helplessness of power, a paradox which SRD has said runs through the entire 2nd Chrons.

Linden and Pitchwife have barely finished talking when Vain moves, for the first time in days. This in itself would be news, but it turns out Vain is bird-dogging Findail the Elohim, stowed away inside the foremast. What with Vain staring at his mast from close quarters, and Seadreamer trying to tackle it, Findail comes out and shows himself. Follows apologies, breast beating, and refusals to help from Findail, and he and Vain settle in as if to spend the rest of the voyage in abrasive silence, side by side in the prow.

A quick account from the First of her examination by the Elohim confirms Linden’s reluctant understanding: Findail cannot help her. Fiercely she heads for Covenant’s cabin, with no hope but to enter and possess his mind. Again, it is the wrong attitude.

... She could not look away from the fathomless well of his emptiness.

She is found unconscious, and there she stays while the unforgiving Haruchai nurse her back to life.

[Revan]

This chapter freaked me out a bit. But it was great in it's vividness.

[Dragonlily]

How come it freaked you out, Darth?

[Revan]

Because I'm a freak.

[kastenessen]

Pitchwife recognized that the fake Pitchwife could not disguise his cold eyes, because he lacked the essential warmth of the real one. It is an illustration, not only of the qualities for which Pitchwife could love himself, but of the limitations even to the overwhelming power of the Elohim.

SRD is pointing out three things here. 1) the generosity of Pitchwife, who urges Linden not to blame the Elohim for not solving her problems, 2) the fact that no one can express his powers in ways alien to his essential nature, and 3) the helplessness of power, a paradox which SRD has said runs through the entire 2nd Chrons.

Some things in this chapter confirmed what I have been thinking about the Elohim, that they are not wise...Your n:r 2 Joy: The stories Pitchwife and the First tells is a good example of that. And however powerful they might be they cannot be human. That's your n:r 3. Another example on your n:r 3, comes in my comments on your next chapter, "Sea-Harm", that the Elohim dare not act due to their all powerful knowledge...

And Pitchwife, this beautiful Giant, I find him one of the most loveable characters in the history of litterature. Did I overreach now? No, he's magnificent, a beautiful soul...

Great job with this Joy!


kasten

[Dragonlily]

Thank you much, Kasten. Some books are just inspiring to write about.

2) the fact that no one can express his powers in ways alien to his essential nature,

I think this "law of nature" would make an interesting real-life study.

And Pitchwife, this beautiful Giant, I find him one of the most loveable characters in the history of litterature. Did I overreach now? No, he's magnificent, a beautiful soul...

He is that. And a very SRD type of character. I was trying to think of other, similar, characters in literature. Is the Hunchback Of Notre Dame treated sympathetically in the book? I haven't read it. One of the things that makes Pitchwife stand out is that SRD implicitly considers him to be a role model.

[matrixman]

Just want to add my compliments, too, Joy. Fabulous!

I agree about Pitchwife. He is indeed a loveable character with a beautiful soul. I've been overlooking Pitchwife in the discussions. Back in Chap.4 when Covenant was locked in his cocoon and seemed beyond reach, it was Pitchwife who brought Linden out of her feeling of helplessness and made her think through the problem. Here in Chap. 11, once again Pitchwife provides counsel to Linden. He is the ship's unofficial spiritual adviser.

Pitchwife is also a beacon of joy and hope, in contrast to Seadreamer and his Earth-Sight, which sees only doom and despair. But Seadreamer's emotional damage is far worse than Pitchwife's "mere" physical debility.

And he was conscious of the hurt his mute woe gave. After a time, he could no longer endure it. He tried to leave his comrades, spare them the discomfort of his presence. But Pitchwife would not let him go. The deformed Giant hugged his friend as if he meant to coerce Seadreamer into accepting the care of his people. And Honninscrave and Sevinhand crowded around, urging upon him their support.

Their response brought tears to Seadreamer's eyes, but not relief.

[Dragonlily]

Thank you, MM.

There is such a contrast between Pitchwife and the Haruchai. Considering the Haruchai's knee-jerk rejection of weakness, a Haruchai nurse would be anything but nurturing, I would think. Linden has my sympathy, being cared for by "servant-judges" who have sensed the evil that she is fighting in her own nature.

