The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever is a fantasy epic by Stephen R. Donaldson.The main character is Thomas Covenant, a cynical leprosy-sufferer, shunned and despised by society, who is destined to become the heroic saviour of an alternate world. Throughout six novels published between 1977 and 1983, Covenant struggles against the evil Lord Foul: "The Despiser" who intends to break the physical universe to escape its bondage and wreak revenge upon his arch-enemy "The Creator". Many elements of the story correspond to those of Richard Wagner's epic "Ring Cycle", but with curiously inverted values.
In 2004 Donaldson returned to the chronicles with a new series, intended to be the last chronicles.
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2 The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant 3 The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant 4 External links |
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever
Lord Foul's Bane
(First Published 1977)
Thomas Covenant is a former author and a leper, who is deserted by his wife. When he is hit by a car he is transported to The Land (an alternate world threatened by Lord Foul), where his mutilated hand and white gold wedding ring cause him to be identified as the reincarnation of Berek Half-hand, first Lord of the Land and a promised saviour. He is befriended by a young girl named Lena, who uses a special mud to cure his leprosy. This is only one example of the Earthpower: a rich source of healing energy present throughout The Land. Covenant refuses to accept the Land and its power, and names himself The Unbeliever. Unable to handle the sudden restoration of his health and the curing of his impotency Covenant rapes her, a pivotal event which sets the scene for much of what comes later. Lena's friends and family are barely able to comprehend the enormity of this crime, but their Oath of Peace (sworn by every native inhabitant of The Land) forbids them from taking vengeance. Lena's mother Atiaran takes Covenant to the Land's rulers, the Lords, where he is initiated into their council as an Ur-Lord (stemming from the German prefix 'Ur-' which means ancestral or primal, as he is seen as Berek returned). However, an evil cavewight, Drool Rockworm, has seized the "Staff of Law", a stave by which the Earthpower can be controlled, and has become the puppet of Lord Foul. Covenant, the Lords, and a Giant named Saltheart Foamfollower set out to wrest the staff from Drool's evil grasp and after many adventures they succeed. Covenant is eventually returned to his own world, a leper once more.
The Illearth War
(First Published 1978)
Covenant returns to the alternate world when he hits his head a few days later, but finds forty years have passed in the Land. Lord Foul has assembled a massive army, with which he now threatens the peoples of The Land. Furthermore, it has been discovered that Lord Foul's commander is one of three brothers born to the race of Giants, a people previously thought incorruptible. With the aid of the powerful Illearth Stone, Foul's non-corporeal servants, the ravers, have possessed the three brothers, now rechristened Kinslaughterer, Fleshharrower and Satansfist. (In shame and despair, the other Giants offer no resistance as Kinslaughterer murders them in their homes.) Lena's grown-up daughter Elena (the product of Covenant's rape) is now High Lord of the council, and wields the Staff of Law on behalf of her people. She shows no ill-will towards her biological father, and she and Covenant become close friends. The Lords' army is commanded by Hile Troy, a blind man from Covenant's "real" world whose sight has been restored by the Earthpower. While Troy strives to outwit Lord Foul and his Giant lieutenant, Elena and Covenant go in search of the "Seventh Ward", a repository of ancient magic lore which Elena believes will assure victory. When their goal is attained, Elena foolishly uses it to summon High Lord Kevin, her ancient predecessor from his grave, and send him against Lord Foul. Kevin is soon defeated and enslaved by Foul, and sent back to destroy Elena. The two High Lords engage in a battle of magic, in which Elena is eventually defeated and the Staff of Law lost. Meanwhile however, with the help of the woodland "forestal" Caerroil Wildwood, Troy has defeated Foul's army, whose Giant-commander Fleshharrower is strangled to death. The war ends in a stalemate and Covenant returns to his own world.
The Power that Preserves
(First Published 1979)
Covenant is devastated by the loss of Elena, and back in his own world he lets the leprosy spread. After getting snake venom in his system he is close to dying, and he is once again summoned to the Land. He finds that several years have gone by since the Illearth War, and Lord Foul has enslaved the spirit of former High Lord Elena, who now wields the staff of law against her own people. The Lords have lost their loyal supporters, the Bloodguard, and the Land has been cast into a perpetual winter. Furthermore, Lord Foul has rebuilt his army, which, under the command of the third Giant-raver Satansfist, now beseiges the Lords' mountain-fortress of Revelstone. In desperation, the new High Lord Mhoram, an old friend of Covenant, summons the Unbeliever to his aid. Covenant and his friend, the Giant Foamfollower, now journey to the very heart of Lord Foul's dominion, where they succeed in defeating Foul. Elena is freed from her enslavement and peace is restored to The Land. As a reward the Creator of the Land gives Covenant a choice: either he can remain in the Land in full health, or he can be returned to life in his own world. Covenant, still unwilling to fully accept the Land, choses the latter.
Gildenfire
(First Published 1981)
An episode cut from The Illearth War for narrative reasons, as explained in the Author's Foreword. Gildenfire deals with the doomed mission to rescue the Giants.
This is an Article on The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
After ten years have passed on Earth, Thomas Covenant returns to the Land, to discover that four thousand years have passed there. Lord Foul had corrupted the Lords and the Earthpower to create the oppressive "Sunbane." Covenant, with his companion from Earth, Linden Avery, must re-create the "Staff of Law" without destroying the entire world.The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
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