Kevin's Watch

I just took the <I>Lords of Lord's Keep</I> quiz. I don't remember 4 of Kevin's Wards being found. The Giants brought the 1st, they found the 2nd at the end of LFB, and Amok/EarthBlood/PoC was the 7th. Am I forgetting something, or is the quiz wrong?

I really wish there was a way to assure accuracy of these quizzes before they're posted, for the sake of those who aren't really familiar. On the one hand, who the heck cares? It's just a fantasy quiz. On the other hand, there were more than four Old Lords, it's just that there were only four Old <I>High</I> Lords. And the <I>General Knowledge</I> quiz thinks that white gold is the <I>one thing</I> that can threaten the Arch of Time. But the Creator can too. I'm just such a detail freak!! (And don't worry, I laugh at myself at least as much as everyone else laughs at me.)

I'm not a big fan of those quizes myself. I think it's in tWL that Covenant learned that Mhoram and the rest mastered up to the 4th ward before setting aside Kevin's lore. but that doesn't take the earthblood into account.

They found the Third Ward after Mhoram's time. In TWL, Vain went to the room where the Third Ward, along with the first 2 and the heels of the Staff of Law were kept.

So along with the Seventh Ward, TC knew that they had found 4 wards.

Yeah, they found the 3rd Ward in between the first and second chronicles. I was really hit by that scene too, when Thomas Covenant found the store room with the Wards. I mean, that just shows how screwed up the Land was. They had found the 3rd Ward...and they didn't even USE it. By that time, the Keep was already slipping into choas... What a shame.-jay

Wow. I entirely forgot about them finding the 3rd. I have to go find that part in the book. Thanks folks.

Although, jay, I'm not surprised they didn't use it. After all, they always wondered why they couldn't figure even the 1st Ward out. Finally, Mhoram figured out that their "weakness" was the Oath of Peace. TPTP ends with Mhoram saying:

"My friends - people of the Land - Thomas Covenant once inquired of me why we so devote ourselves to the Lore of High Lord Kevin Landwaster. And now, in this war, we have learned the hazard of that Lore. Like the <I>krill</I>, it is a power of two edges, as apt for carnage as for preservation. Its use endangers our Oath of Peace.

"I am Mhoram son of Variol, High Lord by the choice of the Council. I declare that from this day forth we will not devote ourselves to any Lore which precludes Peace. We will gain lore of our own - we will strive and quest and learn until we have found a lore in which the Oath of Peace and the preservation of the Land live together. Hear me, you people! We will serve Earthfriendship in a new way."

"The edges of the sword are life and death
"no one knows which is which"

-Ikkyu Sojun, 15th Century Zen master

Covenant hardly heard her. "The First and Second Wards".."The Third Ward? Did they find the Third Ward?"...
"Evidently," a rider retorted. "Little good it did them."
"Then why"- Covenant put all his appalled amazement into his voice- "don't you use it?".
"It is a lore for that which no longer exists."..."It has no value under the Sunbane."

The Raver did his work.

Basically, war and peace are the two edges of a sword, and both can cut you... or your enemy. The Raver only made the grip slippery.