What would YOU do after drinking Earthblood

[Creator]

I would have ordered the total destruction of the Ravers - complete obliteration

I think that would have severly limited Lord Foul's manipulation.

What would YOU do?

[Dawngreeter]

Having read only up too half way through WGW, I would say, grant TC complete, total knowledge and control over himself and understanding of white gold.

[matrixman]

I agree with your Command, Creator. The Ravers have caused so much damage to the Land throughout its history. Never mind the Oath of Peace, we want some payback! Foul may be untouchable, but the Ravers, as far as I understand them, were born under the Arch of Time, therefore they should not be immune to the Power of Command.

[Satansheart Soulcrusher]

I honestly can't think of any command that would have any useful effect or that could not be corrupted by Foul and turned against Elena like Kevin was.

Dawngreeter, you couldn't just grant someone knowledge. The Power of Command doesn't work that way.

Commanding the Ravers to turn on each other might work, but how would they harm each other? Their chief weapon is possession. They have no physical bodies, and if they possessed bodies in order to fight each other, then those bodies were killed, the Ravers would be unchanged.

I might have commanded every Sandgorgon in the desert to break free from the Gyre and come and tear Mount Thunder down stone by stone.

[ScrapOSamadhi]

First off, I don't think you could command TC to have/do anything. White Gold exists beyond the Arch and so does he. You'd also have to be careful that it didn't summon up Berek to tell him about it as he was said to know of it (that might accidentally break an additionl law or two).

I always thought commanding the death of the ravers was a good idea as they were born under the arch but what might get you some more millage (and something Foul couldn't directly corrupt) would be to command the Earth itself to speak to the people of the land more often, and report any plans/goings on of Foul's or the Ravers. This command doesn't touch Foul himself so it isn't prohibited, the earth HAS spoken before (to Berek) so that can't be breaking any law, and if the Earth only reports what is actually happening it might have aided the defenders of the land in many ways.

[Gadget nee Jemcheeta]

I think that if the Earth itself wanted to speak to the people, it would. I don't think coercing it would get any better results. What about something like the destruction of the illearth stone?
Regardless, summoning Kevin was horridly, horridly stupid. And pretty obviously stupid, I might add.

Hehehe.. what about commanding the ur-viles or cavewights to put down their weapons and play nice?

[Worm of Despite]

What would YOU do after drinking Earthblood

I'd try to spit it out! I mean, seriously. If anything, Elena taught that Earthblood is not a good answer to Despite. All the Lords were blind by their own wish for "paypack"; they wanted to destroy Lord Foul, but destroying him is impossible. Maybe I'm wrong, but out-and-out attacking is not the best way to combat Foul. That's why Foamfollower laughed.

[Dromond]

I would have ordered the total destruction of the Ravers - complete obliteration

Yes, but what destroyed the Ravers may be catastrophic for the Land.

There's no telling the ramifications of such actions, Amok says something along these lines, iirc.

But anyway, I'd probably order a pebble to fall from the ceiling of Mt. Thunder or Foul's Creche every minute and hit Foul in the head...
at least he wouldn't have such a bloody good time.

[Gadget nee Jemcheeta]

Hahaha. Good plan. Or make the whole creche smell like rosepetals and perfume. Hahaha...

[Satansheart Soulcrusher]

Well Mt. Thunder is pretty obviously volcanic, and there's a river of lava around Foul's Creche (Hotash Slay). How about commanding a massive eruption to cleanse the whole lot by fire? That'd clear out those pesky Cavewights and probably burn out a few of the cobwebs in Ridjeck Thome too...

[Xar]

I think that if the Earth itself wanted to speak to the people, it would. I don't think coercing it would get any better results. What about something like the destruction of the illearth stone?
Regardless, summoning Kevin was horridly, horridly stupid. And pretty obviously stupid, I might add.

Amok, in TIW, specifically states that no one can foresee the consequences of a command given through EarthBlood. He even specifically mentions that wishing for the destruction of the Illearth Stone might have resulted in the destruction of only its physical shell, while the sheer power of the Stone might have remained in the world, no longer contained and no longer vulnerable... better not to risk it

Still, the Illearth Stone looks like bad weeds... it always returns, no matter how thoroughly you try to destroy it!

[The Dreaming]

I think what Donaldson was doing with the power of command is kind of a precursor to what he did with the Second Chronicles. The themes of power and the ineffectuality of it seems to be something that is especially interesting to him. Look at the Elohim, look at the corrupted white gold, look at the powerless, omnipotent creator.

