SRD's Forward to GILDEN-FIRE is a lot of fun. Only a few pages, but great ones! It's nice to "hear" him talking as himself, about how he writes.
But the main point is, of course, why GILDEN-FIRE isn't just another chapter in TIW. It is told from the point of view of a character of the Land. So far, everything has been from the pov of Covenant, Troy, or a Land-character who is in the presence of Covenant or Troy. The difference in GILDEN-FIRE is striking!
What's important about this is that it takes away from the unbelief in the reader's mind. Covenant, of course, isn't aware of anything that doesn't happen in his presence, so his struggle with his unbelief still stands. The reader is not aware of anything that happens outside of Covenant's or Troy's presence, so we still wonder, too. So when Covenant shaves his beard in Descent to Earthroot, we can shout with joy! We STILL don't know if the Land is "real" or not, but, damnit, they need help!! That part-time s.o.b. is finally doing the right thing, without worrying about the danger or benefit to himself. Yee Ha!
Now what if we had good reason to believe that the Land is real? We'd be yelling at him, "Of course it's real! Can't you tell?" We wouldn't even notice the victory of Covenant's decision, the realization that in reality as in dreams, what matters is the answer we find in our hearts to the test of Despite.
But let's talk about the Haruchai!! What an extraordinary chapter for the Haruchai!! Where do I even start? Here's one of only two times (with Brinn vs. ak-Haru Kenaustin Ardenol) that we see Haruchai vs. Haruchai. And what's the point of seeing Haruchai vs. anybody else? It wouldn't remotely resemble a fair fight to see Haruchai vs. a basic stonedowner, woodhelvenin, ur-vile, cavewight, hustin, or just about anybody else. If there aren't several of them, armed, there's no point. And even then, if circumstances are right, we have something like Brinn sitting around waiting for them to clear the bodies away so they can attack again.
But in GILDEN-FIRE, we get to see supreme skill vs. supreme skill. In fact, in one way, this is better than Brinn vs. ak-Haru Kenaustin Ardenol. In that fight, Brinn is up against a foe who only becomes more substantial with each blow. Perhaps if Brinn hit him enough, he would be fully real, then Brinn would be able to hurt him. As it was, the majority of what we saw was of Brinn proving just how much punishment he could take. But in Korik vs. Tull, heartbreakingly short as the description is, we see skill, skill, skill!
What else do we learn... There are two ancient Haruchai clans; Ho-aru and Nimishi. They were continually at war, until they realized the waste of such a course, and formed the Bond. There's something else I'd love to see more about! My first thought was that they did a lot of inter-marrying. But Tull is the newest Bloodguard, and he is from one clan. So I guess they simply saw the futility of constant war, and, with the simplicity and dedication that the Haruchai lived by, decided to stop fighting. But they are a proud race, and kept their clans' bloodlines fairly pure.
The mind-speech is interesting. It would seem to be much like normal speech. I particularly like Sill's silent shrug. You can just hear the Bloodguard shrugging in their minds all the time, and I'm glad to see SRD put one into this brief telepathic conversation. Still, I get the impression that the telepathy of the Haruchai can be other than these conversations. I always figured it was their telepathy that lets them remember stories in great detail thousands of years later. Brinn and Cail knew everything about the Bloodguard, Covenant, and everything else that we know about. I figure they can all sort of join minds at times, a uni-mind, or Borg collective, so that everybody knows everything. If they do this years later, any detail that one Haruchai may have forgotten is reabsorbed. Just a thought.
And last, but greatest, we see the Vow!!!!
Ha-man rual tayba-sah carab ho-eeal neeta par-raoul
The Vow. The most extreme manifestation of their passion. They are an extremely passionate people! Consider Brinn's words again:
This doesn't just speak of their passion between man and woman. After unknown millennia in the Westron Mountains, they still speak of the mountains with words such as these! And until they went to the Land and met Kevin, the mountains were the only thing they knew. Basically, this is a people aching to be passionate, with very few things to be passionate about! Not that what they had to be passionate about, women and mountains, aren't extremely worthy, but that's only a couple of things for such a race."In the song of the merewives we heard the fire of our yearning for that which we have left behind. Assuredly we were deluded - but the delusion was sweet. Mountains sprang about us. The air became the keen breath which the peaks exhale from their snows. And upon the slopes moved the women who call to us in their longing for fire and seed and offspring." For a moment, he broke into the tonal tongue of the Haruchai; and that language seemed to transform his visage, giving him an aspect of poetry. "Therefore did we leap to answer, disregarding all service and safety. The limbs of our women are brown from sun and birth. But there is also a whiteness as acute as the ice which bleeds from the rock of mountains, and it burns as the purest snow burns in the most high tor, the most wind-flogged col. For that whiteness, we gave ourselves to the Dancers of the Sea."