Pitchwife, as a nurse, would be there whenever needed, supportive or silent, offering anything that could help a person find his/her way back up to health. He looks for and finds the strengths in people. Pitchwife is wise.

[danlo]

It's no wonder this chapter freaks out Darth. This chapter reminds me of The Wounded Land quite vividly with allusions to snake arms, possession, Gibbon and Linden's fathers suicide. Combine that with Seadreamer's condition, the Haruchai's terrible new distrust of LA and the mounting storms-the chapter is downright merciless. Only Pitchwife and Vain can save it!

With Pitch's "chorteling face", the analogy of his pitch, his recount of his "testing" and his hookup with the "grinning like a ghoul" Vain on the foredeck we are spared a blugeoning. And, of course, his immortal line,

"Had this Demondim-spawn not been gifted to the ur-Lord by a Giant, I would fear that he means to ravish the maidenhood of our foremast."

Just before Seadreamer almost kills himself in an attempt to pound Findail out of it. It's bad enough that Covenant is rendered into such statius by the Elohim, even though he pretty much asked for it, but just when I was trying like hellfire to find a way to forgive them the matter of whatever vision they put in Seadreamer's mind flares up. Grrrr...poor Seadreamer!

Spoiler

Visions of his immanent death perhaps?

It seems everyone in the Search bares great individual burdens but Seadreamer just doesn't get any breaks. So now I'm pissed again at these damm Elohim and then Findail appears for no real justifiable reason--but on the otherhand at least LA's attempted "possession" finds that they have staunched TC's venom.

[Durris]

Considering the Haruchai's knee-jerk rejection of weakness, a Haruchai nurse would be anything but nurturing, I would think.

If the Haruchai were always as judgmental as they are frequently, the judgment might actually be easier to bear (by 'considering the source', realizing that their standards for themselves and for others are entirely inhuman).

But I came to this chapter fresh from my commentary on Brinn's care of Covenant after the soothtell, in "The Quest" in TWL (thread "Two deeply hopeful chapters")--a chapter that demonstrates Brinn's--wholly unexpected--capacity for nurturing: much-needed by the half-dead Covenant, and enormously moving to this reader.

So they can be nurturing when they choose to be. The contrast between Brinn's solicitude for Covenant and the way Cail made his nursing of Linden into a redoubled accusation was quite painful to read.

In "Escape from Elohim," Cail is still acting as "devoted retainer" rather than "servant-judge", but Linden is already feeling her indebtedness:

Cail's assistance was bitter and necessary to her. She could not comprehend the gentleness of his aid. Perhaps it was this quality of the Haruchai which had led Kevin Landwaster to the Ritual of Desecration; for how could he have sustained his self-respect when he had such beings as the Bloodguard to serve him?

(I don't believe that the Bloodguard caused Kevin's decision, but I certainly understand how hard it would be to feel worthy of them even under the best circumstances.)

Linden has my sympathy, being cared for by "servant-judges" who have sensed the evil that she is fighting in her own nature.

*flinch* "Servant-judges"--what a condign term, Joy!

She has my sympathy, too. Though I'm not certain whether Cail et al. actually sense the evil she fights, or whether she perceives them as doing so. Throughout the First Chronicles, the Bloodguard seemed to be moral Rorschach tests for everyone around them; although they didn't usually judge others on purpose, they didn't realize the extent to which they themselves were a judgement. They surrounded Covenant, Troy, and the Lords with mirrors of incorruptibility. Looking in those mirrors, unVowed mortals saw their weaknesses magnified beyond all bearing. Even without the Vow, the same thing seems to be happening here in the Second Chronicles.

The Haruchai shrugged fractionally. "The ur-Lord's plight is unaltered." He might as well have said, You have failed. If it was ever your purpose to succeed.
Clumsily, she left the hammock. She did not want to lie before him like a sacrifice. He offered to assist her; but she rejected his aid, lowered herself alone to the stepladder, then to the floor, so that she could try to face him as an equal.
"Of course I wanted to succeed." Fleeing from images of Covenant's mind, she went farther than she intended. "Do you blame me for everything?"
His mien remained blank. "Those are your words." His tone was as strict as a reproof. "No Haruchai has spoken them."
"You don't have to," she retorted as if Covenant's plight had broken something in her chest. "You wear them on your face."
Again, Cail shrugged. "We are who we are. This protest skills nothing."
She knew that he was right. She had no cause to inflict her self-anger on him as if it were his fault.

