Relativity of Time and Summoning

A place to discuss the books in the FC and SC. *Please Note* No LC spoilers allowed in this forum. Do so in the forum below.

Moderators: Orlion, kevinswatch

Post Reply
The Theomach
Servant of the Land
Posts: 22
Joined: Mon Mar 24, 2003 8:46 pm
Location: pittsburgh
Contact:

Relativity of Time and Summoning

Post by The Theomach »

I apologize if this has been covered before, I looked but couldn't find it.

When Mhoram summons TC at the start of TPTP, they actually have a conversation that lasts a few minutes, with TC exlpaining about the girl threatened by the snake, etc. I know that by the time TC refuses the call and gets "back", she has already been bitten, but only a few moments have passed. What is the rate of time ratio? 10 years=5,000 years or so? So even a 1 minute conversation in the Land is almost 10 hours "here". How could they even carry on a conversation?

What timeline is TC in?

Are blackholes involved? :wink:

How's that work?

Where's Mulder?

SS
"We have loved the stars too fondly
to be fearful of the night".
User avatar
I'm Murrin
Are you?
Posts: 15840
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:09 pm
Location: North East, UK
Contact:

Post by I'm Murrin »

In the scales it appears that around 10 years normal time is 3500 years Land time, and in TIW he was there for three or four months (I think) and was only unconscious for around 10 hours, so I'd guess it is possible - he was gone for a second, and that would be around five minutes on Land time according to this scale, and there was time for the snake to bite - from when he started to fall until he finished rolling down the hillside and looked at her again.
The Theomach
Servant of the Land
Posts: 22
Joined: Mon Mar 24, 2003 8:46 pm
Location: pittsburgh
Contact:

Hello, my name is Strumstring and I'm stupid.

Post by The Theomach »

:oops:

Jeez! I had the time thing completely backwards in my original post!! A few minute conversation with Mhoram would be a second or two here!

Sorry.

Anyway guess the point that my friend brought up wasn't so much the elapsed time, but the "speed of conversation". At what point does TC get jumped to SLT (Standard Land Time as opposed to DLT - Daylight saving Land Time).

How about the end of TOT, when TC tries to send Linden back. She is at the bonfire long enough to access TC and decide to jump into the fire, let's say 10 seconds. Let's go with 3600/100 years (to make the math easy), so SLT is 360X real world. So for those around the One Tree that's 10 seconds X 360 = 1 hour!


Given the size of the Land, I'm sure there are time zones though. Coercri to Landsdrop is SST "Sunbirth Sea Time". Landsdrop to the Central Plain is AST "Andelain Standard Time. THen there are RCT "Revelstone Central Time", and WMS "Westron Mountain Standard".

SS
"We have loved the stars too fondly
to be fearful of the night".
User avatar
I'm Murrin
Are you?
Posts: 15840
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:09 pm
Location: North East, UK
Contact:

Post by I'm Murrin »

I disagree with the timezones thing - the Land is far too small to have more than one, but I really don't see how it would matter in a world without long distance communication.
I had also wondered about that scene - she gets up, looks at Covenant, then has enough time to think of a way to get him to send her back. Seeing as she uses health-sense to look at his condition, and not normal methods, I think we can assume she was there 5-10 seconds - which is, at estimate, around 30-50 minutes Land-time...
I guess it could be argued that because the 'internal' explanation of the land is as real as the 'external' explanation, then while they were linked between the two worlds, for a short period the timescales were the same.
User avatar
Nerdanel
Bloodguard
Posts: 770
Joined: Fri May 24, 2002 10:47 pm

Post by Nerdanel »

I think Donaldson probably intended 1 day in the Real World correspond to 1 year in the Land. That's neat and tidy and fits with the known facts.
User avatar
fightingmyinstincts
Giantfriend
Posts: 332
Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2002 3:39 pm
Location: Waaah! I just fell off KW!!!!

re

Post by fightingmyinstincts »

The Land's not that small....isn't it something like 300 leagues from somewhere in the Land to somewhere else? I just remember someone saying that...maybe Sunder at the beginning of TWL? Anyway, a league is two or three miles, right? Just generalising here, but that's prob big enough for one or two time zones...Remember the Warward's march, pushing 28 leagues a day? For quite a few days?
"Well of course I understand. You live forever because your pure, sinless service is utterly and indomitably unballasted by any weight or dross of mere human weakness. Ah, the advantages of clean living."
TC to Bannor, LFB
User avatar
birdandbear
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 1898
Joined: Thu Oct 17, 2002 3:59 am
Location: Texas
Contact:

Post by birdandbear »

It's 300 leagues from Mithil Stonedown to Revelstone. :)
"If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do."
User avatar
Ryzel
Bloodguard
Posts: 935
Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2002 4:39 pm
Location: Oslo, Noreg

Post by Ryzel »

That would make it 1450 kilometers from Mithil Stonedown to Revelstone, right?

I wonder if that in a straight line or if it is by road.
"Und wenn sie mich suchen, ich halte mich in der Nähe des Wahnsinns auf." Bernd das Brot
User avatar
fightingmyinstincts
Giantfriend
Posts: 332
Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2002 3:39 pm
Location: Waaah! I just fell off KW!!!!

re

Post by fightingmyinstincts »

Hey! No km's for me, I'm an American! :oops:
Did y'all know Texas has two time zones?
*I was thinking mithil stonedown and kevinswatch, and just didn't trust my memory....
I figure it's not a straight line...I mean, how would Sunder know how far in a straight line to Revelstone?
Anyway, I still think more than one time zone...what effect this should have on the story, no idea.
"Well of course I understand. You live forever because your pure, sinless service is utterly and indomitably unballasted by any weight or dross of mere human weakness. Ah, the advantages of clean living."
TC to Bannor, LFB
User avatar
I'm Murrin
Are you?
Posts: 15840
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:09 pm
Location: North East, UK
Contact:

Post by I'm Murrin »

Yes, but that 300 leagues is North-south, with timezones we're talking east-west.
Guest

Post by Guest »

One of the things that y'all should consider is that Mohram's summoning in The Power That Preserves and Covenant's of Linden in The One Tree were incomplete. Summoning itself seems to be occasionally a time consuming process (remember how exhausted Elena was in The Illearth War; and didn't Hile Troy's summoning take months?, and Covenant's second summoning in TPTP took days as well) so there seems to be a lot of wiggle room.

Obviously time itself is a fluid thing and flows at different rates depending on which side of The Arch of Time you're on.

Maybe summoning itself seems to have some subjective side-effects for the summoned and the summoner.
Post Reply

Return to “The First and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant”