Skip to main content

stephen r donaldson - Is the Land real?


In The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the eponymous (anti)hero finds himself in the mystical realm known as the Land, which only he has the power to save. However, he is - let's be honest here - a grumpy old curmudgeon, and insists that the Land cannot possibly exist and is only a figment of his fevered imagination.


To support his hypothesis, he performs tests such as not shaving for days on end, to find out whether his beard stubble will still be there when he awakes in the 'real' world. But (so far at least - I'm still in the first trilogy) these tests are always foiled somehow, and when he returns to his own reality, he is unable to ascertain whether or not his experiences in the Land really happened.


Is his uncertainty ever broken? Are we ever told, either in the books or e.g. via interviews with the author, whether Covenant is hallucinating or actually being transported to another world?


Is it ever made clear whether the Land is real or not?




Answer



Short answer: According to the story at the end of the sixth book (third of the second trilogy), the answer is yes.


In the second series, Thomas Covenant's ex-wife Joan was under some sort of mind control by followers of Lord Foul in the real world to force Covenant to submit to them. Covenant trades himself for her and walks into their bonfire, which transports him to the Land. He is inadvertently accompanied by Dr Linden Avery, who was trying to stop him walking into the bonfire.


At the very end of that third (sixth) book:



Thomas Covenant gives Linden his white gold wedding band just before he dies. Linden wakes up in the "real world" with Thomas Covenants wedding ring in her hand.



That's pretty compelling evidence that it is real.


Even across both trilogies, the mysterious old man




who is revealed to be the creator of the Land at the end of the first trilogy



is encountered by both Covenant and Linden in the real world and clearly is related to their experiences.


(Note, I have to go to my bookshelf after work and grab the books to give some more detail / references)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

What is Tolkien trying to say in this letter?

In a draft of a letter, later recorded as #246, Tolkien makes a strange statement. I am interested in the first few sentences of the letter, but I will include the remainder for the sake of context. In the 'Mirror of Galadriel', 1381, it appears that Galadriel conceived of herself as capable of wielding the Ring and supplanting the Dark Lord. If so, so also were the other guardians of the Three, especially Elrond . But this is another matter. It was part of the essential deceit of the Ring to fill minds with imaginations of supreme power . But this the Great had well considered and had rejected, as is seen in Elrond's words at the Council. Galadriel's rejection of the temptation was founded upon previous thought and resolve. In any case Elrond or Galadriel would have proceeded in the policy now adopted by Sauron: they would have built up an empire with great and absolutely subservient generals and armies and engines of war, until they could challenge Sauron and destroy ...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more