But just when Linden, and the reader, is nearly ready to accept that the judgment is her own, projected, Cail undoes the whole transaction by pronouncing a much worse judgment than any that has been under discussion.

Does not Corruption believe altogether in its own rightness?

I can't decide which is worse, to be on the receiving end of such a judgment or to be capable of dishing it out.

Kyrie eleison.

(No, there's no way whatsoever to translate that into Haruchai, and that's the whole point! *shudder*)

[Fist and Faith]

Oy! What a chapter! Things that stand out so strong in my mind that you'd think they each had a chapter to themselves!

Linden's conversation with Pitchwife is just one of the many reasons most of us judge Pitchwife to be among literature's greatest creations. I'll save time, and copy this from Han-shan's page at Taiga's site. ( www.geocities.com/taigatzu/power.html )

"Is that more of your pitch? How do you make it?"

At that, he laughed, and his mirth came more easily. "Yes, Chosen. In all good sooth, this is my pitch. The vat is formed of dolomite, that it may not be fused as would the stone of Starfare's Gem. But as to the making of pitch - ah, that it skills nothing for me to relate. You are neither Giant nor wiver. And the power of pitch arises as does any other, from the essence of the adept who wields it. All power is an articulation of its wielder. There is no other source than life - and the desire of that life to express itself. But there must also be a means of articulation. I can say little but that this pitch is my chosen means. Having said that, I have left you scarce wiser than before."

Linden shrugged away his disclaimer. "Then what you're saying," she murmured slowly, "is that the power of wild magic comes from Covenant himself? The ring is just his - his means of articulation?"

He nodded. "I believe that to be sooth. But the means controls intimately the nature of what may be expressed. By my pitch I may accomplish nothing for the knitting of broken limbs, just as no theurgy of the flesh may seal stone as I do."

(and moments later)

"Be not so hasty in your appraisal of these Elohim. They are who they are - a high and curious people - and their might is matched and conflicted and saddened by their limitations."

Then he tells her of his testing in Elemesnedene.

Pitchwife is wise beyond reckoning! I won't spoil by telling of his importance to the rest of the 2nd Chrons, but it's sure easy to understand why he's so important.

Then we find out that Findail's aboard! And the way we learn of it is worth repeating

There she saw Vain as he had been described, facing the cured surface of the mast from an arm's length away. His posture was the same as always: elbows slightly crooked at his sides; knees flexing just enough to maintain his balalce against the choppy gait of the dromond; back straight. Yet to her gaze he wore a telic air. He confronted the mast as if they were old comrades, frozen on the verge of greeting one another.

To herself, she murmured, "What the hell-?"

"Forsooth," responded Pitchwife with a light chuckle. "Had this Demondim-spawn not been gifted to the ur-Lord by a Giant, I would fear he means to ravish the maidenhood of our foremast."

At that, laughter spouted from the nearby crewmembers, then spread like a kinship of humor through the rigging as his jest was repeated to those who had not heard it.

But when Seadreamer, to everyone's shock, bodily attacks the mast, Findail flows out of it, and apologizes to him for having misjudged the Earth-Sight and causing him distress. But among all the stuff he says, the part I find most intriguing is this:

"I have been Appointed to stand among you, and no power accessible to you may drive me forth. Only he whom you name Vain has it within him to expel me. I would give much that he should do so."

Huh?? Vain has some power over the Elohim??? It seems incomprehensible, but kinda groovy too.

Now the First tells of her testing at Elemesnedene. Turns out she's no dope either. What a great love story we get in the 2nd Chrons!

Next, Linden tries to possess Covenant, hoping to bring him out of his catatonia. I would imagine possessing Covenant at the best of times between the two Chrons would be a bit unsettling. Now? Fugedaboudit! His head is, literally, a snakepit. Plus, she has to deal with her own weakness, her lust for power and possession.

