Kevin's Watch

One of the aspects of MN that becomes more in focus for me with each re-reading, is how in some ways it seems to serve as a mirror of TCOTC... almost as if SRD is exploring the same themes, but from the opposite direction.

For example: one of the major themes in both works is a question of 'reality':

In the Chronicles, a man is thrust into another world, and is faced with the question of whether the Land is real, or a figment of his imagination. In MN, a woman is drawn into another world, and is faced with the crisis of whether she herself is real, or the creation of another person's conjury.

Abuse and it's consequences:

The Chronicles features a man who becomes a rapist, and struggles to live with the consequences of his actions; MN features a woman who is the victim of emotional and physical abuse, and struggles to escape the consequences of her abusers' actions.

In the Chrons, a woman is raped by a friend - who does so from weakness, in the face of restored virility. In the Need, a man is raped - by an enemy, as a demonstration of power over him.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this? Agreements / disagreements? Does this even make sense?

It makes a lot of sense.

I would say more, but I want to think about for awhile, so I can make some comments worthy of your post.

Yeah, good point. I think Donaldson talks about this exact subject on the gradual interview. He says that Chronicles is about a man comes to a fantasy world and denies it's reality, whereas MN is about a woman who denies her own reality in the "real" world until she steps through a mirror into a "fantasy" world that treats he more like a real person that anyone in her own world.

Interestingly, it is Covenant's denial of the Land's reality that leads him to lust and evil, whereas it's Erimis' affirmation of Terisas reality (by his attention) that drives her to lust and evil.

Whereas it is Covenant's love for and from the people of the Land (like Foamy and Mhoram) that lead him to realize that is must be saved, whether real or not -- and it the love the people of Mordant (such as Geraden) have for Terisa, and that she learns to have for them, that lead to her becoming "real", and saving her in a very real sense...