Kevin's Watch

What do you think happened? Of course, I am talking about Lord Foul's Bane chapter 22 when the company makes it to the bridge inside Mount Thunder.

Something seems to come over Coventant and his senses become altered, altered enough so that he can see the Word Of Warning Drool had placed on the bridge so that it would blow up if Covenenant's group crossed it. The rocklight seemed to make his ring glow and later he seems to think that the power of the Word is what's making it glow.

"It's daylight outside." His ring burned blood-red, throbbed to the pulse of the rocklight

I think that Covenant's ring was altering his perception so that he would see the Word Of Warning and not die. Just like Coventant was able to heal himself of the gunshot wound in TWL and call the power without conciously asking for it. I think his ring was blood-red because it was active, and that it looked red because of Drool's influence. We all know Covenant could call the power when he was under severe stress (he stopped the storm in Andelain without thinking about how he was supposed to do it, ect).

That's a good point.

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying it was more than Covenant's Land-sight at work there?

dlbpharmd wrote:I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying it was more than Covenant's Land-sight at work there?

Yes, because the Lords and the Hearthralls had the same health sense that Covenant did, yet THEY did not see the Word of Warning..

In the Illearth War, Lord Mhoram also states that Hile Troy's sight is better than his, because Mhoram could not see Lord Verement's Word either...

That's interesting, I've never thought about that before.

Was Covenant's Land-sight the same as the Lords, Hearthralls and the other peoples of the Land? For reasons that aren't clear to me, Covenant's, Troy's and later Linden's Land-sight always seemed to me to be greater than the inherent sight of the native people of the Land.

Runes spoiler:

Spoiler

The Ramen and the Haruchai also seem to have differing aspects of Land-sight as well.

Since the wild magic surpasses Earthpower and thus any lore in the Land, it makes sense that its power would enable Covenant to perceive some things the Lords couldn't, like the Word of Warning. So it's not that big of a mystery, is it? We could already guess that Covenant had been changed in some fundamental way by his ring, back in Drool's storm. That was the first time the wild magic was unleashed--the catalystic event that forever "bonded" Covenant with his ring (an even deeper bond than the one of marriage the ring represented in his "real" world). The "melding" of the wild magic and Covenant had accidentally taken its first step.

Or I could be wrong. Maybe Prothall and the other "weak" new Lords couldn't see the Word of Warning because their grasp of Kevin's Lore lacked sufficient depth, so they weren't sensitive enough to subtle creations of Earthpower like the Word. It's hard for me to believe that any of the Old Lords would have been unable to sense a mere Word.

But this brings up again the question in my mind of how the Old Lords (that Kevin had sent to Mount Thunder to meet with the Demondim in his stead) were so easily ambushed and disposed of by ur-viles at Treacher's Gorge. Maybe the lesson is that powerful lore is no guarantee against a surprise attack?

Whatever. I ramble.

Matrixman wrote: Or I could be wrong. Maybe Prothall and the other "weak" new Lords couldn't see the Word of Warning because their grasp of Kevin's Lore lacked sufficient depth, so they weren't sensitive enough to subtle creations of Earthpower like the Word. It's hard for me to believe that any of the Old Lords would have been unable to sense a mere Word.

But this brings up again the question in my mind of how the Old Lords (that Kevin had sent to Mount Thunder to meet with the Demondim in his stead) were so easily ambushed and disposed of by ur-viles at Treacher's Gorge. Maybe the lesson is that powerful lore is no guarantee against a surprise attack?

Whatever. I ramble.

I agree about Prothall and the new "weak" Lords not being able to see the Word of Warning was a result of them not mastering Kevin's Wards.

The Old Lords would still have been surprised even with lore on their side, and since the Demondim were nasty, powerful customers, most likely they were overwhelmed.

Was it Demondim or ur-viles? (Damn! I wish my copy of 1st Chronicles wasn't loaned out!)

