For the heck of it, let's consider these two chapters.
-Both come sort of mid-way through the third books of their respective trilogies.
-Both come after huge victories. <I>The Spoiled Plains</I> comes after Covenant defeats Elena at the Colossus and Lord Mhoram's Victory. <I>Those Who Part</I> comes after the Clave is beaten and the Banefire extinguished.
-Both end with Covenant leaving for the final showdown with Foul.
-Both have Giants accompanying Covenant to this showdown.
-Both have the <I>Haruchai</I> <B>not</B> accompanying Covenant.
Interesting that, in the 1st, Covenant wants the <I>Haruchai</I> (Bannor) to accompany him, but Bannor doesn't go - while it is the opposite in the 2nd.
Here's my favorite parts of each. I guess I did a decent job of NOT typing out the entire chapters.
Which is worse for the much larger <I>Those Who Part</I>. Stone and Sea, these are good chapters!!<B><I>The Spoiled Plains</I></B>
Foamfollower's description of what happened at The Grieve, ending with:Abstractedly, Bannor said, "Many things were lost in The Grieve that day."
"Yes." Foamfollower blinked as if he were trying to hold back tears, but his eyes were dry, as parched as a wilderland. "Yes - many things. Among them, I was the least."
Which was even more powerful for me the second time around, when Covenant quotes it at the end of TWL, as the dead Giants start to reenact the scene.But they - they put away their tools, and banked their fires, and made ready their homes as if in preperation for departure-
The helplessness of Covenant's pain came out as anger. His own voice shook as he muttered to Bannor, "If you say one word of blame to him, I swear-"
Then he stopped himself. He had accused Bannor unjustly too often in the past; the Bloodguard had long ago earned better treatment than this from him. But Bannor only shrugged. "I am a <I>Haruchai</I>," he said. "We also are not immune. Corruption wears many faces. Blame is a more enticing face than others, but it is none the less a mask for the despiser."
"The deepest wish of the Bloodguard was to fight the Despiser in his home, pure service against Corruption. This desire misled. I have put aside such things. My proper place now is with the Ranyhyn and their Ramen, in the exhile of the mountains."
"Ah, Bannor," he sighed. "Are you so ashamed of what you were?"
Bannor cocked a white eyebrow at the question, as if it came close to the truth. "I am not shamed," he said distinctly. "But I am saddened that so many centuries were required to teach us the limits of our worth. We went too far, in pride and folly. Mortal men should not give up wives and sleep and death for any service - lest the face of failure become too abhorrent to be endured." He paused almost as if he were hesitating, then concluded, "Have you forgotten that High Lord Elena carved our faces as one in her last marrowmeld work?"
"No." Bannor had moved him. His response was both an assertion and a promise. "I will never forget."
When he was done, he looked up again. Neither Bannor nor Foamfollower met his eyes at first; in their separate ways, they appeared upset by what they had heard. But finally Bannor returned Covenant's gaze and said levelly, "A costly choice, Unbeliever. Costly. Much harm might have been averted-"
Foamfollower interrupted him. "Costly! Might!" A fierce grin stretched his lips, echoed out of his deep eyes. "A child was saved! Covenant - my friend - even reduced as I am, I can hear joy in such a choice. Your bravery - Stone and Sea! It astounds me."
<B>Foamfollower freakin' rules!!!</B>Thank you, Covenant whispered silently.
Bannor put the bands away and bowed once briefly to Covenant and Foamfollower. "Look for help wherever you go," he said. "Even in the Spoiled Plains, Corruption is not entirely master." Before they could reply, he turned and trotted away toward the Colossus. As he passed over the hilltop, his back told them as clearly as speech that they would never see him again.
Bannor! Covenant groaned. Was it that bad? He felt bereft, deserted, as if half his support had been taken away.
"Gently, my friend," Foamfollower breathed. "He has turned his back on vengeance. Two thousand years and more of pure service were violated for him - yet he chooses not to avenge them. Such choices are not easily made. They are not easily borne. Retribution - ah, my friend, retribution is the sweetest of all dark sweet dreams."
<B><I>Those Who Part</B></I>
Pitchwife's muscles knotted under Linden's hands. After a moment, he said simply, "Earthfriend, I desire a better outcome."
At once, he added, "Do not mistake me. That which has been done here has been well done. Mortal though you are, Earthfriend and Chosen, you surpass all estimation." He let out a quiet sigh. "But I am not content. I have shed such blood- The lives of the innocent I have taken from them by the score, though I am no Swordmain and loathe such work. And as I did so, my doubt was terrible to me. It is a dire thing to commit butchery when hope has been consumed by fear. As you have said, Chosen, there must be a reason. The world's grief should unite those who live, not sunder them in slaughter and malice.
