Kevin's Watch

Well I just had one "What if..." in mind, but I thought this could turn into a nice conglomeration/discussion of everyones.

This may have been asked before, but I was musing on this earlier... what if Covenant did not sacrifice himself for Joan, but rather Linden did? Let's say he quailed at the moment of decision, the knife raised above Joan's neck... Linden rushed in and after a struggle, was stabbed by the knife and fire.

If the story continued like it did from there, with the two getting summoned to Kevin's Watch... how do you think the rest would play out? How do you think Foul's machinations would change?

He wouldn't, afterall, beable to manipulate Thomas directly now... but would Covenant have his "Land-sight"? Would Linden have it? How would the Elohim treat her? She might not have the power to keep the venom at bay... but it would not do much good anymore in Covenant. Could it be changed to affect her in a moral way? Controlling her health sense may have some curious consequences.

Firstly, Linden would die shortly after arriving in the Land, because TC instinctively healed himself with wild magic in transit. Secondly, I think Linden would still be the one with the sight, and TC would still be sightless. It seems to me that it was part of Linden herself, and consequently would be unaffected by the tweak of circumstances you've described.

Let's divide this into what wouldn't happen and what would happen.

Would not:

· Covenant would not be burdened with the thought that he sold himself for Joan. Other than this being a quibbling point, I cannot recall this being truly significant to the story.

· Covenant would not be dying. That is truly significant to the story.

Would:

· Linden would be dying.

· Covenant would blame himself for this.

Unchanged:

· Land-sight is not changed. This was not predicated by Covenant's manner of entering the land. This had to do with leprosy, combined with the Land's lack of healing power.