The convenient Fire-Lions

[DrPaul]

In "Summoned To Oppose", Chapter 3 of Part 2 of TLD, Covenant summons the Fire-Lions to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by the Sandgorgons and the skurj.

This raises a couple of questions:

1. Why Lord Foul and his various servants and proxies had not done anything to curtail the power of the Fire-Lions, which after all were living conveniently on the roof of Foul's house, as it were.

2. Why Foul and moksha would direct the Sandgorgons and skurj to attack the company at a location within easy summoning distance of the Fire-Lions.

What are your thoughts?

[wayfriend]

1.
Perhaps the Fire Lions were too powerful for Foul to eliminate. There are rumors in earlier books of the Fire Lions and the skurj battling on Mount Thunder. So perhaps he was trying.

2.
Because Foul held something back as a last-ditch effort to prevent them from entering Mount Thunder. And he had to use forces which could guard the front door but run to the back door if necessary.

Also, we have to think about what his goals might have been. He may not necessarily have been trying to kill his opponents, only slow them down. Surely he had seen that, with their having two rings and a Staff, he didn't have much chance in stopping them completely.
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