Kevin's Watch

I was going to post this as a reply in another thread, but I thought it might merit its own...

There has been some discussion around the absence of the 'old man' in the ochre outfit NOT appearing to Linden before she is 'transferred' to The Land. At first (mostly cuz SRD made such a point about it in the book) I was perplexed at this. It then occurred to me that TC only saw the fella before his *first* trip to The Land - never thereafter. Similarly, Linden saw him before her first trip.

Any thoughts on this?

Jim

The fact that both Covenant and Linden saw him only prior to their first summons is interesting.

Covenant saw him again after defeating Foul.....when Covenant was offered his choice of remaning in the Land.
Linden never saw him again...but perhaps she will in the end.

It is also possible that knowing the Arch of Time' s fragility from assaults against it in every direction, the Creator felt that his own act of appearing to Linden would threaten the already delicate Arch too much to make it worth the risk. Or perhaps he has already said all he needs to say to her, and knows he can count on her again.

It's also entirely possible that the "ochre dude" appeared to someone different this time - such as Jeremiah.

That would possibly explain his lego Landforms.

Linden's upset that the ochre beggar didn't appear to her, but remember in the second chronicles when Covenant was upset that the beggar didn't appear to him and instead revealed himself to Linden?

Yes. Sounds to me like the beggar is more about preparing people for the existence of the Land than being any kind of early warning system.

He's on holiday.



Nah, I think he appeared to Sandy... but that's just me...

Why would he appear to Sandy? And how could she not saying something about it to Linden?

Sandy: "This wierd old guy came to the door today, babbling all kinds of nonsense about "be true."

No, I still believe that he appeared to Jeremiah.

Nah, you remember in the Prologue when Linden called Sandy up to come and look after Jeremiah? Sandy was more alert than usually... and Linden thought what made her so... well, it could have been the old man.