Runes spoiler:

Spoiler

The ur-viles in Runes seem to be a lot more powerful than the ur-viles that we saw in 1st Chronicles.

gunshot wound (?) don't you mean stabbing? I don't recall TC being shot...

danlo wrote:gunshot wound (?) don't you mean stabbing? I don't recall TC being shot...

Good call, danlo. How did I miss that? Maybe they'll change it to a gunshot wound if they make a movie out of TWL. More "dramatic" that way, heh heh.

dlbpharmd wrote:Was it Demondim or ur-viles?

It was the Demondim who hatched the plan to summon Kevin to Mount Thunder, but it was the ur-viles who ambushed the Lords.

not sure, and too lazy to get up and get the book....there was some mention about him falling under "its" spell. and that when he approached it to finally go under, he had to try to avoid falling under the spell again...

but i would swear they made it clear that it was the "its" spell he was falling under...

eventualyl i'll get up and check the book.

It's just an idea, but it could be that when Drool was gaining more influence over Covenant's ring, TC was sensitive to other things that Drool was putting some of his power into...

The "its" spell was the rocklight of Warrenbridge.

Then wouldn't the same thing have happend when TC and party approached Warrenbridge in WGW?

DLB-Regarding your ealier spoiler...I agree, but it's possible that the desecration weakened the Ur-viles and that's why they don't seem overly powerfull in the 1st chrons.

drew wrote:DLB-Regarding your ealier spoiler...I agree, but it's possible that the desecration weakened the Ur-viles and that's why they don't seem overly powerfull in the 1st chrons.

Another thought: back then the Ur-Viles were fairly recent creations (shortly pre-desecration, ie during Kevin's Lordship), and after the demise of the Demondim were probably just beginning to truly learn their lore.

BraulioB wrote:What do you think happened? Of course, I am talking about Lord Foul's Bane chapter 22 when the company makes it to the bridge inside Mount Thunder.

"It's daylight outside." His ring burned blood-red, throbbed to the pulse of the rocklight

Ah, so the color red isn't influenced by the desecrated moonlight, (or the burning of Soaring Woodhelven) for that matter. What if a Word of Warning were made of music -
rock music - the lightning inured within its fabric would not be as dangerous when crossing the bridge from the opposite side, like a one way street.
You might even have some fun figuring how the sound might be muted!

Lazy Luke wrote:Ah, so the color red isn't influenced by the desecrated moonlight

I am pretty sure it is. But it is also influenced by the rocklight at the bridge. More than one thing may influence it.

The whole color-signalled influence on the ring thing feels to me like a signal that Covenant himself is being influenced, swayed. Somehow he is taking a path that leads to his being controlled or made effectless.

wayfriend wrote:

Lazy Luke wrote:Ah, so the color red isn't influenced by the desecrated moonlight

I am pretty sure it is. But it is also influenced by the rocklight at the bridge. More than one thing may influence it.

To be accurate, I'm sure the moon itself weren't actually red, it being the Staff of Law and Drool Rockworm exerting influence on the atmosphere - like the Sunbane. When the Lords dispossess Drool of the Staff of Law Covenant's ring becomes free of the red stain, iirc, there was no moon needed to endorse this.

It is still interesting that the rocklight can effect Covenant's white gold.

I agree, the situation with the moon is more complex than I gave it credit for in my last post. The fairest statement I would make along those lines is: Covenant's ring seemed to be affected by Drool's power to change the moon. Which is similar to its resonance with the power wielded at the Bridge.

This may simply be signalling that the ring is responding to power, a device which reaches a fruition in the destruction of the Staff of Law. But the ring itself represents Covenant's agency. So it also signals something about Covenant. I feel like it does. He is caught up in Drool's plot, like a leaf in a stream, not exerting any choices except those of denial. If you deny the ring's power, it can become someone else's.

Just thoughts. But it all ties together, moon and bridge, to me.