"My friends, there is a great need in my heart for song, but no song comes. I am a Giant. Often have I vaunted myself in music. 'We are Giants, born to sail, and bold to go wherever dreaming goes.' But such songs have become folly and arrogance to me. In the face of doom, I have not the courage of my dreams. Ah, my heart must have song. I find no music in it.
"I desire a better outcome."
When Covenant tells the <I>Haruchai</I> that they can't come with him:Linden thought he would say, Please. <I>Please</I>. But Sunder's indignation was vivid in the sharp light. "Risk, ur-Lord?" he rasped as soon as Covenant stopped. "Is it risk you fear? Or do you deem us unworthy to partake of your high purpose? Do you forget who we are?" His hand gripped at the <I>krill</I> wrapped and hidden within his jerkin. "Your world is otherwhere, and to it you will return when your task is done. But we are the Land. We are the life which remains. We will not sit in safety while the outcome of that life is determined!"
Covenant stood still under Sunder's outburst; but the small muscles around his eyes flinched as if he wanted to shout, What's the matter with you? We're going to face Lord Foul! I'm trying to spare you! Yet his quietness held.
"You're right," he said softly - more softly than Linden's desire to defend him. "You are the life of the Land. And I've already taken everything else away from you. Your homes, your families, your identities - I've spent them all and let you bear the cost. Don't you understand? I want to give something back. I want you to have a <I>future</I>." The one thing he and Linden did not possess. "So your son will have at least that much chance to be born and grow up healthy." The passion underlying his tone reminded her that he had a son whom he had not seen for eleven years. He might have been crying, Let me do this for you! "Is safety such a terrible price to pay?"
Hollian appeared to waver, persuaded by Covenant's unmistakable concern. But Sunder did not. His anger was swept out of him; his resolution remained. Thickly, he said, "Pardon my unseemly ire. Thomas Covenant, you are my friend in all ways. Will you grant to me your white ring, that I may ward you from the extremity of the Land's plight?" He did not need to wait for Covenant's answer. "Neither will I cede to you the meaning of my life. You have taught me to value that meaning too highly."
Abruptly, he dropped his gave. "If it is her wish, Hollian will abide here. The son she bears is ours together, but that choice must be hers." Then his eyes fixed Covenant squarely again. "I will not part from you until I am content."
For a moment, the Graveler and Covenant glared at each other; and Linden held her breath. But then Hollian broke the intensity. Leaning close to Sunder, grinning as if she meant to bite his ear, she breathed, "Son of Nassic, you have fallen far into folly if you credit that I will be divided from you in the name of simple safety."
Covenant threw up his hands. "Oh, hell," he muttered. "God preserve me from stubborn people." He sounded vexed; but his frown had lost its seriousness.
Linden gave a sigh of relief. She caught Hollian's glance, and a secret gleam passed between them.
"Thomas Covenant, bethink you." Obliquely, Linden wondered why it was Durris who spoke and not Cail. "The <I>Haruchai</I> are known to you. The tale of the Bloodguard is known to you. You have witnessed that proud, deathless Vow - and you have beheld its ending. Do not believe that we forget. In all the ages of that service, it was the grief of the Bloodguard that they gave no direct battle to Corruption. And yet when the chance came to Bannor - when he stood at your side upon Landsdrop with Saltheart Foamfollower and knew your purpose - he turned aside from it. You had need of him, and he turned aside.
"We do not judge him. The Vow was broken. But I say to you that we have tasted failure, and it is not to our liking. We must restore our faith. We will not turn aside again."
........
"You remember," he said, allowing himself neither sarcasm nor bitterness. "Have you forgotten why the Vow was broken? I'll tell you why."
[TC tells the tale of the three Bloodguard who Foul maimed.]
"Are you surprised the Vow was broken? I thought it was going to break their hearts. Bannor didn't turn aside. He gave me exactly what I needed. He showed me it was still possible to go on living."
...........
"Ur-Lord, what would you have us do?" he asked as if he felt no distress. "You have given our lives to us. We must make recompense. That is necessary." In spite of its inflexibility, his voice put the weight of <I>Haruchai</I> history into the word, <I>necessary.</I>
<B>Hey, wouldn't it be cool if an altered Cail is in the 3rd?!?!</B>"Thomas Covenant," Cail said, "I comprehend the value of that which you have granted to the <I>Haruchai</I> - a service of purity and worth. And I have witnessed Brinn's enounter with <I>ak-Haru Kenaustin Ardenol</I>, the great victory of our people. But the cost of that victory was the life of Cable Seadreamer. For myself I do not desire such worth.
"The song of the <I>merewives</I> has been named delusion. But is not all life a manner of dreaming? Have you not said that the Land itself is a dream? Dream or delusion, the music I have heard has altered me. But I have not learned the meaning of this change. Ur-Lord, I wish to prove what I have dreamed to its heart. Permit me."
And here's one of the most important things anyone of fact or fiction ever uttered:
Thank you Sunder!!I have learned that we are born for beauty rather than ill.
to Durris
