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Syl
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 Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 10:21 pm Post subject: The Illearth War - Chapter 19 |
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Troy shakes off the sense of defeat from what had just witnessed. He starts getting back to what he (supposedly) does best - strategy. He's taking what's left of his warward through the Southron Wastes for a destination he will not yet reveal. The warriors, already much fatigued, are starting to drop. They can't even afford to stop and bury their dead.
The burden of leadership isn't a light one, and First Haft Amorine is starting to break. Troy shows he does have leadership skills, and gives the responsibility of leading the eight eoward of volunteers who will turn and fight at Doriendor Corishev (which Calindrill translates to "masterplace" or "desolation of enemies").to Amorine, boosting her spirit and perhaps earning more of her loyalty, though it does seem to irk Quaan a little bit.
Quaan isn't quite so accepting and questions Troy why the whole eoward doesn't stop and fight instead of continuing on the harrowing (pun intended) march. Troy tells Quaan that the ruins can only hold for a couple days and that he must trust in his plans, though Troy himself is feeling inadequate and is hinging all his hopes on Mhoram.
At this point we're given a little history pre-Berek (P.B.?). Other than being responsible for the Colossus releasing its edict, the people's actions had other ramifications. | Quote: | | Every falling tree hammered home an ineluctable doom for the masterplace. As the trees died, the southern lands lost the watershed which had preserved them from the Gray Desert. Centuries after the ravage of the One Forest became irreversible, these lands turned to dry ruin. |
Troy, Mhoram, Callindrill, the Bloodguard, Amorine, and the eight Eoward stay at the ruins while Quaan takes the main body of the Warward off on the rest of the march (now, really, considering Troy doesn't tell his plan to anybody, what the heck would Quaan have done if Troy had died?)
Troy gives a speech to the eoward telling them that they're all going to be targets of Fleshharrower's army and magic in order to draw his army together for the surprise he's going to have waiting for him. Interestingly, Troy tells Amorine, "Make sure of your lines of retreat. I don't want people getting lost in this maze when it's time for us to pull out." *snicker* | Quote: | When he reached the east wall, and climbed up on some rubble to peer over it, he saw Fleshharrower's army. It approached like a great discoloration, a dark bruise, on the pale ground of the Wastes. Its front stretched away both north and south of the ruins. It was less than a league away. And it was immense beyond comprehension. Troy could not imagine how Lord Foul had been able to create such an army. It came forward until it reached the foot of the hill upon which Doriendor Corishev stood.
As he watched, Troy gripped the handle of his sword as if it were the only thing that kept him from panic. Several times, he reached up to adjust the sunglasses he no lodger possessed. The movement was like an involuntary prayer or appeal. |
Both sides hurl some insults at eachother, Troy almost gets hit by an arrow, then the Raver gets to work on making himself a new scepter to put his fragment of the stone on. After about a day, Fleshharrower has finished what he was doing and a tornado comes flying out of the southeast. This is no ordinary tornado, of course, but a Vortex of Trepidation. If the magic alone doesn't make you afraid, it also has some really ugly birds the size of kresh flying around in it.
Once again, Troy has come up against something his mind couldn't calculate and predict. He's paralyzed for a few minutes, wants to cry to Elena, then realizes he forgot to tell anybody about his final plan. Completely immersed in fear, he pulls a Linden and hits Ruel in the back of the head with a rock and knocks Amorine down while running away. It's interesting to note that the thing he fears about Ruel and Amorine is their faith.
| Quote: | When he glanced behind him, his heart leaped. One of the birds glided effortlessly toward him, as if it were in total command of the wind. It had a clear approach to him. The ease of its movement thrilled him, and he poised himself to jump into its jaws.
But as it neared him, he saw that it carried Ruel's crumpled body in its mighty talons. He could see Ruel's flat, dispassionate features. The Bloodguard looked as if he had been betrayed. |
Ya think? Luckily, this brings Troy back around and he swipes the bird with his sword. Green blood from the bird pours down on top of his head, burning through his skull and into his brain, and he passes out.
Troy wakes up in darkness. Everything's quiet. He decides that he just has to use his old navigation skills until the sun comes up. Using the temparature of the different sides of the walls, he reasons that following the warmer side (facing the setting sun) will lead him west towards Mehryl (why he didn't bother just calling her...).
After stumbling around for a little bit, he hears several voices (ur-viles?) who have apparently seen him before he heard them. He wonders how they can see him so well, tries to fight, then takes off the way he came. They easily overtake him. While toying with him, they ask if he's dazzled by the sun. It's at this point that Troy realizes what's going on. The last bit of fight seems to go out of him, and he finally whistles for Mehryl.
He tries to get on the Ranyhyn, but ends up getting knocked down. All of Fleshharrower's minions but one go chasing after the Ranyhyn and leave Troy sitting there. The last one Troy kills by playing possum until it's close enough for him to strangle with Rue's cord. Then the cavalry arrives in the form of Mhoram and Amorine.