And finally, there's what Durris just brought up - the Haruchai penchant for judging. Of course, the Bloodguard, since they had a specific, sworn duty, had to judge. They at least had to judge whether someone was a danger to the Lords, and therefore in need of the sweet release that the Haruchai are SOOOO good at providing, or worth protecting. But the Haruchai of the 2nd Chrons don't have the Vow, and so don't have any need to intentionally, consciously judge. But still, as Cail says, "We are who we are." And this is particularly well-said:

although they didn't usually judge others on purpose, they didn't realize the extent to which they themselves were a judgement.

The Haruchai see the world, life, and everybody, in the only way they can see anything, the way "the intensity of their lives" in the Westron Mountains forces them to see things - in black and white terms. No race that I've ever run across, fiction or non-, has a more clear-cut view. No race could. They're at the end of the spectum. They don't try to behave this way, they are this way. May as well yell at a Giant for using his height to reach something on the top shelf. Height is a natural part of Giants; absolute viewpoint is a natural part of the Haruchai. Being judged for our moral character is not fun, to say the least. But the Haruchai don't mean anything more when they do it than when they judge the fighting skills of another. "Your kicks are slow. Your elbow-strikes are superb. Your moral character is lacking."

Of course, they don't understand that the choices that people who have NOT lived their entire lives struggling to survive from moment to moment might not be expected to be the same as theirs, but can still be good.

[Durris]

The Haruchai see the world, life, and everybody, in the only way they can see anything, the way "the intensity of their lives" in the Westron Mountains forces them to see things - in black and white terms. No race that I've ever run across, fiction or non-, has a more clear-cut view. No race could. They're at the end of the spectum. They don't try to behave this way, they are this way. May as well yell at a Giant for using his height to reach something on the top shelf. Height is a natural part of Giants; absolute viewpoint is a natural part of the Haruchai. Being judged for our moral character is not fun, to say the least.

Yes, well, I guess this chapter was a temporary jolt out of my accustomed admiration/identification for them: suddenly I identified with Linden rather than Cail and reacted like any flatlander caught in range of that judgment. It's hard enough to take when it's a byproduct of themselves and their world view, but when a deliberate judgment is made

Spoiler

(as will happen on the way out of Bhrathairealm)

who can stand being on the wrong side of the defendant's dock?

Spoiler

Perhaps also my response to Cail's mostly-unspoken judgment in this scene is colored by the knowledge that he and Brinn will progress from judging Linden to being attempted executioners. For cause, yes. But it's still a hair-raising scene.

I'm also finding it curious that although Covenant struggled with Bannor's (usually implied/projected, occasionally explicit) judgment of him in the first series, in the second series Covenant can do no wrong in Haruchai eyes. Granted, he and they share a formidable amount of history, and granted, he is objectively a major benefactor to them (as to their ancestors). And yet. It's as though Covenant is on a different ontological plane now, out of reach of their judgment; Linden, though, being both a stranger and an unproven personage, gets no slack cut for her any more than any untried fellow mortal would.

[Dragonlily]

Well, the element they miss is that Linden is doing her damnedest to eliminate the part of herself that they are objecting to. Cail explicitly states the Haruchai belief that Linden is entirely that part of herself which she herself rejects.

[Durris]

Well, the element they miss is that Linden is doing her damnedest to eliminate the part of herself that they are objecting to. Cail explicitly states the Haruchai belief that Linden is entirely that part of herself which she herself rejects.

Yikes.

What's terrifying about Cail's belief is that although its motives are absolutely the opposite of those behind Gibbon-Raver's accusations (You have committed murder. Are you not evil?) the actual content ends up being the same. Cail, motivated by intransigent righteousness, identifies Linden totally with the moral impurities she is aware of but trying hard to resist.

Gibbon also identifies her totally with them, as an act of despite: if she accepts his judgment, she'll either despair or actively embrace and act from her darkness; either way, she'll be neutralized as a potential agent of good.

Gibbon's identifying Linden with her darkness is intended as a performative statement, bringing about what it describes. Cail's identifying Linden with her darkness results from his inability to acknowledge that good mixed with evil is not thereby nullified. Although his judgment is not intended as a performative statement, arguably Cail's disacknowledging the partial good within Linden reduces her opportunity to manifest good rather than evil.

