Earth-Sight and the Skurj

Book 1 of the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

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Borillar
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Earth-Sight and the Skurj

Post by Borillar »

I don't know if this is been discussed, but I wonder whether Seadreamer's Earth-Sight was perceiving a different problem than Covenant perceived it to be. The description of what Seadreamer saw is as follows:

"With the eyes of the gift, he beheld a wound upon the Earth, sore and terrible -- a wound like a great nest of maggots, feeding upon the flesh of the world's heart. And he perceived that this wound, if left uncleansed, unhealed, would grow to consume all life and time, devouring the foundation and corner-stone of the Earth..."

I'll grant that this could be describing the Sunbane spreading out to the rest of the Earth, but the description also sounds parallel to the description of the Skurj in Runes. Do we know definitively that Kastenessen definitely hadn't broken yet the Durance at the time of The Wounded Land? In other words, is it possible that Covenant accidentally misdirected the Search away from its true purpose? I thought this might be true especially because when the Giants initially indicate what direction they're headed in, it's the opposite direction from where Covenant and company are going, but Covenant persuades them to change direction.
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Warmark
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Post by Warmark »

its possible i suppose, staying with Seadreamer, i always assumed that he couldnt write down what he saw as it was too terrible and somehow stopped him writing it.
Much like they couldnt describe revelstone as it was too good, this was too bad.
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And we're definitely going to hell, but we'll have all the best stories to tell.


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dlbpharmd
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Post by dlbpharmd »

Interesting theory, but unlikely when one considers that SRD in the "What has gone before" section of Runes says that Seadreamer's vision was of the threat to the Worm that Covenant represented.
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drew
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Post by drew »

..I wonder if the partial waking of the Worm and sinking of the Island, may have led to the Durance breaking though?

Although it took thousands of years, so probebly not
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dlbpharmd
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Post by dlbpharmd »

The events at the Isle of the One Tree could have weakened the Durance though, allowing Kastenessen to escape eventually.
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Variol Farseer
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Post by Variol Farseer »

I suspect Esmer had more to do with the breaking of the Durance. He was a descendant of Kastenessen, after all, and we know how he feels compelled to commit wanton acts of destruction on odd-numbered days. (The man has got Sunbane in the head!)
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Post by Aleksandr »

There are several candidates here for reasons by Kastenessen was able to break his binding: the breaking of the Laws of Life and Death, the caesures, the corruptive effects of the Sunbane on the Elohim, possibly even the forging of the new Staff of Law.
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