The sun is out and Troy can't see.
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"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner |
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Taiga Tzu
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| Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2003 1:37 am Post subject: Re: The Illearth War - Chapter 19 |
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| Quote: | | Every falling tree hammered home an ineluctable doom for the masterplace. As the trees died, the southern lands lost the watershed which had preserved them from the Gray Desert. Centuries after the ravage of the One Forest became irreversible, these lands turned to dry ruin. |
 It is sometimes difficult to control my anger!!! If only we had been created sooner, perhaps we could have prevented the irreversibility of the One Forest's ravage!!!
But I must try to keep the rage away. The approach we took in trying to save the One Forest - Caerroil Wildwood's manner gives you a good indication of that approach - obviously did not work. My goal now is to work with humans, rather than pull them to pieces whenever they venture into the trees.
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Earthfriend
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| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 3:46 am Post subject: |
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Great synopsis, Caer!!!  And that's a really good point about Troy's plan, too - what would have happened if he died? For a master tactician, he certainly makes a few blunders...
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Earthblood
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| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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I actually felt a little sorry for Troy at the point of losing his 'sight'
It was really a blow to him, but in the end it gave him the conviction he needed to make a future decision *hint, hint*
I think he sort of came back to himself and drew on his old, familiar feelings & attitudes after losing it.
"The Vortex of Trepidation" - could SRD have thought of a better combination of words? Just the description lets you know - it ain't gonna be much fun...   
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duchess of malfi
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| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2003 3:21 am Post subject: |
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And isn't the formation of the Vortex chilling? With that murder as part of it and all? (shudder)
I have always found it interesting that we never find out how Mhoram reacts to the Vortex. He is a man with endless courage, but also one who accepts his failings. I have always wanted to know how he handled that moment.
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danlo
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| Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2003 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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Did Syl do 2 good a job of summing up this chapter? I'm sort of at a loss as 2 why this entry got so little response...I don't kno y but Doriendor Corishev seems 2 have the same alien, ancient feel that Amon-Hen did in the LOTRs. This is one of the coolest parts of the entire Chrons, 4 me. I will def have 2 re-read this chapter this weekend and come back w/comments.
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caamora
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| Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2003 11:17 pm Post subject: |
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Danlo, I have The Atlas of the Land by Karen Wynn Fonstad which was approved by SRD. In it, there is a map of Doreindo Corishev. Talk about an archaelogical find it would have been! Although what happens with Troy is so intense, we get little imput of Doreindo Corishev itself.
I, for one, would love to see this place come back to life in the 3rd chrons.
Btw, I know I am jumping ahead, but can I do the first chapters of TPTP?
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An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.
The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.
The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.” |
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danlo
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| Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2003 12:40 am Post subject: |
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U've got it caam! PM me. Earthfriend has a lock on Lord Mhoram's Victory...but I'm going 2 take a week's break btween TIW and TPTP. So every1 else, and that's about 5 of u, need 2 PM me again, as my Roledex broke...
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True heroics must be carefully planned---and seriously avoided-Vlad Taltos
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Fist and Faith
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| Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2003 3:15 am Post subject: |
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Well, I already posted a lot of quotes from The Spoiled Plains when I compared it to WGW's Those Who Part, because I LOVE those 2 chapters. So I wouldn't mind that chapter and Colossus.
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We are not required to save the world. We are required to stand up as truly as we can for what we love. -SRD
Mi alasharia la shantih, Darling Silezia.
Isaiah ShadowLurker, mi alasharia la shantih, shantih. |
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Durris
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| Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 4:54 am Post subject: |
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| SRD wrote: | Ruel shouted, “Warmark! Corruption attacks!”
At the word Corruption, a complete lucidity came over Troy. Fear filled all his thoughts with crystalline incisiveness. At once, he perceived that the Bloodguard was trying to undo him; Ruel’s impenetrable fidelity was a deliberate assault upon his fitness for command.
The understanding made him reel, but he reacted lucidly, adroitly. He took one last look around him, saw one or two figures still surging back and forth through the livid anguish of the dust. Ruel was moving to capture him. Overhead, the dark birds dropped toward the ruins. When Ruel touched him, he suddenly gestured away behind the Bloodguard. Ruel turned to look. Troy hit him on the back of the skull with the rock. |
Flinch.
Two thoughts:
This is the most frighteningly brilliant account of a moment of paranoid insight I’ve ever read or heard, though I’ve heard some real-life ones narrated firsthand. SRD captures the intellectual guise in which fear appears, not as an emotion but as a final recognition of [putative, delusional, unfalsifiable] truth, a parsing of the sinister grammar of the underside of the observed world.