And then they found Revelstone. This is what is meant by "In the rush of their unfamiliar passion..." and "This they wrought out of the extremity and innocence of their hearts..." The passion and extremity were there, waiting, but their unfamiliarity with the glories outside of their mountain fastnesses made them innocent. Neither the unfamiliarity nor the passion, the extremity nor the innocence, alone would have been enough. Only the combination of the two could lead to the Vow.
The specifics of exactly what inspired the Haruchai SO much is a mystery. In WGW, Durris says, simply:
In LFB, Bannor had told us this:"The Vow of the Bloodguard was sworn to meet the bounty and grandeur of High Lord Kevin and Revelstone."
And now we have this:"When we came to the Land, we saw wonders - Giants, Ranyhyn, Revelstone - Lords of such power that they declined to wage war with us lest we be destroyed. In answer to our challenge, they gave to the Haruchai gifts so precious-" He paused, appeared to muse for a moment over private memories. "Therefore we swore the Vow. We could not equal that generosity in any other way."
For me, no scene of TCTC is more powerful and dramatic (some are tied) than the next paragraph - the actual taking of the Vow:The great gates stood open for three days while the Haruchai commanders tasted the grandeur of Revelstone. They experienced the laughing genial power of the Giants who had made the Keep, received the confident offer of Kevin's Council to supply the Haruchai freely whatever they needed for as long as their need lasted. When the commanders returned to their army, they sat astride prancing Ranyhyn, which had come from the Plains of Ra at Kevin's call and had chosen to bear the Haruchai. Korik and his peers were of one mind. Something new was upon them, something beyond instinctive kinship with Ranyhyn, beyond friendship and awe for the Giants, beyond even the fine entrancement of Revelstone itself. The Haruchai were fighters, accustomed to wrest what they required: they could not accept gifts without making meet return.
Damn! I can just see the Earthpower bursting out of the ground, burning through them!!Therefore that night the army from the Westron Mountains gathered under the south wall of Revelstone. All the Haruchai joined their minds together and out of their common strength forged the metal of the Vow - unalloyed and unanswerable, accessible to no appeal or flaw, unambergrised by the promise of any uncorrupt end: a Vow like the infernal oath upon the river of death which binds even the gods. This they wrought out of the extremity and innocence of their hearts, to match the handiwork of the Giants and the mastery of the Lords. As they spoke the hot words - Ha-man rual tayba-sah carab ho-eeal - the ground seemed to grow hot and cognizant under their feet, as if the Earthpower were drawing near the surface to hear them. And when they brought their Vow around full circle, sealing it so that there was no escape, the rocks on which they stood thundered, and fire ran through them, sealing their bones to the promise they had made.
But Kevin didn't want their service, and tried - enthusiastically tried - to talk them out of their Vow. But he, unintentionally, was largely responsible for it. The wonders and generosity that he showed was more than the naive Haruchai could handle. Their awe and gratitude was more than Kevin could have predicted.
And then there's the consequences of the Vow. Mhoram mentions it in LFB:
And Bannor mentions it in TPTP:"They were a hot-blooded people, strong-loined and prolific, bred to tempest and battle - and now made by their pledged loyalty ascetic, womanless and old. I tell you, Thomas Covenant - their devotion has had such unforseen prices- Such one-mindedness does not come easily to them, and their only reward is the pride of unbroken, pure service."
But nowhere is it made as achingly clear as it is in GILDEN-FIRE, and I'll end with these words:"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 could not forget any detail of the last night he had spent with his wife, whose bones were already ancient in the frozen fastness of her grave. The Vow sustained him, but it was not warm.Korik understood this assertion and accepted it. But he did not like it. It carried echoes of other losses and griefs - deprivations and hollow places which the Haruchai had not taken into account during their sole night of extravagance. Dourly, he posted his comrades in a wide circle around the camp. Then he stood with his arms folded on his chest, gazed warily out over the grasslands and the star-path of the moon, recited his Vow through the long watch. He could not forget any detail of the last night he had spent with his wife, whose bones were already ancient in the frozen fastness of her grave. The Vow sustained him, but it was not warm.