Ahira's Hangar

[spoiler]






A mysterious stranger has EATEN the demondim???? Say what????



And he is still out there, patiently waiting by an undying fire that needs no fuel?

That certainly sounds like the way the Mahdoubt similarly waited by a similar fire in Garroting Deep...

The Masters are uncertain of who he is, other than he is powerful, so they have not approached or questioned him...perhaps primarily for mysterious reasons of their own, which Stave will not talk about in front of the rest of the group.

So, after sending everyone out on errands, Linden eventually heads out to face him with Stave, the three Humbled on their heels.

His voice is that of one of Anele's possessors; he somehow unraveled the demondim; he admits to being called the Harrow of the Insequent; he does not seem to have much trouble fighting off the haruchai who immediately attack him the moment they learn his race; he wants Linden's Staff and the white gold ring; and he gazes into Linden's eyes and takes over her mind.

Stave begins attacking the harrow's eyes, and the Hukbled follow his lead. Linden frees herself long enough to ssummon the Mahdoubt.

And the old mysterious woman comes.

She proves herself stronger than the Harrow, and gains his oath that he will never take over Linden's mind, spirit, or body again.

And in doing so, she sacrifices her sanity and life for the sake of Linden.

And Linden attacks the Harrow with the Staff of Law.

Her vehemence was hot enough to resemble the fire which had fused her heart. It should have burned its wat deep into his brain. If it had left him blind and useless, as doomed as the Mahdoubt, she would not have permitted herself one small stumble of regret. This was what she had become, and she did not mean to step back from herself.

But the Harrow slaps away her atatck like water, and is unscathed. And he departs...

And so the healer has become once again, someone who can kill...

And both the Mahdoubt and Stave make their disapproval known...

The Mahdoubt assures them that nothing can be doen for her; she is made from birth to go mad and die if she should interfere with another of her race. The Vizard also went mad and died as a result of interfering with the same being - the Harrow. And the Mahdoubt syas that long ago the haruchai has met teh Vizard, and that story must be told. She says that Linden's deeds will engender horrors, but that Linden must be trusted. It is the paradox thing again about the white gold wielders - salvation and damnation in one package.

So Stave tells linden the story, of how long ages ago, the haruchai met the Vizard of the Insequent, how he defeated their entire army, and the ntold them he was not even the greatest warrior of his people - for the greatest would be the Theomach, Ak-haru Kenaustin Ardenol, the guardian of the One Tree.

The Vizard had humiliated he entire haruchai race. And they did not begin to believe in themselves again until Brinn defeated the Theomach.

As a last gift to Linden, the Mahdoubt tells her that she can trust Stave.

And then, she turns to go, falling into madness.


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I just read this chapter last night.
All I can say is - HOW COOL IS THIS?!?!?!?!

SRD said somewhere in the gradual interview (or somewhere else) that when he wrote the 2nd chrons, he wrote it with the final in mind, opening paths and/or keeping paths open to be able to tie it all together.

Once again I have to say, SRD is the best writer I have ever read, including Tolkien

I started to read this slowly, like Duchess said, to catch all the details, but I find myself absolutly devouring (?!?!?!) the book, having to force myself to put it down and, I don't know, sleep or eat.....

Yes, I would rather read the book than eat, sleep, or go to work. Yet I must force myself to do those things.

A definition or two:

[spoiler]

har·row 1 (hr)
n.
A farm implement consisting of a heavy frame with sharp teeth or upright disks, used to break up and even off plowed ground.
tr.v. har·rowed, har·row·ing, har·rows
1. To break up and level (soil or land) with a harrow.
2. To inflict great distress or torment on.

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[Middle English harwe.]

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harrow·er n.

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har·row 2 (hr)
tr.v. har·rowed, har·row·ing, har·rows Archaic
To plunder; sack.

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[Middle English herwen, variant of harien; see harry.]

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viz·ard also vis·ard (vzrd, -ärd)
n.
1. A visor or mask.
2. A disguise.

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[Alteration of obsolete vizar, from Middle English viser; see visor.]

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theo, of course, is a word with religious connnotations, such as theocracy

Your Query of 'theo-' Resulted in 1 Matches
From The AND Dictionary
Displaying Items 1 through 1
Definitions
theo-
combining form

1. Signifying belonging or relating to God or a god.

Etymology: From Greek theos god.

It is always fun to me to find the underlying meanings of Donaldson's names.

And the name of the Harrow certainly does not bode well for Linden and the Land, does it?


[/spoiler]

Thanks Duchess.
There are quite a few new (to me anyhow..) words that SRD is using.
I need to look them up for a clearer meaning.....

The unusal word he used a lot in Runes was "formication" - the word he keeps using throughout FR is "puissant".

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
pu·is·sant /ˈpyuəsənt, pyuˈɪsənt, ˈpwɪsənt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[pyoo-uh-suhnt, pyoo-is-uhnt, pwis-uhnt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective Literary. powerful; mighty; potent.


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[Origin: 1400–50; late ME < MF < VL *possent- (s. of *posséns), for L potent- (s. of poténs), prp. of posse to be able, have power; see potent, -ant]

—Related forms
pu·is·sant·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This puis·sance (pwĭs'əns, pyōō'ĭ-səns, pyōō-ĭs'əns) Pronunciation Key
n. Power; might.


