Lord Foul's Bane: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant Book One

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The Chessmaster: Foul is very, very intelligent, and is usually several steps ahead of everybody else. In the Land's past, the Ranyhyn bear Linden and Mahrtiir to Caerroil Wildwood instead of Caer-Caveral. In the time after Lord Foul's first defeat by Covenant, she meets Wildwood at Gallows Howe; he is tired of caring for the trees for many thousands of years and explains that forbidding is not lore, but essence. Mahrtiir requests to become a Forestal. Wildwood obliges and then sacrifices himself to allow them to return to their present. Allergic to Evil: Has the ability to sense health or disease in living things. She then finds herself in a world ravaged by a supernatural curse, in which every living thing is diseased.

Tor.com's David Moran summarized his review by saying that "even in a work inflated by his worst tendencies, Donaldson builds toward a staggering resolution of love, endurance, and self-sacrifice that only he could have written. Donaldson is unquestionably a master of cinematic action and the steady build to an explosive end. He has a special talent for disastrous climaxes, and this book is no exception. It is a fitting end for a unique, complicated, great fantasy epic." [4] Either/Or Prophecy: The paradoxical nature of white gold, wild magic, and Covenant himself is consistently emphasized by the prophecy that he will either "save or damn" the Land.Atiaran, with great chagrin, guides Covenant to the Hills of Andelain, a region of the land where the Earthpower is especially strong. There she entrusts Covenant to the care of Saltheart Foamfollower, one of the Unhomed Giants, who are allies of the people of the Land. The Giants, a seafaring people who live on the eastern coast of the Land, have a strong understanding of the Earthpower, especially as it relates to the Sea and other waters. Foamfollower is able to sail his stone boat up one of the great rivers of the Land to Revelstone, the Lords' mountain fortress. Lord Foul's Bane is a 1977 fantasy novel by American writer Stephen R. Donaldson, the first book of the first trilogy of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series. It is followed by The Illearth War.

Their given names are also very close to Semitic words. "Jehannum" sounds like "Jahannam," the Islamic concept of hell, "Herem" can mean "utter destruction" in Hebrew (it refers to irrevocably giving something to God) and "Sheol" is the realm of the dead in ancient Judaism. After the death of Drool, who had used the Staff of Law to summon Covenant to the Land, Covenant feels his physical body fading away. As he departs, he is promised by Prothall and Mhoram that they will prepare the Land to face Lord Foul. Covenant loses consciousness and wakes up in his own world, a leper once more. A Giant warrior and the leader of the Giant expedition known as the Search. The First meets Covenant and Linden when they help rescue each other from the Lurker of the Sarangrave and its minions, and she becomes their companion for the rest of the Second Chronicles.

Jeremiah Avery

Always Chaotic Evil: Though they weren't originally that way; the Cavewights were once friends of the Land and renowned as miners and craftsmen, but their physical strength, numbers, and proximity to the various banes under Mount Thunder attracted Foul to them and he turned most of them to his side long before Covenant arrived in the Land. Bond Creatures: The twist is the Ranyhyn choose the rider, not the reverse. The only one they don't choose is Covenant — they all offer themselves to him, and they hate him. Sapient Steed: Exactly how intelligent they are isn't explicitly stated, but they are implied to be at least as smart as people and have an intuitive sense of the world around them. They also seem to be psychic, knowing when they need to be summoned well in advance of the summons. Classical Antihero: With shades of Nominal Hero. Covenant is a pretty pathetic shell of a human being, largely devoid of heroic (or even particularly pleasant) qualities, and though he's more ineffective and unpleasant than outright evil most of the time, his first major action in the Land is practically a Moral Event Horizon crossing. That said, he gets a hefty dose of Character Development across the First Chronicles, and by the Second Chronicles he's more of a Pragmatic Hero, still not classically heroic or particularly pleasant company, but much more genuinely devoted to protecting the Land and its people.

In a world where the good guys favorite toy seems to be the Idiot Ball he's a refreshing breath of rationality. Their own chosen names are moksha, turiya, and samadhi, all terms for the various levels of enlightenment in the Hindu religion (Donaldson grew up in India, as the son of missionaries). Word of God is that this reflects the tendency of evil people to think they are really more clear-sighted than everyone else. The Man Who Killed His Brother • The Man Who Risked His Partner • The Man Who Tried to Get Away • The Man Who Fought Alone Eyeless Face: Thanks to a birth defect, he simply doesn't have eyes. This is how he knows The Land is real — being born blind, he has no memories of what colors are, or what sight even was, so it's impossible for him to have dreamed them. However, his consciousness remains, and while in a state somewhere between being and non-existence, he is spoken to in the darkness by the voice of the old beggar from the beginning of the first book, who is in fact the Creator of the Land. The Creator thanks Covenant for saving his creation and asks him what reward he might accept. Excitedly, Covenant asks the Creator to save Foamfollower, but the Creator regretfully tells Covenant that even he cannot undo something which has already occurred: otherwise the Arch of Time, the fundamental structure underlying the Land's universe, will be destroyed. The Creator explains that this restriction, in fact, is what prevented him from dealing with Foul directly: he had to act through a proxy, Covenant, and even after causing Covenant to be transported to the Land, the Creator did not interfere with Covenant's freedom of will in any way. The decision to "save or damn" the Land was Covenant's own.

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For the Evulz: He just hates everything, and he's not shy about explaining this in detail. Though Word of God notes that Foul is smart enough to never engage in pointless sadism to the expense of his plans.

A physician from the "real" world, Linden is a driven and dedicated healer but is haunted by the ghosts of her past, particularly witnessing her father's suicide at age 8 and pulling her dying mother off life support in her teens. After moving to Covenant's home-town, Linden has a run-in with the mysterious old beggar who may or may not be the Creator, and subsequently joins Covenant in being transported to the Land. Like Covenant, Linden is forced to wrestle with outward manifestations of her own demons, but eventually manages to find her own strength and becomes a hero of the Land in her own right.Evil Overlord: Styled himself "Lord Drool" and set himself up as ruler of the Cavewights. His reign, however, was a brief one. Evil Gloating: He treats new heroes to the Land with magnificent monologues of exactly what he's done to hurt them, then explains how he'll continue to hurt them, predicting their breaking points. He hasn't been wrong yet. What the Hell, Hero?: Covenant does something very, very awful in the first book. He spends the rest of the first trilogy trying to deal with the consequences. Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Linden is usually cool, professional, and somewhat brisk, having buried her sentimental side a long time ago. Only Covenant and Jeremiah can consistently bring it out in her.