Kevin's Watch

One of the things I liked about the Second Chronicles, that seems to have been continued in Runes, is the perversion/distortion/corruption/alteration/reversal of things that previously seemed fundamental. Some of the glaring examples in Runes are the Haruchai's opposition, the ur-viles' friendship (even the appearance of ur-viles at all), Roger being utterly evil, the Ramen keeping secrets (as they did for a while). And some of the stuff I really never saw coming: caesures (that was a shock), the destruction of Kevin's Watch, Sunder and Hollian's kid wandering around...and Demondim the Illearth Stone ...and the first really major shock, that haunted me throughout the rest of the book..."I am content"

There are others, but that'll do for now. Anyone else care to share their favourite aspects/most shocking occurences?

I have to admit that the appearance of the Illearth Stone was the biggest surprise, followed closely by the destruction of Kevin's Watch. The Demondim were freakin' awesome!

It was obvious from the beginning that Anele was Sunder and Hollians son.

The Haruchai as opposition concerned me, as well as Esmer's assistance/betrayal patterns.

To me the only thing that has been consistent is the service of the Ramen.

I bet I know what the SHOCK will be at the end of the next Volume!

dlbpharmd wrote:It was obvious from the beginning that Anele was Sunder and Hollians son.

Not to me

The other stranger was Thomas Covenant

^^^^ Was there any bigger shock?!

I loved the info we got about kastenessen... that suprised me... he sounds so cool!

I pretty much guessed the ending by the chapter's title... (Is wondering about the whole "beware; remember that I'm dead now" thing from Covenant)

I was most suprised by the Hurachi supressing the past, and Esmer.

CovenantJr wrote:One of the things I liked about the Second Chronicles, that seems to have been continued in Runes, is the perversion/distortion/corruption/alteration/reversal of things that previously seemed fundamental. Some of the glaring examples in Runes are the Haruchai's opposition, the ur-viles' friendship (even the appearance of ur-viles at all), Roger being utterly evil, the Ramen keeping secrets (as they did for a while). And some of the stuff I really never saw coming: caesures (that was a shock), the destruction of Kevin's Watch, Sunder and Hollian's kid wandering around...and Demondim the Illearth Stone ...and the first really major shock, that haunted me throughout the rest of the book..."I am content"

There are others, but that'll do for now. Anyone else care to share their favourite aspects/most shocking occurences?

You've covered everything I can think of, at this early hour here in the Midwestern states of the U.S.A. which may be on their way to voting into office the world's least popular president.

Aside from that, SRD does this to us all the time - and that's what I love about him. People have argued here that he's mining the same material, but I disagree with that entirely. The "switcheroos" are great, surprising, and make for it all a great read.

Personally, my favorite was the return of the Demondim. I nearly dropped the book in shock.

I had to read the first appearance of the Demondim a couple more times before it really sank in, then I sat there, reeling. And I think I actually exclaimed aloud at the reappearance of the Illearth Stone.

CovenantJr wrote:I had to read the first appearance of the Demondim a couple more times before it really sank in, then I sat there, reeling. And I think I actually exclaimed aloud at the reappearance of the Illearth Stone.

Me too!

So far the presence of the Illearth Stone has not been explained, but I really hope that it is not another "flake" like the Stonemight. I always had a bit of trouble buying into that. But the more important question is - why does the Illearth Stone keep making these appearances?

Darth Revan wrote:

The other stranger was Thomas Covenant

^^^^ Was there any bigger shock?!

I loved the info we got about kastenessen... that suprised me... he sounds so cool!

So is anyone else thinking htat Kastenessen is the Elohim that is walking around saying "beware the halfhand"..? Esmer was not implicated in that, was he?

Speaking of Esmer what a jerk. A powerful jerk...but a jerk. He is like a fey and somewhat monsterous Bugs Bunny. All that power and need to humiliate!

A Gunslinger wrote:So is anyone else thinking htat Kastenessen is the Elohim that is walking around saying "beware the halfhand"..? Esmer was not implicated in that, was he?

There's a topic about Kastenessen that covers both those points. You should stop by.

dlb, I thought you finished Runes? It explains exactly where the demondim got their Illearth stone power

I must've passed out during that section, because I don't remember it at all.

So far Esmer has been my biggest shock...

The demondim are somehow among them controlling a caesure linking back to the time before Drool found the Illearth Stone, and they're collectively wielding the stone from the past.

Esmer was the biggest shock for me. Stave prepared me for the Demondim, but Esmer appeared with little warning.

Anele's tale

Spoiler

of his losing the staff

, and the setting of that tale, was for me the most moving portion of the book. To me, only Foamfollower's tale to TC in front of the Colossus comes close in the Chronicles.

Spoiler

"Ah, the truth was that I left behind the Staff because with power comes duty. I feared that if I bore with me the implement of Law, I would be compelled to measure my littleness against the thing of wrong. And I knew that I would fail."

Esmer really annoyed me. Just too powerful. What was he NOT capable of??? The merewives sure didn't seem that powerful, and Cail obviously wasn't. Ah well, maybe Haruchai genes allowed merewife genes to operate at their full potential by allowing them to operate on dry land. Kas' mortal lover wasn't, as far as we know, particularly knowledgable in the ways of power, and she certainly wasn't in her right mind when she went to the oceans. I guess she unknowingly limited herself quite a bit.

Anyway, all that aside, Esmer is responsible for one of my favorite parts: Where he beat the living #@$% out of Stave!!! Holy cow!!!

I really like Esmer because of what he brings to the story. He's incredibly powerful, which makes him incredibly dangerous, he's Linden's friend and foe at the same time, he's entirely unpredictable, and he seems to be the most tormented character we've met so far. I love reading about him. I'd say he's the most exciting character that's shown up in Runes so far (I'm going to discount Covenant himself this time around since nobody has any clue what the hell is going on with him. Otherwise, well, Covenant simply dominates any scene he's in )

I had the same question....... How Esmer had all that power. The merewives and Cail certainly didn't have anything near to that. Maybe power skips a generation.

I believe it has to do with the idea in the Chronicles that the expression of power is directly related to the wielder of that power. The nature of the merewives might prevent any other expression of power than what they've shown so far (which is powerful enough to snare even people with the self-control of Haruchai, keep in mind), but think about how the son of a Haruchai would express power. They're not exactly known to be a subtle people...