a thomas covenant discussion which does not suffice

So, awhile back I was reading some old interviews with Donaldson, and he was asked about the various creation stories from the Land and its world. Why so many, which one was true, etc.

To paraphrase his answer:

None of them are true, but all contain some truth.

Each of the stories is intended to tell something about the teller of the story rather than be a cut and dried theological/mythological statement.

so here are the stories:

Foamy's story:

Quote:

"Ah, Stone and Sea! Do you know the old lore-legend of the Wounded Rainbow, Thomas Covenant? It is said that in the dimmest past of the Earth, there were no stars in our sky. The heavens were a blankness which separated us from the eternal universe of the Creator. There he lived with his people and his myriad bright children, and they moved to the music of play and joy. "Now, as the ages spired from forever to forever, the Creator was moved to make a new thing for the happy hearts of his children. He descended to the great forges and cauldrons of his power, and brewed and hammered and cast rare theurgies. And when he was done, he turned to the heavens, and threw his mystic creation to the sky - and behold! A rainbow spread its arms across the universe. "For a moment, the Creator was glad. But then he looked closely at the rainbow - and there, high in the shimmering span, he saw a wound, a breach in the beauty he had made. He did not know that his Enemy, the demon spirit of murk and mire that crawled through the bowels of even his universe, had seen him at work, and had cast spite into the mortar of his creating. So now, as the rainbow stood across the heavens, it was marred. "In vexation, the Creator returned to his works, to find a cure for his creation. But while he labored, his children, his myriad bright children, found the rainbow, and were filled with rejoicing at its beauty. Together, they climbed into the heavens and scampered happily up the bow, dancing gay dances across its colors. High on the span, they discovered the wound. But they did not understand it. Chorusing joy, they danced through the wound, and found themselves in our sky. This new unlighted world only gladdened them the more, and they spun through the sky until it sparkled with the glee of play. "When they tired of this sport, they sought to return to their universe of light. But their door was shut. For the Creator had discovered his Enemy's handiwork - the cause of the wound - and in his anger his mind had been clouded. Thoughtless, he had torn the rainbow from the heavens. Not until his anger was done did he realize that he had trapped his children in our sky. And there they remain, stars to guide the sojourners of our nights, until the Creator can rid the universe of his Enemy, and find away to bring his children home...

Lord Tamarantha's story:

Quote:

"The elder legends tell us: into the infinity before Time was made came the Creator like a worker into his workshop. And since it is the nature of creating to desire perfection, the Creator devoted himself to the task. First he built the arch of Time, so that his creation would have a place in which to be - and for the keystone of that arch he forged the wild magic, so that Time would be able to resist chaos and endure. Then within the arch he formed the Earth. For ages he labored, formed and unformed, trialed and tested and rejected and trialed and tested again, so that when he was done his creation would have no cause to reproach him. And when the Earth was fair to his eye, he gave birth to the inhabitants of the Earth, beings to act out in their lives his reach for perfection - and he did not neglect to give them the means to strive for perfection themselves. When he was done, he was proud as only those who create can be. "Alas, he did not understand Despite, or he had forgotten it. He undertook his task thinking that perfect labor was all that he required to create perfection. But when he was done, and his pride had tasted its first satisfaction, he looked closely at the Earth, thinking to gratify himself with the sight - and he was dismayed. For, behold! Buried deep in the Earth through no will or forming of his were banes of destruction, powers virile enough to rip his masterwork into dust. "Then he understood or remembered. Perhaps he found Despite itself beside him, misguiding his hand. Or perhaps he saw the harm in himself. It does not matter. He became outraged with grief and torn pride. In his fury he wrestle with Despite, either within him or without, and in his fury he cast the Despiser down, out if the infinity of the cosmos onto the Earth. "Alas, thus the Despiser was emprisoned within Time. And thus the Creator's creation became the Despiser's world, to torment as he chose. For the very Law of Time, the principle of power which made the arch possible, worked to preserve Lord Foul, as we now call him. That Law requires that no act may be undone. Desecration may not be undone - defilement may not be recanted. It may be survived or healed, but not denied. Therefore Lord foul has afflicted the Earth, and the Creator cannot stop him - for it was the Creator's act which placed Despite here. "In sorrow and humility, the Creator saw what he had done. So that the plight of the Earth would not be utterly without hope, he sought to help his creation in indirect ways. He guided the Lord-Fatherer to the fashioning of the Staff of Law - a weapon against Despite. But the very Law of the Earth's creation permits nothing more. If the Creator were to silence Lord Foul, that act would destroy Time - and then the Despiser would be free in infinity again, free to make whatever befoulments he desired."

Lord Mhoram's story:

Quote:

"Why?...That is not so hard a matter here, thus distant from 'how'. Some of our legends hint at just one answer. They tell of the beginning of the Earth, in a time soon after the birth of Time, when the Earth's Creator found that his enemy, the Despiser, had marred his creation by placing banes of surpassing evil deep within it. In outrage and pain, the creator cast his Enemy down - out of the universal heavens onto the Earth - and imprisoned him here within the arch of Time. Thus, as the legends tell it, Lord Foul came to the Land... "It is clear now that Lord Foul lusts to strike back at his brother, the Creator. And at last, after ages of bootless wars carried on out of malice, out of a desire to harm the creation because he could not touch the Creator,Lord Foul has found a way to achieve his end, to destroy the arch of Time, unbind his exile, and return to his forbidden home, for spite and woe. When the Staff of Law, lost by Kevin at the Desecration, came within his influence, he gained a chance to bridge the gap between worlds - a chance to bring white gold into the Land. "I tell you simply: it is Lord Foul's purpose to master the wild magic - 'the anchor of the arch of life that spans and masters Time' - and with it bring Time to an end, so that he may escape his bondage and carry his lust throughout the universe. To do this, he must defeat you, must wrestle the white gold from you. Then all the Land and all the Earth shall surely fall."

these are the three creation stories from the first chrons

some of my impressions:
Ok, now I will comment a bit on these three stories, all from the First Chrons.

1. They all obviously can fit well together - and fit well with the beggar in the ochre robe.

2. They all show the Creator as being both artistic and a perfectionist. The Giant story makes me think of an architect, Tamarantha's story makes me think of a mad scientist/engineer/inventor. The stories make me think of Frank Lloyd Wright, an architectural genius who would tear down his own structures and designs if they did not please him.

3. For whatever reason, I am thinking of Persian Zoastrianism (spelling?) - a duology of light/darkness and good/evil rather than the monotheism of traditional Western religions. Lord Foul seems to have more power against the Creator than the Judeo-Christian Satan does against either God the Father or Jesus in Christianity, as an example.

I am very much in agreement with Matrixman (we were talking about this at another discussion board) that the Unhomed stars evoke the Unhomed Giants, and that the story of the Creator from Tamarantha evokes Kevin - power to create and destroy, huge acts with unintended consequences, a devotion to tinkering and learning, etc.

Mhoram's story is perhaps most important in that it shows a change in him rather than in the mythology. In Lord Foul's Bane he was a complete agnostic when it came to the Creator. Forty years later, he is a true believer.

this has been part one; the First Chronicles stories