Spoiler

Look at what happened to Lord Foul when he got his own taste of Covenant's power.

The entire Earthblood subplot seems to me to be another way for Donaldson to pound in our heads that raw power is not the right way to solve problems and defeat despite. SRD responded to one of my gradual interview questions about the law of life by saying that the actions of Elena and Cear Caveral may have ensured the destruction of the Earth, which leads me to believe he will be expanding on this theme even further in the Last Chronicles.

Wow, this sounds pretty good. Might want to make a thread about this.

[Gadget nee Jemcheeta]

Ah, so it was you!

Anyway, I agree. About the ineffectuality bit I mean, I totally agree that it was made apparent that the raw power is not the way to go.

Although...it definately helps sometimes, right? Remember the power of Mhoram? Except with passion behind it, instead of despair..

[High Lord Tolkien]

The Power of Command?
hhmmmm....

At what point in time?
The same as Elena?
Where it looks like she'll have only one shot to do the most good and failure could Doom the land?

Tough one.
Amok pretty much warned her against trying to destroy the IllEarth Stone and Foul and anything about the White Gold.
EarthPower wasn't enough before......
Crap!
I don't know and Amok is turning to dust right before my eyes.
I would have commanded the FireLions to wipe out the Raver's armies and clean out Mt Thunder. Then been horrified at the destruction my lava flow caused running through the heart of the Land.

Now, if it was shortly after High Lord Mhoram tossed the Krill into the lake and all looked good?
I'd definately want to hear the tale of Bahgoon the Unbearable and Thelma Twofist, who tamed him.
But since there are no more Giants in the Land and I'd want a Giant to tell me...I'm not sure what would happen.
Knowing my luck, Bannor would tell me the whole thing in his mono-tone voice!

[Gadget nee Jemcheeta]

Hahahaha! Bannor telling the tale.... humm... actually, I think, given the BG's respect for the giants, he might even try to imitate it. Let's see they 'suffice' in story telling
I also thought about the fire lions...

[Kevin son of Ireland]

In keeping with the topic of giants, about another 500 or so of them around the time of the war would have been a big help(or why not a thousand?), especially if they had learned of their comrades plight at the hands of the Despiser. Bringing this amount directly to the land for the purpose of helping in the war could have helped a lot but then i suppose Elena was trying to destroy foul entirely and not just crush his armies.

[aliantha]

You'd better be pretty specific about where those Giants are coming from, kev, or the Earthblood might just re-animate the dead Giants in the Grieve for you, and you'll have a boatload of Giant zombies on your hands.

Or I suppose it could transport a bunch of Giants from their homes -- and then you'd have a bunch of p.o.'d Giants on your hands.

I dunno. I think you'd have to be as crazy as Elena was to even think of drinking Earthblood.

[Gadget nee Jemcheeta]

Yeah. Especially without consulting the counsel of lords about it.

[MrKABC]

Ah, so it was you!

Anyway, I agree. About the ineffectuality bit I mean, I totally agree that it was made apparent that the raw power is not the way to go.

Although...it definately helps sometimes, right? Remember the power of Mhoram? Except with passion behind it, instead of despair..

Amok also made it clear that High Lord Kevin hadn't used the Power of Command either, and that anyone who wasn't also a prophet could not foresee the outcome of the Command that had been made.

By Commanding the destruction of the Ravers, would it not be possible that the Ravers' ill existence would still have persevered?

Commanding the Fire Lions would likely have not worked - it had been demonstrated many times that the Illearth Stone was a far superior force and most likely would have mastered the Lions - maybe they would have then served the Despiser like another Raver.

Commanding total knowledge of white gold would not have worked - white gold existed outside of Time, according to Amok, and could not be Commanded.

The Power of Command served to illustrate just how useless power without sight really is.

[Zahir]

Honestly, I cannot think of a command that could not somehow and somewhere be twisted to evil. On the other hand, I have trouble imagining a single act that doesn't hold the potential for corruption, Earthblood or not.

Given the premise of the thread, my answer is that I would give this command:

Ravers! I command you to leave the Land, shunning all living things in the world as long as you continue to exist in any way whatsoever.

This would, I believe, send the Ravers to somewhere remote and stop their acts of possession. At least it has a good chance of working that way, robbing Foul of his most useful and powerful servants. Not a victory, per se, but helpful.