[Middle English, from Old French, from poissant, powerful, present participle of pooir, to be able; see power.]

puis'sant adj., puis'sant·ly adv.

(Download Now or Buy the Book) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
puissant

c.1450, from M.Fr. puissant "being powerful," earlier poissant, from stem of poeir "to be able" (see power).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This puissant

adjective
powerful

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.

Thank you, Earthy! I was pronouncing that complely wrong. I was using a "poo" as opposed to a "pyoo" . Throw in my rather pronounced and goofy Detroit accent, and no one from outside of Michigan would have ever even guessed what word I was trying to say!

[spoiler]


Another loaded chapter!

Well, at first I thought the stranger was the Theomach, since he had told Berek (Chapter Eight) that he was "a warrior of considerable prowess." The way that the Harrow "devoured" the Demondim in the space of a few heartbeats certainly reminded me of how the Theomach at Berek's tent "froze" time in order to speak privately to Linden when they were surrounded by everyone.

If the Theomach were able to step between moments, he could strike as often as he wished without being seen or opposed--

But, of course, it wasn't the Theomach, and it couldn't be, because he's ten thousand years in the past mentoring Berek. I almost forgot that minor detail.

The Harrow...yes, a fitting name. Or how about The Jerk? Anyone who thinks they can just show up and "consume" Linden's mind gets on my bad side.

Hmmm, what is it about Linden that makes her such a ripe target for assaults on her mind? First a Raver touched her mind in her cell at Revelstone in TWL. Then Kasreyn of the Gyre controlled her with his ocular gaze in TOT. And then she was fully possessed by a Raver in WGW. And now in FR the Harrow has come so frighteningly close to extinguishing her mind altogether.

So what's going on? A major part of Linden's personal journey through the Chronicles would seem to consist of enduring all kinds of mental rape. I had thought that the way she triumphed over the Raver's possession of her in WGW meant that no one could take over her mind again. That is obviously not the case. Poor Linden.

The Haruchai's story of their distant encounter with the Insequent is very interesting, of course. It does help us understand the Haruchai a bit more. Duchess, I congratulate you on being totally spot-on in your guess that the Theomach would eventually become Ak-haru Kenaustin Ardenol. (Did I mention I'm hopeless at putting clues together?)

But my heart belongs to the Mahdoubt in this chapter. Yay that she kicked the Harrow's butt! Boo that she had to lose herself to madness. I am sorry to see her leave the story so soon. And such a tragic end for so noble a character. Donaldson, you are a cruel, cruel dude...

Geez, I thought the Elohim followed a weird set of ethics, but the Insequent are pretty peculiar themselves. You forfeit your own sanity and existence if you interfere with another of your kind? That's harsh.

Now that we know the Mahdoubt and her race (as much as SRD is willing to tell so far), I'm reminded of KW's Mahdoubt thread in the Runes forum where there was endless speculation on who or what she really was. I never offered a guess of my own, thank goodness. Because everyone got her all WRONG! Totally, utterly wrong, heh heh. Except for one or two who said she was something new entirely.


[/spoiler]

[spoiler]

Oh, my heart bleeds for what happened to the Mahdoubt in this chapter. That woman was pretty much kindness incarnate - just think of all of those patches on her gown, each one representing thankfulness for some significant act of kindness. All of that mind blowing power - and she uses it only in service to others.

Yet, she herself must have known what might happen when she gave her name to Linden...

Linden is not to blame at all, by the way, in my eyes. The Harrow is responsible, if anyone is, for making things so desperate that Linden called upon the Mahdoubt for help.

I think the mind thing with Linden is an important part of her personal journey.

With Thomas Covenant, his disease was a big part of what he had to overcome - whether it was the social stigma, the sexual impotence, the emotional bitterness, or the fear of further physical maimings. he had to learn how tro see himself as a man again rather than as a leper and a victim.

With Linden, all of the damage of her life is in her mind and emotions. Her parents did a number on her, to put it lightly. She has to learn how to further overcome the damage they inflicted on her as a child. All of her problems - the indecisiveness, the feelings of failure and worthlessness, the taking responsibility for other people's bad behavior (example - feeling so badly over not detecting the croyel and Roger, and blaming herself for being tricked as much if not more than blaming them for tricking her) - come from the legacy of her abuse.

And that overpowering anger she feels right now over what has been done to her son...I have long believed that to Linden, Jeremiah represents every child who has been abused and maimed and tormented by his/her parents - including Linden herself. While she loves him as a son, he is a heck of a lot more to her as well...and now that child who symbolically represents all tormented children has been bound to a fate worse than death. Any mother would be furious beyond description if something like that was done to her child. But to Linden, that anger is an endless aching maelstrom of pure fury on the behalf of all abused children everywhere - including herself. Linden needs to learn how to deal with that anger. A chunk of that anger is at her parents, of course, for the abuse she received. Another chunk would be at Jeremiah's biological mother. Other huge chunks would be at the croyel and Lord Foul....

But the thing is, that anger, if it goes on loing enough, can possess linden like a Raver, and turn her into a monster herself.

So Linden's path through the chronicles is more of a psychological and emotional journey...in healing from the abuse.

It is 2AM and I hope this is making at least a little sense.


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