This scene has a lot in common with Linden’s attack upon Ceer in TOT, though the motivational dynamics are a bit different. Linden doesn’t consciously see Ceer’s fidelity as a threat; she doesn’t see Ceer at all, but only the superimposed image of her father. Both strangers to the Land attack their protectors while in the grip of pathological states of mind. One of the recurrent--and surely the most morally dreadful--hazards of being a Haruchai.
Let light perpetual shine on Ruel and Ceer in the Land of the Leal.
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dlbpharmd
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| Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 11:46 am Post subject: |
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| Durris is back! Glad to see you! |
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Durris
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| Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 4:25 pm Post subject: |
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The gladness is mutual, dlbpharmd. BTW, your dragon caduceus is seriously cool.
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dlbpharmd
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| Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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All the credit in the world goes to Edge for that. He's a very talented individual.
You've got some serious catching up to do - we're nearly finished with WGW, and I'm dying to hear your thoughts on Runes! |
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Durris
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| Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 5:58 pm Post subject: |
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It will be a while until I have thoughts on Runes; I'm striving to bring to birth a paper on the moral coevolution of Covenant and the Haruchai in the first 6 books (to be submitted to Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts) first.
Undoubtedly Runes will completely change how I see all the rest of the mythos, and I need to put my preexisting perspective on paper before undergoing that paradigm shift.
I'm continuing with a job search and a large amount of free-lance work, so my presence here will have to be sporadic. I'll participate as I can.
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Murrin
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| Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 6:29 pm Post subject: |
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Just noticed in your post, this line:
| Quote: | | At once, he perceived that the Bloodguard was trying to undo him; Ruel’s impenetrable fidelity was a deliberate assault upon his fitness for command. |
This is exactly what TC keeps talking about when he criticises the Bloodguard/Haruchai fidelity. The unwavering, perfect faithful service is enough to make any mortal man feel inadequate; to drive him to despair or betrayal. Hile Troy knows better than most how Kevin must have felt.
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Durris
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 7:26 pm Post subject: |
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In TIW and TPTP SRD seems to show several characters discovering, from the inside, different aspects of how Kevin felt. As you observe, Troy has a direct line to this discovery--in fact, twice over: he sees all his well-intended and theoretically wise strategies leading the Warward nonstop to perdition, and he sees that all his "believer's" fidelity (against which he had judged Covenant with so little mercy) neither avails for its purpose nor measures up to the example of the Vow.
Elena also is represented as conjecturing that Kevin had access to a power unavailable to anyone who lacked his despair; Spoiler: | and in TPTP Mhoram actually develops access to that power. I suppose it is a measure of Mhoram's moral strength--and perhaps a greater capacity for self- and other-acceptance [it took an act of will to write that in English rather than Haruchai] than Kevin or Elena ever had--that he turns this power to redemption rather than desecration. |
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marshm
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 8:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Earthfriend wrote: | | Great synopsis, Caer!!! And that's a really good point about Troy's plan, too - what would have happened if he died? For a master tactician, he certainly makes a few blunders... |
But he is NEVER portrayed as a "master tactician". In fact, he is shown to be (and acknowledges that he is) a master STRATEGIST.
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marshm
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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Sylvanus wrote:
"Once again, Troy has come up against something his mind couldn't calculate and predict. He's paralyzed for a few minutes, wants to cry to Elena, then realizes he forgot to tell anybody about his final plan. Completely immersed in fear, he pulls a Linden and hits Ruel in the back of the head with a rock and knocks Amorine down while running away. It's interesting to note that the thing he fears about Ruel and Amorine is their faith."
You are making two loose connections here I don't believe exist. First, he is not immersed in fear due to his lack of relaying his final plan. Second, he does not "pull a Linden". The nature of his actions is more closely related to a seizure of despair, and an enactment of that which HE fears the most - becoming just like TC, destroying that which he loves. However, he never quite comes to grips with the fact that he is so closely akin to TC. His "leprosy" is of the mind, not the soul.
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Durris
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 9:54 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, Troy hates TC for being a "moral leper" (Troy's words), and above all for TC's incapacity and/or refusal to act (Troy judges it as refusal, but TC experiences it as incapacity), until Troy discovers incapacity himself and becomes (at least to a degree) what he has hated. Though Troy considers TC's acedia to be playing into Foul's hands, Troy's trust in his own moral and strategic effectiveness ("We suffice" translated into Washington D.C. English) causes him to overreach in a way that is used by Foul as much or more. Spoiler: | And only redeemed by a radical self-sacrifice. |
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marshm
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| Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 7:04 am Post subject: |
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But there is a difference. TC does, indeed, discover incapacity of ACTION, through his desires. Troy discovers INABILITY of action, though he desires desparately to act.
Subtle mirror images of the same "leprosy".
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Oh yes, I CAN hope... for an early release of the next TC book!
"Never enter a battle of wits against an unarmed man." |
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