The Illearth War (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, #2)

by Stephen R. Donaldson

help. Holding his breath, he burrowed into the water as if it were an avalanche. It almost flattened him; it pounded him like the accumulated weight of his delusion.

This suggests Covenant is heavily deluded ... to what extent is this the case?

The water boiled and heaved wildly. But one end of the crevice opened into other caverns. The cataracts turned as they fell, and thrashed through the crevice as if it were an immense chute or channel. By the orcrest light, Bannor saw in time which way the water poured. He poled the boat so that it shot downward along the torrent.

Isn't this the same magical water that ate a board from a Blood Guard's grip ... water that everyone was forbidden to touch ... now its just splashy stuff... why? I suppose, just like the characters, it's nature is driven by the narrative, and so the 'magic,' evaporates without explanation 'cause its no longer useful to the author.

And many times Bannor and Covenant foundered in cascades that crashed onto them from above, but the water did not harm them—either it had lost its strength in the fall, or it was already diluted by other buried springs and lakes.

... oh now its explained ... kinda... (with a wave of the author's hand). Run Program PlotArmor(Covenant, Bannor):

In the stillness, Caerroil Wildwood lifted his gnarled scepter. “No,” he trilled, “I cannot permit this. It is a breaking of Law. And you forget the price that is owed to me. Perhaps when you have gained an incondign mastery over the wild magic, you will use it to recant the price.” With his scepter, he touched Troy’s upraised fist; the ring dropped to the ground.

C. Wildwood = Tom Bombadil

Lord Mhoram said, “Behold—the Unbeliever departs. The High Lord has fallen.”

Does Covenant grasp that all he has to do to return to the Earth is kill the one that summons him? Mind you - the same rule didn't work for Troy. Atarian died getting him to the Land, and he's still there - seemingly forever.

The legs of the sofa stood a few feet away across the thick defensive carpet.

Covenant arrives back home to discover the carpet has developed an insecurity...

He could see a gleam of bone through the caked black blood which darkened his forehead and cheeks, spread down around his eyes, emphasizing them, shadowing them with terrible purposes. The wound and the blood on his gray, gaunt face made him look like a false prophet, a traitor to his own best dreams.

The cut on his forehead neatly matches the one delivered by Troy Hile's strike. Segue++