Lots of great comments here. It's been a lot of fun rereading everything you all have said knowing what we know now.
Relayer wrote:
Torrent wrote:
Wayfriend wrote:
In chapter one, Linden discusses how her life is fulfilling and complete. There's no hint that there's any unresolved internal struggle, as Covenant had in LFB, as Linden had in TWL. In fact, the author goes out of his way to point out the opposite.
Did you really get the impression that her life is complete?
I really didn't get that either. There's a line that says something to the effect of "Jeremiah filled the hole in her heart that was meant for Covenant." She still longs for TC, more than anything, and misses being able to make such a huge difference like she did in the Land. Somewhere it also says her work now fulfilled her, but in a much smaller way, not like the grandeur of the Land. She seems willing to accept that her life is how it is, but to me it seems that the way SRD wrote it, he wants to convey that something still IS missing.
I definitely agree with Relayer and Torrent … the prologue is called, “my heart has rooms.” This entire Prologue is a an example of how Linden has not been able to let go or say Farewell.
On page 6, SRD wrote:
Closing the door behind her, Linden led him through the edifice where she did the work with which she attempted to fill Covenant’s plce in her heart. His place—and the Land’s—
Inadvertently she remembered the sound of Pitchwife’s voice as he sang,
My heart has rooms that sigh with dust
And ashes in the hearth.
At time the contrast between her experience with Thomas Covenant and her years at Berenford Memorial discouraged her.
And then the quote that has been referred to several times in this thread (by myself and others):
On page 6, SRD wrote:Surely her contest with the madness of her patients could not compare with the sheer glory of Thomas Covenant’s struggle to redeem the Land. Nevertheless she clsoed her thoat and continued guiding Roger toward Joan’s room. The ache he elicited was familiar to her, and she knew how to bear it.
Her life here was not less than the one she had lived with Covenant. It was only different. Less grand, perhaps: more ambiguous, with smaller triumphs. But it sufficed.
Given Bannor’s “we suffice,” I wonder if we can take Linden’s (or SRD’s) word for anything
sufficing. Clearly he uses this word when he means exactly the opposite.
This song was a big part of the last chapter of WGW, “To Say Farewell.” It was about Linden losing TC.
1st stanza:
In WGW, SRD wrote:My heart has rooms that sigh with dust
And ashes in the hearth.
They must be cleaned and blown away
By daylight’s breath.
But I cannot essay the task,
For even dust to me is dear;
For dust and ashes still recall,
My love was here.
Even
dust and ash is dear (to Linden), because of how it reminds her of TC. That’s not a particularly healthy attitude.
2nd stanza:
In WGW, SRD wrote:I know not how to say Farewell,
When Farewell is the word
That stays alone for me to say
Or will be heard.
But I cannot speak out that word
Or ever let my loved one go:
How can I bear it that these rooms
Are empty so?
So she can’t let go, can’t say farewell, can’t bear that “these rooms” are empty.
3rd stanza:
In WGW, SRD wrote:I sit among the dust and hope
That dust will cover me.
I stir the ashes in the hearth,
Though cold they be.
I cannot bear to close the door,
To seal my loneliness away
While dust and ashes yet remain
Of my love’s day.
That’s pretty sick, when you think about it. She sits in the dust and hopes it covers her? Sounds like she got her wish!
[Is this dust “Kevin’s Dirt?!?]
It certainly “covers” her in her new life, with loneliness, inability to let go of the rusty car which took her to see Covenant for the first time, etc.
I think Torrent was right on here:
Torrent wrote:Linden's inability to let go and move on indicates something else, maybe some kind of pride or arrogance on her part (because it is human to make mistakes and to have emotional and physical needs); makes me think of the pride of the Haruchai and the oath of the boodguard (but maybe this is too far-fetched)
Both Linden and Bannor basically said, "I sufficed" when they didn't.
Wayfriend wrote: I think that whatever demons Linden had, they were dealt with by her first visit to the Land.
...
I find the Linden at the start of Runes to be very similar to the Covenant we see described after returning from his first defeat of Lord Foul. There are no sweeping changes in his life, he still has leprosy, he is still shunned, he still hangs out at Haven Farm. But he is changed inside - he is no longer tormented by it, instead he is capable of accepting it and living vitally within its confines. The changes are internal, not external; the outward characterstics are not changed much. His life is spare, but it's a good life nonetheless.
And yet TC still needed to resolve some issues, right? TC went
twice, and he did so because he still had issues to resolve; he had to find another anwer to the problem of Despite. I don’t think Linden found the Final Answer to the problem of Despite, either. Previous answers have always been temporary.
Several posts here were very interesting in hindsight:
Torrent wrote: I don't want to speculate too much either, because I like being surprised, but does Jeremiah necessarily have to be one of the good guys?
Caamora wrote: Well, I always thought that Jeremiah's autism was induced because part of him was left in the Land. He was at the weird seance thing that killed TC in the second chrons. His hand was in the fire and maybe that connected him to the Land in such a way that when the weird seance thing was over, part of him was still in the Land. That is why he builds landmarks from the Land with his erector (and lego) sets.
I was talking about Ur Dead's spoiler. I suppose it does give away the fact that 