[Seafoam Understone]

Yes, good points. But I see Gibbon's accusations being the same as Foul's manipulations. Evil doesn't WANT anyone to feel good about themselves. Because if we felt good about ourselves we wouldn't commit evil acts.
I know that sounds rather naive or whatever, but it's sooth.
Understanding the nature of evil is the first step to avoid it. Understanding that evil in-of-itself is nothing more than an outward manfiestation of the (evil) doer's inner self-loathing. Why contain it for themselves. Spread it around.
Foul and Gibbon and the other Ravers know how to manipulate feelings and they do so every chance they get with everyone they come in contact with. Kinslaughterer did it with Korik's group knowing that the Bloodguard would be utterly humiliated in their vow. Foul did it with the three-winged bird and other atrocities throughout the series because he knew the effect it would have on people.
Bringing them down, making them feel less than worthy to fight against him, to resist the evil he represents.
Be it subtle or outright blatant, evil will work it's maligned course to achieve it's ends.

[Fist and Faith]

Yes, well, I guess this chapter was a temporary jolt out of my accustomed admiration/identification for them: suddenly I identified with Linden rather than Cail and reacted like any flatlander caught in range of that judgment.

Understandable. You and I may love the Haruchai, and put huge chunks of time into trying to understand them, but we are, alas, not from the Westron Mountains.

Cail's disacknowledging the partial good within Linden reduces her opportunity to manifest good rather than evil.

Linden's flaw was in accepting Cail's judgement. "What do you know of my pain?" would have been a more appropriate reaction to him. He can disacknowledge all he wants, his commitment can be flawless, and his righteousness can be absolute. But his views were the result of a lifestyle that was nearly incomprehensible to Linden, as hers was to him. She would have had fewer problems if she had understood this, and not felt bad about living up to the Haruchi, which is only a subjective standard.

It's hard enough to take when it's a byproduct of themselves and their world view, but when a deliberate judgment is made

Spoiler

(as will happen on the way out of Bhrathairealm)

who can stand being on the wrong side of the defendant's dock?

Spoiler

Perhaps also my response to Cail's mostly-unspoken judgment in this scene is colored by the knowledge that he and Brinn will progress from judging Linden to being attempted executioners. For cause, yes. But it's still a hair-raising scene.

I'm not at all comfortable with this stuff either. The deliberate judgement is not something I expect from the Haruchai. Nor do I like it. (Like they give a good gosh darn! ) I think the explanation is that this is how things are in the Westron Mountains. Since life there is so difficult and uncertain, people who act in certain ways there can cause a lot more damage than they would in less perilous parts of the world. But they haven't figured out (heck, they aren't capable of figuring out) that they don't have to behave as intensely now as they would back home.

I'm also finding it curious that although Covenant struggled with Bannor's (usually implied/projected, occasionally explicit) judgment of him in the first series, in the second series Covenant can do no wrong in Haruchai eyes. Granted, he and they share a formidable amount of history, and granted, he is objectively a major benefactor to them (as to their ancestors). And yet. It's as though Covenant is on a different ontological plane now, out of reach of their judgment; Linden, though, being both a stranger and an unproven personage, gets no slack cut for her any more than any untried fellow mortal would.

I'd never thought of this before. Covenant's behavior changed tremendously during the time Bannor knew him, so Bannor's judgement of him changed. In the 2nd Chrons, the Haruchai, alone, know what the Land once was, and what Covenant did. They assume he is still as he was at the end of the 1st Chrons, and treat him accordingly.

[Durris]

Linden's flaw was in accepting Cail's judgement. "What do you know of my pain?" would have been a more appropriate reaction to him.

I'm remembering the exchange between Covenant and Linden at the very beginning of the first series, when Covenant tells her, "You don't have the background" (to truly understand the ontology and morality of what is happening to him and Joan--rather than to judge it by how it looks to an outsider).

He can disacknowledge all he wants, his commitment can be flawless, and his righteousness can be absolute. But his views were the result of a lifestyle that was nearly incomprehensible to Linden, as hers was to him.

In Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski frequently complained that viewers said they wanted alien sentient characters to be believably alien, but then when he created world views, customs, religions, practices that were truly alien to viewers, he was criticized for making them "inhuman". This chapter really showed me how foreign the Haruchai mind can be (though the same species as us).

I'm not convinced Linden entirely accepted Cail's judgment. Throughout the post-Elohim portion of the story she has continued exercising leadership in the teeth of her own, as well as other quest members', doubts of her right to do so.