One thing I always wondered about was travel to the land, and how it worked. In particular, how could one stay in the Land after being summonned? Troy remains in the Land long after he died in the real world. And at the end of White Gold Wielder, Covenant's body also stays in the Land while Linden is whisked back. Plus the Creator offered to keep Covenant in the Land at the end of The Power That Preserves - but if he can't reach into the Land without breaking the Arch of Time, how could he accomplish that?
Greeting Lu and welcome! I think there's a few things we need to consider here. On the surface, the answer seems quite straightforward - summoning seems only to have been possible with the Staff of Law - and the application of a high level of
lore - up until the time when High Lord Elena broke the Law of Death. Drool Rockworm had the Staff, but needed Lord Foul's lore in order to successfully summon Covenant (or simply the White Gold from his point of view). Later, Elena succeeded in summoning him with the aid of the Staff, but apparently only after years of study and research and preparation...and the wisdom gained in the Second Ward. In both these cases, Thomas Covenant only returned to the land after the death of Drool and Elena respectively. The summoning, we would presume from this, seems to be directly linked to the very life of the summoner. Perhaps the summoner (with the aid of the Staff) could have sent Covenant back, were they of a mind - we don't actually know, but I tend to think the Staff wielder probably could.
After the Law of Death was broken, summoning appeared to become much easier - Mhoram managed to summon the ur-lord with his own, lesser staff - and Triock, with his limited lore and the help of Foamfollower's prodigious strength also managed the same feat after 3 days of extreme effort. Again, Covenant remains bound to the land until the time when Foamfollower, as his surviving co-summoner, dies in the destruction of Foul's Creche.
The thing that makes me pause for thought, though, is the summoning of Hile Troy by Atiaran, as you pointed out. Atiaran summoned Troy without the Staff of Law, and with an incomplete training of Kevin's Lore - although it cost her life. When you add this to the fact that we never find out whether Troy existed in our 'real' world (Covenant didn't manage to have his existance confirmed, because he very conveniently worked within a security clearance-protected military logistics department) and so this might explain Atiaran's ability to summon Troy.
Or, we could assume that Troy
was 'real'. Perhaps he was easier to summon, not being the White Gold Wielder. Perhaps a summoning was always possible without the Staff of Law before the Law of Death was broken, but only at the cost of the summoner's life. Which would explain why Troy was 'stuck' in the Land...his summoner has died during the summoning, as opposed to after it. A summoner already dead upon Troy's arrival could obviously not die again in order to release him!
Another question around Troy's 'reality' circles around the longevity of his stay in the Land. If he were a real man of our world, injured in a fire and a fall on a military compound, his 3.5 millennia long sojourn in the Land would equate to a 10-year coma back home. Rare, but it does happen. Since we don't know whether Troy was alive or dead in the real world after his summoning - or even whether he ever existed - all we can do is speculate.
In the 2nd Chrons, of course, Foul did not have the strength to summon Covenant without the blood and sacrifice of the religious fanatics in spite of the breaking of the Law of Death and the destruction of the Staff of Law. Why this is, I'm not totally clear about either! Though I assume it is because despite the Sunbane and the time that had passed since his defeat he still wasn't quite up to strength. Or perhaps the destruction of the Staff (as opposed to it just being lost) made summoning next to impossible.
Good question about the Creator's offer to let TC stay in the land at the end of PTP...got me a bit stumped that one! Perhaps it could be explained by the fact that Covenant IS the white gold - he is the paradox of the keystone and, as such, matters relating to him - particularly any decision HE HIMSELF makes about whether or not to stay, will keep the arch intact. Remember, Covenant was chosen by the Creator, but not controlled by Him. Therefore he could overthrow Foul without jeopardising the Arch. From this it suggests that Covenant's choices, though they coincide with the Creator's wishes, can be made without this as a consequence.
