Monday, October 29, 2007

Donaldson's Fatal Revenant part two chapter twelve, part one

to see the spoilers, run your cursor over them...

Well, this is it - the end of the road for this book. Sad Yes, it makes me sad, and the wait for the next book (the one whose title was changed to something odd that I cannot remember) will be very long, indeed. Crying or Very sad

And, as always, I do not have enough time. I have an hour before I have to leave for work. I doubt I can finish everything up in this time frame, so will probably be back in the middle of the night to work on it some more. Wink

I probably will be making one or two more threads for this book, also well marked for spoilers. One will be an annex thread for part two chapter six, when I attempt to make a flowchart for the confusing events of that chapter. Razz

I may or may not also make a thread where I (or anyone else as well! Smile ) can work on their reviews for Amazon or Amazon.ca or Amazon.co.uk. Very Happy Cool Now that thread would/should be spoiler free, as the reviews themselves should be as spoiler free as possible. Smile Cool

And here we go... Shocked

[spoiler]


TRUST YOURSELF, a rather ominous title for a chapter when Linden plans on going against the advice of both her enemies and her friends. And - it is a paradox, for while Linden will be trusting herself in doing so - she is doing it because she has so little faith in herself. The only thing that kept me going in this chapter is that

there is hope in contradiction.

Linden and her party wait on the riverbank, talking and trying to figure out how to deal with the waiting Harrow. Linden asks Stave about how Morinmoss redeemed the Covenant. It is unclear what she is looking for, other than an answer of how much she will might to pay in a deal with the Insequent. Confused

Linden decides that she will talk to him, but make no decisions until they reach the krill.

As night grows near, the Ranyhyn carry the party across the cold river. They face the Harrow at the last little bit of sunset... Confused

(Yes, all of this talk of sunset and the end of day is very ominous, and is foreshadowing of what will happen later in this chapter). Sad

The Harrow tells Linden that he can come to Andelain, but Kastenessen, Esmer, and Roger are all blocked.

Linden starts hearing a strange noise, too elusive and far away for her to identify it. She decides to ignore it for now, and asks more questions to the Harrow about how some are blocked from Andelain and others are not.

Why not Anele, for example, as he is stuffed with Earthpower?

Because Anele means no harm, of course, and his power is from Andelain.

Why not Longwrath?

It is because he carries a magic sword, made by Kasryn of the Gyre - designed to kill Sandgorg. Shocked Shocked Shocked

Now, if that is not some great foreshadowing of things to come later in the series, I do not know what it could be! Very Happy Cool Who knows if Longwrath will come to his senses and use the sword against the gorgons, or someone else will, but Donaldson would never have a sword like this if he is not planning on using it.

Now, the Insequent seems to be the only other person who can hear the strange sounds that Linden is hearing. He says that :

Far greater beings walk the Hills, among them one of vast arrogance and self-worship.

As the sound comes closer, it is the sound of bells. Shocked Shocked Shocked

Linden knows that sound well - it is the sound of the Elohim. Shocked Shocked Shocked

And sure enough - it the Queen of the Elohim, Infelice. Shocked Shocked

How bad are things about to get is this supremely self-absorbed being is about to try to intervene?

It is quickly obvious that there is some sort of bad blood between the Insequent and the Elohim. The Theomach has said as much, and the Vizard has wanted Jeremiah to trap them. Infelice and the Harrow do not like each other, not at all.

It soon becomes clear that Infelice has come to try to convince Linden to give up her secret plans for the krill. Confused

Linden grows tires of their banter, and tells her party to come on - let us go get the krill. The Harrow and Infelice can tag along if they like...

And the wraiths come, as an escort...

We discover from the Harrow, that this night is Banas Nimoran, the dark of the moon on the middle night of spring - something which happens once in a generation, and a time once of great joy with the Celebration of Spring, then of horror ever since the wraiths were interrupted in their dance... Surprised Bad things happen on this night in the Chronicles. The wraiths were attacked by ur-viles. The moon turned illearth green and gave the signal for the Giant Raver to attack Revelstone and the Lords. Sad

Infelice tells Linden that the Elohim and the Insequent share one thing - that neither wants to see the Earth end. And the Harrow sings an ominous song about the end of all things.

Infelice tells Linden that the shadow on the hearts of the Elohim is the fear of mortals such as Linden and the Timewarden (Is that Thomas Covenant????) who have enough power to destroy the world. Shocked

She tells Linden plainly that she is on course to ruin the Earth and serve Lord Foul. Shocked

And so this is the way the world ends -

And so they reach the krill.

And a desperate Infelice says that she is here to prevent this very moment:
Broken or triumphant in the past, you would not have returned to the Land. You would not now hold white gold and the Staff of Law. Nor would you approach Loric's krill in Andelain accompanied by Wraiths. You would not be driven by mistaken love to bring about the end of all things.

Linden just blows her off.... Shocked Shocked Shocked

And Infelice tries again:
Have you heard me? We stand now at the last crisis of the Earth. If you do not turn aside, you will be broken indeed. Your remorse will surpass your strength to bear it.

Again, Linden blows her off, and calls out to Covenant.

In answer, two figures come. They are Sunder and Hollian. They do not look or speak to Linden. They take Anele and his Ranyhyn away.

Then another of Linden's dead comes - Grimmand Honninscrave, the Captain of Starfare's Gem. He takes away the living Giants.

Infelice tries once again:
These are your dead. Their love for you is not forgotten. Yet they shun you. They seek to spare their descendants the peril of your intent. If you will not heed them, heed me.

And the Harrow even tries:
You have also been made blind, lady...There is a Kevin's Dirt of the soul as there is of the flesh...

She calls again for Covenant.

But she gets her dead haruchai, Cail, Ceer, and Hergrom, among others that she knew in the time of the Second Chrons, instead.

But Stave and the Masters stay. Stave tells Linden that other spirits are coming, spirits which cannot be denied, and who will come to make sure that Linden is able to make her choice freely. Her other dead are clearing the way for them. Confused Shocked Confused Shocked

Also, the dead cannot speak to Linden at this time and place.

This reminds me so much of the Trial of Silence at Mithil Stonedown in The Wounded Land. Covenant and Linden were put to trial in a bizarre way where no one would talk to them. Their words and actions would prove their innocence or guilt.

And so the dead put Linden on trial. Shocked

It turns out that the spirits who can command the dead are the four great High Lords of antiquity - Berek, Damelon, Loric, and Kevin.

And this about Damelon:
As he aged he put on girth: Dead he implied the bulk of mountains against the background of Andelain's darkness and the black heavens. To Linden's shaken stare, he replied with a beatific smile.

A large man with a beautiful smile - can there be any doubt left at all that Donaldson has been rummaging through old photo albums at the Watch? Razz Razz I think he pays more attention to the Watch and the members there than he is willing to admit. Razz Razz As this description of Damelon prooves. Razz Razz

And I must stop at this point; time to head in to work. More later, unless someone else wishes to finish up - if that is the case, I will not mind. Wink Laughing


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to be continued...

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