Warmark wrote:a few things that are bugging me,
Earthblood: Kevin never used it, so how does he Know that it will caused the command to happen?
Kevin: it seems he did the RoD because Foul was ravaging the land. what was foul doing. Kevin could have destroyed the armies( Mhoram did this with only an understanding of the wards) and Foul never seems to activley hurt the Land himself so what was he doing that was bad enough for the RoD.
also how do they know it does not effect things from outside the Arch? has anyone ever been transported - like Covenant - to the land,
These are some very intersting question. IMHO there are not definitive answers to them in the 1st & 2nd chronicles, perhaps the last chronicles will have such answers.
In the realm of interpretation, I find the insights of variol farseer and drew interesting and can offer the following interpretation of my own:
The knowledge of Earthpower originally came from Berek Halfhand. Berek was able to speak directly to the the Earthpower, call upon the Fire Lions of Mt. Thunder, fashion the original Staff of Law, essentially from nothing establish the entire foundation for the lore of the Old Lords, as well as the new Lords. Berek had a truly singular epiphany, and it seems to me that as part of it, he was able to grasp the entire reality of the Land and of Earthpower. You may recall the vision that Linden Avery experienced just before she left the Land at the end of the second chronicles. I think Berek had a similar moment, and during this all-encompassing gaze, I think he saw all things about Earthpower, and learned of the existence of the Earthblood at root of Melenkurion Skyweir. It was he who passed the knowledge of the Earthblood and its significance to his successors.
You ask how Kevin knew of the limitations of the Earthblood and the power of command. Well, my thinking is that to understand what Berek was able to do you have to undertand Mhoram. In a way Berek's power was a generalized and grander instance of Mhoram's power. The ability to foretell the future, which Mhoram possessed until the loss of the Staff of Law to Corruption, and the breaking of the Vow of the Bloodguard, is itself tied up with the nature of the Arch of Time. Berek, in all likelihood was not only able to see far into the future, but he may have been able to gaze upon the Arch of Time itself, or even outside it. Like I said, something truly singular happenned to him. Perhaps Berek saw the coming of Thomas Convenant in his own (Berek's) future, or perhaps he understood the Arch of Time enough to become aware of the existence of White Gold outside the land and its ability to bend all laws of the Land to its power. In either case, this, I think, is how knowledge of White Gold came to the Land, and how the Old Lords knew about the limitations of the Power of Command.
I should add that unlike Damelon, Loric and Kevin, of whom witness testimony existed that was accessible to the Lords, actual knowledge of Berek and all the stuff I was talking about above, was only available through Kevin's three recovered Wards, and myths, if you factor out witness accounts of Corruption and the three ravers, and second hand knowledge of Demondim-Spawn loremasters. Basically, just about all we know is the mythology.
With respect to Kevin Landwaster, it is in fact (IMHO) my understanding that Kevin saw that he was *not* able to defeat the armies of Corruption; that his forces were doomed to be wiped out as had almost happened to the Warward under Hile Troy. He inoked the Ritual of Desecration to prevent the entire Land from falling under the dominion of Corruption. With respect to Mhoram, I think there are two points. First, it is not the case that Mhoram defeated the army of Corruption. He slew the general of this army, with the help of Thomas Covenant, and his own extraordinary understanding of Kevin's Lore which was gained after the fall of High Lord Elena. The army was routed after Thomas Covenant defeated Corruption. Second, it is my perception that indeed Mhoram, though less powerful than Kevin was much wiser than Kevin, hence it is not an automatic supposition that what Mhoram could do, Kevin could of course do to a much higher degree.
-T
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