Kevin's Watch

Are the fire lions of mount thunder actually magical lion shaped beings of fire or is it just a backward term in the land for lava flow?

I always thought of them as an essence of Earth Power made of fire that manifested in a lion like form.

I wondered that myself, but I remember deciding ultimately that they were vaguely leonine, pouncing from rock to rock...

I kind of picture (now-a-days anyways) that they are like the scene in FOTR, the movie when the river is rushing at the riders and they are lead by the charging horses. Naybe something like that...only Lions not horses (obviously).

Isildurs Bane wrote: Are the fire lions of mount thunder actually magical lion shaped beings of fire or is it just a backward term in the land for lava flow?

The way they're described in LFB seems to imply that they're lions formed out of fire and not really lava as we know it. I don't have the book handy to check that scene out, but I remember them being described as roaring and springing down the slopes of Mount Thunder, a la lions pouncing on their prey.

Yes, but is there any shred of evidence that they actually have a lion-like form? I've always imagined them as just balls of fire. Makes sense if you think of them as extremely large, voracious wraiths - which is how I think of them.

At the end of WGW, Linden "sees" the Fire Lions crouched inside the mountain and she recognizes them for what they are. That implied to me that they at least looked lion-like.

WGW refers to them as "creatures of fire" - when describing Mount Thunder. (paraphrasing) "At one time creatures of fire had descended the slopes to save Covenant and his companions; but they had been summoned by Law, and now there was no more Law..."

Yes, yes. But nothing about manes or paws or fluffy tails, I take it. Fire Lion is to a lion as a Lion Fish is to a lion.

Wayfriend wrote:Yes, yes. But nothing about manes or paws or fluffy tails, I take it. Fire Lion is to a lion as a Lion Fish is to a lion.

<grinning> And none are named Aslan either!!!

In the glossary in the back of the books it says fire lions are a term for fire flow. I would take that to mean lava flow. It can be summonded if you know how to use earth power.

Exactly!!! The glossary at the back of the chronicles says that the fire lions are a term for fire flow (obviously meaning lava flow) from mount thunder!!! So how the hellfire can they also be described as magical lion like creatures of fire??? If the glossary is mistaken, I sure hope somebody got fired for that glitch!!!

On the other hand it could be another one of Donaldson's "loveable" dualitity's such as the conflicting stories of creation.

I suppose the way the lava flowed it could look like lions?

I think that the glossary gives the Fire Lions short shrift - sort of like calling the Haruchai "mountain people" - but it's not down right inaccurate or contradictory. Obviously, the Earthpower present in Mount Thunder is able to make the fire flow "do stuff", but essentially they are what the glossary says.

Just think of the Fire Lions as Wraiths on Steroids. Fire elementals, if you will, arising from and unleashed by the Earthpower in Mount Thunder. The are called "lions" not because they look like big cats, but because they are ferocious and lithe and noble and brave.